Chapter 20 – Not Alone

Natasha casts a last look around the house on Long Island as they finish packing up.

'You alright?' Hope asks her, balancing a box on her hip.

'Yeah, just in a way I'm going to miss this place,' she laughs. 'You two going to wait at the facility for us to get back or you going to wait at home?'

'We promised Cap we'd stay at the facility and help with the repairs,' she replies, 'we'll be waiting to throw you a party when you get back.'

'And Cassie's alright with not seeing her dad for a bit?'

Hope laughs. 'She thinks it's awesome he's been invited to join a superhero group and is just waiting for her invitation up to the facility.' The two of them fall into step as they head out towards the two waiting jets. One of them will take the team back to the UN to join T'Challa, the other will take Hope and Scott back to the facility. 'You sure you guys are ready to go into another political battle? We only got Bucky and Wanda back yesterday and neither of them are exactly anywhere near recovered.'

'Once we've done this last fight, we'll have more freedom to move on HYDRA,' Natasha's not sure if she's trying to convince herself or Hope more. 'We can rest after that.'

'And Peter and Wade? Even Peter's healing rate hasn't managed to get through all of his injuries yet. Wade's been so quiet since facing that shapeshifter I'm starting to think they found a way to permanently remove his tongue.'

'We've been in bad places before,' Natasha argues.

'Wanda literally turned up with a new outfit after facing Agatha,' Hope points out, 'and Strange and her were acting like she's a ticking time bomb, yet neither of them know enough of what the Scarlet Witch is to know what to do next. And the only one who knows anything disappeared after the shapeshifter got her out from under our noses.'

'Are you trying to destroy the last of my confidence?' she demands, turning to face her.

'No,' Hope reassures her, 'I'm just trying to make sure you aren't sweeping anything under the proverbial rug that could come back and bite you. When Scott first got the suit and we were trying to teach him how to use it my dad and I kept so much stuff from each other and him that it nearly got in the way of us pulling off the operation. I just don't want you guys to make the same mistake. I get you not wanting to deal with it just yet because you aren't ready, but that doesn't mean you can ignore it completely.'

Natasha feels a little of the tension leave her shoulders. 'Thanks, Hope. We're not, I promise. We've all come a long way in making sure we share things with the rest of the team, but we all need a bit of time to get things a bit more sorted in our own heads before we can really open up. Besides the Wakandan Accords are nearly through, two or three more days and we should have our answer and be able to relax a little more.'

'Just make sure you do take time to become a team again afterwards,' Hope warns, 'or you may end up doing damage that can't be repaired.'

Natasha mulls over the other woman's words as she makes her way to her own jet, looking behind her as she watches Tony lock up the house again. Something inside feels wrong to be leaving the house, despite all the dust clouds.


'Greetings friends,' T'Challa welcomes them as they climb out of the jet, now parked back on top of the Wakandan Embassy again. 'I have good news for you.'

'That's what we like to hear,' Sam laughs.

'We have a very vocal ally within the UN,' he explains as they all follow him towards the rooms they'd had before. 'The king of Latveria is a strong supporter of the new Accords and his ambassador has been very supportive. They are not a large country, but steadily gaining in prosperity and influence and have expressed similar concerns to those I raised. Other smaller and less influential countries have now gained confidence in expressing their own reservations because of this and we are gaining ground.'

'You have no idea how much of a relief that is to hear,' Steve laughs.

'I am inclined to believe,' Loki says as he and Thor meet them coming in the other direction down the corridor, 'that Thor and I have also been influential in this?'

'If by influential you mean by terrifying them into thinking you were going to lead another invasion of Earth, brother, then indeed you have,' Thor chuckles.

Wade bursts out laughing. 'Please tell me someone has video evidence of that!'

Loki, to Tony's amusement, flushes. 'I only did it once at the beginning to ensure they listened!' he protests.

'Of course, brother,' Thor's eyes are twinkling in humour, 'and it had absolutely nothing to do with-'

'Thor if you continue that thought I shall turn you into a toad again,' Loki points a menacing finger at his brother.

Thor laughs and holds his hands up in surrender.

'Loki is correct, however,' T'Challa continues, 'his and Thor's support went a long way to encouraging others to speak up. When other countries saw that other worlds would not be willing to treat with Earth should they put such a tight leash on their main form of defence and they'd be more inclined to invade they decided that our suggestion may have its merits after all.'

'Figures,' Rhodes snorts.

'So where are we at now?' Steve asks.

'Now,' T'Challa sighs, 'now we must reveal that HYDRA has been involved in the committee. I am hoping that it will tip the scales in our favour. Show that the team needs more independence to be freer from malign influences.'

'Great,' Tony sighs, 'so we've just left one HYDRA fight to go into another.'

'This time,' Fury says as they enter the main room of the suite of rooms again, 'I've got you a little more backup.' He gestures to the woman sitting next to him. 'This is Monica Rambeau from SWORD and I have just put her in charge of a new team whose primary focus for now is to hunt down any HYDRA agents.'

'Miss-'

'Captain Rambeau,' she corrects Steve, standing up and holding out her hand for him to shake, 'it's a pleasure to meet you all.'

'Monica's mother was an old friend of mine and Carol's,' Fury explains, 'she unfortunately got grounded from her work in space.'

'Why were you grounded if you don't mind me asking?' Rhodes asks her.

'My mother passed away,' she explains, and Tony sees a muscle in her jaw tick as she holds back her emotions, 'the new director of SWORD seemed to think I should be grounded for a period of grief.'

'And you don't?' Rhodes asks.

Monica lets out a bark of laughter. 'My mother wouldn't have grounded me, she knew I'd better work through it if I had work to occupy me. But he wanted me out of the way so he could work on getting comfortable in her old position.'

'Maria Rambeau built up SWORD from scratch, while I worked on SHIELD,' Fury explains.

'Wait,' Rhodes' eyes are wide, 'your mother was Maria Rambeau?'

'Oh boy,' Tony grins.

'Not to be rude,' Wade pipes up, 'but who is Maria Rambeau?'

'Only like the best pilot in the Air Force!' Sam and Rhodes answer at once.

'She was my hero,' Rhodes says.

'I joined the Air Force because of her,' Sam nods in agreement.

'How about,' Tony grins, 'we all get settled while these two fan-boy over a shared hero?'


'How are you feeling?'

Bucky looks at the doorway where Loki is leaning against the frame. 'You really need to ask now?' he looks back down, knowing his question is unfair.

'You are the one keeping a firm barrier up, Bucky,' his voice is quiet. 'It would be good to know why.'

Bucky stays silent and continues to unpack his clothes, only now realising he's been folding everything on his bed with military precision. Part of him is tempted to mess it all up.

'Bucky,' Loki is suddenly standing next to him, a hand on his flesh arm, 'why are you shutting me out?'

Because I'm scared, he thinks, I'm scared of what you'll see.

Loki sighs. 'If you will not let me in, will you at least let me show you something?'

'Will you just leave me alone?'

'No,' comes the firm reply, one hand turning him to face him, 'because I promised you before that you are not alone. I broke it once and I won't break it again.'

'Loki-'

'You haven't asked me about when we fought the other day,' the trickster interrupts. 'And you have been shutting me out ever since.'

'I…' Bucky isn't sure what to say.

'I called you my love and you ran,' Loki's voice is quiet. 'I never thought you would be scared of me, Winter Warrior.'

'They took me, Loki,' he forces out, 'if they do it again I could-'

'They will never take you again,' Loki's voice is venomous, 'and if they try, I shall bring the full might of Jotunheim down on them.'

'Why me?' Bucky asks him.

Loki smiles. 'Let me show you?'

Bucky takes a deep breath, and pulls down the barrier he has put up between their link. He's flooded with Loki's emotions, and knows the trickster is drinking in his own. They stand facing each other, foreheads touching and eyes closed as they don't need to use words to tell each other what they're feeling.

-You remember why we said we wanted to keep the link in the first place?- Bucky asks.

-That it was good to have someone we didn't have to explain everything to, and that it wasn't quite so lonely with you there.-

-I was a bit of an idiot trying to block you out wasn't I?-

He can nearly feel Loki's smile. -I would never be one to call you an idiot to your face.-

-Somehow, I don't believe you- Bucky laughs. -I imagine you'll be calling me an idiot a lot in the future.- He pauses. -You sure you want to do this?-

-I am certain.-

Bucky doesn't need another reason to press a kiss to the god's lips.


A/N: Hi everyone. Thank you so much for all the love being shown this series! Please do keep letting me know what you think and if there is anything you'd like to see in the future.

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Love always,

L x

As always here's your sneak peek:

'T'Challa!' Nakia leaps across to the king, sending them both sprawling to the ground just as an explosion rocks through the room.

Steve grabs Tony and pushes them both down to the floor between the two rows of chairs, half-covering him with his own body.

'You do know if you'd given me space I could have had the suit out right?' he coughs around the dust from the explosion.

'You're welcome, sweetheart,' he can hear the eye roll in Steve's eyes.