Twisted Fates | mcu au

⇨ five ⇦

He doesn't know how long he has stood there, staring down at the open compass and the photo inside. He knows it's been long enough for the tears on his shirt to dry.

He probably would have stayed there for much longer, just staring, if Coulson had not come in to fetch him.

"Sergeant?" the agent asks, and Bucky's head snaps to him. "Banner's spectrometers got a hit on Loki. He's in Stuttgart, Germany. The Director wants you to suit up and get him."

Bucky nods and rasps out, "Okay," before following the agent into another room, supposedly holding his new Captain America suit. (New? he thinks bitterly. It's more like I'm the new item for the mantle.)

Coulson holds open the door for him and closes it behind him once he enters. Bucky sighs to himself as he turns away from the closed door.

That is... not what he was expecting.

He certainly was expecting red, white, and blue, but maybe not this vibrant. It looks so impractical. Bucky sighs reluctantly. He guesses it will have to do. As long as I'm not in a real fight.

---

Bucky decides he really doesn't like SHIELD when they make him get on another plane to get to Stuttgart. Honestly, he went on a suicide mission in a PLANE. Also, who the fuck designed the suit? It's uncomfortable, it's flashy, and a whole lot of other things that he hasn't decided on yet.

Bucky peers out from an alley at Loki, walking through a crowd of people while making a villain-y speech. He's got the most ridiculous helmet. Great, Bucky thinks, a dramatic asshole. Suddenly, a man stands up. Bucky, seeing what Loki is going to do, sprints from the alley.

At this moment, he decides he's going to blame every stupid or life-threatening thing he does on Steve's ghost.

He makes it just in time for the blast from the scepter to hit the shield and go right back at the god. He decides he wants to make a snarky quip, but... his mind blanks. Fuck, he thinks.

"You know," Bucky begins. "I was gonna make a snarky comment, but I couldn't come up with anything in time before you decided to kill someone. Says something about your character, doesn't it?" Bucky is slightly disappointed that the crowd had run away to safety because that quip was excellent, if he says so himself. Loki glares.

"The soldier—" Loki says as his glare disappears and a grin breaks across his face. "—the man out of time."

"I'm not the one out of time, Loki," Bucky snaps as the quinjet appears above him, Romanoff piloting.

A gun unfolds from the bottom as her voice echoes over the speakers of the quinjet. "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."

Loki glares again and fires at it, Romanoff maneuvers it out of the way just in time as Bucky and the god fight. Suddenly, Loki throws the shield out of Bucky's hands and snarls, "Kneel!"

Suddenly, there's a voice saying, "Agent Romanoff, you miss me?" and music playing over the speakers of the quinjet.

Both Loki and Bucky's gazes snap up to Iron Man—Tony Stark—flying in and firing a repulsor at the god. While he's down, Bucky gets away from Loki and grabs the shield off the ground. Both Bucky and Stark take defensive positions against Loki, who is on the ground.

"Make your move, Reindeer Games," Stark says. Bucky's eyes widen at the display of magic when Loki's ridiculous helmet disappears while raising his hands in surrender. "Good move," Stark continues as they both lower their weapons.

"Dr. Stark," Bucky greets.

Stark seems to be surprised when he responds with a curt, "Captain." Bucky's heart clenches slightly when he realizes that Stark must think he's Steve. He won't correct him for now.