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Of course HYDRA decided it was a good time to attack. Of fucking course they did. Because that was exactly what Bucky needed while saddled with four kids, two godlings, and a teenage dragon. At least Tony had stopped ruthlessly hitting on him, badly, to change back into his dragon form when HYDRA breached the premises. They were the ones who set off that magical bomb in the first place. This had probably been their plan all along. Well, they weren’t getting their hands on any of the Avengers, that was for sure.
Bucky had managed to navigate the group of kids out of the SHIELD base while avoiding most of the heavy fighting. Coulson was with them, gun out and hands steady and he helped keep the kids rounded up in a group and moving. Tony kept darting ahead, roaring angrily and lashing out at any HYDRA agents they encountered. It was beyond clear that he wasn’t pleased with this particular turn of events either.
Spotting an armored car across the tarmac, Bucky hurried the kids onward. SHIELD agents were engaged with HYDRA agents not far away, but thankfully it acted as a distraction for HYDRA rather than an obstacle for Bucky’s little entourage. Hill was among them, too, which did quite a bit to boost Bucky’s confidence when it came to their chances. Bruce all but froze at the sight of the fighting so close and Bucky swept him up in his flesh arm, not bothering to spare the time it would take to talk him down. They didn’t have that luxury. He would just have to deal with Bruce’s tears and trauma later. For now, he needed to get them to safety.
An explosion from where the fighting was happening nearly knocked the entire group off their feet. Thor stumbled into Bucky’s leg and the assassin grasped him by the fabric on his shoulder to keep the boy steady. Off to the side, where the SHIELD forces had been, Bucky could see only flames. Tony roared like a being possessed and took off before Bucky could even think about discarding his current burdens to grab hold of the dragon.
You touched what was mine, the dragon howled. You’ll pay! You’ll pay!
He dove into the flames, and while Bucky wasn’t exactly worried about him getting burned, he was definitely worried about him going up against HYDRA on his own. A heartbeat later Bucky was thrusting Bruce into Coulson’s arms and leaving the group behind to sprint after Tony. Coulson would get the others out of there. He would make sure they were safe.
There was another howl from Tony and then it seemed almost as if a vacuum had opened up in the middle of the inferno. As the flames were sucked inward, Tony’s roar turned deeper. He all but erupted from the flames, body expanding until he towered over the SHIELD base, never mind the battlefield. Bucky skidded to a halt to gape up at his boyfriend. Flames all but dripped out of Tony’s mouth as he flared his wings out and lowered his head to growl menacingly at the HYDRA agents that hadn’t been smart enough to already take off running.
My Horde. Mine.
The agents turned to flee but Tony wasn’t having any of that. He lashed out with his front claws, sending HYDRA goons flying. He snapped at those who had already fled, catching them in his maw and flinging them into the air. They didn’t get back up once they hit the ground. He roared again, the noise actually causing the air to tremble and forcing Bucky to cover his ears. Tony looked like a demon out of a nightmare. Bucky actually had to wonder how much collateral damage they were going to suffer from Tony’s rampage and whether or not the genius would be able to forgive himself later.
They still couldn’t be sure if the magic had altered Tony’s state of mind. All of the kids had been acting differently than their older selves but there was no way to tell how much was age and how much was magic. The magic was certainly keeping them from actively figuring out and acknowledging that they’d time-traveled or de-aged or whatever. None of them were idiots, and the signs were pretty obvious, but Steve hadn’t been phased in the slightest by the high-tech medical equipment or the plethora of other technology that definitely hadn’t been around when he was young. Hell, they couldn’t even be sure if Tony really had always been a dragon or if that was the magic, too.
Fucking fuck, but Bucky hated magic.
Luckily, that was also the moment Nick Fury appeared beside Bucky with megaphone in hand. Tony had wiped out most of the HYDRA agents outside of the building, though he hadn’t made any attempt to rip the base open to go after the ones inside. Instead, he was snuffling around the area where the SHIELD agents had been and the explosion had gone off as if looking for something. Fury took advantage of the lack of deafening roar to put his megaphone to use.
“Mr. Stark, I am going to have to ask you to stand down.”
Tony glanced their way, his eye a giant golden orb with a slit pupil like a cat’s, before returning to his search.
“Mr. Stark,” Fury tried again, “do not make me reclassify you as a threat.”
Tony just continued to ignore him as he sniffed around some more and then nosed some rubble out of the way. He carefully reached in with one of his front claws to gently lift Assistant Director Maria Hill out of the debris before turning to set her down at Fury’s feet. The woman was coughing, face covered in blood from a head wound, but still alive. Neither of them missed the way Tony’s tail flicked out to collide with a HYDRA agent who’d managed to make it back on his feet.
I am a threat to any who dare touch what is mine, Director. Now, if you don’t mind, I do believe Bucky and I have a few things to discuss with me regaining my full faculties once more. He leaned in close and puffed a cloud of smoke into Fury’s face. Unless there’s anything else you need first, of course.
Fury didn’t even flinch. Instead, he just held a finger to the comm unit in his ear to activate it.
“I need medics and detainment to ground level. Don’t keep me waiting.”
Tony huffed his approval before straightening and shrinking back into the very recognizable form of his usual self, swaying only slightly on his feet.
“I swear, the transition bigger is not nearly as disorienting as getting smaller,” he groused.
Bucky reached out to steady him.
“So you really are back to being you, then?”
Tony leaned into his touch with a satisfied hum.
“Funny thing about dragons,” Tony offered, closing his eyes and resting his head against Bucky’s shoulder. “We grow with age but we can augment it by absorbing fire.”
Bucky’s eyebrows rose.
“And that little goes that far?”
“Nah, I just got to a certain point and I guess it kind of overloaded the magic from that bomb or whatever.”
“So that’s actually how you normally look.”
Tony winced, pulling away now and looking towards his feet.
“Yeah… I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before. Like I said, Dad made me swear an oath and that kind of thing is really binding. I couldn’t tell you.” He glanced back up, worrying his lower lip between his teeth. “I understand if this changes things for you.”
Bucky heaved a sigh, hand dragging over his face.
“It’s a lot to take in,” he admitted. “But, no, it doesn’t change things.” Tony’s face split into a huge grin and Bucky couldn’t help but reel him into a kiss. He tasted smoky. “I still love you.”
Tony hummed happily.
“I love you, too.”
“Good,” Coulson interrupted them from out of nowhere, the kids right behind him. “If you lovebirds have everything all sorted out, then you can take back your Horde. All of them. I’ve got to get this cleanup sorted out.”
Bucky swept an eye over the kids, noting everything from Bruce’s trembling near-collapsed state to Loki’s expression of what might just be hero-worship.
“Any chance you’ve got some secret dragon technique that’ll get them back to their normal ages?”
“Nope,” Tony said with just a little bit too much glee. “Besides, they’re kinda cute like this, don’t you think?”