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"But Master Bruce-"
"The answer is no, Bucky. I'm sorry. Republic City needs me right now. Your training will have to wait."
"Why can't you take me with you? I'm from Republic City! It's not like I'm some country bumpkin from the Southern Water Tribe who'd run around and blow shit up cause I don't know any better. I can handle myself."
Bruce heaved a sigh, removing his glasses to clean them on his robes.
"It's not that simple. There's a lot of unrest in the city right now. Your training will just have to wait. Now isn't a good time."
The young avatar made an exasperated noise and crossed his arms.
"Or maybe now is the perfect time," he protested. "You're the only air bending Master in the world and the avatar is supposed to help wherever there's unrest."
Replacing his glasses, Bruce gave Bucky a long, searching look.
"Have you ever even dealt with anything remotely political?"
"Stevie and I used to beat up bullies back in the old neighborhood. I mean, I beat up bullies. Stevie mostly just got beat up, but still."
Bruce actually looked like he might be experiencing physical pain.
"That's...not exactly the same thing."
"Which just goes to show how much I have to learn," Bucky beamed eagerly. "And who better to guide me through the perils of the political scene than the genius of Zen himself?"
That earned him a stern expression.
"I'm almost upset you've resorted to flattery so quickly."
"'s not flattery if it's true."
"Look, Bucky, I have a responsibility to Republic City-"
"And you have a responsibility to train me! Your mother was the last avatar. You more than anyone else should get the position I'm in."
"I do, believe me, but part of that responsibility is to make sure you're safe. There's nowhere more secure than here with the White Lotus."
"You do realize your wife could get into this place in, like, two seconds, right? I'm pretty sure the safest place in the world is wherever the Hell she is."
Bruce opened his mouth to respond, shut it, and then opened it again.
"Don't curse. There's no cursing in the Air Temple."
Bucky had to hold in the urge to fist pump. Bruce had always been a push over.
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Bucky couldn't believe it. The Pro Bending Arena was right across the bay from the Air Temple and yet Master Bruce had forbidden any Pro Bending anything on the island. Apparently Bucky didn't need the 'distraction' from his air bending training. What a jip. Bucky scowled and leaned forward in his saddle to rub the side of his wolfsoldier's neck. There weren't many places where the fur was left exposed on a wolfturtle and this breed was even more armored by their shells than most.
"C'mon, Winter, let's go cause some trouble. I need to blow off some steam."
The wolfsoldier yipped agreeably and launched himself into the water, Bucky using his bending to speed up their travel to the opposite bank. Then it was just a matter of creating a spiral of water and getting them in through an upper window. It took them all of thirty seconds to find a gym.
"Oh, man! Can you believe this place? It's amazing!"
Bucky had never seen anything quite like it. He marveled at the equipment. The White Lotus had never provided him anything like this.
"Hey! What're you doing in my gym?"
The older man storming toward them looked angry and not all intimidated by the massive, armor-plated beast at Bucky's back. Bucky raised his arms defensively.
"Sorry! I just, uh, got lost. Trying to find the bathroom."
It was a terrible lie, a terrible lie, and the guy didn't buy it for a second.
"You teenagers and your bathroom excuses! You know what I do to people who trespass in my gym? You're lucky I'm just gonna turn you over to security!"
"There you are! I've been looking all over for you!" An arm suddenly dropped itself around Bucky's shoulder and he startled with a sideways glance at the sandy-blond guy who'd appeared out of nowhere. "No worries, T'Challa. We're together."
"Yes! We're friends! Just friends."
"Of course! I didn't mean to imply anything otherwise."
"Oh, you totally did."
"Anyway," his rescuer steamrolled on, "we should get going. See you later!"
As soon as they were back out in the hall, Bucky ducked out from under the guy's arm.
"Thanks for the save back there. I really appreciate it."
"Hey, no problem. Pretty face like yours? No way I could just throw you to the wolfturtles." He glanced at Winter. "No offence. I'm Clint, by the way."
"Bucky."
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"No way, you're one of the Avengers?"
Bucky crossed the space in barely two strides, marveling at the platform in the center of the arena. The room was simple, just some lockers, a bench, and a table, but it was blowing Bucky's mind. He couldn't believe he was actually in the Pro Bending Arena, in a Pro Bending team's box! And the Avengers were his favorite team, too. They'd come out of nowhere this season and were wiping the floor with the competition.
"I feel like I should be insulted by how hard that seems to be for you to believe. I'll have you know I am an awesome bender. You, of course, would probably know me better as Hawkeye."
"Are you kidding me? Your fire bending is amazing! I listen to all of the Avengers fights on the radio. Your techniques with areal spirals are just...unbelievable."
Clint's chest puffed up with pride.
"Oh, trust me, that's not the only thing about me tha-"
"Clint," a sharp voice cut in from the doorway, "how many times have I told you to stop using our staging room as a way to try and get laid?"
Bucky would have recognized that voice anyway. He whipped around, all wide-eyed and grinning.
"Stevie!"
"Buck?"
Arms were suddenly wrapped around him and lifting him off the ground. He laughed as he hugged his childhood best friend back just a fiercely.
"What happened to you, man? Where did all these muscles come from?"
The last time he'd seen Steve, he'd been a good foot shorter and ninety pounds soaking wet.
"Forget about me! What about you? What are you doing here?"
"Master Bruce couldn't leave the city to train me so I came here. I went to the old apartment but Luise said you'd moved!"
"We live in the attic here, the whole team." He scowled. "Well, Clint and I, at least."
Clint's head shot up.
"What happened to Rumlow?"
"He quit. Said he'd gotten a better offer."
Clint groaned and sank onto the bench.
"What are we gonna do? We can't compete without three people!"
"I could do it," Bucky offered. "I mean, I'm an A-class bender. Stevie, you know that. What element was Rumlow?"
"Water. He was our safety for this next round. Serpentine is an all-water team. They'll put us at a serious disadvantage."
"Oh, well, water bending won't be a problem for me."
Clint came up short.
"Oh, uh, sorry. Just with the comment earlier I guess I just assumed you were a fire bender."
"I am. And a water bender. And an earth bender."
"Oh, my God. You're the avatar."
Bucky grinned.
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Bucky scowled as Councilman Pierce swanned over to greet them. He was glad that he at least had Bruce and Natasha with him at this horrible, garish party. He appreciated the city wanting to throw a gala in his honor, but he'd way prefer it if there was pizza. Or burgers.
"Avatar Bucky! It's so wonderful that you could make it! And the same to both of you as well, Councilman Banner, Chief Romanov. I hope you are finding the evening enjoyable."
Bucky painted a smile on his face even though he really wanted to do nothing but run screaming in the opposite direction.
"It's certainly quite an affair. I hope you realize I'm still not joining your initiative against HYDRA, though."
Pierce laughed.
"I still think you may come around to my way of thinking, but this evening is for entertainment and socialization. I'd hate to waste it on such tedious affairs as politics."
"All you deal in is politics, Pierce," Natasha glowered.
"Radiant as ever, I see. So glad you haven't lost your high spirits, dear. Anyway, the reason I came over was because there is someone quite interested in meeting our new avatar."
Bucky could practically feel the way Bruce tensed up behind him.
"Who?"
Pierce gave an elegant flourish to the side and brought forward an older gentleman who towered in height.
"Please allow me to introduce you to Obadiah Stane, Avatar Bucky, the CEO of Stark Industries."
"Acting CEO," the man chuckled. "I'm only looking after the company until Tony is old enough to take over. It's an honor to meet you, Avatar."
He shook Bucky's hand and smiled good-naturedly.
"Wow," Bucky breathed. "The honor's all mine. I still remember when the first StarkMobiles came out when I was a kid. To come back now and see them all over the place...It just blows my mind."
Stane chuckled again and Bucky got the feeling he did that a lot. Between that and his beard he actually bore a pretty strong resemblance to Avatar Claus.
"Well, I can't take all the credit. I only handle the business side of things. Howard was the one who engineered the StarkMobile and Tony is the one who's been designing all the updates since Howard passed away. I tell you, that entire family is brilliant. Please," the exclaimed as though suddenly struck by the thought, "let me introduce you to Tony."
With barely a backwards glance at Bruce and Natasha, Bucky followed Stane into the crowd.
"There you are, my boy!" Stane called to a short brunette. Despite him clearly being underage, the honey-eyed boy clutched a glass of what could only be liquor in one hand. "Tony, this is Avatar Bucky. Avatar, this is Tony Stark."
Tony snorted.
"Sorry, sorry, but seriously? Avatar Bucky?"
Bucky flushed red.
"I didn't come up with it. If you wanna blame someone, blame Stevie."
"Hey! Leave me out of this."
And then suddenly Steve was there, too, dressed to the nines and looking more cleaned up than Bucky had ever seen him.
"We really have to stop meeting like this."
Steve just grinned at each other while Tony and Stane looked confused.
"You two know each other?"
"Sure," Steve threw an arm around Bucky's shoulders, "I grew up with this punk. Doubt I would have made it without him."
"Only because you can't stop picking fights left, right, and center."
"Great," Tony groused. "Does this mean your gonna bitch as me about drinking, too? Cause this guy hasn't shut up about it all night."
"Actually," Bucky grinned, "I was kinda hoping you'd tell me where I could score one of my own. I'm definitely gonna need alcohol if I'm gonna get through this boring thing."
Stane and Steve let out twin groans of exasperation, but the beaming smile on Tony's face made it all worth it in Bucky's book.
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"Wow. You really were stupid enough to show up here on your own."
Bucky nearly jumped out of his skin.
"Tony! What are you doing here?"
Tony just gave him an unimpressed half-glare.
"You challenged Red Skull to a dual on live radio. You really think he's not going to bring his HYDRA goons as backup? I get that you're the avatar or whatever but come on. Don't be an idiot."
"So, what? You're supposed to be my backup?"
"Yup!" Tony was entirely too cheery about the situation. "It's not like he can take my bending away. I'm not a bender."
Bucky almost pinched the bridge of his nose until he realized he was imitating Bruce and quickly shifted to cross his arms in front of his chest instead.
"That doesn't exactly make it any better, you know. Without the ability to defend yourself you'll just be a liability."
"Are you kidding me? I'm not a delicate flower, Barnes. I've been taking martial arts classes since I was, like, two. Besides, do you even know how SI was able to make the StarkMobile? Military funding, baby. I came prepared."
A bag hit the ground at Tony's feet and he knelt down beside it, rifling through it and pulling out various weapons to babble about the engineering behind them. Bucky wanted to just drop his head into his hands.
"Oh, this is going to be a disaster."
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"They had our tech!" Tony sounded pissed. "How the Hell did they get their hands on our tech?"
Stane, who'd arrived the moment Bruce and Pierce would allow him in the room, raised his hands in a placating manner.
"Tony, you and I both know there are plenty of ways they could have gotten their hands on it. I'll double check with the military and make sure there haven't been any raids recently. We know it didn't happen on our end."
"It shouldn't have happened at all! Fuck, Obie! HYDRA just took down the damn Pro Bending Arena with the entire Police Force present! And he used SI tech to do it! Doesn't that bother you?"
"Of course it bothers me, Tony, but finding out how they got their hands on that merchandise will take time. We'll figure this out. Have I ever let you down?"
"No. Sorry, I-"
"It's alright, Tony. I understand."
Bucky wished there was something he could do, something he could say, to wipe that sick look off of Tony's face. Natasha pushed herself off of the wall where she'd been leaning and observing them all.
"We'd like to take a look at the SI properties ourselves, make sure everything is as it appears to be. There may be something going on off the books and it would be best to double check."
"Of course," Tony agreed, not giving Stane a chance to even open his mouth. "Anything you need, you've got it. Just say the word."
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"I can't believe he was dirty…"
Tony looked wrecked and Bucky just wrapped him up tighter in his arms.
"There was no way you could have known."
"He tried to kill me. He tried to kill all of you!"
Bucky stroked his fingers through brunette hair.
"I know, I know...and we won't let him get away with that. We'll catch him, Tony. Him and Red Skull both. I swear it. I won't ever let him hurt you again."
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Bucky stumbled through the snow, clutching his arm or at least what was left of it. He hoped the blood trail wouldn't lead the HYDRA agents right to him. He'd barely made it out of there in the first place and had been forced to leave Pierce behind. God, what a clusterfuck. Pierce turning out to be blood bender, HYDRA and Red Skull showing up…and now Bucky was pretty sure he was going to freeze to death in these mountains if HYDRA didn't find him first. As if to further support just how shittily his day was going, the snow shifted under Bucky's foot and he was suddenly tumbling down a steep slope.
The world around him blurred, revealing snippets of the sky and the trees but never sticking around long enough for Bucky to be able to focus on them. His back struck something hard as he slammed into it, bringing his decent to a sudden stop. His mutilated arm and shoulder screamed in pain even as more snow fell on top of him. Bucky knew he had to get up, had to keep going, but he couldn't get his limbs to work. His vision wavered, blurring again, and then darkness consumed him.
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"General Fury will arrive today," Clint murmured. "Thor just got the telegram in to confirm. With his help, we'll be able to take back Reunion City."
The homeless man beamed at them, his long blond hair matted and dirty.
"Good. Let's go find a good vantage point to intercept them. We'll need to talk to General Fury early on if we want to make this strike as effective as possible."
"Best view of the Bay is from that tunnel over there," Thor replied to Bucky cheerfully. "Lets out right by the edge of the city. If you wanna see ships coming in, that's the place to do it!"
Bucky nodded sharply, moving to cross his arms only to stop the movement short at the memory that he now only had one. They'd had to remove what had remained of it after the injuries he'd suffered during his kidnapping.
"Then we head that way."
He turned to stalk off, the others scrambling to follow behind.
"I'll have some stew waitin' when you get back!" Thor called after them.
"Hey," Tony spoke softly, coming up beside him. "It's gonna be okay. We'll get through this."
"And at what cost?" Bucky bit out harshly. "How much more do we have to lose?"
Tony frowned and looked down at his feet, shuffling a bit awkwardly.
"Not as much as we'd lose if we just gave up."
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"We need to find that airstrip," Fury growled. "If Red Skull leads those planes against Coulson's land forces and catches them by surprise…the results would be disastrous. Not even the World Security Council would stand in his way."
"It's gotta be on the other side of these mountains," Steve pointed at the map. "That's the only way he would have been able to keep it hidden for so long."
"Then we need to go there and destroy it."
"I'm staying here," Bucky broke in. "I dunno, I've just…I've got this feeling. I need to stay here."
Fury gave him a long, assessing look before nodding.
"My grandfather always spoke quite fondly of Avatar Carter and her impressive intuition. If your instincts are telling you to stay here, then you should. This is where you'll be needed most."
"I'll stay with you." Tony blurted. "You know, as back up. I've been working on my metal bending."
He gave a wink and a saucy smile and Bucky appreciated him turning the offer of help into a joke. It made it easier not to focus on how utterly useless Bucky was now that he didn't have one of his arms. He could still bend, sure, but it wasn't nearly as well as he'd been able to before and he always felt off-balance. He'd hip-checked more than one corner since they'd found him in those frozen woods.
"Sure, but don't be surprised if I have to resort to gagging you just to keep that mouth of yours shut."
"Oh, that doesn't sound so bad." Tony waggled his eyebrows playfully. "Depends on what you're thinking about gagging me with."
"And that's our cue to leave. Steve, General? Unless either of you want to stick around and watch this which, I admit, I will judge you for. Harshly."
"Take Winter," Bucky motioned the wolfsoldier over, ignoring Clint's comment completely. "He's a great tracker, and handy in a fight."
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They were all gathered, waiting for him. Bucky couldn't even bear the face them, just let his head hang down so his loose hair would cover his face.
"Cho said she can't restore my bending."
"But she's the best healer in the world," Bruce protested.
Bucky glanced up only long enough to catch the pitying look in Natasha's eyes and cringed backward, his hand moving to grasp the prosthetic Tony had made for him. It was amazing work, really, but Bucky would give it up in a heartbeat if it meant he could have his bending back.
"Isn't there anything you can do?"
"I'm sorry. It's beyond my abilities. What has been done…I cannot reverse it."
"Bucky…"
Tony was reaching out for him, reaching out to comfort him, but Bucky panicked. He fled, bare feet pounding on the wooden floors of the shrine where they had gathered, where he had spent so many years practicing his bending with the White Lotus. It was too much. It was all just too much. Tears streaked down his face as he hit the snow, sprinting away from the compound. He didn't stop until a hand wrapped around his wrist, making him stop. He turned back to see Tony, panting and flushed but holding on desperately.
"You didn't think I'd let you get away that easily, did you?" he gasped out.
"I can't. Tony, without my bending I'm nothing."
Tony glance behind them before looking at Bucky again.
"Am I nothing?"
"What, no! Of course no-"
"Because I don't have bending. Never have. So if I'm not nothing then you're sure as hell something. Bucky," he settled a hand on each of Bucky's shoulders, "I don't give a damn if you're the avatar or not. I love you for you."
Bucky gaped.
"You love me?"
"Yeah," Tony flushed. "When you disappeared…God, Bucky, I couldn't even imagine what would happen if we couldn't find you. I was so stupid to waste any time at all. I'd do anything for you."
Bucky managed a wobbly smile.
"I love you, too."
Tony grinned, pulling Bucky into a tight hug and letting the other bury his tear-soaked face in Tony's shoulder.
"Good. Then we'll make it through this. Together."
"Team Avatar, right?"
"Yeah." A quick kiss was pressed to Bucky's cheek. "Team Avatar."