Bucky was pretty sure the only one who was angry about him leaving the Tower with Claire and Loki was Steve.

"You shouldn't have left, you didn't tell anyone where you were going! How are we even supposed to know if Loki was actually kidnapped?!"

Anger flared in Bucky's body, and he stepped forward, ready to fight the accusation that Loki had ran.

Maybe it was because she had all new hormones to deal with, maybe Claire was just pissed. Either way, what Steve said was not okay. Claire shoved Bucky out of the way, not caring that he was fully capable of handling Steve.

She stomped over to stand right in front of Steve, not even coming up to his shoulders.

"What the hell man!? Why does he need to tell you anything? Bucky is not a kid that has to ask permission to go potty, Steve!"

Everyone just stared as Claire kept going.

"And do you really think we'd lie about someone KIDNAPPING Loki? The guy was so happy to be let out of tower, he was just fine going to the park. If he was gonna run he'd of done it a long time ago. Get your head out of your ass and wake up! Loki is no longer a threat and you are just being a major douchebag!"

She was spitting with anger by the time her rant was over, and the room was totally silent.

"Um…" Steve looked around the room a little. "Who are you?" He asked, squinting at her.

"She's Claire." Bucky answered, then added, "Previously known as Clint."

"Clint makes a salty girl." Tony said finally.

"It doesn't matter! We have to go save Loki!" Bucky told them, voice raising in urgency.

"Well maybe if you didn't leave the Tower, Loki wouldn't be kidnapped and Clint wouldn't be stuck as Claire!" Steve grit out.

"You think this is my fault!" Bucky accused.

For just a moment Claire grinned at Tony.

"The hell I am! The best of both worlds baby!"

Steve looked at Claire for a second and shook his head, before he turned and glared at Bucky.

"Yeah, I do! If you hadn't gotten all buddy-buddy with a crazy psychopath, we wouldn't have this situation on our hands. Now everyone in the city is at risk…again! Good job."

Tony frowned, looking at Steve and then Bucky. Something was not right here, that was not how friends talked to each other.

Claire narrowed her eyes at Steve, starting to get really mad at the crap he was spewing

"He just needed someone there for him! And you know what? I needed someone too!" Bucky yelled, as tears edged at the corners of his eyes.

"You say that you aren't a child and shouldn't be treated like one, but you cry like one all the time!" Steve yelled back.

"It wasn't my fault!" Bucky cried, and then Steve jumped forward, striking him across his face so hard the bone shattered, much harder than before. During this punch, Steve had yelled, "The hell it wasn't!"

Bucky covered his face with his hands and cried out, tears running between his fingers, as Steve gaped. "No, Bucky, I…"

It was like a match being lit, the reaction was immediate and fiery. Both Tony and Claire yelled at Steve.

Tony looked shocked but not totally surprised.

"I knew something was going on! But I would never have pegged you for this."

Claire was livid, over time she had come to see Bucky as a friend. And after knowing exactly what abuse from someone you cared about was like, she wasn't gonna let it fly.

"You asshole! You just shattered his jaw and the only one who could fix it right now is gone! I'm gonna kick your ass!"

She would've flown at him, fists blazing if someone hadn't held her back

Bucky grabbed Claire's wrist with his flesh hand, slowly dropping his metal hand as well.

The left side of his face was dark blue red, his eye starting to swell up. "Claire, it's ok." Bucky rasped.

"Bucky, friends aren't supposed to do that to friends." Tony said seriously.

Bucky sagged, exhaling shakily. "It's ok." He lied a second time, more to himself than Tony, Claire, and Steve.

Now Claire was getting mad at Bucky because it was obvious he was lying. But time was slipping away, whoever had taken Loki were getting further away. So she shoved it down.

"It is NOT okay, but we can talk about this later. Loki is still missing and we need to start looking for him."

She looked at Tony.

"I hate asking but didn't you put some type of tracker on Loki? It'd come in real handy right now."

"Ugh…where am I?"

Loki slowly opened his eyes to see that he was in an empty room. Tied to a chair.

"Really?"

He quickly broke the rope, or he would have if he could've. There was an IV stuck in his arm, most likely full of whatever had been used to take him down in the first place. It left him just awake enough to be aware of his surroundings.

Then the door opened and two men in ski masks came in.

"Oh good you're awake. Now, it's high time you understood just how much damage you caused last year."

The other one laughed.

"Yeah, nice and slow. So it sinks in."

Fear raced through Loki. Not again, he couldn't do this again.

As they advanced Loki could almost hear Thanos laughing at him.

Bucky was sure he hadn't been in this much pain since he was shot in 74.

Tony was working away to find Loki, and he had allowed both Bucky and Claire to the lab.

"We have to tell Thor." Bucky rasped to Claire.

Practically growling, Claire grabbed a bag of ice from the lab fridge. Still extremely pissed, she stomped over to Bucky.

"Here, put this on your face. Don't argue with me, just do it."

Then she looked at Tony, who was busy with all his techno stuff.

"Bucky is right, we have to tell Thor. Where is he anyways?"

Tony motioned for Jarvis to answer, and the synthetic British voice filtered in, "Mr. Odinson is out with Miss Foster. I will contact him."

Bucky put the bag of ice on the left side of his face and looked over at Claire. "We're going to find him." Bucky mumbled.

He grimaced, still in pain even though the ice was starting to numb his face.

Smiling slightly that Bucky listened to her, Claire opened her mouth to respond to the AI when a loud ding cut her off.

Tony jumped up from the desk.

"Got him! I've got a lock on Loki's location, Jarivs send Thor the coordinates and have him meet us there."

All three of them started for the door, intending to get Loki back.

Loki groaned, for the moment they had left. Taking inventory he glanced down, the IV was still there. One of the masked men had revealed it was something equivalent to elephant tranquilizers keeping him weak and susceptible to their…justice.

What they had done to him was nothing, it was the flashbacks of real torture that were slowly breaking him once more.

The door creaked open, drawing Loki's attention. They had returned, this time with a strange knife. Loki froze, he recognized the runes on the knife. They were Norse, this could do some serious damage to him.

"Ready for round two freak?"

"Should we get Steve?" Bucky asked, softly, almost afraid this was a bad question.

Tony stiffened. "Well, he's a good fighter, but I'm not sure…"

Bucky stood as Tony trailed off, getting to the garage and opening the car that was closest to him.

"Claire?" Bucky asked weakly.

Claire frowned, Steve would be helpful since Bucky wasn't exactly on top of his game right now. But he was also part of the problem, if it weren't for him…

"Ugh…I don't…"

She took one more look at Bucky, and nodded sharply.

"Yeah, tell him to get his ass down here. This can be PART of how he's going to make this up to you. Now come on, let's go!"

Tony sighed and told Jarvis to tell him to get down here.

Bucky sat in the back and looked over at Claire, wondering if she was going to sit in the front and let Steve sit in the back with him or if Claire was going to sit in the back with him and Steve would sit in the front with Tony.

The ice was still pressed against his face by his metal hand and the pain was ebbing away, but Bucky wasn't sure if he wanted Loki to heal him.

Especially if Loki was hurt. Oh, if Loki was hurt, Bucky was going on a rampage.

Quickly Claire slid in next to Bucky, Steve hopped in the front seat next to Tony. He seemed a little ticked off the be helping but other than that he looked like nothing had even happened. With the first aid kit she had grabbed, Claire started to try and fix Bucky's face a bit more.

"Ugh, I suck at this! This'll have to do."

The best she could do, was attach the bag of ice to his face so he didn't have to hold it there. Both Tony and Claire were seething, but held it in for Bucky's sake.

"Alright everyone's here and geared up, time to go."

Then Tony floored it and pealed out of the garage. They didn't have all that far to go anyways, the idiots were only a few blocks away from Avenger's tower.

The silence was deafening, Tony and Claire were stiff, glares on their faces.

"Thank you…" Bucky told Claire, voice barely above a whisper.

He had started gripping the plastic handle on the ceiling of the car.

Steve glanced back at him, with a look of contemplation and slight disgust.

Bucky sagged and his expression turned a little broken as Steve turned back forward.

He frowned thinly and closed his eyes, pushing back whatever tears that threatened to spill.

Smiling grimly, Claire threw the first aid kit in the back of the car.

"No prob Buck, what are friends for?"

She glared as Steve's eyes met hers in the rearview mirror.

Before Steve could say anything, the car screeched to a stop. Tony grinned, very obviously not sorry that Steve hit his face on the dashboard.

"Sorry bout that Rogers, should've worn your seat belt."

They all hopped out, Claire struggling with her bow.

"What's wrong?" Bucky asked, watching as Claire tried to notch an arrow.

"Because Clint's now a girl, she can't use her old bow!" Tony laughed lightly, and Bucky gave him a slightly exasperated look.

"Look, it's late and Loki is going home in time for dinner, so let's just get in there!" Bucky told him.

Steve sighed, rubbed his face, and got his shield at the ready. Tony glanced at him and then back to Bucky. "Right."

Bucky looked to Claire. "You going to be able to fight with that huge bow that's taller than you?"

Claire scowled at the bow and banged it against Steve's shield, startling him. The super soldier frowned and kept going.

"Yeah, I think I'll manage. C'mon we have to get Loki."

They walked in and headed for the basement.

"He's probably not even here, knowing him he ditched the tracker."

All three of them glared at Steve, but before anyone could say anything a terrified yell was heard.

"NO…NO STOP! PLEASE!"

Claire froze and looked at Bucky.

That was Loki.

Bucky rushed forward, leaving the others as he dropped in front of Loki and 2 men in masks.

Without thinking, Bucky punched the first one hard and threw a smoke disk at the second one, before dropping in front of Loki.

The 2 men weren't down for the count, but Bucky's priority was poor, hurt Loki. Glassy eyed Loki. Oh no.

"Loki, Loki, listen to my voice, it's me, Bucky!"

Loki's eyes darted around, not focusing on Bucky. He was back with Thanos, this was only a trick. Bucky wasn't here, no one could help him here.

"NO! Leave him out of this! Don't even think about it!"

Even in his frantic state Loki was enraged at the idea of Thanos ever hurting his friend. He started to struggle and try to get away, only to hiss in pain. There were cuts all over and he was still hooked up to the IV.

"Please…just stop."

All Loki could see was the taunting grin of the mad titan, too lost in his own personal nightmares.

Bucky looked really lost, and then turned, anger written all over his face.

"Tony, you don't have your armor and know what to do when someone's freaking out. Can you please help Loki?" Bucky's voice wavered with barely contained anger.

Tony automatically replaced where Bucky had been, trying to console Loki, as Bucky grabbed a knife from a place hidden on his body and went for the first man.

Claire followed Bucky to help beat up the guys who clearly deserved it, but also to make sure Bucky didn't do something he'd regret later.

Tony's eyes widened, Loki was in the middle of a hard core panic attack.

He knelt down next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, Reindeer Games. Look at me, you have to tell me how you pulled it off this morning. Can't let you take prank king from me just yet."

For the next minute or so Tony kept up a steady stream of mindless chatter and slowly, Loki really opened his eyes.

"S-stark? Where…what…"

Then Loki sat straight up. He had heard Bucky's voice, was he alright?

"W-where is…where is James?"

Before anyone could answer, Steve who had only been watching leaned down and ripped the IV out of Loki's arm.

"There maybe now you can make a little more sense."

Loki groaned in pain, his hand had been broken just before they got there.

Bucky's eyes widened. "Steve!" He yelped. "Be careful with him!"

Steve didn't answer, just frowned.

"Loki, I'm here." Bucky told him gently, knocking out one of the men.

Tony stepped out of the way, he had no desire to get in Bucky's way. Steve just frowned, Loki looked really messed up. Maybe he was a bit too quick on judging him, maybe.

Loki tried to get up but winced in pain, a long gash on his leg made him pale and stumble forward. He would have fallen if someone hadn't caught him.

Bucky caught Loki in his arms, murmuring soft words in his hair.

"You're going to be ok…"

Tony smiled lightly at them and helped by letting one of Loki's arm drape over his shoulder. Loki's other arm was on Bucky's.

"Claire, can you finish him?" Bucky asked.

Claire grinned viciously at the remaining man.

"My pleasure, meet you guys at the car."

The she started beating the snot out of him, it was therapeutic in a way.

Loki leaned heavily on both Tony and Bucky, almost collapsing when they got to the car. As they got and waited for Claire, Loki noticed something. Bucky had a huge puffy bruise on his face and it looked like something was broken.

"You're hurt."

Before he could be stopped, Loki raised his hand to Bucky's face and let what little strength he had left flow into healing his face.

"There that's better…"

Then just as a blood splattered Claire hopped in the back, Loki passed out.

Bucky gave a short shriek upon seeing the blood splattered on Claire, putting Loki between him and Claire.

Tony sat in the front next to Steve and revved the car, peeling out and rushing to the Tower.

"We're getting Loki straight to the infirmary." Tony said seriously.

"What about Claire?" Bucky asked, gesturing to her.

Claire looked at Bucky and rolled here eyes.

"I'm fine quit wor-"

Just as Tony, who was driving way too fast, made it back to the garage, Claire's form rippled and she was Clint again.

"Whoa, that felt weird. Hey check it out I'm a dude again!"

Arriving back at the tower, all of them jumped out. Loki, just starting to regain consciousness.

"Loki, you awake?" Bucky asked him, looking over at Clint. "He's not awake yet, how did you turn back?"

Bucky picked Loki up bridal style and stepped out of the car, taking off the ice.

"Did you like being a girl?" He asked Clint, sly grin on Bucky's face.

Clint glanced at the unconscious Asgardian briefly and then smirked at Bucky.

"It wasn't all that bad. I could have had some real fun, too bad its over. Maybe it just wore off."

By this time the elevator doors opened on the infirmary ward. And a crew of Tony's on staff doctors and nurses showed them to a room for Loki.

Clint looked at Bucky and smiled.

"I'm hungry after all that, how bout you? There's not much we can do for him now. Ya wanna go get something to eat?"

"Sure." Bucky said, turning toward where the kitchen was.

"You got pretty pissed off while you were Claire. Why?" He asked, though he was sure he knew the answer.

He just wondered if Clint's way of viewing things was different than Claire's.

Clint frowned thinking of how mad Steve had made him. He was still mad, girl or guy. But Claire seemed to react more emotionally.

"I just couldn't believe Steve would do that. I mean I saw him in the gym but I thought it was just cause of Loki being buddies with you."

Clint looked down as they reached the kitchen and clenched his fists.

"I still want to bash his face for that."

"Please don't. It hurts really badly and no matter how many times he does it to me, I wouldn't wish it on him."

Bucky cursed himself. Yes, tell the angry man that it's happened many times. That was a great idea.

"Clint…" Bucky trailed off, unsure what to say.

The whole time Clint has assumed it was a one time thing, that Steve was just having a bad week. But this…this made him furious.

Clint knew what it was like to be abused by someone you were close too. So he knew it was that much harder to ask for help or stand up for yourself.

He slowly turned to Bucky, murder in his eyes.

"He's done this a lot?"

Not waiting for an answer Clint took off for the common area where he knew Steve would be, intent on giving the super soldier a price of his mind. And his fist.

Bucky's eyes widened, and then he grimaced. "Oh fuuuu-"

Steve sat in the common area with his sketch pad in hand, lightly drawing a picture of Bucky carrying Loki bridal style and both Clint and Claire on each side of them.

He looked up when Clint stormed in, eyes squinted. "What's wrong?" He asked blankly, no emotion in his voice.

Eye twitching, Clint glared at him.

"You really…WHAT"S WRONG?! Are you…that's it man! I don't care if you're Captain America, you need to get something through that thick head of yours!"

Clint slapped the sketchbook out of his hands.

"You are abusing someone you used to call your best friend! What is wrong with you?!"

Clint ignored everything but Steve, who had stood up a ticked off look on his face.

"Nothing's wrong with me! Why don't you ask what's wrong with Bucky instead?!" Steve yelled, gesturing wildly to, incidentally, where Bucky had hid to watch, causing Bucky to flinch.

"My 'best friend's is gone, and maybe if I condition him enough he'll be back to his old self!" With anger clouding Steve's mind, there was no brain-to-mouth filter, and Bucky felt tears stream down his face.

'He's conditioning me like Hydra.' Admittedly, with no brain washing, but Steve was still conditioning him like Hydra.

There was a beat of silence and then a scary calm came over Clint.

"You think this is his fault?"

Looking back at Bucky, Clint grew even angrier at his tear streaked face.

"Have you ever pulled your head out of your ass long enough to think that maybe you are just as bad as HYDRA? Going through what he did changed him, it would change anybody! You are doing the same thing they were! Trying to…condition him to the way you want him to be!"

Clint stopped and looked down. How could Steve act this way?

"He is just fine the way he is! And if you can't see that…well then I'm not sure why you call yourself a hero. Cause that's some villain level shit right there. You did fight in WW2 right? The guy you fought? Hitler? He did the same thing, got rid of what he didn't like."

Steve clenched his jaw. "You have no right…" Steve was shaking now, trying desperately to calm himself.

He kicked the couch to try and get rid of his anger, snapping the wood inside and causing it to collapse on itself.

"I'm not killing him, am I?! So I don't see why you're so angry about this! He's not even a person anymore, just a-!"

"A machine." Bucky finished for Steve. That's all he had been before. Not a human, a mission. The Asset. The Winter Soldier.

Why did it hurt so much if Bucky knew that it was the truth?

Clint glanced at the ruined couch and briefly thought of how this could all go south really fast, but he was too mad to care

"I have no right? I have no…do even realize what you just said? Can't you see how much you're hurting him?"

Looking back at Bucky, Clint realized he needed to end this. It wasn't doing him any favors, it was only hurting him more.

Sighing he looked back at Steve.

"You know…I used to really respect ya Steve. You're a stand up guy, you fight for the underdog. But this…treating somebody who only wants your approval like he's not even human…that's really low. Bucky is a great guy and doesn't deserve this…if you really still wanted to be his friend you would accept him like he is."

Turning around, Clint grabbed Bucky's hand.

"C'mon Bucks let's get out of here."

Bucky allowed Clint to lead him away, giving one last flinch as Steve cursed and another piece of furniture was smashed.

"Steve was right Clint, I'm not even a person." Bucky squeezed Clint's hand softly a moment before letting go. "Just a machine…"

Bucky quickly wiped his tears away and looked away from Clint.

Clint grabbed his hand again, his metal hand this time trying to make a point.

"Hey listen to me, you are not just a machine. You've go so much heart, I'd say more than any of us. Don't listen to him, Steve's got no clue about how great you are. I know Loki would agree with me and then he'd go kick Steve's ass if he knew what happened."

Clint was beyond mad at how Steve had messed up Bucky, he shouldn't have to deal with that.

Bucky frowned lightly and looked at his metal hand and Clint's flesh hand.

"If I don't deserve it, then why is Steve… doing this? If I'm not just a machine then why…"

Why did any of it happen? Why was Hydra able to force him to be evil? Bucky didn't know how to ask. He just wished Clint would understand what he had wanted to ask.

"And I'm not 'great', ok?" Bucky told him, but he made no move to disentangle his metal hand and Clint's hand.

Clint sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Why did any of this have to happen? That's something I can't answer, life can just suck sometimes. We all fight our own battles and most of them are not fair."

He looked down and frowned, thinking of his own demons. Clint shook his head and looked back at Bucky.

"But I do know you shouldn't listen to anything Steve says, you are freaking great. And you can't convince me otherwise dude."

Grinning, Clint tugged Bucky into the kitchen.

"You up for omelettes? That's the only thing I can make without burning the place down."

Bucky chuckled lightly as he let go of Clint's hand and sat down. "Yeah, omelettes sound good. Maybe we should take some to Loki." He suggested.

Bucky worried his lip once Clint turned his back to grab eggs. He should have made more of an attempt to stop Clint from talking with Steve, things were going to go downhill very fast.

"I'm sorry…" Bucky said, barely above a whisper.

Clint smiled at Bucky, as he started cracking eggs.

"Yeah, we should. Don't know if he'll like it but we can try."

In no time they were done and they didn't taste like crap surprisingly enough.

Bucky held one plate in each hand and let Clint hold the third. The door to the infirmary opened automatically in front of them.

That's when Bucky REALLY saw Loki, looking small and sallow, swallowed by the huge hospital bed.

"Loki, you awake?" Bucky asked softly.

Blinking his eyes, Loki looked over at Bucky and Clint.

"Ugh, this is almost as bad as the time I made a pregnant Blidgesnipe mad. I feel like I was hit with a load of bricks."

Perking up at the sight of food, Loki did his best to sit up. The he grinned at the sight of Clint.

"Oh, looks like you're Clint again. Strange, you should have stayed a girl until I changed you back. Odd…"

Bucky looked over at Clint, grimace on his face. Something bad must have happened to the spell.

"What do you think happened?" He asked Loki. Bucky hoped to god that whatever he said would make Clint NOT tell Loki what happened.

In between bites of the breakfast for dinner he'd been brought, Loki frowned.

"Well, to be honest…I'm not all that sure. The only thing I can think of is that perhaps during my…absence, I let a bit more magic than necessary flow to the spell keeping you female. And when I…blacked out, the stream of magic was cut off. But…I can still sense a faint bit of magic around you, not sure why though."

Clint just shrugged, a smirk on his face.

"Whatever, it was kinda fun. I made a pretty kickass girl."

Loki just rolled his eyes, and looked back at Bucky.

"What happened to your face? Earlier, before…I just remember fixing it. Did one of those men hurt you?"

Clint looked at Bucky, now he was caught. Unless he decided to lie.

Bucky hesitated, but decided that if he lied, he'd get caught really quickly. "No, it was before we saved you."

Bucky looked away from Loki and gave a pleading look to Clint, not wanting him to say anything about what happened.

The second punch had been much worse than the one Loki had witnessed, and Bucky had seen how angry Loki got at that. He didn't want to see Loki's anger at the information that Steve had SHATTERED HIS JAW.

Clint frowned at Bucky, he wasn't telling the full truth. Just as he was about to out him, the look on his face changed his mind.

They'd all been through enough today. This could wait until Loki was back on his feet, they didn't need Loki going after Steve in the state he was in now.

"Well he fine now, thanks to you. So…when do you get out of here?"

Loki smiled, still a bit suspisous of what had happened.

"Tomorrow most likely, I should have my strength back by then and can heal anything else."

Bucky nudged Clint discreetly and flashed him a smile in appreciation, before saying, "Then maybe we should get to sleep so it'll be tomorrow."

He glanced at the clock. "Its midnight anyways, and it's been a LONG day."

Clint looked back at Loki, he was barely keeping his eyes open.

"Yeah, good idea. We'll be back tomorrow, now get some rest."

Both Bucky and Clint walked out and headed off for bed, hoping nothing too exciting would the next day.

Bucky awoke to ear piercing shrieking resounding through the Tower. It almost sounded like… was that Claire?

Bucky jumped out of bed and ran quickly to the common area to see Loki in a wheelchair laughing at… yeah, that was Claire. Freaking out.

"WHAT THE HELL LOKI?!"

Loki was too busy laughing to answer, Claire was swimming in Clint's boxers and white V-neck. She looked hilarious.

She groaned as Tony burst in the room to see what all the screaming was about

"What is going on he…Oh hello there sweetheart."

Loki snickered and wheeled over to Bucky.

"This should be fun."

"Shut up, Tony…" Claire growled at the billionaire, and Bucky winced. Uh oh.

"I can't believe you're Claire again! What happened?" Tony asked.

Claire pointed to Loki. "Ask him!" She yelled, and Bucky burst out laughing.

The most innocent and angelic look came across Loki's face. So basically the I-didn't-do-anything-look.

"I think this is just repercussions from misfiring magic…Claire. I'm…ehehe…afraid there's nothing…ehehe…I can do."

Tony smirked at Claire and wiggled his eyebrows.

"Hmm, nice outfit Claire. You should wear it more often."

Claire jumped, just now realizing what she was wearing.

"OH MY GOD! Stop looking you perv!"

Tony laughed a little at that and quickly grabbed his phone, snapping a picture.

"Tony!" Claire yelled, and Tony took off, Claire following close behind.

"Do you think he… she… Claire is going to be stuck changing from Clint to Claire?" Bucky asked Loki, grabbing 2 orange juices from the mini fridge next to them and handing one to Loki.

Smirking, Loki snapped his fingers and a loud screech was heard.

"WHAT AM I WEARING? LOKI YOU BASTARD!"

Eyes widening, Loki looked at Bucky.

"I think it might be best if we le-"

Claire stormed back in the room, Tony's shattered phone in her grasp.

Her outfit had changed to tight skinny jeans and a crop top.

"YOU! Get over here now!"

Loki started frantically wheeling toward the elevator, throwing a glance back at Bucky.

"We should go now!"

Bucky took one moment to look at the admittedly sexy Claire, before quickly following Loki and opening the elevator, pressing a random button and frantically pressing the shut door button.

Claire nearly got into it before the doors closed.

Bucky heard loud banging above them as the elevator started to slowly go down. "Did you do that on purpose?" Bucky asked, as the elevator stopped and the doors started to open.

Loki plastered the same innocent look on his face, but there was a mischievous sparkle in his eyes.

"Me? I'd never!"

He grinned as they left the elevator, the look on her face was priceless.

Then the British AI startled both of them.

"Mr. Stark says he hates both of you. Miss Claire is chasing him, evidently he has another phone."

Loki looked back at Bucky and started cracking up.

Bucky couldn't help but start to laugh as well, then realized exactly where they were.

"Let's go back." He said, small frown on his face. 'This is Steve's floor…'

Bucky weighed his options. Really, he hadn't done anything to Claire, so he guessed that he was safe, but Loki wasn't.

But he'd rather Claire than Steve. "Yeah, let's go back." He reiterated.

Loki smiled nervously and stood up from the wheelchair.

"So good to be out of that thing. Alright then lets go."

As soon as the elevator reached the right floor, they got out to see a tall redhead yelling at Tony.

"TONY! I don't care if Clint looks hot as a girl, you don't take pictures of someone without permission!"

Claire stood there with her hands on her hips, a smug grin on her face.

Bucky smiled at that and nearly laughed. "But come on Pepper, look at her!" Tony tried, but Pepper just gave him 'the look'.

Tony sighed. "Fine, I'll delete the pictures…"

Bucky gently squeezed Loki's hand before going over to Claire. "So, remember last night when we were talking about how you turned back into Clint?" Bucky asked, beckoning for Loki to follow.

He was pretty sure he figured it out from what Loki had said. 'I can still sense a faint bit of magic around you, not sure why though.'

Bucky was pretty sure he knew why, now.

Loki came up behind him, smirking like someone shaved Tony's goatee.

"Claire, I think I may have inadvertently given you some new…abilities."

She just stared at Loki for a second before breaking out in a huge grin.

"Cool! But you need to fix…"

She motioned to her clothes.

"This, right now. I'm no Barbie!"

Loki rolled his eyes and in a snap Claire had on an outfit more fitting. Just a normal pair of jeans and a shirt that said 'man do I love arrows'

"There, is that better?"

Claire grinned even wider. "Much!"

"So Clint can change from Clint to Claire whenever? I should make her a bow. Like, you press a button and it turns to the size she needs or the size he needs. I need to get on that now." Tony was off, running towards the lab, leaving Pepper, who sighed.

"I'm needed at a board of directors meeting, I'll be back soon." Pepper told them, going into the elevator.

Then Bucky looked over at Loki and Claire. He was alone in the room with them, and Bucky was sure Claire was going to tell Loki what happened last night. Claire started to glow suddenly, and started to grow.

"Clint?" Bucky asked.

Clint looked down at the clothes he was wearing and groaned.

"Aww man, I really liked that shirt."

He looked at Loki imploringly.

"Can you fix this?"

Loki grinned and snapped again.

"There, now next time you change your clothes should change with you. But I think it'll take practice to control it."

Clint nodded and frowned.

"I think its time I told you what really happened last night. Bucky left some stuff out."

Bucky clenched his jaw lightly. "Clint, I don't…"

He relaxed and sat down. "Ok, fine, tell him then." Bucky obviously wasn't happy by this, but he was not going to fight his friend.

Bucky never did like arguing. Whenever he argued with someone it ended with bruises. He didn't want Clint to be hurt if somehow Bucky lost his anger, or the other way around.

Something in him told him his logic was flawed and he was letting Clint tell it because he wanted all of it to stop.

Bucky ignored that part of himself.

Curiously Loki looked at Clint.

"What is it?"

Clint took one last glance at Bucky before forging on.

"Well after you were…lost, we came back here to get help. And Bucky and Steve got into an argument."

He looked down, unsure of what Loki's reaction would be to where the bruises on Bucky's face had come from. Suddenly without notice, he changed back into Claire. She didn't even notice.

"They started fighting over what had happened and it ended up with Steve punching Bucky in the face. He shattered his jaw, it was pretty bad."

A deadly glint appeared in Loki's eyes, as he turned to Bucky.

"Is that true? Did he hit you again?"

Bucky looked away from Loki and chewed on his bottom lip. When he found the resolve to answer Loki and looked back, however, the elevator opened and there was Steve.

Bucky stiffened and turned slightly pale, shaking his head. "No…" He tried.

Claire sagged a little and then glared toward Steve.

Loki froze, remembering how bad Bucky's face had looked. Livid he turned to look at Steve, his face a deadly calm.

Claire was also really mad, saw Loki and Steve make eye contact.

"Oh shit, this is not gonna end well."

Focused only on Steve, Loki stalked over to him. Steve frowned at him.

"Oh great…I guess you're feeling better."

Bucky grimaced. "Claire, Claire, please don't let Loki get hurt, stop them from fighting!" He pleaded.

Steve glared toward the man and snarled, "You can destroy lives and the city but you can't stop 2 people from fighting, you have to ask someone else to do it for you? A dame, no less."

"Cause Peggy was the only girl who could be strong and overpowered." Bucky said sarcastically.

"Exactly. And don't bring her into this." Steve commanded darkly, and Bucky immediately listened, shutting up.

Claire tensed up at his comment, while Loki glared daggers at Steve.

"Just who do you think you are? No one deserves to be treated the way you treat Bucky! But you crossed a line…hero. What makes you think you get to do that?! Tell me please!"

The sarcasm was dripping from Loki's voice, along with a good amount of venom.

Claire glanced back at Bucky, before tearing into Steve herself.

"Yeah, you are being a grade A douchebag! And why am I any less of a person as Claire? I can kick your ass either way jerkface!"

"You couldn't fight me if you were a man, much less a woman." Steve told her nearly unemotionally.

"Hey, don't say that!" Bucky tried, and instantly paled and leaned back when Steve turned on him and roared, "Stay out of this! Just shut up, ok?!"

"Why should I?" Bucky asked lowly. Steve was shaking with anger now, and Bucky realized it quickly. 'Steve's going to blow. I can't let him hit Loki or Claire. Especially Claire, she doesn't have a serum that makes it not as bad and she's not an Asgardian who has strong bones and skin. She's just a human, and Steve's punches…'

Bucky readied himself. He was the one getting hit, not Loki or Claire. No way was Steve going to hit either of them.

No matter how much he tried to leave it behind, Loki had been raised by a mother who taught him to respect females. And the fact that Steve was discriminating against Claire and Clint was only making him angrier than he already was.

And the look on Bucky's face…Loki was about to lose it.

"You. Are. Pathetic! Does it make you feel important? Powerful? Making someone feel so low?"

Claire had been shocked into silence at Steve's comment, but snapped out of it with a growl.

"You really think you're better than all of us don't you? Well let me tell you something Rogers, you're not! We've all got strengths and weaknesses and yours is this suck attitude! Some leader you are!"

Both Loki and Claire could see Steve was about to blow, so they were ready for him.

"Like you would be any better of a leader. You couldn't even hear me if those hearing aids weren't in your ears!"

"Leave her alone!" Bucky stood suddenly, and Steve turned, eyes blazing. His fist hit Bucky so quick he didn't have time to think. "I said stay out of this!"

Bucky immediately blacked out, sliding to the floor. His head banged against the table and blood slowly pooled around his head.

"Bucky?" Steve asked, a broken look on his face. "No, no, Bucky, wake up!" Steve tried, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Wake up! Bucky, please!"

The reaction was immediate, Claire lunged at Steve while Loki rushed over to Bucky.

"You sick son of a bitch! Look what you did!"

Whether it was shock of what he'd done to Bucky or feeling like he deserved it, Claire got the jump on Steve. She knocked him to the floor and straddled him, sitting on his chest.

"Are you happy now!? Does this make you happy?!"

Then she started whaling on him, punch after punch. She probably broke her hand and his nose.

"And don't you ever say anything about my hearing aids again! You have no idea what it's like!"

Loki let Claire have this one, even though he desperately wanted to join in pounding Steve.

Bucky needed him.

Still tired from what had happened the day before, Loki did all that he could for Bucky. He got the bleeding stopped and closed the head wound, but Bucky was still unconscious. After picking up the battered man, Loki turned to Claire who was still beating the snot out of Steve.

"We have to get him to the med bay. Claire I need to go, you can stay and continue if you wish."

Loki looked down at Steve with disgust and turned to leave.

Bucky slowly awoke, pain stabbing through his head. He groaned loudly. "What the hell happened?" He mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut in pain.

He remembered a lot of yelling, on everyone's part, then he remembered… being hit, hard, so hard, and then everything had gone black. He felt even worse than the last time Steve hit him and shattered his jaw.

"Oh, damn, my head…"

"Yeah, you should stay still for a while. He got you pretty good, but I was able to get there before you suffered any permanent damage."

Loki was sitting in the chair next to Bucky, a frown on his face. He was still enraged that this had happened but revenge could wait, for now.

"Don't worry I got him for you, damn bastard never knew what hit him."

Claire was on the other side, both of her hands bloody and wrapped up. She grinned at Bucky and Loki.

Bucky immediately sat up. "Your hands! Are you ok?" Bucky looked apologetic.

"Sorry, that shouldn't have happened at all. Now you're hurt." Bucky put a hand on his head as another pang of pain cut through his head. "Ahhh…" He suddenly frowned.

"How did your hands get like that? Did Steve do something to you?" Bucky's voice had taken a deadly chill at those words.

She smirked at him, proud of it.

"I did this, by beating the shit out of Steve 'I'm an asshole' Rogers face. Yeah he may have tried to fight back a bit but we wasn't counting on a dame being faster that him."

Claire looked at her hands and giggled.

"I ended up fracturing both of them, but hey, I broke the douchebags nose so its a win. Loki fixed most of it while you were out, I just have to keep them wrapped up for the next few days."

Loki frowned and pressed Bucky's shoulder back down on the bed.

"You need to rest, I wasn't able to completely get you back to normal."

Reading the worry in his eyes, Loki smiled at Bucky.

"We're fine, don't worry."

Bucky looked between the smiling Claire admiring her hands and the small smile on Loki's face before sighing and giving a nod.

He laid back and closed his eyes, letting himself fall asleep. It was going to fine. So why was Bucky so sure something bad was going to happen very soon?

Favorite, follow, review, check out Just Watch Me Fly! For most of this chapter JWMF was Claire/Clint since Loki was missing and I was Steve most of the time, but we shared those 2.