This first part is third person, well, the majority of the chapter should be. And as usual, I own nothing but Charlotte. I hope you enjoy and leave reviews for me! I read all of them.
He walked through the small house, running his fingers through his dark brown hair. It was still odd getting used to a bionic arm. Just the other day, he'd broken a round nightstand's table top off the legs. He paused in front of a mirror and stared at the arm. He didn't remember losing his left arm in the fall from the train but there were still a lot of things Bucky Barnes didn't remember. A red star was emblazoned on his upper shoulder. Of all things, why that? Why was that there? To make him remember who he'd been? So that he'd be easily spotted by the Soviets? He groaned. If he spent too long thinking of Russia, he'd eventually fall into remembering the amount of kills he'd administered. He'd been nothing more than a pawn for decades, like a player in a video game that they could control.
A loud bang of thunder shook the house, shaking him from his thoughts. The rain had been pouring steadily for hours. He was only grateful that it wasn't snow. That was when he heard another noise. The familiar sound of a car in the driveway. That couldn't be. He didn't have any visitors. When he gazed out the window, his eyes saw a dark green Jeep Cherokee; the reputed car of choice for one Charlotte Kent. When the driver's door opened and revealed a bob of dark auburn hair, he knew it for certain.
S.H.I.E.L.D. was sending another operative for him to turn down. What did they not understand about the word "no"? Nothing was appealing about working for them anymore. He regretted ever contemplating it and letting them think there was a chance. He couldn't face Steve after all this time even though he desperately wanted to see him other than on TV.
When he looked back outside, he noticed the girl was gone from beside her Jeep and that she didn't appear to be standing on the porch, waiting to be let inside. A slight noise from the kitchen let him know she'd broken in. Was she absolutely insane? At least the other woman, Romanov, had knocked and waited patiently. But Romanov had also been clearly a fighter, having to secure him to a chair before she would even begin to explain something. He'd liked her. But still, he'd refused.
Bucky knew everything there was to know about Charlotte Kent. He'd seen the news coverage but he'd also read her file the few times he'd been in S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters. Director Fury and the other agent, what was his name? Coulson, had been fairly open handed with information on her. Bucky had started learning about her once it became clear that Steve cared for her. Just because he wasn't technically an agent didn't mean he didn't keep up with what was happening.
Just from hearing about Agent Kent, he'd decided he didn't like her. She'd hurt Steve, which was nigh unforgivable to Bucky, and she'd chosen a madman over her country. There weren't many good qualities about her as far as he could tell and yet she was the one they sent to recruit him. How terribly ironic. What had she done to deserve to be a field agent? What had she done to become so important to them? She should be in prison, living out a traitor's life in a cell like her lover Loki was in Asgard. She sure as hell shouldn't be breaking and entering his parents' home.
Bucky grabbed his handgun slowly and cocked it. If she wanted a fight, she would damn well get one. "You've broken into my house so be prepared for the consequences," he called.
"This, technically, isn't your house," said a woman's Southern drawl from behind him. He turned and she grabbed his arm and twisted it painfully, making him drop the gun. He dropped to the floor and clambered for it when he noticed her staring at her left hand much in the way he used to, like it wasn't attached to her body. She dropped her arm after a second and turned her gaze on him. "I'd like to talk civilly with you, Mr. Barnes." He watched her draw something from the tool belt around her waist. Expecting at least a taser gun, he was surprised to see when she flipped open what appeared to be a Swiss Army knife. No, it wasn't that. It was an old looking blade, like someone would use to give a close shave. His eyes dropped to the tool belt hanging around her hips and he noticed tons of small daggers, different than the one she was clutching. She had throwing knives. "But we can do that later." Her voice sounded low and seductive but her appearance was totally different. She looked young and small, almost birdlike. She had childish looking pouty lips and large eyes that made her appear innocent. But he knew she was anything but.
His hand twirled around the barrel of his gun and he stood, noticing she had disappeared again. "You're a trickster just like him, huh?" Bucky asked. He didn't need to say the name because all he got in response was a small laugh. He didn't need to look hard; Charlotte had been soaked with rain water and had left puddles of it everywhere. When lightning flashed, it lit up her silhouette in the room adjacent.
"Do me a favor and don't do anything stupid," she breathed. She slicked back her wet hair and seemed to slip into Loki's skin. No one had remarked how alike they were although he had assumed they had to have something in common. Her hair flipped at the end of her neck before falling back the way it was. He had seen plenty of photos of the God of Mischief and he figured mimicking him must just be her style.
Bucky lifted his arm and fired a shot, missing Charlotte by mere inches. It wasn't an aim problem, he had intended to scare her. Judging by the fact that she didn't flinch, just carefully moved her hand, his intention hadn't worked. "I don't have to listen to a word you say. You people are persistent but I've already declined," he said. "So I have no problem with throwing you out of this house." She smirked and her green eyes lit up, making Bucky forget how innocent they'd made her look earlier.
"It doesn't work like that." Charlotte angled her arm back and threw something. Bucky flinched as his right arm felt a slicing prick. When he looked on the wall beside him, he saw a tiny throwing knife that had sharp edges and a green gem in the hilt. Green, wasn't that Loki's color? He didn't have time to think farther because Charlotte was pressing herself up against him and leveling that barber shop blade at his neck. She was shorter than he was but she wasn't shorter than Romanov. Up close, he noticed she wasn't as vixen-ish as Romanov was either. What did a Norse god see in this girl? What did Steve see? A girl who vaguely resembled Peggy? "Why don't you come with me and it'll make this easier on everyone?" He only shook his head.
"I'm not going anywhere with someone like you." He turned her quick while she was unaware and threw her against the wall, holding her there with the bionic arm. She glanced down at it, pursing her lips.
"So this is personal?" she groaned.
"You have no idea." His mind filled with the things he'd heard about her love triangle with Steve and how he hated her for it. She'd chosen someone vile over his personal best friend time and time again. But while his mind clouded with dark things about her, his grip loosened and Charlotte slipped down and through his legs. When he turned, he saw she'd grabbed the table top he'd broken two days earlier, wielding it like a shield. She'd stolen fighting techniques from Steve and from Loki. She'd blended the two.
As he'd just stared at her, she brought the table top up and upper-cutted his chin with it, knocking him backwards. "Are you more inclined to talk to me now, Mr. Barnes?" she asked. He only gruffly nodded.
Charlotte took a seat at the end of a kitchen table only after Bucky did, clearly wary of him. Her tank top racer-backed and Bucky could see her shoulder blades being bared. He touched his jaw with his hand. She had a stronger arm than he would've thought she would. She was rhythmically extending her fingers on the table top, forcing her palm to be flat. Her nails were painted purple. Did they really allow stuff like that at S.H.I.E.L.D.? "Sorry about the mess. I wasn't expecting hard rain. I take it you know who I am," she said.
"Of course," he responded, wishing she'd go on and leave. "Everyone knows who you are." She looked down at the table and slyly smiled before looking at him again.
"Am I to understand you don't like me?" Charlotte was blunt but it also seemed like she didn't really care whether he did or not.
She curled her knee up and onto her chair, wrapping her arms around it. Again, it made her look childish. "The masses wouldn't like you either if they knew half of the things you did." She made a face but nodded.
"With all due respect, Mr. Barnes, you don't know me and I don't know you. I think we're starting off wrong." She seemed serious but it was just another ploy to make him follow her into headquarters. He wouldn't fall for it.
"I know everything about you, Charlotte. We don't need any introductions." She smiled at him then.
"If you just come with me without a fight, you won't ever have to deal with me again, I promise you." When Bucky didn't respond, she carried on. "Mr. Barnes, I don't know what I did to offend you and to be quite honest, I don't care. My job here is to recruit you but clearly, it's going to be difficult if you didn't respond well to Natasha." She dropped her leg and leaned forward onto the table. "And it's going to be even more difficult when you don't like me personally so why don't we break down that roadblock?" She was all smiles and Southern charm but did she honestly not know what he disliked about her?
"I don't have to talk to you. I've already said no once so you can be sure to tell your superiors that I'm not interested. Now if you would please leave." He stood to show her the door as if she would actually get up.
"You're not the slightest bit interested in seeing Steve again? In talking to him?" Bucky turned and slammed his left hand down on the table. Charlotte flinched.
"You have no right to talk to me about him." Charlotte leaned back in her chair and pinched her plump lips together in defeat.
"He doesn't know you're alive," she said faintly. When Bucky only stared at her, she continued on again. "If you don't wanna do this for S.H.I.E.L.D., that's fine, but Steve deserves to know."
"Well, why haven't you told him?" he demanded. But who knew how Steve would've taken it? Especially when Bucky wasn't there physically to show that it was true.
"It's not my place, Bucky." He moved back from the table when she uttered his nickname. Up to this point she'd been formal but why hadn't she called him James? The level of personal contact it meant mad him angrier at her. "Nobody said it was yours either. He's just had it hard since waking up in this time period, losing everyone he'd ever known, and I can't even imagine what he's gone through." Her voice sounded sentimental and he knew she cared for Steve.
"You look like her," he couldn't stop himself from saying. When she looked confused, he knew he couldn't go back on it. "Peggy, you remind me of her." Charlotte made herself smile but Bucky knew it was tough to be compared to a past lover. It was out before he'd thought about it. "But whatever the case, you're not worthy of him and I am not going to be an agent for your traitorous company." She'd flinched again when he'd said it, she was unworthy of Steve. She'd clearly thought it herself before.
"Traitorous?" she asked slowly. He pointed at her to show his meaning and she only looked down at herself like he was pointing to a stain. "Are you scared of me too?" she asked grimly. He made a face at her. Fear wasn't what it was for him but sure, she could be a formidable foe if wronged.
"Why aren't you in jail with your precious Asgardian?" he countered.
"That's what this is about?" she asked, her voice dropping to that bland yet seductive tone. Charlotte sounded like she had millions of secrets up her sleeve that she would never talk to him about. "You're angry I had a relationship with him and that I'm unworthy of Steve?" Bucky noticed she hadn't said Loki's name the entire time and she'd almost choked when she said "unworthy."
"And somehow, after all of the things you did to protect Loki and sabotage everyone around you, they've let you come here. They've let you ascend the ranks." Bucky had been in the army and favoritism like that just didn't fly with him. "You didn't even really fight. Steve gave you the shield, absurdly I might add, and you got a couple of lucky shots."
"Same could be said for you, Mr. Barnes. Didn't you wield the shield without permission?" She sounded bitter and angry now too. "Just because I'm not a sergeant in the army doesn't mean I'm oblivious to ways of fighting. Some are more than just blatantly shooting people. You should quit while you're ahead."
"Well, why did you choose Loki at all? He's a monster." That caused Charlotte to grit her teeth. She tried to cover it up but Bucky had seen it, he was under her skin.
"You don't know anything about him or me and I wish you'd stop pretending that you do. Months have passed since any of those incidents, Mr. Barnes. I'm a different person as I'm sure you are. Come with now or I promise, I will make you come."
"Why are you so defensive about him, Charlotte? Can't you say his name?" She narrowed her eyes. "You're still in love with him." Bucky had come to the realization slowly but it was all too clear.
"Love is for children, Mr. Barnes. What exactly is your problem with me?"
He smiled then. "You know, I believed that line more when the other agent said it. On you it just comes off fake. And my problem with you has to do with you being a traitor and it has to do with you hurting Steve." He'd edged closer to her side of the table and he noticed she was fingering one of the knives on her waist.
"I'm not perfect," she breathed, defensively. "And I certainly do not need your approval. Get in my damn car right now or I swear, I will have someone remove your fancy left arm. You got it?" she hissed. He smiled again. At least she was a bit of a fire cracker. Maybe being at S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't be so bad and she had been right, he could see Steve. That was the only button Romanov hadn't tested.
"I'll go with you," he said and she visibly relaxed, pushing herself out of her chair.
"Rest assured, they won't dare make us work together," she responded. She led him out of the house, her pale shoulders glistening with rain water that still hadn't drained. Her file said she had a tattoo somewhere but Bucky couldn't remember the exact placement.
Once sitting in the passenger seat of her Jeep Cherokee, Charlotte made sure the doors were locked. "You try anything funny, I won't hesitate to taze you," she said. Bucky didn't bother responding. They had somewhat of a good rapport. He almost enjoyed arguing with her. "I hope you're not opposed to Maroon 5 because today I'm feeling them." He shrugged. Modern music had been one thing that had never phased Bucky. He wondered how Steve had reacted to it. "Where are the plans we made for two?" she belted along with the radio. "If happy ever after did exist, I would still be holding you like this. All those fairy tales are full of shit. One more fucking love song, I'll be sick!"
"You're an awful driver," he said, interrupting her pitiful refrain of Payphone. "And an even worse singer, if that's possible." She laughed for a minute, like she was actually friends with him.
"I can't say you're not honest." That was when her cellphone started blaring. Charlotte reached for it, accidentally brushing Bucky's bare arm and she paused, swerving the car a bit before grabbing her iPhone. "Sorry," she whispered at him. He noticed the name calling her was Jane Foster, Thor's girlfriend. "I can't talk right now," she said anxiously when she answered the phone. Her green eyes glanced at Bucky fast. "I don't know. Can you calm down? What the hell is going on?" After a few more seconds, Charlotte spoke again. "I'll be there when I can but it won't be for a while. Can you calm down and tell me what's happening?" After another pause, she went on. "I'll be there as fast as I can." She hung up and slung her phone into the backseat where Bucky noticed a large purse was sitting. "God, she can be frantic. Like I give a damn about the damn Einstein Rosen-bridge," she muttered. "You keep the forties look too, I suppose?" Bucky realized she was speaking to him.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing, it's a good look. I was just wondering. The part on the side is a great look for men with shorter hair. I love it." Bucky glanced at himself in the side mirror.
"Are you flirting with me?" he asked. She choked out a laugh, making it sound like the idea was preposterous.
"Oh, get down off your high horse, Barnes. I'm just making conversation." It wasn't long and they arrived in an underground garage at S.H.I.E.L.D. "Thank you for your cooperation," she said blandly as they walked through a hallway toward one of the offices. "I'm sure you'll enjoy your time here." She gave him a mischievous smile, one that she might've stolen from Loki, and walked off, clutching her cellphone. When he turned back, a tall man with an eye patch greeted him; the man known as Nick Fury.
-Charlotte-
I hustled into the back of Happy's car and I texted Jane immediately. What the hell was going on? She had sounded nuts on the phone earlier, telling me it was urgent that I see something and that she'd be waiting inside Stark Tower for me. I had shrugged it off initially, thinking it was some science discovery that she assumed I should care about, but the more I thought about how anxious she had sounded, the more I realized that it might actually be serious. She didn't respond to my text.
On the way back home, I obsessively overthought my interaction with Bucky. The guy had something against me and I guess I didn't blame him. He was looking out for Steve and that was a good thing. But calling me unworthy? Insulting the way I do things? That wasn't right. Maybe we'd just gotten off on the bad foot and he was angry at S.H.I.E.L.D. for sending someone else so soon after Natasha had made contact. He could be lashing out from recently recovering from amnesia. Whatever, I'd worry about him later.
I strode into the building after walking through another rain storm and I waved at the secretary at the desk. I ran into Bruce at the elevators and he handed me a piece of pizza from a box when we boarded. "How did it go?" he asked. I shrugged.
"He doesn't like me," I said, swallowing a bite of pizza. God, this was delicious. "He thought I acted like Loki and he said I was unworthy of Steve. I said, 'tell me something I don't know.'" Bruce smirked.
"He didn't mean it."
"You didn't see him." The numbers on the elevator dinged and I walked off, taking another huge bite of pizza. "Have you heard from Jane? What the hell is happening?" Bruce shrugged this time.
"Tony told me something was going on and that I should get pizza. That's all I know."
"Weird," I muttered, throwing my key into the lock to our apartment and twirling it without dropping my pizza. "I mean, she called me while I was still with Bucky," I said, following Bruce into the apartment. "I just don't know what could possibly be so-" My voice cut off and the piece of pizza I'd been sloppily eating had fallen to the ground along with my purse. I heard Bruce gasp beside me. This wasn't real. This couldn't possibly be real.
Jane was standing in the living room beside Tony and beside… Thor. I took off running and threw myself into Thor's arms, trying hard not to cry. He picked me up off my feet and I thought he might twirl me. When Thor's large hand touched my bare shoulder, a memory of his shocked through me. A childhood memory with Odin and Loki. "When I'm king, I'll hunt the monsters down and slay them all!" My small arms made a movement and I saw child-Loki staring at me before Odin spoke.
Thor let me go abruptly and I finally let myself get a good look at him. He seemed exhausted and he looked upset. "I have something grave to ask of you, Charlotte," he said. I wanted to absorb every bit of that booming voice that I could.
"What's going on?" I asked back. His blue eyes clouded over and Jane, beside him, looked nervous. Tony appeared to not know what was going on either.
"Loki's trial has not been going well." My heart pounded. That was the first real news of Loki in months and it was apparently bad. I nodded. "I fear they may send him to the Silent Realm unless someone can convince the Allfather otherwise. I have done all I can do and being the brother of Loki, my word is not taken for much. You must come to Asgard, Charlotte. Loki needs your help. He needs a witness to show he is not fully evil. You are the only help he could possibly receive. Will you do us both that favor and return home with me?"
Whoo. Okay, a new chapter really soon. I did not expect to update again so soon. But here it is. It's late where I am so if my editing is off, please tell me. And please tell e how you feel so far!