A/N: Holy shit, we're on chapter 20 already? It really doesn't feel like it's been that long, even though I've been writing this story for like half a year. Well, to celebrate the 20th chapter, we get to finally find out Brock's identity...and the implications behind Bucky being accepted into the Avengers long before he's supposed to.

Disclaimer: Do I even have to put this anymore? Marvel/Disney's. Not mine.

20. Show Me The Reason To Make You Mine

"Нет, нет, нет, ты неправильно делаешь." [No, no, no, you're doing it wrong.]

"Ну как, черт возьми, я должен это делать?!" [Well, how the hell am I supposed to do it?!]

"Не таким образом." [Not like that.]

"Убийца, дай ему передохнуть. Он не привык работать с другими." [Assassin, give him a break. He's not used to working with others.]

"Заткнись, Обманщик." [Shut up, Trickster.]

"Для протокола, Трикстер прав." [For the record, the Trickster's right.]

"Спасибо, Солдат." [Thank you, Soldier.]

Tasha glowered at them both. "Идиоты," she said fondly. [Idiots.]

Loki just smirked. "Почему, спасибо," he teased. [Why, thank you.]

Loki and Tasha were in the training room with Bucky. It had only been a few weeks since the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D., the details of which the Avengers had spent a long three days going over, and in all that time Steve had hardly let Bucky out of his sight. While Sam had adapted to life at the Tower fairly quickly, the Winter Soldier was having a bit more trouble. When he wasn't with Steve, Bucky seemed to like spending his time with Tasha and Loki the most. The fact that they both spoke Russian seemed to comfort him, too, and they spoke it as much as they could around him.

It became clear quite quickly that Sam was a people person, while Bucky - whether because he'd always been this way or because of so many years spent brainwashed in Hydra's service or cryofrozen to keep him alive - was far more secluded. After three weeks, he was starting to come out of his shell a little, but both Loki and Tasha understood that if he was pushed too much, he'd retreat right back into it.

When he wasn't hanging around Tasha, Loki, or Steve, Bucky mostly people-watched as the loyal S.H.I.E.L.D. agents set up a headquarters in the Tower. Tony had been busy with plans to repurpose the SI floors for S.H.I.E.L.D. use, and had been in seemingly nonstop negotiations with Pepper, Hill, the contractors needed to do the repurposing, and various other people. Loki suspected he was mostly running on coffee and sarcasm at this point, having had little to no sleep the last few weeks. This, of course, meant that Steve was mostly a worried mess, between worrying over Bucky and how he was adjusting and all but panicking over Tony.

Sam had integrated himself seamlessly into the way the Avengers worked. He was quite friendly for the most part, though he had initially eyed everyone with thinly veiled suspicion. Most of that was gone now, and he'd become fast friends with Valkyrie, something Loki found a little odd and a little endearing. Valkyrie was a tough person to get close to. Since the battles with Hydra, she'd immersed herself more completely in honing her fighting skill, and it wasn't uncommon to see her, Tasha, and Loki sparring fiercely in the training room. They kept up their sessions of disappearing to the warehouse for Loki to practice with the ice reserve as well, something he'd become quite vehement about ever since he'd frozen the Hydra agents. Once, they'd brought Tony along to give him a reprieve from all the meetings. Tony had been more excited about the ice reserve than Loki was and had questioned him endlessly about it, to which Loki had done his best to answer.

Barton was another issue. Coulson hadn't yet returned, which was driving the archer crazy, and he could often be found shooting things in the training room to vent his frustration at the silence and his fears that something had happened. He hadn't approached Loki since the bizzarre talk over the comms the day of the speakeasy raid, and had indeed seemed like he was deliberately avoiding Loki. Loki didn't entirely mind - it was, after all, an improvement from the constant glaring - but in a way, this was also almost worse. Tasha had offered to knock some sense into him, but Loki had refused; Barton had to figure out his feelings toward Loki on his own.

Banner had dived headfirst into a pile of work, assisting the S.H.I.E.L.D. scientists as they attempted to develop weapons that would do more damage than an average gun. The labs were also hard at work on other projects they kept under wraps, and more than once Loki had been passing by and heard the name "Helen Cho" murmured among the scientists. He assumed she was one of the leading members of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s R&D division.

Tasha had begun hunting down Hydra. Far too many had escaped the Triskelion and other bases S.H.I.E.L.D. had held, and the bases that had fallen were now Hydra operation centers. Rumlow, Loki had been dismayed to learn during the three-day-long debrief, was among the agents who had escaped. Tasha was incredibly pissed off by this fact, considering they'd blown up the Triskelion while he was trapped in it. Somehow, Rumlow had crawled his way out, presumably now covered in scars - but alive. Tasha had made it her personal vendetta to find him and kill him.

Thor and Loki had been spending a bit more time together following the aftermath of the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. That was, when Loki wasn't swamped in strategy meetings, training with Tasha and Valkyrie, helping Bucky adjust, or practicing strengthening his illusion work on his own and Thor wasn't busy assisting Tasha, training against Sam, or catching up on his knowledge of Midgardian ways. Both of them had actually taken a larger interest in the way Earth worked, with Loki mostly searching the internet to catch up and Thor attempting to do the same, though his knowledge of how to use a phone or a computer was rather limited. Tony had vowed to correct this when he found the time. But when they weren't busy, Loki and Thor managed to spend hours (or as much time as was allowed between activities) alone in each other's company, something Loki quite enjoyed.

It was one of the rare moments when Bucky had managed to free himself from Steve's overprotectiveness that found the soldier, assassin, and Trickster all in the training room. Bucky seemed most at ease here, with the two of them. Loki couldn't really blame him; the battlefield was essentially all he knew.

"Я так понимаю из-за отсутствия боев, что мы закончили?" Bucky asked. [I take it from the lack of fighting that we're done?]

"Да," Tasha nodded. [Yes.]

The three of them headed to the bench at the side of the room, where Loki promptly sat down. Tasha took a drink from the water bottle she'd brought, and Bucky stood a little off to the side, still not quite comfortable with the concept of human interaction.

Loki glanced at Bucky, then looked at Tasha and muttered, "Ассасин, нам нужно поговорить. Наедине." [Assassin, we need to talk. In private.]

Tasha lowered her voice. "Это о...?" [Is it about...?] She trailed off, looking at Bucky.

Bucky rolled his eyes. "Ты же знаешь, я тебя слышу, верно?" he said. "Кроме того, вам не нужно шептать. Я знаю, что вы оборотни." [You know I can hear you, right? Besides, you don't have to whisper. I know you're werewolves.]

Loki and Tasha exchanged an alarmed glance. "What did you say?" Tasha asked, startled out of the Russian.

"I said," Bucky repeated, in slightly tentative English, "I know you're werewolves." Loki opened his mouth to vehemently deny the fact, but Bucky held up a hand to stop him. "Yeah, you too, Обманщик, don't deny it."

"How?" Loki asked instead.

Bucky shrugged. "Steve told me about Наталья, and as for you, Обманщик, I figured it out on my own. Воин's one too, isn't she?"

Loki noticed Tasha tense at the name Bucky had called her. Наталья. Natal'ya. Natalia.

"Yes, Valkyrie's a werewolf. How did you figure me out?" Loki asked, resolving to ask Tasha about her reaction to being called Natal'ya later.

"It's kinda obvious," Bucky said. "To me at least, but military training and then the years with Hydra are probably to blame for that. Especially now, since the full moon's tonight."

Loki shook his head. "You're the second Avenger to tell me they know what I am," he said in slight disbelief. When Tasha looked at him curiously, he clarified, "Barton knows."

"And he actually told you that?" Tasha sounded intensely surprised.

"I couldn't believe it either," Loki told her. "I was under the impression that he hated me."

"Did I miss something?" Bucky sounded confused, as he often had of late.

"The whole reason I ended up here was because of an incident where I kind of mind-controlled Barton and destroyed New York," Loki said, somewhat flippantly.

Bucky looked a little alarmed.

"Don't worry, the phase passed," Loki chuckled. "But Barton's held a grudge ever since. He seems to hate me a little less now, though."

"That's good, right?" Tasha said. "It means he's making progress."

"I hope so," Loki sighed. "Because he knows what I am."

"You do realize that being a werewolf isn't something to be ashamed of, right?" Bucky said. "I've spent the last seventy years brainwashed by Hydra. I've done terrible things, killed countless people, without feeling, without caring." He nodded at Tasha. "I vaguely remember being assigned to the Red Room for a time. Teaching little assassins how to break a man's neck."

Tasha nodded. "I remember that," she said. "Barely, because I was really little, but I do remember that. You were constantly both amused and annoyed by all us little Russian kids climbing all over you asking for advice on how to be a better killer."

She said it flippantly, but Loki could hear the pain and the sadness in her voice and resolved again to ask her about her reaction to the name Natal'ya.

"Anyway, my point is, I've done unforgivable shit, and from the sound of it so have you," Bucky said. "Yet everyone forgives us anyway. So whatever you're afraid of, whatever's keeping you from telling the others - because I can tell that Steve hasn't got a clue and I'm going to bet at least a few of the others are still in the dark too - let it go. If they're willing to forgive someone like me, you can be pretty damn sure that they're not going to hate you for what you are."

As Loki stared at him in slight shock - this was the most he'd heard Bucky talk, particularly in English, in the last three weeks - as Bucky stretched a bit and added, "Now I'd better go find Steve before he does something stupid looking for me. Besides, I need to ask him if there are any plums in this place."

With that odd statement, Bucky left the training room.

"He's an odd one, isn't he?" Tasha asked, watching his retreating form.

"Yeah, a bit," Loki agreed.

"Я все еще тебя слышу!" Bucky called over his shoulder. [I can still hear you!]

Loki laughed; Tasha cracked a grin. Once he had gone, the gleam of his metal arm disappearing into the elevator, Loki turned to Tasha.

"You don't have to answer," he said hesitantly, "but why'd you stiffen when Bucky called you 'Natal'ya'?"

Tasha was silent for so long that Loki wondered if she was in fact not going to answer. Finally, she murmured, "That's my name. Or it used to be. Наталья Романова." Natal'ya Romanova.

"What happened?" Loki asked.

"When Clint found me and recruited me, I made the choice to change my name. I left Natal'ya Romanova in Russia to die in the Red Room. Hearing Bucky bring up the Red Room...that's the only name the Winter Soldier ever knew me by. Natal'ya. I don't even know if he noticed that that was what he'd called me."

"I'm sure it wasn't his intention to bring up bad memories," Loki said. "He's still discombobulated with the whole being-back-in-the-world-and-self-aware-for-the-first-time-in-seventy-years thing."

"I know," Tasha sighed. "And I don't blame him. It's just hard, confronting my past so suddenly like that."

"We really are a messed-up pair, aren't we?" Loki chuckled dryly.

"Fucked up, you mean," Tasha corrected, laughing.

"Yeah, that," Loki said, grinning.

"And somehow you've managed to cheer me up," Tasha accused. "Stop that."

"No," Loki grinned. "Not going to."

Tasha threw her water on him. Loki yelped and retaliated with his own water bottle, drenching her now-long red hair and causing her to shriek at the cold.

She glared halfheartedly at him. "It's only fair," he said with a grin.

Tasha merely shook her head and laughed.

Coulson returned that night. Barton was on him almost instantly, his exclamations of relief that he was alive and questioning why he took so long blurring into a semi-incoherent babble that Loki and the other assembled Avengers couldn't really understand what he was saying. Coulson wore an amused smile.

Somehow managing to calm Barton enough to let him enter the lounge and take a seat around the coffee table with the others, Coulson said his slightly weary hellos to everyone. Steve and Tasha took it in turns to explain the appearance of Bucky and Sam, and then it was mostly between Tony and Loki to bring him up to speed on the events in New York. In turn, Coulson explained about the Inhumans, Garrett, Ward, and Project T.A.H.I.T.I. - the program Fury had used aganist Coulson's wishes to bring him back to life.

All in all, between Project Insight, Coulson's issues, and the speakeasy, the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. had been one hell of a mess for the Avengers.

Tasha declared loudly that she was going to head out as a wolf, a statement which unnerved no one. Valkyrie echoed the sentiment and shot a pointed if concealed look Loki's way. Everyone began to disperse for the night. Loki heard Tasha murmur "Спокойной ночи, Солдат" [Goodnight, Soldier] to Bucky as he passed. Bucky merely nodded back.

Loki caught Coulson after sending Thor on ahead. "Hey," he said.

"Hi," Coulson replied easily. "So you're officially an Avenger now?"

"Apparently," Loki confirmed. "And Barton doesn't hate me nearly as much anymore."

Coulson looked surprised. "He came around?"

"He started to," Loki nodded. "He's been ignoring my existence for the last three weeks. It's progress. Not much, but it's progress."

Coulson sighed. "I love him, but I swear sometimes he is such an idiot."

"That," Loki replied, "is evident."

Coulson laughed. "Despite his flaws, he is a good guy," he said. "He -"

"He has heart," Loki finished, remembering that day all too clearly. "I know. I said that right before I mind-controlled him."

Coulson gave a small "oh" of surprise. Then a second realization hit him. "Oh!"

"What?" Loki asked.

"I figured out why Clint still hates you," Coulson said.

"Enlighten me, please," Loki drawled, somewhat sarcastically, though there was a note of real curiosity in his voice.

"He's not exactly had the easiest life," Coulson explained. "None of us have, but his childhood was particularly rough. I'm sure he'll kill me for telling you this, but essentially he was raised as a circus performer. His father, and eventually his brother, were abusive; he's still got the scars to prove it. When S.H.I.E.L.D. found him, he was working as an assassin-for-hire, using the little money he earned mostly for food. I was the handler he ended up with after managing to annoy the rest of them to death, and I recognized immediately that despite his past, he still had a good heart. I think that's mostly what got him to cooperate for me. He needs to be reminded when things get hard or when he has to make a tough or terrible call that he does have a heart. I think - and I'm just guessing here, even though I know him too well and am probably right - your words, coupled with the mind control, damaged that sense that he's not a heartless monster, and that's why he still hates you. It's not so much the mind control, it's the emotional damage."

"Oh." Loki let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding. "Shit. Wow. I had no idea."

"He doesn't exactly share the information," Coulson sighed. "Too painful." He gave a wry laugh. "I think he's also just jealous that you and Nat are werewolves. He thinks that'd be awesome."

Loki looked at him in shock, then glanced furtively around the room.

"Relax, we're alone, unless Clint's listening in the vents," Coulson said.

Loki whirled on him again. "How did you -? Did Barton -?"

"Clint didn't tell me," Coulson reassured him. "Fury did."

"Fury -?"

"He knows. He's known since the helicarrier."

"How?"

"He's Nick Fury."

"Point taken."

Loki shook his head. "You're the second person today to tell me they know what I am."

"Who else?" Coulson inquired.

"Bucky," Loki replied. "Though I shouldn't be surprised; he is the Winter Soldier."

Coulson shrugged. "Once you know, it is kind of obvious. Even now. You keep glancing back toward the window, and your fingers keep twitching like they're anxious to turn into paws. You also seem a little more hyperaware than usual."

Loki hadn't even realized he'd been glancing toward the window. Odd. Perhaps he just wasn't aware of the visual cues he gave.

"Speaking of which, it's late. I should probably get going and let you...wolf out?" Coulson said.

Loki chuckled at the term. "We'll go with that."

Coulson said goodnight and left. Loki simply stood there for a moment, then realized he should get moving; Nat and Valkyrie would be waiting.

He took the stairs (mostly because it was fun sliding down the banister), meeting the girls on the ground floor. In the moonlight, Loki could still see the faint red outline of the words Hail Hydra, which had been scrubbed off to the best of the cleaning crew's ability but still hadn't completely faded.

"Почему так долго?" Tasha asked, half-teasing. [What took you so long?]

"До разговора с Катализатор," Loki replied easily. "Пойдем?" [Held up talking to Catalyst. Shall we go?]

Tasha nodded. "Мы должны." [We shall.]

Valkyrie seemed to have followed the gist of the conversation, because the three of them started running. They went through the doors human...

...And came out wolves.

It had been Valkyrie's decision to head to Central Park tonight. Neither Loki nor Tasha were happy about it, but they went along with her anyway; they weren't about to let a member of their little pack go into Central Park alone.

Why again did we let you talk us into this? Loki grumbled as they bounded towards the park.

A friend of a friend is a werewolf with information on Hydra, Valkyrie replied. He can help.

Loki wasn't so sure, but they entered the park anyway.

In order to blend in, the three wolves walked in a cluster. Gone was the playful air that had accompanied them last time they were here; indeed, every wolf they passed looked a little more subdued.

What happened here? Tasha asked as they passed a small group of younger werewolves halfheartedly pawing at each other, real fear in their eyes.

Nothing good, Loki replied, unsettled.

This way, Valkyrie said, taking the lead. Loki and Tasha followed her to the edge of the trees, where a lone gray wolf sat with his tail tucked around his paws.

Hey, Zerir, Valkyrie greeted.

Valkyrie. Zerir's mind-voice had a faint German accent. Good to see you again. I see you've found yourself a pack.

Loki stepped forward and bowed his head respectfully, knowing instinctively that this was another alpha, not to be messed with. Loki of Asgard.

Zerir, the gray wolf introduced formally. And your other beta?

Natasha Romanoff, Tasha introduced.

The Black Widow and the God of Mischief, mused Zerir. You're running with quite the crowd, aren't you, Walküre?

Loki noted the odd way he said Valkyrie's name and assumed it was the German way.

You can't say anything, Zerir, Valkyrie shot back. You used to run with the wrong crowd.

That I did. Zerir sounded faintly amused.

Valkyrie said you have information on Hydra? Loki prompted. He didn't like being in Central Park like this, exposed, open, not with targets on their backs because they were Avengers. Even though they were currently wolves, if anyone was as perceptive as most of the Avengers seemed to be, they were still easily recognizable.

Right, Zerir said. To business. You're aware that Agent Rumlow escaped the Triskelion?

Yes, Tasha grumbled. He should be dead. But since he's not, I'll kill him myself.

I admire your spirit, but it won't be that easy, Zerir warned. He's back in New York, along with his S.T.R.I.K.E. teams. He's calling himself Crossbones. And he doesn't care who dies in his quest for vengeance - upon you.

Sounds like a real charmer, Valkyrie muttered, sarcasm dripping from her mind-voice.

You don't know the half of it, grumbled Tasha.

I don't know where he's holding court yet, but I will find out - you'll need every advantage against him and his agents, Zerir continued. There is a storm coming, one that I'm not sure everyone present tonight will survive.

How fun, Loki commented dryly.

Zerir got to his paws. I should go. It's never wise for me to stay in one place for long. Especially tonight.

Before any of them could protest - what about tonight?! - he'd padded away, melting into the shadows of the trees.

He's, um... Tasha seemed at a loss for words.

He's ex-Hydra, Valkyrie informed them. Deserted when they started human experimentation. Possibly bit a few of them on the way out. Good informant ever since.

But then why's he so worried about -? Loki never got to finish his sentence, because a howl split the air from across the park. All three of them leapt to their paws and bounded closer to see the cause of the commotion.

Loki halted them when they were just close enough to see. A fight had broken out between two wolves - and it was going badly. The younger of the two was the one that had howled, and the one getting beaten up. He had bloody gashes everywhere from the other's claws, though they still moved so fast it was hard to tell the brutalizer's identity. The younger wolf was tiring, losing blood fast - too fast for the poor wolf's enhanced healing to kick in.

Loki barely saw the bite that ended it all, but he did finally get a good look at the brutalizer.

It was Brock.

A cloud that had drifted over the moon moved away, illuminating Brock intensely. Loki almost flinched (could wolves flinch?) at the sight: he looked awful. It was as if someone had thrown him into a fire and then run over him with a truck. His dark fur was missing in places, and raw, scarred flesh was visible underneath. Yet he held his head high in horrifying triumph, the young wolf's blood staining his muzzle.

Loki heard the words as Brock shouted them, and the pieces clicked into place all of a sudden.

The scars. The insane glint in his eyes that Loki could see even from here. The relentless rage. His apparent issue with Loki. His name. And now this.

Hail Hydra!

Loki's ears flattened against his head as he realized the terrible truth.

Brock was Rumlow.

Dun. Dun. Dun... *evil laughter* Yes I know, this is a horrible cliffhanger. You're welcome! *evil grin* At least we finally know who Brock is... (And yes, Adalia, you were right, so shut up.) This new discovery will be explored further next chapter...but you'll have to wait. :) Please review!

Shoutout to miranda88 and Snowbeardolphin for consistent reviews! You rock, girls!