Madison could feel Bucky's arm as it slid along the back of her chair, his fingers closing around her upper arm. "Maddie, what do you mean destroyed," he asked as he leaned in closer.
As Madison looked into Bucky's eyes she thought about how to explain about a sister that no one, not even Thor knew about.
Tony was busy scanning the region of space that Asgard inhabited. Thor had given him the coordinates within the realm so that if they ever needed to contact him they could. Not exactly the easiest long distance phone call to make since it had to bounce off of so many satellites and practically boomerang back to Earth, so it took several minutes of checking and rechecking for Tony to verify what Madison had said.
"It's gone. It's completely gone," Tony said, stunned that an entire realm had just been destroyed like that. He dropped to his seat in utter disbelief.
"If I remember the story correctly her name was Hela," Madison spoke softly, but the room was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop, "She was Thor's sister. Odin locked her away because she was basically evil incarnate and almost caused the downfall of Asgard once before." Madison was trying hard to remember all of the story as it had been told to her by her uncle.
"So she was basically the 2.0 version of Loki? Great!" Clint said, giving a humorless laugh at having dodged that obstacle.
"Uncle Loki?" Madison was shocked that someone would suggest that he would ever be a bad guy.
Peter took that moment to remind everyone that he was there as he spit and sputtered the juice he had been drinking across part of the kitchen table. He coughed several times before Clint wacked him on the back to try to help him gain his composure and to be able to breathe again.
"Uncle?!" Steve asked, shocked that Madison's Loki could be anything other than the diabolical one they had all come to know over the years.
"Well not really an uncle by blood. He's kinda like several of you are to me, just what I kinda got into the habit of calling you as I was growing up. After the battle of New York he was just around all the time and it became second nature to think of him as family." Madison couldn't believe that the Loki in this universe was anything other than the man who used to teach her magic tricks and once threatened to turn Jimmy Hodges into a lizard if he didn't leave her alone at school.
"So he helped…" Bruce stressed the word 'helped' "fight the battle of New York?"
"Yes, after the tesseract malfunctioned and opened up a portal to another realm these creatures called… I can never remember what they were called." Madison struggled to think of the word.
"The Chitauri?" Nat offered, floored at the change in events Madison was telling.
"Yeah, that's it, the Chitauri. They apparently caused the tesseract to malfunction and open up a door to Earth and they attacked trying to take over. Uncle Loki and Uncle Thor both fought alongside mom, dad, Uncle Tony, Uncle Clint and Uncle Bruce. Without his scepter, you wouldn't have been able to close the portal down with the device Dr. Selvig built because it didn't have enough natural power."
Everyone sat in stunned silence to learn how different this event had been in Madison's universe. In her time, there had been far less missions and battles than had happened so far in this universe.
"Well in our universe, Loki is very much the bad guy. He was the one that brought the Chitauri to Earth because he wanted to claim it for himself," Clint announced. This news stunned Madison. How could the two timelines have so much in common but yet still have so many major differences. This got her thinking about the bigger picture.
"So wait," Steve asked, thinking about how to word his question without stirring up old wounds, "things in your timeline aren't always 100% like ours?" Madison shrugged her shoulders unsure of how exactly to answer, she liked history but wasn't a huge buff at it. "Some things do seem to be different from my universe than to yours I mean, you don't have me in this timeline," Madison gave a sweet smile to Steve to which he smiled back at his daughter.
"You didn't have Bucky in your timeline," Steve asked, trying to get everyone on the same page of his line of thinking.
Madison turned and looked at Bucky who gave her a timid smile before lowering his head knowing what Steve was getting at. The sudden tension in the room was hard for Madison to understand. Was it because the Bucky in her timeline had died in the war? She tried to comfort Bucky by putting her hand on his thigh, but that didn't cause him to look at her, if anything Bucky became almost uncomfortable.
"Did all of us always live in the compound together? There wasn't ever a time when we were apart for a couple years?" Steve and Nat both looked at one another before looking back at Tony. All three knew exactly the time frame Steve was referring to. Bucky began to fidget in his seat, uncomfortable with where this was going. He wasn't ready for Madison to have to hear about how he had almost destroyed the whole team because of his actions.
"As far as I know, no. We've all lived together for my entire life. Why? What happened that would cause us not to live here?" The worry in Madison's voice was clear and it was also clear she was becoming upset to think that her family must have had some sort of major falling out if they didn't live together.
Bucky took a deep breath ready to explain about how he had been the one to cause the terrible rift in the group, but Tony cut him off before he could say anything. "It doesn't matter now. That's all in our past and it should stay there. We've moved on and forgiven one another." Tony gave Bucky a hard stare before softening his eyes and looking down and away.
It had taken Tony a great deal of time and personal reflection for him to forgive James Barnes and his role in the death of his parents. But part of him, an ever growing part of him, knew that it was the Winter Soldier that had killed his parents and that was not the good man who worked on his team on a daily basis. Natasha used to say that she worked every day to clear her ledger of all the red that it held, trying to make up for the bad that she had done over the years. James Bucky Barnes worked just as hard to do the same and Tony tried to keep that in mind and cut him some slack.
"Now if we are all finished with this trip down memory lane, perhaps we can return to the here and now to deal with the monster that wants to wipe out half of all creation?" Sarcasm was dripping heavily from Tony's frustrated voice.
"Can we send out an SOS type signal? Perhaps the ship they escaped on will be able to pick it up in time to warn them." Tony thought about Madison's suggestion, "well it couldn't hurt to try since we don't have many more options."
Tony rose from his chair intending to go do just that but Madison spoke up first, "Is it possible I could help with that? The agent made it sound like I had to have direct influences on changes made if they were to work. I wouldn't want to get caught on a technicality," she said, trying to offer a comforting smile to Tony. "I'll stay out of your way, I promise." Something told her this Tony wasn't her biggest fan, so she had to find a way to win him over, to make him trust her if this was all going to work.
Everyone looked to Tony to agree, but when he didn't, when he hesitated, Wanda stepped in to be the peace maker and suggest a different course of action. "How about we revisit that idea after we get you changed out of those clothes. You'll probably feel a lot better after you are in to some regular clothes."
Madison looked down realizing she was still sitting in the nightgown and robe she had walked out in with Bruce earlier. "Actually a nice hot shower and change of clothes would feel good about now." She moved to stand but wobbled a bit before Bucky grabbed her waist to steady her.
"Easy babe. Are you alright?" The concern on his face was endearing and would have been cute if it hadn't of taken a few extra seconds than normal for Madison's eyes to refocus and bring both Buckys she was seeing together to be only one handsome face.
"Yeah I'm fine," Madison said, smiling as she placed her hand on Bucky's chest in reassurance.
"Come on sweetie, we'll take care of you," Natasha said as she wrapped her arm around Madison's waist pulling her gently from Bucky's grip. Wanda cast a smile over her shoulder at Bucky in reassurance, "Don't worry, if we need you, we'll call," she said as the girls shuffled off back down the hall toward the dorms.
"Easier said than done," Bucky muttered under his breath, or so he thought.
Tony announced he would be in the lab as he stormed off in the other direction. Everyone was surprised at his abrupt exit but it was Clint who broke the tension in the room.
"Don't worry so much Bucky…it will give you frown lines," Clint laughed, point to his own forehead causing Bucky to chuckle aloud.
Sam had finally gotten to his feet and taken the seat that Madison vacated, bringing his plate with him. After stuffing a piece of bacon in to his mouth he asked the 10 million dollar question, "is it just me or does Stark have a problem with Maddie?"
Steve looked to each of the men still sitting at the table as they all seemed to agree with Sam's evaluation of the situation. "No, it's not just you," Steve said solemnly.
Natasha walked slowly back to Madison's bedroom as Wanda dashed off to her room to find a set of clothes for Madison to change into. Once in the room, Nat eased Madison back to the bed noticing that the crew had already come and gone after she left earlier, changing out the sheets and clearing all of the medical equipment away. "How's your head?" She asked, smirking at Madison's shocked face.
"Come on, you are my kid. You don't think I can figure out when you still aren't feeling well. Besides you were staring at Barnes like you couldn't decide which one of him you were seeing was the most adorable, so I knew something had to be up."
Madison's blushed full on at having been caught staring at Bucky. "See, just like that," Nat laughed at Madison's expense.
"Don't worry, I think it's sweet. Barnes is a good man. You could do worse," Nat offered as she joined Madison to sit on the bed.
"Have you known him very long," Madison asked?
Nat thought about how to answer that exactly. There was no way they had time for the whole story, and truth be told she wasn't sure she wanted to delve that much into her past life with Madison. She didn't know exactly how much of Madison's mother Natasha and she were alike. Madison may in fact know more than she was aware.
"Barnes's history with several of us is a complicated one. One I think you should allow him to tell you about when he's ready." Nat's smile was an attempt to offer comfort to Madison and it did, but she still had so many questions.
"Dad used to talk about having a best friend when he was younger, but that he had died on a mission for the government. It was always too painful for him so he didn't tell me much about him." Wanda walked through the door then bringing an arm full of clothes including a pair of what looked to be new sneakers, jogging pants, t-shirt and under clothes.
"I think I covered everything you should need," she said as she plopped the items down onto the bed near Madison. "When you are feeling more up to it we can either go shopping or we can order stuff online to be delivered here to the compound if you don't feel like going out. How does that sound," Wanda's chipper behavior was contagious. How could anyone be miserable around Wanda Maximoff?
"Sounds like a plan to me," Madison offered smiling at Wanda before rising and walking to the bathroom, taking her items with her.
"Call us if you need us," Wanda said before the door shut and the running water could be heard.
Once the coast seemed clear Wanda pounced with the questions, "So what is going on with Madison and James? Did she say anything to you about him? Oh he is so smitten it's adorable which is adorable in itself because he's trying so hard to deny it. All big bad, I'm a tough soldier is melting like a lollipop on a hot August day around her. He can't stop touching her and being near her. Oh and tell me all the details again of what you saw this morning, don't leave a single thing out." Nat grabbed Wanda's arms to stop her from moving as she was practically vibrating in her seat from her excitement.
Wanda was a huge romantic and loved, love. She was a sucker for even the slightest hint at romance and right now she was behaving like Cupid on steroids.
Natasha drew Wanda's focus to her before she explained what Madison had asked earlier about the shared pasts of Bucky with several members of the group. "Remember, she didn't have a Bucky Barnes or Winter Soldier in her timeline, so everything about him is new to her."
Wanda just sighed at how sweet it sounded to hear about new, young love forming. "Yeah it would be wonderfully sweet if he were just James Bucky Barnes," Natasha said, trying to get Wanda to follow the line of thinking she was currently on.
"Oh, yeah," Wanda said, frowning. How did one go about explaining the Winter Soldier and all of the horrible things he had done without it affecting a person's impression of the man James Barnes was now? The two were nowhere near the same person but technically were. This could become a very tricky discussion to have.
"So where did you leave it," Wanda asked, feeling very sorry for James.
"I told her it was something that Barnes should talk to her about when he feels it's the right time." Nat looked at Wanda from the corner of her eye, not really being able to face her. "Yes I know, I know, it was taking the easy way out, but I didn't want her to hear that from her mom!"
Wanda made a face that looked like she smelled something bad as she remembered exactly how connected Natasha Romanoff the Russian spy and the Winter Soldier really were from the past. "Maybe we should tell him to leave that part out of his story," Wanda suggested, giving a playful shiver of disgust at the thought of mom and daughter both having intimate moments with the same man. "That's like the whole Sharon and Peggy thing with Steve."
"OH GOD! I know. I'm so glad I'm not the only one that thought that was weird," Natasha reached over and grabbed Wanda's arm laughing at their shared disgust at Steve apparently having kissed both women in his past.
They were still laughing when Madison made it out of the bathroom having showered and changed and was now working on drying her long hair with a towel.
"How was your shower," Wanda asked through her laughter.
"Good," Madison said, smiling at the two ladies having such a fun time. That was something she really missed when Natasha was taken, her laughter. Her mom always had the most beautiful smile.
Madison diverted her attention so as not to freak Nat out by staring.
"I know you wanted to do some shopping, but would it be okay if we do that a little later? I'd really like to go help Uncle Tony if I could. It's really important to contact Uncle Thor and Loki as soon as possible." Madison had to walk a fine line when dealing with these events she was supposed to be influencing the change for. She couldn't say or do too much or nothing would happen and nothing would be fixed. She desperately wanted to tell everyone that if they didn't reach Thor's ship soon that they might not be able to tell him to avoid the quadrant that Thanos' ship was about to catch them in. Then nothing of that event; the Asgardians that were slaughtered, Heimdall or Loki's deaths, Thor's torture, none of it could be stopped if they didn't find them very soon. Loki's death was just the first in a long line of many people Madison would lose throughout the years but nothing hit as hard as her mother's death.
Madison couldn't help but stare at Natasha as she thought about the almost six years she had been without her mom. A young girl needs a mom in their lives during her teen years especially. Dad was great, but he never understood girl stuff the way mom did for Madison.
Finishing off her ponytail, Madison sat her brush on the dresser before turning expectantly to the two women still sitting on the bed, hoping they would get her signal that she was ready to leave the room.
"I guess we could look through clothes and such on the laptop downstairs just as easily as in here," Wanda said as she and Nat followed Madison to the door.
The ladies took the elevator downstairs to Bruce's lab where they knew Tony would be held up working. As they made their way inside Madison couldn't help but be fascinated by all of the high-tech gadgetry around the lab. Her Uncle Tony always loved to show her new things. Education was high on Tony Stark's list of important things for any young person to be immersed in, so it was no surprised to Madison's parents when he began taking her to the lab when she was barely out of diapers to show her his latest tech.
This Tony however was not the same. Madison could practically feel his eyes burning holes into her back as he watched her like a hawk. Her hand reached out to touch the holographic screen that displayed information about her medical health just as Tony's voice snapped at her to not touch anything.
"Sorry," Madison said timidly, wondering what exactly she was doing wrong to make her favorite uncle treat her this way.
"Well, I've got a signal bouncing around on repeat in the twelve quadrants surrounding where Asgard used to be located. If Thor's there, he should be able to pick it up," Tony said as he adjusted some settings on the computer screen he was monitoring.
"You sent the signal without me," Madison asked, confused as to why he would go ahead without her.
"It was just a simple SOS to any ship that could pick it up. I think I know how to do that without your assistance," Tony snapped.
Steve, Bucky and Sam walked into the lab only to hear Tony's bitter remarks to Madison. An angry Bucky walked with purpose to Madison's side as he saw the crestfallen look on her face from Tony's scolding. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest and holding her tightly as he turned a menacing look on Stark. You know the saying, 'if looks could kill'? Tony was thankful it was only a saying at the moment.
"Tony!" Steve snapped back at his friend. "She just wants to help. Besides, the agent said if she didn't have direct interaction that the changes to our timeline might not happen at all. So if it's just a damn click of a button are you really going to take that kinda chance?"
Bucky pulled back from Madison slightly, cupping her face gently with his palms as he looked deeply into her sad eyes. "Come outside with me. We'll take a walk and try out those snazzy new sneakers you got on," he said offering her a cheeky grin to make her laugh.
He didn't give Madison a chance to argue but rather pulled her by the hand behind him as they walked out the lab door towards the outside.
This left Tony to the mercy of the remaining Avengers in the room that were chomping at the bit for answers about his increasingly hostile attitude towards Madison.
"So what crawled up your ass and died to make you hate on that girl so much," Sam asked, his Louisiana roots being to show.
Tony returned to his seat, defeated and humbled. He knew he was wrong. It wasn't Madison's fault any of this was happening. In fact he knew she was their best shot at actually surviving it all. But right now the weight of the world felt like it was on his shoulders.
"Pepper's pregnant," Tony said, looking more like he had just announced his dog had died rather than he was going to be a father.
"Yay," Wanda asked more than announced because she wasn't really sure how Tony felt at the moment.
"Is this not something you and Pepper wanted, Tony," Steve attempted to ask without judgement in his voice?
"Of course we want this. I'm over the moon happy with the fact that I'm going to be a dad, finally," Tony said before running a hand over his face and through his hair.
"Well you need to tell your face that," Sam said, his sarcasm showing through, "cause it's currently saying diapers and Dior just don't mix."
Tony rose quickly to his feet to address Sam's comment, "We were just told that we could face an event of universal proportions, where I could lose everyone that I love and hold dear, including the new baby that until this morning I had no knowledge of and you're condemning me for not popping champagne corks?"
The anger, frustration and fear in Tony's face was evident as he looked at each person in the room. "Forgive me if I worry about saving the universe so that there is something for my kid to actually live in first!"
The room was in complete silence as everyone was too stunned and unsure about what to say next. Natasha braved the silence speaking up to offer a word of advice, "none of us can imagine what you are feeling right now Tony. But Madison didn't do any of this to us. Snapping at her and making her feel like she's the one doing something to destroy the universe isn't going to help anyone or fix any of this."
Tony's shoulders slumped forward in defeat. "I know that. And I know that I'm wrong for how I've treated her. I'm taking out my frustration and anger on the wrong person. The right person is just not in my realm, literally, right now." Tony took a deep breath to try to calm the headache that was beginning to grow, "I'll talk to her and apologize when she comes back inside."
Wanda smiled as she saw the image showing on the display for the front yard of the compound. Bucky and Madison were lying on the ground pointing towards the sky and laughing. "You might have a while to wait," she said, sliding the screen over so that Nat could see.
Sam, having seen the screen smirked before saying, "I swear it's like watching teenagers in love."
"Stop it, it's sweet," Wanda playfully scolded Sam as Nat just smiled at the scene on the screen.
"That's the Bucky Barnes I knew in the forties," Steve laughed softly as he watched his best friend hand his daughter a flower he had randomly picked from the ground.
Madison scooted closer to Bucky, resting her head on his shoulder as he pointed towards the sky. Cloud stories is what he used to call them. Steve remembered how Bucky tried to teach him different moves to pick up dames back in the day. Girls loved it when you'd make up funny or romantic stories about things and clouds, believe it or not, were something girls loved to look at. Steve laughed under his breath, his best friend was making the moves on his daughter…if he turned on the charm full force she wouldn't stand a chance.