Chapter 28: Avenger's Tower
"Anyone else willing to answer this door? Anyone? Anyone at all? Bueller?" Sam was standing in the stairwell and refusing to budge another inch- he'd been like that since JARVIS announced their visitor.
"Who is it?" Steve had his door open to the stairwell and heard him all the way up on the fourth floor.
"Doc Pryor."
"Oh hell no," he heard Steve's door close and a moment later the "leader" came through the comms, "I talked to her when we told her we were taking Nessie back to Clint's. That woman, I must say, is a lot less charming on the phone."
"I know," Sam grumbled, "I heard your end of it... Bucky?"
"Can't."
"Busy?"
"No, I just don't want to," he couldn't lie to Pryor and fake buying her stories again- if he even could resist the little mental push Inessa described. It wouldn't take much to get the bloodlust bubbling and he was determined to keep a lid on it.
"Nessie?" she was showering after her sparring match with Steve, no way she'd be down. Sam sighed dramatically as the bell chimed again and dragged his feet all the way to the door.
"Oh!" Pryor seemed surprised to see him, but she recovered fairly quickly, "Mister Wilson, it's nice to meet you. I believe this is the first time I've had the pleasure?"
"Pleasure is all mine," he was determined to be the epitome of civility. "Are you here for Inessa? She's not actually available right now, she's in the shower."
"Well that's alright, I'm fine with waiting," she pushed her way past him into the lobby.
Sam rolled his eyes behind her back, "Well then, let's wait in here," he took her to the meeting room. She waited, eying her chair as if expecting him to pull it out for her. Sam went to it and she immediately closed the door behind them, then locked it.
Morris thinks I can't be useful anymore? She was prepared to teach him a lesson or two. Morris' demand was simple- make the Falcon take a swan dive off the balcony. She'd show him what her powers could really do.
Sam turned abruptly as the door lock clicked, "Excuse me?"
"I wanted to have a private chat with you, Inessa's tole me- well, she's told me some very disturbing things about Mr. Rogers."
A kind of anxious energy began to bubble up in Sam's chest, "What's wrong? Steve wouldn't do anything to hurt Nessie, he cares about her. We all do."
"It isn't what he's doing to Inessa," Pryor's powers influenced people, manipulated their perceptions, she couldn't convince him of something entirely false. She had to build off of truth, then twist the hell out of it. "It's about what he is doing to you," she felt the mood shift, Sam's worry pointed inward now.
"What he's done to me? He's always been fair and honest with me."
Pryor's face was nothing but sympathy, "She told me he had you hunt down Bucky for eight months, ordered you around like he would a sl- a servant."
"That's not-" but it was true. Steve gave commands, he followed them. Drop me near the shipping container; fly around in expanding circles to look for Bucky; get Inessa out of the Tower; go with Nat to Battery Park; we're going to Clint's farm, make sure you pack; go home to the Tower and help me watch Bucky and Inessa; Get the door, all he could think of suddenly were the orders, the endless orders. Everything else was blocked. "He's our leader... he leads," his voice wasn't convincing in the least.
"Leader to the Avengers, but what about you? Inessa describes him consulting with them, commanding you. She says he dismisses most of your suggestions."
Sam was having trouble remembering any discussions he'd had with Steve. He always thought of them as friends, equals, "He's tired. He doesn't know he's doing it. Life's been rough, he's getting his footing. He's in a new world now."
"He's been here for five years. It isn't a new world, just a different time. A lot has changed since the 1940s, maybe his mind on certain people- certain types of people- hasn't caught up yet. He's in a different time, you're in a different world. Gods, beings of incredible power, and you're his errand boy, his babysitter. He doesn't share his burdens with the childhood friend he made you find, he puts all the work on you."
Sam looked down as he sat in a padded chair, "I'm an important member of this team."
"A super soldier, three in fact, an archer with binocular-vision, a super genius, a monster, a god, and a precious child like Inessa. Then there's you. A man with only metal wings to protect him, and yet do they babysit? Do they help? Do they listen to your ideas? Or do they walk over you, demean you?
Normally Sam would know it was bull- everyone took turns helping with Inessa, Clint and Natasha did the most of anyone. The Avengers all helped one another, all supported one another (more or less). Suddenly though, Sam wasn't so sure anymore.
"Is the Dragon Lady gone?" Steve scouted the lobby before coming out of the stairwell. Pryor as gone, of course, but he was being sarcastic. Sam stood by the lobby door, head down, "You OK buddy? She get you?"
"Buddy?" Sam turned slowly, "That's rich. That's really rich."
"OK, hey-" Steve held up his hands, "I get it. You don't like 'buddy'." Sam glared at him with a ferocity Steve didn't understand, "I didn't mean anything bad. Lighten up, as the kids say."
"Is that an order, sir?"
Steve frowned, "You OK? You seem... off."
"Sorry, sir," he was suddenly sarcastic, a manic light burned in his eyes, "How would you like me to be, sir? Funny, sir? Merry, sir?"
"Normal would be a good one," Steve tapped his comm, not taking chances, "Bucky, can you come down here?"
Sam gasped, "Sorry, sir, am I making you uncomfortable, sir?"
"Stop calling me 'sir'. Are you alright Sam?"
"My apologies, Mr. Rogers," he abruptly changed posture and tone to something overly proper and pronounced, "May I shine your shoes? Clean your apartment perhaps? How may I be of service?"
"Bucky- faster," Steve was almost positive- something had Sam, "Inessa, stay upstairs, lock the door."
"What's wrong?" she'd hurriedly finished putting on her pajamas and had a hand on the door.
"Just stay put!" he snapped harder than he meant to, "Sam, can we have a civil discussion about what's bothering you?"
"What's bothering me?! What's bothering me is you and your BULLSHIT!"
Steve heard footsteps, slow and purposeful- Bucky. "Tell me about it- my bullshit. Say whatever you need to say. I'm all ears," he kept his voice low, calm, and moved away from the stairwell to give Bucky a clear path.
"Inessa, Pryor was here," Bucky came through the house speakers, she alone could hear him on the fourth floor, "Get her before she leaves."
She didn't wait for a second order. Inessa walked straight into the nearest shadow and began opening windows from the Valley at random, searching both the building and the garage.
"You want a discussion? Why? So you can ignore what I have to say again?"
"Sam, I think whatever got Tony got to you too," Bucky cringed at Steve's words, that was a bad move.
"Oh? Another way my opinions get to be irrelevant! Fantastic!" he pulled a gun out of the back of his jeans and pointed it at Steve. Pryor had taken a walk with him to the armory, "How about now? Am I allowed to think now?" he fired, grazing Steve's hip, "What about now?" he fired again, but Bucky was already moving. He caught the second bullet (aimed for Steve's neck) with his metal arm and slammed into Sam, knocking him to the ground.
"INESSA, FORGET CATCHING HER, KILL HER!"
"What?"
"PSYCHICS ARE USELESS DEAD," he gritted his teeth and tried to keep a grip on Sam as he struggled, "JUST KILL THE BITCH!"
Inessa found movement in the garage. Pryor. She grabbed the Doctor, pulled her through the Valley, and dropped her in the middle of the lobby, "LET THEM GO! TONY AND SAM BOTH!" She was shouting before Pryor had time to process where she was, "LET THEM GO AND TELL US WHAT MORRIS IS PLANNING OR I SWEAR TO GOD-"
"Stupid little bitch! Sebastian Morris won't be stopped! He'll roll over you and the rest of this world without resistance. Sam will kill your leader or die trying, either way, we win another point!"
Inessa grabbed the back of her neck and forced her to look at the chaos, "END THIS NOW!"
Pryor just smiled. Inessa had given her a fair shot- Steve saw it as he kept pressure on his hip and tried to figure out how to help Bucky. She was free to act now. Bucky, even wrestling with Sam, could see what was going to happen. Steve too- though he was too far away to stop it. He cast a desperate look to his old friend. Bucky threw everything into the gun hand and gave up trying to subdue the rest of Sam. He turned the gun on Pryor and pulled the trigger until a bullet hit her stomach and- suddenly- something blew her innards outwards.
Inessa's eyes widened as Pryor's body fell and blood sprayed all over her front. Her mouth fell open. The wall she'd built- thought she'd built- between herself and the memories of Astana and the Winter Soldier's abuse flickered and vanished. It was laid out before her- all too present, and all too real. The rage that helped keep her mind clear cut away. She felt breathless, dazed.
Sam stopped struggling and slumped against Bucky, panting. Steve hobbled over and pulled them apart, "Sam? Are you OK? Speak to me..."
"Wh-" he was winded. His mind was abruptly filling in what Pryor had been blanking out. Steve was his brother and his boss- never his enemy, not by any stretch of the imagination. How did he miss all that? How did he think killing his best friend was right? "I- I'm... I'm alright. I'm fine."
"I believe Master Stark has returned," JARVIS opened the comm.
"What did I do?" Tony seemed anxious, "Loch Nessie? Are you OK? What- why..."
Steve rubbed his forehead with a shaking hand and slumped down from his crouch to sit on the floor. He stared at the doctor's body, "What the hell?"
Bucky was reeling as well. The rage intensified, but the bloodlust was waning. He just sat there, baffled. "We need to get to the farm," he mumbled.
"There will be a war soon." Steve shook his head, "Maybe then the world will make sense again..."
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TEN!