Chapter Text
“Mails here!” Ava calls out, waving a stack of envelopes as she waltzes into the New Avengers headquarters.
“Since when do we get mail?” John asks, bushy brows furrowed.
“Since I set up a P.O box,” Yelena states as she types away at her laptop perched on her lap, boots kicked up on a chair, “The New Avengers are getting popular, and Valentina wants fans to feel more connected to us - so they send us gifts.”
“That’s nice,” Bob smiles calmly from the corner of the room, drinking his tea.
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” John glares.
“Oh look, John,” Ava’s eyebrows raise as she flips through the envelopes, “You’ve got some fan letters - weird, I thought people would have higher standards.”
John walks over to snatch the letters from her hand, “Jealous, Ava?” He taunts, walking back to the sofa.
“Woah, the hell is this?” Ava ignores him as she rips open one of the envelopes, tossing the rest aside, glaring at the paper as she reads aloud, “Dear New Avengers, we are writing to notify you that your name is currently breaching copyrighted materials. The domain name Avengers has been an established copyright since 2012. To rectify this situation; immediately cease and desist any and all further unauthorised use of New Avengers. Failure to comply will result in legal action taken against you for copyright infringement. Sincerely, the Amended Accords.”
John immediately shoots back to his feet, throwing his arms in the air in frustration.
“Oh that’s bullshit!” John exclaims, irate, “The Avengers broke up! But now that they’re all back together, they’re threatening to sue us for stepping up? That’s bullshit, we need to fight this!”
Yelena raises a brow at him with pursed lips, “I don’t see why you are making such a fuss about this,” She says dismissively and pinches her index finger and thumb together, “This is a small potato problem.”
“So what?” John folds his arms, “We just give up our name? Just like that?”
“Hmm, yeah,” Yelena nods simply, “We change our name, just like that.”
John scowls at her. How could she be okay with changing their name so easily at a measly little lawsuit threat? The Avengers had been broken up since Civil War, and since the defeat of Thanos, every single one of them were MIA. And in that time, there were no heroes to help take on enhanced threats, so the New Avengers stepped up to save the day. But now, all of a sudden, the Avengers have decided to get back together and threaten them for doing their job?
“What about you, Bob,” He then turns to Bob, “You okay with us just giving up?”
Bob shrugs his shoulders awkwardly, “I really don’t mind what we’re called.”
Yelena looks at John as she gestures to Bob, “See? Bob doesn’t mind - you are the only one being a big baby about this.”
“What is with all the yelling and fighting?” Alexei’s voice hits them first before he makes his appearance, walking into the room, dressed to the nines in custom-made New Avengers merchandise.
“We got sent a cease and desist,” Ava folds her arms, “We’ve gotta change our name now.”
“What?” Alexei’s jaw drops, horrified, “Why?”
“The name Avengers is already taken,” Yelena tells him.
“That is stupid!” Alexei frowns with pinched brows and points to his shirt, “Look, Avengerz, with a Z - totally different! No copyright!”
“See?” John gestures to Alexei, “At least someone is on my side.”
Alexei gasps loudly before he shouts, his voice practically shaking the building, “THUNDERBOLTS!” He booms with a wide grin, whipping around towards Yelena, “We can be Thunderbolts again!”
Yelena considers the name for a moment before she smiles, “Thunderbolts is not bad.”
Ava rolls it over through her head before she nods, “I can be a Thunderbolt.”
“Seriously?” John glares at Alexei, “You’re just immediately okay with changing our name? What about all the shit merch you blew a bunch of money on?” He scowls, gesturing to Alexei’s clothes.
Alexei shrugs his broad shoulders, “I buy new merch.”
John sighs, slumping in his chair.
Ava snorts with a grin, “So much for your ally.”
John flips her off silently.
~
Yelena settles back against the wooden lounge chair with a deep sigh, feeling extremely refreshed after a long soak in the sauna. She tugs her soft robe tighter around her. Her office was probably the best thing that has ever happened to Yelena - thank you, blackmail. Her phone suddenly starts buzzing as it sings her ringtone;
♪ Bye, bye, Ms American Pie~ ♪
“Hello?” Yelena greets the caller as she raises her phone to her ear.
“Hey, Lena.”
Yelena smiles at the all too familiar voice on the other end, “Natalia, long time no talk,” She greets casually, “How does it feel to finally be free?”
Natasha lets out a breath, “My ankle feels lighter than ever.”
After coming back from the blip, Yelena had visited the Avengers tower several times within the six months of Natasha’s house arrest. After both of them experiencing near death experiences (Natasha by Thanos and Yelena by blip), they both agreed to make a better effort on seeking each other out. However, with Natasha back to being assigned to missions and the New Avengers - now dubbed Thunderbolts, dealing with their own fights; they hadn’t had much free time to see each other lately.
“Dad wants you to come over for dinner one of these nights,” Yelena tells her, “He won’t stop bothering me about it.”
Natasha lets out a small chuckle, “I’ll think about it,” She says lightly, amused before she deters, “Actually, I was calling because I have someone interested in joining the New Avengers.”
“Ah, it’s actually Thunderbolts now,” Yelena’s lip quivers into an amused grin as she lets out a small laugh, “Thanks to our team receiving a cease and desist about copyright this morning.”
“I wasn’t aware we cared so much about copyright.”
“Neither was I,” Yelena says before she asks, “So, who wants to join?”
~
As soon as Natasha had given him the go ahead and after a quick meeting with Nick Fury, Bucky hadn’t wasted any time in packing his bags and announcing his departure to the rest of the team. And of course, as he had expected, Steve had something to say.
“I’m joining another team, not moving across the world, Steve,” Bucky reminds him as he packs his few belongings into a duffle bag, “I’ve already spoken to Fury about it, he’s fine with it, as long as I follow the Amended Accords laws and conditions; he’ll leave me alone.”
Steve stares at him with a troubled expression, standing in the doorway with his arms folded across his chest, “Are you sure this is what you want?” He asks with a deep frown, “Because if this is about the hostility on the team right now, I’m really working on trying to get everyone together-”
“It’s nothing personal, but I just know I’m not cut out to be an Avenger-”
“That’s not true, Buck,” Steve argues as he steps further into the room, brows pinched.
“Avengers are Earth's greatest heroes, Steve, they’re good, they’re admired and save the day and all that shit,” Bucky lists off as he zips up his bag, “But I can’t be that. Natasha recommended the Thunderbolts because they’re me; they’re trained assassins who have killed and have done a lot of shitty things, who are changing to try and bring good to the world. I want to do that, but I can’t do that as an Avenger, Steve. That’s just not me.”
Steve levels him with a firm stare, “You had no control over what you did, Bucky,” He states, “All of that harm you did? That wasn’t you.”
“Felt like me,” Bucky simply says.
Steve’s gaze hardens and he continues, “You may have done those things, but you’ve done so much good to redeem yourself,” He insists, “You’ve saved the world.”
“Nothing compared to you,” Bucky turns to him, eyeing Steve’s metal prosthetic arm.
The tenseness in Steve’s shoulders melt and he chuckles softly, “Hard to compete.”
Bucky’s lips twist up into a small smile and he starts calmly, “Steve, I’ve practically had no choice in what has happened to my life, everything’s been decided for me,” He says and his expression hardens, now serious, “I’ve made my choice.”
Steve stares at him for a long moment before he silently walks over to drag him into a firm hug, patting his back. Bucky returns the gesture, squeezing his best friend close.
“You’re a good person, Bucky,” Steve tells him, his words earnest as he pulls back, hands on Bucky’s shoulders, “You’re a true hero - and I think the Thunderbolts are gonna be lucky to have you on their team.”
Bucky cracks a smile, shoving him off gently, “Alright, get off, you’re sapping up the place,” He snarks and Steve laughs brightly.
~
“Good luck, man,” Sam hugs him briefly.
“Thanks,” Bucky smiles appreciatively, genuine.
He waves goodbye to the rest of the team, before he steps into the elevator, which takes him to the ground floor, where Natasha is waiting for him outside.
“Ready to go?” She asks with a calm smile.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” Bucky nods, adjusting his dufflebag thrown over his shoulder and looks around the street, “Thought you said you had a ride.”
A dirty red limousine suddenly pulls up at the curb and the window rolls down.
“Natasha! My sweet daughter!” A bald man with a fluffy silver beard pokes his head out with a grin, his voice booming and overwhelming, “How are you?”
Natasha smiles politely, “Fine, Alexei,” She says and gestures to Bucky standing beside her, “I want you to meet Bucky, your new teammate.”
“So good to meet you!” Alexei exclaims happily and the driver seat door opens.
Bucky’s fight or flight senses immediately start whirring in his head when Alexei climbs out and stretches to his full height, looming over him. Bucky braces himself for impact when he’s suddenly dragged into a bone crunching hug and lifted off his feet.
“Welcome to the Thunderbolts!” Alexei exclaims giddily, “You are going to love it!”
Bucky grimaces, squirming in his hold as he peers over Alexei’s shoulder to look at Natasha, who merely watches with an amused smile across her face. Bucky silently glances between Alexei and Natasha.
How the hell were they related?