Chapter 14
"-We're going on a trip in our favourite rocketship. Zooming in through the skies, Little Einsteins!" from Bucky's ten minutes of walking with Stark until a point for teleporting that won't destroy his grass, the future men had horrible taste in music.
And unexplainable consideration for grass.
"Will you ever stop singing?!" groaned Strange, his palm clenched, and Thor frowned.
"Won't you enjoy moments of cultural poetry?" the god asked, and Steve quietly laughed, raising his hands in surrender. "Look, I don't want to be the partypooper, but you better stop before he snaps." Bucky nodded in agreement.
"Damn right." he added, and Thor stopped them. "Now, we shall go to Asgard!" he boomed, and Strange nodded. "Damn right." he said, in the same tone that Bucky did.
"Presence check first." ordered Steve. "Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Strange and..." he hestiated. "-Bucky. We're all here."
Bucky.
The name still felt weird in his ears, his mouth.
Last night he woke up in a big, cold bed, unable to sleep. The digital clock showed 4:36am in bright blue, that lit up all the whole room, but all that he could think of was The Chair. Eventually he found himself staring at the reflection of a broken man, saying one thing until the morning, when Steve knocked on his door.
I'm not an Asset
Because he didn't have any identity. He just knew who he wasn't: he wasn't James Barnes, the war hero, nor Bucky, Steve's best friend, and thanks Stark, he wasn't the solider.
He didn't like it when Steve called him Bucky. When someone names you, he owns you. That's how it works with parents, and that's how it worked with the Soviets. They tried to break him, so they gave him a new name. And now Steve's trying to dress him with the old Bucky, his Bucky.
It wasn't like he suffered. There was something comfortable in going into the shoes that fitted him so well, the words rolling on his tongue without any thinking.
But he didn't want that. He wanted to be the one to give himself a name, an identity.
"We're almost there." Steve said, and Bucky nodded, a grin finding its way to his lips. "If he makes you walk ten minutes just because of his grass, what does he do to you when you're trying to teleport from his house?"
Thor's face became serious. "Truely, I do not want to talk about it." Tony frowned and ignored them. "Laugh, laugh, but one day you might find yourself needing an upgrade, and my precious lab won't be there because of somebody's teleporting!"
His first mission since the programming removal.
He sighed, moving his new metal fingers slowly. This hand was much better: It moved smoothly, and when someone touched him they didn't get any cuts. They need you, he reminded himself. They are only five men over here, only the most necessary participants. Thor is needed to get them past the guards, Stark needs to show Loki that his debt is over so he can get his eyes fixed at a young age, and Strange is needed to break into Loki's cell, with the help of some time spell, the eye of agamotto.
Himself and Steve were chosen in the end; Thor said that they needed as much power as they could get without bringing any weapons into the prison. Since Steve and the solider Bucky were the strongest men, Stark pretty much forced them in.
"Let's go." said Strange, and all of them hugged Thor, who lifted his hammer in the air. "HEIMDALL!" he roared, and nothing happened for a second.
"Well, this is awkward." said Stark, and before anyone could answer they disappeared into a rainbow colored ray.
***
"Holy shit." Steve and Bucky panted as they passed near the castle, and Tony whistled.
"Daaaaaaaamn." he said, grinning. "Being Prince of the universe is awesome, huh?"
Thor's chest puffed underneath Tony. "Indeed." he agreed, nodding, and then a smile appeard on his face. "Now you can ask my mother if she knows I weareth her drapes." Tony's lower lip protuded in appreciation.
"I like you, Point Break." he chuckled, and they entered the castle, and although he prefers his tower Tony must've admit that the place was pretty impressive in the inside. The palace was huge, beautiful, something you could only see in a movie.
Or Asgard.
Huh.
"Are you sure we aren't part of a movie?" he asked, pulling his phone out of his pocket and taking some pictures. "This would be cool, although Cap over here might take over the trilogy. Of course, I'll still be the best character." He smacked on Steve's head lightly, and Steve chuckled.
"I wish." he said, gesturing at Thor. "But I think our god will steal the show, won't he?"
Thor nodded. "Aye. Do not worry, my friends, I'll leave Earth as a glorious realm to your fans."
" 'cuse me? A Super Hot Super Solider over here?" Bucky said, a grin on his lips as he pointed on his body. "We're talking about Steve, right?" asked Tony, and Bucky wiped an imaginary tear from his face.
Stephen coughed.
"Look, I might not be the hottest over here, but if somehow, magically, all of you will disappear into-- let's say, portals, then I will be, won't I?" a tricky smirk widened on his face.
"He's got a point, y'know." said Bucky, and Thor stopped them as they reached the end of the corridor.
"We shall walk inside the throne room." Thor said, a proud smile on his face. "Do not fear from the strength of the mighty Asgards- they won't hurt you as long as you are respectful."
Surprisngly, everyone looked at Tony. "Okay, okay, I'll be respectful." he mumbled, following the backs of Stephen, Thor and Bucky.
"Jesus." Steve gapsed as they walked into the big room.
Tony smirked. "Met two gods and still catholic."
Steve smiled at him, keeping his eyes on the Queen and King of Asgard. "Met two gods and still Atheist."
"Touché." said Tony with a nod, and Thor opened his arms, to a hug, walking to his father and mother. "Mother." he said, kneeling before her. "Father." he said, kneeling before him. "I present the mightiest warriors of Earth- Steven Rogers, James Barnes, Stephen Strange and Anthony Stark."
the All-Father didn't look so impressed as he glared at Tony. "The small one doesn't look so mighty."
A first impression is once in a lifetime, and Tony can't miss it. He touched the third button of his shirt and turned it, quickly lifting his other arm in the air. Suddenly, a glove formed on Tony's hand, pointing towards Odin.
"Please don't disparage me." he said as the guards ran at him and held his hands behind his back, making him drop to the floor. Tony ignored the pain. "The people that disparage me usually tend to be dead." Thor was now looking at him, his lips holding a smile back.
Odin was now stepping towards Tony, stopping only inches from him, so close that Tony could smell his breath. Jesus, has this guy ever brushed his teeth? "I don't appreciate a simple Midgard who thinks he's good enough to threaten me." answered the king, his eyes dangerous, and he began trying to dismantle the glove. This was the moment when the queen (thankfully, for Odin's sake) interfered.
"That's enough." she told Odin sharply, and he turned around to look at her. "Frigg-" "Don't." she said, and Tony smirked. "Jesus Christ." Tony mumbled, and Frigga's lips curved up.
"Jesus Christ." she pronounced the slang carefully, looking at Tony as she spoke. Her eyes were suspicious, but geniunly curious, glaring at him like Thor did in the first time they've met. She was tall, like all of the Asgardians- and Tony felt like a kid between all of those tall men and gods.
Steve took three big steps towards the king, and bowed at him. "I'm sorry about this incident, All-Father, but we came here for a reason."
Thor nodded. "Aye. We need to see Loki."
Odin looked at them with his eyebrow arched. "Why?"
Thor and Steve exchanged looks, trying to understand who was going to talk, but Stephen smoothly slipped on the floor, stopping next to Odin. "We have many magic items on Midgard, and some of them has the 'mark-of-Loki', as I like to call it. If you'll research about the dates in which the items appeard, you'll be surprised to find out that the frequency of the publishing of stories about Loki, and we're talking about a weighted average-- of course-- will rise up like a marvel, you can see the graphs." his cape was fixing itself as he drew a bunch of printed papers out, handing them to Odin, who looked at them with a frown.
"You may walk in, with the guidance of my beloved wife." he said, his eyes mainly fixing on Thor and Stephen.
Well, there goes their plan.
"But you shall know that I don't like this fact, and thus I won't be aprroving your entery again. Espacially not with the smallest Midgard."
***
As soon as they stepped out of the room, Tony muttered some very nasty insults under his breath. Bucky's and Steve's smile widened as they heard the very creative curses, thanks to their super-hearing. "My swear-jar will make me rich one day." Steve said to Stark, his hand open, and Stark handed him a coin with a sigh.
Bucky frowned.
"Steve, what the fuck is this shit? Y're swearing like... all the time?"
"Wait, what? Are you saying that the pure Cap is actually a swearing machine? Na, I don't believe it. Not even close to a good try. You're getting B- from me." Stark now glared at Steve, who had an innocent smile on his face.
"They were stigmatizing, Buck! So if I already get insults about it, why shouldn't I make some money out of it?" A tiny smile found its way to Bucky's lips as an idea came to his brain.
"Oh, you fucker. Right, m'queen?" he asked, and Frigga, who was talking to Thor, turned around. While Steve and Tony explained the situation to her, nonestop rumbling, Thor, Strange and him trailed behind.
"We need a new plan." he said to the other men, and both of them nodded. "Aye. The men who must be there when Loki escapes are The Man of Iron and both of you." Strange's cloak pushed him forward.
"We're close." he said, trying to stop the cloak from pulling him all around the floor by holding the super solider and the god. Strange's hands were cold, like Stark's were, but unlike him the Doctor's hands were shakey, trembling as he tried to tighten his grip. Bucky caught him with his silver hand, still surprised to feel the smooth movement of his hand.
Stark was a genius.
But from the other side, it isn't so hard to beat a 60 years old technology.
"We divide into two groups. A: Strange, Stark, Myself, and B: Steve and Thor. Group A is in charge of getting into Loki's cell. Group B is a distraction. We come back through portal, you with Heimdall." Bucky suggested in a tone that didn't really fit for a suggestion, and all of them nodded. "Thor, you need to change shifts with Tony now."
Thor's eyes widened at Strange's words. "But Tony does not want me to exchange clothes with him. He claims that I wearth my mother's drapes."
Strange smirked. "Shakespear in the palace, huh?" Thor looked at him, honestly confused.
"Just change places with Tony so we can go to Loki's cell." said Bucky. "The cloak will lead us."
Thor's face lit up. "Now, that's an order I can follow. Aye Aye, Captain!" he saluted at Bucky and walked to his mother, standing in a position which perfectly hid Stark, letting him sneak towards Strange and Bucky.
"Change in the plans?" he asked and Strange caught both of them in the backs of their shirts as the cloak pulled him into what seemed like an old, secret passage. The three of them waited quietly as Bucky peeked from the gateway, making sure that no one saw them.
"We can go." he ordered and the three of them began walking.
"You see? That's why Asgardians are bad at controlling their stuff." Stark complained as they walked past a pile of strange swords. Strange nodded, picking inside and looking for magic items and reading what seemed like an old page of spells.
"They keep a tradition of thousand of years." pointed out Bucky after a few minutes, feeling like someone needed to protect the Asgardians (because honestly, Frigga and Thor were nice) and Stark sneered.
"Exactly. They suck. They should've hired me." he wrunged his fingers, a satisfied smile on his face, and Bucky thought for himself that it sounds exactly like something that Howard would've say.
Bucky weighted the swords in his hands, trying to feel what's right for him. Most of the swords felt cold as he closed his fingers on them, and he cringed. He doesn't like the cold, he never did. Even as a child, when the school was cancled because of the snow, Bucky preferred staying in and not going out, to the snow.
That was how he met Steve, actually- his memory felt blurry most of the time, but he remembred this day clearly. Steve was the kid in the next block, the only one who stayed inside on snowy days, because he always got sick. The day they met, Steve sneaked out and got really sick, with runny nose, coughing and everything. Bucky looked out and saw Steve almost panting on his door. Without asking anyone, he managed to carry the skinny, blond kid inside, and when his parents came back home they found Bucky struggling to cover a skrawny kid in a heavy blanket, bigger then him, a bowl of soup and a cup of tea next to the couch.
But then again, the cold was the thing that took Steve away from him, destroyed his old self- James Barnes he fell in the snowy mountains into the hands of the Soviets, Steve was frozen in the ice for 70 years, and the main thing he remembered from his time as the Winter Solider was the cold.
And the pain.
After Strange sported with some new magic spells, Bucky found the sword that fitted him the most. It felt like somebody made it just for him- the blade was sharp and wide, made out of silver, and around the handle was a strip of brown and red leather, who became soft from many uses of it. The sword was light, and Bucky felt like it was a sequel of his flesh hand.
"Let's go." Stark ordered as he saw that Bucky finished, and all of them followed Strange with quiet steps, into the maze which also was the prison of Asgard.
***
If you'll ask most of the people, they'll describe Loki as a 'trickster', or 'an evil god', or 'foxy son of a bitch' (if you're Fury). For Tony, mainly, Loki was the man who plodded along his timeline. It was still hard to catch- after Loki was caught, or maybe before he was caught, Loki came back in time to help Tony, and now Tony- who only knows it because of the connection point between two universes which were crammed by the time travel, which happened because Howard tried to find Steve, and that was probably the machine that caused the explosion in the lab, and made Tony blind in the first place...
Ugh.
Time travel.
The main sound that was heard in the corridors as they passed was the panting of Tony. Sure, he trained and everything, but when you're a super public genius hero who has a billions worth company to run with his wifefiancee- fuck it, he can already call Pepper his wife- sometimes he doesn't have time to exercise, thank you very much for asking.
That's why, when Stephen's cloak finally stopped pulling him, after five minutes of fast running, Tony was thankful.
"We're here." Bucky whispered, and both Stephen and Tony rolled their eyes. "Thank you, Captain Obvious." they answered simoustanly, and heard a deep laugh.
"Well, well, well." Loki rose from his seat, his eyes glowing in amusement. "Something is actually happening here, isn't it? It would've been nicer if you would have come about five years ago."
"Or if we wouldn't come here at all." Stephen answered, while Tony just said "Shut up, Reindeer Games."
"Getting rude, aren't we?" he asked, and Tony felt a metal hand pulling him away.
" 'Kay, Nutso's God. This is the plan: we free you. You go back in time. Fix all the mess. Free to go." growled Bucky, his palm clenched, a dark look on his face. "Take it or leave it."
Loki arched his eyebrow, unimpressed. "Even if I would've agreed, you possibly can not break into the Asgardian Prison. Mightier then you have tried."
Tony chuckled quietly. "My family seems to have an attraction for what others call 'impossible'."
Bucky pushed him back a little. "Ten seconds. Take it or leave it."
Loki's eyes stared at his eyes after he discovered that he's unable to find the truth at the spy's eyes, like always. It's funny to see how many people think of him as the weak link of the Avengers, when in the reality, he has so many masks.
Not that it matters- Loki somehow manages to still catch whatever he looked for in Tony's eyes, and he nods. "Very well." he says, and just like they've agreed, Bucky turned around, beginning to guard, Tony pointed at the god with his glove (security is 10 out of 10) and Stephen began to do strange motions with his hands and his necklace- 'the Eye of Agamotto', so he'd told to Tony. And suddenly, the electric-magical bars seemed to 'shake' in much faster rate than they used to before. After a minute, they were gone for a milisecond, and then they appeard again- Stephen now moved his hand in a circular motion in the opposite direction, slower, and repeated the process until he was able to hold the bars open, and Loki slowly walked out of the cell, the slightest clue to shock on his face.
"I did not know that there are Midgard who possess the magical arts." he hissed, and Tony sneered.
"Well, you don't know many things, so why don't we move fucking on." he said, and suddenly Thor, Frigga and Steve popped up from the corner of another corridor. "What are you doing?!" asked the Queen, her hands raising in the air, ready to attack them--
Stephen turned his hands, and the trio moved back, reverse. "Reindeer Games, put our illusions next to them." Tony ordered, and Loki surprisngly did as he has been told, probably still in shock from the appearing of his mom. He added his own hologram in the cell, as Stephen closed the bars.
"They won't suspect because you were there all the time." the Asgardian said, surprised. "And they won't be able to know when I'm gone because they don't know since when I'm an illusion."
Bucky smirked. "We have something in there, aren't we?" he asked, knocking on Loki's head.
"Lets get out of here." ordered Stephen, beginning to run. After him was Loki, next to Bucky, and Tony was the rearguard.
After ten minutes of running through the corridors and secret passages (Loki helped even more than Stephen's cloak) Stephen stopped them.
"Ready?" he asked. Not waiting for an answer, he began circulating his hand in the air, a strange ring shinning. some orange sparks flew over the place, and a portal to Earth was opened in front of them.
Tony sticked his head into the portal, looking at his other teammates. "Reindeer incoming!" he shouted and marked to the smaller crew to pass as the big team on Earth drew their weapons.
"Not bad for a Midgard." said Loki as the four of them stepped into the portal, coming out in the compound, their friends waiting in open arms (and saftey latches).