The kids turned around to see Bucky standing in the doorway. He looked quite mad, for some reason.
"Who were those assholes." He said, marching into the room. He looked so intimidating, the kids couldn't help but flinch back and make themselves as small as possible on the bed.
"Mr. Bucky-" Peter started, but he was cut off.
"Don't. I want to know." Bucky said, looking right in the kid's eyes. Peter immediately shut his mouth, looking at his feet. For some reason, he was getting scared. MJ was not intimidated, however, and looked right back into the soldier's eyes.
"No."
Bucky's always bright blue puppy eyes were now filled with anger as they turned to look in hers. They didn't remind her of a puppy anymore, but of a pack of angry wolves. She could just hide the shiver going down her spine, but managed to look big. At least, she hoped so. Especially with the now taken care of bruises and cuts.
"And why's that." Bucky said, daring her to convince him.
"Because if I tell you, you'll kill them." She said calmly, looking straight in his eyes. She could see a flicker of doubt in his eyes, before he masked it again with mischief, a slight hint of a smirk on his face.
"Of course not. Not right away, of course. I'll first have some fun." He said, his eyes glimmering with a somewhat evil spark.
"You know that's, like, illegal?" Peter now also had the courage to speak up, although he would much rather just let Michelle and Bucky do the arguing.
"So is raping someone, never mind a 15 year old, what's your point?" Bucky basically shot lasers out of his eyes, as he turned to face Peter. If looks could kill, they'd both be dead.
Michelle looked in Bucky's always bright blue eyes, as they slowly started to turn a greyish colour.
"Oh shit," she heard Peter mumble beside her. She turned to face him, wanting to ask what he meant. Peter just shook his head, keeping his mouth shut. Michelle, being the observant girl she is, saw him dial a number on his phone. She didn't know who's, but she did know that Bucky couldn't see it, or whatever Peter was trying to do, would fail.
"Look, Mr- Sir." Michelle said, keeping Bucky's attention on her. "They didn't do it, Peter came just in time-" Before she could finish, Bucky cut her off again.
"Yes but they wanted to do it. They were going to do it. I can't allow that."
"And what would you do if you'd find them. Torture them? They're our age. You know that, if you do it, you'll be just as bad as they are. How is that going to help you?" Michelle argued back, staying calm.
Bucky, however, didn't. Heat rose to his face as anger boiled up inside him.
"They can't just attempt rape and get away with it!" He yelled, making the walls of Michelle's room shake. Michelle was getting scared now too, but she wouldn't back down now. Peter had a plan, and she would help him in any way she could.
"No, exactly. That's what the police is good for. We'll inform them, and they'll get the punishment they deserve. That's how things are done here."
"What can the police do that I can't?!" Bucky yelled, getting desperate, knowing he was losing the argument. "Why don't I just save them the trouble and do the work for them?"
"Because," Michelle argued, staying just as calm as before, "they can do it legally. They can give us justice."
Bucky clenched his teeth. He knew that Michelle was right, but the deadly assassin inside him didn't want to just sit it out, wait for the police to do something. He balled his fists, seeing red. He wanted to get the justice this girl deserved. He wanted to deliver the punishment. He wanted to be the one to let them pay for what they did.
He was so deep in dark thoughts, that he didn't notice that he had stepped forward, towards the two kids on the bed. He looked murderous, like he would just squeeze the life out of anyone in his way.
Before he could reach the kids, however, two strong arms wrapped around his chest from behind, holding him back. He was ready to resist the person holding him, Winter still taking the lead. That was until the man spoke.
"Calm down, buddy. Hey- listen to me. You have to snap out of it, pal. Just take a breath. Come on, you're stronger than this." the man kept talking to him in a calm voice, giving Bucky a chance to come back. "That's it, just breathe." Bucky noticed he had listened to the steady heartbeat of the one holding him, his breath slowly becoming even.
The arms let him go, and Bucky turned around, expecting to see Steve. Instead, he was surprised to see it was Tony who was looking at him with concern in his eyes.
"You alright there, pal?" He asked.
Bucky was speechless, so he simply nodded, feeling a bit numb.
"You sure? You seemed pretty out of it."
Bucky again just nodded, not being able to come up with words. The smaller man gave him a reassuring clap on the shoulder, and with one last, concerned look he walked towards the shaking kids on the bed, kneeling in front of them.
"You kids okay?" he asked, concern lacing his voice. The kids just nodded, looking like they were about to cry, no matter how strong MJ made herself look. He noticed the cuts and bruises on her face, but also saw they were taken care of. She looked like she didn't even notice them anymore, so Tony just rubbed her shoulder for comfort, just like Jarvis had done to him back when he wasn't, well, dead.
Tony saw Peter looking at him with hopeful eyes. He sighed and rolled his eyes, standing up from his kneeling position.
"Fine," he said, not looking at the kids.
Peter immediately threw himself in the older man's arms, clinging onto him for dear life.
Suddenly, the door burst open, being ripped out of it's frame by the force. Michelle sighed, knowing Pepper was going to be very mad about the destruction in the room.
"Buck- Oh." Steve stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the scene in front of him; Michelle shaking but rolling her eyes on her bed, Tony looking at him, startled, while holding a shaking Peter in his arms. In other occasions, Steve would've 'ahw'ed at the sight of Tony opening up, but he could feel the confused stare of his best friend burning in his skull.
"I, uh, think you're a little late, Steve..." Bucky said, finding his voice again.
"Wait, how is Tony faster than a super soldier?" Michelle asked, very confused.
"Well Stevie here might be a quick runner, but my suit can hit quite a high speed when I'm in a hurry. Plus, I went as soon as I got the call and heard that our dear Winnie was active again." Tony shrugged, awkwardly trying to pry the teenager off him. Suddenly, Michelle seemed to remember something as her brows furrowed.
"By the way, Pete. How did you get your phone? I thought you dropped it on the desk?"
"Got it when he was distracted." Peter mumbled, not letting go of his mentor's torso.
Bucky shot him an impressed look, which went completely unnoticed by the boy as his buried his face in Tony's shirt. Tony couldn't hide the smile creeping up his face when he thought no one noticed.
But of course, Steve and Bucky watched, feeling happy for their friend. A warm feeling crept up in Tony's stomach as he felt the teen cling onto him. It might have made Peter feel safe, but Tony felt he could relax finally, being surrounded by people he could trust. He suddenly felt the exhaustion of today's activities and stress for his- the kid hit him like a bus. He could never feel completely safe, afraid of being hurt as soon as he let his guard down. But this was nice, he could get used to this...
--
Yes, finally a long chapter. Chapter written by deborah_ronner, in association with KimJulietteV:)
Really hope you liked this chapter, with some Iron Dad-Spider son moments. Don't worry, there are a lot more incoming! Felt like we needed that after the last chapters...
The chapters are getting longer from now on, so a lot more can happen in them. There are some characters that haven't been introduced yet, but we've written them in the chapters we have pre-written already. We can't wait for you all to read it!
We also noticed that the book was, like, pretty cringy at the beginning, but progress has come throughout the chapters. Let us know what you think of the story! We love to hear your thoughts :)