Writing dodgeball turned out to be super easy, barely an inconvenience. Everything that came after that gave me a lot of trouble.
Watching Steve instruct a bunch of teenagers on battle strategy is sort of hilarious, because they're too focused on trash talking their friends before the game has even started.
"I'm going to make you put on the fireworks when I beat you," Bobby taunts Jubilee.
"Yeah, right! This isn't a snowball fight." Jubilee throws back.
Rogue's taken to jabbing at Tony. "Can't have your AI calculate shots for you now,"
Tony scoffs. "I can calculate aerodynamics in my sleep. Besides, aren't you failing calculus? You might want to ask my AI to tutor you."
Logan's lips curl around his cigar. "You're going to want to listen to Spangles if you want a prayer of passing your next history test."
Tony claps Steve on the back. At least Steve doesn't have personal experience with the Civil War, though Logan apparently does. He'd tease Logan about being old, but Thor and Loki make their ancient ages quite relative.
Jubilee points to the glow in Tony's shirt and proclaims, "Three thousand points if you hit his arc reactor!"
Loki and Thor lead their group around the side of the mansion, while Tony, Steve and James stay in the front with their team.
"I need my motorbroom," Harry reaches out, ready to call it to him as Thor does with Mjolnir.
"Ain't any planes back then," Logan tells him.
"But there were brooms," Sirius points out.
"Didn't see any when I fought there," Logan takes out his cigar to blow his whistle, then clamps his cigar between his teeth again.
Students sprint for the balls. Rogue tosses one at Harry, obviously holding back.
In one fluid motion, James scoops Harry onto his back, holding him safely in place with his metal arm. He snatches dodgeballs out of both his opponents' and teammates' hands, sending them flying towards his opponents.
In five seconds, he's hit almost the entire team single-handedly; even more impressively, he's only using one hand since the other is holding Harry.
Kitty cheats and lets the ball pass right through her, and Kurt starts teleporting everywhere, the loud bamf of his teleportation barely audible over students shouting.
Loki was clearly never planning on following the power ban in the first place, and has been vanishing balls and teleporting since the moment the battle started.
Thor is certainly using his enhancements to dodge James' throws, which whiz like bullets through the air. He disregards the 'dodge' part of dodgeball, jovially hammering them back with his fists.
Tony has to admit Rogue has a point; there's a reason Jarvis watches his back in the suit. Keeping track of Kurt and Loki simultaneously is definitely a challenge, even for a genius.
A ball thwacks Tony solidly in the chest. "Maybe your AI should tutor you," Rogue says as Kurt disappears with another bamf and puff of smoke.
"I should've bet this 'no powers' thing wouldn't last ten seconds." Tony mutters.
Harry wriggles, protesting being put in a piggyback. "Why don't I get to play?"
"Keeping you safe," James mutters, twisting in an unnatural angle to dodge a ball from Thor's fist. Loki makes it swerve in midair, chasing James and Harry across the lawn. James leaps and dives while Harry shouts, clearly deciding a piggyback is almost as good as a broom ride.
Tony, of course, knew that James was the Winter Soldier. He'd pretty much been the Winter Soldier when he arrived at Tony's tower, but seeing him as an expressionless fighting machine is jarring. Jarring enough to stop Steve in his tracks. James covers Steve's back, Harry sandwiched between the two super-soldiers.
James snatches the rogue ball from midair and crushes it in his flesh fist, stomping the deflated husk for good measure.
Loki grins, repairs it in the blink of an eye, and sends it hurtling after James again. James dives at Loki, who turns out to be an illusion. James manages to land on his feet anyway, spinning and scanning several Lokis grinning from around the lawn.
Tony's about to head inside to grab some popcorn or a scotch to drink while watching the chaos continue to unfold when he realizes he can get Sirius to summon it for him. Or, he could if Sirius weren't currently Snuffles.
Snuffles chases down a ball to bring to James. Tony's vaguely insulted that Snuffles has stayed in the game longer than he has, but nobody's aiming for him.
"Snuffles, here boy!" Tony calls, pitching his voice higher like people do with actual dogs. Snuffles turns, giving him an exasperated look that only grows when Tony goes on. "How about fetching us some snacks, yeah?"
Snuffles huffs and chases another ball, tail whipping hard enough to be a weapon itself.
"You can learn new tricks!" Tony calls after him. "You're not even old!"
The rumble of an engine makes Tony turn away from the raging dodgeball battle.
A red 1962 Chevrolet Corvette pulls into the Institute's long driveway. It's not exactly Tony's type of car, a bit too old fashioned for his tastes, but he still pauses, half to admire the ride and half to peer at the figures behind the windshield.
Coulson and Romanoff.
James has clearly sighted them too, even as he continues to dodge and throw. Steve stands at attention when he sees Coulson, leaving him vulnerable to be smacked by a ball.
"Jerk," he mutters at James, whose eyes seem amused even if his lips barely twitch. "We're on the same side,"
"Constant vigilance," James perfectly imitates Moody.
The corvette sweeps around the driveway. Romanoff looks faintly amused, and Coulson just watches blandly, as if superhero scrimmages are nothing new to him. To be fair, they're probably not, but still, this is infinitely more awesome than anything he'd seen at SHIELD. Or it would be, if Tony were fighting.
"Lila says you're the aunt." Harry says to Romanoff.
Tony nods at Coulson's ride. "I didn't think you were one for classic cars, Agent, unless it was a Capmobile. Should we add some white and blue? Make it fully star-spangled?"
"You won't lay a hand on Lola." Coulson says calmly, though he's clearly fiercely protective of his ride.
"Not even Cap?" Tony gestures at Steve. "He's handy with a brush, not just a shield."
"He painted my Batman toy to be Wolverine." Harry says.
Coulson isn't listening, too busy watching Loki carefully.
"I won't lay a hand on her, you have my word," Loki keeps his face innocent.
"If you mess with her in any way-" Coulson starts to say.
Loki rolls his eyes with a huff. "Yes, yes, you'll make me rue the day I was born."
"Where's Lola?" says Harry, clearly wondering if someone's getting hurt and needs to be saved. "Who's Lola?"
"This is Lola," Coulson smiles at his car. "She's a Levitating Over Land Automobile."
Harry's eyes almost bug out of his head. "You have a flying car?! Sirius said he had a flying motorbike."
Tony notes that James and Steve both appear interested, as if that has anything on the Iron Man suits.
Steve turns to James and asks, as if trying not to sound hopeful, "Remember the Expo the night before you shipped out?"
James' face goes blank for a moment. "It crashed,"
Tony snorts. He finds no small pleasure in the fact that he's built dozens of Iron Man suits while Howard never got a car airborne for more than a few seconds.
"Don't worry, Jarvis, she's got nothing on you." Tony mutters into his phone. Sure, the car's got a clever acronym name, but Tony's willing to bet Lola doesn't have any sort of artificial intelligence.
Harry wiggles impatiently on James' back. "I want to fly her!"
"You need a level seven clearance to even sit in Lola," Romanoff says, and Tony honestly can't tell if she's joking until she leans down to whisper "He let Cooper and Lila sit in her."
"They're my friends!" Harry exclaims. "I shared my motorbroom with them. You should share too. Can I have a go, please?"
Coulson lets James sit behind the wheel with Harry in his lap and put the car into hover mode; the wheels fold up and provide propulsion.
Harry insists Tony take photos of them for the album.
James is much less excited than Harry, but there is a touch of excitement; Steve had once mentioned that Bucky was really into pulp sci-fi magazines.
As he takes several pictures, Tony can't help but say "I could build something better in a weekend. In fact, I have."
"Did you think I forgot about your suits?" James asks tonelessly.
"What? No! You can form new memories, it's just the old ones that are-" Tony stops, pointing an accusing finger at James. "Are you messing with me?!"
"No," James' face and tone remain flat. "Steve's the punk."
Steve's face flashes through several emotions before he quickly turns to Coulson and stands at attention. "Do you have a mission for us, sir? Do we need to debrief on the Magneto incident?"
"Make Loki write the report," Tony waves a dismissive hand. "The Prof's off visiting Magneto in his new plastic prison."
"I didn't come about Magneto, but Loki's assistance was much appreciated," Coulson says, and Loki looks momentarily stunned before he schools his expression.
Tony gestures towards Harry and James in Lola. "Well, I know you didn't come just to set up this Kodak moment. What is it? Avengers business?"
Coulson beckons James to lower Lola to the ground. He pulls out a briefcase and hands it to James.
James opens the case, and Tony sees a red book with a black star. James' face goes blank. "The words don't work anymore,"
The files seem to contain a disturbing amount of information on the Winter Soldier's programming, not that Tony can read Cyrillic. Tony feels sick just looking at it. It's obviously exponentially worse for James, but he keeps a stoic demeanor.
James angles the files away from Harry, but not before Harry points to a picture of the Soldier and says "That's you,"
"It doesn't always have to be," Romanoff says, surprisingly gentle. "It'll always be in your past, but it doesn't have to be your future. James, you've done a remarkable job making a new life for yourself, but we'd like to offer our assistance. I have some experience in that area."
"You do." James agrees. "Stark and Professor X helped me a lot."
"Fury, Coulson and Clint helped me start a new life."
Romanoff's face softens slightly. "You deserve to be free. To take Harry to Coney Island or go for a run with Steve."
"That's what we're dismantling HYDRA for." Tony says. "You know, aside from them being an evil terrorist organization."
Still, he gets where they're going with this, and he's been thinking the same thing for a while. They need to get James pardoned.
Good thing he has a whole legal team at his disposal.
Writing dodgeball turned out to be super easy, barely an inconvenience. Everything that came after that gave me a lot of trouble.