fossilised | Jotunheimr

Jotunheimr

Thor Odinson was not ready to be King.

That much had become suddenly and sharply clear to Odin All-Father, a sharp pain that he would rather not have had. He had been blinded too long by love for his only heir, seeing only his affable way of gaining friends and his strength on the battlefield, but ignoring how he had become spoiled and arrogant. He had glossed over the reports from Thor's tutors that his son had not studied the other realms or the duties of a King as he should, and had instead spent much of his youth carousing with his favoured companions, hunting or getting into trouble together.

But this... this was beyond a childish scrape.

Egged on by his friends, or so it had come out since the act, Thor had decided to go to Jotunheim - a forbidden act - for the sole purpose of finding one of its inhabitants and slaying it. A proof of his mettle as a warrior, to kill one of the fearsome giants, the monsters of the icy realm. He felt ashamed, sick at heart that his only son could be so ignorant as to think that any race were just monsters. He might have hoped these were just rantings, but he saw preparations begin to take place and he knew that they meant to commit treason by disobeying his orders of no contact with Jotunheim and perhaps start another war.

Arrangements were hastily made, pushed through Frigga who had more goodwill remaining to her among the Giants, and when Thor arrived at the Bifrost, he would find Odin standing by the great sword rather than Heimdall, his one eye forbidding.

"Why are you so eager to seek out war, my son?"

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It was probably stupid to try and stop Steve Rogers, but Tony had to try physically, he actually initiated contact, moving as if to wrap his hand around Steve’s wrist. Verbally, he shouted ‘hey,’ fairly nonsensical really. Steve was in no way paying attention to him. The guy who had become his closest friend now was thinking like that mother orca from the documentary that just came out, lashing out for his friend.

It didn’t matter who stood in the way. And that was why Tony was standing alone in the Tower half a minute later as Steve races towards the building JARVIS had described.

Bucky had no idea that he had been traced, he was one of the best in the world at escaping notice and he was fairly confident that Stark didn't (yet) have the technology capable to track him - but that was his own mistake for not realising that the man had bugged him even while he fixed his arm.

He was too late to escape by the time that he realised someone was in the building with him, on his feet with a gun pointed at the door as it flew open to reveal... Fuck. How had Steve found him? Obviously Stark had betrayed him, but how had they known where he was?

He didn't lower the gun even a minute amount, expression hard.

"Get out."

Tony would really be up in arms about the betrayal aspect here. It’s not like he and Bucky are friends. They were barely even friendly. And Tony did sort of want to kick his ass from here to the moon so—

So it was probably about right for Steve to be there, unarmed, without even his shield. Maybe that had been stupid on his part because Bucky might lash out, but Steve was thinking with his heart instead of his head. And that was probably the number one complaint that Tony had about him in the friendship department. The blond was effortlessly the dumbest guy Stark knew.

And everyone was dumb compared to him, so you know that isn’t the best vote of confidence there.

“Hey.” Up went his hands. He hadn’t removed the tacticle, fingerless gloves he wore on missions. “I’m just here to talk, pal.”

This wasn't the first time that he had seen Steve, of course, that had been from a distance through a sniper scope before he realised that, for the first time ever, he couldn't follow an order to kill. That had been what made him break free and run, though he still half considered going back because of how fucked his head was.

But it was the first time that he had been close enough to see those big blue eyes looking at him like some kind of whipped puppy.

"I don't have anything to say."

Nor was he lowering his gun.

If Steve could put a number to the pain this was causing the way people do to broken bones or illness, it might rank right up there with the time that he had gotten pneumonia and fell out of bed. Steve had never been a complainer but he would admit to smarting pretty badly after that one. And this? This felt like his gut had been punctured.

“Why not?” he asked, probing gently, never lowering his hands. He didn’t want to spook Bucky more than he already had. “Used to be a time when we would tell each other everything.”

Mostly. Sometimes Steve didn’t fill Bucky in when he did illegal things. Just in case Bucky was ever questioned. Steve might be a do-gooder and a God fearing man but he knew when to step over the line and he was never afraid to do the right thing, despite the law.

There were so many truthful answers to that question - he no longer really remembered the times they told each other everything, he didn't want to put Steve in danger from his programming, he was too broken to even find the right words more often than not. But he went with a lie; a lie designed to hurt Steve and drive him off, to save him from all of this mess.

"You let me fall."

He barely remembered that, only the agony of his limb severing, the freezing cold of the snow, and the look of sheer anguish in Steve's eyes. But he used it to lie anyway.

"I hate you, you failed me. Now get out."

That hurt worse than a bullet or three would have but Steve sucked it up. He could deal with heartache because it tended to be all he felt when he was alone in his apartment reliving memories he couldn’t get away from. It was why he was always so eager to head into Manhattan, despite the traffic. Tony was a distraction as well as a friend, and just maddening enough to make Steve forget that everything he knew was gone or broken.

Especially since Sharon never remembered him anymore. Sometimes that was better than having her remember that he wasn’t at her bedside once a week like clockwork and she was seeing him again for the first time in sixty years.

“I know, pal,” Steve said without wilting, though the pain in his eyes was intense. “I hate myself too. But that’s why I can’t fail you again. Why did you leave Tony’s? It’s safe there.”

No one was taking that flimsy attack as anything real it seemed.

Damn it, it was only when Steve used that damning indictment as a reason to stay and do better, that Bucky remembered just how stubborn the bastard had been even before the serum, and how 'run away' had never been in his vocabulary.

Not good.

"I didn't go there for a long term place to stay, I went for repairs. They're done, so we're done, I don't need to stick around any longer."

Also, he didn't really have any particular desire to sit with Maria Stark's son and endure further hatred for telling a truth that he had warned would not be a good one to hear.

“It looks like there’s more at stake here than repairs,” Steve said, his voice having dropped half a register as he put on his Captain America pants to deal with this now that Bucky had pointed out how his failure had caused… Well, he wasn’t sure. Abuse, certainly, at least at the hands of HYDRA both before his fall and after.

Steve wasn’t going to read into any of that. He couldn’t. His mind needed to stay focused on this task before he moved to the second or third or…however many there needed to be once he was done with this. His loyalty was and would always be to Bucky first.

His country could come second.

“HYDRA. You mentioned them to Tony. HYDRA still exists?”

Having Steve in the same room as him was intoxicating in the same way as imbibing a whole keg of beer, it made his head hurt and the world seem to spin, and it made it really hard to focus on anything. He was scared of having Steve this close, scared of just who it was who could break through decades of programming without even knowing that's what he did from a distance.

"I'm taking care of it."

Why was this happening? He should have just let the damn arm stay broken, it wasn't worth this mess to have got it fixed.

"I told you what I wanted from you, I want you to go away. It's the last time I'll tell you before I make you."

“You don’t have to take care of it alone. And you know I can’t just back down when it comes to HYDRA.” At least, that’s what Steve assumed. He had no idea that Bucky’s head was Swiss Cheese or why it was like that. “It’s not about what you want. I’m sorry what I did to you. I’m sorry I didn’t look harder or longer for you when you fell. You have every right to hate me and I’m not asking for your forgiveness when I don’t deserve it. But if life’s taught me anything, it’s that you can work with people who hate you to get things done.”

Maybe that was a little much to say all at once here. Especially to a guy holding him up, literally, with a gun pointed in his direction. Steve had been prone to giving rousing speeches for a long time now, though.

It might very well be in his upended DNA.

“I know you wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man, Buck. And I’ll go as soon as we work out what we’re going to do about HYDRA.”

Something about that statement struck Bucky as very funny. Had the man he had been before all this really been so moral that he wouldn't shoot an unarmed man? If he had been capable of it, he might have laughed; as it was, his lips just twitched up into a slightly bitter smile.

"You don't know the first thing about me, killing an unarmed man would be the least of my crimes."

He's done it before, and he'd do it again. Hell, he did it earlier tonight, and Steve might be able to smell the faint scent of blood the longer he's here and the more he's exposed to it.

"Go back to Stark and whatever life you have now, forget you ever saw me, it's best for us both."

Death was a smell the super soldier had become accustomed to, though since he had awoken there were all new smells that overshadowed any death that might linger on the streets of New York. The smells here didn’t bother him. Not yet at least. He was too focused on blocking out his other senses so his body could react to movement.

He never would have believed that Bucky could shoot someone not labeled enemy. He knew that as a sniper, sometimes he had to shoot the unarmed to keep their company safe.

But that was different to now. His eyes were so bleak now that Steve decided not to look into them, despite how hardened his own gaze was.

“I don’t care what you’ve done. What HYDRA might have made you do.” His Bucky wouldn’t have done it on his own and Tony had been spouting something about behavior modification most of the afternoon. “I know you won’t shoot me. And you know I was never good at having any sort of life outside of being your friend.”

"Stop it!"

This was burrowing into his head and making him want to go with Steve, making him want to protect him. Something in the back of his mind said that he had always been at Steve's six, from when they were kids to when they were Commandos, he had been there to protect and watch out for his best friend.

But that had been another man, one that died a long time ago in a HYDRA cell, and he couldn't afford to give into that confusing wash of information. His hand trembled slightly, gun still pointed directly at Steve.

"Stop talking like you know the first damn thing about me."

Steve could almost feel his jaw click and he swallowed down as much bile that rose in his throat as he could. This, as Tony might say, sucked.

“I used to know everything about you,” Steve reminded him. “But I get it. It’s been s long time. For us both.” Steve had gone off to war in the middle of the night without telling Bucky. He hadn’t been there to see Bucky off or wave goodbye with the rest of his family.

But they’d seen each other again.

Briefly.

Bucky had changed. So had Steve, all be it more physically. And now they had changed again.

“I can’t lose you again. We haven’t hit the end of the line. I know it, Buck.”

For the briefest second, Bucky looked stricken. The hollow hardness fell away and he looked like someone wounded and scared, about to cry, but it only lasted a moment before fear and anguish overwhelmed everything else. That phrase, something about it was like fire scorching him and he lost control.

With a snarl, he pulled the trigger of his gun three times in quick succession and shot Steve in the gut and chest. He missed the heart and lungs, though, even if he should have been able to hit them from much further away. Panic flooded him when Steve crumpled unconscious and, before he knew what he was doing, he had Steve in a fireman's lift and was sprinting through the city to the sound of honking horns and yells from people left behind.

He didn't stop again until he was stood in front of Tony Stark, no longer caring what the man thought about the truth of his mother. He couldn't say anything, just mutely held out the unconscious Steve in blood-drenched arms.

“Oh my god. Are you a cat? I can feed myself. I don’t need you to show me affection through pain and bring me stuff you kill!” Maybe that was kind of weird? Tony didn’t have the usual reactions to things. It was almost like he was incapable of being human save when he was alone.

“Captain Rogers is not dead. He is losing a great deal of blood, however, faster than his body is able to replenish it. I would suggest, sir, that he go to the hospital.” JARVIS was at least minutely helpful.

“You think? Shit. Fine.” It would take a few moments to get to his cars. “J, clear the path. You,” he pointed at Bucky, “follow me.”

He’d need someone to put Steve in the car. Fuck his life. And his all leather interior.

He didn't follow.

What he did was put Steve down on one of Tony's workbenches and grab the nearest sharp tool that he could get his hands on, and slice straight through his metal arm. It had to have been something in there that let them track him, and so it wasn't safe any longer, and he didn't have the technical know-how to dig it out himself.

So it was better to amputate the problem.

He looked up at Stark, looking more like a feral animal than a person, with blood all over him and tears spilling down his cheeks that he wasn't even aware of out of guilt and fear, and then he just ran.

Tony would be left to haul Steve to the hospital himself. Not that he would be alone for long, as they rushed him off to the OR, an innocuous looking red-haired woman in scrubs sat down next to him as if by random chance.

"A run in with the Winter Soldier, hm?" She murmured over the rim of her take-out Starbucks coffee cup, quiet enough for only Tony to hear. "Is he going to be okay?"

“Do you think I’m in any way capable of lifting—“ But Bucky was gone and Tony cursed before loading Steve up on DUM-E. It was not his most graceful maneuver.

Tony hadn’t ever sat by a friend’s bed before (or waited for one in an emergency room waiting area) so this was a new and weird experience for him. He presses his knees together before crossing them and was just sinking into an old copy of Wired magazine when the voice roused him from a really boring article about the future of AI that he was quoted in but had forgotten he had given an interview for.

Natalie. Natasha. Whoever she was.

Tony tilted back his head and tossed the magazine aside. “Which one? The guy that cut his arm off in front of me or the guy he shot? I haven’t heard about either. Technically, the blond should be all right by now.”

But he was being fucking stubborn.

Natasha had quite enjoyed being Natalie for the brief period she had to be, it had been a nice change of pace from some of her previous undercover jobs - much less painful death and messy red in her ledger. She had even come to quite like Tony Stark, he wasn't as bad as his bluster made him out to be.

"He doesn't miss, you know?" She set the cup on her knee, as if she were talking about something as mundane as the weather and not about a legendary assassin. "So I have to wonder why the good Captain is even breathing with three shots in him."

She ever so gently tugs up the hem of her shirt to reveal a white puckered scar.

"He got me once, a long time ago, and I should know that he doesn't miss."

Tony only glanced at her scar without really looking. “So what? He left you live too?” Well wasn’t that nice? “The guy is an asshole, my mom was evidently HYDRA and oh yeah— There’s such a thing as HYDRA.”

Not even Natasha would know that so Tony was pretty pleased to have one over on her. He didn’t feel for Bucky the way Steve did anyway so the fact that Bucky missed on purpose (and he’d have to at that close range) meant that he’d just reacted the way most people did with Steve.

Sometimes you just wanted to shoot the guy to shut him up. Classic.

He sighed and dropped his hands into his lap. “Go tell Fury. I’ve got the sitting and waiting under control.” It wasn’t like it was the first time that she’d seen him pouting.

"You think he doesn't already know, why do you think I'm here?"

Knew about Steve Rogers, at least, and the possibility of the involvement of the Winter Soldier. But that news about HYDRA being alive and well was a new one, even to her, though it made some sort of twisted sense.

"You're saying that this run in with the Winter Soldier had something to do with your Mom having less than savoury connections when she was alive?"

Interesting, but it seemed flawed to her.

"Now isn't the time to behave like a baby, Stark, this is bigger than you could imagine."

“You should try me sometime. My imagination is pretty huge.” So the answer to baby behavior, obviously, was that Tony Stark was going to participate in it, without shame, no matter how Black Widow night try to inject some shame into that.

He had already been turned down for the Avengers Initiative, so this visit couldn’t be about that. And no one was going to want him to try and track the One Armed man— Shit. That was exactly what this was about.

“The guy shot Steve Rogers. He’s not like Mild Mannered Banner,” he muttered, assuming that the woman knew all about his connection to Ross there with the surveillance equipment on the Hulk. “He left his arm in my living room. I don’t know what you want me to do about any of this. But if you’re going to sit here and wait for the doctor, I’ll take that as my cue to go.”

Tony only played heartless when too many people were looking. And Black Widow’s eyes might as well have been all of SHIELD’s.

Hell. She was probably HYDRA anyway.

He might be playing heartless for her benefit, but she was much more skilled at reading people than he was at pretending, and she already knew him quite well. He was rattled by Steve being hurt, he was obviously hurting deeply about this information he had found on his mother, and he was angry at the Soldier for his part in all of this.

"You'll look for him even if that isn't what I told you to come here and do, let's not pretend otherwise, I've just come to back you up to stop you getting killed."

She wasn't interested in hearing that Stark had ended up dead out of a need for either answers or revenge. And she was pretty sure that it would eat at him until he got one or the other.

"Someone else is coming to sit and wait for Steve to wake up."

Tony didn’t even have to ask who as he stood. There was only one mega creepy agent out there and it was the same one that use to harass him about Loki before the two aliens stopped coming around. Poor Steve. Hopefully Coulson wouldn’t go all crazy fanboy on him while he slept.

“Let’s go.”

It didn’t bother him working with the woman that had purposefully inserted herself into his life as his assistant. She had gotten to know him and had, in turn, managed to save his life and Pepper had really come to rely on her too, even if Natasha wasn’t around much since she had other assignments and didn’t do the whole social thing. She was handy with his computer systems though and as Tony had DUM-E put the arm in storage, he worked on reprogramming half of the equipment he used to track Banner to track Bucky instead.

It would be surprisingly easy, once Tony took a look at the patterns he saw in Bucky’s movements over the last few months from motion capture cameras throughout the country.

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sorry had to nip out again, back now

Re: sorry had to nip out again, back now

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i don't have a nat account so pretend Bucky is Nat

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