Avenging Fire: Age of Ultron. ~Book Four~

Chapter One: Aftermath.

Levinia was sitting in the quinjet, readying the file that Hill had put together for the team. After everything that had unfolded in DC, she and the rest of the Avengers had been on clean up duty to get rid of what was left of HYDRA. It had been a very long year and a half. 
"Alright," Levi said as her eyes roamed over the pages. "The next place we're heading to is a small city in Russia called Shakhty. Hill says that its a relatively small base." She set the file down and looked around the jet at her friends, and in some cases, family. "Should be an easy job." 
"That's what you said that last five jobs, Kilowatt." Tony said with a chuckle. 
Levi smiled as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, sixth time's a charm." 
"I thought the saying was..." Thor trailed off as both Levi and her mother, Red, turned to look at him. Levinia hoped that they were both giving him the same 'shut up and sit down' look, and based on the way he quickly changed his and cleared his throat, she was right. "My daughter is right, sixth time is the charm." 
Levi smiled at her father as she relaxed her arms and rested her hands in her lap. "Besides," she said as she turned in her seat to look back at Tony. "We'll be home by dinner time, like we always are." 
Steve got up from the bench behind her and kissed the side of Levi's head. She smiled as she reached over to grasp his hand. Over the last year and a half, she and Steve had been growing closer together. Though that was only natural. She had found her soulmate, the universe had made them for each other. Her heart still stopped in her chest every time she looked at him, her skin tingled every time they touched, and even then, they couldn't keep their hands off of each other. They always had to be holding hands, or she always had to be sat in his lap as he ran his fingers through her hair. 
"Yeah, and then we train and I do repairs until the next thing happens." Tony said. 
Red raised an eyebrow at that. "You say that like we're little more than flying monkeys." 
Tony shrugged. "Hard not to say it when that's how it feels." 
Levi felt her shoulders slump forward as she sighed. While she and Steve had been getting closer together since what happened in DC, Red and Tony had been growing apart. 
Red fiddled with her engagement ring as she turned around to finish getting ready to go. She had started wearing it again since it turned out that Bucky was alive.
Nat turned in her seat to look at them. "Is there something you need to air out, Stark?" 
"Not currently, no. Why? You got something?" 
Before anyone else could say anything, Clint landed the quinjet with a sigh. "Lets not needle one another, it could go on forever." 
Levi snickered as she gave Steve's hand a gentle squeeze. "You sound like such a dad, Clint." 
Clint smiled at her. "Working with the seven of you makes me feel like a family man." 
Somewhere in the jet, Bruce spoke up and he sounded very offended. "Hey, what did I do?" 
"You're guilty by association." Clint replied. 
As she stood up, Levi looked down at her suit as she let her lightning power it up. "Well, at least this family is a lot more functional than my last one." 
Red paused in putting the dog tags under her armor, blinking as she turned around to face Levi. "Lev... you were a child soldier." 
Levinia grinned at her mother. "So, you see my point." This earned her a chuckle from both Red and Steve as they walked out of the quinjet. 
"Alright," Steve said, getting serious as he looked over them. "We know the pairings. Levinia, you're with me. Red and Stark, Nat and Banner, then Barton and Thor. Try to capture, not kill, but I know that we don't always get to have a choice." 
Red nodded along with Steve's words before she cleared her throat and turned her gaze to Bruce and Nat. "Bruce, when you and Tasha get in, search that lab. Maybe we'll get lucky and find the scepter this time." 
Tony almost smiled. "You say that every time." 
Red shrugged. "Like Levi said, sixth time's the charm, love." 
Bruce cleared his throat. "And if I go green?" 
Red offered a gentle smile. "We'll be drawing fire away from you two anyway, but if you do go green, the lullaby is ready." 
The group made their way toward the building. Steve took his shield off of his back and fit it over his arm as he kept cover over Levinia. It made her feel special, for some reason, that he would put himself in the line of fire to keep her safe, even though they both knew she could handle it.
+++
As her armor formed over her body, Red and Tony made their way to the north side of the building. She wished that she could find a way to fix this frigidity that was building between them. But she knew what was coming, it was inevitable now that her James, her Bucky, was out there somewhere, waiting for her. 
+++
Bruce almost felt thankful when he heard all the noise the others were making, it made it so much easier for him and Nat to get inside, but it also made him anxious. With every sound of an explosion, he feared that one of his teammates got hurt, or that he was about to go green. 
As Natasha downloaded their virtual files, Bruce went through their physical ones. The deeper their search went, the sicker to his stomach he became. Not only did they find HYDRA's plans for Red, but they also found the records of Bucky's transformation into the Winter Soldier. 
"Let's grab this for Red and Steve's missing person's case." Natasha said as she read over his shoulder. 
Bruce sighed as he tore his eyes from the file that was laying on the desk. "You ever think that Red and Tony seem... off?" He was hoping that at least one other person had noticed what he had. 
"What do you mean?" 
"They used to be all over each other, and then Bucky turns up, alive and well..." He trailed off for a moment as he collected his thoughts. "It's like Tony's shutting her out." 
Natasha sighed as well as she took the flash drive out of the computer. "He's probably doing it because he's scared of losing her." 
Bruce thought that that was stupid. What kind of weird and twisted logic was that? Pushing his girlfriend away because he was scared of losing her? "And that is what will cause him to lose her." 
They didn't speak on the subject again as they left the base to meet back up with the rest of the team.
+++
It was a regular day in the life of the team. Like clockwork they get back to the tower, Sam met them there, and while Tony got to work repairing the suits and tech he'd made for them all, she, Sam, Steve, Levinia and Natasha hangout in Red's renthouse suite. Her daughter made them food as they all talked. 
"So," Sam was saying as they looked over what Tasha and Bruce had found that day. "They kept him at this base?" 
Steve slowly nodded as he glanced over at Levi. "That's what we're thinking." 
Red would have smiled if she wasn't feeling fear and anger mix together and twist in her stomach. She was too stressed out about the search for Bucky, and where he was, to be happy for her best friend and her daughter. She stood up as she set a picture down on the coffee table. "This chair is the same one that Pierce locked me into. James was locked in one identical to it." 
Ever since their fight with SHYDRA, Red had been able to remember more of what it was like being captured and tortured by them. The sounds of him screaming for her haunted her dreams, and more than once, she'd woken up screaming and crying for him. She also had reason to believe that he was the one who made it so she could escape. 
Sam leaned back in his seat and reached over to hold Tasha's hand. "It looks like some sort of Saw trap." 
"Believe me, it felt like one." 
Red fidgeted with her engagement ring as Levinia came into the room and set a tray of food down on the table before she's pulled into Steve's lap. It was just pizza rolls, but she had pan fried them in olive oil, garlic and parmesan cheese. 
Red had gone through some changes since she last saw Bucky, she started wearing his tags more openly and, much to Tony's displeasure, she started to wear the engagement ring on her finger again. 
She sat back down and rest her face in her hands. "I don't know if it gets us any closer to finding him, but..." 
"But it helps us put a story together, Red." Sam said as he pat her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze. "We'll find him." 
"I hope so." She said as she brought her hands away from her face and picked up her mug and sipped her tea as she leaned back against her seat. 
"Yeah," Levi said with a smile. "We'll have some time before we have to take out the next one." 
"I hope that's the last one." Red muttered as she looked down at her mug. 
"Me too. I need some time away from Stark." Tasha said, keeping her eyes on Red. 
Red guessed she was trying to gauge her reactions. But the truth was, she needed time away too. She and Tony needed space so that they could figure their shit out. To see where their relationship, or what was left of it, stood now that everything had changed. 
Sam smiled as he turned to look at Tasha. "I mean, we could get some time away if you wanted."  
As if on cue, Red, Levi and Steve all shared a knowing look as Natasha smiled at him. "Yeah, I think I can do that." She turned to look at Steve and Red, "will you guys be okay if we stepped out for a bit?" 
"Yeah, we'll be okay," Red said with a smile. "Go have fun." 
Tasha and Sam quickly got stood up and left the room. Levinia kissed Steve's cheek before she got to her feet and picked up the filed that were scattered over the coffee table. "I'll go put these in the Drawer of Crazy." 
Red let out a snort of laughter. "Is that what we're calling it now?" 
Levi smirked at her as she walked across the room and put the files away. "You got any better ideas?" 
"No, not really." Red said as she stood up and went to get personal bar to pour herself a shot of vodka. "That's pretty much what it is at this point." 
Steve sighed as he closed his eyes. Red glanced at him, she almost felt bad for making this whole Bucky situation about her. He was suffering too. He was hurting too, but it would never hurt him as much as it was hurting her. She spent seventy two years feeling the bond that linked them together, thinking that he was dead, and that the universe decided that she just needed to suffer. But he was alive all this time, getting tortured and being made to forget her and Steve and all of the history the three of them had together and who he was. 
"I can see if anyone's seen anything." He offered. 
"We've already done that." She threw back the shot she poured, and leaned against the bar. "I can't help but think that if he wanted to be found..." It hurt her heart to say it out loud, but she needed to get better at talking about her feelings. "We'd have found him by now." 
"Hey," Steve said, his voice gentle and understanding. "We'll find him." 
"I hope so." 
+++
Out in the city, Sam and Natasha slowly walked down the street, hand in hand. They had gotten hotdogs from one of the many stands, and while Natasha did feel better, she couldn't tell if it was because of the food or because of Sam. 
"Iso, I take it that life in the tower is cramped?" Sam asked as he interlocked their fingers. 
Natasha sighed. She was silent as she thought her words over. She didn't need to be careful with Sam, she could be as unguarded as she wanted with him. 
"It's not that," she said finally. "We all have our own floors, but Red and Tony..." She trailed off as she took a bite of her foot to hide the fact that she didn't know how to finish the sentence. 
"It's tension you can cut with a knife." He finished for her. "He doesn't seem happy about her being more open about Bucky." 
"It's like she did a factory reset after everything that happened." Nat said as she finished eating her hotdog and threw the wrapper way.
"Kind of like how we did." Sam said, smirking as he pulled them to a stop and brought her closer to him. "We have a good thing going, Nat." 
She smiled. "It's a very good thing." 
Truth was, over the last year or so, he had become one of the people she could trust the most. He was almost just under Clint, but only almost. 
"One of these days, I'm gonna take you out for a real meal." 
"Oh? A real meal?" Her smile brightened as she looked up at him. "And where will this 'real meal' be?" 
"Anywhere you want." 
"Anywhere?" 
"Anywhere." He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her against his body. She couldn't get over the fact that he always made her feel safe and warm "As long as it's in the Tristate Area." 
Natasha draped her arms over his shoulders. "I'll have to take you up on that." 
"Good, I have no idea what I would have done if you said no." 
Natasha laughed at that. It almost startled her, that her laugh was real and genuine, that she didn't need to pretend around him. 
+++
Steve laid in the bed he shared with Levi, watching as she got ready for bed. He never understood why she put in so much work to look nice when they went to bed. But he couldn't lie and say that didn't make him feel special. 
"You think we'll find him eventually?" 
"I know we'll find him eventually." Levi said as she crawled into bed next to him. It made his heart sing when she smiled as he pulled her against his chest. "Especially with how stubborn you and Red are when it comes to Bucky." 
Steve traces gentle circled against her thigh. "I guess you aren't wrong." He smiled as he noticed the goose bumps appearing on her body as he touched her. 
"We'll find him, love. I promise." 
Steve was quiet for a few seconds before he leaned down to kiss her. "I love you, you know that?" He felt like he needed to tell her at least once or twice a day, just in case she forgot and needed reminding. 
Levinia, smiling, reached up to touch his cheek. "I know." And as she leaned up to meet his lips halfway, she whispered. "I love you too." 
+++
Red woke up from another Bucky related nightmare. She was covered in sweat, her hair stuck to the back of her neck uncomfortable, and her heart pounded against her chest. In her nightmare, she was back in that warehouse with him, hearing him scream for her as she was shocked by the device that Pierce locked her in. 
She kicked the blankets off her body and slipped out of bed, she decided that it was best if she slept in the living room, maybe the TV would would help her keep her mind off of all of it. 
It had been a year and six months since she and Steve had to fight Bucky on the helicarrier, a year and six months since she started to have nightmares about him again, and a year and six months since she started wearing her engagement ring on her finger instead of her necklace. 
Of course she knew that Tony had noticed her changing too. Over the last year or so, Red had been slowly, but surely, pulling away from him. With every new piece of information that Sam got for her and Steve, the more excited Red got that maybe, just maybe... She and Bucky could get back on track, and then... Her life would be back to normal. 
This train of thought always sent a pang of guilt through her stomach. It made her feel like she was thinking something she shouldn't. She was with Tony now, she should have been happy and moved on by now. Steve was, and she should've held up her side of their bargain. 
Red stayed curled up on the couch, staring at the TV, but not taking in any of the information of what she was watching. She didn't know when she realized something was wrong. She didn't know if it was when she heard the elevator going down, or if it was when the doors opened and Tony stepped out of it with a grim look on his face. 
"JARVIS," he said as he sat down on the ottoman across from her. "Turn off the TV for me, will you?" 
"Yes, sir." JARVIS said before the TV was shut off. 
Red sat up in her seat and crossed her legs under her. "Is something wrong?" 
"No..." Tony hesitated for a moment. "Yes... I don't know." He reached out to grasp her hand and looked down at the decades old ring. "You started wearing it again." 
She wished his touch made her skin feel ablaze again like it used too, she wished that she still craved him the way she used too, wouldn't it make everything easier if she did? "Yeah... I missed it." 
"Missed it, or him?" 
Red slowly pulled her hand away and sighed. "I missed him, I always miss him." 
"I thought that we moved passed that." Guilt started to writhe inside her stomach as she watched his face. She had never seen him look so hurt her entire life. "I thought you were moving on." 
"And I was." She fidgeted with the engagement ring as she turned her gaze to her hands. "But you knew that it was going to be a process, you knew that this was the first relationship I had since he fell." It still felt weird that it had turned from 'died', to 'fell' since what had unfolded in DC. 
"I know, and I was prepared for it back when we both thought he was dead." 
"Wait a second, let me get this straight," Red said as she stopped fiddling with her ring and raised her head to look at him. "You're giving up because it got to hard when it turned out he's not actually dead?" 
"No, I'm giving up because now that he's back, the possibility of losing you is higher." 
Red was silent for a long moment, blinking slowly as she processed that information. Finally, when she decided that she should be angry at him, but couldn't work up the energy to be, she said. "That is some twisted logic, Tony." 
"Red-" 
"No, you giving up is what will cause you to lose me." 
Tony sighed as he finally stood back up. "You can't expect me to stay with you when you're silently wishing that he'll come and sweep you off your feet like he did in the good old days." 
"The odds-" 
"I know that the odds of it happening are slim to none, but that's not the point." 
Finally, her guilt was replaced by anger. It was completely unfair that Red was the only one getting punished for wanting someone back. "You're acting like I'm the only one longing for something I can't have." She fought off a glare as she watched him pace between the coffee table and the couch. "I know you wish you were with Pepper." 
"You're right, I do." The two of them were silent, everything was still. He had even paused in his pacing. "I'm going back to Pepper, Red." 
Red fell back against the couch and took a deep breath. She knew it was coming, she'd seen it coming since they decided to try and make their relationship more serious. But it still hit her like a train. 
She didn't blame him for being done, even after he left her in stunned silence and went back upstairs. It was inevitable, especially now that Bucky was back and somewhere in the world waiting for her.