Chapter 30
“Oh, it’s worse than that.” Hill sighed. “Stark was the first back, him and Barnes. They’ve been working on this since 1991. They even pulled the Captain in on it. And Asgard. And the alien, Nebula. Although, she’s Tony’s daughter, now. And get this… The Captain does counselling for the Bayonne PCYC.”
“Huh…” He grunted. “And Barnes?”
“No-one gets to Stark without going through him.” Hill answered. “He’s Stark’s bodyguard, Coulson.”
~~~
January 2nd 2012
Maria Hill spun the wheel and the SUV she was driving turned just as smoothly, slotting into a carpark that was clearly labelled ‘HILL’ on the wall that the SUV stopped a bare inch from.
“We walk from here.” She said climbing from the vehicle.
“You have yet to tell me where ‘here’ is, Hill.” Coulson said.
“295 Washington Ave, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn.” Hill replied.
“Home to Iron Technologies.” A new voice said. “And given the fact that you should know this, particularly as you’ve been here before? In the last week, in fact… I am going to postulate that you no longer remember that but do remember the tower.”
“It that…?” Coulson looked at Hill. “Is that Stark’s assistant, Jarvis?”
“It is.” Hill answered. “But at the same time, not exactly… JARVIS is a… computer.”
“I am not just a computer, Agent Hill.” JARVIS countered. “I am an AI, Sir made sure that I was much more than just an assistant.”
“Ah.” Coulson nodded.
“Precisely.” JARVIS agreed. “May I ask? What is the date that you last remember?”
“The 4th of May 2012.” Coulson said. “I went to confront Loki, he rabbitted and stabbed me in the back.”
“Whoops.” Hill grimaced. “There’s a lot happened since then.”
“Such as?”
“We now know that Loki was only a pawn.” Hill said. “He was being controlled, the same way that Barton was.”
“Which was?”
“The sceptre holds the Mind Stone.” Hill started, only to have Coulson cut her off.
“And what exactly is a... Mind Stone?” He could clearly hear the capitalisation of the two words.
“It’s an Infinity Stone.” Hill answered. “Mind, Time, Soul, Space, Reality and Power. They control their own element. The Mind Stone can control minds. The Time Stone can manipulate time. The Space Stone can move someone from place to place. Power… we’re not really sure what the Power Stone does to energy but it does something. Whether it absorbs the energy or just manipulates it, we don’t know. Together, all six Stones eliminated half the life in the Universe on the 31st of May, 2018.”
“Half the life in the universe?” Coulson asked, stopping in the middle of the hallway. “The Universe? The entire universe?”
“Yes.” Hill said sharply. “The entire universe. Fury and I, among them.”
“You…?”
“Died. Along with Fury, Barton’s family, all bar him. Erik Selvig, Betty Ross, James Barnes, Jane Foster, General Ross, Monica Rambeau, Tom Hinton, George Lake, Peter Green, James Harden, Luke Skinner and… six hundred and five other Shield agents.”
“Well…” Coulson’s jaw fell. “Shit…”
“Very.” Hill said. “But there’s a lot that Stark changed since he arrived back here.”
“Such as?” The question was repeated.
“You won’t remember this, but SHIELD is infected. HYDRA still exists and in 2014, when Romanov and Rogers dumped SHIELD’s database on the open internet, it was found that nearly two thirds of those wearing a SHIELD badge, were actually HYDRA.”
“HYDRA?” Coulson blinked and took a step forward.
“HYDRA.” Hill nodded and led him around a corner. “We’ve been slowly weeding them out for the last twenty years. The first to go was Alexander Pierce, he was the head of HYDRA in America, now he’s residing in Supermax and will be for the rest of his life.”
“If he was HYDRA…” Coulson hesitated. “Can we be certain that he’s not still… working… from there?”
Hill nodded. “Tony created an AI just to monitor him and his guards are randomly selected, initially by Fury and now by myself, each morning. They’ve all been cleared by JARVIS and the Black Widow and are checked every week, just to be certain.”
“Good, good.” Coulson nodded then paused. “Tony?”
“Ah.” Hill grimaced. “It’s easier to differentiate between Howard and Tony if we use their first names.”
“Howard?” Coulson’s eyes widened, fractionally.
“Yeah, that’s another thing that Tony and Barnes changed.” Maria grimaced.
“Barnes?” Coulson frowned. “Why would Michael Barnes have anything to do with Tony Stark? He was in Asset Acquisition, what use would he be to Stark? ”
“No, not Michael.” Hill corrected. “James Barnes.”
“James Barnes?” Coulson blinked. “James Buchannan Barnes? Bucky Barnes? That’s who you meant, when you said ‘Barnes’?” His eyes were wide in surprise.
“Yes.” Hill nodded.
“I thought he was dead?” Coulson might have meant it was a statement but it came out sounding more like a question.
“No.” Hill shook her head. “He was found by the Russians and… they brainwashed him and kept him on ice when they didn’t need him to assassinate someone.”
“Sergeant Barnes woke in a Russian controlled bunker, here in New York.” JARVIS continued the explanation. “He was given the mission to kill Howard Stark and make it look like Howard had lost control of the vehicle and crashed it into a tree. However, as Sir and I had… woken… some months before and we had changed the conditions around the ‘accident’. Sergeant Barnes was able to identify Sir’s Mk85 Iron Man suit and called for assistance to remove a tracking device and a kill switch in his prosthetic arm.”
“Huh.” Coulson grunted. “I think I need to know a little more, JARVIS.”
“Of course, Agent Coulson.” JARVIS agreed. “If Agent Hill would oblige and show you the way to the team offices, we have an office set aside for you. I’ll have a briefing made available to you, that will provide a timeline comparison. What happened, versus what we’ve done and what we still need to do.”
“That would be much appreciated.” Coulson hated not knowing what was happening.
“And if you don’t mind, Agent, I would like to inform Hawkeye and the Black Widow, of your… arrival?” JARVIS hesitated over the last word.
“Please do.” Coulson nodded and followed Hill down a corridor.
“Sir.” Coulson barely blinked when Clint slid a carafe of coffee onto the desk beside the holographic computer.
“Barton.” Coulson nodded. “Good to see you. Do you need to speak to someone in regards to Loki or has that been addressed?” He continued to read the file that was displayed.
“It’s been dealt with, sir.” Clint shrugged. “Or well… it’s being dealt with. It’s an ongoing thing. Knowing that he was under the same… enchantments… as he put me under, helps. Knowing who was actually responsible, helps even more. Watching him turn to dust? Yeah, that fixed most of it. Occasionally, I still get glimpses of that particular shade of blue and freeze, but it only takes a couple of seconds to blink a few times and it’s gone. The nightmares hung around longer. But Thanos Snapping my family away? That… It put me in a… bad place. I… I went rogue.”
“Rogue?!” Coulson’s head snapped up.
“Yeah…” Clint sighed. “Not my best move. I’d been shooting with Lila, her aim with the longbow was excellent by the way, when the Snap happened. One second, my family were there and the next? Gone. I… I didn’t handle it well. I couldn’t face the thought of touching a bow, so I pulled out the box that Duquesne’s solicitor sent. I knew that his swords would be in it. And… well… Something inside me had snapped, too, and all I could think of was that someone needed to pay. If not for taking my family, then for taking other families, for hurting other fathers. And I had nothing left to lose, so it might as well be me that made them pay.”
Coulson sighed, he remembered how close to the line Barton had been, when he’d brought the young man, barely out of his teens, into SHIELD. He’d watched the man grow into a strong, loving man, a husband and father that could easily have walked away after he’d fulfilled his side of the bargain that Barton and Fury had hashed out. But Barton hadn’t, he’d stayed and continued to protect those unable to protect themselves. He could see the archer losing everything and taking exactly the actions he had.
“What brought you back?”
“Nat.” Clint shrugged again. “I brought her in, way back when, she repaid the favour. It was hard to explain to Laura what I did, but Tony insisted that hiding things would only make accepting it, harder. He was right. And I think that Laura and I are better for it. Certainly, we’re more… understanding of how the other feels. Laura was always the one to stay behind, while I went off to deal with whatever. Turns out, she deals with being the one left behind, better than I do.”
“Laura handles everything better than you do.” Coulson snorted. “She was one of SHIELD’s best analysts, until you went and got her pregnant.”
“True.” Clint laughed. “Tony’s built her a suit.”
“A suit?” Coulson tilted his head in confusion.
“An Iron Man suit.” Clint answered.
“An Iron…? Truly?” Coulson looked at the file. “James Barnes was the Winter Soldier?”
“He was.” Clint said. “Now he’s Tony’s bodyguard and a husband and father.” He snorted. “Oh and a great-grandfather.”
“Excuse me?” Coulson’s brows rose.
“See, Nat’s serum from the Red Room…” Clint settled into a chair, there was a lot to add to the very bland file that the SHIELD agent was reading.
~~~
May 1st 2012
“Who’ve you got monitoring Selvig?” Hill asked.
“Morton and Whips.”
“Oh, Lord.” Hill snorted. “Complete incompetents.”
“That was the idea.” Coulson nodded with his trademarked bland smile. “Low ranking, failed weapons handling, failed espionage, failed communications, failed tactical, failed infiltration, failed offensive driving. Barely passed defensive driving, quinjet piloting and first aid.”
“They’re going to be of little help to Loki.” Hill smirked.
“I see no reason to make things easy on him.” Coulson said innocently. “After all, he did kill me once. Why should I give him a chance to do so, a second time?”
“True.” Hill nodded.
~~~
May 4th 2012.
“Huh.” Tony grunted. “How about that…”
“Pardon?” Steve glanced sideways at him.
“When I came in earlier, just before you and the others got here, I landed on the platform out there,” Tony nodded to the wide platform-like balcony that housed a temporary assemble/disassemble rig for the Iron Man suits, “I came in and spoke to him,” Tony nodded towards Loki, who was leaning against the steps of the Metlife Building's Penthouse suite's sunken living room. “His eyes were bright blue. Just like those he used the sceptre on.”
“Loki’s eyes are green.” Thor said firmly.
“They are… now.” Tony nodded. “They weren’t half an hour ago.”
“Half an hour ago Thanos controlled me.” Loki grimaced.
Clint narrowed his eyes at the fallen Asgardian and eased the tension on his bowstring. “Welcome back.” He grunted. “I still want to put one of these through his eye socket.” He muttered to Barnes as the man stood between Clint and Tony.
Loki blinked and tilted his head in thought. “Hawk…? Barton, wasn’t it?”
Clint glared at the raven-haired Asgardian. “You were in my head long enough to strip it bare, you damn well better know who I am, trickster.”
“I…” Loki blinked in shock.
“Yeah.” Clint smirk grew teeth. “Like I said, welcome back. You gonna get serious this time? Or are you still playing games?”
“Games?” Loki and Thor both asked.
“You’re supposedly the God of mischief, of pranks.” Clint huffed. “Where was the subtly, the finesse that you’re renowned for? His kids could have planned an invasion better than you did.” Clint nodded towards Bucky. “You handled this whole thing like…” Clint's smirk grew. “Like someone following the orders of someone who doesn’t know that they’re doing. Attacking the largest city of one of the most militarised nations on this planet? Really? That’s not smart, that’s just plain dumb.”
Steve, Barnes and Tony all snorted in agreement.
Loki’s eyes flicked from Clint to each of the others before settling on Barnes. “I don’t recall you being involved in this…” Yelena, Darcy, Laura and Pepper stepped onto the landing above the bar. “Or you ladies…”
“That’s because we weren’t.” Barnes’ jaw was tight and his metal hand glinted in the overhead lights, as the fingers clenched and unclenched.
“Ah.” Loki nodded. “So…” He looked at Tony. “Perhaps that drink, while someone explains why.”
“Why, what?” Thor asked then blinked. “Lady Darcy?”
“Never mind, big guy, we got this.” Darcy patted Thor’s arm as she went past him and stepped up to Barnes’ side. “You right?” Her fingers slid into his metal and his fingers visibly relaxed, closing gently around hers.
“Yeah, doll.” Barnes nodded. “It was a little harder than I expected. Watching you and the girls out there.” He added.
“Ah, you’re all here, good.” Coulson said as he entered the penthouse. “Which way are we moving?”
“We need to speak to Fury.” Steve said.
“Then it’s time for a little trip.” Tony added.
“Little?” Barnes snorted. “You’ve no idea how long it takes to get to the base of Yggdrasil, do you?”
“Yggdrasil?” Thor asked.
“And unless the Norns grant us entrance, we’ll never get there.” Darcy added.
“And why wouldst thou be attending the Norns?” Thor demanded.
“Yes, why are we going to the Norns?” Loki asked and few missed the fact that he said 'we'.
“To stop Thanos, of course.” Darcy shook her head at Thor and Loki.
“Oh, of course, but… why the Norns?” Loki had a confused expression on his face.
“Frigga seems to think that the Norns can help us hide what Stones we have.” Darcy replied.
“Mother?” Thor asked, looking from Darcy to Loki and back again. “Stones?”
“How?” Loki asked. “And what Stones do you have?”
“We have the Mind, Space and Reality Stones and The Ancient One has the Time Stone.” Darcy replied. “And we don’t know if Frigga’s right but it’s worth a shot.”
“Four?” Loki gasped. “You have four Infinity Stones? All here? At once?”
“Yep.” Tony grinned.
“And we’re thinking that a detour to Vormir might be a good idea.” Clint said.
“But what would you sacrifice?” Loki looked from one person to another.
“The futures that we had. The lives that we left.” Yelena flopped down onto a sofa, facing Loki.
Loki tilted his head and thought. “That might just be enough…”
“Enough for what?” Thor asked his brother.
“Oh, dear….” Loki looked at Thor. “This might be a problem.”
“Not as much as explaining it to Fury.” Coulson sighed.
~~~
May 4th 2012 (Maybe)
A pair of brown eyes met a pair of green eyes across the expanse of a space port. Both sets widened in surprise, before brown eyes narrowed into an almost glare. There was a flip of ruby-coloured hair and a tall, slightly intimidating, green skinned Zehobeiri decked out in dark leather, strode across the compound.
“Oh, shit…” The green eyes widened even further, that walk was oh-so-familiar. Someone was going to get hurt and he just hoped it wasn’t going to be him. The human/celestial halfbreed looked over his shoulder for an escape route, knowing that escape was out of the question.
“You!” Green lips twisted in anger.
“Ah… Hi?” He gave her a tentative smile.
“Where’s your ship?” The words were growled at him.
“Um…?” The smile fell away.
“Peter...” Someone’s patience was running out.
“The Milano’s in bay C-53.” Peter Quill answered, nearly stumbling over the few words.
“Good. We have an orb to fetch. Before Ronan and Thanos know that we’re hunting for it.”
“Stark?” Quill asked.
“Yes, the Man of Iron is the only one to use all six, without being instantly disintegrated.”
“Morag then Terra?”
“Yes, Peter.”
“Should we hunt up Groot and Rocket? What about Drax and Mantis. Should we be looking for them?”
“No need.” Gamora jerked her chin, indicating something behind Quill.
The sandy-haired man turned and saw the four other beings standing around his ship.
“Alright, then.” He clapped his hands. “Let’s get this hunt on the move, Terra’s a long way from Morag, which is a long way from here.” He bounced off towards his ship, knowing that Gamora would be behind him, rolling her eyes at his exuberance.