Who Am I? » [Stucky]

121. Unsung Heroes

"I can see that..." Came a robotic voice, filtered through a metal mask and the blasting of thrusters.

His metallically gloved hands were burning bright with humming brimming power and the thrusters on his feet were blazing blindingly. He hovered just above deck before dropping onto the surface with a clang: in his suit of gleaming gold and racy red.

A portion of his mechanical gold facial helmet shifted back and up to reveal a sly smirk and a pair of mischievous dark eyes. "Welcome back..." Tony's expression moulded from smug to compassionately pleased.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Bucky questioned, astonished at the time he'd made.

"You guys have made national news. ABC, CNN, FOX... You're making television gentlemen, there are crews already at the shore. No one knows anything of course, but when a Russian Nuclear submarine pulls up on the American coast it's not exactly inconspicuous..." Tony cocked an eyebrow.

"It wasn't my preferred method of transport," Bucky grumbled dejectedly, cursing the stuffy tank that had transported them across the astronomical expanse of Ocean separating Europe from America.

"It wasn't mine either. But your boyfriend and birdbrain here managed to blow up my last remaining QuinJet..." He huffed heatedly, giving Sam a denunciatory glance and an unimpressed curl of the lip. "And I decided that we'd probably get hassled and slowed down to no end if we were to drive to hospital, so I was thinking one of us could carry Bucky and one of us could carry Steve. You have your wings, I have my jets," Tony fired off his plan efficiently.

"Alright... How about I take Captain Patriotism and you take Karl Stromberg," Sam suggested.

Bucky gave a half-hearted snort at the Bond-esque nickname. "Hey, don't make me go Ramius on your sorry ass," Bucky gave him a glimmer of a smile. The smile made an appearance but didn't stretch to the top half of his miserable face: his eyes were untouched by the expression.

"Alright..." Tony interrupted. "Shall we get going? I've already uploaded navigation coordinates to your PDA, just follow its instructions."

Bucky trustingly relinquished his duty of carrying Steve over to Sam who bore him bridal, mimicking Bucky. Sam's mechanical wings ejected themselves from the pack gracefully, unfurling into a magnificent broad span, made out of shimmering scales of versatile metal. With the help of some boosters attached to the tips of his wings and the underside of the empty jet cartridge, Sam was away and soared into the clear blue sky, banking and swooping before whizzing directly off to the hospital. He shrunk away into the infinitum of blue above their heads and they prepared to succeed them.

"Alright Capsicle: Mark Two, come to daddy..." Tony joked, his fleering shit-eating smile concealed expeditiously by the mask slipping down with a clink. He beckoned Bucky patronisingly like a father trying to beguile his toddler into walking to him.

"I swear to god Stark, if you carry me bridal-" Bucky jabbed an accusatory finger at him, his face painted with deadpan severity.

"Don't be such a baby," Tony cut him off, his chiding eye roll hidden by the masking helmet and he swept Bucky up.

"This is so gay..." Bucky complained in a whiny tone, reluctantly placing his hands around Tony's body for safety obligations.

"You're one to talk," Tony teased, and Bucky couldn't help but crack a smirk. Without another word, in a flash of blazing light they rocketed off the deck and soared high into the sky.

It only took the four of them five meagre minutes to reach the hospital in a speedy blur where they were crowded by a tidal wave of people and sooner, press. Spectators fell in to marvel at the sight of Iron Man and an unconscious Captain America accompanied by two unsung anonymous superheroes. They crowded them until they suffocated, smothered them with rowdy shouts and contentious calls, attempted to violently grab and grope them; snapped unwarranted photos and crowded them. They could barely breathe, they were squished amongst a sea of people and had to aggressively elbow their way through. Flashes flared up in their eyes and they struggled on through the automatic doors of the hospital.