Things We Lost - Bucky Barnes Fanfic

15. We Are Not Soldiers

Tony fell against the door as he stood. Jessie helped him walk. Nick ordered Stark to fix the turbine engines.

“Engine three. I’ll meet you there.” Jessie and Steve nodded and ran to the third engine as Tony got his suit. The two Super Soldier’s got to the ruined part of the ship. Three Agents were outside, but quickly got inside after Steve opened the door.

“Stark, we’re here!” Steve yelled into the earpiece over the roaring of the wind.

“Good,” Tony said flying in his Iron Man suit. “Let’s see what we’ve got... I got to get this super-cooling coolant system before I can access the rotors before I can work on dislodging the debris.” He pushed a piece of debris back in place. “I need you to get to that engine control panel and tell me which relays are in overload position.” Jessie and Steve nodded and began to make their way up to where the panel was. Steve pulled it open allowing the two to see red blinking lights.

“What does it look like in there?” Tony asked through the earpiece.

“It seems to run on some sort of electricity,” Steve replied.

“Well, you’re not wrong. Jessie, what exactly does it look like since you’re the ‘wise one’ out of the two of you and can you help your boyfriend put the relays back in place?”

“Almost all the relays are flashing red,” she answered. “And we aren’t dating!”

“That’s the answer I was looking for, Rogers.” Jessie and Steve began to fix the relays. Once they were back in place, they put the panel back into the wall.

“What’s our next move?” Steve asked.

“Knight to E4,” Tony joked. “Even if I clear the rotors this thing won’t re-engage without a jump. I’m gonna have to get in there and push.”

“Well if that thing get’s up to speed you’ll get shredded.”

“A stator control unit can reverse the polarity long enough to disengage maglev and that could-” Jessie began speaking only to be interrupted by Steve.

“Speak English!” he exclaimed.

“See that red lever? It will slow the rotors down long enough for Tony to get out. Stark, we’ll stand by it and wait for your word.” Steve turned to look at the lever Jessie was speaking of. He jumped to the level it was on. Jessie followed him, both standing by the lever waiting for Tony’s signal. Just then, brainwashed S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents ran in. One took out a grenade, pulling out the pin and throwing it, only to end up having Steve jump and hit it out of the direction it was thrown in. He knocked down one agent, throwing the other off the ship. A machine gun landed up by Jessie’s feet. Another Agent ran in and began to shoot at Steve who quickly jumped up to where Jessie was who began shooting at the Agent. Steve backed up, slipping on debris and losing balance, quickly grabbing onto a cable. Jessie ran to him and began to help him. The Agent continued to shoot at them.

“Cap, Serge, hit the lever,” Tony said.

“I need a minute here!” Steve exclaimed.

“Lever... Now!” Steve pulled the lever as Tony flew up to where they were. Jessie turned to look at the Agent shooting at them, and shot him back with the hand booster which was added to her cybernetic arm by Stark.

“So that’s what that does,” she said, surprised with the new add-on. She turned to Steve who was resting against the wall. He looked up at her as she pushing his hair out of his eyes. She helped him stand up as Tony landed in the ship. He took his helmet off.

“Agent Coulson is down,” they heard Fury say.

“The medical team is on its way,” an Agent said.

“I know, they’re here. They called it.” The three met with Fury in the Bridge of the ship. The room seemed almost deserted after the attack of Loki’s men. They quietly sat at the table. Jessie sitting a seat away from Tony while Steve sat a couple seats away from them.

“These were in Phil Coulson’s jacket,” Nick said. “Guess he did never get you to sign them.” He threw the bloody vintage trading cards Coulson asked Steve and Jessie to sign. Steve picked up one of the cards to find him and Jessie on it, both saluting. They remembered how happy they were even during the war. They had their friends, and Jessie had Bucky around.

“We’re dead in the air up here,” Nick continued as Steve set the card back down on the table. “Our communications, the location of the Cube, Banner, Thor... I got nothing for you. Lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming. Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number though because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea, Stark knows this, called the Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could.” Steve kept his gaze on the glass table. Jessie kept her gaze on the cybernetic arm which she had begun to fiddle with while sitting uncomfortably in the silence.

“Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea. In heroes.” Tony stood up and stormed off. “Well, it’s an old-fashioned notion.” Steve and Jessie stood up and followed the direction Tony was heading in. They went to the room where Loki was put before he escaped. Tony was standing with his hands behind his back, looking at where the cage was and where it dropped.

“Was he married?” Steve asked leaning against the railing.

“No,” Tony simply replied, not wanting to get into a conversation. “There was a cellist, I think.”

“I’m sorry. He seemed like a good man.” Tony looked to the Captain and Sergeant.

“He was an idiot.”

“Why? For believing?”

“For taking on Loki alone.”

“He was doing his job.” Tony began walking toward them. He scoffed.

“He was out of his league. He should have waited. He should have...” Jessie began walking toward Tony.

“Sometimes there isn’t a way out, Tony,” she said softly gently laying a hand on his arm.

“Right, I’ve heard that before.” He began to walk past her.

“This the first time you lost a soldier?” He quickly turned back around, slightly infuriated.

“We are not soldiers... I’m not marching to Fury’s fife.”

“Neither are we,” Steve replied. “He’s got the same blood on his hands that Loki does. But right now we gotta put that behind us and get this done. Loki needs a power source. If we can put together a li-”

“He made it personal.”

“That’s not the point.”

“That is the point. That’s Loki’s point. He hit us all right where we live. Why?”

“To tear us apart.”

“Yeah, divide and conquer is great 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. We caught his act in Stuttgart.”

“Yeah, that’s just previews, this is opening night. And Loki, he’s a full-tilt diva, right? He wants flowers, he wants parades. He wants a monument built to the skies with his name plastered... Son of a bitch.” Tony, Jessie and Steve began to walk out after realizing that Tony was also referring to Stark Tower while talking.