"Come out, dragon!"
The imperious call pulled Bucky from a nice nap. It woke Toni too, curled as she was in a pile of furs in the crook of his elbow.
"We've come to rescue the Princess Stark, now come face us!"
"This again?"
Bucky growled at the upset look on Toni's face.
"Hey! Hey, Bucky-bear." Toni sat up and reached out to place a hand on his arm. Her hand was so small but he swore he could feel the heat of it sear into him.
"It's not all that important to me," she said, rubbing at his scales. "So maybe use the door this time?"
He acquiesced with an icy huff before carefully unwinding himself from around her.
The improvements Toni had made to what had once been a roughly dragon-sized hole in the back of the keep had started from the week she'd moved in and continued to this day. Metal doors that at first he had to push open, now slid aside soundlessly at Bucky's approach, as well as closing behind him to secure the keep.
He made no pretense of quiet as he lumbered around into the courtyard to find an array of colorfully armored beings awaiting him.
Damn, they must've left the drawbridge down.
A blond elf perched on the castle wall, his bow drawn and two arrows ready to fly. Next to him another elf crouched, knives in hand, red hair falling loose about her shoulders.
A muscled barbarian of a man stood to one side in the courtyard, blond and red-caped, swinging a hammer back and forth, expression excited, anticipatory.
What looked to be some variation of giant, green troll roared in challenge when it caught sight of Bucky.
In the center of it all, a tall, broad-shouldered human stood confidently, golden hair shining, a round shield held before him. His red, white and blue armor was covered in dents and scratches, some repaired better than others, but all of it showing a history of battle.
"What d'you want?" Bucky sat down in front of the keep, blocking the human-sized door inside. Just in case.
"We've come to rescue-" the human in front started before Bucky cut him off.
"Yeah, you said that already. She's fine. Doesn't want to go back home."
"Like we're gonna believe you," the blond elf called out.
Bucky groaned. "Listen, pal, I could go get her and have her tell you, but she'll bite my head off for making her get up, and then no way am I saving you from her bitching."
"I heard that!" came a muffled yell from inside the keep.
"You were supposed to!" he yelled back.
"I do not bitch; I register legitimate complaints with the management!"
"Sure thing, Karen."
"I'll tell Rhodey!"
"Uh-huh." He shook his head fondly.
"Um." The elf lowered his bow slightly, frowning before glancing down at the woman next to him. She shrugged.
"I confess, I would be greatly disappointed, but mayhaps this is not a fight?" the barbarian said as he stilled his hammer.
"Aw, hell," came from overhead, and Bucky snapped his head up to see a dark-skinned human with actual wings circling above him.
"You mean I bragged about slaying a dragon at the pub last night for nothing?" The man came down in a series of smaller and smaller spirals until he landed next to the armored human. He folded his wings back while resting his hands on his waist.
"See, this is your problem, man;" he poked at the armored chest, "you get us all psyched up, promise you have a plan, and what's the plan? Run in head first, no actual recon."
"Hulk not smash?" the troll spoke, looking deeply disappointed.
"Hulk better not smash! I just fixed these walls a few months ago!" Toni, one of the furs draped around her, slid out from behind Bucky.
"Is there an actual reason the circus broke into our home at fuck o'clock in the morning?" she demanded.
"Uh, the gate was open, and it's past noon," the archer pointed out.
"Shut up, bargain-bin Robin Hood."
"Yes, ma'am!" He raised his hands in the air, smiling in amusement.
The redhead elf stood, her readiness exchanging for a relaxed look as she sheathed her knives.
"Well, Man With No Plan?" Toni glared at the golden-haired man who was still standing there, shield up, looking confused.
"We, uh…." He looked at his shield, then quickly hooked it behind his back. "The notice posted in all the towns from King Stark says he'll pay a million and a half gold crowns to whomever rescues Princess Antonia from the Winter Dragon."
"Oh, that's just great!" Toni said sarcastically. "Now we'll be overrun by every idiot who can hold a sword, and their sidekick turkeys." She waved a hand at the winged man.
"The name's Falcon." He pulled off his goggles, giving her an offended look.
"Okay, pigeon." She turned her back on him to look up at Bucky.
"Deal with it, Bucky? I'm going back to bed. Don't wake me until the new metal polymer finishes combining. There's an alarm; I'll sleep through it." She headed back inside without waiting for an answer.
"Damn, man." Falcon shook his head. "She's harsh."
"Bucky?" exclaimed their leader.
The incredulous question stopped Bucky before he could start to defend Toni. (She'd been up for two days smithing and melting metals for her new project; she deserved all the bad temper interrupted sleep left her with)."
Got a problem with my name?" Bucky glared down at the human.
"What-no! Buck, it's me, Steve!"
Steve who? Bucky didn't know any humans named Steve. His expression must've conveyed that, because this one, this 'Steve', stepped closer, looking up at him imploringly.
"Don't you remember, Buck? When you found me fighting with those drakes in the empty weir tunnels? I had 'em on the ropes, but you jumped in anyway and we both sent 'em flying out of our mountain, crying about bloody snouts!"
What? Bucky knew that story, of course, even had a few spotty memories that corresponded to it, but that was decades ago. And he'd done that with another dragon.
"My ma was Sarah," Steve insisted. "Yours was Winnifred. You had a sister, Rebecca. Our moms raised us together as one clutch when we became best friends. You're my brother, Bucky!"
"You're human," Bucky insisted right back. "Stevie was a tiny gold dragon with a big mouth and more fight than sense."
"Heh." Steve grinned. "Clint says my mouth is still too big."
"You stick your foot in it enough," the blond elf - Clint, apparently - said as he leapt off the wall, landing lightly and easily some four stories below in the courtyard.
"I uh, I went through some changes," Steve said sheepishly. "I mean, first I met a girl, then I went through the changes. Found a wizard to make me human."
"Why?" Bucky was aghast, and starting to believe the story, as wild as it seemed.
Steve shrugged. "I met a girl," he repeated, as though that explained anything.
"Commander Carter would bloody your nose if she heard you call her a girl." The redhead was sitting on the wall now, legs dangling.
"Yeah." The look on Steve's face turned dreamy for a moment before he shook it off.
"Buck, this is Sam." He indicated the Falcon. "Thor." He nodded to the barbarian, who now had his hammer hooked on his belt. "The Hulk, right now; he'll be physician Bruce when he calms down." He pointed at the troll, who grunted and waved back. "Natasha, the Black Widow." He turned to look up at the redhead, then down at Clint. "And Clint, Hawkeye.
"We're the Avengers. Our group was formed to travel to different kingdoms and fight the threats regular knights and soldiers can't."
"And you thought I qualified." Bucky wasn't impressed. Okay, well, maybe a little. The Hulk would've been a challenge.
"The Winter Dragon is a legend." Natasha was in the courtyard now, but he hadn't seen her move from her perch above.
"I retired," Bucky said with heavy sarcasm. "HYDRA's shit, but they had a lot of nice metal and wire, and their soldiers are crunchy."