Freedom, Freedom, Can't you Fell the Walls Caving In
Tony stared blankly at the table where Dr. Strange was lying asleep. Bruce and Shuri had done everything they could, but it was hard without any specialised equipment, or a hospital.
“He’ll be alright, Tony,” Bruce assured him. He wasn’t entirely sure about that, but he wanted to sound confident. Tony nodded, but didn’t look anymore reassured.
“Is Peter back?” Tony asked. Bruce sighed.
“No, Steve called to report that Peter was with him along with Palmarious.” Tony cursed and stood up, casting one last look at the sleeping doctor before heading out of the lab.
“Tony, what are you doing?” Pepper asked as she watched Tony prepare his suit.
“I’m going out to help,” he said. “And make sure that kid doesn’t get himself killed.
“Tony, we need you here,” she replied, crossing her arms. “They’ve already got enough people on the field, and we need someone here in case someone happens!”
“What about Barnes, he can hold down the fort,” Tony replied. Pepper looked at him in confusion.
“Tony, Bucky just left, he said you told him to go out and help.” Tony looked up sharply, letting the helmet he was holding fall.
“What? When did this happen?”
“When you were still in the lab. He came down and said that you’d called up and told him to go out and help the others now that Strange is down.”
“I never told him that,” Tony growled to himself, “why would he-” Suddenly Tony cut off, eyes wide. He ran back down to the lab, making Shuri and Bruce look at him in shock as he burst through the door and ran to his desk, opening a secret drawer and looking around desperately.
“Tony, what’s wrong?” Bruce asked, running over.
“Barnes is gone, and he’s taken my communicator,” Tony growled.
“He what?” Shuri asked.
“My communicator, he took it. That means that he’s talking to Hope,” Tony said. Shuri’s eyes widened, while Bruce just looked confused.
“Who’s Hope?”
“Someone on the inside,” Tony growled, running a hand through his hair. “She’s going through the helicopters right now to find information.”
“What, how? Wouldn’t she be caught?” Bruce asked.
“She can shrink, like Scott could. It’s why I sent her. She calls herself the wasp, she’s Hank Pym’s daughter,” Tony explained.
“So you’re saying that Bucky stole your communicator to communicate with Hope?” Shuri asked, earning a nod from Tony. “But, why? He must know something that we don’t or he wouldn’t have bothered.”
“We need to alert the others, let them know that Bucky’s out there somewhere,” Bruce began.
“What about Steve, though,” Shuri asked. “I mean, he’ll freak once he hears Bucky’s missing. Distracting him isn’t going to help anyone,” she pointed out. Tony sighed, knowing that she was right.
“Okay, so we alert only some people. People we know won’t tell Steve.”
“Like who?” Shuri asked.
“Natasha, T’Challa, and Rhodey, they’ll know that telling him will only make things worse.” Bruce nodded in agreement and began writing a message to the selected people.
“What about Peter, should we try and order him back?” Bruce asked. Tony thought about it for a second and groaned in annoyance.
“The only way we’ll be able to get him back would be to physically drag him, and we can’t spare any people,” he decided angrily. “When he gets back, he is never seeing that suit again.”
New york was a mess. The streets below the main battle were ripped and destroyed, and almost every building in a five mile radius was slowly crumbling away. Peter just prayed that everyone had evacuated, but he had no way to be sure.
“Just got word from Tony, he says you’re dead meat when you get back!” Natasha called to him over the sound of the now entirely rocket powered helicopters.
“Yeah, had a feeling,” he grumbled to himself. He was about to swing over to another one of the helicopters to try and take control of it when something buzzed in his ear, and a tiny figure flew across his vision. He was about to yell in surprise, but he heard someone shush him through his comms. He’d somehow been patched into a private channel.
“W-who the Hell are you?”
“My name is Hope Van Dyne, also known as the Wasp. I used to be in communication with Tony, but things have changed. Now I’m getting advice from someone called White Wolf.
“Bucky,” Peter realised.
“So you know him? Good, now I know I can trust him. Anyways, I’ve found some information that I think he’ll want, but I can’t get it to him. I need you to bring it to him. If you’re willing to help, swing over to the helicopter to your right.” Peter looked around and took in the raging battle and the armored Nemea agents who were firing to kill. This had to end.
“Alright, now what?” he asked, landing lightly on the copter that he was instructed to.
“Look to your left, I’m right beside you,” Hope ordered. Peter did as instructed and found the tiny figure standing beside him. “I’m going to put something in your hand Well, two things actually. One is a bag of files, the other is device that will ring them back up to normal size. You need to make sure that both get to the White Wolf,” Hope instructed.
“O-okay,” Peter said, holding out his hands. He felt something tiny fall into it and quickly but gently closed his fist, not wanting to destroy the tiny documents.
“Go! Now! We can’t let Nemea get these back,” Hope ordered. With that she flew off, and a few minutes later Peter saw one of the helicopters engines explode and send the ship spiraling downwards.
“Spiderman! Where are you going?” The voice of Captain America asked.
“Uh… new orders, I’ll be right back!” he called back before swinging down to the destroyed town below where he began the search for Bucky.
“What the Hell does that mean?” Sam asked, watching the blue and red figure swing down to the ground.
“Maybe he’s trying to get any surviving agent?” Rhodey suggested. “I mean, it’s not like he’s deserting, that’s not his thing.”
“That, or Tony overrode his suit and made it bring Peter back to the compound,” Natasha offered.
“That makes sense,” Sam agreed. “Wanda, how you holding up?”
“Not well, but Vision is on his way,” Wanda responded. She was currently trying to redirect bullets and laser blasts away from herself and the other Avengers while also going on the offensive against the helicopters around her.
“How long ‘till he arrives?” Rhodey asked.
“Should be to long now,” Wanda replied. “Cap, get down, I’m gonna need to send some blasts in your direction,” she warned. Steve did as told and looked up to see a handful of explosives sour over his head surrounded by a glowing red light.
“Listen, I know that we need Tony back at the lab, but can he at least send some of his suits out?” Sam asked in annoyance.
“He doesn’t have any, remember? Natasha replied.
“What about Bucky?” Steve questioned. He knew that Bucky wasn’t in the best state, but they needed the help.
“No,” Natasha said quickly. “Stark already said he can’t come.” She didn’t seem like she was going to elaborate anymore, and Steve looked over in confusion.
“Did he say why not?”
“No, just that Bucky would not be joining us, and that’s final. Get your head back in the game,” Natasha replied.
Bucky had arrived at the heart of the battle torn New York not long after leaving the compound. Stark’s jetpacks really were fast. He had felt bad about lying, but it was necessary. He had to get to New York, and put an end to this.
He watched the battle rage on above him and promised to help once he got what he needed. He was about to move towards one of the fallen helicopters when a shout made him turn.
“Mr. Barnes! Mr. Barnes!” Peter was running towards him, hands cupped tightly in front of his chest.
“Kid? What are you doing here!” Bucky yelled, knowing that Tony would definitely not agree with this.
“Wasp told me to give this to you. She said she was using Tony’s communicator to talk to you,” Peter explained, opening his palm to reveal the bag and device. “We use this one to make the files normal size,” he explained, pushing them into Bucky’s hands. “Mr. Barnes, I don't’ know what you’re doing, but I’ll help if I can.”
“Kid, I can’t ask you to do that. This isn’t an Avengers mission. This is the exact opposite of what a true Avenger should do,” he said.
“Why? We’re fighting Nemea, aren't we?” Peter asked, not seeming to understand what Bucky was getting at. Bucky sighed and shook his head.
“No, Peter. They’re fighting Nemea,” he said, pointing upward. “I’m killing it. These files will give me the name and face of whomever is in charge now. I’m going to find them, and I’m going to kill them. Steve would never approve, and neither should you.” Peter looked up at him and then back up at the sky battle.
“Go help them,” Bucky urged. “You don’t need to be involved in this. If anyone asks, I got the files from Hope, and you were not involved.” Peter nodded, and Bucky watched as he swung away before de shrinking the files and searching through until he found what he was looking for.