A/N: So I failed utterly at NaNo this year, clocking in less than 10k words. I blame this on my hellish work schedule. Apparently, I can't say no and racked up just shy 100 hours Nov. 14-27. Le paycheck will be chunky indeed. The next chapter is coming along, just please be patient with me. I work in retail so my schedule is going to be stressful until after the first of the year. I am committed to finishing this story, I just need to get there.
Additional note: public schools in NYC let out at the end of June, movie dating for the end of school is 8 months after the Endgame Battle, presuming big celebrations for the 4th of July, I've placed the school trip in mid-July.
. . .
'Because I know something you don't know.'
'And what is that?'
'I am not left-handed.'
"Well, at least we know Westley didn't die."
"Westley? That is the Dread Pirate Roberts," Ni corrected, all seriousness right down to the drawn together brows.
He threw a piece of popcorn at her. "It's the same actor. Plus, he's the hero slash love interest so no way in hell they'd kill him off in the first act."
She pouted at him. "And I'm telling you that is the Dread Pirate Roberts." She returned fire with her own piece of popcorn. She made a direct hit and he feigned being mortally wounded. "Just watch the damn movie," she grouched.
He grinned and said, "As you wish," before turning back to the movie. The events played out before them with snarky commentary from Bucky when Buttercup also identified the supposed Dread Pirate Roberts as Westley. Ni responded by blowing a raspberry in his direction.
The now revealed Westley lay on the table having his life drained from him by Humperdink when Ni's phone chimed, signaling an incoming video call.
She gave him a quick smile, picked up her phone, and stepped away so that he could continue to enjoy the show without interruption. She answered as she wandered over towards the kitchen. "Hey, Dad, what's up?"
"What's up? Are you watching the news right now?"
Bucky attempted to focus on the movie, not wanting to eavesdrop on her conversation, but something in the tone of her father's voice drew his attention.
"No. I'm watching The Princess Bride with a friend. Why?"
"This early in the morning? Wait. With your superhero friend?"
Nienna sighed heavily and brushed her hair back on the right side to tuck it behind her ear. Her hand had healed up just fine, though some lingering green and yellow bruising remained across her knuckles. "He, by his own admission, is neither super nor a hero, dad, but yes." She glanced over at Bucky, who picked up the remote and pressed pause.
"What's up, doll?"
Whatever look her dad made at the moment had clearly surprised her given the raised eyebrows. "While I had hoped to introduce you two the next time you were in town…" She walked back to the couch and turned the phone about so that Bucky could see her father on the small screen. "Dad, meet Bucky Barnes."
Bucky gave the man a wave. "Hey."
"Bucky, meet Doctor Zadkiel Lykaios, my dad."
"You can call me Zad, Mr. Barnes."
"Lykaios?" Bucky questioned, focused on Ni. He'd been under the impression that she'd gotten her looks from her mother, the Italian influence giving NI her darker skin and hazel eyes. Given he hadn't done a deep dive on her or her family, treating their relationship as a relationship and not a mission, he hadn't expected her to have Greek roots as well.
Then again he hadn't expected any of this when they'd first crossed paths.
Zad chuckled. "She didn't want her career overshadowed by her two semi-famous parents. Grace is her middle name."
Bucky shook his head, still not understanding. "I know her… your mom taught you to cook, but… sorry, she hasn't spoken about either of you in detail."
Ni made her way around the couch to sit down next to Bucky, who had to move the bowl of popcorn to a side table to make room.
"Can't say I'm surprised. Most people apparently forget she exists when they realize who her parents are."
Bucky couldn't help the confusion and knew it showed on his face.
"Dad, if you know who Bucky is, then you should understand he has no clue who you and mom are… were."
Her dad frowned slightly. "Huh. You are correct, of course. No wonder you like him."
Ni ducked her head for an instant. "Well, I have to admit that was part of it, but definitely not the whole reason."
Bucky glanced at her. "So, she mentioned that her mom was a chef."
"A chef?" Zad sniggered. "She was the chef in New York for more than a decade prior to… to…" He stopped, clearly not able to say the words 'her death', which surely remained far too fresh in his mind. Zad had been one of the Snapped and had returned to discover not only a completely changed world but that his wife had passed away. His grief still a raw and oozing wound on his heart.
"Dad-"
"I'm good, Ni. Her mom had been compared to greats like Emeril and Ramsey, and Julia Child. She wrote several books both on cooking as well as restaurant management. She changed how people dined in that city."
Ni fake coughed lightly, trying to draw her dad's attention before he continued to espouse the highlights of his wife's accomplishments. "Bucky doesn't need all the details today. I suspect I'm going to be professionally interrogated after this call."
"No you won't," Bucky said, then changed his mind as he recalled the set of cookbooks in Ni's kitchen which he now suspected had been written by her mother. "Okay, maybe a little."
Zad snorted.
"Dad's a psychiatrist to the stars. Politicians, sports figures, actors. He knows more dirty secrets than an Irish Catholic priest in Boston." She gave her dad a broad grin. "His own words by the way. There's been threats of a tell-all book when he retires, but given he never will…" she shrugged.
Bucky blinked. Her dad being a shrink had to be both the most unexpected and yet obvious realization he'd ever had in his life. No wonder she'd been so endlessly patient and understanding of him and his foibles. She'd probably gleaned more than a dash of her father's skills over the years. Perhaps more than a dash if her absorption of her mother's cooking skills were anything to go by. "Well, that explains a few things." He shook his head. "You're even more dangerous than I thought."
She gasped in seeming offense then gave him a shove with her shoulder. "You think my ability to keep clients happy is a natural skill? Hell no. I took everything he taught me," she waved at her father on the screen, "and used it to my advantage."
"As you should," Zad stated. "Now that the introductions are over, turn on the news. WHIH should be covering it. If not, MSNBC definitely is."
Bucky did as asked, switching from the movie to the local TV stations. He chose WHIH and sat there astonished as a giant water monster seemed to be fighting with a flying magician wearing what appeared to be a fishbowl on his head and a spider-man copycat.
"Dad, I'll call you later, okay."
"Text your siblings, will you. They want to know you're alive."
"I will," she assured him, then closed the call. "Holy shit," she muttered, staring at the TV screen in shock.
They watched in stunned silence for the better part of an hour before she suddenly turned to him. "Why aren't you on your way there? Wouldn't this be an Avengers thing?"
Bucky had been so absorbed in watching the recap of the battle and all the damage that had been done he hadn't even thought about the fact that he might actually be of some use in the situation. He picked up his phone and swiped it open. "I'm gonna shoot Sam a text and see if he knows what's going on."
She nodded. "I'll make us some real food. I have a feeling it's going to be a long day."
"Good idea. Maybe some caffeine too?" He quickly typed up a text and hit send.
Sam responded a few minutes later with a string of question marks followed a few seconds later by a simple hold on.
Bucky failed to be patient and paced about the room. On his third trip around Ni held out a mug for him to take as he passed by. He gave her a wan smile, taking a drink and mentally pausing for a moment to enjoy the flavor. She had managed to turn him into a coffee snob to the point that he'd gone out and bought a french press to use for his morning coffee at home.
Just as he was about to text Sam again the phone rang with the caller ID of Samwise, complete with a picture of the Hobbit in question. Bucky hit the button and the speaker. "Sam, you're on speaker."
"Ni?"
"Yeah." He moved over towards the kitchen and set the mug down.
There was a long pause. "Ah, uh, walk of shame time?"
Nienna laughed. "Movie night went long, Sam. Or early depending on your perspective."
"Oh. Well then." Sam sounded oddly disappointed in the answer.
They hadn't intended for it to be an all-nighter, but she'd had a planned virtual meeting in the late evening because of the time difference between her and the client, which meant she'd napped during the day and had been wide awake at three am. Knowing she'd need to stay up all day to reset her sleep schedule she'd suggested he come over for a movie night, one far more literal than their usual.
Bucky had brought snacks and drinks, Ni had a selection of a dozen movies for him to choose from. The Princess Bride had been the third one they'd played. Though technically he had a fair bit still to watch.
"Did you see the news?" he asked Sam.
"Yeah. And I have no idea what's going on. I've reached out to Torres, but it might be a few before he gets back to me."
"Would Torres or his people have any jurisdiction there?" Ni asked as she poured what Bucky suspected to be pancake batter onto a sizzling griddle.
"Technically, no. Not unless they were asked to intervene. Nearest base is…"
"Aviano air force base," Bucky supplied. "About fifty miles north of Venice."
"Of course you know that," Sam groused. "The US will probably offer assistance, but the Italian government is under no obligation to accept it."
"So, how did some giant hydro man get onto this planet without anyone noticing?" Of course Ni got straight to the heart of the matter with ease.
Bucky snapped his head about at her and the rather astute question. "What she said."
"I have no idea, but this doesn't appear to be the first attack of this kind. Looks like a town in Mexico was taken out by some kind of sand monster a few days ago." The tapping of keys could be heard over the intervening distance. "Ixtenco. Didn't really make the news here, but it looks like the weirdo with the fishbowl head gear showed up there too."
"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence," Nienna commented from the kitchen. "Do you think there will be a third?"
Bucky ran a hand across his face and sat down at the counter, setting the phone down. "The news called them Elementals, so I would bet on at least two more attacks. Though when or where is the unknown."
Ni slid a bowl of fresh fruit across the counter towards him and he grabbed a couple of slices of melon, chewing thoughtfully while Sam continued the research on his end.
"Do you boys need to ask permission to help?"
"Uh, what do you mean?" Bucky questioned.
"Well, unless something has changed, Sam is still an Avenger, and you are Avenger adjacent at the very least. And last I checked you two didn't really answer to anyone at the moment. With the enforcement of the Accords in flux, waiting on that UN panel which probably hasn't been convened in over five years would just cost more lives. If you think you can help you should go."
"Sam?"
Silence reigned for nearly a minute and just about the time Bucky had decided to ask if his partner was still on the line Sam responded. "Let me make a couple of calls."
"And what do I do?" Bucky complained.
"Besides hang out with your girl? Research. See if you can find any useful info on these Elementals. Or who the mystery man fighting them is."
Bucky sighed. "Yeah. I can do that. I'll text you anything I find."
"Works. Later, Ni."
"Bye, Sam."
The phone did its disconnect double beep and Bucky tucked it away into his pocket. He looked at Ni. "Is it up and running?"
"It is, but you haven't brought me your laptop to configure the connection."
Bucky rolled his eyes. "Nag."
She grinned, flipped a few pancakes on a plate, and slid it across the island to him. His mouth literally began to water, so he quickly gathered the rest of the needed items. Once the butter had begun to melt he added the real maple syrup, which he envied her for, since it had been extremely hard to find and even when one did was outrageously expensive. He suspected she had bartered for it, most likely honey for the syrup.
She cooked a few more and set them aside. "I'll grab the laptop I've set up."
Bucky shook his head, mouth full of pancakes and syrup. He chewed and swallowed quickly. "No. Eat. I'll grab it in a couple of minutes. We've got the TV on if anything new starts happening. Right now that'll be our only real resource."
"Well, that sucks. Once I have the system up and working in full I can set it up to send alerts to you on any subject you wish. Hell, I can send them to Sam too. Just need to set up the parameters."
"You know I appreciate all the work you're doing for me, right?"
She picked up her loaded plate and settled across from him. "I know." She reached across and stabbed a strawberry with her fork and tucked it into her mouth. "Please be aware we're in early beta testing here. I'll need a few weeks to refine and improve the functionality."
"What? It's not going to be utter perfection right out of the box? What good are you then?" Bucky's tone was dry as dust.
She snickered. "Ready for round two?"
He looked down at his plate, realizing he'd inhaled the majority of the pancakes in record time. "Apparently."
She nodded and turned away from her half-eaten meal to pour more batter onto the still-hot pan.
"I'm gonna grab the laptop, 'kay?"
"The blue one," she reminded, as he made his way through the open and therefore not-so-secret door next to the kitchen to retrieve the computer.
She had rearranged the majority of the room to accommodate the new servers dedicated to the searches he intended to do. He'd already done some preliminary work on his own. Digging into his… The Soldier's memories for occasions he'd visited Hydra locations other than what had become his home base in Siberia. He had countries and some cities for more than a dozen that had, at least as far as he'd been able to assess, not been raided by SHIELD or the Avengers over the years. From the looks of it at least one in South America had been repurposed by a local cartel, though he would have to go there in person to determine how deep they had actually infiltrated the older systems.
The shiny new, if markedly smaller than hers, desk had only two monitors mounted on it, though they currently showed nothing more than the default screen saver, along with a keyboard and trackpad. There was also a tablet interface that she'd just started playing with, which meant he'd done no more than see it. She'd been working on the programming for the system and claimed to be enjoying the diversion from her regular work. He hadn't asked for details… yet. He could, if he wished, simply fire up the main right here, but since he'd much rather hang out with her in the apartment while they waited on Sam to get back to them with more info and if they'd be heading to Italy today.
He spotted the blue laptop on her desk, where she'd probably been working on it, unplugged it, and headed back to the kitchen. He slid onto the stool, a new pile of pancakes awaiting his attention, opened the laptop, and started it up. It was a clone of hers, some uber high tech Stark Industries model that, from what he could gather, the general public did not have access to. Apparently assisting in keeping the world going earned one some interesting perks.
For an instant he wondered if she'd use her connections to facilitate upgrades for him and Sam, only to remember he could actually do that himself, if through slightly less than legal means and that the whole point of talking to that agent was to distance himself, distance Bucky Barnes, from the Winter Soldier. Yeah, he could call Okoye or Ayo, but while the ice had finally begun to thaw after the Zemo incident, spring remained some distance away and he knew he needed to earn their trust again before asking for any other favors.
"Anything happen?" he asked, typing with one hand while forking more pancakes with the other. Sometimes there were definite advantages to being ambidextrous.
"Nope. Just rehashing the same news over and over, just some new video from cell phones and security cams and such. Nothing to explain why Posideon decided to bitch slap Venice."
Bucky's eyebrows bounced upwards. "Poseidon?"
She shrugged. "Makes as much sense as 'Elementals'."
"Fair enough," he agreed. Not knowing what exactly he was looking for, he had little success discovering who the mystery man in the weird flying suit really was. He'd clearly been doing some form of magic… "I wonder if Strange is in town?"
Ni twitched. "Dr. Strange? The Avenger?" She tried to sound composed, but her voice had this high note in it that Bucky found endearingly amusing.
"Unless there's another magic-user who lives in New York, yes?"
She sighed softly as she flipped a pancake expertly onto the warming plate and poured more batter. "This is not where I expected to be at this point in my life," she muttered, surely well aware that he would still hear her but unable to not make the statement out loud.
"It's weird for me too, doll. And it's not like we're best buds or anything. Plus, it's not like I know anyone else who does magic. Seems like he'd be the person to ask."
She turned around to face him. "I'm not disagreeing, in fact shooting him an email or text might be a good idea, make it a group with Sam so you don't have to deal with a threeway…" She chuckled softly. "Unless you're into that sort of thing, of course."
Bucky snickered. "I don't kiss and tell, doll. But good idea on the group text thing." He picked up his phone and quickly set up and sent a text to both men. He didn't go into specifics, figuring the Sorcerer Supreme would have his own sources to glean details about the situation in Italy all on his own. Hell, the man might not even be in New York at the moment. He had the ability to create portals between worlds, no reason for him to be in the Big Apple if he were in the mood for skiing in the Alps. Bucky still found it unnerving that people like Strange, and Lang, and, hell, Rhodey had given him, The Winter Fucking Soldier, their contact info. He made certain to not abuse the privilege, hell, aside from Sam, this was the first time he'd used the information.
Not knowing what Strange might or might not have on his plate, Bucky would not feel offended or upset if he didn't respond. Hell, the whole situation might resolve itself before the evening news.
"Promises, promises," she muttered as she refilled his cup of coffee.
Bucky permitted one eyebrow to rise at her comment and while sorely tempted to ask for elaboration the search he'd initiated via her new system produced results. Actual video of the sand monster in Mexico. Shaky cell phone video, but video nonetheless.
"Holy shit."
"What?"
He spun the laptop about so she could see the image he'd paused the video on.
Ni shifted closer, mug of coffee in one hand, munching on a strawberry, the juice staining her lips bright red and making him wonder what it would taste like to kiss it away.
However, now was not the time. Hell, that would never truly be an option so he would savor what he had, the pieces of her life she shared with him for as long as she permitted him to.
"Is that… Is that Nick Fury?"
Bucky nodded. "And Maria Hill."
"So they are aware of what's happening and didn't call you and Sam?"
"Apparently," Bucky agreed, tone sardonic. He spun the laptop back around to see whatever other information he could dig up.
There wasn't much. Just the same videos that the news channels had gained access to plus a few others with less than stellar quality, which is why he'd only been able to find it online. He wanted to dig deeper into the magic-user, but had little luck as his only other appearance seemed to be in Mexico. Tracking Fury turned out to be only marginally easier, placing him somewhere in Europe, which made sense given the appearance of super monster number two.
The new system had been designed to be adaptive, so when it suggested a deeper dive in video recording options he gave it the go-ahead and within minutes he had access to CCTV recordings much to his surprise.
He was plowing through the massive amounts of video he now had access to looking for anything new when his phone pinged letting him know he had new emails. He chose to open them in a new tab on the computer instead of reading the tiny print on the phone. Not that he had any trouble seeing the tiny print, his enhancements assured that would never be an issue no matter how old he lived to be, but he saw no reason to not use the bigger screen in front of him. The search would continue to run in the background while he checked the emails. Most would probably be spam, requests from the VA, reminders from the government to be on his best behavior.
And, much to his surprise, one from Paradigm Talent Agency, the agency that Ni's contact had suggested and had been kind enough to give him an introduction, via email, but it had apparently been enough to encourage them to reach out to him directly.
As he perused the email he asked Ni, "Dumb question, how did you end up with an agent?"
She turned from packing away the leftover pancake batter and shrugged. "Before the Snap, I'd get invited to speak at symposiums and such and wanted someone to organize the arrangements and payments, so Sabine introduced me to her agent."
"Sabine?"
"My ex. Huh, guess I haven't mentioned her by name. Sabine is an actress, stage mostly, though she's done some background work in film and TV shot locally. Having a talent agent is pretty much mandatory in the biz, so she got me in the door and after some wrangling on the language in the contract, I had an agent. Trent was among those dusted, but I didn't exactly need him the last few years anyway."
"Oh. Kind of like what you did for me and Sam."
"Precisely. I'd guesstimate that about a third of any agent's clientele is found thanks to word of mouth introductions." She wiped down the counters and hung the towel up to dry on the nearby rack she'd hung for just that purpose. "Looks like the news cycle is on repeat. Do you want to watch the rest of the movie while the computer does its thing? You can pull up WHIH in another tab in case there are any updates."
He thought about it for a moment, not wanting to risk missing any new information, but she had a point. If all the news stations were recycling the same info over and over, there would be little point in continuing to watch live. "Sounds like a plan. Though I don't have to stay if you want to be alone."
She shook her head. "Invited you over to keep me awake, remember? Besides, we both know we'd just be texting each other about the news anyway. Might as well save the battery life on our phones."
He sighed, both thankful and relieved that she wanted him to stay. "You are not wrong. Wouldn't be the least bit surprised if the city issues a curfew just in case one of those Elementals shows up here."
"I'll grab the charger for the laptop. The search algorithm still chews up a lot of power."
"Still? It's almost like you're not even trying here," he mock-complained, receiving a punch in the arm for his trouble along with a grin.
"Beta test, remember?" She headed back towards the office where the plug had been left behind when he'd grabbed the computer.
Bucky stood and walked back over to the living area, setting up the laptop on the side table where the oversized bowl of popcorn had been abandoned and forgotten. He took the time to return it to the kitchen; they would probably empty and refill it at some point as she always seemed to have an abundance of popcorn available.
Nienna trotted back in, charging cable in hand, just as he was switching the TV back to the movie. She shoved the one end of the cable into the proper port and the other end into the plug built into the floor. She spent a few minutes tidying up, removing the older glasses and other detritus from sight with a swift efficiency, before returning with fresh drinks and settling into the couch beside him.
"Are you ready to discover the fate of Westley?"
Bucky made certain the computer's sleep mode had been turned off, and the split-screen showing the news cycle on one side and the search on the other was working as expected then nodded. "Once more unto the breach."
She snickered and hit play, picking up just a few moments before her dad had called.
. . .
The entire apartment smelled of chocolate. Ni had been showing signs of requiring an extended period unconscious prior to making it to her target bedtime, so had turned to cooking in an effort to stay awake. She'd made a massive batch of chocolate cupcakes from scratch complete with cookies and creme frosting that she took the time to pipe onto each in a fancy spiral before adding a full-sized Oreo in the frosting.
Bucky had offered to assist several times, but she kept waving him at the TV and the movie du jour, or hour as the case may have been, and insisting that he enjoy himself and watch as planned. Not about to permit her inability to stay awake twenty-four-plus hours ruin their plans. And besides, as she just had to point out, he'd be the one getting to eat them once finished.
Hard to argue with that logic.
She had allowed him to deal with dinner, which he had given her no options about even when she pouted at him and, while not cooking, he would be ordering from a local place that they both liked though they had yet to eat there together. In fact, he still owed her that dinner date he'd promised after receiving his first paycheck. He'd gotten a couple of them now, and neither one had been small given the comparatively, to him anyway, easy work.
After The Princess Bride, which had earned an eight out of ten from him, she'd delved into a variety of movies that all just happened to feature dear old Westley in them. They'd watched Hot Shots, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and were currently airing Twister, with Westley's character being a bit of an asshole in this one when Ni suddenly made this weird strangled sound in the back of her throat.
"Stop movie. Go to WHIH live."
Bucky spun about to stare at her, the heroes, of which Westley was not in this case, had been about to be hit by a cow flying wildly between two small tornadoes. "What the hell, doll?"
She gestured dramatically at the TV, eyes wide as she came around the counter, snagging the laptop she'd been keeping an eye on as she cooked. She hopped over the back of the sofa to land next to me as he stared at her in surprise. "Bucky, for fuck's sake, look."
He huffed out a breath of discontent then did as she asked only to end up staring open-mouthed at the screen. "Is... is that a lava monster?"
"That's as good a description as any. Guess this fills in 'fire' on the Elemental bingo card."
Bucky couldn't help it, he snorted in amusement. "You are handling this far too calmly."
She gave him a look that seemed to indicate he might very well be an idiot. "I'm just glad they didn't choose New York to destroy this time," she explained her tone a level of sardonic that he had never heard before from anyone including one Nicholas J. Fury with whom Bucky had spoken exactly twice but which had been more than enough for him to have a decent gauge of the man and his moods.
"You may have a point there," Bucky conceded after counting up the number of times NYC had taken a beating over the last decade or so. "Mexico, Venice, Prague. I don't see a pattern of any sort to the attacks." He watched the newest cell phone video that had been obtained by the news outlets and sighed softly. "Other than this Mysterio and Ninja Spiderman, that is."
She snickered. "Let me see what the search program can find." She shifted the laptop and got to keying in search parameters, most likely sifting through all the videos that had been posted online by those that had been at ground zero of the newest attack.
She would be able to access them faster than any news channel simply because she wouldn't be asking for permission to air them so they should have more detailed footage ahead of any of the reports on the air. How useful the videos might be would be the important question. "Can you get into CCTV for the city?"
She turned to him, one eyebrow rising on her forehead. "Legally, no. In reality, probably pretty easily."
"So long as we're not using the info for nefarious purposes I think I'll be able to justify having you do it. As an Avenger."
"So, now you'll play the Avenger card?"
"If it keeps you out of jail, yes."
She shook her head while smiling. "How sweet of you. Text Sam and make sure he's in the loop."
"Yeah, that might be a good idea." Bucky sent off a quick text to Sam, who he'd been texting with most of the afternoon, to make certain he was aware that yet another monster had made an appearance. Strange had never replied to the earlier text, but Bucky hadn't really expected him to. The man might not even be on the planet right now, given his abilities and Bucky had no clue what his responsibilities were on a daily basis.
"Bucky?"
"Yeah, doll?"
She turned the computer so he could see the screen. "Is that Fury?"
The picture was not the greatest, the angle horrible, and the person in question not exactly near the camera, but a black man in leather with an eye patch at the same location as a newly arrived Elemental? The odds were slim to none that it could be anyone else. "Yeah." Bucky couldn't help but wonder if there could be an actual reason he and Sam had for all intents and purposes been sidelined on what clearly appeared to be an alien invasion of some sort.
Granted, Bucky could probably be considered a wildcard when it came to saving the world, Avenger-level world-saving anyway, but Sam had been doing that job for a while, long before he'd vanished for five years. Bucky could only hope it wasn't due to Sam hanging out with him that kept him also sidelined.
He frowned slightly, not wanting to hinder Sam due to the world not yet trusting Bucky Barnes to do the job he'd unexpectedly inherited from Steve.
"Bucky, there's something weird going on here."
Ni sounded almost confused. "Like what?"
She turned the laptop so he could see another video she'd acquired that seemed to show the car Fury had gotten out of being hit by a spray of bullets. Bullets that came from the direction of the lava monster. "That's... odd. Could there be someone on a roof that you can't see from that camera angle?"
Her frown only deepened. "Possibly, but that would imply they had marksmen available and that they knew where and when the next attack would happen."
Bucky shrugged one shoulder. "It is Fury, so nothing would surprise me." His phone rang then and, as he had earlier, he put it on speaker as soon as he answered. "Hey, Sam, should I grab my go bag?"
"Nope. I have been informed it is being handled and we are not needed."
"Handled? Have you seen the mess in Prague?" Bucky watched as a new video aired showing Mysterio and the not Spider-Man that Bucky suspected was the actual Spider-Man attempting to corral the fire beast.
"Watching it as we speak. According to Torres, Fury has the lead on it and thinks this Mysterio character and the Parker kid can handle it. Apparently, the kid just happened to be in Europe on a class trip when all this went down."
Bucky glanced over at Nienna who had tried her best to not react, only permitting her eyes to go wide at Sam's statement. Bucky sighed heavily. "Sam, you're on speaker and I'm not alone."
There was dead silence for the better part of a minute before Sam muttered, "Shit."
Ni snorted.
"Buck, her clearance is higher than mine, I think we can trust her to keep Peter's identity a secret."
Ni nodded vigorously. "I will, Sam. So long as it doesn't get me in trouble with the government or Fury."
"I ain't telling 'em," Bucky stated drily.
"Me either. 'Sides you being in the know means we don't have to lie to you."
Ni tipped her head slightly as if thinking hard about being involved with their side quests. "Sam, to be clear, I have no interest in being an Avenger of any stripe. I'm more than willing to support you two where I'm able, but I'm no hero." When Bucky readied himself to argue that point she added, "Not like you guys are. I can help you two with tech and research, but I'm not sure I'll be good for much more. Aside from my deep-seated nerdom, I seriously lack the qualifications."
Sam laughed. "I'd argue that point, but I understand. I appreciate all you're willing to do and I promise once we've got a source of income you'll be paid back."
"Sam-" she shook her head. "I will not argue with Captain America, just... there's no rush. Writing programs like this is something I enjoy doing, that it's a benefit to you and Bucky is a bonus."
"Don't say that, I'll start asking for more."
Ni grinned even though only Bucky could see it. "Let me know if there's something specific you want and I'll work on it. This program is to make you... both of your lives easier in the long run.
"Which I appreciate. Don't think for a minute I don't, but I want to make certain you get the recognition you deserve."
"Dear god, I don't need recognition. But I am happy to help. And I will keep Spider-man's secret identity to myself." She turned to me, looking thoughtful. "I wondered why he hadn't been seen the last few days. He's in Europe fighting these Elementals."
Bucky hadn't thought about it that way. He knew the kid was a local but didn't pay a whole lot of attention to his whereabouts unless it made the nightly news. "He was there and an Avenger; I guess it makes sense that Fury went to him instead of us given we'd need to get there and that, even if he sent us a quinjet, would take hours."
"Exactly," Sam agreed. "You two have fun and don't worry about what's going on across the pond. Though if you get some info that would be useful to Fury, let me know. Torres has a contact that can get the info to him."
"I'll keep digging, Sam," Ni assured him. "It's a good test run of the system."
Bucky rolled his eyes. "You and your need to work. Sam..."
"I'll text you tomorrow, Bucky."
"Works." The line went dead and Bucky turned to Ni. "I'll order dinner and we can go back to the movie, yes?"
"Yes. I'll keep the search going on the computer for testing purposes, but since you won't be needed..." She shook her head. "Peter Parker is Spider-Man, not what I was expecting to learn today."
"Ni-"
"I should have realized it would happen, Bucky. You're a hero, you know other heroes. Granted most don't have secret identities, but..." She frowned deeply. "I'm hero adjacent now, I'll figure it out. Hey, at least now you can talk to me about some of the stuff you have to deal with without feeling like you're violating some rule or something."
"Having someone I can trust to talk to is never a bad thing," he agreed. "But I don't want to burden you unless you are willing."
She grinned. "Try me."
He snickered. "You are far too good for me."
"You're only now realizing this?" she asked, sounding indignant. "I must work harder on that."
"I would throw popcorn at you, but we are currently out," he grouched.
She laughed. "Hint taken. Order dinner and I'll make more popcorn so's you can watch the rest of Twister."
"Deal."