Chapter 12
Steve Rogers opened the door of the apartment he had gotten. It was very luxurious and he had breezed through the various “for dummies” books included so as to get caught up to this new world he found himself in, as well as then utilizing the Internet.
“Captain Rogers,” said the man standing there and his face was vaguely familiar from the Internet.
“Hello.” Steve greeted him, face obviously showing his confusion, because the man chuckled lightly.
He brushed past Steve into the apartment, plopping down onto the couch like owned the place. “It's refreshing to find someone that doesn't go all fangirl mode on sight.”
“Pardon, but I don't know you.” Steve said.
The man's eyebrows raised up a little bit, but he stood up from the couch, brushing off imaginary dust on his suit, and Steve thought he was familiar, like he might be related to someone he knew. “I'm Tony Stark.” He said, and as it clicked into place Steve realized why he walked around like he owned the place. He did own the place.
“Pleasure to meet you.”
“Really?” Tony raised his eyebrows. “I see you've already gotten around to the Internet and it's been years since I bothered suing for libel, the way the reporters toe the line.”
“I haven't gotten to reading various tabloids yet, and I don't think I will. I was catching up on general history and how technology works.”
“I can summarize in two words. Shit happened.” Tony said, relaxing back on the couch.
“If I had the same task I was going more along the lines of Stark Empire. Howard did a lot of things after I was on ice and you even more.”
“You don't even have a clue.” Tony said. “Either way, I'm not one for chit chat.”
“I understand, but either way, thank you. For this place and for the opportunity to not have to rely on SHIELD.”
“SHIELD would have swallowed you up at the first second, it's moved on a long way from what Dad and Aunt Peggy founded.”
“I heard your father died, I'm sorry, but what happened to Peggy?”
“She's in a classified retirement home with Alzheimer's disease, doesn't remember anyone but her niece and occasionally, me. Bad news. Good news is one of your old buddies is still around and not hobbling about with a cane.”
“Who? Did one of the Howling Commandos not age?”
“No, they're all old stooges. I haven't gone to those reunions in forever, but there are some who had kids, Dugan's grandson is pretty high up in SHIELD last I checked. Your buddy Barnes on the other hand looks like his own grandson, that's also what the paperwork says.”
“But Bucky died.”
“Turns out he didn't, fell off the train, Hydra picked him up, he went through a 60 year brainwashed robot Hydra goon phase, got some super soldier serum in him.”
“I thought Erskine’s was the last.”
“Sort of. Barnes got some, Russia made a super soldier, and there was another American in the 60s but they messed up the aging process so it was reversed and he looks like he's 90. And then at least once a year someone inevitably tries and fails to recreate Erskine's serum. It's considered a thing everyone should attempt.”
“Did you?”
“Yeah, when I was 16. I failed. Threw it down the drain. End of story. Anyway, Hydra finally,” Tony made a motion of drawing his finger across his throat, “in the late 90s, caught up to Barnes, took out the microchip Hydra had in his brain, and that was when I decided surgery isn't my thing. This is probably the biggest secret in the whole spy game, but there's a figure known as the winter soldier, that's your buddy.”
“Can I see him?”
“Well, you lost that bet because he asked about you first, found out they defrosted you an hour before I did, yeah. He's in a place of mine upstate.”
“Should I pack?”
“Don't worry about that. I got your stuff from the Smithsonian, and the stuff Dad had, so you're all set. Helicopters’ waiting on the roof.”
Steve followed Tony, climbing into the very futuristic looking chopper.
They didn't talk on the ride, and Steve wondered about the lack of a pilot, but eventually they landed on a giant warehouse, with the words STARK painted over the roof.
“That is a big warehouse.”
“It's not really a warehouse,” Tony said as they entered through a door on the roof. They descended into a modern building. There were doors labeled with some kind of code, or a runic language Steve didn't know. They passed that, and Tony led Steve to a door he pushed open, revealing what could only be described as a superhero training center.
And on the side, Steve spotted Bucky, not noticing his surroundings because he was pressing a woman against the wall, as they devoured each other's mouths.
Tony cleared his throat and they jumped apart, the woman tapping Bucky's shoulder, chuckling at their own embarrassment.
Then Bucky spotted Steve and there was a hell of a lot of tension in the room, which Tony broke by looking up from his phone saying, “Excuse me, I have a spy to talk out of Death Row.”
“Romanoff got caught?” She asked.
“Yeah.” Tony said, as a very strange red and gold metallic suit flew in and enveloped him, a trapdoor in the roof opened which he flew out of.
“Finally defrosted, huh?” Bucky asked.
“Yeah. Hear you can beat me at arm wrestling now.”
“Excuse me, I will leave so you can have your bromance sobby teary reunion.” She said, and twisted on the spot, disappearing with a crack.
They did, as she said, have their sobby teary reunion. “I thought you were dead, Buck.” Steve said.
“Same here, punk.” Bucky said, then smirked. “I'm still taller than you.”
“Dammit.” Steve muttered, and then chuckled.
“That's not language fitting of Captain America.”
“I talk how I want to, nobody’s gonna hear me,don’t like it, fight me.”
“Sure, why not. Seems you haven’t changed that much” Bucky said, and Steve began to regret his smug grin as he said, “The serum change didn’t go nowhere,” when he realized Bucky could now match him punch for punch.
In the end, they both stepped away, panting, and patted each other on the back, stepping to the side to get water.
A voice came over the intercom, which Steve was ashamed to say, the first time he heard in SHIELD HQ totally spooked him. “Mister Barnes, Sir is bringing an unverified asset, Natalia Romanova, code name Black Widow, Agent of SHIELD as Natasha Romanoff.”
Bucky went on to pull his Tac suit, mask, and goggles on, and said, “Stevie, trust me here, I can explain after.” Then he pressed something on his shoulder so his arm suddenly looked silver and entirely artificial.
And then Tony Stark entered with Romanoff, saying, “Voila,” spreading his arms like the drama king he was.
She focused on the two men, first on Steve, who had found his shield and was testing out if it felt any different in it's 70 years without him, and with Bucky's sudden new stoic silent attitude that was entirely unlike him, he tested out the shield, throwing it to bounce off 3 padded walls.
“You kidnapped Captain America.” Natasha finally said.
“What's with the accusations?” Tony asked, “I just saved your ass.”
At the same time, Steve said, “I came here willingly.”
Then her eyes completed a circuit of the room and settled on the Winter Soldier, and she took a step back. “What are you playing at here, Stark?” She took in a shaky breath and asked, “Just how far does the Stark Empire expand?”
Tony gave her a sympathetic pat on the head, which the short man had to stand on his toes even in his platform shoes to do. “Ms. Romanova, what makes you think I'd answer that?” He asked, his voice cold. Steve recognized the change, from warm and genial to cold and professional, Peggy had done the same more than he could count. It had always made him feel anxious, seeing the small woman that much more dangerous than he was.
“What do you want with me?” She asked.
“A little birdie told me something very interesting. From the scion of one empire to another, figure it out yourself. I have to make sure the Secret Service doesn't go berserkers and the new president, the former Vice President, knows what to do. Thanks for the hit though. Two birds with one stone, though here I got 4.”
She realized what he meant. He had gotten his chosen and loyal figurehead in office, gotten close with Coulson, gotten Melina behind bars for good, and cemented her cover as one of his people which would make the end betrayal when she returned to SHIELD all the harder. Especially as two of the world's three super soldiers were obviously on his payroll. And Alexei was just barely super.
Then it sunk in what he said first. From the scion of one empire to another. He knew. He knew for sure and Natasha, Natalia, knew what he wanted with her.
For now though, she met the eyes, or where they should be, covered with goggles as they were, of the Winter Soldier. Fury would have a field day.
A voice spoke over the intercom, and Natasha recognized it as JARVIS, Tony's AI. “All super soldiers to the green lounge, Miss Romanova, you are free to use this room as you wish, if you wish to depart talk to me.”
Captain America and the Winter Soldier departed the giant room, and Natasha gave an internal sigh. She would rather not do something to piss off either of the two most dangerous soldiers in the world.
When they left the gym, Bucky checked over his shoulder, and led Steve to a room decorated entirely in green.
He plopped onto the couch, taking off his mask, goggles, and most of the Tac gear, lining it up on a table.
“What was that, Buck?” Steve finally huts out, asking.
“I need to keep up my reputation, Steve. I'm Bucky Barnes, sure. But I was the Winter Soldier for much, much longer.”
“From what Tony told me I got the feeling you quit the whole thing after the brainwashing was gone.”
“I tried, but after a while I realized , it's too ingrained in me to stop. Stevie, I’m a weapon, we both are. Might as well fight for the right cause.”
“It matters how you fight. I saw the fear in her eyes as she looked at you, and I heard the name Romanoff mentioned in SHIELD. They said she was the best, but she just froze in fear there at just the sight of you.”
“Yeah, well, it comes with the reputation. The Winter Soldier is an intelligence myth. I wasn't in control of myself for a long time, just about 60 years. I killed a lot of good people, and I’m surprised Tony hasn't shot me yet.”
“Why would he?”
“I'm the one that killed his parents. I couldn't stop myself, but I still remember it clearly as if it were yesterday. Smashed Tony's mothers skull in, and strangled Howard. The guy who sent me, covered it all up, told Tony there had been a crash.”
“But you said, it wasn't you.”
“Sure as hell felt like it.”
“And now?”
“Now when I blast someone's brains in, at least I know what they did to deserve it.”
“Tony mentioned Romanova, the redhead, just killed the President on Tony's orders. You know about that, because last I checked that was wrong.”
“The world is just as full of shit as before the war, Steve. Now at least some of us are fixing it.”
“By being an assassin.”
“Steve, I owe Tony a lot.”
“And you let him hang that over your head and bloody your hands even more? You're doing this of your own free will, Buck, and that's wrong.”
“It's better than doing nothing.”
“Bucky, you kill people!”
“So did you. All those Nazis? If you count those, your kill count is likely on par with mine.”
“They were Nazis and Hydra. Evil, horrible people.”
“So are the ones I kill. Steve, you gotta understand, the world isn't black and white. It's not good guy versus Nazi anymore. Everything's easier during a war, you know who's the bad guy by the uniform they wear.”
“Yeah, and when it's not, a woman has to kill the President because a rich guy said so. Tony Stark seems to be more and more like all of Howard's faults magnified but without the rest.”
The door to the room opened, but Steve noticed Bucky didn't stiffen and didn't reach for his Winter Soldier gear.
Steve looked at the woman who entered, and popped up to his feet to help her, seeing she was heavily pregnant. “Barnes, you're up.” She said.
“Where to?” Bucky asked, grabbing his gear, stowing away all of it but the mask and goggles.
“Somewhere in the air above Russia. General Dreykov is like a cockroach, he just won't die.”
“Am I going alone or?”
“I'm going to need the Winter Soldier, and the seventy year legend that comes with it. You're flying solo, wheels up in 10.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Bucky said, grabbing the last of his gear.
“See that's what I mean.” Steve said. “Who was that?”
“That was Mrs. Stark.” Bucky said, “and if you think Tony is dangerous, he's a child in comparison to her.”
“She looks like she's going to give birth within a month.”
“She's the one that managed to capture me while I was still Hydra brainwashed, armed to the teeth, juiced to the gills, trained to fight to the last and then some, and whether I liked it or not, I was fighting to kill. She was 17, armed with a single knife, and heavy PTSD. Guess who won.”
“Bucky, where are you going?”
“You heard her. There's a Russian General that should be dead, and Imma go make it so.”
“You don't have to do this.”
“I know I don't. But I'm gonna anyway. Stevie, things are very different than before you went in the ice. Catch up before you judge, because I'm sorry, but you're the new guy here.” Bucky said, before he departed, pulling up the mask and goggles.
As he left, he got one more instruction through his earpiece.
As he walked past the gym, the Winter Soldier said to the Black Widow, “I'm going for a hit on Dreykov. Do you want to come?”
“He's dead. I killed him.”
“You're not the first. My job is to make sure he stays dead. Are you coming?”
“I'm coming.”