AUTHOR'S NOTES; Hey, babes, sorry for the wait. Grad school is a whole thing and it requires like, 70 hours of time devoted per week. PER WEEK!
you can expect more updates more regularly through summer!
Anyway, to make it up to y'all, I'm posting a second chapter of this soon. Consider it a slightly delayed double update that you'll get within a day or two.
There are officially 8 parts to this series, so if you enjoy reading this soul's journey through the cycle of reincarnation across the multiverse, maybe check them out? Though, all fics can be read independently too!
As always, thank you guys for showing your love for my work. I hope yall enjoy!
Discord!
https://discord.gg/XhqUDAnbsH
XXXXXTONYXXXX
"Hey," a gentle voice calls out.
I glance up, heart leaping I spot my silver haired guardian angel. I hurry over, setting down my tools and sweeping her up into a tight hug, twirling us around in a circle, shocking a bright laugh out of her. "Nova! Where have you been?!"
Her mirth vanishes into an uncharacteristically grim mien and my brows furrow as I set her down, hands still resting on her waist, warmth tingling in my fingers. "Uh oh. What's with the frown, Moonshine?"
The darkness in her expression cracks enough to allow one corner of her mouth to twitch upwards half heartedly. "Got some news for you,"
"Well, that's not ominous," I remark, heart stuttering, but I take her hand and pull her along with me, allowing her to stay silent all the way out of the lab in the garage and to the living-room couch where I promptly pull her into my side, wrapping an arm around her unashamedly.
Surprise flickers briefly across her stoic expression, and I can understand it. I'd been careful to keep a certain distance between us, particularly a physical one, after the night we met in the club. Doing so had made sense before and is the way I've lived nearly my entire life, having learned very early on how untrustworthy people are. Only Rhodey, Happy, and Pepper have really managed to get close after the original Jarvis, his wife, Anna, and my parents died. And as much as I've grown to adore the alien woman, she honestly couldn't have been more suspicious in if she'd tried.
But now I found myself wanting to get rid of the distance I insisted on to begin with, inch by inch. I want to peel away all the mystery and secrets around her and solve the enigma of her existence, to see if she really is the person that I think she is, and if that person still makes my heart pound just like this.
"What's going on?" I ask, tightening my grip on her, enjoying the heat along all the places we were pressed together, shoulder to knee, and the scent of her hair, something vaguely like florals and petrichor.
She grimaces. "The arc reactor's palladium is slowly killing you."
I freeze for only a moment before smiling and deflecting easily. "Oh, you found out about that, huh? You don't need to worry! I'm already searching for a new element to use in the reactor that won't poison me."
The darkness in her expression doesn't change and I feel my face fall as I remember just what ability my new friend has. "Did you… See something?"
She scowls into the distance, looking away from me. "I'll preface this by saying you aren't going to die, but you won't be able to find an element that will work the way you need it to."
The world blurs, a buzzing filling my ears as I begin to do rapid mental calculations. If I can't find an element that works as a replacement for the palladium, I'm dead. I can't remove the arc reactor without killing myself, but leaving it in will kill me slower. How exactly am I supposed to-
"Tony," Nova snaps sharply, breaking me out of the spiraling thoughts, one of her palms pressing against my chest just shy of the object acting as my guillotine. "I told you, you are going to be fine."
I stare uncomprehendingly at her. "You just said I wouldn't find an element-"
"I know what I said," she interrupts, sounding downright agitated. "But I also said you wouldn't die. Could you trust me for like five minutes, goddamn stubborn male-" her words cut off as she exhales roughly and rubs her temples, eyes shut and head leaned back on my shoulder, seemingly asking an even higher being for patience. Like sunlight breaking through clouds and revealing a stricken world below, I notice for the first time how tired and stressed out she seems. There are dark bags under her reddened eyes and her normally glossy waves are tossed into a braid that isn't managing to hold much of her hair back at all, loose strands falling out of it in chunks. She's still stunning and otherworldly, of course, but not herself, and I feel a bit of guilt bubbling up inside me. Clearly, the woman hadn't been having an easy time since I'd last seen her.
"Sorry," I blurt.
"What?" She startles, blinking big silver eyes up at me.
"I'm sorry," I reiterate firmly, reaching out to grasp her hands, lowering my head to meet her eyes. "You're right. You… you deserve my trust. You've earned it. And I do trust you! But- I'm sorry. I'm the worst, I know-"
Her eyes soften and the expression is so sweet and tender that I have to force myself not to look away, my stomach swooping uncomfortably when she threads her fingers into mine. "Hey, no, it's okay. You trust me, but our friendship is still so new. It's not easy to just stop hesitating-"
"It's not. But you can't keep bending over backwards just for me to give you an ounce of faith," I interrupt tightly. "I trust you, Nova. Do you hear me? I trust you, so now it's on me to learn how to show it."
She gazes at me, something indecipherable flickering behind refracted starlight, practically nose to nose with me, heat sufusing me from my toes to the roots of my hair. Heart beating fruitlessly at its metal cage, I pull away from her to walk over to the glass wall overlooking my private beach, needing the space to regain some composure. Seriously, what's wrong with me? "I'll try harder. To trust you. It's on me. So, about the element?"
She hums, slumping further into the couch, eyes lidded in exhaustion as she lets me change the subject. "You have to make it or something. SHIELD has some stuff from your dad that will help. Also, come here for a moment. I'm going to purge out the poison from you so you don't act crazy."
I wander over, skin already tingling in anticipation of her touch. I want to blame it on Nova's magic, always being a fascinating experience, JARVIS's having new protocols installed just so I can study it, but even I don't believe that excuse.
Her eyes, like silver stained glass facets lit by moonlight, distracts me yet again as her hands settle on me, and I force myself to look away. The sensation when it starts is uncomfortable, a tugging on my veins like when a needle is removed from them during a blood draw, but all over my body and without the pinching sensation. "Ugh , it feels gross."
She snickers, ignoring my complaints as she sweeps her palms across me and I resist the temptation to press into the touch despite the weird sensation. After a while, a grayish ball of liquid begins to seep out of my skin, like some kind of horrifying living sludge. "Oh my god, it's like an alien laid its eggs in me and now little baby slime monsters are hatching-"
She full blown laughs. "It's funny you say that because I know of at least three different alien races that look just like this with similar birthing processes."
I gape at her in horror, but it's soon replaced by awe as she pulls her hand away, holding a small floating orb of gray-white sludge.
It's the palladium.
"Holy shit," I breathe, tearing off to get a blood sample and test how much is left in my system, only half noticing the way she seems to cast a few more of her hocus pocus-ing shit on me.
I suddenly realize how terrible I've been feeling for the last few weeks now that the symptoms of the poisoning are gone.
Nova sighs, low and long as she rejoins me in the lab. "There is more. And it will probably make you regret your new found trust in me."
I eye her, disturbed. Somehow I got the feeling this was somehow going to be worse than my impending death. "I doubt it, but lay it on me."
"HYDRA… it's back. Or more accurately, it was never destroyed."
I blink, taken off guard entirely, before I return to eying the results of my blood test. "HYDRA, as in the organization my old man and Captain America took down? The nazis?" I ask, incredulous. "Wait, you're an alien, how do you even know about-"
"Shh," she interrupts, finger pressing against my mouth, and despite the weariness in her gaze growing my concern for her, I find myself distracted by the feeling of her skin against my lips as I resist the urge to do something most definitely not platonic, like bite it. "Yes, that one. Focus, darling."
What an unfair thing to ask a mere mortal man when she is being utterly enchanting. I am starting to wonder if she is doing it on purpose because surely, she couldn't be oblivious to the effect she had on me.
"… Okay, so HYDRA's back," I state leadingly. "Ha, looks like Howard couldn't get the job done. I bet he's rolling in his grave-"
"Tony, HYDRA has infiltrated SHIELD, so you need to be careful. Coulson and Nick Fury, along with Maria Hill, the Carters, Clint Barton, and Natasha Romanoff are safe though."
"… Why are you telling me this?" I ask, taking in every twitch of her eyebrows, every pucker of her lips and the way it looks like she is gearing up for some explosive reaction. "Yes, that's terrible, but why would any of this make me not trust you?"
She rubs her forehead harshly, and with a start, I recognize that she's not only tired, but anxious. The blood drains from my face immediately because what the hell could make a being like Novahna, alien goddess extraordinaire looking damn near skittish? She takes in a deep, shaky breath before beginning. "I had no intention of hiding this from you. You deserve to know. In fact, I only kept it away from you long enough for you to focus on Stane, something I do not regret." She trails off, brow furrowed in clear discomfort even as my stomach drops. "Your parents did not die because your father was driving drunk. They were assassinated by HYDRA in order to steal some kind of super soldier serum your father had re-created."
The world falls out from under me.
At first, all I can feel is numbness as my brain tries to reconcile the words into something I can understand. For a few moments, there is nothing but silence as the words replay in my mind again and again, but the emptiness doesn't last long, turning into a deep unending well of rage. Not the wild, uncontrollable anger, like forest fire, an unstoppable natural disaster, but something colder. Something icy, calculating, as Nova tells me the story of Sergeant James Barnes.
My first instinct is to hunt him down.
He killed my mother, after all.
Maria Stark had not been perfect. Not by a longshot. She had been a deeply flawed woman who spent every waking moment projecting the flawless image of the woman to tame the Great Howard Stark. She spent her days trying to emulate the old money ladies she hung around, working herself into the ground to remain stunning and elegant, witty yet submissive, eternally walking a social tightrope amongst rich pricks who would never see her as anything more then a seductress that managed to ensnare a millionaire. Maria Stark lived like someone had a gun to her head, terrified of losing Howard's attention one day to a younger, prettier woman, which is, ironically, the only vice I don't think Howard would have agreed to partake in.
My mother was so terrified of losing her gilded life that she could never quite manage to do more than offer weak protests and platitudes when Howard's rage and vitriol would erupt free, and she couldn't reign Howard in when he would rant and rave about how much of a failure I was. But later, when I was alone in the dark of night, she'd come to wipe away my tears, to give me comfort even when she couldn't stand up for me herself.
Actually, that's inaccurate. There was one matter in which she bodily defended me from Howard. She had never, ever let him put his hands on me. At least, not in her presence.
It was the only thing I ever saw her argue with him over.
Despite all of her imperfections, I've never, ever doubted that Maria loved me. She had been a woman of gentle hands, warm eyes, and softly whispered Italian and I loved her for it.
My feelings on Howard are… far are complicated. He had been a constant stream of disappointed looks and biting remarks, cold and detached, and always looking far into the distance at the shadow of a man who had sunk beneath icy waves decades ago.
And yet, when he died, I felt… Empty. All those days I spent fueled by sheer spite, pushing myself to greater heights just so I could surpass him at every opportunity, just so I could prove him a fool for denying my worth, suddenly felt so meaningless. Perhaps I had wanted him to look at me with pride, just once, or maybe I had wanted to be there when he realized that not only was I beyond his expectations, but beyond him.
But you can't prove anything to a dead man. Maria Stark's death left me grieving my mother. But Howard's left me grieving my purpose.
As Nova continues, explaining about Sergeant James Barnes, the Winter Soldier, brainwashed by HYDRA and turned into an assassin, I observe her, taking in her stiff and trembling hands and the waver in her voice, and something clicks in my head.
"You rescued him, didn't you?" I reply blankly, noting the aborted flinch she makes before setting her jaw and tilting it up. "You're protecting him."
"Yes." Her eyes were clear and honest, tinged with sympathy, but not shame.
I heave a mirthless little laugh, unable to swallow back my next words lest they come out as a scream. "You were right. I regret trusting you."
She seems to crumple a little. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry that it hurts me, but not that you did it," I note, and she nods, looking like she was bracing herself for… something. Some kind of explosion or attack from me, eyes pained but resigned, like she is fully ready to accept my rage and hatred.
I can see it all. And yet, I can't control the roiling emotions burning my insides, my heart pounding so hard, I can feel sharp pains shooting through it as the exertion causes aches from my heart's movement against the reactor and the shrapnel.
Somehow, I've done it again. I let emotions cloud my judgment, let myself trust the wrong person again. What the fuck is wrong with me that this keeps happening?
"You kept this from me!" I grit out between clenched teeth. Nova does flinch this time, but merely nods and I rip myself away from her, beginning to pace again, trying to stem the budding panic and fear. "How long have you been lying?!"
"I haven't lied-"
"Shut the fuck up!" I snarl, the last shreds of control vanishing under a wave of ragefearhurt so consuming, I can't even see her expression under the red haze. "You lied! You're a liar! You're a fucking manipulator a- an- and a schemer and-" I choke on the rising venom, knowing even now that I'll regret it later, but only just able to stem the the flow of venom from my lips. Gut clenching near violently with the sting of betrayal, I yank off my bracelet and hurl it at her. "Get out! Get the fuck out! I can't stand you right now!"
Novahna vanishes wordlessly.
By the time I come back to myself, the room is half destroyed by repulsor blasts and Nova is nowhere to be found.
"… She- She played me like a puppet master," I rasp out finally, dropping onto the couch on shaky legs. "It's not even the first time, but… I thought I could trust her."
"Do you believe you were wrong in that assumption, sir?" JARVIS asks into the silence, startling me.
"You don't?" I reply with a mirthless, incredulous chuckle.
"… I must admit, I am struggling to understand your reaction," the AI says almost carefully. "I was under the impression that Lady Novahna only kept the information in order to protect you, and delivered it as soon as possible. My code is unable to pinpoint what has constituted a betrayal. Could you please explain it to me?"
I stare at the ceiling, unsure how to articulate it, the guilt and regret already creeping up on me because JARVIS is right. Nova made a decision in order to protect me. In fact, it's what she's been doing since we met, and while her silence was very clearly a calculated manipulation, it likely wasn't a malicious one. Logically, I recognize that I didn't have grounds to be mad and the longer I thought about it, the less I understood my own reaction.
Yet, why am I so fucking mad? Is it because I had just decided to trust her? No, I suddenly understand. It's because I'm terrified and hurt, having trusted the wrong person yet again.
I brush my fingers over the arc reactor shining through my shirt, the scarred edges of my chest still fresh from Obie's betrayal. "Sir?"
I blink out of my thoughts, lips pursed. "Yeah?"
"… Is it possible that your upset is a manifestation of recent stress and trauma, causing an amplified reaction to any perceived betrayals?" JARVIS asks, somehow sounding downright gentle.
"Damn, Baby Boy,… have you been reading psychology books?" I sputter, bewildered, feeling utterly exposed by my own digital kid. Is this what they mean when they say 'out of the mouths of babes'?
"Since you have been remiss in going to therapy, Lady Novahna suggested it as a way for me to assist you through your panic attacks," JARVIS informs me matter of factly.
My face crumples because, dammit, wasn't that more proof that the alien's slightly questionable methods did seem to really have my best at heart? And as much as I wanted to snap and deny.JARVIS's perfectly logical and humiliating reasoning, I wasn't much for self delusion.
"Dammit. I think I fucked up," I mumble into my hands.
"Oh my! How rare of you to acknowledge a personal flaw," JARVIS notes, making me wince at the almost biting tone. "Do you think an apology is in order?"
A flicker of light on metal catches the corner of my eye and I hesitate for only a moment before grabbing the bracelet and setting it back on my wrist. I run my thumb over the engraved markings, the guilt embracing me like shackles.
An apology probably was in order. The only question was how.
XXXXXNOVAHNAXXXXX
"Why will you not tell me?" Loki asks.
Again.
"Lucky," I say, strained. "We are supposed to be meditating."
I look to the Ancient One, Tao, for help but the woman is calmly defying gravity and smiling as she sips tea while flooring upside down, the Mirror Realm refracting light around us as Lucky and I attempt to grasp the essence of it, whatever the fuck that means.
I may be a reincarnation privy to the secrets of life and death and nearly a thousand years of magical study under my belt, but enigmatic magic bullshit is eternally inconceivable.
"Nova-" Loki starts yet again.
"Drop it!" I finally snap, the mirror world trembling around us under my loss of control of the sorcery, but Tao uses her own sorcery to usurp the spell, stabilizing the kaleidoscope world around us.
I grind my teeth, pressing the heels of my palms into my eye sockets forcefully. There is silence for a few moments before long fingers wrap around my wrists. Miserable, I peer up at my best friend. "… Sorry."
"Do not be sorry. It is I that pushed you," he denies, voice silky soft. "May I hold you?"
My lip wobbles and I raise my arms, Loki gently gathering me close. I bury my nose in his collarbone, grasping at his tunic, breathing his herbal yet metallic scent in.
I'd been a bit of a wreck since Tony exploded on me. I knew it was coming, what with me harboring his parents' killer, but fuck had it hurt. Somehow, the genius had managed to jab at enough of my insecurities to send me crawling home a whimpering mess, like a beaten dog.
Loki had not been pleased, naturally.
My Sheildbrother had decided it was his job to hunt down whatever had made me cry and turn it into a bloody ritual sacrifice. As such, I had realized I absolutely could not, under any circumstance, let him know how I got my feelings hurt. But, Loki, and Bucky for that matter, had not let up at all in the last week and I could feel myself caving.
Gentle fingers cradle my face and tilt it up to reveal brilliant verdenant eyes, filled with both affection and steely, unwavering resolve. Once more, he demands, "Tell me."
I finally fold like a wet paper towel.
"….Tony hurt my feelings," I mumble, worn down. "I suppose the bigger issue is that I hurt him first."
"Perhaps talking about it will give you clarity."
I glance up at the floating Tao, honestly having forgotten she was there. "Well, I have been harboring a man that killed his parents without telling him. For months." Loki's baffled look has me cursing softly in realization. "Bucky killed Tony's parents when he was being mind controlled."
"Norns above," Loki hisses, rubbing his face roughly, and I flinch, curling in on myself, expecting him to lash out at me as well, since I had apparently forgotten to mention this information at all.
When Loki glances at me, however, he merely huffs and takes the end of my braid and plays with it, tugging softly. "I'm not angry with you, darling. I know there are some things you simply can't discuss with me. Please don't look so hurt."
"I honestly forgot we hadn't already discussed this," I admit weakly. "It can be hard to differentiate between what has happened and what might happen."
Tao lifts her tea cup in silent, sympathetic agreement, an almost grimace-like expression on her face, an uncharacteristically blatant show of emotion from the keeper of the time stone. Loki just hums, waving our tangent off. "I know, it's fine. But never mind that. What happened between you and the mortal crafter?"
I peer down at my hands, clutching his shirt. "…. He hates me for lying. He… said I was a liar and manipulating him."
Loki goes still. "Is that so?"
I nod, pressing my head into his collar bone just to feel him there. "I mean, he's not exactly wrong. I didn't lie, not explicitly, but I did lie by omission. I kept something very important hidden from him. I was trying to protect both Bucky and him by not bringing it up until we were in a somewhat table situation, but technically, that is a form of manipulation-"
"Shut up."
I flinch at the ice spoken practically against my ear. It seems I'm chasing all my friends off these days. As much as Loki plays at indifference, I know very well how much he cared about our mortal friend. Perhaps Loki has decided I am disgusting and untrustworthy as well.
Before I can spiral much farther, my face is being cradled in tender hands again, forcing me to make eye contact once more. "Stop saying such foolish things. Do you even hear yourself?"
Loki is looking at me with something between aghast and enraged. "What exactly is it that you did wrong? You held back information that could have been a dangerous distraction to Tony while he was fighting for his life. That's not something to condemn. You held information back to protect Bucky, who is, as we well know, very much innocent of the crimes of the Winter Soldier. Yes, I suppose technically it is manipulation, but it was done with the intent to protect everyone involved, not hurt anyone. This is absolutely ridiculous! I-"
Loki, now red faced and furious, cuts himself off, standing and beginning to pace angrily along the side of the building we were on, its edges warped but still decipherable as the god of mischief rants.
I hesitate, wanting to believe him, but also recognizing that Loki, as the god of lies and deceit, probably wasn't a good measure for what constituted the morality of either, but a new hand on mine, warm and soft, quickly reassures me. "Those that See through Time carry a most heavy burden. Tell me, do you honestly regret your decision? Or do you believe that had you told your friend the truth immediately, things would've worked out better?"
I hesitate for a fraction of a moment before I shake my head. "No. This was honestly the soonest and best time I could See to tell him. Or at least, the time with the least amount of negative consequences that I could foresee."
"So you did the best you could?" Loki hisses, magic flaring and the Mirror Realm destabilizing and cracking under his feet, making Tao set down her tea midair to stabilize the dimension again.
I nod, chewing on my lip, feeling a bit flayed open and raw to the open air. It is almost funny how easily I tend to crumble under the slightest scorn of those I cared about while contradictorily not batting an eye at people trying to kill me in various gruesome ways.
It is a little pathetic.
I feel myself deflate more only for Loki to storm over and grasp my jaw agin, thumbs brushing over my cheekbones. "Stop this instant, Starlight!"
"I'm not doing anything!"
"You are being harsh on yourself! I can see it, and I will not allow out," he purrs menacingly even as he rests his head against mine so sweetly that it has me breathless.
My lip twitches. "Of course, my prince, forgive my lowly self for daring."
He sneers playfully. "Good on you for recognizing your wrongs." Then he kisses the crown of my head, and, rising, adjusts his tunic while summoning his armor in a manner that has a warning prickling across my skin.
"What are you doing?" I ask warily.
Loki smirks. "I'm off to have a chat with our mortal friend on how he should treat his saviors."
"Wha- Loki, no," I squeak, getting up to stop him.
"Loki, yes. Our human charity case needs some sense beaten into him, and you will not interfere," the last bit of his sentence is said with enough force that it has me speechless. "Stay. Your prince commands you." Loki continues, this time not joking at all, the audacious dick.
I tackle him before he can make the portal, sending us rolling in a spiral over the distorted image of a busy New York intersection, leaving Tao to twist the road to rise over us rather than letting a giant bus crash directly into us. With a few more swirls of her hands we are tumbling ass over end back onto the side of another skyscraper and falling into a messy heap, the sideways image of New York stretched above us as though it were the sky.
"New rule, Lucky. No wrestling in the Mirror Dimension," I groan, Loki spayed out across my boobs, squishing me flat, and I move to start separating our crossed limbs.
"Noted," Loki hisses and I apologize, removing my elbow from where it was pinning his head back by the hair with it.
"Hmm, it will be fine," Tao declares airily, settling next to us once we detangle, only hesitating a moment before placing a hand on my shoulder. "I don't think you did anything wrong, but your friend deserves time to feel as he does. However, that does not mean he is right to lash out at you." Loki began to look triumphant only for Tao to wipe it off his smarmy face, because as much as I adore Loki, his face is, in fact, very smarmy. "But Nova does not need a man to fight her battles."
"Ha!" I say smugly, high-fiving Tao for her feminist energy. "Damn straight."
"I am her Sheidbrother! I fight all her battles with her! We have sworn oaths!" Loki rebuts fiercely.
"That is not how Shieldsiblings work and you know it! This is why I did not wish to tell you," I complain, the Sorceress Supreme sneaking a cup of tea into my hands.
"What is that supposed to mean?!"
"He is your friend and you don't need to be picking sides," I bite out, throwing my head back in exasperation.
Loki frowns, but gives in. "He still has his bracelet?"
I shrug helplessly. "I left it there, so…"
"So it is on him to-" Tao begins only for Loki to butt in.
"-grovel for forgiveness on his pitiful hands and knees-"
"-Make amends," Tao finishes smoothly,
I snort and plop flat against the window I'm perched on, knowing Tony can reach out when he's ready.
XXXXXXXXXX
Tao portals us back to Kamaar Taj, landing in a hallway that wasn't particularly remarkable. I raise a bemused eyebrow as Tao swirls her hands as she walks away, robes billowing, the hallway distorting and realigning around her until a new hallway is now in its place and Tao is nowhere in sight. It's an ostentatious exit considering she could have just walked.
"… Why does she bother with the dramatics?" Loki grumbles, tucking my arm into his as he steers us the other way.
I shoot him an incredulous look. "You seriously don't have a leg to stand on there. Let the Sorceress be her supreme self."
Loki and I bicker all the way to the meditation hall where Bucky is currently waiting for us to finish. We figured a couple of master sorcerers would be enough to watch over him in case he was triggered, and in a surprising twist, Bucky ended up rather liking meditation when he tried it on Vanaheim. In fact, as we enter the hall, a wide stone area with mat covered floors and large windows, incense burning sweetly, he is currently managing to ignore the few eyes that trail over him occasionally, taking in his leather jacket and jeans, a steep contrast to the robes of the acolytes around him.
"Bucky?" I call softly.
He tenses, eyes still shut but after a few deep breaths, he smiles and glances at us. "Done being mystical and shit with your wizard friend?"
"Sorceress, actually, but yes," I laugh, ignoring the scandalized eavesdroppers, and hold a hand out to him. He takes it with only a second of hesitation, and with his metal one made of Uru like Thor's hammer and enchanted under Princess Freya's orders. Luckily, despite the lacking prosthetic industry in Vanaheim, we managed to get it to feel some sensation as well, even if it wasn't perfect. "How was meditation?"
I bow my head slightly in respect and gratitude to the master leading meditation today for allowing Bucky to partake, the act flustering the master, much to my amusement. Bucky and Loki follow my lead before we exit. Once out into the hallway, we portal to the gates of St. Xavier's. "It was good. You don't have to worry. No one said anything to me with the Old One giving permission,."
I snort hard. "Bucky, no. It's the Ancient One, not the Old One."
The man smirks, making it clear he knows exactly what he's doing. "Same difference, right?"
"I'd wager she'd launch you into a sun if you say that to her face," Loki cackles.
I fight my own grin as the gates to the mutant sanctuary opens, Bucky's eyes going comically wide at the words even as we begin up the long drive to Xavier's mansion.
"Tao is too patient and kind to do that," I deny, taking mercy on a slightly intimidated Bucky.
Loki snorts. "No woman has ever appreciated a comment like that about her age. He'd be stuck in the Mirror Realm for at least a few hours."
I scrunch my face up, ready to argue, but pause before shrugging. "Yeah, that's fair."
"… I should learn to not piss off magic users, huh?" Bucky notes faintly.
"Probably for the best," I agree, patting his back just as the front door opens and out walks Ororo, Logan, Scott, and Piotr, the last of which was known as Colossus. We'd only recently been introduced to the giant metal man since he'd been off on a mission.
"Welcome back," Ororo calls cheerfully.
"Good to see you guys," I reply with a genuine grin. "This is Bucky, er, James Barnes. I was hoping you guys could help him."
Bucky's hand tightens on my arm, trepidation suddenly coming from him, and I glance at him in curiosity. "What is it?"
"… Nova, this is a school. I shouldn't be here," he murmurs and I follow his line of sight to a blurry block that I realize must be the school sign.
"You are quite right, Mr. Barnes, but you do not need to be alarmed. I assure you, we can make sure that no one harms you," Professor Xavier's voice rings out before I can speak up myself. The X-Men part to show the wheelchair bound telepath.
In his anxiety, Bucky grows progressively more still, the remnants of his assassin training apparent. "I'm more worried about endangering others, especially children, than anyone hurting me."
"You think you could take on a whole house of mutants?" Logan calls out, speaking up for the first time, eyeing Bucky from head to toe. The tone isn't quite mocking, but only just barely. Logan seemed to genuinely want to know if Bucky thought he had a chance, but personally didn't believe Bucky, even with his enhancements, is at all a real threat to the X-Men.
"I might not be able to take you all, but I think I could do a lot of damage in the time it takes to put me down," Bucky replies sharply. Tension simmers in the air. Growing thicker by the second as the two ex-soldiers stare one another down.
"Then how about a friendly spar?" Loki drawls, smoothly, stepping in between the two men who are sizing each other up with something just passed neutral and into hostile, neither seeming to recognize their fellow Howling Commando just yet.
"Loki," I warn darkly, gripping Bucky and pulling him back easily with my inhuman strength, sending him stumbling behind me, much to his affront.
"My dear Novahna, I do think your partner has an excellent idea. It would help Mr. Barnes feel safer about staying here if he knows he could be suppressed, no?" The professor points out.
I frown, knowing it's a valid suggestion, but not even Loki and I have spared with Bucky yet. We have no clue how he'd react to someone coming at him in combat, and while Logan with his super regeneration is probably the safest person to test it out, triggering Bucky could set back his mental progress a great deal. Before I can voice my protests, my shoulder is bumped lightly.
"Let me," Bucky demands, eyes serious.
I purse my lips. "…You sure?"
"I can handle it. And…. I need this," the ex-assassin admits.
I sigh, hoping this won't be a disaster. "Fair enough. Have at it."
XXXXXXXXXX
AN; So, Tony freaked out.
You might be thinking, that's unrealistic bc the only reason he had beef with Steve is because he kept the secret of Bucky killing the Starks for waaaayy to long. I agree.
But don't forget this Tony, while awesome, is very , much less emotionally mature and was only recently betrayed by his father figure, one he was likely closer to then even Howard. So his reaction is more due to Nova scraping at his fresh emotionalmscars. Had this ovvured a few years later, and Nova telling him as soon as she could, he likely would not have even gotten angry.
Instead, he feels like he got bitch slapped by betrayal the very moment he decided to actually trust her.
So, as upsetting as it is, lets not be to mean to Tony. He deserves a little compassion.
That of course, doesn't mean he shouldn't be giving his friend a fat ass appology.. At least in the author's opinion.
Side note, Logan v. Bucky is a fucky amazing fight/ friendship in the making…. In the re-making? Since they are besties but low key forgot? I dunno, but its coming next chapter!