Break One
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MOVIE THEATRE:
"Why didn't she tell us she needs it to live?" Steve asked.
Natasha and Clint raised their eyebrows at him. "It's in her file, Steve. If it's removed or badly damaged, she could die."
"Why does it matter? Why did Bucky look sick after hearing that?"
There was complete silence.
"Steve, why did Bucky look distraught?" Natasha asked calmly.
Once again Steve refused to answer so Pietro decided to speak up.
"In Siberia, a fight broke out between Steve, Bucky and Toni. They were brought into a trap where the scientist showed a video of Bucky having killed Howard and Toni's mum. Toni then found out that Steve had known about it for two years and used her funding to find Bucky."
"Steve, I told you to tell Toni straight away," Natasha said loudly.
"She wouldn't help look for her parent's killer," Steve argued.
"Yes she would have," Natasha said loudly.
"You guys have no idea the shit Toni would do for you all. The shit she has done for you, Clint, Sam and Scott," Rhodey said heatedly. "Toni may have been upset to begin with, but she wouldn't have stopped searching for him."
"To kill him, just like she tried when Bucky was framed," Steve yelled.
"YOU DON'T KNOW THE FULL STORY," Rhodey yelled back, standing up. Everyone was shocked. Nobody ever saw Rhodey get this heated.
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BATHROOM - AT THE SAME TIME:
Toni could hear Bucky dry heaving from inside the bathroom at the communal lounge room of the Avengers compound.
"Bucky," Toni called quietly.
"Toni," Bucky said back. "You don't need to be here. After everything I did to you."
"Bucky, I don't blame you," she said soothingly. "I never actually blamed you."
"You should?"
"Why should I?"
"I killed your parents."
"Hydra killed my parents. You were a pawn in their horrible ugly game. You were a puppet. I never blamed you. Granted I didn't expect to find out like that. Especially when I had been blaming myself for the past 7 years, but I would've understood. It was Steve I was angry at. He lied to me. He used my money and resources to find you and didn't have the decency to tell me."
There was silence, before the sound of the sink running was heard, and then the door cracked open and Bucky walked out. He saw Toni sitting on the floor, her back against the wall. She patted the space next to her and he begrudgingly sat down next to her, there shoulders almost touching.
"Why didn't you kill us in Siberia?" He asked after a pause.
"What?"
"I've seen the weapons you used to make for the army. That missile alone. I assume your suits would be powered similarly. I saw what they could do when in Germany. Why didn't you kill us?"
"I didn't want to kill you Bucky. I was angry and hurt and lashing out, and for that I do apologise. I really do. But I never wanted to kill you. How could I kill an innocent man?"
"Why were you after me so badly?"
"Did Steve ever tell you about the accords?" She asked. Bucky nodded. "What did he tell you?"
"That the accords meant the government would have power over the Avengers actions, and if you went against it, you would be locked up in the Raft. He said you only did it out of your own personal guilt."
"What Steve didn't tell you, because I didn't get the chance to explain to him, was that the accords weren't meant to be like that. The accords had been in question since the battle at Sokovia. The draft Ross provided was the first one presented. I spent months in meetings with all different government officials and it was meant to be so different. I've been trying to get the Raft shut down for a long time. At least for people who aren't serial murders etcetera. It's inhumane. The team was never going to end up there. There was going to be more leeway for our work to be done. I could go on and on about all the different changes. When that was provided we were given three days to sign. I agreed because I could then continue pushing the original approved one. Then the whole framing you for murder occurred. Did you know, if nobody engaged and I brought you in then you would have gone to an institution to have your mind healed and we would have spent time getting you acquitted because you were under Hydra's control. None of it was your fault. But Steve never gave anyone a chance. It had barely been agreed before everyone went after you. I'm not shocked you ran. I would have too. But when at the facility when they said the trigger words, I had been trying to talk to Steve but he didn't hear me out. He wouldn't listen. He was so concerned for you, which is great, but it clouded all other judgements. Then Germany happened and then Siberia."
"Why wasn't I told any of this?" He asked, horrified at everything that occurred.
"Nobody has given me a chance to explain. Everyone here that sided with Steve Rogers won't talk to me. All they do is snarl and glare at me. Nobody knows everything I have done for this team, Bucky. It's exhausting. I've put my ass on the line so many times for everyone here. I have done so much to protect everyone, and all I get back in return is nobody caring or listening."
Bucky moved his hand and gripped yours. You hadn't realised it but you had started crying.
"Tell me then," Bucky said quietly.
"Maybe next break, Bucky," she whispered in response.
"Would you really have died if your arc reactor was destroyed?" Bucky asked, remembering how he almost pulled it off.
"I didn't mean to shoot your arm off, Bucky. I only did it to get you away from my reactor," she said quickly. "You didn't know it could almost kill me. Steve should've known. It's in my file. All you need to do is google it and it comes up on the internet that it's part of me."
"I'm so sorry," he said crying.
"Hey, hey. I'm okay now. Besides, if I truely blamed you, would I have sent Princess Shuri my equipment and research I did to get the trigger words out of your brain?"
Bucky was silent.
"You did what?"
"I knew you weren't guilty, and I saw what happened at the facility. Those trigger words controlled you. Once I was out of my coma, the first thing I did was start working on equipment and research to get them removed. I then sent my findings and my equipment to Shuri so she could add to them and then get rid of the words."
"Toni, I don't know what to say."
"You don't need to say anything. Now no more mushy talk. It makes me squeamish. While we are having a break, I have to show you something."
Toni then jumped to her feet and held a hand out to Bucky to pull him up. He chuckled but grabbed her hand, and she tried pulling him up with a grunt.
"Fuck man, you are heavy," she commented. Bucky just laughed before following Toni to the elevator.
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THE LAB:
"Okay, not many people have seen the inside of my lab, only Bruce, Loki, Harvey, Peter, Pepper and Rhodey. So you're in for a treat."
Bucky looked around and his jaw dropped. "I know you don't like talking about him, but I always loved Stark expo's. This kind of stuff has always interested me. Unfortunately I was forcefully drafted to the army so I could never pursue what I really wanted to do."
"Hey man, if you like, you can come in her sometimes and I, Peter or Harvey can start teaching you the basics of engineering. I can tell you like it just from the look on your face. Maybe that will help your transition to the real world. Doing things that interest you."
"You'd be okay with that?"
"Yeah man, as long as you're okay with listening to rock music, I'm totally okay with that. Now we can talk about that more later. We are here for something more pressing. FRIDAY, you up girl?"
"Anything for you, Ms Stark."
"Mate, enough with the formalities," Toni groaned with an eye roll. "Now, did you test BUK17?"
"I did, and according to the result, it is 100% ready for use."
"Fucking finally," Toni groaned. "So Bucky, I've been working on this new design for the last three months. This alongside Rhodey's legs, getting you all acquitted and taking down Ross, was my top priority. It took me 17 designs and engineering to get it perfect."
Bucky stayed quiet listening to Toni ramble before watching her press a button and a cupboard unlocks and opens and a long sliding draw comes out. Bucky's jaw drops. Showcased was an arm. It was black in colouring, in the light it almost appeared dark silver though. It went from the hand to the shoulder. Bucky had never seen anything more beautiful.
"What do you think? It's primarily made out of Vibranium, courtesy of Shuri and T'Challa. However it's interwoven with Stark Nanotech. It's basically indestructible. It's also somewhat connected to FRIDAY. The nanotech means it can slightly shift to extend and form parts. For instance you can say to her, hammer, and the nanotech will move down the arm to form a hammer at the end of your hand so you can use that. Then all you need to say is done and it will morph back to your shoulder. I can also add compartments to add weapons, so like these miniature missiles like you'll see later. That doesn't need to be decided yet, you can choose later. Oh oh, also my favourite part. I added this function, which is what took me so long to finish it, but basically it has touch receptors, so if you touch anything with the hand, it'll feel like when you touch something with your flesh hand. Basically you have feeling back in your arm and hand. Well hand. I thought maybe the whole arm may be too much after years of no feeling, also if someone shoots at the arm we don't want you in pain feeling a bullet. But the same for the hand, but you can say to FRIDAY, receptors off, and it'll shut off that feeling, so if in a fight and have to use your hand you can remove the touch aspect. It's pretty nifty if I do say so my..."
Toni was caught off guard when she was pulled into a hug. She could feel tears against her neck where Bucky's face was hidden. Quiet sobs could be heard and slowly Toni wrapped her arms around his neck and slowly played with the bottom of her hair.
"Hey man, everything okay?"
After a few minutes Bucky let go and Toni almost felt sad, missing the feeling of him in her arms. What the fuck is happening, Toni thought to herself.
"Nobody has ever done anything so nice for me. First trying to get me safe. Then letting me free in Siberia. Organising the trigger word removal. Getting me acquitted, then making me a whole new arm. What the hell, doll?"
"Ah, I don't know man. I just thought you'd like a new arm, considering I destroyed your last one and you haven't had a new arm in a while. Just thought I'd help out. I have the knowledge, why not use it."
"This is the most selfless thing you could do,"
Bucky said quietly.
"Eh don't worry about it man. Now is everything okay with the arm? Want anything added or removed?"
"Is there a tracking device on it?" He asked uncomfortably.
"Nah, if you want I can add one, but I didn't make this to track your every move. If I wanted to, I could easily hack your phone. This was for you. You deserve a new arm. New Bucky, new arm."
"It's perfect, Toni."
"Oh phew. Well if you want anything adjusted or updated, let me know. You can even help me."
"Thank you," he sniffled.
"When do you want the new arm? It'll take roughly three hours for it to attach to the nerves. It'll be painful so we can put you under. It'll probably take an hour to wake up afterwards. Then we need to do half an hour of testing then testing the next day. So all up 4 and a half hours."
"Could we do it after this movie?" He asked nervously. "I don't want to put you out."
"Nah, that sounds brilliant. This movie is fucked. I hate that we are watching it, so this will give me something to look forward to and something to keep me occupied afterwards. I hope you don't mind Peter and Harvey joining in. They love watching this stuff. Nobody but them and Loki know I've done this, so they may pop in too."
"That's okay with me, Toni," he said smiling.
"Okay awesome. Let's go watch this shit show so we can get onto the fun stuff. You'll have a new arm by dinner."
Bucky chuckled at her enthusiasm and Toni turned to him and smiled. She then grabbed his hand and all but dragged him out of the lab and back to the movie theatre.
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