Well, as promised, here is a second update. I have two more chapters written and a third is currently being worked on, with a few more already sketched out so I'm hoping to not my mojo anytime soon. However, it is my birthday on Sunday so forgive me if I get side-tracked and don't update soon. Also, my son is teething and sleeping terribly at night, so if my chapters don't add up in places, would you be kind enough to message me and let me know what's wrong with it? Ta!
As always, all characters belong to the Marvel Cinematic Universe- no copyright infringement is intended. I do not make a single penny from this.
Chapter Nineteen- Security Breach
"Captain Rogers, that is the tenth punching bag you've gone through, which leaves you with five more. Would you like me to order some more?" Came FRIDAY from the speakers.
Breaking from the workout, Steve stared at the littered floor, bags with their sand spilled all over and cringed. "Err, yeah. Thanks FRIDAY."
Damn, I lost track this time, he thought. Normally he only worked through a few bags a night, and only three nights a week, but the stress of the situation he was in left him punching his stress out every single night since he'd returned to the Tower.
At breaking point, Steve had begun to crack under the strain of it all. Tony was a friend he cared about, deeply, and by refusing to tell him what he knew, he'd potentially damaged their friendship irreparably.
And it hurt- badly. Knowing that he was one of the main causes for his pain made him sick. "FRIDAY, will you double the order please?"
There was a pause before she responded. "Mr. Stark has placed the order for you."
He blinked. "Oh. Thanks. Where is Tony, FRIDAY?"
Another pause. "Mr. Stark does not currently wish to disclose his whereabouts. He says, and I quote 'if you want to know where I am, Rogers, get off your ass and find me'. I believe that was all he said."
He sighed. "Okay, can you give me a hint?"
"I do believe that he was leaving his workshop, so you have eighty plus floors to select for your search."
"That's cold, FRIDAY," he laughed and watched the bots slink out from their hiding places and start cleaning up his mess.
He jogged out of the gym and tried to work out where Tony would go, if he left his workshop not of his own will, then he'd all but been kicked out of it. He wouldn't go up to his suite, too easy to find him there and pester him. When he was stressed before, he would drink, so maybe he'd gone to the kitchen.
He checked there, found all the bottles of alcohol there, so he wasn't drinking himself into a stupor. Next, he tried the communal entertainment room- empty. He checked the surveillance screens- not on the roof. Then he remembered his love of heights, so he walked back through the communal entertainment room and looked up, finding him sat on one of the rafter beams.
Grateful for his super strength, Steve took a giant leap and grabbed onto the lowest beam, swinging himself steadily up to the one Tony was sat on, and settled down opposite him, legs dangling over the edge.
"Hey," he said softly.
Tony looked at him, rolled his eyes but gave him a nod of acknowledgement. He went back to tapping on his Stark Pad, grumbling about a mug.
He peered over and frowned. "What happened to your mug?"
"Ask your bloody Bucky what happened to it, I'm sure he'd be more than happy to enlighten you."
Steve's frown deepened. "What do you mean? Is his arm malfunctioning again?"
Tony looked up and his whole face flamed. "No, but his fucking lips are."
He blinked several times before his mouth fell open, eyes wide. "He uh…he kissed you?"
A grunt was the answer which told Steve all he needed to know. His sullen attitude gave clue that he had not been a happy recipient of such action. "Okay, not something I saw coming. Guess you weren't too happy about that?"
The tapping on the Stark Pad halted and Tony met his gaze. "No, I was not. I'd have rather you or Bruce kissed me."
Well, that said a lot. Steve huffed quietly and processed, letting Tony do his ordering. He knew Buck had become fixated on making amends, but to go so far as to make a move on him, Steve really hadn't seen that coming. He'd certainly never given much indication he was attracted to men- the last time Buck had been with someone was a girl called Dot.
Not that it mattered. "You're going to have to talk about it at some point."
The tapping stopped again. "No, I don't. So long as he stays away, I can move past this and once HYDRA is fully stopped, he can go on his merry way."
"You'll throw him out of the Tower?"
Tony shrugged. "No reason for him to stay. Teammate or not, he crossed a line today."
Steve raised an eyebrow. "And you've never crossed a line, Tony? The helicarrier? I seem to recall you saying I was of no use."
He flushed pink. "We'd just started out, I was still pissed at Fury for hiding things."
The other eyebrow climbed up. "And isn't Buck only just starting out? I'm sure it was an 'in the moment' kind of thing, I doubt it will happen again. Just move on and forget about it. Don't undo all the hard work you've done to actually start treating him like a person."
Tony heaved a sigh and grumbled, tapping his pad violently but he agreed to forget it ever happened. Steve hopped down from the rafters and left the genius to his thoughts. He had a metal-armed man to speak with.
-oo0oo-
He found said man on the roof, smoking. "I'm pretty sure you were supposed to be giving that up?"
Bucky looked round and shrugged. "Super soldier lungs, heal right away."
Steve sighed heavily and sat down next to him, pulling a cigarette out of the packet and lighting it. "This really tastes disgusting."
Bucky laughed. "Yeah, I seem to remember you nearly throwing up the first time you ever took a drag."
He smiled and smoked away, blowing the blue stream of smoke out, watching it dissipate into the air. "I just saw Tony."
"Shit."
"Yeah."
Bucky winced. "That bad?"
"You could say that. He wasn't overly impressed to say the least. What were you thinking?"
Bucky shrugged and flicked the cigarette end over the railings and lit another one. "I guess I wasn't. He was just so…happy about being brought coffee, his whole face lit up and I just couldn't help it."
"You've never shown interest in a guy before?"
"Not really, no. I mean, I can appreciate someone as good looking, but Tony's the first bloke I've ever actually ever been attracted to."
Steve raised a brow. "So, you're attracted to him?"
Bucky glanced over and sighed heavily. "Yeah, he's…I don't know what it is. There's something about him that draws me, and now I've fucked it all up."
Steve finished his cigarette and flung the end over, sat back and rolled his shoulders. "I don't think so. He's pissed, but he'll calm down. Give him a couple of days and he'll come around."
Bucky looked at him and shook his head with a chuckle. "Ever the optimist. Alright, buddy, I'll leave him alone for a bit and see how things go, wouldn't want him trying to blow me up or anything."
Steve laughed and nudged him in the ribs. "No, but definitely blow you."
Bucky slugged him in the arm, face bright red and walked off, muttering to himself. Steve smiled to himself, listening to the traffic below and enjoyed the fresh air. He realised that perhaps there was a chance that both his friends would find some semblance of happiness around each other. In his heart, he doubted love would ever grow there, not because Tony couldn't get past his parents' deaths, but because Tony didn't know how to love someone- things with Pepper had proven that.
-oo0oo-
"Fuck!"
Bucky poked his head up from there he was mucking around with some scraps to eye Tony carefully over the pile. He could see the genius throwing things around and cursing a blue streak, FRIDAY unsuccessfully trying to inform him of something.
He rose from his perch and carefully walked over. "What's up?"
Tony glared at him, nostrils flaring and threw his hands in the air. "FRIDAY found a breach in my system and I can't fucking find the little bastard who did it."
He frowned, brows knitted together tightly and rubbed the back of his neck. "Not to rub salt in the wound, but I thought FRIDAY was meant to be impenetrable?"
Hazel eyes locked with his coldly, lids narrowed. "She fucking is. But somehow, someone managed to find a way in. It would seem a file was taken, but none of them were mine and I can't tell what was taken."
Bucky cocked his head. "Can't you just ask FRIDAY what was taken?"
He glared harder. "FRIDAY is refusing to tell me."
"Apologies, Mr. Stark, but the file belonged to Mr. Barnes," FRIDAY sounded from above.
"Oh."
Tony placed his hands on his hips. "Oh?"
Bucky nodded and smiled sheepishly. "Erm, it was something I was working on. I never actually told FRIDAY she had to keep it a secret, but I guess she takes privacy seriously."
"The fuck was so important this idiot saw fit to steal it?" He bellowed.
"It was something to do with the night of the fundraiser, when HYDRA came looking for me. I was thinking, how did they know to attack that night? How did they know I was going to be there? The fundraiser was kind of last minute, and no one had any idea I was going to be there."
The cold look disappeared from Tony's eyes. "That's…a surprisingly good question, and one I don't have an answer for."
Fighting back a grin, Bucky sat down on a stool and kicked the roller chair over to him. Once he'd sat down, Bucky explained. "I was thinking about how HYDRA knew to strike, so I asked FRIDAY to pull up the security footage of the tower. Unsurprisingly there was nothing. No glitches, no black spots, nothing to suggest that there was something wrong with her, or that someone had gained access."
Tony rolled his eyes. "Of course not, FRIDAY is just as strong as JARVIS was- except this time," he added.
Bucky chuckled quietly. "Anyway, I got to thinking, what if it wasn't anything to do with FRIDAY at all? I asked her to check all the cameras surrounding the tower, and there I found it. There is a camera that normally faces the oncoming traffic outside the tower's entrance. Before we left for the fundraiser, it was turned towards the entrance, and back facing the traffic ten minutes after we'd left. Someone was waiting to see who left."
Hazel eyes just stared in shock at him, before he stood from his chair rapidly and kicked it away. "How the fuck did I not think of this?"
The super soldier blinked slowly for a moment. "Because you're busy making sure everyone is okay and has all that they need. Because you're busy making sure everything runs smoothly. You're a genius, Tony, but you're not perfect, no one expects you to be."
Tony threw a dark look over his shoulder. "Try telling that to my father," he spat.
Bucky reared back from the words before he realised that it wasn't an attack on him. "Tasha mentioned that you and your father didn't get along. It's hard to reconcile that with the man I knew before…" he suddenly trailed off and shifted uncomfortably on his stool.
"Before he died? Yeah, well, trust me. You might be surprised at just the kind of man Howard Stark was. He was a doting husband and loving father to the outside world, but on the inside? That man was cold-hearted and incapable of feeling anything for anyone, especially if it wasn't to do with his latest research."
"I'm sure he loved you, in his own way."
Tony glared at him. "Don't. Don't make assumptions or excuses for him. Once, he was in a meeting, and I snuck into the room after a nightmare during a nap. I wanted to sit in my father's lap and have him tell me I was just being silly because monsters weren't real. Do you know what he did instead?"
Bucky shook his head, unable to speak for fear his voice would fail him.
"My father dragged me out of the meeting and took his belt to me. I was six years old, Barnes. Six! I was a child seeking comfort from a parent and he belted me for disturbing his important meeting. That is the kind of man Howard Stark was. He was a bully, a cold bastard and in all honesty, if it hadn't been for the fact my mother died that night, I would have probably shaken your hand for the death of my dad!"
Bucky lowered his head at the mention of Maria Stark, his hair falling in his eyes. "If I could take it back, I would," he said softly.
Tony paused in his rant and sat down heavily. "Yeah, I know you would. My mom…she was everything to me. My dad, honestly, I couldn't care about. I thought I missed him at first, but really, I just missed the idea of him coming home and being the kind of dad I had always wanted."
The soldier nodded. "I'm sorry you didn't know him as the kind of man that I did."
Tony shrugged. "It is what it is, Tin Boy, can't change the past."
"I know, but if I could…I'll leave you alone now, I'm sorry about the file- maybe Bruce can offer you some help?"
Tony cocked his head and nodded slowly. "Yeah, not a bad idea. And Barnes?" Bucky met his eyes. "I might not be able to forgive you for that night, yet. But I think you can be allowed to forgive yourself. You…you weren't you, on that night. The Asset was in control, so, I guess in a way, you could say your alter ego is to blame."
He nodded and turned to leave, his step faltering slightly when he heard Tony speak one more time. "I don't hate you," came the whispered words that brought tears to his blue eyes.
-oo0oo-
A few hours later, Bucky located Tony in the lab set aside for Bruce, with the man himself, discussing what Bucky had found out and the theft of the file from his system. Bucky wasn't overly concerned with the revelation itself, but more that fact that someone had gained access to a system that no one on Earth should be able to hack into.
Bruce was standing with his back to him, resting against the counter. He studied the man's profile a moment, still amazed that this wiry man erupted into a beast capable of levelling entire cities in minutes.
"Bucky, it's really quite rude to darken someone's door without announcing yourself," Bruce called over.
He flushed darkly and moved into the man's line of sight. "Sorry, I didn't want to interrupt."
The science genius chuckled softly. "Quite alright, I'm feeling exceptionally calm today."
Bucky grinned widely and shook his hand. "I promise not to break your boy again, that was a bad call."
Bruce nodded and leant back against the counter. "Tony was just discussing the breach in the security with me- I informed him it was you that figured it out- really clever by the way, not sure if I said that."
"Yeah, thanks, I wasn't really looking for anything in particular, but it did occur to me that there had to have been something that would tip them off to who would be going to the fundraiser, how else would HYDRA have known to strike then?"
Bruce nodded again. "Indeed, it was a brilliant line of thought. The fact that it had to have been the same person to reposition the camera that managed to break into FRIDAY's system and steal the file you had saved with the information on strikes me as interesting- especially since I don't know of a single person with that kind of knowledge. The only two people I can think of would be Von Doom and Stephen Strange- and neither of them were involved. Strange would own up to it for the sheer fact that it would feed his ego to outsmart Tony, and the same with Von Doom- plus he was busy trying to win back Susan Storm again so I find it highly unlikely he had anything to do with this."
Bucky looked to Tony for clarification on who these people were, but the mechanic just shook his head and mouthed 'later'. He nodded and refocused his attention back on Bruce. "Okay, so does that narrow the pool down a bit?"
Banner shook his head. "Afraid not. Those are the only two people in existence that could even get close to the level of intelligence that Tony has." Tony scoffed quietly and Bruce shot him a glare. "So, in all honesty, we haven't got a goddamn clue who it could have been."
Sighing heavily, Bucky moved his hair out of his face and crossed his arms over his chest, the plates in his metal arm clicking and whining before they shifted into place properly. "That's…not what I wanted to hear," he admitted softly. "It's going to unnerve the others that someone was able to get past FRIDAY with little effort, so it seems, anyway."
Tony moved over a bit and looked at his shoulder with the star on. "Your plates are clicking, that's not right. Take a seat, let me have a peek while you and Banner make goo-goo eyes at each other. And for the record, I bet it took them a lot of effort to find a way around FRIDAY's firewalls."
Bruce rolled his eyes and slapped Tony upside the head. "Feeling left out, love?" He teased.
Tony pouted. "Yeah, you're supposed to be my science bro but here you are, talking like besties with the tin man."
Bucky chewed his lip, fearful Tony was being serious, but on closer inspection, he could see the humour dancing in the hazel eyes. "If it makes you feel any better, I'll just sit here and be all quiet and demure, I'm sure you'd like that."
Bruce choked on his tongue while Tony looked at him, blinking slowly, until a smirk curved his lips. "Indeed, I do believe I would enjoy that." He jimmied the hatch open and tweaked the necessary lines to sort the shifting of the plates, programming it to run a little smoother and with less lag so the clicking wouldn't keep happening. "To be honest, you could use a full tune-up. Make sure to swing by the workshop at some point so I can sort that out, looks like you might have done a little more damage than I thought when you bust the hatch up for me to look at."
He stared at Tony's arms, watching the strong muscles dance under the skin as he worked and closed the hatch on his arm. Swallowing thickly, he tried to refocus his thoughts to what they were discussing, and not on how much he really wanted to find out how those muscles felt. He looked at Bruce and caught the man watching him with a curious expression, causing Bucky to blush.
Finally, once Tony had stepped far away enough that he could think clearly again, he thanked Tony and stood back up, leaning against the exam table behind him. "So, we don't have a clue who this person is that's smart enough to hack into FRIDAY, and the only suspects we could have pinned it on have no involvement at all. Am I the only one that thinks this smells really fucking weird?"
Bruce cocked his head to one side. "Well, I was reviewing some of the footage from the night of the fundraiser, and there were a couple of things that bothered me."
Bucky smiled invitingly. "Okay, carry on"
"Alright, for one thing, that night was set up pretty last minute from what Tony was telling me, so how could HYDRA have known to strike on that precise night?"
"I suppose one idea is that they could have been watching the tower for some time using the various cameras dotted around to see what we're up to, another is that Tony's communications are being intercepted so they knew he would be attending the fundraiser," Bucky said, stroking his chin thoughtfully, grimacing at the stubble and realising he still hadn't shaved.
Tony shook his head on that one. "No, you lot only turned up a matter of days ago, I haven't let anyone know about any of you- so they couldn't have known about Barnes being here. Whoever it is would have had to watch the cameras for months to see who came and went. Further still, there was no guarantee that Steve would bring you all here- he could have gone anywhere."
Bucky sighed. He had to agree with that logic, he believed Tony when he said no one knew- and the fact the man had become a hermit since Siberia, the amount of footage to trawl through to see if any of the Avengers had returned was ridiculously high.
"No, he's right- that wouldn't be the right line to go down," Bruce added. "Bucky, is there anything at all that stood out when these HYDRA goons arrived? I've watched the CCTV footage but the venue has really poor equipment and FRIDAY can't tidy it up any better because of low resolution."
The thought about the wiry frames of the men popped back into his head. "Yeah, everyone, and I mean everyone, who was a trained assassin for HYDRA was well built, they were extremely practised in their missions. The guys who crashed the fundraiser were wiry, small framed, and didn't really seem all that threatening. At the time, I was scared, because I didn't want to go back to being just the Asset- but on hindsight, they were really unthreatening."
Tony nodded slowly. "And, there was the fact they all had their safety's on, if you're going into a building with the intention to kidnap someone using hostile force, you don't keep your safety on. If they were that hellbent on taking Barnes with them, there would have been no cause for concern on public safety."
Bruce agreed with him. "I'm no expert on tactical plans, but I'm pretty sure having a safety on would go against everything for a snatch and grab."
Getting up, Bucky began to pace, fingers of his metal arm twitching in his restlessness. "What if…what if they watched the cameras that night because they knew I was there? I know it's been kept out of everything that I was at the tower, but it's entirely possible."
Tony shook his head. "No, it isn't. I blew that arm off, so whoever rebuilt it either had to have put a tracer in it that linked back to HYDRA, or they knew another way."
"No, there's absolutely no way a tracer is in my arm. One, you would have noticed it on any of the times you've been rooting around in it. Second, the person who rebuilt my arm is in no way, at all, linked to HYDRA."
Bruce sighed and idly played with a glass stirring rod, frustrated that they were getting nowhere with their lines of thought. Until something popped in his head. "Tony, does Pepper know about Bucky?"
Hazel eyes locked with brown. "No fucking way, Banner!" He snarled.
Bruce raised his hands in the air. "No, I was not suggesting that she released the information. But if she's mentioned it at any point, someone could have overheard and word got out, it's not outside the realm of possibility."
Bucky touched Tony's shoulder gently. "I don't think Pepper would ever actively talk about any of you, but if her phone calls were ever overheard, or she made a note and it was seen…it's not something we should rule out."
Tony sighed but nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I guess. Sorry, man," he said to Bruce.
The scientist laughed. "Come on, it takes more than that to piss me off. However, now that I think more on it, I don't think it's quite like that. I think it's more likely that they overheard about the fundraiser."
Bucky had to nod at that one. "Yeah, that is a little more likely, and something that Pepper would have spoken about in front of others. There's something else we haven't thought about- maybe it was nothing to do with me at all."
Tony frowned and snorted. "Come on, it was HYDRA, of course it was about you."
The soldier shook his head. "No, not necessarily. We're all in agreement about these goons not being prepared for a snatch and grab mission. Think about it, the more we put that night in order, they backed down remarkably quickly. Rumlow would have kept going, pushing until he got what he wanted."
The gears in Tony's head started turning as the pieces fell into place, his face contorting in shock. "Shit…it was never about getting Barnes back, it was all a distraction. Pepper never actually said what the fundraiser was for, like it was thrown to her last minute. They wanted us out of the tower for something. But it couldn't have just been the hacking, if you're going to do that, you do it remotely, without even being anywhere within range of your target. FRIDAY is never powered down, even when I'm out, she's always in my ear, she's in every piece of tech I own. But, in order to place something in there, something to lie dormant, I would need to be out. When I'm working, I have too many things running at once for someone to slip in a bug without me noticing. Someone wanted us out of the tower."
Bucky paled slightly at the idea someone had planned the whole thing out so carefully. "But why the HYDRA guys? If they even were HYDRA, that is. Why send goons to 'apprehend' me, if they were already infiltrating the tower and planting whatever it was they wanted to in FRIDAY?"
Bruce suddenly stood up straight, worry on his face. "Because they didn't want anyone looking too closely at the fundraiser, the idea was to get you all out of the tower, but not long enough for you to spend time there and ask questions what everyone was raising funds for."
Tony swung around to look at him so fast his neck cracked, Bucky wincing at the noise. He had no time to react as alarms blared throughout the tower, FRIDAY launching a full-scale defence protocol when a high-pitched whine sounded.
Bucky screamed and slammed his hands over his ears, the sound awful. He could see Tony was unaffected, the sound too high for him to hear. But Bruce was howling, his eyes quickly moving from brown to bright green, his skin taking the same colour as his body expanded.
Before he could process what was going on, Bruce had fully transformed and bellowed in rage as the noise continued. He thrashed out, his giant fist connecting with Tony and slammed him into the exam table and over it.
Terror flashed on Tony's face as he connected with the table, springing Bucky into action. He tried to ignore the ear-splitting noise and leapt over the table, scooping Tony into his arms as carefully as he could in a time sensitive moment before the Hulk could reach them.
Staring at the green monstrosity, Bucky snarled and ran out of the lab with Tony cradled to his chest, his body limp and bleeding in places. Hazel eyes met his briefly, pain-filled and fearful. He tried to smile reassuringly, failing when he heard the Hulk thundering behind them.
He prayed the others kept away from where they were, he had to try and get Tony to safety while getting the Hulk into the room where he had been reset. He remembered being told it was built to hold the Hulk. He skidded to a halt running and met the green gaze of the beast, held Tony to his body a little tighter, and ran full scale towards the Hulk.
He slid to the side to try and fit around his huge frame, the room he needed down the corridor. Almost past, he didn't see the giant fist until it slammed into his side and punched him through the wall, Tony crying out in pain. Bucky's vision swam, his head thumping with the combined pain of the whining noise and being slammed through the wall.
The Hulk tore through the wall after them, roaring in triumph at his catch, Bucky shakily climbing to his feet. Tony mewled in pain, one arm slung over his ribs, breathing ragged. "I'm sorry," Bucky murmured. "I can't afford to be gentle." He set off running again, the Hulk once more thundering behind him. Please, he prayed. Let me reach the Hulk room and keep Tony safe. He turned the corner sharply, something slamming into his back and forcing him forward, his body curling over Tony protectively, shielding his body from the worst of the impact when he hit the floor.
Bucky couldn't see straight, his head really pounding now. He climbed to his feet again as the Hulk ran towards them, Bucky tried to run again, but his body was struggling to heal as fast as it was being battered. He heard the Hulk right behind him and his heart skipped in fear for Tony's life as the man's breathing grew more ragged.
Bucky saw the room just ahead, and grinned. "Finally," he murmured. "Just hold on a little longer, Tony." He glanced back to see where the Hulk was, but the beast seemed to know where they were going and had slowed down. Bucky swore but didn't dare turn back and get his attention, at the very least he could lock them both in the room until someone could calm Bruce down enough that he could change back.
Something ahead seemed to catch his attention though, a figure. "Banner!" It bellowed. The Hulk roared and charged.
There you have it! I apologise again for my infrequent updates and hope to not have that happen again anytime soon- but a massive shout out to those who have stuck with me, not pestered for chapters and have understood that sometimes, RL gets in the damn way. As I said at the top, it's my birthday on Sunday so if anyone would like to butter me up with reviews as presents, I might be persuaded to update then as well ^_^
