Chapter 8: Plans

Loki is... angry. Steve's not happy, either. Taking Thor with them wasn't his idea of a solution, but he can understand and respect that Loki's situation is difficult. He doesn't want to let Bucky get locked up somewhere for the rest of his life, either, and that's what all of this is about.

Tony offers to talk to Fury again, leaving Steve with Loki and Thor.

Bucky should be here. Walking through the halls, looking around makes him feel sick all over again. His heart aches.

Loki disappears into the library, and Steve lets him be until the silence grates on him badly enough to make him move after. He understands at least some of what the Asgardian is going through. Bucky said he reminded him of Steve.

He bottles up emotions the same way, at least, and Steve knows he's not in a good spot.

None of them are, really, but they have a mission, and they're friends now – they've been forced into a situation where all they can trust is each other, and that has formed something he's otherwise utterly unfamiliar with.

He opts to hope Loki's not too big on privacy and enters the library. Books aren't really Steve's thing, but he does read. Usually to catch up on years of time, but he has so much of that now, he's way. He's going for casual talk, first.

Loki's presently engrossed in Lord of the Rings, recommended to him by Steve and Clint. "I believe this to be far more intriguing than Asgardian entertainment," Loki tells him. Loki monologues so loudly when he reads. It's admittedly entertaining to listen to, and Steve enjoys it, though he instantly feels bad about it.

His best friend is captured, is probably being tortured, and Steve is just here hanging out with Loki. Having fun.

"Asgard doesn't sound so good," Steve says, honestly.

"Not if you only like blue and red," Loki answers without looking up. "There's just a lot of gold and a few rainbows."

"I don't mean to pressure," Steve supplies, "But it's obvious you're not too fond of Asgard."

"My brother wants me dead, and our father stripped him of his powers, banishing him to a realm where he is a wanted criminal to live out the last few decades of his life."

"I get that," Steve finds himself saying, even if he doesn't mean to. This isn't a thing he talks about. "Some of it. Buck had some of the best parents there ever were, but me... my dad died when I was young. I don't really remember him." What is he thinking why did he bring this up why is he talking about this when the only person he ever talks to about this is Bucky –

Loki does look up at that.

"My mother died when I was eighteen," he goes on. "I never had anyone else. Except Bucky."

"All I truly had on Asgard was my mother and... once, Thor," he replies quietly, bitterly.

"Never had any friends?" he has to ask, even though he's pretty sure he already knows the answer, from the little Loki's implied.

"The few I had were quickly distracted with Thor," he answers, with no small measure of bitterness.

It's no wonder he's not fond of that place, though Steve can't begin to imagine having an older brother like that. Bucky attracted friends far more than Steve did, but Bucky did so much for him and they were close – there was never a reason for that to bother him. Loki never even had that.

He doesn't really know what to say to him, but it's Loki who speaks first. "If you had a brother, and one of you was going to die, what would you choose?"

"I'd choose to save him." I'd choose Bucky, he doesn't say, because that's what all of this is about. Always would, because Bucky would do the same for him. "He would do it for me."

Loki smiles, though it looks feigned. Strained, near tears, and Steve has the very distinctive feeling that there's something important he's missing. "It seems as though we should begin searching."

"Loki," Steve says, gut flipping. "Don't do anything stupid."

"You're the one in blue with red and white."

I don't want to lose another friend, Steve doesn't say. I've lost so much in the past couple months. I can't lose anymore.

Those are things he doesn't say. He lets it rest. Maybe that's not such a good idea.

**w**

It was actually Tony's idea to drag everyone together for a meal. Which would not have been nearly so awkward if not for Thor's presence.

Apparently, Asgardian's have very different social eating rules – since Thor believes it's fine to smash a glass as a way to request more.

Which Tony is still extremely soar about, even though he has spare money laying around to buy as many jets as he wants. That had nearly ended in a brawl between Thor and Tony that Loki had wisely gotten in the way of before it could escalate.

Steve just can't imagine that kind of tradition, period. When he was young, he had to be extremely careful with everything.

The silence after that is very awkward.

"So, what's it like being the head of Hydra?" Tony asks.

"I am not the head of a petty mortal alliance. They are my army," Thor retorts. Truthfully, that doesn't make Steve any more appreciative over this. Thor might not have cared for what Hydra was working for, but he still helped them. He still used Bucky. Treated him like he was some kind of tool. The same way all of Hydra did, even if he didn't hurt him. Presumably – Steve never did ask.

"Must be some army. I can see them swarming all over outside my tower to come and rescue you."

"Know your place, mortal," Thor warns.

They had better not be about to start another fight over breakfast.

Loki looks none too comfortable with the conversation, though he says nothing.

"As about the wealthiest mortal on the planet?" Tony asks flippantly, "I do. What do you think getting to rule Earth is going to give you?"

"It is my right," Thor snaps.

"No offense, Point Break, but that sounds like a boring right. What are you gonna do when you run out of planets to take over?"

"The Nine Realms will be mine."

"And then what? You plan to spend the rest of your life crushing rebellions and fighting your brother? Ever think of doing something for fun instead?" Tony very pointedly downs a glass of –

Wait.

"Tony, are you drinking in the morning?" Steve asks dubiously.

"Why not?"

"Your lack of care for health is astounding," Loki tells him cheerily.

"Hey, how are you one to talk?!" Tony protests, "You were drinking much stronger stuff at the last party."

"Party?" Thor repeats, looking up from his food.

"Yeah. Maybe we'll invite you next time to help you loosen up. I mean what kind of ally name is Hydra? Isn't that some kind of mythological creature?"

"It is and it is not a myth," Loki replies, "I have witnessed one when I was visiting another realm."

"Have you?" Steve asks, only slightly surprised. He doesn't think anything about the insanity of the galaxy could surprise him much anymore. And if myths about Loki's existence are real – something he never heard of until after he met Loki, but still – then Hydra's being real isn't all that surprising either. "What happened?"

"We disturbed its lair by mistake and it attacked us. Thor removed one of its heads and it only began growing two in its place."

"That is why Hydra picked that name," Steve comments.

Cut off one head and two more shall take its place.

That had been Hydra's famous phrase during the war. He heard it so much he could never forget.

"The beast was foolish enough to attempt to eat us," Thor speaks up.

"I transformed it into a rabbit when it pursued us," Loki says.

"That was – " Thor begins.

"Cool," Tony interjects, "Did the rabbit have multiple heads, too? Now I'd like to see one of these Hydra for real."

"It would level Midgard with ease."

The two of them keep rambling about it, and Steve offers occasional commentary.

Thor doesn't say much though he keeps watching them. Steve can't tell what he's thinking but he seems... unhappy about something. He doesn't know Thor near well enough to guess.

He's just grateful the rest of the meal passes without another squabble.

**w**

Loki already told him about Hydra's leader – Alexander Pierce.

It's a name Steve doesn't really recognize, but the position is important and that isn't good. Tony looked him up right off and promised to find all the dirt on him possible to defame him, but there's not much they can really do against him right now. But that's the only lead they have other than where Natasha is, which is how they end up reconsidering doing something about it.

"I will have a talk with him," Loki says, smiling ferally.

Steve rather thinks he means something other than talk but he doesn't ask. He's not going to deny that he has no mercy for whatever it is his friend is about to do. Not after what they did to Bucky. "He's not going to cooperate."

"That won't be a concern," Loki replies flippantly, "I have a plan, but I require the aid of the bewitched ceiling."

Tony snorts. "His name is JARVIS. And what do you need?"

"I will call you in when I am ready."

Well.

Steve's letting Loki handle this.

They haven't been waiting long before JARVIS suddenly warns them that a potential intruder has suddenly appeared in the tower. Which makes Steve instantly on edge because that could mean anything. Like that Hydra –

"What do you mean appeared?" Tony demands.

"He resembles Pierce, but he is using magic like Loki."

...oh.

The elevator doors open and Pierce steps out, looking rather smug. "Your savior is here," he snips and it sounds so insane in Pierce's voice, it's enough for Steve to know without a doubt that he is definitely not Pierce.

"How are you doing that?" he asks warily.

"A simple illusion." There's a flicker of green and Pierce's form fades away into Loki. "Pierce is occupied right now, so we should have plenty of time to raid his office."

**w**

Something they do, in fact, have plenty of time. Loki spells both him and Tony to smuggle them inside. Tony immediately lets JARVIS into the system to get into all the files Pierce tried to cover up.

Steve and Loki look over whatever files he has lying around on his desk while waiting, but he doesn't see anything obvious there. Not that Steve's opinions are probably too accurate anyway – he knows so little about this new world that he wouldn't know something important if he saw it.

It feels very illegal to be doing something like this, especially without authorization, but they it's the only choice. And in truth, he no longer trusts really anyone in the modern world now – with the exception of Loki and the Avengers. There's no one who's orders he'd be comfortable following.

"Got everything," Tony announces, a little while later, "I'll have JARVIS pull all the important names. But I did a quick scan and it doesn't look like Fury's on the list. Pierce has been trying to work around him for years. But it looks like a lot of other SHIELD agents are Hydra."

Steve already figured as much considering the Tesseract-powered weapons, but that doesn't make it any less upsetting to hear confirmation.

"Maybe we can take this information to Fury," he suggests. He doesn't know how they'd ever begin to deal with it alone even if he's reluctant to trust anyone at this point.

"Perhaps," Loki agrees, "But first, we should locate Bucky, or Hydra may catch word of what we have done and move him."

Steve nods.

That's not a risk he's going to take right now.

"Really, what did you do with Pierce?" Tony queries, still scrolling through the information.

"As I said, he's occupied," Loki replies smugly, "I believe I fill his role quite nicely."

Well – he'll let Loki handle that part. He just hopes there's something more about Bucky in all that information.

**w**

Natasha messages ahead that she's back from the mission. No details until she enters the tower where Steve, Tony, and Loki are. She's tense, tightly wound. Steve hasn't known her long, but he can see that.

"Captain," Natasha tells him, "There's... something I need to tell you."

"He's here, you know," Tony snips, welding something on his workbench. He's still working on a new arm for Bucky. Even though he's gone. It makes Steve's heart ache.

"Clint and I took out the Red Room. With help from a few others, but we found something out about Yelena."

"Tell me," Steve requests.

"I don't blame you if you want her off the mission," she adds, "But after I broke out, they instituted some sort of... mind controlling chemical. I found an antidote and freed all the Windows, Yelena included. She's... herself now, but Clint and I weren't sure you'd want her to help us."

"She was brainwashed?" Steve asks.

"And you're not sure if we'd trust her to finish the mission truthfully?" Loki guesses.

"Yeah."

He doesn't know. It makes sense, but Steve really, really misses the days when he and Red Skull were the only non-normal humans on the planet. Hydra wasn't half as bad back then, and Bucky was still there. It was familiar. Safe.

Not... this.

Not where he can't know who to trust because he doesn't know who's going to try to stab him, mind controlled or no.

"You sure this is real?" Tony asks, looking up, "I mean, not that I mind blonde and sassy, but can we be sure that's the only reason she stole Steve's BFF?"

Steve blinks. "My what?"

"What? You don't know what a –"

"Yelena wouldn't shoot me," Natasha says over him. "I know her, and I saw the change when I freed her."

Loki hesitates, considering. "Let me see her. Stark. Catch the captain up on modern vocabulary later."

Tony waves them off. "Tell me what you find."

"You're not coming?"

"It's your mission, Spangles."

Tony's in a mood, clearly, so Steve just follows Loki and Natasha out of the room.

Steve wants to believe Nat, but he's not sure what to think. He wouldn't want to believe one of his siblings was going on a murder spree for no reason, either, but the mind controlling thing is just...

That's what they did to Bucky though, wasn't it? Just a different method.

"Steve." He pauses at Loki's voice. "Are you sure you want to see her?"

He kind of wants to strangle her, actually. She took Bucky and dropped him off with Hydra. Right where Steve was so terrified of him ending up again, where Bucky was so afraid of going back to, which he's dreamed of every night they were here in Stark Tower and tried to sleep.

They hardly had any time together and he's –

His best friend is probably being tortured right now because of her.

No, he's not ready to see her again.

Yelena's slouching against a bench in the street just outside Stark Tower. Clint's nearby. She hops off, standing. "Hi, Nat."

"You saw me ten minutes ago."

"Hi, Steve."

He opens his mouth. Tries to find words. Can't. Bucky trusted her, or at least he liked her, and his rage bubbles up anew when he sees her.

"Yelena." Loki brushes past him, standing slightly in front of him. He's angry.

"I kinda feel like I'm walking into my death sentence here, but I know where they're keeping him."

"You know where Bucky is?" Steve can't help his wariness, but he knows a trap when he sees one.

"Well, I know where I took him. They didn't tell me if they were moving him."

"Tell us," Loki requests after a moment of consideration. "But first, tell me what his condition is."

He's angry. Steve thinks he knows something he hasn't said, and he's too afraid to ask – he's not sure if he wants to know, but he just wants to get his best friend back.

Bucky's all he has of his past now. Of home. Of family.

Yelena's expression flickers, chaotic mirth sliding into haunted hurt. "I don't know. They hit him and kicked me out of the room, but I heard a gunshot. I can't say more than that."

They – oh no no no. They can't have come this far, Bucky can't be –

A hand touches Steve's shoulder, and he jerks sharply at the contact, but it's just Loki. He's so tensely wound, he's probably going to end up stabbing someone before the week is over. "He's not dead," Loki promises, his eyes soft, though he's still angry. Steve can see that – it's layered on his face, hidden, masked by a characteristic goofiness, but Steve knows that's how he hides it.

"No, I don't think they would kill him. They seem to think he's valuable somehow. Sent me in to retrieve him." Yelena shrugs. "I had some... code word sequence to make him go back. I don't know how any of it worked. I just know that he tried to stop me, and he couldn't."

He feels sick. He wants to punch something, and he's probably going to beat himself out in the gym again, even if Loki keeps complaining that Thor used to do that and he's wasting energy. Steve doesn't even care right now.

They just need to find Bucky.

"We go tomorrow," Loki decides, "He doesn't have long."

Steve tries – really, really tries – not to think about that too hard. If he panics he won't be able to figure out a way to get Bucky out. "Why not tonight?"

Loki grins devilishly. "I have a plan."

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