The Hulk and the Beast: Chapter Twenty Two

Midnight, Purple Planet

Okay, this was a pretty sticky situation, all things considered. The act of considering things was hard right now, with all the children screaming and how his entire head was ringing. Were there supposed to be five moons in the sky? Bucky didn't think so, but there were. Also, everything was weirdly purple, which was also probably not normal.

Bucky felt like he was coming to after a very, very long bender. The kind he only did when he was drafted, his unit suffered casualties, or when Steve had a remission… no… wait… Steve didn't get those anymore. He was tall now. What time was it? Where… why was there a child trying to kill him from the knees up?

"You killed my brother!" She screamed.

No, that wasn't right… Bucky looked around. A giant hairy man was struggling with two children. Bucky couldn't tell if he was trying to restrain them or kill them. Something about a Mission stuck in his head. The Book was important. The girl trying to beat his legs to death had a book. It looked important. It was certainly big enough to be important, all leather bound and ornate.

There was a boy that looked like her laying nearby. At first glance he looked dead, but on closer inspection, his chest was moving up and down rapidly and shallowly. His blood was on Bucky's hand. Except it wasn't his hand, it was made of metal.

"The Book, Soldier!" the man, Greyback, Bucky thought, shouted at him.

The word 'Soldier' made his head hurt. A lot. And it already hurt, so that was not a welcome development.

Right, the Book. The girl was pretty attached to the Book, she was probably part of the Mission. He didn't know what the other three kids were doing, but that wasn't his business, was it? He couldn't remember. His head hurt and that was about the extent of what he could be certain of.

He reached down with his metal arm and wrapped his fingers around the back of the girl's dress. He lifted her off the ground very easily. That was nifty metal arm. He couldn't remember how he got it or why.

"James!" The girl screamed, reaching for the boy on the ground.

"What?" Bucky grumbled. She wasn't talking to him, was she? He didn't mind being called James, really, but no one called him that. "What are you shouting about?" He voice was deeper than he remembered, more gravely. It felt like he hadn't spoken in years.

"My brother," the girl sobbed.

Bucky hadn't done that, had he? Oh, yes he had. Why? He couldn't remember. Everything was really hazy. The Mission was get the Book. Red Skull wanted it, so that wasn't good. Bucky was probably sent without Red, White, and Blue because it was a covert mission and Steve was great, but that shield of his was anything but covert. That didn't explain the giant hairy British man strangling those two kids. He didn't seem like the kinda guys in the rest of the British Army and he certainly wasn't anything like Pinky.

"Soldier, I swear, if you go off mission, I'm never letting those idiots live it down," Greyback snarled, giving the boy under his arms a swift smack to make him stop struggling. The girl cried out in fear and smacked him with a bow, but it did very little.

Hurting kids couldn't be part of the Mission. They protected little kids from brutes like that. At least, Bucky did. Someone had to look out for the little guy, and Bucky was pretty big. He always knew he was built for fighting, he just needed a good cause. Sticking up for the little guy was a good cause. Especially when the little guy didn't realize he was outmatched.

"Put them down," Bucky growled.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

That was when Bucky saw the HYDRA insignia on the other man's jacket. What the hell? Was Bucky undercover? Why was he helping HYDRA? That didn't make any sense. Except… Mission, if he focused on the Mission, then everything would make sense.

The Mission was recover the Book and rescue as many kids as possible, surely. That was the only Mission he could rationalize from this situation. He was a good guy, he didn't pick on little kids, even if they did have something Command wanted.

"Hold on," Buck grunted at the girl, flinging her over his shoulder. He scooped the boy up next. The girls sobs lightened when the boy groaned at being jostled. Good, he wasn't dead or dying, just concussed. He should get the kids to a medic when he returned to base.

"Put me down," the girl whimpered.

"I'm getting you back to base," Bucky grunted.

"I'm not going with you!" The girl started pounding the Book against his back ineffectively. It was a big book, getting his by it should have hurt more than it did, but Bucky was pretty numb.

"Quit whining, I'm one of the good guys," Bucky jostled her a little. Not enough to hurt her, he wasn't a monster. "I think…"

"That's it," Greyback snarled, throwing the dazed boy to the ground and keeping the girl by the hair. He raised a stick at Bucky and snarled, "Confringo!"

Instinct saved him. He held out his metal arm and slapped the blast of light that burst from the stick. It pinged off the metal and hit a rock several feet away, exploding like a frag grenade. The girl screamed, and held onto him a little harder. At least she was starting to get the idea.

"James!" The girl cried.

"I hear you," Bucky snarled under his breath.

Bucky felt the girl hold the book as close she could to herself, and then suddenly, instead of a girl in his arms, there was a fox scrambling against his face and neck, barking bloody murder.

"What the hell?" Bucky didn't sign up for this. He didn't remember exactly what he signed up for, but it wasn't any of this wizard bull. He wasn't the one cooped up inside, all sickly and scrawny, excited to jabber on about The Hobbit.

Where the hell did the Book go? Did she have it under her fur. Did the Book do that to her? Was that why he had to get the Book? He could figure that out later, when there wasn't an armed hostile trying to kill him.

Bucky grabbed her by the tail before she could leap away, though she didn't seem to want to get too far from her brother.

Greyback kept flinging magic spells at him. Bucky kept deflecting them with his very useful metal arm. Whatever it was made of, he didn't think it was iron. Maybe the same stuff as Steve's shield, but he wasn't sure. He didn't like thinking about Steve. He was pretty sure they were having a disagreement, but he didn't remember what it was about.

"That's it, buddy," Bucky shifted the struggling fox under his arm, pinned next to her brother, who was barely stirring. He drew a gun from his hip. It didn't look at anything he remembered, but a gun was a gun and he knew how to use it. He clipped the man in the shoulder.

"It's going to be like that, is it!" Greyback roared happily, shoving the redhead to the ground.

All the gunshot did was piss him off. Hot, sticky blood dripped to the ground from the bullet wound. Suddenly, Greyback's body started morphing and twisting in pain. That wasn't normal. What were these bullets made of?

Extraction, Bucky need an extraction. He'd have to leave the other two kids behind, and that stung, but fifty percent was better than zero. Colonel Philips better have a… wait, wasn't he dead? Time had passed, he recalled with difficulty. How long had it been? Whatever, there was someone back at base who owed Bucky a damn explanation. He'd probably get it from Stark…

Unbidden, there was a flash of a car accident in the back of his mind. Howard was in the driver's seat. He was covered in blood and he wasn't moving. An injured woman was in the passenger seat, pleading for help and desperately holding onto Howard. There was a metal hand around her throat. It made him dizzy for just a bit too long, and suddenly a giant Wolfman slammed into him.

"Shit," Bucky grunted.

He punched the Wolfman in the head as hard as he could with his metal arm. It only dazed him. Bucky back peddled. He could feel something crackling behind him, growing in intensity every time the fox screamed. He fired his gun at the Wolfman, keeping him at bay. With every step he took backwards, a biting chill grew colder and colder against his neck.

Until suddenly he was falling backwards into a giant pile of snow.

"Bucky!" A voice rang inside his head.

There was a train, he was falling off a cliff. His left arm hurt. A lot.

End of the line.

He knew no more.

Earth, July 16, 2014

Remus came too with his mouth feeling like he'd chugged fine sand. When he moved, he found he was bound, and started panicking.

"Easy," a familiar voice cooed. "Easy, Remus." The silver chains fell away like water. He only had a few small rashes.

"Dad?" Remus blinked. "What… what happened."

"We had a fight," Lyall said. "You won."

"Did I hurt you?" Remus snapped up. "Did I…"

"No, Remus," Lyall said. "I'm fine."

"Okay," Remus said. "But you said… I won and my mouth feels like… and I…"

"Remus, you really think I can't handle myself?" Lyall chuckled. It was a disjointed, forced laugh.

"No," Remus frowned. There was a bruise on his cheek, which checked out with Lyall claiming they had a fight. But… usually if it got bad enough that Lyall had to hit him, that meant Remus lost by a lot. Oh, Merlin, what if he…? That would be awful, he never should have lost control! This was exactly why…

"I'm sorry, Remus," Lyall said. His voice wasn't loud, but it still cut through Remus' worry like a hot knife through butter.

Lyall was currently cooking something in a sauce pan on a hotplate. It smelled like stew.

"If you're… is Mam?"

"She didn't make it," Lyall said. "I barely made it. How did you escape?"

"I didn't," Remus said. "I was rescued. Mr. Stark found me… I have to call him, where…" Remus padded around his pockets. "Where's my phone!" His memories were really fuzzy. It must have been a really bad fight if he transformed. He felt awful. "Where's Gwyllgi? She's supposed to stop me from turning."

"If I'd known that I wouldn't have left her behind," Lyall said, not looking up from the stew. "I know it's not enough, but I'm sorry."

"You didn't let me explain," Remus whined.

"A man, called himself Nikola, found me in the pub," Lyall said. "He said there was a program, a treatment that could break the curse. I was drunk and foolish enough to believe him."

"What are you…"

"In all honesty, how was I supposed to guess that he was working for a Nazi terrorist cell from another dimension, forty years in the future," Lyall tried to joke. It wasn't very funny. "I gave him our address. He was supposed to come over and see if you were good for the trial. He said it was early enough in the trail stage that we'd get paid for participating, even if it didn't work. I'd be able to buy you new uniforms for school instead of refitting my old ones."

"Dad?" Remus whimpered.

"I'm so sorry, Remus. Everything that's happened, it's all been my fault. I've hurt you and I don't expect you to forgive me…"

"Where are we?"

"I didn't notice the Imperious until it was too late…"

"Dad!" Remus was getting really worried now.

"It was subtle, fed off what I wanted, not on what that bastard Skull wanted… twisted me," Lyall laughed manically at some unknown irony Remus couldn't see.

"Dad, you're scaring me."

"I'll show him," Lyall hissed under his breath. "Thinks he can kidnap my son, murder my wife…"

"We need to get help, Dad," Remus pleaded.

"Can't trust anyone," Lyall insisted. "It's you and me, Remus. We're all that's left. We're all that matters…"

"I'm going to go call for help, Mr. Stark and the Avengers…"

"Sit down!" Lyall stood up and drew his wand. "You have to stay here, Remus, where I can keep you safe!"

"I think you're still Imperioused, Dad," Remus whimpered.

That was what the twinge of mania was, the paranoid glances, the dazed, half dead look in Lyall's eyes. Lyall had been paranoid ever since Remus was bit, but it was never this bad. If HYDRA had him, he's probably taken him somewhere dangerous without realizing it. Remus should try and escape.

He couldn't bear to bring himself to fight Lyall again. He couldn't. He nearly killed him last time, hadn't he? If Lyall was even a little more out of it, his dueling instincts wouldn't have been able to save him from Remus' raw strength and anger.

"Sit down, I'm making stew," Lyall gestured his wand to a box and it transfigured into a chair. "You like stew. I'm making your mother's recipe."

"I… I'm just glad you're alive," Remus managed.

One hour, check in every five minutes, three forms of tracking software, obsessively checking maps, this wasn't supposed to happen. It had almost felt domestic to Tony. For a few precious moments, he could picture himself being a normal civilian, sipping coffee, working with equations, nestled happily in Steve's arms. They'd been flipping through channels looking for something to watch when Remus got back. There was no Iron Man, no threat of imminent super-villainy, no extreme responsibilities to keeping the entire damn planet safe, just him, Steve, and their kid.

But Remus didn't get back.

Iron Man flew in nervous circles around New York. He called in Sam, who was combing Remus' last known location for any clues. Sam was the most inconspicuous member of the Avengers, since his identity wasn't widely known.

"We'll find him, Tony," Steve said over coms. He was in the spare jet, flying to Hong Kong to pick up Gwyllgi before anything bad happened to her.

They weren't the closest to Hong Kong, far from it, but they still couldn't bring themselves to pull back Nat and Clint, who were on a mission, and Thor and the Hulk, who were on leave. It was a bit embarrassing, that they were left alone with Remus and it only took them two hours to lose him this completely.

Tony was running diagnostic scans over all of New York City, looking for any residual energy frequencies that could point to teleportation or signal jamming. Nothing was significant enough that he would be able to further analyze it. The only hotspot was the Sanctum Santorum, but that was to be expected. If Remus was there, Dr. Strange would have told them. Tony made him promise, by the honor of the Awesome Facial Hair Bros. Dr. Strange was not amused, but he begrudgingly obliged.

"Sir, I have just received a distress signal," JARVIS announced.

"Is it Remus?"

"Negative, it is Young Master Remus' friends. They are being attacked."

"Alrighty then. Avengers, Assemble!" Tony sped back to the Tower.

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