Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Twelve

Steve and I walk into the detention level to find Tony staring at the empty space in the middle of the room where the holding cell was. However, my eyes drift to the rusty-brown stain of oxidized blood on the wall behind him.

Steve notices it as well, and slowly turns to Tony. "Was he married?"

"No," Tony replies. "There was a, uh... cellist, I think."

"I'm sorry," Steve says. "He seemed like a good man."

"He was an idiot," Tony states.

"Why?" I ask. "For believing in us? For thinking we could work together as a team?"

"For taking on Loki alone," Tony clarifies.

"He was just doing his job," I defend.

Tony scoffs. "He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have..."

"Sometimes there isn't a way out, Tony," Steve reminds him.

"Right, I've heard that before," Tony huffs, wandering away from us.

"Is this the first time you've lost a soldier?" Steve questions.

Tony sharply turns to face us. "We are not soldiers. I'm not marching to Fury's fife."

"Neither are we," I assure him, trying to deescalate the situation. "He has the same blood on his hands that Loki does."

"Right," Steve agrees. "But right now, we've got to put that behind us and get this done. Now, Loki needs a power source... If we can put together a list—"

"He made it personal," Tony interrupts, taking a quick glance at the bloodstained wall.

"That's not the point," Steve replies.

"That is the point," Tony reasons. "That's Loki's point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?"

"To tear us apart," I answer with a shrug.

"Yeah, divide and conquer is great," Tony continues, "but he knows he has to take us out to win, right? That's what he wants. He wants to beat us, he wants to be seen doing it... He wants an audience."

"Right," I agree. "We caught his act in Stuttengard."

"Yeah," Tony confirms. "But that's just previews, this is opening night. And Loki, he's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered... Son of a bitch."

Tony scurries out of the room, heading for the armory, as Steve leads me to the medical facilities in search of Natasha. When we finally find her, I stop in front of the doorway as Steve enters the room, not finding the courage to be in a space that reminds me of my past. From where I linger, I see Natasha sitting on the foot of a cot, and she turns to look at us.

"Time to go," Steve informs her.

Natasha's brows pinch together. "Go where?"

"We'll explain on the way," I answer. "Can you fly one of those jets?"

At that moment, the door of the adjacent bathroom opens and Agent Barton steps out, drying his hands with a towel. "I can."

Steve and I look at Natasha in silent question and she nods her head, confirming that whatever mind control Loki had Barton under, its affect has worn off.

Steve turns to Barton. "You got a suit?"

Barton nods. "Yeah."

"Then suit up," Steve orders.

With our gear, Steve, Natasha, Barton, and I enter the hanger bay and board a quinjet through the open hatch.

On board, the young SHIELD pilot is stunned to see us, and he quickly moves to stand in our way. "Hey, you guys are not authorized to be in here—"

"Son..." Steve interrupts. "Just don't."

Surprised and intimidated from being told off by Captain America, the pilot hurries down the ramp as Natasha and Agent Barton slide into the cockpit, preparing the quinjet for flight. Steve and I buckle ourselves to the long bench seats as we soar through the hanger doors, following Tony in his Iron Man suit and quickly losing him in the clouds.

When we reach Manhattan, the first thing I notice is the blue beam of energy shooting into the sky above Stark Tower, opening a huge wormhole to the other side of space. On the streets below, chaos ensues as panicked civilians run for their lives, weaving around debris, explosions, and toppled cars as the army of alien humanoids, the Chitauri, fly above them in floating chariots. We're too late to stop it Loki's war, all we can do now is end it.

"Stark, we're on your three, headed northeast!" Natasha informs him through the communicators.

"What? Did you stop for drive-thru?" Tony's voice chirps back. "Swing up Park. I'm gonna lay 'em out for you."

Barton takes us lower, flying along the street between the buildings. True to his word, Tony flies past at the next junction, putting a handful of Chitauri soldiers in range of our guns. Natasha opens fire, knocking them out of the sky in a wave of bullets.

Barton flies up, banking around Stark Tower as we gain altitude, and I see Loki and Thor fighting on the balcony.

"Nat?" Barton asks, calling her attention to them.

"I see him," Natasha confirms, aiming the guns at Loki as he throws Thor to the floor.

Loki aims his scepter at us, shooting a blast of energy in our direction, hitting our left wing. The turbine explodes, sending us in a downward spiral as we drop from the sky. Barton expertly steers the quinjet around the skyscrapers, and we finally hit the ground, sliding a few feet before coming to a complete stop on the sidewalk.

"Everyone okay?" I ask, unbuckling myself from my seat as the others do the same. The group collectively confirms their welfare, and we make our way down the ramp.

"We gotta get back up there," Steve states, leading us back toward Stark Tower.

As we make our way along the bridge to Central Station, a deep, primal roar bellows out across the sky, and we look up to see a colossal, whale-like Chitauri leviathan soaring out of the wormhole above, moving through the air as if it were swimming in water. Dozens of Chitauri soldiers jump off the leviathan on either side, clinging to the buildings as they slide down to the streets and open fire on civilians with their energy rifles.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve asks, gazing at the sky in disbelief.

"I'm seeing," Tony confirms in my earpiece. "Still working on believing. Where's Banner? Has he shown up yet?"

"Banner?" Steve questions.

"Just keep me posted," Tony requests.

We take cover behind an upturned taxi as Loki leads a squadron of Chitauri chariots down to the street below, setting off a chain of explosions as they fire their weapons, destroying cars and threatening to hurl people in every direction. The citizens race to get away, looking over their shoulders in fear as Loki comes straight for them.

"Cap, we need to get those people out of there," I inform him. "They're boxed in with nowhere to go."

An explosion goes off to our right, announcing the arrival of a handful of Chitauri. They raise their energy rifles at us, opening fire, and I draw the pistol holstered to my thigh, returning fire as Barton and Natasha do the same.

Natasha glances to me and Steve between rounds. "We've got this. It's good. Go!"

Steve turns to Barton. "Do you think you can hold them off?"

"Captain," Barton addresses, pushing a button on his bow. His quiver whirs as it mechanically selects an arrow. "It would by my genuine pleasure."

Barton draws the arrow and releases, and it flies at a nearby Chitauri soldier, piercing its skull and electrifying the ones nearby. Steve looks to me and nods, and the two of us jump over the side of the bridge and down to the street below, dodging another explosion as we race through the street, jumping over toppled cars and debris as we make our way further down the street.