Sentinel

Sharon looks annoyed and she tosses some papers aside, “there is no pattern to the influx in Strigoi sightings but there is something there,” she says in an annoyed tone.

“There’s a pattern,” Bucky corrects, “we just don’t know what it is yet.” There was something about the way Strigoi were being spotted, and the locations it just… there was a piece of this puzzle missing.

“Nothing here suggests any unusual pattern, it’s just a feeling that I’ve got that suggests it isn’t and that’s not real evidence,” Sharon says, rubbing her eyes. Bucky agreed and initially he didn’t find anything unusual about the sightings. There were always Strigoi sightings after a successful attack but something about the way these were popping up were too… structured.

“We should ask Peggy to look at this stuff,” he suggests. She was better than both of them stuck together on her worst day, she’d know how to handle this better than they would but Sharon’s immediate look of distaste suggested she wasn’t okay with that idea. “She’d find the pattern faster and speed is what we need here,” he reminds her. They needed to get on top of this fast because Moroi were getting pretty pissed at what they perceived as guardian incompetence. In reality it was just guardians not knowing how to handle situations like this. Before these last couple of attacks they’ve never dealt with anything like this. They couldn’t be prepared for a situation that was considered impossible until a few months ago.

“No,” Sharon tells him, “we need intelligence and strategy. If we can get ahead of them we can stop them far more effectively. I… wait, reread those reports and try and map out exactly how the Strigoi encounters go. I have a theory,” she says, pulling some files back towards her.

“Care to fill me in?” Bucky asks.

Sharon shakes her head, “no, I don’t want to give you a confirmation bias. Just read them and map out how the sightings play out.”

He considers arguing but he decides against it and shrugs. He picks up the stack of papers and starts going through them again, writing down how each sighting played out in jotted notes and when he breaks it down like that he sees it. “They have no intention of attack, they just want to be seen. They’re… they’re teasing us,” he says in astonishment. Or at least that’s what it looked like to him. Of course. That’s what had been so off about these sightings- there were almost no attacks that resulted from them. The Strigoi were essentially making their presence known enough to try and… “are they trying to like… psych us out?” he asks.

“That’s a theory. I only noticed that there were almost no attacks from this and that the Strigoi must only want to be seen. But that explains why they want to be seen- they’re sending a message. You can see us but you can’t do anything about it. Jesus Christ Bucky, this is huge,” she says, shaking her head. “What the hell are we going to do?”

“We sure as hell aren’t going to give in to them. They want to undermine our abilities and they’re doing it by being spotted but not attacked and by slaughtering families. It’s an easy way to make us feel uncomfortable but we can’t lose our cool. We’ll make it out of this just fine,” Bucky says with far more confidence than he feels. “That, and we need to inform every guardian we can get ahold of about this.”

*

Loki was interesting and if it wasn’t for Tony watching him closely Tony would assume he had an ability to use compulsion like Tony. It turned out Loki was just a very smooth talker and he had a reputation shrouded in mischief. He was Tony’s kind of guy and thankfully he was Loki’s kind of guy too. People were more than surprised when Loki attached himself to Tony of all people because people didn’t forget about Howard even if they didn’t talk about him very much anymore. Loki claimed Tony’s backstory made him all the more interesting and Tony was happy to take it. Plus he noticed Bucky’s face when he walked by in the morning to find Loki’s hand lingering on Tony’s arm a little longer than strictly necessary and he hadn’t looked impressed.

Good. Besides, Loki was genuinely interesting and his ability to work his element was impressive. Tony has always been jealous of elemental magic because he had none and being able to control an element was cool okay? Earth wasn’t exactly his favorite element but it was cool nonetheless and Loki knew all kinds of neat and probably forbidden spells he could work with the element. Tony was enthused with this because illegal elemental spells and forgotten knowledge was totally up his ally. And Loki offered to show him where to find all this information too and that was even better. If Tony did specialize in an element he supposed he could work on learning all sorts of neat and forgotten spells with it. Rhodey wouldn’t be impressed but he’d make sure Tony didn’t get caught.

Rhodey was far more skeptical, glaring at Loki as Tony leaned over a large ancient book that had a wealth of information on elements that Tony never knew about. How Loki found it he had no idea and he wasn’t going to get picky with it either. He just wanted more of the knowledge. “So, how long are you staying?” Rhodey asks in an almost rude tone. Tony makes sure to send annoyed vibes at him because that was uncalled for. He notices, Tony sees it, but he ignores him.

“I’m a student here now, I transferred last week but I only made the move the day before yesterday,” Loki says smoothly. Tony gasps unintentionally when he finds something, earning looks from Loki and Rhodey. Rhodey turns his attention to Loki to glare at him when the arm he had draped over Tony’s chair drops to his waist but Tony barely notices.

“There’s a section on bonded guardians in here,” he says. Rhodey does a better job than him at maintaining a straight face.

“No sense in reading about fairy tales, Tony,” Rhodey says dismissively. Tony, because he knew him well, knew that Rhodey was trying to cover Tony’s excitement so no one suspected anything. No one aside from Pepper and Bucky knew about their bond and he guessed he didn’t think Loki should know either. He’d probably be pretty pissed if he knew about Bucky too so Tony keep that to himself. Well whatever, he’d read it and fill Rhodey in later because he knew he was interested.

“Let me know what it says- I rarely find anything on bonded guardians,” Loki says, smiling at Tony and wow he had a pretty smile.

Tony can’t help but smile back, “will do. And send me anything else you find on this subject,” he adds. He didn’t need a two-way bond with Rhodey to know he wanted to kick Tony for saying that.

Loki raises an eyebrow, “you have quite the interest in the subject,” he notes.

“Nah, I just like forgotten things and this is a pretty hot topic as far as forgotten things go. People don’t have bonds with their guardians anymore but everyone still talks about them. Ergo its interesting,” Tony says, hoping that was a good cover. Rhodey doesn’t look so much like he wants to kick him so Tony figured it was a decent cover.

“Hmm,” Loki hums, mostly to himself rather than Tony. “What is your element anyways?” he asks.

Great. That hadn’t come up yet and for some reason no one else mentioned it before. Sometimes, when people fell out of the habit of keeping their snide comments to themselves that Tony used compulsion to put them into, they used his lack of specialization as some kind of proof that he was a failure. “I uh… don’t have an element. Just some low control over all four,” he says. Like a fucking twelve year old, he thinks to himself. It annoyed him that he was still stuck in beginners classes when he was a senior.

Loki doesn’t say anything rude though, just raises an eyebrow. “That’s rare,” he notes, “seems like just about everything about you is unusual,” he says but he smiles slowly and his tone is warm, interested. Clearly he didn’t think Tony’s lack of specialization was some kind of moral failing and he wasn’t just saying that either, he could see the interest in Loki’s aura. And he didn’t start with some stupid ‘oh it’ll happen’ speech that Tony didn’t need.

“So they tell me,” Tony says dryly. It used to be a good thing but now people used his strangeness as a reason to avoid him instead of flock to him. That was also due to his antisocial nature too, he was sure if he put effort into his social life people would still flock to him. They did when he made a point of talking to them but not if he didn’t, at least not like they used to.

Loki snorts, “if I listened to the way people talked about you I’d be missing out on someone far more interesting than most of the school’s population. That’d be a shame,” Loki tells him, grinning at him. Tony’s mood brightens considerably and Rhodey lets out a harsh laugh.

“Laying it on pretty thick there, aren’t you?” he asks in a rude tone.

“Rhodey!” Tony protests, shocked that he was acting this way.

“Oh come on Tony, you aren’t an idiot so why are you falling for this? He’s just telling you everything you want to hear,” Rhodey tells him, annoyed.

He wasn’t wrong, “but why would he even bother? What’s in it for him if he butters me up huh? My money? He has his own. My fame? I highly doubt anyone wants my infamy, me included. My super secret elemental abilities that don’t exist? Sure, clearly that’s what he’s after. Why bother buttering me up with no payoff?” he asks.

“You do know I’m right here, right?” Loki asks dryly.

“Yeah I’m aware that you’re right there, I wish you weren’t. And I don’t know what he wants Tony, but he clearly has some kind of agenda,” Rhodey says.

“Of course he does, why else would he take an interest in me? Obviously that’s the only reason anyone would spend any kind of time with me,” he snaps, standing up. “You know considering you’re supposed to be my best friend you suck at it,” Tony tells Rhodey and he leaves the library. He kicks himself when he gets to the hallway because he forgot that damn book but he figured if he was lucky Loki would bring it to him. If he wasn’t pissed at Rhodey he’d assume that Rhodey would get it to him but no, Rhodey figured Loki only hung out with Tony because he had some kind of sinister master plan.

He rolls his eyes because he didn’t have anything Loki could want.

*

Bucky knew he had no god damn right to be pissed off- he told Tony to date someone his own age- but he was. Maybe it was because that Loki kid was obviously up to something and given the warnings that the guardians had gotten about him he wasn’t wrong for thinking he was a slimy little bastard.

Jesus Christ he was calling a seventeen year old names in his head because of some bizarre and kind of gross attraction to another seventeen year old. What the hell was wrong with him? There was no excuse for this and yet every time he saw Loki look at Tony he wanted to punch the kid in the head. He’s killed Strigoi, punching a Moroi kid wouldn’t be an issue but he ignores those thoughts because they were absurd. There was no way he was risking his ass because he had a stupid crush on a child and some other child also had a crush on that child. He was supposed to be the adult here and besides, he had far more pressing matters.

“May is going to be here soon. Think Bobbi and Lance will have anything useful?” Sharon asks. He god damn hoped so. They were good- very good and he hoped that they saw something in the information he and Sharon sent off to them. May was coming to pick them up so they could meet Bobbi and Lance at their Moroi’s house. They trained under May, who was almost as legendary as Peggy, and Sharon suggested talking to them before Peggy. He agreed because their opinion was useful and it would help make a case to Peggy and the other guardians.

“I guess we’ll see,” Bucky says as he watches Tony walk across the courtyard area with Loki.

“I can’t believe they let him in here, have you seen his record? Guess money really does buy immunity to everything,” Sharon says, rolling her eyes.

“I haven’t, but I’ve heard the stories.” None of them were very good as far as character references went and he itches to pull Tony away but he doesn’t.

“And that’s not even considering the rumors. Know about his brother Thor?” Sharon asks. Bucky turns to her because he hadn’t and he felt strangely vindicated that he was probably right about that little bastard. “I’ll take that as a no. Rumor has it Loki tried to kill him but Thor’s a Dhampir so that went terribly,” she says.

That’s about when the name ‘Thor’ rings a bell. It hadn’t before because Moroi, if they had Dhampir siblings, didn’t associate with them. Moroi men were typically the love ‘em and leave ‘em type and Dhampir women got to deal with the fallout. “You mean that guy that’s off in Europe that took out Malekith?” he asks. The Strigoi was old enough to be all over several guardian records and he was powerful. The more Moroi blood a Strigoi drank the stronger they got and he was ancient. Thor had earned a reputation for being the one who took him out but from Bucky’s general knowledge Thor put it down to dumb luck. “He’s related to Loki?” he asks. If he remembered Thor’s face right he couldn’t see the relation at all.

“Yes that’s the Thor and he’s better than he likes to admit. And no, technically he’s not related to Loki. Thor’s adopted,” Sharon says. Bucky frowns at Sharon and she nods in understanding. “I know, right? Moroi don’t adopt Dhampirs but here we are. According to the rumor mill Loki’s jealous that people like Thor better. Its not hard to see why, he’s a slimy little git,” Sharon says, narrowing her eyes at him as he and Tony disappear around a corner.

Bucky raises an eye at the British term, wondering how much time she spent with Peggy when she wasn’t pretending she had no relation to Peggy. He’d ask some more questions about Loki and the rumor origins but May shows up and they have places to be after that. Besides, he shouldn’t be gossiping like he was in high school about a bunch of stories that were probably just that. He’s an adult and he should act like one instead of being jealous of Loki for no reason.

The drive to Bobbi and Lance’s Moroi’s house wasn’t far, maybe forty-five minutes and May spends the whole time questioning them on their theories. They fill her in as best as possible and start trying to come up any holes in their theory as well as explanations before they got to their destination. May, thankfully, thought their conclusions had merit but she wanted second opinions too so that’s why they were here.

The house looks quiet when they pull up, “I hope they’re home. It took me three hours to get to you guys and I will kick someone’s ass if they aren’t here,” May mumbles as she gets out. It isn’t until they get to the front door that they notice it was barely shut and that it had obviously been busted in. Immediately they all go on guard and May gestures for them to go in while she circled around to the back. In daylight Strigoi being there was unlikely but it was good to be cautious.

He and Sharon slowly push in with their stakes out, Sharon following up on Bucky’s left side to cover him as best as possible. They both notice the smell immediately and cough a little but press on until they find the Moroi who lived there and a few guests. And Lance. May meets them, having come into the room on the other side after entering the back door.

“Shit,” she mumbles, looking around until her eyes widen when she sees something across the room. Sharon and Bucky follow her line of sight and Bucky almost faints. It’s only Sharon that manages to keep him upright.

It wasn’t until Bucky saw it that he remembered Bobbi and Lance guarded a Rogers, one that was most likely closely related to Steve. There weren’t that many left, the chance of the Rogers here being a distant relative of Steve’s was slim to none. The Strigoi knew it too because across the wall in the Moroi’s blood they wrote ‘till the end of the line’. He had no idea how the Strigoi knew about the phrase he and Steve used to use all the time and he didn’t really care. The double meaning was more than a little chilling.