Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

At first Bucky Barnes saw this rumor as nonsense. That was, until his nightmares returned before a mission. In his nightly terrors he saw his former self facing off against a significantly smaller masked person as they were watched by his handlers and HYDRA scientists. In every dream he thought to himself that this fight would be easy until the person began to phase during their fight. They fought for what seemed like forever until the person seemingly gave up. Using this opportune moment, he utilized his metal arm to throw the person into a wall and begin to strangle them. He was then called off and he let the person fall to the ground, gasping for breath. He began to be walked off by his handlers to return to his cell before he looked back. The mask had been removed to reveal an adolescent girl with blood streaming from her nose that mixed tears that had fallen on her cheeks. Her jaw was held by one of the scientists as he berated her in Russian. Bucky had turned his head to look away as he heard a slap and a cry. When he looked back again, the little girl looked at the ground with empty eyes and marched in the opposite direction.

Bucky was always hyper aware before a mission. It was a quality that had been drilled into him during his days at HYDRA. Today, however, things were different. He wasn’t sure why his mind kept drifting back to that nightmare and that little girl. He wondered what had happened to her after HYDRA collapsed. He wondered why he hadn’t remembered it until now. Most of all, he’d wondered if she had survived. Where would she be now? Would she be like him? Helping SHIELD? Or would she have given up the fighting and tried to find some semblance of a normal life? Was she even alive?

“You alright, Buck?” He heard Sam’s voice ask. He stood above him, offering him a hand to stand up.

“I’m fine,” Bucky replied, taking his hand and standing up.

The two men donned suits for this mission. Bucky in all black while Sam wore a maroon suit jacket with a black tie and a white dress shirt. Torres and Walker waited outside in the hall. Sam led Bucky into the hall where Torres was adjusting his dark green suit jacket. Walker just stood there with his arms crossed before acknowledging the two men’s entrance.

“Good to see you two decided to show up,” Walker said in a poor attempt to sound humorous.

“Just gettin’ ready. Big mission and all,” Sam replied, hitting Bucky lightly in the shoulder.

Torres finally seemed to adjust to the suit jacket and looked their way, “Remind me why we’re wearing these?”

“We gotta look like patrons otherwise the people we’re looking for are gonna realize that we’re going after them. And we don’t wanna start a fight with these guys according to Fury,” Sam recalled with a shrug.

The mission was simple. Find the trio hiding in the casino, get them to go peacefully and escort them back to a SHIELD base to be detained. When they’d originally been briefed, it had seemed easy. Then they found out that they would potentially go up against not two people but three and that these three people had, well, superhuman abilities. The first guy, presumed to be the leader, was a short, caucasian, muscular man with black hair and stony blue eyes. His whole thing had been metal claws and an annoying ability to not get killed or injured. The other guy he’d been seen with was much more.. Intriguing to say the least. He had furry blue skin with yellow eyes, a tail, and prehensile limbs. His special ability had been disappearing into a cloud of purple smoke and reappearing in another place- teleportation. The two had been affectionately dubbed, ‘Claws and Paws’ by the quartet of men. The third person had never been spotted or identified, but they’d been present with the two men, having covered their tracks and used the computer system on multiple occasions in their favor.

The odd trio had been deemed a threat after they had had a run in with a group of SHIELD agents in London. The interaction with the trio had ended with several agents having been either stabbed, left on the roof of a nearby skyscraper, or with their feet having been fused to the floor, keeping them stuck in the ground. It had been a bizarre and violent discovery that had led Fury to call up Sam and request him, in his words to ‘get those slippery motherfuckers.’ Sam, naturally, called on Bucky and Torres’ help for the mission while de Fontaine had tacked on Walker.

And now they were here, in a cheap hotel in Incheon, South Korea, heading for a casino where Claws had been spotted a day earlier. Paws hadn’t been seen with him, nor had the mystery hacker. They’d figured, if they could catch one, they’d be able to find the other two. The plan had been for Bucky and Sam to stay in the main part of the casino while Torres and Walker would go and find the surveillance room to help locate Claws.

The four men entered the busy casino and immediately split up with Bucky and Sam going right white Walker and Torres went left to find the surveillance room. Sam led the way while Bucky stayed close behind, glancing at the small crowds surrounding the multitude of poker tables, gambling the night away and washing it down with absurd amounts of alcohol.

Meanwhile, Torres and Walker continued on towards the edge of the room. At the last second, Torres took a turn and sat on a barstool. His sudden action was met with a fleeting scowl from Walker as he stood by him. They looked around, trying to think of where in the building the surveillance room would be. A young woman in a black casino uniform with a yellow vest walked past them with a tray of empty glasses.

Torres quickly piped up, “Hello, miss, uh,” He glanced down at her nametag and read the name, “Miss Ariel, could you point me in the direction of the surveillance room?”

“I beg your pardon?” She looked at him perplexed.

“We are the camera repair guys, we came to check the surveillance system. You know, gotta make sure the cameras are working so nobody steals, right?” Torres rambled off in an effort to not be suspicious.

Ariel tilted her head and then examined them as she slowly placed the empty glasses on the bar, “And you’re dressed in formal wear?”

“We were instructed to dress formally in order to blend in with guests. If we came in in uniform, we would alarm the guests. And we don’t want that, right Jose?” Walker interjected, making up a fake name for Torres on the spot.

“That’s true, Jack,” Torres agreed with an edge to his voice as he assigned a fake name to Walker.

The worker still looked at them with confusion and slight judgment before holding the tray and walking past them, gesturing for them to follow.

Sam and Bucky watched as the two men left the room and then looked around for any sign of Claws. Finally, they spotted Claws in a black suit and dress shirt with a yellow bow tie. He’d been glowering at a man he was gambling with, having presumably lost money. Sam signaled to Bucky to start moving towards him. They made their way over to him, with Sam being on Claws’ right and Bucky on the left. Claws grumbled something to himself before noticing the two men beside him at the poker table.

“D’ya need somethin’?” He asked with a low, grumbly voice.

“Just here to make some money,” Sam responded with a nonchalant tone. Bucky stayed silent.

“And ya?” He raised a brow at Bucky on his left.

“Same thing for me,” Bucky improvised, hoping it’s be believable enough.

Claws shrugged it off and the gambling started. Bucky and Sam exchanged a glance and realized that he either didn’t know who they were or didn’t care.

Torres and Walker followed this girl down the hall, not really sure why she so readily led them to the surveillance room. She was a little thing with curly brown hair and hazel eyes. She finally stopped and then pulled out keys from her pocket to unlock the door. She then stepped in.

“Uh, ma’am you don’t have to go in with us while we do maintenance,” Torres brought up.

“You think I’m just gonna let you mess with our cameras without somebody watching?” She leaned on one leg, still holding the tray at her side.

“I’ll wait out here with you, Ma’am,” Walker bowed his head.

Ariel narrowed her eyes at the both of them and then relented, “Fine, but if you mess anything up I’m blaming you.”

Torres nodded and went inside, finding the surveillance room completely empty. He was less concerned about the empty room and more so about completing the mission. On one of the cameras he spotted Sam and Bucky sitting next to Claws. He decided his next best bet was to try and see if Paws was nearby.

Walker stood next to Ariel, both watching the cracked door of the surveillance room. Walker turned his head slightly to get a better look inside. He took his attention off Ariel for only a moment, but that was enough for her to raise the tray. He turned his head to look back at her and was struck in the face with the metal tray. He yelped and grabbed his nose which now had blood trickling out of it. He was disoriented at first, but he could see that she now donned a mask over her mouth. Those hazel eyes held nothing but contempt for him as she hit him with the tray again. This time, he hit the ground with a thud, falling unconscious just outside the surveillance room.

Torres heard the thump outside and turned to look. His eyes widened as he realized there was a black leather jacket hung on the wall of the surveillance room. The back of the jacket had the elaborate design of a purple dragon painted on the black leather. His attention then turned to the door as it creaked open and Ariel stepped back in. She then picked up the jacket and put it on. He realized she was masked now.

“You with the Captain?” She asked, putting her arm into one sleeve.

He nodded slowly, watching for her next move. She was the third of the trio. It was Claws Paws and this chick who was surprisingly threatening despite her small stature.

“Then I am so sorry for what’s about to happen,” She apologized, but he could tell she didn’t actually mean it.

Suddenly, the dragon design on her jacket materialized and formed a small dragon with beady yellow eyes that yawned once it solidified. She then scratched the little dragon’s chin and pointed at Torres. The dragon squawked and then spread its wings and launched itself at Torres. Everything went black and all he heard was a single BAMF!

Chapter Text

Back at the table, the gambling had gone quite terribly for Sam and Bucky. The thing was, they didn’t have any money on their person. They were expecting an arrest or fight, not to make poor bets and lose cash. Claws was, of course, enjoying their losses with a hoarse chuckle every so often. The fourth game ended and Claws raised his hand to stop before another game could start. He then turned his head to look at Sam and then Bucky.

“Now how are we gon’ do this? Are you two going to keep pretendin’ like you don’t know me or are we gon’ fight?” Claws uncrossed his arms, still leaning on the table.

“So you do know who we are,” Sam nodded his head, locking eyes with Bucky for a second.

“Everybody in this place knows who ya are. Bein’ Cap’n America ain’t exactly a stealthy thing,” He paused before adding, “Or the Winter Soldier, for that matter.”

Bucky flinched at the use of his old title. Claws noticed his reaction and reacted with a slight grunt as he pushed himself off the table and onto his feet.

“You two need better disguises. My people found ya fast,” Claws continued on, cracking his knuckles.

Sam looked at him with concern, “You’re not alone.”

Claws chuckled, “Ya might wanna check on yer pals.”

Sam quickly held up his comm to his mouth, “Torres, Walker, anybody there?”

No response.

“Torres, come in!” He whispered and shouted urgently.

Nothing.

Bucky reached for the gun hidden in his outfit. Claws spotted him immediately and squared up. He was getting ready to unsheath his claws.

Then Bucky heard a BAMF! And a cloud of purple briefly floated from behind him. Before he could turn, he felt a hand on his shoulder and heard another BAMF! And was suddenly teleported to the roof of the casino.

Bucky whipped around, pulling out the gun and holding it up. It was cold and dark up on the roof, with a slight fog setting in. He heard the BAMF! Noise again and turned in the direction he thought he’d heard it from. This was probably Paws, he thought. Paws the teleporter. The fog began to clear slightly and Bucky spotted a strange clump nearby. He approached it slowly with his gun still raised. As he got closer, he realized what it was. Both Torres and Walker were laid down on the cold floor, completely unconscious. Torres had a few scratches on his face while Walker looked like his nose had been broken. Otherwise, they had few injuries.

Bucky heard another BAMF! and stayed by them, raising his gun again. He saw a shadow run through the fog and pointed his gun in that direction. He then heard footsteps and then Paws teleported in front of him, instantly hitting him with a front kick. Paws landed in front of him and hopped slightly, getting ready for a fight.

Bucky fired the gun and found that action to be useless once Paws teleported away and behind him, punching him in the back before swiping the gun with his tail. He discarded the gun and then squared up, hopping slightly.

Bucky flew off the handle and launched towards the blue mutant, the two exchanging hits every so often. As they fought, he noticed a similar fighting style to his own. He tried to use his vibranium arm to pin the teleporter down, but then he utilized his power to teleport them somewhat above the roof, successfully disorienting Bucky enough to shove him away and leave him to fall to the roof as he teleported away.

Paws giggled before a strange watch looking thing on his wrist blinked orange and he heard Claws’s voice shouting at him over the comm. He waved to Bucky and then teleported away. Bucky groaned and then got up, having landed on the roof with a thud. He composed himself and looked around for the discarded gun, finding himself unlucky as the fog began to set in again.

Back in the casino, Sam had engaged in a controlled fistfight with Claws. Despite his nickname, however, the claws had not come out yet.

“What’d you do to Torres and Walker?” He asked aggressively as he tried to land a hit on Claws.

“Relax, one of my pals dealt with ‘em,” Claws responded as he used the hit against him and launched him away. Claws shouted something at an orange watch on his wrist, causing the two men to witness Paws appear in a cloud of purple smoke. Paws flew towards Sam and landed on his shoulders long enough to teleport him to the roof and then, seconds later, Claws as well.

Once Sam appeared, Bucky ran over and stood by his side. They were now face-to-face with Claws and Paws.

“I think I’ve had about enough of Claws, you want the other guy?” Sam asked Bucky in a half joking manner.

“Sure, what the hell at this point,” Bucky accepted, reluctantly.

The two groups of men ran towards each other and began to fight, Bucky with Claws and Sam with Paws. At some point during the fight, things intensified as Claws unsheathed his claws and began to fight brutishly. Redwing arrived not long after, dropping the shield into Sam’s hands.

For whatever reason, Paws seemed excited by the entrance of the shield and his attacks became more rapid. Sam adjusted to this change and managed to strike Paws in the nose, throwing him off his rhythm and causing him to stumble back and grab his nose.

“Had enough yet, Smurfette?” Sam rhetorically asked with a confident grin.

Paws looked back at the blood that had trickled from his nose onto his hand and then chuckled, “Noch nicht!” He then returned to fighting, now using his teleportation.

Meanwhile, Bucky had engaged Claws and the two fought viciously. Claws managed to scratch his metal arm a few times, but rarely ever caused him any harm to his human body. Bucky tried to figure out how to best neutralize Claws without killing him. He saw an opening and took it, kneeing him in the side and then successfully attempting to break his wrist, causing the orange watch to fall to the floor.

Claws snarled at him, “Wrong move, bub.” Seconds later, his wrist fully recovered.

Healing factor. Right. Bucky recalled and then returned to fighting Claws.

As their fight continued, Claws yelled something at Paws. Paws seemed to frown, having looked like he was enjoying his fight with Captain America. He then managed to step away and teleport off with a final BAMF!

“Guess I have both of ya to myself for a bit,” Claws held up his metal claws, looking between Sam as if trying to decide who to engage first.

Luckily for him, Paws returned about a minute later with a new player. The person was smaller than the two men and had a hood covering their face. The person looked towards Claws, Sam, Torres and Walker, and then finally Bucky. The person froze, seemingly forgetting to breathe before snapping out of it as Sam launched forward, trying to fight Claws again. Paws jumped towards him and managed to teleport Claws away back to where he’d been with the other person. The trio took advantage of the moment and then were teleported away with a final BAMF!

“Crap,” Was all Sam had to say as they watched their targets disappear into purple fog.

Bucky nodded and then adjusted his metal arm, checking it for scratches that were dispersed all over the vibranium. He frowned. If he ever got back to Wakanda, Shuri would probably kill him.
He then noticed a faint buzzing sound. He turned around and spotted something on the ground.

“We got nothing. They’re just gone. Redwing has no way to track them,” Sam shook his head, pinching his nose in frustration as he walked over to Walker and Torres, checking them for any kind of serious injuries.

“Not true,” Bucky walked over to him and held out the object he’d found on the ground to show him.

A broken gray watch that flickered orange.

Chapter Text

If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that jet lag sucks. And the people that don’t get jet lag are the real freaks. It was a particularly bad bout of jet lag that was tormenting Kitty as she climbed the stairs up to her dorm room at MIT.

It’d been two days since she’d flown back from South Korea. They’d arrived in the morning and she had had to go to classes and pretend like her team hadn’t just fought Captain America and the Winter Soldier. Logan had immediately decided to take Kurt to the hospital for his nose. Kurt had used his watch to put on a human disguise, but his nose was still red and swelling. So she’d spent two days without a word from either man.

She yawned, slowly making her way down the hall. She put her hand lazily on her face, feeling the bruise that would definitely be visible tomorrow. She found her dorm in the dark and turned the knob, going inside. She shut the door and groaned before flopping onto her bed. She groaned and flipped onto her stomach, essentially allowing herself to sink into the bedding.

Kitty relaxed for a few minutes more before she heard the familiar BAMF! Of her friend. She lifted her head and saw Kurt standing above her with several boxes of Chinese food in one hand and a cup holder with two drinks in the other.

“It is too late for any kind of coffee right now,” She grumbled, her head dropping onto the blankets.

“All decaf,” He smiled and then sat down by the floor to ceiling window on the other side of the room.

Kitty lifted her head again to look as he sat on the floor by the window. He spotted her movement and lifted the takeout box enticingly. She relented and then got up and went over to him at a snail’s pace. She sat down on the floor next to him and picked up a box.

“Kurt Wagner you are a lifesaver,” She smiled as she took the first bite.

Kurt chuckled and took a sip of what looked to be a Starbucks pink drink in the moonlight, “I zought zat you might not have eaten today.”

“I did! They had donuts downstairs this morning,” Kitty protested.

“Ja, zis morning. Have you eaten zince zen?” He raised a brow as he took a bite of his food.

She sunk her shoulders and then lifted the takeout box in defeat, “You got me.”

“You really need a meal schedule, Kätzchen,” He shook a chopstick like one would a finger to scold a small child.

“Did Logan tell you to say that?” She smirked at him and picked up her drink.

“Ja, but I also mean it. You really should be eating more often,” Kurt somehow took his last bite as he spoke, astonishingly having scarfed down his entire order.

“Alright, alright I’ll eat more than one meal tomorrow,” She didn’t want to fight him over it.

The two fell into comfortable silence as Kitty and Kurt looked out the window at the tables and benches below. The campus was somewhat empty now with most of the students having gone to their dorms or left completely.

Kurt broke the silence by setting down his drink and then turning his head to her, “Are we going to talk about ze zing ve don’t usually talk about or..?”

Kitty turned her head away from the window and looked at the ground, not giving him a definitive answer.

He took this as a sign to go, “I vill start zen. I got my nose broken by ze new Captain America! How many people can say zat?” He spoke with excitement.

It was when he brought it up that she realized he had a large splint over his nose. She laughed, “Only you would see that as a good thing.”

“Vell! I am on zeir radar jetzt!” He clapped with a smile.

“I hate to burst your bubble, but we’re on their radar because they see us as the bad guys,” She finished her meal and set down the empty takeout box.

“Ich weiß,” He crossed his arms.

“And that doesn’t freak you out at all?” She furrowed her brow.

“Vell, ja und nein. Ve might be zeir target now, but I have ze feeling zat zey don’t know vat ve are fighting for. Perhaps if ve explained-” Kurt looked hopeful. A look he’d donned before that somehow hadn’t been torn apart by HYDRA.

“Not happening,” Kitty’s expression turned to complete seriousness.

“Warum nicht?” He tilted his head.

“Kurt, everything is just so complicated,” He could tell that she struggled with the words, like there was something she wanted to say, but couldn’t.

It then struck him, “Is it about ze Winter Soldier?”

She looked at him with an expression mixed with dread and shock. She then relented, looking out the window again, “Yeah.”

“I don’t vant to push, but if it bothers you, I vant you to know you can tell me. I vill not tell anyone,” He tried to comfort her. They hadn’t discussed much about their time as HYDRA’s lab rats. It had become a sore subject for both of them.

Kitty hugged her knees and leaned against the window. She was fighting with herself. She knew she had to tell someone or else this would all build up and explode, but on the other hand, telling someone would mean that she’d have to accept that this had really happened. That these horrors wouldn’t ever leave.

“But if you do not vant to speak about it. Ve do not have to. I just vant you to feel okay,” Kurt reassured her softly, having put the empty takeout boxes to the side and moved to sit next to her.

“Kurt, I’m terrified,” Was all she managed to say. Kurt watched her to see if she would continue or possibly explain. Fortunately, she did, “I haven’t seen his face in eight years. I haven’t fought him in eight years. I thought I would be fine, but I just- I see him and suddenly I’m back to being that 13-year-old girl who could barely fight and I just-” She covered her face with her hands.

Kurt sat closer to her and hugged her side as she choked through a series of sobs and sniffles.

“Kätzchen,” He used her nickname to bring her back, “I understand and it’s okay to feel zat vay. You didn’t deserve to have zose horrible zings happen to you zen. And you don’t deserve to have to relive zem now.”

“Neither did you,” Kitty uncovered her face, the tears on her cheeks beginning to dry. She still hugged her knees, but leaned her head on his shoulder as they both looked out the window. The silence filled the room again.

“You know you’re probably my best friend, right?” Kitty admitted with a faint smile.

“Vielleicht? Vat do you mean probably? You und Illyana haven't spoken in two years,” He decided to mess with her in the hopes of lightening the mood, “I am ganz bestimmt your best friend.”

She smiled again, “Then it’s settled. You’re my best friend.”

He did a fist pump, “I have finally beat Illyana!”

Kitty laughed at his little moment of triumph and then lowered her knees, now sitting crisscrossed with her head still on his shoulder. He leaned his head on hers with a grin. Mood successfully lightened.

Kurt brought their drinks back over to them and then held out her drink for her to take. She took it and took a few sips. As she kept looking out the window, he found himself conflicted. She didn’t know what had happened. That SHIELD had one of their watches. And there was a reason Logan had asked him to go instead of him. He didn’t want to face Kitty’s wrath. So Kurt went instead.

He decided to rip the bandaid off, “Please don’t kill me or Logan, bitte.”

Kitty sat up and raised a brow, “What did you two do?”

“Logan may have lost his vatch,” Kurt admitted, bracing for impact.

“He WHAT?” She shouted and jumped up.

“Ve don’t know for sure, but ve zink zat SHIELD already has it,” Kurt continued slowly.

“Shit, shit, shit! Kurt, if they manage to crack that thing, we’re done! We’re screwed. It’s over!” She stood up and began to stress out, pacing back and forth.

Kurt stayed seated, trying to be the calm one, “Kätzchen, you are one of ze best hackers in ze vorld. Zey don’t have you.”

She stopped pacing, “You’re right,” Kurt sighed out of relief, and then Kitty began again, “They have people better than me.”

Kurt facepalmed, trying to figure out how to deescalate the situation, “Ve don’t know anyzing for sure. Zey could be ztruggling for all ve know. Or zey might not have even found ze vatch.”

“It’s SHIELD!” Kitty rubbed her temples and then sat down again with her hands over her face.

Kurt patted her on the back and then gathered the empty cups and trash, setting it to the side.

“I don’t want to run again,” She said quietly.

“Ve don’t have to run unless zey find out vhere ve are,” Kurt assured, “Just, stay here and focus on school. Logan and I vill figure it out. Ve alvays have.”

“We shouldn’t have to run or ‘figure it out.’ It shouldn’t just be me getting to live while you and Logan have to struggle,” Kitty lifted her head and shook it.

“Zat is ze cards ve’ve been dealt, Kätzchen,” Kurt replied solemnly, “Und ve must learn to live vith it.”

Kitty frowned and objected, “But you should be able to turn those cards into a flush.”

Kurt flashed a bittersweet smile and then looked out the window, “Ve are never going to get to zat point if ve keep hiding, Kitty.”

Kitty realized what he was getting at and waited for him to continue.

“If ve spoke vith Captain America, vielleicht he vould zee vhat ve are trying to do. Und maybe he vould even help us,” Kurt proposed this option, watching for her reaction.

She stayed quiet, so he continued, “I know you’re… hesitant because of you-know-who. But sometimes ve have to face our past in order to ensure our future.”

“How do you always know what to say?” She crossed her arms.

“Ich habe keine Idee,” He shrugged as if he didn’t drop one of the most inspirational things she’d ever heard.

She laughed and caused him to giggle. They sat next to each other in front of the window again and fell back into that silence.

“So vill you zink about it?” Kurt asked quietly.

“I guess. I mean, you’re right. About all of it, but I’m just- I told you, I’m scared,” Kitty leaned her head on his shoulder again.

“Of him or is zere zomezing you’re not being honest vith me about?” He tried to prod her gently.

“He’s a part of it, but I think it’s mostly what’ll happen afterward,” She attempted to explain, “Kurt, if we go through with this and reveal to SHIELD that there’s been a whole other world of super people right under their nose for God knows how long, we not only might be facing the wrath of the human government, but the wrath of the mutant world which includes- you know-”

“Scott, Ororo, Gambit, Rogue, Frost, Shaw,” Kurt nodded, "Illyana. Ich weiß."

“Do you think we’d be ready to face all of that?” Kitty ventured, looking out the window as the moon passed over, bathing them both in the pure moonlight.

“That and more. It’s alvays been us against die Welt, Kätzchen,” He smiled at her as his yellow eyes gained a little sparkle, “And ve’ll be alright as long as it’s us.”

She smiled at him and rested on him. Once again, he leaned his head against hers as they watched the spectacle of the passing moonlight. Eventually, the two drifted off and the moon shifted away, leaving them to rest in the lightlessness.

Chapter Text

“The girl’s name was Ariel and she had a purple dragon thing that flew at my face,” Torres explained with slight embarrassment.

“And what’d she do to you?” Fontaine asked, now looking at Walker.

Walker looked incredibly irritated. His nose had been broken and then relocated, now having a splint over it, “She hit me with a tray. Twice.”

“So no overt use of powers on her part?” Fontaine put a hand on her hip and raised a brow.

“Other than the dragon, no,” Torres replied, shaking his head.

“Interesting. So we’ve got Claws, Paws, and Ariel. Sounds like the strangest Disney Princess trio ever,” Fontaine chuckled and added to the file and then looked at Bucky and Sam, “Alright boys, we’ve got a bit of an issue on our hands. All surveillance footage of our favorite trio has seemingly been deleted.”

“There’s nothing? How is that even possible?” Sam crossed his arms.

“Looks like Ariel is a better hacker than we thought and removed all footage of herself and her friends,” Fontaine shook her head, “And she kicked Walker and Torres’s asses in order to make sure she could.”

“And what about the watch?” Bucky asked.

“Our hackers in the CIA and in SHIELD haven’t been able get in,” She shook her head again.

“Ya’ll have the best hackers on the planet and you can’t get into a broken watch?” Sam questioned, “At least tell me we have some kind of backup plan.”

“Luckily for you boys, there’s a lovely little hacker at MIT. I’m sure she’d help you if you asked,” de Fontaine pulled up a file on a certain Riri Williams. From what he could see, Sam could read that she’d created something called a vibranium detector. That might have really annoyed the Wakandans.

“Because of this girl, we butted heads with the Wakandans and I had to arrest my ex-husband,” She rambled off, confirming his suspicions, “Which was definitely a yikes.”

“That sounds like she won’t help us,” Walker crossed his arms.

“Well. Maybe not you or Torres, but maybe,” She theatrically gestured to Sam, “She’d help Captain America and his right hand man.”

“So we’re going to ask this girl to hack a piece of stolen tech that even the best technicians at SHIELD can’t break,” Bucky asked rhetorically. He didn’t seem amused by this plan.

“Basically,” She nodded and placed a hand on her hip, “So are we up for this or do you want to handle this on your own?”

Sam hesitated before giving in, “We’ll go with that plan.”

“Sam,” Bucky looked at him, with slight apprehension.

“We don’t have a better plan, Buck,” Sam tried to reassure him by placing a hand on his metal shoulder.

“Fantastic, it’s about a half hour flight. I’ll have you two flown out at once,” She smiled and then picked up her phone, dialing somebody’s number.

“And us?” Torres looked at the other confused as he referred to himself and Walker.

“You two stay back and rest up. We’re already dealing with a kid. We don’t want to overwhelm her,” Sam removed his hand from Bucky’s shoulder and then patted Torres on the back.

“Yes sir,” Torres cracked a smile and left, followed by Walker who gave them a quick look of suspicion back.

^^^

The flight was fine. The private plane was fine. It was all fine. The two men stepped off the plane and both put on sunglasses. Quite possibly the worst disguises ever, but Bucky digressed.

The two men strolled up to the dorm building. As they stepped into the elevator, they quietly bickered over which floor Williams’s dorm was on. They agreed on four and they lucked out when the door opened and a very frazzled Riri Williams, stood there, completely shocked at the sight of the two men.

“You’re-”

“Yup, we need to talk,” Sam interjected.

“Yeah- yeah, my dorm is over there,” She was still shocked and paused before realizing she had to lead them there.

They followed Riri down the hall and into her dorm room. It was as if she had that look of surprise painted permanently on her face. She couldn’t fathom why Captain America was in her dorm room.

Sam and Bucky stood there, not really sure what to do now that they were there.

Riri shut her door and then took a second to take a deep breath and compose herself. This was definitely not something she’d expected to happen today.

“So how can I, uh, help you today, Mr. America- Captain, sir?” She asked, looking visibly shaken.

“Call me Sam,” He chuckled a little before trying to ease her into it, “Our friends at SHIELD say you’re quite the genius.”

“Look if this is about the suit- the Wakandans said I could-” She rambled off, jumping to about a million conclusions at once.

“This isn’t about the suit,” Sam shook his head and cracked another smile.

Riri’s expression turned from concern to confusion, “It’s not?”

“We need your help hacking into.. A thing,” He glanced back at Bucky who held out the device for her to take.

She took it from his hand and held it close to her face and she examined it, “Looks like some kind of comms device mixed with an apple watch.”

“That’s what we think it is, but we haven’t been able to crack it or get any information out of it,” Sam continued to explain. Bucky stood next to him with his arms crossed.

Riri grabbed a tool from off her desk and began to fiddle with it. She managed to turn on the thing as the little screen flickered orange. She continued to tinker with the little watch, but a black X kept flashing on the screen.

“Sheesh, whoever made this thing was not messing around,” She scratched her neck with the tool, “Where’d you even get this from?”

“A few of the bad guys,” Sam spoke vaguely.

“Like a supervillain or something?” Riri looked a tad bit excited now.

“No,” Bucky spoke for the first time during this entire interaction, gaining a look of surprise from Riri and an eye roll from Sam.

“Buck, they were trying to kill us. You don’t consider that villainous?” He looked at him judgmentally.

“They weren’t trying to kill us, they were just trying to throw us off long enough for them to find a clear method of escape,” Bucky explained calmly, trying not to bicker with Sam again.

Sam clearly wasn’t having it, “That guy was trying to stab you and that girl somehow took down Walker and Torres within seconds. You don’t call that attempted murder?”

“I don’t actually. If they’d wanted to kill us, they could have easily done it,” Bucky scowled at him. Riri watched the back and forth between the two men, intrigued by the description of these supposed bad guys. She decided to just listen in instead of interfering and went back to fidgeting with the device.

“So you’re defending them now?” Sam turned to face Bucky, sounding slightly irritated.

“I’m not defending them, I’m just saying they’re not villains. Sam, they’ve never killed anyone,” Bucky replied, matching his annoyance.

“We don’t know that for sure,” Sam added skeptically.

“We know that every time they’ve had a run in with SHIELD-”

“Which was twice,” Sam put a hand on his hip and used his other hand to lean against the table.

“They’ve left everyone they’ve encountered alive,” Bucky finished his statement sharply, now facing Sam.

“And seriously injured,” Sam added.

“Just the ones that encountered Claws,” Bucky argued, “We don’t know if Paws and Ariel are the same when it comes to those things.”

“They still work with him, which either means they don’t care or they are just allowing it to happen. Probably both,” Sam asserted.

Bucky opened his mouth to argue with him but was interrupted by Riri as she walked past them with the device and out the door.

They exchanged a glance and then followed her out into the hall.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Sam lightly shouted at her.

She perked up, “Oh right- yeah sorry my friend has the tools I need to properly pull this thing apart.”

“We need to keep this confidential,” Bucky spoke like he was scolding her.

“I’ll just say I need the tools for a project. I do this all the time,” She shrugged it off and then knocked on the door.

There was no response. Bucky took the moment to assess the surrounding hallway and the door. He noticed this door was the only one that had a mezuzah with carvings nailed to the door post.

After a few more seconds without an answer, Riri reached into her pocket and pulled out a key, plugging it into the keyhole, unlocking the door and opening it. She stepped inside, placed the device on a desk and then knelt down, looking through the drawers of this girl’s desk.

Sam and Bucky stood in the doorway. It seemed like this would take a while. Bucky and Sam took the moment to look into the little dorm room. It was somewhat messy with computer parts scattered along the floor as well as various papers.

On the wall above the desk were a few pictures hung on a string. The first picture was of three people at a graduation. There was a boy with light eyes and black hair in a graduation robe and cap, holding up his diploma with a wide grin while the girl next to him, who donned a light pink dress, had curly brown hair, and hazel eyes, seemed to be laughing at him. The second picture had the roles swapped, with the girl now dressed in a graduation robe and cap, holding her diploma while the boy, now in a white dress shirt and black dress pants as he showed her off and grinned. The third picture depicted two people, on the left was the girl from before and on the right was a different girl with pale skin, long blonde hair with blunt bangs, and blue eyes. Both girls held boba cups towards the camera while a third person, who presumably was holding the camera, held their boba cup in the center of the image. The fourth image showed the girl posing with Riri and a few other people wearing MIT shirts. There were a few other pictures, but they were covered by the main four images.

Riri was victorious in seeking out the box of little tools. She pulled it out from under the girl’s bed, causing a corner of a cardboard box to be slightly pulled out as well with the sleeve of a black leather jacket sticking out. Bucky took note of it as Riri lifted up the tool box and held it with one arm while she gestured for them to move so she could get out of the room. Before she shut the door behind her, Bucky noticed a pile of trash consisting of Chinese takeout boxes and two Starbucks cups in the corner near a floor-to-ceiling window.

Chapter Text

After using the borrowed tools from her neighbor, Riri concluded that she needed more time to work on it. Sam and Bucky had reluctantly decided to give her more time and allow her a couple days to work on it on her own. They only agreed to this after they’d made her promise to keep this whole ordeal confidential.

At about 11:00 a.m. the next day, Riri looked at the flickering watch on her desk. She couldn’t crack it. Whomever made this wasn’t an amateur. She’d practically tried everything to get this thing to work. She was stressed out. Captain America was depending on her to hack this watch and there was nothing.

Riri heard footsteps from down the hall. Kitty was in her dorm now, back from her early morning class. She knew she’d promised Sam that she’d keep this secret. An idea popped into her head, why not ask for help? She wouldn’t explain all the details to Kitty, she’d just say that she needed help with a personal project.

But what if Kitty was able to actually crack this thing? Then she’d have to explain a lot. Then she’d have to explain to Captain America that she broke her promise and told somebody. Crap.

She put her hand on her cheek and slumped over. What was she going to do? If she couldn’t figure this out, she’d look incompetent and lose her shot with the Avengers. How was she unable to do the one thing that she needed to get done?

There was a knock on the door. Riri sprung up to open the door, finding Kitty standing there with a hand on her hip.

“Did you take my tools again?” She asked, a slight tone of annoyance in her voice.

“I did, but I needed them for a project,” Riri explained vaguely.

“Look, that’s fine and all, but next time don’t leave my door unlocked, okay?” Kitty was no longer annoyed and made a simple request.

“You got it, Kit-Kat,” She gave her finger guns. Why did she do that?

Kitty nodded and then turned away to walk to her dorm, “Good luck with your project, Riri.”

Riri put her hand on the door to shut it and then took the risk, “Kitty?”

Kitty turned around again to look at her, “Yeah?”

“I think I need your help,” She sighed and then gestured for her to come in.

“That’s a first,” Kitty furrowed her brow and followed her direction and came inside, standing by the wall, “What’s going on?” She crossed her arms.

Riri picked up the watch and showed it to Kitty, “I’ve been trying to hack this thing and it won’t budge. Whomever made it had to have been some kind of super genius.”

Kitty looked baffled by the watch. Riri spoke up, “Any thoughts?”

“I- uh- yeah,” She stuttered, “Let me take a look at it.”

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” Riri thanked her profusely and then led her to the desk where her tools were scattered.

Kitty went through the toolbox and frowned, not quite finding what she needed, “I’m good. I think I have some other tools in my room for this specific kind of thing,” Kitty continued to look at the watch. Her look was that of fascination, but she was unsure of if it was for the right reasons.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Riri gathered up the tools on her desk and put them back in the box, picking it up and then following Kitty out the door and into her dorm.

Kitty took a seat at her desk and Riri set down the tools and the watch in front of her. Kitty swooped up a little tool from under her desk and started working, once again taking apart the watch.

Riri watched her work for a few minutes before Kitty started talking as she was working, “So, seen Ironheart lately?”

“Not recently,” Riri replied. Kitty had no idea that she was Ironheart, “Have you?”

“I thought so. I saw something weird flying through the clouds and thought I could post it on my Ironheart fan channel. But after watching it again, I couldn’t really figure out what it was,” Kitty answered.

“How is the channel by the way?” Riri asked.

“It’s alright. A lot of people think it’s photoshopped or something,” Kitty shook her head as she continued to pull the watch apart.

An alarm went off on Riri’s phone and she checked, instantly freaking out, “Crap, I have to get to class!”

Kitty stopped, “You can go ahead, I’ll keep working on this and, hopefully, I’ll be done when you get back.”

Riri rushed out the door and grabbed her bag from her dorm, shutting the door, and locking it. She stopped at Kitty’s door and spoke quietly, “If you see anything weird on that thing, please just.. Don’t freak out. I’ll explain everything.”

Kitty nodded at her with a confused expression and then asked her to shut the door. Riri did as asked and then dashed down the stairs to class.

Kitty waited for a few minutes to make sure Riri wouldn’t return suddenly. She looked at the watch and put it back together, effectively fixing it. She then turned it on, all of the information projecting in front of her in bright orange.

“Oh my god,” Kitty leaned back in her seat and covered her hands, mumbling to herself, “This is either a miracle or a curse.”

She then looked at the watch again, “Or a trap. How did she even get a hold of this?” She then stood up and began to pace around, thinking out loud, “Oh my god, is she SHIELD?”

She groaned and then sat down again in her chair, looking at the watch, completely conflicted. She stared at the watch for a few more minutes before she picked up her phone and called Kurt. He was at work, it was unlikely he would answer, but she had to try. No response. She then dialed Logan’s number. Surprisingly, she got an answer.

“Hey, Cat, how’s school?” Logan asked. From the sound of it, he was driving.

“It’s fine, but um,” She hesitated, she was unsure of how he could help.

“Out with it,” He ordered.

“This girl in my building, she somehow got the watch that you lost. She asked me to help her hack it, which of course I can because it’s my tech, but I’m not sure if this is some kind of setup or if I’m overthinking things,” Kitty confessed rapidly.

There was a moment of silence over the phone before Logan spoke, “I think yer overthinking things, but yer the smart cookie so do what ya think is best.”

“Helpful, Logan,” She said with sarcasm, “I need you to tell me what the best move is to do here. If I’m really overthinking things, what should I do?”

Logan sighed, “Just delete the info and say you found nothin.’”

“Are you sure that’s the best thing to do?” She needed to be certain.

“Just go for it. That way, Cap ain’t able to figure out who we are and where we are and we can keep doin’ what we’re doin.’”

“Okay,” There was still an undertone of uncertainty in her voice.

“Relax, Pun’kin. Whatever happens’ll happen,” He spoke to her, trying to be reassuring.

“Thanks, Logan,” She nodded her head and then went to hang up before being interrupted.

“Also, I need you and Kurt to come to my place to discuss our next mission,” Logan shared over the phone.

“When?” She queried.

“Tomorrow at about six or so. Whatever's good for ya,” He suggested.

“And when is the mission? If it’s during the school week, I’m not doing it. Whoever we’re tracking isn’t worth the jet lag,” She claimed and shook her head.

“Nah, it’s probably this weekend, Friday or Saturday. I’ll discuss it with you two tomorrow,” Logan then divulged, “But this guy’s worth it, trust me, kid.”

“Alright, see you tomorrow, Claws,” She giggled at the use of the nickname he’d been dubbed by SHIELD.

“See ya, Ariel,” He replied and then ended the call.

She rolled her eyes with a smile and then got to work, wiping all of the info from the watch without a second thought.

And then, of course, she had a second thought.

Kurt had been right. They couldn’t hide forever and with things going as they were going, it seemed like the dam was about to burst. If they continued doing these missions on their own with SHIELD following their trail, they’d be painted out to be worse and worse. But if she revealed who- or rather what she and the others were, she’d have to give up this life that they’d carved out.

After going back and forth, Kitty made the difficult decision to go through with it and wipe all the info. She’d lie to Riri and, if this was a trap, expose herself. But like Logan and Kurt said, she’d deal with it.

After two hours, she heard a knock at the door and Riri came in, questioning her about the watch and if she’d managed to crack the watch. She explained that she did, but there was nothing on the watch to see. She then handed the watch back to Riri and apologized for not finding anything of use.

Riri thanked her and then took the watch back to her room, explaining nothing. Kitty was left feeling dissatisfied and guilty. She hated lying to her friend. But she kept telling herself that it had been necessary. It still didn’t feel right to her.

Meanwhile, Riri called up Sam, saying that she’d been able to get in, but there was no information on the watch. Sam made it a point to emphasize that he was glad she was able to hack it, but he was disappointed there was no information.

Down the hall, Kitty laid in her bed, still feeling guilty. She wondered if it would have been a bad idea to have left something. To maybe have left a tidbit for them to find. She flipped onto her side and then looked at the window across the room. It was too late now. Maybe she’d just blown her shot to make things better. Or maybe she hadn’t.

Chapter Text

Kitty shut the drapes of Logan’s apartment as Logan and Kurt sat down at the dining table. Kurt took out his watch and turned it on, the mission debrief popping up above them in an orange hologram.

Logan let out a huff and set down his cigar in the ashtray, earning a grimace from Kurt as he inhaled the last bit of smoke while Kitty pinched her nose and waved the smoke away.

“I’d say that stuff will kill you, but you obviously can’t die, so,” Kitty addressed Logan and sat down next to Kurt.

“Eh,” Logan shrugged and then read the debrief to himself before clearing his throat to speak, “The mission’s a simple one, I’ll be talkin’ to our contact you two’ll make sure none of the SHIELD goons interrupt. Once I’m done, Cat’ll remove the surveillance images and we’ll be gone.”

“Who’s the contact?” Kitty asked, still pinching her nose.

“Some kinda former employee of the Power Broker. Says he’s got info that’ll be useful to us,” Logan clarified and then pulled up a picture of the contact. He was a frail guy with big eyes that were somehow emphasized by his little glasses.

“Und ve can trust him?” Kurt inspected the guy with suspicion.

“Yeah, he looks like the type to lie for some cash,” Kitty added, crossing her arms.

“It’s the best lead we’ve gotten in months,” Logan grumbled, “Everything else has just been trouble. This guy says he’d got no connection to SHIELD.”

“Could be lying,” Kurt raised a brow.

“Could be, but we’re goin’ after it,” Logan affirmed and then looked at Kitty who still seemed unsure, “You built me the new watch yet?”

Kitty now matched Kurt with a brow raised, “After the stunt you pulled in Incheon, I should take away your watch privileges.”

“C’mon kid, he broke my wrist,” Logan frowned at her.

“And you didn’t bother to pick it up,” Kitty looked at him with annoyance.

“It was a life or death situation and I didn’t know that they’d find it,” Logan tried to defend himself.

“Oh, zey found it?” Kurt looked intrigued. He hadn’t been told of the events of the previous days.

“Right,” Kitty realized that he didn’t know, “So yeah, they got it and apparently the hackers at SHIELD couldn’t crack it, so they brought it to Riri- you know- the girl who waters my plants when I leave town for missions and she asked me to help her hack it, but she left to go to class and, of course, I got it to unlock and then called Logan for advice. He said to wipe the info and then I did and handed it back to her when she came back.”

Kurt pouted, “Vhy didn’t you call me for advice?”

“You were at work and you weren’t picking up the phone,” She explained quickly, she didn’t want him to jump to an incorrect conclusion and make himself feel bad.

“Oh,” Kurt nodded, “Das macht Sinn.”

“Am I getting a new watch or not?” Logan crossed his arms, now looking thoroughly irritated.

Kitty smirked and then slid a new watch across the table, “Don’t lose this one or I’ll phase my hand through your head,” She warned.

“Gotcha,” He picked up the watch and then put it on. He then stood up and went into his kitchen, “Either of you want somethin’ to drink?”

“Ja!” Kurt sprung up and then joined him in the kitchen, leaving his watch on the table. Kitty yelled a yes for water into the other room and then looked at the debrief as it still floated above her.
She looked at the orange hologram, reading all of the details available. She then looked at the file on the contact, reading what little there was on him. She sighed and then leaned back in her seat, wondering why it was taking so long for them to come back from a kitchen that was a couple feet away.

After waiting for another minute, she stood up and strolled to the kitchen where she found a bottle of soda on the ground pouring out as Kurt ran past her for a new roll of paper towels. Logan’s face was soaked with soda. Kitty cracked a smile as she watched the scene unfold. She gathered that the bottle of soda Kurt had grabbed had exploded onto Logan and then fallen to the ground.

Kurt frantically grabbed a pile of paper towels and began apologizing as he dried to dry the floor. Kitty swiped a paper towel from Kurt, doused it in water from the sink, and handed it to Logan. He grumbled again and used it to clean his face. Kitty then joined Kurt on the floor to clean the mess. Logan used his claws to pick up the now empty soda bottle and discarded it into the trash before grabbing himself a beer. As he did so, Kitty quickly grabbed a new soda bottle and a bottle of water for herself.

Once they finished cleaning the floor, Kitty held out the new bottle of soda to Kurt. Before he took it, she tapped on the top and then opened it for him. He took it eagerly and then downed about half the bottle.

The trio left the kitchen and went back into the living room. Kurt took his watch from the table and then sat in a chair by the TV. Logan sat on the couch with his beer. Kitty sat on the other end of the couch and swiped the remote from Logan’s hand. She and Kurt argued over what to put on TV and eventually settled on Jeopardy. Logan had dozed off, drink in hand during their brief argument.

A couple hours passed and Jeopardy was no longer playing on the TV. At some point, Kurt had snatched the remote away from her and turned on some documentary about the Avengers. Kitty half-watched as she fiddled with the watch on her wrist. Kurt gazed at the documentary with fascination.

“Do you zink ve’ll ever get a velcome like zat?” He suddenly asked, breaking the silence.

Kitty looked up from the watch and then at the TV, watching old footage of the Avengers returning home after a mission abroad. People held up signs and cheered for them. Kitty smiled faintly and just said, “I have no doubt about it.”

Kurt grinned and then continued to watch the documentary with great interest. Kitty zoned out, watching the old footage of the old Captain America. She put her face in her hand and grumbled.

“Alles in Ordnung?” Kurt questioned, noticing her change in mood.

“Kurt, I have an idea and I need you to tell me if I’m crazy.”

^^^

“Alright, there’s something you’re not telling me and I wanna hear it,” Sam spoke to Bucky.

Bucky stood by the door with his arms crossed. He’d come down to visit with Sarah and her sons and help with the boat while he discussed the trio dilemma with Sam. He looked at him, “What?”

“You were defending the people that we were sent to apprehend. Why?” Sam interrogated him and raised a brow.

Bucky debated giving him a full answer and decided to take the shot, “I think- and this is just speculation- I know them. Or knew of them.”

“Explain,” Sam looked at him with confusion.

“You know how my existence used to be rumored within the intelligence community?” He decided to ease him into it to not spring it all on him at once.

“Yeah, well, look how that turned out,” Sam chuckled.

“Within HYDRA, there were rumors of other programs. The guards that kept watch over my cell would whisper about a program consisting of super powered people. They’d say how the program wasn’t gonna work because the subjects were unruly and difficult to control,” Bucky elaborated, "So they specially selected people in the program to get rid of and kept the ones they could use."

“Like Strucker’s experiments?” Sam questioned.

“Yes, but HYDRA didn't create them. These people were naturally.. enhanced. HYDRA found a lot of them and tried to turn them into agents, but none of them ever saw the field,” Bucky looked at the ground.

“And you think our mysterious trio is from that program,” Sam knew where this was going.

“I don’t think, I know, Sam. That blue guy incorporated HYDRA techniques in his fighting style,” He sighed and ran his hand through his hair.

“You think they’re still HYDRA?” Sam crossed his arms again.

“No,” He shook his head, “I don’t think so. If they were, they’d fight to kill. Believe me.”

Sam nodded and then placed the watch back on the table to switch the topic. He’d retrieved it from Riri a few hours earlier, “So the watch came out inconclusive. No information. What are we gonna do?”

“Hope Claws shows up in another casino,” Bucky shrugged.

“So play the waiting game,” Sam rolled his eyes, “Not exactly practical.”

A buzzing came from the table. The watch lit up orange and blinked a few times. The two men looked at each other and then at the watch as it went off. Bucky picked up the watch and then hit the screen. An orange hologram popped up above them.

Giotchi del titano, San Marino - 11pm Saturday
Diamond Hall, gallery area, bar
Don’t come armed.
Don’t tell anyone.
-A

Chapter Text

Saturday came and Bucky and Sam entered the rather lavish casino. As 11 approached, the two men made their way to the Diamond Hall. Inside was a balcony with a bar and the stairs led down to a gallery area. At first, they stayed at the bar together, but since the watch’s message had listed both parts of the hall as places to be, Sam decided to go down to the gallery.

Sam gazed at each piece and then noticed a stand beneath each one. On the stands were descriptions of each painting or sculpture and then blank sheets where people had written their bets. This was a silent auction, he realized. He moved on from the paintings on one wall and looked at a small sculpture.

“I never took Captain America for an art lover,” he heard a feminine voice and turned his head to look at the speaker. It was a girl, young by the looks of it. She wore a dark green velvet jumpsuit with her curly brown hair down.

“I’m gonna take a wild guess and say you’re Ariel,” Sam decided to skip the small talk and jump straight to the point of the conversation.

She smirked and then looked at the sculpture, “Got it on the first try, Mr. Wilson.”

“You hardly look like a hardened criminal, kid,” Sam pointed out.

Kitty smiled again, “Let me just start by saying things are hardly ever as they seem.”

“Where’re your buddies?” He subtly looked around the room for Claws and Paws who were both notably absent, “Or did you contact us to turn them in?”

She shook her head, “Never going to happen. Paws is at the bar with your ‘buddy’ and Claws is.. Around. I just wanted to speak with you one on one.”

“About?” His curiosity was piqued.

“We might have the same enemy,” She looked back at the sculpture, inspecting it.

Sam raised a brow, “You gonna elaborate on that?”

Kitty chuckled and nodded, “The Power Broker.”

“The criminal leader of Madripoor?” He recalled, “He’s not a problem.”

She rolled her eyes, no longer being amused, “They’re a massive problem to both of us.”

“How so?” He prodded her on. In truth, he was quite curious and he wanted to know if this was really negatively impacting anybody or if this elusive trio just had a grudge.

“The Power Broker has been selling government secrets to the highest bidder. And I mean big secrets, stuff the US government doesn’t even want you to know,” She explained quietly.

“And how does this impact you exactly? Sounds like you have a grudge of some kind,” Sam responded, now putting his hands in his pockets.

“Ever since your escapades in Madripoor that got the scientist who made that supersoldier serum killed, the Power Broker has been looking to fill that empty space. They’ve been trying to fill that gap with those government secrets, but replacing super soldiers is a hard task to complete,” She explained slowly, “And it’s been weighing on them, costing them a lot in terms of lost business. But a few months ago, somebody tipped them off about naturally enhanced people among the general public. Ever since then, the Power Broker’s been hunting down people like me and my friends.”

He looked at her darkening expression and said, “You want to kill him.”

“No,” She looked back at him, getting tense. She wasn’t expecting to be accused of anything like that, “I want to take them down a peg. Remove them from power. I don’t want to kill anybody, that’s not who I am.”

“You had a lot of animosity just now when you were talking about him,” He claimed.

“Yeah, well, I’m not a fan of weaponizing people,” She uttered bitterly.

Sam nodded, acknowledging her statement, “Bucky thought you and your friends might be ex-HYDRA.”

“Bucky?” Her brow furrowed and then she realized who he was speaking about, “You mean the Winter Soldier? He’s not wrong.”

“That’s not who he is anymore just like how you said that’s not who you are,” He grew annoyed with her, “So he’s right.”

“The three of us were taken to HYDRA to be used as lab rats because of our abilities,” She looked at the ground.

“So HYDRA didn’t give them to you,” Sam raised a brow.

“No, we have these powers naturally,” She sighed, “If I explain this to you, you have to promise me you won’t say anything to SHIELD. Everything I’ve told you needs to remain confidential, promise?”

Sam hesitated and then nodded, “I promise.”

“People like me who have these powers naturally- we’re called mutants. Our abilities are a result of a mutation known as the X-gene. The mutation can come in a variety of forms. It’s why Paws is blue and can teleport. It’s why Claws has, well, claws. And it’s why I can phase,” She eased him into it.

“I see,” Sam took a moment to process, “So your thing is phasing and a dragon jacket.”

“Lockheed isn’t my power, he’s my friend,” Kitty sighed and then pinched her nose, “And back to the topic at hand, before you ask how many of us there are, there’s a lot, but we’re still a global minority. Most of us are in hiding. It’s why we’ve stayed off of SHIELD’s radar for so long.”

“And where were all of these people when Thanos attacked Earth?” He threw the question out there. He already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear her answer.

“First of all, the general public, including mutants, had no idea the whole Thanos thing was going on until they crashed New York for an hour,” She sighed again, “We didn’t have the chance to act and even if we did, we wouldn’t have been accepted.”

“We needed all the help we could get back then,” He replied.

She crossed her arms, “I’m sorry for then, but I’m trying to make up for it now.”

“By telling me all of this about the Power Broker?” He put his hands on his hips, he wanted to know her motive.

“Yes,” She nodded.

“I’ll be honest, there’s not much for me to work with. If you want our help, you need to have a solid lead and you need to give me an actual reason to help you,” Sam stated.

Kitty’s shoulders dropped and she took another deep breath, “Fine. Let me rephrase this. I need your help taking down the Power Broker, not just to stop the flow of government secrets and mutant mercenaries within the criminal underworld, but to change things. Mutants have been hiding for hundreds of years. Now, we’re getting restless and a lot of mutants are blaming humans for their situation. K- Paws, Claws, and I want to stop the situation from escalating. Paws and I have discussed this whole predicament and have decided that the best way to go about it is to find a common enemy and take them down alongside a human hero. And who better than Captain America?”

“Things are bad. Really bad. And the three of us can’t handle everything on our own. We have a common enemy who’s causing us problems. If we can solve this problem together, not only will we have one less criminal on our hands, it’ll show that mutants and humans can really coexist. That we can see each other as equals and work towards a better future for both sides,” She continued.

Sam paused, processing everything she’d said. He didn’t speak before she did, “I’ve never been one for superheroes. It’s never been my thing- keeping up with the Avengers and whatnot. But, Ku- Paws. Paws does. He fully believes in heroes and saving the world. Not long after we escaped HYDRA, we watched the news of Captain America saving the world and he proclaimed that one day he’d help our community.”

Sam went to respond, “Look, kid, I understand everything that you’re getting at, but you’re asking me-”

“To take down a threat and that’s it,” She cut him off quickly.

He chuckled slightly and then finished his sentence, “You’re asking me to be Steve Rogers.”

Now it was Kitty’s turn to chuckle. She then looked him directly in the eye, “No, I’m not. I’m asking you to be Sam Wilson. And I’m asking you to trust me.”

Chapter Text

Bucky was seated at the bar as Sam went downstairs. He didn’t order any drinks and subtly glanced at the people that passed him, hoping for some sign of the trio they’d come to find.

After what seemed like forever, he decided to order a drink. As he lifted his hand to hail a bartender, the bartenders switched shifts. The bartender that was now in charge, had his back turned. He then turned his head to try and get a better look at him.

The bartender was a young man with pale skin, light eyes, and black hair. He took a second look and realized that this boy’s face was familiar, but from where?

The bartender took notice of him and walked over, “How can I help you?” He spoke with a German accent. Now that he was facing him, he spotted a splint on his nose.

“Just a whiskey please,” He spoke quietly, still trying to figure out where he knew that face from and now that voice. Then it clicked. Paws. The boy set the full glass down in front of him.
“You’re not blue,” He said suddenly.

“Du bist schlau!” Paws chuckled, “But ja, I am not currently blue. Zat vould not be very zneaky vould it?”

“You’re right, but how?” He picked up his drink, looking at the liquid with suspicion to see if it was poisoned perhaps.

“Ze vatch,” Kurt held up the gray watch with the orange screen proudly.

“That thing makes you look human.. That’s pretty advanced,” Bucky commented with a nod and lifted the glass to his lips.

“Und I zuppose ze serum keeps you from being drunk?” Kurt asked, looking at him innocently.

Bucky lowered the glass without taking a sip, looking confounded, “And how would you know that?”

“Agents aren’t allowed to drink on missions which means zat you are eizer immune to ze effects of alcohol or you do not care,” He grinned and then took a glass from the counter and began to clean it off, “Und I believe it is ze former.”

“And you would be right,” Bucky replied reluctantly and finally took a sip of the whiskey.

“Und is it a blessing or a curse?” Kurt pulled out a clean rag from behind the counter and continued his endeavor of cleaning it.

“The serum or the ability to not get drunk?” He countered and crossed his arms, leaning against the bar.

“Both, I zuppose,” Kurt replied with a shrug, showing genuine interest.

Bucky watched him, still unsure of his true intentions. He was still trying to see if this boy was ex-HYDRA like him, “Feels like a curse.”

Kurt nodded and expressed, “Feels like no matter how hard you try, you cannot vash avay all ze bad memories. All ze nightmares never fade and instead of feeling miserable you’re left feeling incurably numb.” He held up the glass he'd been cleaning up to his eye, distorting his face. Bucky noticed how the distortion of the glass messed somewhat with the image inducing abilities of the watch, causing a bit of his blue skin and his original yellow eyes to mix with the curvature of the glass. Kurt lowered the glass and then set it behind the counter.

Bucky watched him, feeling that familiar wave of remorse crash over him again. All he managed to say was, “Exactly.”

Kurt adjusted the watch on his wrist and fidgeted with the bartender outfit he was wearing. Bucky took the moment to look down at the gallery, seeking out Sam. He spotted Sam standing by a little sculpture. Next to him looked to be a girl in a dark green jumpsuit. The two seemed to be in deep conversation.

Bucky was brought out of his thoughts as he heard Kurt’s voice again, “Do you.. Recognize her?”

“It’s hard to see her from here,” Bucky responded, turning his body to face the bar again and taking another sip of his drink.

Kurt nodded. Now he looked unsure, like he was debating saying something. Finally, he blurted out, “She knew you.”

As the Winter Soldier, he thought to himself. He sighed, his tone laced with that long lasting guilt, “Who did I kill?”

“No one,” Kurt looked baffled, “I mean vizin HYDRA. She met you.”

“So you and her were HYDRA,” Bucky took a large swig of his drink, finishing it off and then added, “You must have been a part of that one program.”

“She told me she fought you,” Kurt confirmed with a nod.

The realization slapped him in the face, “The phaser.”

“Yes,” Kurt replied quietly. He’d been nervous to bring this up.

“She hates me, doesn’t she?” Bucky couldn’t make eye contact. The crushing guilt and self-hatred was all rushing back now. He was part of another problem.

Kurt looked at him with sympathy, “I do not zink she hates you. I know her vell and I know zat she harbors little hatred in her heart.”

Bucky stayed quiet, getting lost in his head again.

Kurt tried to bring him back, “She hasn’t spoken much about it, but everyzing she has said has led me to the conclusion that she doesn’t resent you. She’s just scared.”

“And that’s why you’re talking to me and she isn’t,” Bucky assumed.

“She needs time to heal. You know zat better zan anyone,” Kurt spoke solemnly, picking up the empty glass in front of Bucky and began cleaning it off.

“Why did you ask us to come here?” Bucky asked, trying to make the horrible feelings go away by changing the topic.

“Ve have a zimilar enemy. Ki- Ariel is explaining everyzing to ze Captain,” He stated and continued to clean his glass, “All I can say is that all that ve vant is a better vorld and that vorking togezer is the best vay to go about it.”

Bucky stayed quiet, “Fine.”

“Vhich means don’t try and find us. Ve’ll find you once ve find a lead ve can follow. But for now you just need to get SHIELD to stop chasing us,” Kurt requested, storing away the cup and the rag.

“I can’t make that promise, I don’t control SHIELD,” Bucky looked back at him. Now he knew the motive for their meeting.

“But zey respect you und once you and ze Captain explain ze zituation, zey might leave us alone,” Kurt said rapidly, “If zey leave us alone, ve can finish zis quicker.”

“Listen, SHIELD’s going to try and find you three no matter what I say,” Bucky seemed to be refusing, he knew the outcome.

“Zen zings vill only get more complicated. It vill be a great mistake to not even try,” Kurt warned.

Down in the gallery, Sam and Kitty finished their conversation. Kitty stayed by the sculpture for a few minutes longer while Sam made his way up the stairs and to the bar. As Sam was traveling up the stairs, Kurt’s watch blinked twice. He then noticed Sam approaching and hurriedly hailed another bartender to take his place. Before he left, all Kurt said was, “At least consider vhat I am zaying.”

Bucky opened his mouth to speak but Kurt was gone in a flash. When he looked back, Sam stood by him at the bar.

“Well, I got to meet Ariel,” Sam brought up, “I heard Paws got to talk with you. Where’s he now?”

“He’s gone, just about vanished the second you started walking up the stairs,” Bucky spoke and then turned in his seat, now facing out towards Sam.

“They’re kids, Buck. Claiming they want to save the world,” Sam leaned against the bar.

“Kids that have been trained by one of the most ruthless organizations on the planet,” Bucky mumbled.

“So you agree, we should be cautious with this. We don’t want to end up in another Karli and the Flagsmashers situation,” Sam suggested.

“Maybe, maybe not, but this might be worth taking the risk,” Bucky paused, “We just need to see if they’re willing to cross the line and do the unthinkable to get what they want. So far, we don’t know enough about them to know the outcome of this.”

“And therefore we should trust them?” Sam raised a brow.

“I don’t know, but I don’t think this is the same as the situation with Karli,” He sighed and then got off the barstool, standing next to Sam, “Like you said, we need to be cautious, but we also need to be willing to listen to what they have to say. And most of all, we need to be ready for a fight.”

“Alright, I’ll trust you on this,” Sam nodded and then gestured for them to start heading for the door.

The two men walked out the door of the massive casino and headed into the streets. Their plane home was on the edge of town, so they had a bit of a walk before they could fly home. As they were walking, Redwing flew in and landed in Sam’s hand. He inspected the drone as if he were looking for something, causing all his attention to be focused on the technology rather than where they were walking. As a result, Bucky had to lead him through the city with one hand on Sam’s shoulder guiding him around and keeping him from walking into traffic.

Finally, Sam stopped and then stood next to Bucky to show him something. What he saw was a small screen that looked to be showing surveillance footage. Surveillance footage of the casino. Then Sam tapped on three individuals in the casino. Now, he realized, they had full face footage of Claws, Paws and Ariel.

“Looks like we got ‘em,” Sam spoke triumphantly.

“Looks like it,” Bucky repeated, now putting his hands in his pockets since Sam was now focused enough on where he was going.

“We can find their real identities now, Buck,” Sam grinned, “Now we might actually have the upper hand.”

Chapter Text

“So you got footage of them and Ariel didn’t even hack it?” Torres asked Sam. He seemed excited now that they finally had a lead.

It’d been a day since they’d come back from San Marino. Bucky and Sam had debated whether or not they should notify SHIELD or the CIA. They’d decided to at least tell Torres. Unfortunately, Walker had inserted himself in the conversation and the three men had had to make him swear on his life to say nothing to Val.

“I’m not sure, but when I went to get the watch back from Riri, I had her help me set up some precautions on Redwing to make sure Ariel couldn’t try and hack him,” Sam set down Redwing on the table and pulled up the footage.

“We just need to run facial recognition on them and then we can finally arrest them,” Walker asserted, walking over to see the recording.

“We can’t use any tech from SHIELD or the CIA without it being recorded and reported,” Bucky shook his head.

“Actually, I know a guy within the CIA who might not report it. He runs the high-profile facial rec and he might keep it secret,” Torres responded quickly, perking up.

“He works for the CIA. Are you sure he won’t say anything?” Sam looked at Torres trying to make sure this was legitimate.

“He’s a good friend. I’ve worked with him a couple of times too. He knows when to keep a secret and I’m sure that if we ask as a group, he won’t say a word,” Torres assured him with a nod.

“Hold on, why aren’t we telling anybody else? These people are violent criminals that belong in the Raft,” Walker asserted, looking between Torres, Sam, and Bucky.

“They said we’re fighting the same enemy and I want to see if that’s true before we jump to any major conclusions,” Sam maintained, picking up Redwing again as Torres went to the door.

“Am I the only one that sees this as the Flagsmashers situation all over again?” Walker reasoned. Bucky walked over, standing by Sam now.

Sam and Bucky exchanged a glance and Sam spoke, “I don’t think this is quite the same, but if it turns out to be so, we’ll be ready.”

Walker grumbled and then followed Torres, Sam, and Bucky out the door. The four men drove down to Langley, Virginia to the headquarters of the CIA. They easily got inside and Torres led the way up to the third floor of the building. They went down a dull hallway with agents passing them here and there. Torres stopped at one door and scanned his card, opening the door for them to go inside.

The room inside was dark with one desk and a few office chairs inside. The desk had multiple monitors scattered across it with a large stack of papers next to them. The room itself was incredibly cold. There was a light-skinned young man seated at the desk with light brown hair and brown eyes. He hadn’t noticed the group as he had earphones in and seemed to be invested on whatever was on one of his monitors.

Torres walked up to the desk and waved his hand to get the man’s attention. The man immediately spotted him and grinned, pulling out his earphones with his left hand and then stood up. The two greeted each other and then Torres directed the man’s attention to Sam, Bucky, and Walker standing near the door.

“Holy crap,” the man blurted out.

Torres laughed and gestured for the three men to come closer. They did so and Torres decided to start introductions.

“Sam, Bucky, Walker, this is Bobby Drake, the friend I was talking about,” Torres introduced the young man. Sam held out his hand and Bobby shook it, still wearing the look of surprise.

“Bobby this is-”

“Sam Wilson- Captain America- who doesn’t know him?” Bobby shook off the initial shock and stopped shaking his head, now looking at him with something between admiration and fascination.

“And you’re Bucky Barnes,” He then pointed at Bucky, “And the failed Captain America,” He looked at Walker who looked completely annoyed.

“It’s really an honor,” Bobby looked at all of them and then his eyes landed on Torres again, “Honestly, I thought he was joking when he said he knew Captain America.”

“Yeah, Torres is a great guy. I’m lucky to work with him,” Sam complimented and patted Torres on the shoulder.

“This is great and all, but are we going to get what we came for?” Walker brought up, still irritated by Bobby’s earlier comment.

“Oh right, I wouldn’t have a bunch of superheroes in my office if there wasn’t something important going on,” Bobby came back to reality and went back to standing behind his desk, “So, whaddya need me for?”

“We need you to run facial rec on a few people,” Torres spoke up.

“And we need you to not tell anyone,” Bucky added.

“Oh super secret superhero stuff, I gotcha,” Bobby nodded, looking excited now, “So who’s got the pictures?”

Sam stepped forward and set down Redwing on the edge of Bobby’s desk. Bobby looked perplexed by the drone and then asked, “Can I connect this thing with a USB cord or do you have some special Avengers tech for that?”

“No, go ahead and use a USB cord,” Sam signaled a yes to him.

Bobby sprang into action and got to work. He pulled out a USB cord from one of the drawers in his desk and connected it to one of the monitors. The footage of Paws, Claws and Ariel came up on the screen. Sam pointed each of them out while Bucky, Torres, and Walker watched, all of the men now behind the desk.

Bobby scanned zoomed in on the three faces and then transferred the shots to another monitor. He immediately began scanning each individual face and pulling up various government documents on each person. He worked on the system for a few more minutes before he turned around in his seat.

“So all three of the people are in the system,” Bobby explained, “Who do you want me to tell ya about first?”

“Let’s start with him,” Sam gestured to Paws.

“Alrighty, Bobby whipped around in his seat, “His name is Kurt Wagner, born in Witzeldorf, Germany. There’s no date listed for his birth, but I’d estimate he should be 23 by now and not a lot about his personal details overall. Looks like he was in the circus for most, if not all, of his childhood, but he disappeared from their shows around when he should have been 14 or 15. He reappeared in the US about three years later and got a student visa, going to a school in upstate New York. Since his graduation, his whereabouts have been unknown.”

“And the girl?” Walker asked.

“Her name is Katherine Anne Pryde, born in Deerfield, Illinois to Carmen and Teresa Pryde. She’s 20 now, birthday coming up. I’ll tell ya one thing, it’d be a great birthday gift to meet Captain America,” Bobby went off on a tangent.

“I don’t think she sees it that way,” Sam muttered, “Anything else on her?”

“Lots. Get this, her parents were both killed when she was ten and she was nowhere to be found. She was listed as missing for three years until she also reappeared at that same school in upstate New York. Graduated at 18 and then got accepted to MIT and has been there ever since,” He listed off the facts. Bucky and Sam exchanged a glance. Riri’s neighbor.

Bobby then moved on to Claws, “This guy has had a crap ton of names. Honestly, based on this information, it looks like he’s been alive since the 1880’s. His name is James Howlett, but the name he uses for most paperwork recently is Logan. Not a lot on him, but it looks like he served in World War II. After that, not much is on here, looks like he disappeared in the 50’s,” Bobby scrolled through some documents, “Didn’t reappear until about twenty years later when he had a run-in with the cops. Looks like he was a part of some kind of mafia. Once again, not much until when Katherine and Kurt appeared again, he joined that school as faculty. Doesn’t say what he taught, but he wasn’t long for it and he left not long after Katherine went to MIT.”

“Interesting and that’s all?” Sam questioned, looking at the screen.

“Pretty much,” Bobby shrugged and leaned back in the chair, “Since I’m keeping this secret, can I ask if this is Avengers stuff?”

“More like SHIELD stuff,” Sam cracked a smile, “Thanks for the help.”

“Of course. I wasn't expecting an Avenger in my office this Monday, but this is a welcome surprise,” Bobby beamed.

“We’ll get out of your hair so you can have your break,” Torres looked at the time, “Good seeing you, man.”

“Good seeing you too. It’s been forever. When you’re back in town, we should get drinks,” Bobby stood up and the two men hugged.

Sam, Bucky, Torres, and Walker left his office and later the building. They decided to get dinner after they drove back to Washington DC. Walker made the decision to leave to have dinner with his wife and they bid him farewell. After eating, they were walking back to the hotel when Torres spotted Bobby walking out of a pizza place. He was walking ahead of them and hadn’t seen them, as he was focused on something on his phone.

Bobby scrolled through his phone and then lifted it up to his ear as he turned the corner. The three men followed quietly and listened as he started his call.

“Hey, Kitty, I know you’re probably at a party or doing homework or something or maybe just not taking my calls anymore. I just wanted to let you know that I had to do facial rec on you today at work,” Bobby held the phone up to his ear with his shoulder as he checked the pizza in the box and talked. It sounded like he was leaving a voicemail. Bucky and Sam exchanged another look, this time of intrigue. Torres looked confused.

Bobby went on, “It’ll probably shock you to hear this, but it wasn’t just some higher-ups. It was-” He whispered into the phone, “Captain America, my friend, and two other guys. Bunch of superhero types.”

He sighed, “I know you’re stubborn as all hell, but I don’t think you should stay at MIT. Skidaddle out of there as fast as you can, because I don’t think they’re looking to recruit new Avengers. I think they’re after you for something. If you need anywhere to go, you know back home is always open. I know you don’t think so anymore, but the Professor would love to have you guys back. Call me back when you get this.”

Bobby took his phone from his shoulder and hung up. He put the pizza box in one hand and then connected his earphones to his phone, putting them in his ears as he kept walking. He eventually stopped at a corner to cross the street. He took his eyes off his phone for a second and glanced upward. He then had to double take as he spotted Sam, Torres, and Bucky.

“Oh shit.”

Chapter Text

“I cannot believe you’ve had this and I’ve never seen it before,” Riri sat in the chair at Kitty’s desk and held up the green velvet jumpsuit she’d had to get dry cleaned.

“It’s nothing, it used to belong to a friend of mine,” Kitty shrugged it off as she made her bed.

“It’s not nothing. It’s stunning, Kitty. Why’d you bring this to see your mom anyway? Don’t take this the wrong way, but you never struck me as the rich and formal type,” Riri stood up and opened Kitty’s closet, grabbing a hanger for the jumpsuit.

Kitty laughed, “I’m not. My mom just had a work event and wanted me to be her date,” Kitty lied, but Riri wouldn’t have known that.

“Ah,” Riri nodded and placed the jumpsuit in the closet before sitting back down and leaning back in the seat, placing her legs on the desk. Kitty’s phone buzzed on her desk a few times and caused Riri to glance over at it, “Somebody’s calling you.”

“Who?” Kitty asked as she laid down the sheet and tucked it under the mattress.

Riri picked up Kitty’s phone and flipped it over, “Some guy named Bobby.”

“Don’t answer it,” Kitty replied quickly.

Riri did as told and set down the phone and then narrowed her eyes, “Why not? Ex-boyfriend?”

“No,” She rolled her eyes and then continued making the bed.

“Ex-situationship?” Riri asked playfully, raising a brow with a smirk.

“God, no,” Kitty snorted and stopped with a blanket in her hand.

“I mean, his face is symmetrical enough,” Riri picked up the phone, looking at his contact picture as the phone continued to ring.

“Aren’t you a lesbian?” Kitty put a hand on her hip.

“I’m just joking, but seriously, why don’t you want to hear from this guy?” Riri questioned, now looking genuinely concerned.

“He was a friend from highschool. We had a disagreement not long after graduation and we haven’t been on speaking terms,” Kitty explained and then picked up the blanket again.

“Maybe he wants to reconcile?” Riri posed the question.

“We’ve spoken a few times since then, but it’s always ended awkwardly or with another fight,” Kitty begrudgingly put the blanket on her bed.

“Let me ask you this, do you miss him?” Riri tilted her head. She’d declined the call by now, letting it go to voicemail.

Kitty stopped in her tracks and then slowly set down a pillow, “Sometimes.”

“Then listen to his voicemail and consider calling him back. If he becomes an ass again, just never call him back again,” Riri stood up and then patted her on the shoulder.

Kitty rolled her eyes with a smile and then set down another pillow, “If I say yes, will you stop bothering me about it?”

Riri laughed and then headed for the door, “Worry not, for I will be going now. I’m gonna head to my workshop, wanna come?”

“No, I have a lot of cleaning to catch up on. You go ahead,” She shook her head and then gestured to the tools, papers, and clothing scattered around the room.

“Your loss, Kit-Kat,” Riri opened the door and stepped out, “See you tomorrow!”

“See you tomorrow,” Kitty repeated as Riri shut the door.

Kitty finished making her bed and debated what to start cleaning first. And then she looked at her desk where the phone lay face up. She gave in and walked over, picking up her phone and going to voicemail to listen in.

“Hey, Kitty, I know you’re probably at a party or doing homework or something or maybe just not taking my calls anymore. I just wanted to let you know that I had to do facial rec on you today at work,” She heard Bobby’s voice, “It’ll probably shock you to hear this, but it wasn’t just some higher-ups. It was-” He then made his voice quieter, “Captain America, my friend, and two other guys. Bunch of superhero types.”

She felt her face go completely pale and then waited for him to continue, “I know you’re stubborn as all hell, but I don’t think you should stay at MIT. Skidaddle out of there as fast as you can, because I don’t think they’re looking to recruit new Avengers. I think they’re after you for something. If you need anywhere to go, you know back home is always open. I know you don’t think so anymore, but the Professor would love to have you guys back. Call me back when you get this.”

She covered her mouth and sat down in her desk chair immediately, “Oh god.”

Kitty went to call Bobby and found no answer. When it went to voicemail, she practically begged him to call her back. She even decided to text him at one point, still receiving no answer.

She knew Bobby. He was always one to answer a call, even if he was busy. And she knew, if it had been her calling, he wouldn’t have hesitated to answer no matter what. Something must have gone wrong.

So she called Kurt, who answered immediately. She rambled off the details to him with rapid speed and he teleported into her dorm room as soon as she finished. She’d managed to track the call and find him in Washington DC.

“It’s 413 miles, Kurt, you can’t teleport that far. It’s three miles tops, you and I both know that,” Kitty refused his initial offer of just teleporting there.

“But ve cannot just leave him,” Kurt watched her.

“I know, but we can’t risk you straining yourself and getting hurt,” She denied him again.

“Vhat if, I try teleporting us there in little bursts?” Kurt asked the hypothetical.

Kitty considered it, “Do you know if it’ll work?” Kitty put her hands on her hips.

“Nein, but ve can try,” Kurt still looked at her and held out his hand. She looked at his face and then his hand and then took it.

^^^

Bucky held Bobby’s shoulder against the wall of the alley as Sam set down the pizza box on a nearby dumpster- much to Bobby’s chagrin. Torres looked at him with disappointment and betrayal.

“It’s not what it looks like, I swear,” Bobby insisted.

“What it looks like is not only did you tell somebody, but you told the people we’re looking for,” Sam crossed his arms, walking over to him.

“Without hesitation too. I thought we were friends, Bobby,” Torres interjected, obviously upset.

“We are friends, but they’re also my friends,” He sounded like he felt bad, but maybe it was because of how tightly Bucky was holding his shoulder.

“How do you know them?” Sam questioned.

“I also went to the school in upstate New York!” He squealed as Bucky’s grip tightened, “Look, whatever it is that they did, I promise you it wasn’t meant to hurt anybody.”

Sam placed a hand on Bucky's shoulder as a way of telling him to lighten his grip. He did so and Bobby seemed relieved that the pressure wasn’t nearly as immense as it had been moments earlier.

“Joaquín, you trust me, right?” Bobby looked to Torres.

“Trusted. I trusted you,” He was obviously hurt.

“But you know how I am. I wouldn’t lie unless it was necessary. I’ve known Kitty, Kurt, and Logan since I was a teenager. They’re good people. I don’t know what it is they’re doing nowadays since Kitty won’t talk to me and Kurt rarely ever does, but-” Bobby tried to defend himself before he was interrupted by Sam.

“Wait, you don’t know what they’re doing?” Bucky interrupted him.

“No, I don’t run in that group,” Bobby shook his head.

“If you don’t run in that group, why are you helping them?” Bucky asked harshly, tightening his grip again.

“Friendship, man! Is that so hard to understand?” He winced.

“Buck, ease up on the grip,” Sam put his hand on Bucky’s shoulder again.

Bucky did as told again and continued to inspect Bobby. Then he realized, “He’s a mutant.”

“Shiiit,” Bobby mumbled.

“He is,” Kitty’s voice came out of nowhere. Bucky and Sam looked in the direction of her voice. She stood next to Torres in a white tank top and jeans with a red leather jacket on. Her expression shone of anger as she had her arms crossed.

Torres looked to his side and jumped back, startled. Kitty didn’t mind it at all, “So I’d let him go before things get messy.”

“I have this handled,” Bobby blurted out, “Everyone just needs to chill,” He sounded like he was making a joke. Kitty glared daggers at him.

“Anyone who’s anyone can tell that you don’t,” Kitty retorted, “So either stop being a wimp and use your powers or Kurt and I will have to save your ass again.”

“Okay, okay, okay,” Bobby reluctantly gave in and then lifted his foot, stomping his foot on the ground, causing ice to begin spreading on the ground. Torres watched wide-eyed and Bucky tried to hide the initial shock by continuing to grip his shoulder.

“Katherine,” Sam spoke up, “If you start a fight now-”

“First off, only my mother calls me Katherine and secondly, we had an agreement that you violated,” Kitty argued.

“If you start a fight here, there isn’t any chance of us working together,” Sam tried to explain calmly to negate the possibility of another fight.

Torres looked between the group with concern while Bucky just watched for her next move. Bobby had continued spreading the ice on the ground. Kurt then jumped down next to Kitty from the roof. He looked exhausted.

“I’m aware. Believe me. I’m aware,” Her tone was laced with anger, “But that doesn’t mean you get to get away with betraying our trust and then- whatever this is.” She gestured to Bobby.

Bobby elbowed his way out of Bucky’s grip and used the ice to slide away. Bucky was destabilized by the ice on the ground and tried to use the wall to hold himself up. Torres took a tumble and hit the ground with a thud. Sam seemed to be the only one who kept his balance across from Kitty and Kurt.

“You want to know what I think?” Bobby said suddenly.

Torres, Bucky, Kurt, Kitty, and Sam all looked at him with varying degrees of annoyance or irritation.

Bobby continued on anyway, “I think this is just a big misunderstanding. I think that these guys,” He gestured to Sam, Torres, and Bucky, “Were just trying to see if you two and Logan are also the good guys.”

“Behind our backs,” Kitty added.

“Kitty, they requested that I keep things secret. They didn’t want me to tell anybody. They’re true to their word,” Bobby shared. Surprisingly, he was defending them.

Kitty scowled at him. Kurt put a hand on her shoulder and her face softened slightly. She sighed, “We won’t start a fight.”

Sam, Bucky, and Torres seemed relieved and then Kitty continued, “If you leave him alone.” She gestured to Bobby.

“Und let her finish her schooling,” Kurt interjected.

Kitty looked at Kurt with surprise and then elbowed him. He gave her a look that meant he wasn’t going to budge.

“Ve vill not fight und ve vill continue to vork togezer, but you must allow Kitty to remain in school and Bobby vill be allowed to go free,” Kurt made a final offer without objection, “Ve vill contact you vhen ve have a lead, okay? But you must trust us.”

Bucky managed to slip over to Sam and used him to hold himself up. They whispered to each other and Sam managed to convince Bucky that they should at least try to work with them. They weren’t asking for much.

“And how will you contact us?” Sam queried.

Both Kitty and Kurt held up their wrists and pointed to their watches. Sam and Bucky nodded in acknowledgement.

Bobby had slid across the ice and helped Torres up from the ground, removing the ice from the floor beneath him. Not much of their conversation could be heard from where the other four were standing, but it sounded like Bobby was apologizing and that he would text him later on. They shook hands and Bobby stepped away, standing by Kitty and Kurt.

“So ve have a deal zen?” Kurt asked to make sure.

“We do,” Sam agreed. The ice beneath them faded with a flick on Bobby’s hand.

Kurt put his left hand on Kitty’s shoulder and his right on Bobby’s. Kitty shot Bucky one last glare while Bobby looked at Torres apologetically, mouthing a ‘sorry.’
And with a BAMF! The three mutants were gone, the only evidence of their existence being a pizza box that rested on a nearby dumpster.

Chapter Text

Kurt had teleported them down the street to a different alleyway. Kurt’s forehead was beaded with sweat and Kitty insisted he turn on the image inducer and they take the train back to MIT. Bobby decided to walk with them to the train station.

The three walked together, with Kurt leaning against Kitty for balance as they walked. To the outside viewer it looked like she was guiding a drunk friend around. There was an awkward silence before Kitty piped up and directed at Bobby, “So what’s your deal?”

“Whaddya mean?” Bobby queried, putting his hands in his pockets.

“We got you out of trouble. You’re free to go, you don’t have to follow us,” Kitty tried to get him to leave.

“I’m not just gonna leave you guys. I was headed towards the train station anyway. Can’t really stay around here anymore with the Avengers on my back, so I’m just gonna head back to the school and stay there for a bit,” Bobby explained nonchalantly.

“And let me guess, you’re going to try and convince us to come back with you on the way there,” Kitty asked rhetorically, looking completely unamused.

“I know Scott and Logan don’t exactly get along, but everybody back there misses you. It’s not the same without you guys,” Bobby spoke.

“Thanks, but no thanks. We’re all good where we are,” Kitty denied his offer. Kurt let out a grunt in agreement.

“Look at Kurt. He’s got a broken nose and looks like he’s gonna pass out. Not looking great from over here,” Bobby pointed out and raised a brow.

“First of all, the broken nose thing was because of Captain America which we just had to solve because of you,” Kitty snapped at him, “And secondly, he’s worn out because we came all the way here to save you.”

“Wait what?” Bobby now looked incredibly confused, “You fought Captain America? You know I’m gonna have to tell the Professor, right?”

“Snitch,” She rolled her eyes, “And Kurt and Logan fought Captain America and his bestie, I beat the other two guys’ butts.”

Bobby’s brow furrowed, “You beat up Joaquín?”

“That’s his name?” Kitty asked. He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Not cool,” He shook his head.

Kitty rolled her eyes, “Would you rather I be in prison?”

“No, but he’s a nice guy. He didn’t deserve that,” Bobby looked saddened and slightly ashamed.

Kitty then felt guilty, “Maybe he didn’t, but the other guy did.”

“Yeah, that Walker guy is madly off putting,” Bobby agreed.

“If there’s anything we can agree on, it’s that all Johns are off putting,” Kitty joked.

Bobby laughed and they entered the train station. Bobby pulled out his wallet and paid for their tickets. They sat down in one of the train cars by the back. Kitty helped Kurt sit down next to her while Bobby sat across from them. Kurt passed out due to exhaustion while Kitty scrolled on her phone. Bobby did the same, but after a couple of hours, his phone died and he opted to boredly watch the passing terrain.

Bobby then attempted to break the silence, “You know they didn’t mean it, right?”

Kitty kept scrolling on her phone, ignoring him.

“I don’t know what happened with you and the Professor, but he feels sorry for it,” Bobby continued, “You were one of the school’s prodigies. Kurt and Logan were some of the best members of the team.”

“I know you don’t think that it feels like home anymore and, yeah, I don’t know what happened, but at least consider dropping by,” Bobby threw out the suggestion.

Kitty briefly looked up from her phone, “It’s hard to do that when home doesn’t feel like home anymore.”

“You can’t stay at MIT forever, you know,” He crossed his arms.

“I’m not planning on it,” She shook her head.

“Then let me pick your brain and ask, what are you planning on doing?” Bobby asked, tilting his head slightly.

Kitty set down her phone and shrugged, “I don’t know, but I’m going to figure it out without anybody telling me what that is.”

“So you’re telling me you’re gonna live like there’s no tomorrow,” He asked with a slight smile.

“If you wanna phrase it like that, sure,” She leaned back against her seat.

“I used to think that too, you know,” He confessed, “I got in a fight with Scott about it about a year ago. You wanna know why?”

Kitty stayed quiet, allowing for him to speak without interruption.

“Rogue and I were talking about you and Kurt after a training session. She said how it was so great that you and him were out in the world living your own lives. I agreed with her and shrugged it off, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it,” He said, “Maybe a week later, I was up late one night. Scott came out and we talked. Reflected on the ‘good old days.’ For some reason, the subject of you, Kurt, and Logan came up. He started going on and on about how it was reckless and selfish that you three up and left the team. You know me, I wanted to defend you and I did. It made him more and more upset and as we fought, I realized I needed to get away. So I told him I was gonna find my own way outside of the X-men.”

“And that’s why you joined the CIA,” She guessed.

“Yep. Fresh start. And it was great. I made a lot of friends, human mostly, like Joaquín. The occasional mutant would show up here and there but it was pretty rare,” He sighed, “But I wasn’t happy. There was still an air of uncertainty like something was missing. So on my break one day, I called Scott and we made up. And then I made up with each person I’d left behind one by one. I started visiting the mansion every so often. And I was almost happy. And you want to know what the one thing that was missing?”

“The three of us,” She gestured to herself and Kurt.

“Yep, I called Kurt up once and visited him at work. Not sure if he told you,” Bobby admitted.

“He did,” She nodded her head.

“And you didn’t object?” Bobby smiled teasingly.

“He’s his own person. He can meet whomever he likes,” She looked over at Kurt as he was resting.

“Well, we made up and I asked him how in the world I would get you to start talking to me again,” He chuckled to himself, “He said something along the line of letting you call me first, but you know, I get paranoid and I just wanted to hear from you and, ah, you know how well that ended.”

“Probably should’ve followed his advice,” She maintained, cracking a slight smile.

“What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry for anything that I’ve done to hurt you,” He apologized, bowing his head slightly.

“It’s alright. You picked a hell of a day to ask for forgiveness,” She smiled at him softly.

“What I did was have some of the worst timing on the planet,” He admitted with embarrassment.

“What exactly happened?” She started to mess with him, making light of the situation.

“I left you that voicemail and apparently Joaquín, Captain America, and that Barnes guy were right behind me the whole time,” Bobby explained, “They heard the whole thing and then backed me into a corner,” He then paused, thinking and then looked round, “Shit, they took my pizza.”

“You really do have terrible timing,” She laughed, causing him to smile. Kurt shifted in his sleep.

There was some more silence before Bobby spoke again, “Alright, I think my stop is coming up so I have to ask. What are you three up to with Captain America and his crew?”
Kitty smirked, “I’m not telling you about that quite yet.”

Bobby rolled his eyes, “You know we can help, right? With whatever it is that you’re plotting?”

“I think it’s best this remains private for now,” She avoided giving him a direct answer, “Not because of you, but rather because I think we’re still, and pardon my choice of words, on thin ice.”

“I think I’ll be the first to admit that I may have made things worse,” Bobby raised his hands. He snickered at the phrase she'd used.

“Tensions were already high, but yeah,” Kitty relented.

Bobby went quiet again, but he was obviously still curious, “You’re not even gonna give me a hint?”

“Nope,” She shook her head and picked up her phone again.

The train came to a stop. Bobby slowly stood up and then got out of the seating area. He hesitated leaving and decided to put his hand on Kitty’s shoulder.

“Don’t be a stranger, alright?” He smiled down at her.

She hesitated before saying, “I won’t.”

They had both failed to notice Kurt’s eyes fluttering open and him sitting up straight before saying, “Auf wiedersehen, mein Freund.”

Bobby grinned at him and they shook hands before Bobby left the train and stepped into the station, leaving Kitty and Kurt behind.

^^^

Bucky sat at the small desk that the hotel room provided with a beer in hand. Sam had decided to take the pizza box Bobby had left behind and was eating a slice. He sat down in a lounge chair by the window and moved the drapes so that the moonlight could seep in.

“You tensed up,” Sam spoke up suddenly.

“Ice has a habit of doing that to me,” Bucky replied, taking a swig of his beer.

“That’s not what I was talking about,” Sam shook his head, “The moment Katherine showed up, you got all tense.”

“I was expecting another fight,” He stated. There was more to it, of course, but he didn’t think it was the time to bring it up.

“You’re doing that thing again when you tell half-truths that turn out to be important later on,” Sam raised a brow.

“And what do you think I’m keeping from you?” Bucky asked, setting down the bottle.

“You weren’t nearly as tense around Kurt or Bobby. Or Logan really,” Sam began to theorize, “Which makes me think that you and her have some kind of history. So tell me, what’s going on?”
Bucky sighed and then put his hand over one half of his face slowly, “I didn’t just hear about them. I was involved in the training process.”

“And?” Sam looked to have him continue.

“I only ever made contact with one subject from that program. Scientists dubbed them ‘2859’ and then pitted us against each other. The kid was small, slightly trained, but not enough to win,” He recounted and removed his hand from his hand fully, “The only thing she had going for her was her ability to phase.”

Sam nodded, “Katherine.”

“I was having nightmares about it right before our first mission against them. And now I know why,” He put his face in his hands again, “When I was speaking with Kurt, he brought it up and confirmed that it was her. And then I saw her today and it all came rushing back.”

“You think she’s a threat because of that?” Sam asked quietly.

“No. If anything, I think it means she’s in the same spot I was in back in Bucharest. Somebody who was tired of fighting and wanted some semblance of a normal life,” Bucky explained, now locking eyes with Sam, "It means that unlike Karli, she and her friends are fighting for survival, not for an ideal."

“Steve would’ve dropped everything to help them, wouldn’t he?” Sam said with a bittersweet smile.

“I think, in a way, he would’ve. But it’s up to us now,” Bucky relented.

“Damn straight. And it’s a whole new world of crazy now,” Sam concluded.

Chapter Text

Logan grabbed a beer bottle from the fridge. He then picked out two cans of soda, one cream for Kitty and a blue bubblegum soda for Kurt. He only kept soda in his fridge because of how often those two came by. He then walked into the next room, setting down the drinks on the table.

They’ve been acting odd, He thought to himself as he went to close the drapes, grabbing onto one piece of fabric. They’re hiding something.

He heard the BAMF! From the door and then heard the door open. He heard Kitty and Kurt’s voices as he sat down at the table. Kurt walked into the room first, fully drenched from the rain outside. Kitty walked in after him, taking off Kurt’s oversized rain jacket as it covered the top half of her face. She hung it up on the wall and then sat next to Kurt.

“The hell happened to you?” Logan asked, raising a brow.

“Rain,” They both said at once.

“And what, ya didn’t think to bring a jacket?” Logan questioned.

“We were in a bit of a pickle,” Kitty answered, sat down, and picked up her cream soda.

Kurt grabbed a towel from the kitchen and began to dry himself off as he too took a seat, “Vhat she said.”

Logan sighed and then popped the cap off the top of the beer bottle, setting it to the side before switching topics, “So the good news is we’ve got an actual lead this time around."

Both Kitty and Kurt perked up. Kurt asked to confirm, “We do?”

“Yep, the contact came through. He gave me coordinates to one of the Power Broker’s warehouses, and said it’s where all the mutants got processed before being taken to Hightown Madripoor,” He recounted what he’d been told to them, “Said it’s probably the best way to figure out who the Power Broker’s been in contact with to get access to our kind.”

“Think we can get in and out?” Kitty asked, taking a sip from her soda.

Logan took off his watch and then turned it on, setting it down in the center of the table as an orange hologram of the facility floating in the center of the table. Both Kitty and Kurt’s eyes widened at the sheer size of the facility.

“The place is covered in high-level security. The Power Broker’s not taking any chances,” Logan leaned back in his seat, “We could do it, but it would take a lot of effort without any room for error.”

“Zo, in Remy’s vords, ve need to play our cards right,” Kurt speculated, tapping his chin.

“Yep,” Logan nodded.

“So, in other words, we need help,” Kitty spoke. Kurt whipped his head towards her. Logan looked between the two with concern.

Definitely hiding something, Logan thought and then decided to voice his thoughts, “What’re you thinking, Cat?”

Kitty took a deep breath and looked at Kurt for approval. He nodded his head and took a sip from his soda, looking at Logan as if watching for his reaction. Kitty then began, “So remember when, during the last mission, you had Kurt and I just wandering the Diamond Hall for ‘security?’”

“Just skip to the point, kid,” Logan ordered, looking at her with a neutral expression.

“Okay, okay so Kurt and I decided that maybe it’s time we start working with superheroes instead of running away from or fighting them. So we used the watch to contact Captain America and asked him and his friend to come by during the mission at Diamond Hall. We managed to convince them that, hey, we’re on the same side and fighting the same bad guy and they let us go,” Kitty rambled off an explanation quickly, “Then yesterday, they went to Bobby Drake, you know Iceman, and asked for facial rec of us, not knowing that Bobby was a mutant. Bobby did it and then later on called me to let me know, but then we figured he was in some kind of trouble since he wasn’t answering his phone and Kurt teleported us all the way to Washington DC where we found Bobby being questioned by the Captain and two of his pals. It didn’t end in a fight thanks to Kurt’s negotiating skills. Thank you by the way, Kurt, and so now they’ve agreed to work with us in the future and please don’t be mad at us.”

Logan raised his eyebrows, processing everything that she said. Both Kurt and Kitty watched him in suspense. Logan facepalmed slowly and then took a swig of the beer on the table, “You really think that a partnership like that could work?”

“Ve might as vell try. Ve share zis world just like ve share zis enemy. Ve vould be vise to have an ally,” Kurt interjected.

“You kids have made this whole thing a hell of a lot more complicated,” Logan shook his head with a sigh.

“Logan, they were going to figure out we existed eventually. Why not reveal ourselves on our own terms?” Kitty reasoned. None of this would work without him.

Logan looked at Kitty. She was right. That little girl was always right. And Kurt was on her side too. They were always on each other’s side. It’s why he rarely ever won a vote where they weren’t all in agreement. The two of them didn’t work without the other. A dynamic duo of sorts, he thought.

Logan contemplated the option they'd given him, looking at the beer bottle and occasionally at Kurt or Kitty. He knew if this went sideways, it would end poorly. Somebody would get hurt and no matter how hard he tried, it couldn’t be him. The worst part about a healing factor is not being able to heal the people he cared about. Not in the ways that mattered, really. No healing factor could take away the heartache he’d watched these two go through.

He’d tried to live his life without getting too attached because he knew he’d be ripped away from them eventually. Somebody always pulled him back in. These two kids had done it to him all over again. And they’d taken a chance when they met him too. They’d decided to trust him no matter what.

He figured it was about time he trusted them and their decisions, “Alright.”

Kitty and Kurt grinned at each other eagerly and then at him.

“We’ll invite ‘em to this mission to the warehouse as a trial run,” Logan went on, “If things go bad, we won’t work with ‘em again. If not, then we’ve got a solid partnership.”

“Wunderbar!” Kurt cheered and clapped his hands. He was relieved they wouldn’t have to beg Logan to agree to this.

“So the plan is, Cat, you contact ‘em using the watch. We’ll meet up with ‘em at the old base a block down in Lowtown, Madripoor. You’ve already got the address so send ‘em a time, let’s say 11 p.m. on Friday. Tell ‘em to suit up,” Logan finished telling her a plan and Kitty sprung into action, writing the message on her watch.

“We’ve got a few days. Ya got time to make watches for ‘em?” Logan then made the request to Kitty. She stopped tapping on the watch and looked at him and then at the table, calculating.

“I think I could pull it off,” Kitty replied, “I just need parts.”

“I thought you had the parts,” Logan raised a brow.

“I did, but somebody broke his watch and I had to use those to make him a new one,” Kitty explained with slight passive aggression.

“Du kannst get some parts from Riri, ja?” Kurt queried, tilting his head. Somehow he’d managed to down his soda in the few moments they’d taken to speak to each other.

“Yeah,” She nodded and then went back to writing out the message on the watch.

Logan turned his head to Kurt, “Can I talk to ya, Elf?”

“Na klar,” Kurt got out of his seat and discarded the empty soda bottle. Logan slowly removed himself from his seat, guiding Kurt out to the living room. He checked to make sure Kitty was too focused on writing the message on the watch to listen in.

“This was yer idea, wasn’t it?” Logan questioned.

Kurt nodded and relented, “It vas.”

“Why’d ya put that idea in her head?” He whispered to him.

“Logan, ze vorld may fear and hate us, but ve cannot just sit here und vait for zeir acceptance. Ze vorld needs heroes now more zan ever. Better yet, ve have a chance to vork vith ze Captain America. Zis is our vay of joining ze vorld as who ve are,” Kurt explained with confidence and that concealed hope he’d always had in his pocket.

“I know you believe in the whole ‘love thy neighbor’ thing, but we could be playin’ with fire here,” Logan warned in a hushed tone.

“Nozing in life ever comes vithout its share of risks,” Kurt countered, “It is time to stop fearing zem and instead embrace zem.”

Logan sighed, “I’m not winning this one, am I?”

Kurt chuckled, “Nein, mein Freund.”

“Alright,” He put a hand on Kurt’s shoulder and lowered his voice again, “But understand this, if anything goes wrong, we stick together, alright?”

Kurt bowed his head, “Of course.”

Before they could continue, Kitty strolled in, holding up the watch with the message, “It’s sent!”

Kurt smile at her and then pulled her in for a hug and then suggested, “I say, ve make latkes.”

Kitty shook her head, “Nuh-uh. I am not making those now.”

Kurt frowned and Logan rolled his eyes with a slight smirk, “I’ll get out the stuff to make burgers, but you’re both helping, got it?”

Kitty and Kurt nodded with excitement. Kurt teleported to the kitchen while Kitty bounded into the kitchen. Logan waited a moment, smiling to himself, before following them into the kitchen.

^^^

We have a lead.
Must work together, bring all four of you.
Address: 4268 Fuadain Ln, Lowtown, Madripoor
Friday, 11 p.m., don’t be late.
Suit up.
-K

Chapter Text

Sam, Bucky, Torres, and Walker had taken the flight to Madripoor and had arrived at the address that had been listed on the watch. They’d done everything the message had requested and looked up at the abandoned building. The lights were dark and there was no indication of anyone being in the building. As a result, Sam sent Redwing to survey the upper levels of the building. Redwing returned a few moments later with thermal scans of the upper levels.

The scans revealed two people in the building on the seventh floor. With that, the four men walked inside and took the elevator up. Once they reached the seventh floor, they made sure to be quiet. Walker had still maintained that this was some kind of setup while the other three thought otherwise.

The four men heard music from down one hall and decided to approach quietly. They got to a door at the end of the hall where the loud music was coming from. Redwing was reading a thermal signature coming from the room. Sam slowly opened the door and walked in cautiously, raising his wrist, Torres following suit. Bucky and Walker both put their hands on their firearms. Sam identified the song as an ABBA tune, but couldn’t quite remember the title.

As the song got to the chorus, they then heard somebody humming along. At the chorus, the person began to sing along. At the center of the room was a large table with several chairs surrounding it. The voice was in the room but out of sight.

On the table were a box of tools. The group of four split up and wandered around the room. Sam looked at the contents of the table while Walker stood by the door. Bucky strolled over to the other side of the room and looked at a stack of papers on a table in the corner of the room.

Torres went to the opposite corner and found the portable speaker that had been playing the loud music. He picked up the speaker and then turned it off, ending the song abruptly.

“Hey! Logan! Turn that back on!” The voice shouted. It was Katherine. All four men whipped their heads to look at the table.

No one dared to respond, so remarkably she phased her head through the table and opened her mouth to yell again before stopping, seeing that it was indeed not Logan. She raised her eyebrows in surprise and then scrambled to stand up, continuously phasing through the table, “Hello- hi- you’re early-”

Sam shook off the initial shock of seeing her phase so casually and then greeted her, “Hello, Katherine.”

Kitty quickly shook off the shock and then dialed something on her watch. She walked through the table and then stood on the opposite side of the table from Sam, “Again, only my mom calls me Katherine,” She went to correct him, “I go by Kitty.”

Sam nodded, “Any other nicknames we should know about?”

“Nope, Logan is Logan and Kurt is Kurt,” She shook her head.

“Speaking of which, where are your accomplices?” Walker asked, stepping away from the door and towards the table.

“Logan is suiting up somewhere and Kurt is keeping watch. I just notified them that you’re here,” She explained.

As if on cue, Kurt teleported in with a BAMF! Of purple smoke and landed on top of the table. He looked around and had the same expression as Kitty had had moments earlier. He then grinned and got off the table, “Willkommen!”

Logan walked into the room, grumbling something. Out of him, Kurt, and Kitty, he seemed the least shocked. He spotted the four men and then mumbled something else before sitting down in a chair beside Kitty and Kurt and ordering, “Take a seat.”

Kitty perked up like she remembered something and then dove under the table. She came out from under the table holding a chestplate with four watches and a few tools and extra parts inside. She emptied the contents onto the table and then asked Kurt to help her put on the chestplate. They did so quickly and then sat on either side of Logan. Sam sat down across from them and Bucky and Torres sat on either side of him. Walker sat next to Bucky and still watched the three mutants with suspicion.

Logan let out a large exhale and started talking, “Let’s start. There’s a large warehouse nearby that belongs to the Power Broker. We’re gonna raid it and take information that can tell us where they’re getting mutants from and who’s giving them government secrets.”

“And why do you need us for this?” Bucky asked, crossing his arms.

The purple dragon, Lockheed, flew into the room through the window and landed on Kitty’s shoulders. It crawled down and settled into her lap. She took off what looked to be a little camera off of its back and then handed it to Logan. She briefly locked eyes with Bucky and then quickly looked down at Lockheed, giving off a hint of discomfort.

Logan set down the device on the table and a blue hologram floated above the group, “Facility’s massive,” He then pressed a button on the camera, causing a multitude of red dots to pop up around the facility, “And there’s a crap ton of high-level security infesting the entire place.”

“In summary, you need our help to break into this place,” Sam concluded.

“Richtig,” Kurt nodded.

“You do realize there’s better ways to go about this?” Sam matched Bucky and crossed his arms, “We’ve got a friend who knows the Power Broker’s moves well.”

“Who?” Kitty asked, tilting her head.

“Sharon Carter. She works with the government now. She’d help us and you if you’d be willing,” Sam suggested.

“I don’t know if ya remember this but we aren’t exactly fond of the government,” Logan pointed out with a scowl.

“Neither was Sharon. She risked her entire career to help us years ago and she ended up losing everything. She became a fugitive just like we were. She set up shop in Madripoor,” Sam explained.

“Sharon Carter.. Where do I know that name from?” Kitty asked herself.

“Vas zat ze gallery ve und Illyana vent to-?” Kurt leaned over to her.

Kitty nodded, having an epiphany, “She’s a black market art dealer. She’s got connections all over Madripoor.”

“How do you know Sharon?” Bucky asked suddenly.

Kitty froze after hearing his voice and then stumbled, “We never met, but we were doing an investigation there.. With a friend and we spotted her talking to some suits.”

Kurt jumped in as Kitty focused her attention back on Lockheed, “In ozer vords, ve could be tipping off ze Power Broker if ve vent to Ms. Carter.”

“It’d take less time to just get information from the warehouse tonight,” Logan added on.

Bucky and Sam exchanged a glance. They didn't like the fact that they were so quick to distrust Sharon, but Sam agreed slowly, “Alright, in that case, what’s our plan?”

“Kitty needs to get into the building and connect to the computer system to get the data we need. No mutants are currently being stored in the building so we don’t need to worry about endangering anybody. We don’t know the exact location of the data center in the building so we’re gonna need to find it,” Logan paused to let that sink in before continuing, “So one team’ll have Kitty while the other will have Kurt. That way, if Kurt’s team finds the computer system first, he can teleport her in.”

“I’m thinking of two teams then. Kitty’s and Kurt’s. We should also have a lookout to ensure that we know what’s going on on the outside. Torres?” Sam quickly brought up. Torres nodded eagerly.

“Have the dragon out there with him,” Logan turned his head to Kitty. She nodded and Lockheed seemed to nod with her. Torres frowned and looked at the little purple dragon nervously.

“Alright, let’s assign teams,” Sam clapped his hands together and looked around.

“I’m going with computer girl,” Walker said suddenly.

“Who’re you again?” Kitty asked, inspecting him.

“John Walker. U.S. Agent,” He announced. Kitty still looked at him as if she had no idea who he was. He rolled his eyes and then added, “You hit me with a tray. Twice.”

Kitty nodded with a smug smile, revealing that she has been messing with him, “Yeah, I figured as much.”

“I’ll go with the blue fuzzball,” Sam decided, leaving Bucky and Logan.

“It would be best to have Bucky on the intelligence team for the sake of stealth,” Walker suddenly suggested.

“Then that settles it. Bucky, Kitty, and Walker on team one and Kurt, Logan, and myself on the other,” Sam established and then stood up, “Find the central data room and make sure Kitty gets there, got it?”

The group nodded and agreed to meet outside in twenty minutes. The group then dispersed to make some final preparations. Bucky and Sam took the moment to gather Walker and Torres to speak while Kitty, Kurt, and Logan followed suit on the other side of the room.

“If we want this to go well, we need to trust them,” Sam expressed.

“And if it doesn’t?” Torres asked, quickly glancing at Lockheed who fluttered past them in a purple blur.

“Then we’ve got the advantage of being in an environment where they’re outnumbered,” Walker stated.

“Hopefully, we’ll never have to use that to our advantage, right John?” Sam asked with slight passive aggression.

Walker rolled his eyes and nodded. They then split up and readied their suits and weapons. Bucky tried to subtly look over at the mutant trio on the other side of the room, trying to read their reactions to the whole matter.

“Are you sure you are ready for zis?” Kurt asked Kitty quietly.

“Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve hacked a million different computer systems. This isn’t something new,” Kitty replied.

“You know zat is not vhat I’m asking,” Kurt frowned slightly.

“Cat, do ya really think you’re ready to go on a mission with- ya know,” Logan rephrased the question.

Kitty looked at the ground as Lockheed landed on her shoulders again, “I mean, I can’t avoid it forever. Might as well rip the bandaid off. Plus, he probably doesn’t even remember it. I’m sure it wasn't a memorable fight to him.”

“Kätzchen-” Kurt didn’t look convinced. He knew the truth, he’d heard remnants of both sides of the story.

“Ready to go?” Sam asked, approaching the group.

“Yep,” Kitty grinned and then peered over to Kurt and Logan.

“It’s one mission alongside the most well-known superheroes on the planet, how bad can it really get?”

Chapter Text

At the start of the mission, Kitty distributed the watches to Torres, Walker, Sam, and Bucky. Kurt then teleported Team 2 to the other side of the building to find an entry point and then teleported Team 1 to the first point of entry. The agreement was for Team 1 to search the upper half of the warehouse while Team 2 surveyed the lower half.

Sam opted to lead the trio consisting of him, Logan, and Kurt as they began searching the upper half of the facility. The specific portion they were in was covered in shelves with various crates and boxes lining them.

“The computer room would be more towards the center of the building according to Kitty,” Logan threw the suggestion out there.

“Which I assume is that way,” Sam pointed down one row of shelves. They all looked practically identical.

Kurt and Logan nodded and quietly followed him down the aisle. Before they turned the corner, they heard a group of guards approaching. Kurt climbed up to the top shelves and disappeared. Logan and Sam hid in one of the lower shelves, hiding behind a few of the larger crates.

Once the guards had passed, the three men reemerged and carefully turned the corner. As they traveled down a long metallic hall, they hid from another group of guards. Once again, they continued on their way with caution until they found a door that was heavily fortified with four guards standing by.

Kurt acted first and teleported over to one guard, instantly teleporting him away, much to Sam’s dismay. Logan then acted and charged towards two of the guards, slicing their guns with his claws. Sam rolled his eyes and then engaged the remaining guard in a fistfight.

Kurt dropped the guard he’d taken, causing the man to smack onto the floor, instantly losing consciousness. Since then, he teleported back, and snatched a guard away from Logan and repeated the gesture, only to find the guard wouldn’t go down without a fight. Sam spotted Logan fighting a guard with his claws and shouted at him to not kill anybody. Logan shot him a glare and then sheathed his claws before punching the guard straight in the face and knocking him unconscious. Sam hit the guard he was fighting with the shield as Kurt teleported back with the inert body of the second guard, dropping him on the floor.

The three men approached the door and looked for a way to open it. They found a key in one guard’s pocket. They unlocked the door and stepped inside, finding two identical concrete hallways. They looked down both halls and saw that rather than computers, the halls consisted of prison cells with steel bars.

At the sight, Kurt’s grin dropped, his expression turning disturbed. He took a step forward, his eyes having a faraway look as he peered into each cell. Sam could tell he was looking for someone, making sure no one was in this prison.

Sam looked over at Logan, standing next to him, his expression remained unchanged at the sight of the cells.

“Not concerned at all, huh?” Sam asked, looking at him and then back at Kurt.

Logan shrugged, “We’ve fought worse.”

“Then what’s with him?” He questioned, now just watching Kurt as he stepped into one cell and reemerged with a look of unease.

“HYDRA kept him in a cell like these years back. They kept the place dark and made sure he couldn’t move by attaching these restraining devices to him that would dampen his powers,” He sighed as he explained, “HYDRA moved him around a lot to make sure the program would never be found out. He’d use it as a chance to escape, but failed nearly every time. When he failed they attached more restraints.”

“Were you with him during all of this?” Sam raised a brow.

“No, but Kitty was. He’s spoken to me more about it than she has,” Logan spoke as he continued to watch Kurt roam the halls.

“I thought you three were in the same program,” Sam pointed out.

Logan shook his head, “I was in the Weapon X program back in the 50’s and 60’s. Those two were in somethin’ else.”

Sam looked at him with confusion, “Then how did you three even meet?”

“I had my memories messed with for a while and I was lookin’ for anything about my past. I went to one facility and found ‘em there. Broke ‘em out, took 'em to school,” Logan looked at the ground.

“And they’ve been following you around ever since, huh?” Sam put his hand on his hip, asking the question with a slight smile to lighten the mood.

“Suppose so,” Logan shrugged.

Kurt returned to them with a somber look and shook his head, “Niemand.”

“Then let's keep movin’,” Logan gestured for them to start walking again. This time, Logan and Sam got to see the empty concrete cells and the dull yellow collars scattered along the prison floors.

Sam made note of each cell and looked at Logan and Kurt’s reactions. Kurt was still visibly upset while Logan occasionally grimaced, overall keeping his usual gruff expression. As they exited the prison area, he noticed Kurt take a deep breath out of relief. Logan patted him on the shoulder. They exchanged a look with Kurt giving him an expression of uncertainty while he silently comforted him.

It was an exchange that Sam and Bucky had had before. An exchange the two had had before the mission. Bucky had quietly worried about another fight and Sam had done as he always had, patted him on the shoulder and had spoken with him. They’d assured each other that they’d use this mission as a shot in the dark. To see if these people were really in pursuit of a better future for the world.

It was that simple look exchanged between friends that made Sam realize this group was the real deal. They had no plans to betray him, Walker, Torres, or Bucky. They genuinely wanted to do the right thing- a quality that was difficult to find nowadays.

As they traveled down the next hall in what they thought was the right direction, Sam wondered how the other group was doing. If they too felt this odd sense of unity he’d finally managed to grasp with the mutant trio.

^^^

“Why are you asking so many questions?” Bucky whispered to Walker.

“I’m assessing her. We need to make sure someone like her is trustworthy,” Walker responded with his voice at full volume, “We need to make sure we’re not working with criminals.”

“Can you shut the hell up?” Kitty snapped at Walker, “You’re aware this is a stealth mission, right?”

“I’m aware,” Walker sounded offended. He’d been relentlessly questioning her ever since they had split away from the other team which had obviously gotten on her nerves.

“Then, and I cannot stress this enough, shut up,” She reiterated.

Bucky hadn’t managed to get a word in. Not that there would be anything for him to say since he had no idea how to approach a conversation with these two people.

Walker broke the silence again, “Why do you even need a gun, anyway? You have superpowers.”

“Because I need one,” Kitty looked like she was going to claw her face off, “What? Do you not trust me with a gun?”

“I don’t even trust you with a tray,” Walker fired back.

“That’s on you,” She rolled her eyes, “And look around there’s no trays.”

“You still have a gun,” Walker pointed out.

Kitty clenched her fist and then took out her gun from its holster before forcefully handing it to Walker, “There! Happy now?”

“Yes, I am,” Walker replied, looking annoyed and then handed the gun to Bucky who then handed it back to him with a scowl.

Kitty turned away and went back to leading the group down the gray hall.

Once again, it was Walker that ruined the silence, “You may be hiding other weapons we don’t know about.”

“Okay, let’s be honest here, I don’t need a weapon to kick your ass, alright? Can we just leave it at that?” Kitty was very close to yelling at him.

“Is that a threat?” Walker asked. He was picking for another fight. A rematch of sorts.

Finally, Bucky spoke up, “No, she doesn’t want a fight with us.”

Walker whipped his head to look at him, “Why wouldn’t she? That seems to be all she wants.”

“It’s not,” Bucky insisted calmly.

“How would you know that?” Walker continued to question.

“Because he knows who’d win,” Kitty started suddenly, looking back at them. She looked at Bucky with coldness for a second longer than she should have before turning back and continuing to walk.

Walker looked between the two of them with confusion before asking, “Is there something I don’t know about?”

“No,” Kitty and Bucky said at once.

The hallway came to an end and Walker went to check to make sure that there were no guards. Unfortunately for him, there were four guards by the door. He hid behind the corner. Kitty looked at him with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity. Bucky just raised a brow. Walker raised four fingers and then used his hands to make the shape of a door and guns. Kitty grinned a bit, took a large breath, and then walked past them and into the opening.

Both Bucky and Walker looked at her with bewilderment as the shots began to ring out. They both watched Kitty as the bullets flew through her and into the wall. She watched as the guards continued to fire and then launched forward towards them.

The guards were caught off guard as she approached the first one, kicking him in the shins and then kicking his chin once he bent over. She took the machine gun he was holding as he passed out. She moved on to the pair of guards that ran towards her. She used the gun to repeat the actions of moments prior with another guard, hitting him in the chin with the gun rather than her knee. Rather stupidly, the third guard approached her without raising his gun and lunged towards her. She reacted by turning around quickly and pummeling him in the head with the machine gun.

Unbeknownst to her, Bucky had followed in her footsteps and had taken on the fourth guard, engaging him in a fistfight and then knocking him to the ground before even being able to grasp his weapon. Walker, who’d stayed behind the wall, approached them with a nod of unease and approval.

Kitty looked down at the guy Bucky had taken down as he lay there unconscious and then went to the door, “I’m gonna see what’s inside, make sure nobody shows up.”

They nodded and she phased through the door and into the room. After a few seconds, they heard shouting and then quiet moments later. Kitty phased through the door again and then smirked in triumph, “Found it.”

“We don’t have a key card to get in,” Walker brought up.

Kitty rolled her eyes again, “You don’t need a key card,” She held out her hand. She was still half-phased through the door. Walker hesitantly took her hand and she phased back through the door and pulled him into the computer room. After he was fully inside, she just phased her arm through the door again to get Bucky. Bucky took her hand without a second thought and was pulled into the dimly lit computer room.

“Feel free to let the others know while I get started,” Kitty said and then looked at the computer system like it was a fresh meal.

“How do I do that exactly?” Bucky inquired, looking down at the watch. He was completely both dumbfounded and fascinated by the little orange thing.

“Hit the button under the screen on the left. Then once the hologram pops off, snap a picture and use the holographic keyboard to type out that you found the computer room,” Kitty continued to approach the computer system and then started stating the directions. She then noticed Walker approached a person she’d knocked out when she’d gone into the room before them, “Don’t touch them.”

Walker scowled at her while Bucky fidgeted with the watch and figured out how to do what she’d asked. As he finished sending the message, he looked up and watched Kitty connect a device to the computer system and then begin typing. She searched for any files in the system that were relevant to either of their causes. Anything they found that was of interest was transferred onto the device.

With a BAMF! Sam, Logan, and Kurt appeared in the room. Walker swatted away the purple mist. Kurt had a haunted expression and went over to Kitty, standing by her. Sam went to check in with Torres. Logan stood next to Bucky with his arms crossed, watching Kitty and Kurt with eagle eyes.

Kitty stopped typing after having gone through all of the files in the system and let the remaining files transfer over to the device. Bucky watched as she turned to Kurt to give him a small smile of reassurance. He still held that troubled look and instantly went to hug her for comfort. She held him gently and whispered some things to him. He nodded without responding verbally. He lingered there for a few more seconds before letting her go.

Sam returned from checking on Torres, “Can we hurry this up? Torres and the dragon spotted a new group of guards on their way here.”

Kitty rushed over and waited for the final file to upload before unplugging the device and storing it in her belt and saying that they were good to go. Kurt requested that everyone hold on to each other before he teleported them out in a moment.

The group had just teleported out of the warehouse when Sam went to contact Torres again to make sure the coast was clear. Kitty stepped away from the group and towards Kurt and Logan as Bucky and Walker stood by Sam.

A single shot rang through the air as a string of blood landed on the ground.

Chapter Text

Kitty cried out and gripped her arm. Kurt bolted to her side as Logan ordered for him to get them out of there. Sam lifted his shield to stop the array of bullets that flew toward them and then held on to Bucky as the group connected and Kurt teleported them all back to the base. Once they were safely inside the base, Kurt rushed Kitty to another room. Logan followed along with something between concern and anger.

Sam called for Torres to return as quickly as he could. Torres responded that he was flying towards the roof alongside the dragon. As the exchange ended, Walker, Bucky, and Sam followed after the three mutants to see what had become of them.

They found Logan, Kurt, and Kitty inside a rather small room with a couple of dusty hospital beds. The three men stood in the doorway. Kitty sat on the edge of one bed, holding her shoulder with a grimace on her face. The blood had seeped through her fingers and now trickled down her arm. Logan searched a few nearby cabinets while Kurt teleported around the room, looking for any medical supplies.

“Hurry up, would ya?” Logan shouted in Kurt’s direction.

“I am trying! Zer is nozing here!” Kurt responded loudly and then finally found a nearly empty box of gauze. He returned to Kitty and then eased her into moving her blood-soaked arm so he could get a proper look at her wound. He wrapped the remaining gauze around her arm and then apologized for not having been able to find any painkillers.

Torres had arrived and stood behind Walker, Bucky, and Sam, trying to get a view into the room, “What happened?”

“Kitty got shot,” Sam answered, watching them intently. Lockheed flew into the room at full speed and landed next to Kitty, poking her side as a way of letting her know he was there. She smiled faintly at the little purple dragon and stroked its back.

“That explains why the dragon was suddenly so on edge,” Torres expressed.

“What, did you talk to it or something?” Walker asked bluntly.

“No, he just started getting really anxious all of a sudden,” Torres shrugged. It slightly baffled him that he was defending the dragon that had mauled his face a few weeks earlier.

Kitty stood up and walked with Kurt to the doorway. Logan joined them and silently checked on her. The concern on his face was minimal but ran deeper than most would think.

Sam looked at her arm, watching the blood easily bleed through the thin layer of gauze surrounding it, “You guys need some help with that?”

Kurt nodded quickly, “I need to treat ze vound properly. Zer is nozing here zat I can utilize,” He looked to Logan as if asking for approval and he just nodded reluctantly.

“We have medical supplies on our jet. You can treat her there and then we can drop you off wherever you need to go,” Sam put out the offer.

“Alright, take us there,” Logan relented after he took another glance at Kitty’s arm and her pained expression as she went back to holding it again now that the blood continued to run.

Sam turned around and led the group out of the hall and eventually out of the building. They quietly headed down one street and then approached the outer edge of the city where the jet sat in plain sight, blending into the dark of night.

They all boarded the jet. Torres went to the front and got into the pilot’s seat to take off. Sam showed Kurt where the medical supplies were and helped him unload what he needed. Logan helped Kitty to a seat and then stood by her with his arms crossed as Kurt sat down next to her. Lockheed flew into Kitty's lap and curled up there, settling in nicely.

Bucky and Walker sat next to Sam. Logan watched over Kurt and Kitty and made sure that Kurt had gotten the wound clean and made sure that she’d only just been grazed with a bullet rather than fully shot. He then made his way to the copilot's seat and began telling Torres where to go.

As the jet began to take off, Kurt had been able to stop the bleeding and then wrap her arm with a real bandage. Kitty thanked him quietly and leaned on his shoulder. Kurt nodded his head and then put his arm around her.

Once the jet was in the air, Sam started up a conversation, “So, you gonna turn over your little data hard drive to the government or are you gonna keep it to yourselves?”

“Sorry,” Kitty apologized quickly and then pulled the device holding all of the information from her pocket, “Is there somewhere we can plug it in or..?”

Sam pointed to a place under her seat. She looked down and then found the spot, plugging in the device. A light blue hologram popped up displaying the first of the many files on the drive. The group searched through the files and then found one on the purpose of the facility. Bucky spotted a file on how mutants were captured to be trained and then auctioned off.

The file had multiple missing or deleted parts, but enough scrolling found enough info for Kitty and Kurt to exchange a glance. They knew something.

“Any thoughts?” Sam asked aloud.

Kitty and Kurt looked away from each other and back to him as if they’d been caught red-handed. They whispered between each other, leading Kitty to admit, “We have our suspicions.”

“Care to enlighten us?” Walker questioned, retaining his usual rude tone.

Kitty and Kurt whispered to each other again and then both leaned forward to try and determine if Logan had been listening in. They both still looked uncertain and then shrugged, nodding to one another.

“We think that we know how they could be getting their supply of mutants,” Kitty announced, “Ever heard of the Hellfire Club?”

“Nope. Bucky?” Sam shook his head and then cocked it to look at Bucky on his left. He too shook his head while Walker watched them. He clearly didn’t even know what was going on.

“Alright, so the Hellfire Club is this secret society made up of wealthy elites that seek to influence world events,” Kitty explained and then looked between Bucky and Sam, “Sound familiar?”

“Yeah, but it’s not HYDRA, right?” Bucky queried.

“Nein, zey have a bit more of a moral code zan HYDRA. Ve have encountered zem before,” Kurt answered and then went back to speaking with Kitty, “You don’t zink Shaw und Frost vould sell out zeir own kind?”

Kitty raised a brow and then laughed, “Starting off, Frost is a stone cold bitch. Secondly, Shaw has zero morals. They can say all they want about ensuring a mutant future, but that doesn’t change the fact that all they want is power.”

“Nozing on ze file indicates zeir involvement,” Kurt speculated, “Maybe anozer party?”

Kitty shook her head quickly, “No, no. It has to be Hellfire business. These kinds of sales stipulate an economic maneuver. It’s strategic. It has to be Hellfire. I’d know Frost’s scheming anywhere.”

“Ve can put zat down as an option but ve should not be so sure until ve can confirm,” Kurt cautioned her.

“So.. who are we talking about?” Sam asked after the group had stalled in silence.

“Emma Frost and Sebastian Shaw. They run the Hellfire Club. They’re both mutants,” Kitty replied as she tried to adjust her seating and winced as she moved her arm. Kurt shot a frown at her and caused her to stop.

“Alright, and what’s their.. Special thing?” Sam lifted his hands like he was using magic of sorts, causing Kitty and Kurt to crack a smile.

“He can absorb energy and use it against you and she’s very good at getting in people’s heads,” Kitty explained the dulled down version of their powers.

“She can also turn her skin to diamond,” Kurt added, resulting in Kitty rolling her eyes, “Vhat? Is zat not true?”

“That is correct,” She shrugged.

“It is sehr pretty,” Kurt continued, inducing another eye roll from Kitty.

“Moving on from that, let’s look for some leads on those government leaks, shall we?” Kitty sat up again, switching the topic.

They continued to sift through the records, finding even less about government leaks until they found a file hidden between two other miscellaneous files about bars.

“Look at this,” Sam leaned forward pointing to a line at the bottom of the file they’d found. Kurt looked at Kitty, expecting her to lean forward. She raised a brow and then looked at her arm before looking at him with an unamused expression. She stayed where she was and Kurt leaned forward instead.

“It is all encrypted,” Kurt noticed.

“They wanted to keep it secure,” Bucky went on, “Something important has to be on there.”

“Kätzchen, do you think you could-?” Kurt posed the question.

“Yup, I’ll do it when I have my computer,” Kitty agreed.

“Why can’t you do it now?” Walker asked with his arms crossed.

“Do you see my computer?” Kitty retorted, causing Logan to snort from the copilot's seat.

Walker grumbled to himself and then opted to watch the front of the jet.

“Okay, you’ll do that once we drop you off and you’ll let us know so we can determine how to proceed,” Sam said, his words being met with curt nods from Kitty and Kurt.

The two mutants interpreted that as the end of the debriefing and Kurt leaned back, shutting his eyes. Kitty leaned on his shoulder again and her eyes fluttered shut.

“It’s going to be a long flight, so you guys might want to get comfortable,” Torres announced from the pilot’s seat.

“Fine by me,” Sam mumbled and leaned back in his seat, shutting his eyes.

Walker had somehow dropped dead asleep and begun to snore. Bucky attempted to sleep by shutting his eyes. After finding that unsuccessful, he attempted to count sheep in his head. This attempt was met with varying success as he fell in and out of consciousness. He finally managed to drift off for quite some time.

Bucky didn’t know how many hours had passed when he heard soft murmurings from across the way. He recognized Kurt and Kitty’s voices going back and forth. He waited to open his eyes, worrying he would disturb the conversation and possibly make things awkward. So he decided to listen in.

“So what happened?”

“Wie meinst du das?”

“You know what I mean. Something happened to you during the mission.”

“Everyzing vas fine.”

“I call BS. What happened?”

“Vhat makes you zink somezing happened?”

“Kurt, when something upsets you, you do this thing where you hug me really tightly and put your face on my shoulder. You did it earlier. So I’ll ask one more time, what happened?”

“You have me zere,” Kurt chuckled slightly and then sighed, “Kätzchen, zere vere rows and rows of cages in zat place meant for our kind.”

There was a brief pause, “And it reminded you of-”

“Yeah.”

Another pause.

“How did zings go on your end?”

“Pretty well, actually. I think I’m getting better considering the circumstances.”

“Hm. Are you getting better or are you just avoiding ze problem?”

“What? I don’t- I never. No.”

“Kätzchen. Just like you know my tendencies, I know yours. Zis goes both vays. Und ich weiß wann you are avoiding a problem.”

“I am not.”

“Ja, das bist du. You are sehr direkt with machines und zeir problems but you often avoid ze problems you have vith other people.”

Kitty scoffed, “Name one example.”

“Illyana.”

“Okay you win that one, but I’m not avoiding this specific problem.”

“Have you spoken vith him about it?”

“No. It’s not exactly something you just bring up out of the blue. Plus, once this whole ordeal is over, I’ll probably never see him again.”

“Do not be so certain. Zese zings are alvays unpredictable.”

“I guess you’re right.”

Another pause followed at the end of their quiet discussion.

“You know I’m never gonna let that happen to you again, right?”

“Was?”

“I’m never going to let anybody put you back in a cage. I don’t care who I have to fight- even if it’s Captain America or the Avengers. I’m never going to let it happen.”

“Let us hope zat vill never happen.”

Chapter Text

Once they’d been dropped off in Cambridge, Kurt had teleported Kitty to her dorm room at MIT and switched bandages, pledging he would return the next morning to switch the bandages again. He then teleported himself and Logan back to Logan’s apartment where he decided to stay in the guest room.

Back at MIT, Kitty had plopped down on her bed and changed out of her suit. She couldn’t find it in herself to sleep as she felt the throbbing pain in her arm. She’d taken a painkiller, but there was about a fifty percent chance it wouldn’t work on her. Since her days at HYDRA, she’d been injected with strange substances, rendering her immune to certain painkillers and more susceptible to others. And the fun part? It didn’t matter what medication she took, it would work one day and then not the other or vice versa.

So she figured she’d take the chance and wait for the painkiller to kick in while she worked on decoding the file in the early morning hours. After a couple hours of typing away, she’d managed to crack it. Unfortunately for her, the medication she’d taken was Advil PM and it had taken the chance of kicking in with full force. She shut her computer and plugged it in to charge before blinking.

Turns out, she hadn’t blinked. She’d fallen asleep for a half hour at her desk. She’d realized this fact once she’d glanced at the clock and found it was 4:30 a.m. As a result, Kitty decided it would be best to call it quits and go to sleep in her bed. The moment she hit the sheets, she was out cold.

She was awoken when she heard a key jiggle and the door be opened. She then heard Riri’s voice, “Good morning, Kit-Kat! Rise and shine, we’ve got a full day ahead of us.”

And just like that, the throbbing was back. Kitty opened her eyes narrowly and groaned as she sat up in bed, “Do we really?”

“Yep, we’re taking a couple of freshmen out on the town. Showing them the wonderful world of Cambridge, Massachusetts. And maybe Boston,” Riri exclaimed, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

“Remind me when I agreed to this?” Kitty asked, rubbing her eyes.

“You didn’t, but I figured somebody had to get you out of your dorm,” Riri answered with a smirk.

“I think I’m good,” Kitty yawned and then put her hand on her arm, touching the bandage lightly.

Riri suddenly looked at her with concern as she laid her eyes on the bandage, “What happened there?”

“I ah-” Kitty had to think up a lie quickly, “I was helping my mom move furniture and my arm got caught on a sharp edge. It’s fine now.”

“It looks like it hurts,” Riri raised a brow.

“It obviously does, but I’ll deal with it,” Kitty got out from under the sheets and then stood up.

“So that means you’re going?” The smirk returned.

“Sure,” Kitty gave in, “Just let me get dressed.”

Riri gave her thumbs up and a smile as she got up and promptly left the room. Kitty changed into black jeans and a black tank top before putting on a large yellow cardigan. She looked in the mirror and then thought about the irony of the color combination before sighing and switching to a different light blue cardigan. She then put on concealer to hide her under eye bags. She then grabbed her wallet and her bag and ventured out of her dorm room, where Riri was waiting for her.

“So who are we meeting exactly?” Kitty asked as Riri guided her down the hall to the dorm room of a freshman that had moved in recently.

Riri knocked on the door, “A couple of freshmen.”

A girl with caramel skin and curly hair tied back in a bun answered the door. She was dressed in all black with the exception of a white t-shirt under a black overshirt jacket. Riri had just kept it casual with a white tank top and jeans.

“Kitty, meet MJ. MJ, Kitty,” Riri began introductions.

“Nice to meet you,” Kitty held out her hand to shake and MJ took it with an awkward smile.

“Nice to meet you too,” MJ repeated and then took back her hand before picking up a messenger bag by her door and looking at Riri, “Ned is downstairs.”

“Alrightay,” Riri nodded and then led the way down the hall to the elevator. The three girls got in.

“So, MJ. Where are you from?” Kitty asked to break the silence.

“New York City- Queens specifically,” MJ answered.

“Kitty and I are both from Illinois. I’m from Chicago whereas she's from Deerfield. It’s how we became friends,” Riri dropped the information before Kitty could get a word in.

“So you two knew each other before coming here?” MJ tilted her head as they descended floors.

“No, I was mostly raised in upstate New York. When I came here and met Riri we realized we were both raised in generally the same part of Illinois and bonded,” Kitty was quick to respond. MJ nodded at her explanation.

“Did you and this Ned guy go to school together or is he your boyfriend?” Riri asked out of the blue as they stepped out of the elevator.

“Yes, we knew each other before and no he is not my boyfriend,” MJ answered Riri’s questions and gave her a strange look.

Kitty chuckled, “Sorry about her, she has a weird knack for trying to invest in people’s love lives.”

“Oh c’mon, it’s interesting!” Riri exclaimed.

“What are we talking about?” A short guy with a Star Wars T-shirt inquired as he walked up to them.

MJ smiled slightly, “Kitty and Riri this is Ned.”

Riri and Kitty both shook his hand and exchanged greetings and then Riri went back to the topic at hand, “You only think it’s not interesting because you have the wildest love life I have ever heard about. You two would agree if you knew,” Riri spoke to Ned and MJ.

“Color me intrigued,” MJ raised a brow and looked at Kitty.

Kitty just rolled her eyes with a smile and then asked, “Where exactly are we headed?”

“Porter Square Galleria, we’re taking the train,” Riri answered and then went on as they walked off campus and to the nearest train station, “So Kitty has this insane love life and she hasn’t told me everything, but what she has told me is wild.”

As they walked off campus, Kitty noticed MJ and Ned both looking at a boy with fair skin and neat brown hair who was walking by them with his bag slung over his shoulder. They looked at him as if trying to pinpoint where they knew his face from and eventually both gave up and continued walking by Kitty and Riri’s side.

Riri looked at Kitty as if asking for permission. Kitty just shrugged and let her get on with it, “So while she was living in upstate New York, she went to this school with a bunch of foreign exchange students. She dated this Russian guy named Peter for a while and then broke up with him and then dated a British guy- also named Peter- and then Russian Peter found out about British Peter and beat him up, still having feelings for her. Kitty wasn’t happy about this and then later broke up with British Peter. A little while after that she and Russian Peter got back together and then were on and off again for a while until Kitty came here and now she’s single and alone.”

“Thanks for the emphasis on that last part,” Kitty spoke with sarcasm as the quartet boarded the train.

“That’s not even the end,” Riri continued. Ned and MJ exchanged a look. They were clearly invested in the story, but unsure of what to say.

“That entire time, she was best friends with Russian Peter’s sister, Yana or Illy or-” Riri couldn’t quite place the name.

“Illyana,” Kitty corrected her.

“Yes, Illyana. They were best friends, like really really close friends and when Kitty went to college, Illyana felt so betrayed and they had a fight and stopped talking,” Riri then leaned over to MJ and Ned and lowered her voice, “I think she was in love with her. And I’m pretty sure it was a mutual thing, but she will never admit it.”

“I am not in love with her, we were just close. You need to stop telling people that,” Kitty shook her head and held onto a nearby pole as the train started.

“Right, because you just have two pictures of her in your dorm,” Riri pointed out.

“She’s my friend! Why do you find this so interesting that you tell people?” Kitty asked as they got off the train and then started walking towards the mall.

“Because it’s interesting and it makes good conversation,” Riri turned to MJ and Ned, “They agree with me.”

“You only find it interesting because you don’t have a love life,” Kitty responded.

“Woah! Well, I’m single by choice,” Riri insisted with her arms crossed.

“Sure ya are,” Kitty put a hand on her hip, “Where to first?”

“I don’t know, let’s let the freshmen decide,” Riri looked at MJ and Ned.

The two of them looked at each other, suddenly put on the spot.

“Uh, how about that place?” MJ pointed to a clothing store on the corner.

“I mean, if you want to pay ninety dollars for a tank top, sure,” Riri stated.

“Oh, um, what about that place?” Ned gestured to a larger store that looked a bit more indie than the other place.

Riri looked at Kitty whole shrugged, “Works for us. Let’s head in.”

The group went inside and then separated as different products caught different people’s attention. Kitty wandered the store alone with her hands in her pockets.

Kitty eventually found herself on the border of the clothing section and the area between the checkout and the rest of the store where one would find miscellaneous items stuffed in circular bins. She roamed that area and found herself in the sunglasses section. She picked up a pair of red sunglasses shaped like stars and giggled to herself, trying to imagine Scott Summers wearing them. She put them back and then picked up pink heart-shaped sunglasses. They reminded her of Jubilee and she decided to buy them.

She then crossed the border and wandered into the women’s clothing section. She glanced at a black leather motorcycle vest and made her smile thinking of Ororo. She then spotted a turquoise blouse that she knew Jean would have adored. She then spotted a gorgeous red dress that would have looked stunning on Rogue. And then she spotted a small black choker with a sword charm and picked it up off the rack. Kitty had to stop herself from going any further and walked towards the checkout to purchase the sunglasses and the choker.

While waiting in line, she glanced at a deck of cards and rolled her eyes at the thought of Gambit. The line moved forward and she looked over at the home decor. She noticed an abstract painting. She knew if Hank had seen it, he would’ve bought it and hung it up in his lab, and if asked, provided an in-depth explanation on how it precisely portrayed the thin line between morality and something or other.

Kitty finally managed to pay for the sunglasses and choker and put them in a nice little bag before deciding to head to the front of the store. She was walking through the edge of the women’s clothing section when she saw sudden movement behind one of the racks. She stopped in her tracks and watched for movement again. She heard some whispering and then made the sounds as if she were pretending to walk away. She heard shuffling again and then used her phasing to silence her steps.

She peaked behind a rack and saw none other than the yellow-jacketed Jubilee herself with some guy. They were both obviously trying to hide behind the rack and hadn’t noticed Kitty watching them. Kitty then cleared her throat to catch their attention. Both Jubilee and her friend looked at her now.

“So do I have to ask or am I going to get an explanation?” Kitty questioned, looking completely dour.

“Hey, Kitty! Funny seeing you here, Roberto and I were just, you know, around. We totally didn’t expect to see you here,” Jubilee tried to come up with some level of excuse, failing greatly.

“Around. Right. Because the school isn’t four hours away,” Kitty spoke with sarcasm and then looked at the boy, “You must be Roberto,” He nodded, “I’d say it’s a pleasure to meet you, but I’m getting increasingly more confused.”

“Don’t worry, Roberto is totes a part of the team now. Er- well he’s in training. Anyways, we’ll be going now,” Jubilee then grabbed Roberto’s arm and then began to walk off.

Kitty lightly grabbed her shoulder and then pulled her back, “Jubes, you’re not leaving until I get an explanation as to why you’re here.”

Jubilee thought for a moment, as if debating whether or not to tell the truth. Roberto then decided to speak for her, “She was lying. Scott wanted us to find you.”

Jubilee elbowed him in the side and he winced.

“Oh, did he?” She rolled her eyes, “You can tell him Kurt, Logan, and I are just fine.”

“All he wanted was to see if you guys were fine and dandy. There was no ill will when he gave us the mission. Honestly, I think he just asked us to do this because he thought it’d be easy,” Jubilee rambled off, “But as per usual nothing gets past you, Shadowcat,” She added jazz hands as she said Kitty’s alias.

“Wait, she’s Shadowcat?” Roberto asked, furrowing his brow and looking Kitty up and down and then lowering his voice for Jubilee, “She’s the girl that Illyana’s hung up on?”

Kitty could hear him and facepalmed, deciding to change the topic once again, “Yes, now Jubes, I have something for you and her, so if you could deliver it that would be great.”

“Really? Something for me? What is it?” Jubilee asked with excitement, staring down Kitty’s bag. Kitty took out the sunglasses and handed them to her. Jubilee took off the pair of hot pink sunglasses she’d donned before and then put on the heart shaped glasses. She asked Roberto how she looked numerous times and he said she looked great every time. She thanked Kitty about a million times before going in for a hug.

Kitty patted her on the back and then handed her the bag with the choker, “For Illyana.”

“Anything you want me to say to her?” Jubilee asked as she peaked in the bag.

“Just,” Kitty looked for the right words, “Tell her I say hi.”

“Gotcha,” Jubilee gave her a wink and then pulled Roberto out of the store.

Kitty smiled faintly as she watched them leave and then went out to find the rest of her group. She found Riri, MJ, and Ned all looking at some graphic tees.

From there, they left the store and went to find something to eat. Kitty and Riri spent the rest of the day showing Ned and MJ the parts of Cambridge they thought were best and eventually got the two to come out of their shells.

By the time they had gotten back to their dorms, they were laughing so hard they couldn’t breathe. They managed to finally walk away and return to their dorms with a final goodbye. Kitty bid farewell to Riri and went into her dorm for the night.

Once she shut her door, she heard Lockheed coo. The purple dragon was hopping around on her desk and poking at something on her desk. Kitty walked over finding three yellow pansies tied together with a black bow on her desk.

At first, she was concerned that someone had gotten into her dorm and hesitated to pick them up, but then she spotted a small note. She picked up the note, finding it to be a small ink drawing of a sword. Kitty smiled and picked up the flowers, smelling them before finding a vase hidden in her closet and using an old water bottle to fill it. She set down the vase filled with pansies on her desk and stared at them for a while.

Maybe things weren’t as bad as she thought they were.

Maybe she just got in her head like she always did.

Here she was in this place that she’d deliberately chosen to go to and she couldn’t help but think of the things- the people- she’d left behind. Her expression had a tinge of regret and she decided she needed to distract herself.

She picked up her phone and texted Kurt about the file, asking when they’d meet with Sam, Bucky, and the others to go over it. He responded moments later that it’d be the next day at Logan’s apartment. They conversed for a few hours about various topics like the meeting with Jubilee and Roberto and the flowers as well as the drama from Kurt’s work and the strange customers he’d met that particular day at work at the Walmart. Kurt ended the conversation when he said he was going to sleep as it was now two in the morning.

And just like that, she was alone with her thoughts again.

Chapter Text

“What are they making?” Torres asked as he sat down at Logan’s living room table.

“If I had to guess, pry potato pancakes,” Logan responded with a shrug.

It was odd that he, Bucky, Sam, and Walker were all in Logan’s apartment. Most of all, it was unusual to see the three mutants in such a casual setting. A few days earlier, they’d been instructed to come dressed casual and to act like nothing was going on and that Kitty had successfully decoded the file and had it ready.

Now here they were, dressed casually and waiting for Kitty and Kurt in the kitchen while Logan sat across the table from Walker and Torres. Sam and Bucky stood near the entrance to the kitchen.
The two men peeked inside the kitchen, finding Kitty and Kurt rapidly at work making a dish of sorts. Kitty was working on frying spoonfuls of some kind of mixture in oil before pressing them down and turning them into patties. Kurt set down a large plate and she began placing the patties onto the plate once they turned a golden brown color.

As she repeated her process, Kurt got out seven small plates and stacked them before taking them to the other room. As Kitty worked on the final patties, she glanced over at Sam and Bucky.

“Can one of you grab the sour cream and applesauce from the fridge?” She requested as she dropped another latke onto the plate.

Bucky moved forward and opened the fridge, plucking the sour cream and applesauce from the second shelf. Kurt then walked in and took them from him and spun around back to the other room.

Kitty finished making the latkes and then turning off the grill and then placing the dirty dishes in the sink behind her. She then gestured for Sam and Bucky to move into the other room as she lifted the large plate loaded with latkes from the counter. She phased through the wall separating the rooms and set down the plate in the center of the table.

“Dig in,” She spoke and then grabbed a plate for herself, scooping up a couple latkes and then grabbing a glob of sour cream to smear on the latkes.

Kurt went the opposite route and grabbed applesauce instead of sour cream for his latkes while Logan just kept his plain. Initially, the group of four hesitated, but Sam shrugged and took the risk by grabbing a few potato pancakes for himself and then a bit of sour cream and applesauce to try. Torres followed soon after him and picked up a few for himself with a bit of sour cream. Bucky did the same as Torres while Walker just had his plain.

The group ate in comfortable silence for a while. At one point, Kitty broke off a piece of latke for Lockheed to devour in seconds.

“These are fantastic, what are they?” Torres asked as he used his fork to scoop up another latke.

Kitty finished chewing, “Latkes, their English name is potato pancakes. They’re my mom’s recipe.”

“Well they are delicious,” Sam complimented and Kitty gave a thank you in response.

Sam then continued, “If we continue this partnership, I’m gonna invite you guys down to my hometown for some genuine Louisiana barbecue.”

“Oh! I have never eaten zat before!” Kurt perked up as he finished his plate.

“Guess we’ll have to hold you to that promise,” Kitty replied. Logan nodded his head as he finished his last latke.

“Whose idea was this exactly?” Sam asked as he set down his fork and knife on his empty plate.

Kurt raised his hand bashfully. Kitty smiled at him. Logan then spoke up for them, “It was all Kurt. He calls it ‘Dinner and Debriefing.’ Something about ‘the best way to get somebody’s trust is through their stomach.’ I dunno, he said most of it in German.”

Kurt nodded excitedly, “Back vhen I vas in ze circus, ve vould initiate new members vith food.”

“They ganged up on me and made me agree to this,” Logan admitted as he began stacking empty plates. He took the empty plates from each person and then put them in the kitchen before sitting back down.

Kitty got out her laptop and connected it to her watch on the table, the orange hologram hovered above them. Kitty, Kurt, and Logan had already read the decoded file and were now watching Bucky, Sam, Walker, and Torres’s reactions.

Sam finished reading first, “So there’s a mole and a gala.”

“A mole within the United States government. That seems highly unlikely,” Walker denied.

“And yet it’s right there in the Power Broker’s files,” Logan vaguely gestured to the lines on the file with his drink and then took a swig.

“It looks like the gala is where the Power Broker is gonna strike a deal for another chunk of mutants,” Bucky read off.

“Which means they have a contact there,” Sam followed up.

“The gala itself is at the Sovereign Hotel which means it’s sectioned off between the outer lobby and the main hall. The main hall has more open space, so that’s most likely where the contact will be,” Kitty explained and then changed the hologram to a picture of the hotel, “We just need a way in.”

Sam and Bucky exchanged a look, and Sam quietly asked him, “Do you think-?”

“Probably,” Bucky nodded reluctantly.

“Probly what?” Logan raised a brow.

“Alright, hear us out. Remember that friend we told you about who used to live in Madripoor?” Sam posed the question.

“Carter?” Kitty tilted her head.

Sam nodded, “I know you’re wary to trust anyone, but she’s got the connections to potentially get us in there.”

“Are you sure ve can trust her?” Kurt inquired.

“Sharon risked everything for us. We can trust her,” Sam affirmed.

Kurt, Kitty, and Logan all looked at each other with uncertainty. Kitty looked like she was genuinely calculating and considering the options. Kurt was watching her and they locked eyes for a moment, having a silent conversation with their eyes. Logan rubbed his chin and then looked between the two of them as if looking for an answer. Kitty nodded to the two men.

“Fine, but make sure ya get invites for all of us. If we don’t go together, we don’t go at all,” Logan asserted, setting down his drink firmly.

“Will do,” Sam pulled out his phone and went to message Sharon.

“Isn’t it 21+?” Walker asked, looking directly at Kitty.

Kitty opened her mouth to clap back at him, but was stopped by Kurt’s hand on her shoulder. She then calmed herself and replied, “I’m a few days away and it’s Madripoor. Nobody’s going to ID me.”

“And she’s not gonna drink,” Logan added.

Kitty knitted her brow and turned her head to look at Logan, “I don’t know about that.”

He shot her a look and she rolled her eyes. Kurt giggled at them and then looked to Sam, “Has she responded?”

Sam nodded, “She’ll be able to get us invites by this Friday so we can make the gala on Saturday night.”

“So all seven of us are going, huh,” Kitty asked rhetorically.

“Yep, so we’ll meet at the same base as before, get all dressed up, and head in?” Sam proposed the plan.

“You do realize you guys will need disguises, right?” Kitty leaned back in her seat with a slight smile.

“Und do Avengers have formal vear?” Kurt built on her comment and matched her, leaning back in his chair with a playful smile.

Sam found this amusing, “Avengers stuff aside, a man’s gotta have style. Since when are criminals the experts on that kind of thing?”

“Immer,” Kurt exclaimed, “Und ve are not criminals, ve are.. Vhat is ze vord?”

“Vigilantes,” Kitty suggested.

“Defenders?” Torres went to add.

“Outlaws,” Logan shrugged.

“Antiheroes,” Bucky spoke up, ending the list of suggestions.

“You can call yourselves whatever you want, it doesn’t change the fact that the three of you are operating outside of the law,” Walker shared with mild irritation.

Walker’s words and overall attitude dampened the mood and caused the group to fall back into discomfiture.

Sam decided to break the silence, “We’ll make a game day decision once we get there.”

“We probably have some extra stuff lying around we can use to disguise you and your teammates,” Logan said and then looked at Kurt and Kitty, “Don’t we?”

Both of them nodded and then Kitty’s phone buzzed. She looked down and removed her phone from her pocket. She read the text and then looked at Kurt. She mouthed something to him and he nodded.

Before he could place a hand on her shoulder Logan looked over, “Where are ya headed?”

Kitty initially hesitated and lowered her voice, “I think Riri overheard Lockheed in my dorm and now she thinks there’s a raccoon in my dorm. I have to go make sure she doesn’t see him.”

Sam leaned over to Bucky and whispered, “Isn’t Riri the girl we took the watch to?”

Bucky nodded, “Guess they’re friends,” They then both turned their attention back to Kurt, Kitty and Logan.

“I have to go. It was.. Nice to see you all,” Kitty bid them farewell and then Kurt teleported them both away, leaving Logan alone with Walker, Torres, Bucky, and Walker.

There were a few moments of silence until Logan spoke, “You four better listen to me and listen to me good. Whatever happens during that mission, you better make sure those two don’t get hurt. Not only are they your best shot at surviving if there’s a gun fight, but if they get hurt because of you,” Logan’s face darkened, “I’ll kill ya myself.”

Sam looked at him with shock. Bucky watched him carefully, he could tell the threat was genuine. Walker looked like he was going to threaten him as well, but held back. Torres matched Sam’s expression of shock.

Surprisingly, Bucky was the first person to say, “The last thing we want is to make any of you our enemy.”

“And you can count on our word with that. We have no intentions of double crossing you and your team,” Sam nodded, making an addition to Bucky’s comment and then looked to Walker and Torres, “Right?”

Torres nodded immediately and Walker nodded grudgingly. Logan didn’t seem convinced, but wasn’t going to press the threat further. He’d rather let it sink in.

Kurt reappeared moments later, looking confused after seeing the tense room, “Ich denke, it is time for you to go.”

“Agreed,” Sam stood up and then went towards the door, being followed by Bucky, Torres, and Walker.

“Danke for coming. Ve enjoyed your company,” Kurt opened the door for them with a smile.

“Thanks for the food,” Sam also gave him a smile and then shook his hand as he stepped out. This small action caused Kurt to light up with excitement.

Kurt repeated the action with Torres, Bucky, and Walker, not showing a hint of disrespect or resentment. It was refreshing compared to Logan’s gruff, blunt behavior that had been shown moments prior.

After the two groups had parted ways, both halves were left with a precognition that something was on the horizon. Of what that was, they had no idea.

Chapter Text

Sam lifted his phone to his ear, “Sharon, got what I need?”

“Hello to you too, Sam,” Sharon said over the phone, “And yes, I do. I’m sending you the invites now.”

“Thanks a lot for this,” Sam spoke to her gratefully.

“Of course, but I have to ask, why do you need seven tickets?” Sharon questioned.

“We’re doing an investigation of sorts,” Sam replied vaguely.

“I got that, but why seven tickets? You, Bucky, Torres, and Walker, but who are the remaining three for?” Sharon narrowed down her question, pressing for a real answer.

“Ah..” Sam failed to come up with a lie on the spot.

“A few extra agents?” Sharon continued.

“Not exactly,” Sam responded.

“Come on, I had to draw on some of my old connections for this, at least tell me a little something,” Sharon implored.

Sam sighed, “Fine, but you can’t say anything to Val or Fury or anybody.”

“I used to be an enemy of the state, I can keep a secret,” Sharon claimed with a chuckle.

“Alright about that,” Sam tried to explain in a way that would be vague but still enough to satisfy her curiosity, “We’re working with a few vigilantes of sorts. They brought our attention to something and we’ve been helping them investigate. In turn, they’ve been helping us look into something else.”

“Ah, I see how it is,” Sharon tolerated his broad response.

“Look, I have to get ready for the flight, but thanks again,” Sam grinned.

“No problem. Call again if you need anything,” Sharon replied and hung up before he could lower his phone.

Sam checked his phone, finding all seven invites intact. He then transferred them to his watch and sent them to Kitty for verification. He then put his phone in his back pocket, picked up his suit, lifted his shield, and left for the plane.

^^^

Sam, Bucky, Torres and Walker returned to the base in Madripoor on Saturday a couple hours before the gala. When they entered the building and eventually the room with the large table, they heard Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

Kurt sat shirtless in his blue form at the table while looking at his phone. He wore dress pants and his pointed ears perked up as he heard them enter.

Sam playfully elbowed Bucky as he heard the song and whispered, “See? Everybody likes Marvin Gaye.”

Bucky rolled his eyes with a sigh. Kurt greeted them with a smile, staying seated at the table, but turning off his phone, “Willkommen zurück!”

“What did he say?” Walker asked.

“Welcome back,” Bucky translated.

Kitty walked in wearing cornflower blue, flared dress pants and a white T-shirt. She hadn’t noticed them and was looking at two necklaces, one held in each hand. She stopped next to Kurt and then looked at him, “I didn’t know if you wanted the silver one or the wooden one so I brought both.”

Kurt looked at the two necklaces, “Are you bearing your golden one oder your silver one?”

“The silver. It matches the outfit much better,” Kitty answered and then her eyes lit up, “Do you want to match?”

Kurt nodded, “Ze silver vill do fine zen.”

Kitty set the wooden necklace on the table and then unclipped the silver one, placing it around his neck and then making sure it was fastened. It was now clear to the four men that it was a silver cross necklace.

She clipped it in place and then spoke without looking at them, “So are you all going to change here or are you going like that?”

“We’re going to change here, but you said something about disguises?” Sam answered and then looked at the table.

“Okay, vell, zer are two bathrooms. Zer are two stalls in each,” Kurt spoke, gesturing to the door, “Logan is currently occupying a stall in ze bathroom down ze hall.”

Kurt and Kitty left the room and then Kitty reentered it with a colorful concoction of bright clothing. She set it down on the table and then returned with another pile of clothing. Sam and Walker left to change first, leaving Kitty alone with Torres and Bucky.

Kitty left again and returned with two boxes of miscellaneous items. She set down the boxes on the table by Torres, “Start looking for some stuff that could act as a disguise please.”

Torres dipped his head and began sifting through the items in the box. Kitty got out some hangers and began sorting through the clothing. They looked like costumes.

Bucky wanted to make himself helpful and spoke up, “Is there anything I can help with?”

Kitty’s head shot up to look at him before looking away quickly. She was processing her thoughts. She finally shook her head, “No, I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure?” He asked, looking at the piles of clothes and then to boxes Torres was going through, “It seems like a lot.”

“I can handle it,” She assured him and then went back to sorting the clothing.

He decided not to press her any further and just watched. As she unrolled each suit, he noticed just how wrinkled they were. They must have been in there for a long time. She attempted to smooth them out, but found herself unsuccessful and exasperated and just set them down.

Bucky watched her reaction and then walked over, standing by her side and then picking up one yellow and black suit, folding it neatly.

“What are you-” Kitty looked baffled and slightly apprehensive.

“Just let me help,” Bucky cut her off and walked away, using one of the boxes Torres had gone through to put on top of the folded suit. Kitty watched him with an inquisitive expression. Bucky then walked away and repeated the gesture with a green and yellow costume and then a blue and yellow costume.

“What exactly are you doing?” She asked, tilting her head.

“Getting rid of the wrinkles. I did it back during the war with my uniform,” Bucky explained.

She opened her mouth to speak and then seemingly answered her own question, going quiet once again and then moving on to continue sorting the costumes.

“So, um, what’s the deal with these anyways?” Torres questioned, holding up one piece of black fabric with a large yellow X on it.

“Just old costumes. Kurt thought they could work, but,” She held up a wrinkled green dress with a yellow mask, “I highly doubt that.”

Torres chuckled and pointed to the costume, “Was that yours?”

“Oh god no,” She shook her head quickly and then hesitated to explain, “This belonged to somebody else.”

Kurt reappeared with a BAMF! “Vhat are ve talking about?”

“Costumes,” Bucky gestured to the table.

Kurt looked at the costumes with a grin and then began going through them until he found a black suit with two red stripes down the torso, “Kätzchen look!”

He held it up next to his outfit. The suit matched his current formal outfit. He wore a white dress shirt with a black suit jacket with red lapels. He gave her a goofy grin and she giggled.

“Your old costume should be in here as vell, should it not?” Kurt asked as he dug through the pile. He frowned when he couldn’t find it, “Nicht hier.”

“No, no it’s here,” Kitty smiled at him and then walked over to the box that Bucky had put over the folded clothes. She briefly removed it and took out one folded costume before setting the box back down.

She unfolded the costume and held it up in front of herself. It was a black bodysuit with a yellow stripe down the center, running from the belt and then splitting in half to two points at the shoulders. She looked at the lack of wrinkles, slightly surprised, “Huh, whaddya know. Your method worked,” She spoke to Bucky.

Bucky nodded and inspected the two costumes before looking at Kurt and Kitty, trying to imagine them in the bright costumes.

Just then, Walker strolled in, donning a rather boring metallic blue suit. He glanced at the sight with confusion. He took a seat at the table next to Torres. Torres stood up and then left with his suit to go change.

Kitty went back to sorting through the clothing. As she looked at each costume and folded it, Kurt would say some remark in German in an attempt to get her to laugh. She would occasionally crack a smile and giggle, but she seemed to be holding back for whatever reason.

“If you don’t mind me asking, if you guys were born with these powers, why didn’t you become Avengers?” Walker had to interrupt the moment.

Kurt and Kitty looked at him, both debating their answers. Kitty answered first, “It was a matter of circumstance.”

“Circumstance?” Walker raised a brow, “It sounds like you just didn’t want the responsibility.”

“Nein, ve vere never given ze opportunity to become Avengers. Ve vere not shrugging off ze responsibility,” Kurt corrected him, shaking his head.

“In the very least either of you could’ve joined SHIELD,” Walker expressed.

“You make it sound so easy,” Kitty shook her head.

“Because it is. All you have to do is walk up to SHIELD and say, ‘Hey I’m a genius and I can walk through walls’ or 'I'm blue and can teleport,” Walker proclaimed and crossed his arms.

“You are unbearably naïve,” Kurt murmured, stroking his chin.

“If I’m naïve, then you two are just irresponsible,” He scoffed.

“Don’t say anything you’ll regret, John,” Bucky warned him.

John sighed with exasperation, “All I’m saying is that what is the point of having powers if all they do is shrug off the responsibility,” He pointed to Kitty, “She could’ve been the next Tony Stark if she’d been working for SHIELD by now,” He then pointed at Kurt, “And he could’ve stopped dictatorships and prevented thousands of deaths by now.”

Kitty stopped midway through one costume and swallowed a lump in her throat. Kurt stared at the ground with shame.

“By not acting alongside the law and the people who make them, they just add to the damage,” Walker concluded.

There was about a minute of silence before Bucky began to respond, “John, you don’t know why they chose not to get involved. You can’t just assume that they stayed out of it because they just didn’t want to.”

“What other reason could there be?” Walker replied, slightly offended that Bucky was defending them.

“People have their reasons for not wanting to be involved in violence,” Bucky said. He knew what it was like and, most of all, he knew why they’d stayed away. He remembered how peaceful it had been to be away from the fight in Wakanda- even if it was such a short time. He understood.

“Why are you on their side?” Walker snapped and gestured to Kitty and Kurt. He then looked at them with a sneer for a few more seconds before a realization dawned on him, “How did I not realize this before? They’re just like you, aren’t they? HYDRA experiments. I can’t believe I didn’t see that before.”

“See, people have their reasons,” Kitty finally spoke, setting down the half folded costume.

“Then you should’ve had more of a reason to fight. Look at Bucky, he still fought and he probably went through worse things than you,” Walker stated, raising his head.

Kurt frowned and looked at Bucky. Bucky subtly shook his head, looking at the two mutants with guilt. He hated that Walker was using his situation against them. He hated that it was being used to guilt them. He didn’t know.

Kitty’s interpretation was much different. Not only did she take offense to what he said, she was practically seething. She looked like she could’ve spit about a million vile things at him, but it was Kurt’s hand resting on hers that got her to cool down. She revised her original flurry of insults in her head and looked Walker dead in the eyes.

“If no one’s ever told you this before, you’re a complete, undeniable imbecile,” She spat at him and then left the room.

“Es tut mir leid,” Kurt bowed his head and then took his wooden cross necklace from the table, following her out.

Once they were gone, Bucky turned to Walker, “That was uncalled for.”

“It’s the truth. It would do them good to hear it,” Walker insisted, keeping his arms crossed and his haughty attitude intact.

“No. No it is not,” Bucky shook his head, completely disappointed, “And your failure to realize that is exactly why you failed as Captain America.”

Walker took offense to this and scowled at him. Bucky looked at the remaining costumes on the table, folded them, and put them under the boxes before leaving the room to find Sam.

Bucky went down the hall. As he passed one room, he heard whispering again. The same familiar whisperings of Kitty and Kurt he’d heard back in the jet. He decided it would be best to leave them alone and kept going. He passed by one bathroom and called for Sam, only for Torres to yell that it was just him. Bucky apologized and continued on until he heard low voices in another room.

“And you think they’re ready for this kind of thing?” It was Sam’s voice.

“They’re more ready than you are, bub. This isn’t a new thing for us.” Logan.

“Look, if anything goes wrong tonight, we stick together, alright?”

“If anything goes wrong, it’ll either be because of you or the bad folk in that gala. My team ain’t gonna betray you.”

“As hard as it is to believe, we aren’t going to betray you either.”

He heard a grunt of acknowledgement.

“If this is going to work, we have to trust each other. This has to be a mutual thing.”

“Tell that to your Walker guy. He’s made it his mission to make an enemy out of us.”

“He won’t act on it. He has more restraint than you think.”

“Tell that to the guy he killed.”

Sam sighed, “You have me there, but either way, he’s involved now. We can’t just ask him to leave.”

“Fine,” Logan said reluctantly, “But I don’t want him near the kids.”

“We’ll make it so he isn’t.”

They ended the conversation and both came out of the room, finding Bucky waiting outside. They joined him and walked back down the hall to the main room. Walker was still inside, stewing with a sneer on his face. Torres had returned at some point and continued to go through the boxes, looking uncomfortably at Walker.

“So how are things on the disguise front?” Sam asked in an attempt to break the tension.

Torres looked at him and held up a pair of red sunglasses, “There’s not a lot here we can use, but there is an insane amount of red glasses and sunglasses.”

Kurt appeared in purple smoke next to Torres and picked up a pair of sunglasses, “Zey belonged to a friend.”

“You know, you guys keep saying things about stuff belonging to a friend, but then why is it just the three of you?” Torres queried.

“Ve did once have a team,” Kurt admitted and then walked over to one closet, removing a long black trench coat and then handing it to Bucky, simply saying, “For your suit. For a little variety, if you vill.”

Bucky evaluated the trench coast and then took it from him. He then left to change.

“And what happened-” Torres went to ask.

He was interrupted by Logan, “Team split.”

“Ve had differing.. Ideologies,” Kurt tacked on.

Sam took a seat at the table, “The Avengers went through a little something like that.”

“Yeah, we know,” Logan mumbled.

“Mein Freund, ze entire vorld, including us, vatched on as ze Avengers tore each other apart,” Kurt nodded and then appeared by Sam’s side, handing him a pair of red sunglasses.

“Right,” Sam bobbed his head and inspected the sunglasses, “Not something that’s hard to forget, huh?”

“I am German. Ve have a great difficulty forgetting,” Kurt chuckled.

“I’m sure your team will figure it out,” Sam said with a lighthearted smile.

Kitty entered the room, holding an oversized periwinkle suit jacket and now wearing a satin formal corset top that was a much lighter shade of blue- nearly white. The corset itself had small white flowers painted on. She walked over to Kurt and handed him a necklace. He looked at it and then helped her put it on. Once he was done, she was donning a silver star of David necklace. She put on the suit jacket and then sat down by Torres.

“So who are we waiting on?” She asked as Sam put on the red sunglasses.

“Just Bucky,” He answered, “These are pretty nice. I see why your friend had so many of these.”

Logan chuckled at a joke he was unaware of, earning an annoyed frown from Walker. Torres looked at him curiously.

“What? Is that not why he has so many of these?” Sam looked concerned as he noticed Kurt and Kitty glance at each other.

“Nein,” Kurt shook his head with a slight chuckle, “It has to do vith his mutation.”

“Ah, freaky eyes. I got you,” Sam understood.

“Somezing like zat,” Kurt smiled.

Bucky walked in wearing all black with the black trench coat to match.

“Lookin’ good, man,” Sam complimented him and gestured for him to sit next to him. Kurt sat down between Kitty and Logan.

“Alright, so the game plan is that we have to split people between the main hall and the lobby area. We need to have mutants split between the two rooms so that you can identify any of the Hellfire people you suspect is behind this. Since the lobby is smaller, we’ll have two people there, one mutant and one human. Any takers?”

Kitty raised her hand slightly, “I can do it.”

Kurt mouthed an ‘are you sure?’ and she nodded.

Bucky glanced over at Walker, still stewing in his irritation from earlier. He saw the moment it clicked in his head and he went to raise his hand. He spotted the dread on Kitty’s face. On instinct, he raised his hand before Walker could.

“Alright,” Sam nodded, “Kitty and Bucky in the lobby and the rest of us in the main hall,” He checked his watch, “We’ve got ten minutes until we head out, so do what you need to do and we’ll head out.”

Everybody nodded and then stood up. Kurt quickly walked over to Kitty, the two whispering to each other. Logan got up slowly and then put his hand on Kitty’s shoulder. He said something to her in a low voice and she nodded, looking at him with unease. Her disquietude remained as she stood up and then had another conversation with Kurt. He said something encouraging to her and then hugged her. Once they split, she gave him a faint smile and then the group all headed to leave the building.

Bucky and Sam gave each other a reassuring look as they split into their respective groups and ventured towards the Sovereign Hotel.

Chapter Text

The team managed to get inside the lavish hotel without a hitch and then divided up based on their earlier assignments.

There were fewer people in the lobby as expected. Kitty hadn’t said a word to Bucky as they walked through the lobby side by side. He couldn’t tell if she was afraid or if she genuinely had nothing to say to him. She didn’t look annoyed or fearful, she wore a neutral expression.

As a waiter passed by with a tray full of glasses of champagne, Kitty snatched two with a smirk and held them out to him. He took one and then the other, causing her to frown, “Logan said you’re not drinking.”

“Oh come on, I’m like two days away from being 21,” Kitty tried to grab back a glass.

“Still not happening,” Bucky shook his head.

“Who knew a guy who’s over a century old would be such a prude,” She crossed her arms.

“I’d only let you drink if you were 21 or if you had a resistance to the effects of alcohol,” Bucky explained with a sigh.

“I might have a resistance, you don’t know,” She tried to find a loophole.

“She does not,” Kurt spoke over the watch.

Kitty gasped, “Betrayal.”

Kurt laughed it off and then turned off the comm on his end. Kitty briefly smiled and rolled her eyes. They soon went back into silence as more people entered the lobby.

Kitty soon got bored and announced, “I’m going to the ladie’s room.”

Before Bucky could respond, she’d disappeared into the crowd without a second word. He sighed and then downed both glasses of champagne, placing them on the tray of another passing by waiter. He decided to walk around and survey the premises. He spotted people looking at him. He could tell a few people recognized him and whispered to whomever was nearby. Due to this, he decided to retreat towards the edge of the lobby where he could hide behind the crowds and still watch.

Of course, he had no idea what he was looking for. Honestly, he’d been hoping that someone blue like Kurt would show up. Or possibly someone with another noticeable quality that he would be able to pick out.

Then Bucky felt a wave of cold air fall over him. He looked around and spotted a bit of air laced with frost cascade around him. He then felt a cold tap on his shoulder followed by a, “Long time no see, metal man.”

“Bobby?” Bucky turned around to see Bobby standing next to him with a slight grin.

“The one and only,” Bucky spread his arms and did an exaggerated bow. As he stood upright, his expression turned to concern, “What brings you of all people here?”

“I could ask you the same thing,” Bucky responded, looking at his velvet baby blue suit.

“Well, I can’t tell you everything, but since you didn’t put me in prison and instead just left me with a rather large bruise on my shoulder, I’ll tell you a little bit,” Bobby began and gestured to his arm, “I’m here on mutant business with a little team.”

Bucky nodded, “Kurt said something about having been a part of a team.”

“Did he? Huh,” Bobby tilted his head and looked at the crowd, “So you guys are still working together?”

“Yes, they’re here with us tonight,” Bucky confirmed and crossed his arms.

“Oh so you guys are on a mission too. That should be very interesting,” Bobby stroked his chin, smirking at something.

“And why is that?” Bucky asked, watching his expression change.

“The team I’m with is a portion of the team that Kitty, Kurt and Logan used to be on,” Bobby explained, speaking as if he was gossiping.

“And that’s a bad thing because..?” Bucky tried to get him to go on.

Bobby obliged with nothing less than a smile, “I don’t know how much you know, but our team split up. Lots of infighting. That's why I said I didn’t run with their group.”

Bucky looked at him with intrigue, “Am I allowed to ask why that happened?”

Bobby sighed, “I don’t even know the full details of how it started,” Bobby looked around to make sure nobody was close enough to listen in, “It started right after graduation. The head of our school, the Professor, wanted to speak with Kitty about something. Next thing we know, she’s stormed off and decided she’s leaving the team for college. Our team leader, Scott, got upset and demanded to speak with her. Logan stepped in and got in a verbal fight with him. Things got messy and people started picking sides. Initially, I sided with Scott. Kurt was the only person who sided with Kitty and Logan and left alongside them.”

Bucky took in everything Bobby had said with a slow nod, “And you have no clue as to why any of it happened.”

“No idea,” He shrugged, “But luckily for you guys and your mission, we’re almost done with ours and we can prevent any conflict before it happens.”

“Kurt and Kitty already seemed tense when they were with you, do you really think that the other members of your team will avoid conflict with them?” Bucky posed the question and watched a thoughtful expression cross Bobby’s face.

“Rogue and Gambit wouldn’t risk any kind of fight in a public space- especially not something like this where we’re supposed to be ‘human,” Bucky thought aloud, “But, Illyana might. She came in here with me though, so as long as you’re the only one here in the lobby and everybody else is in the main hall, then we’re good,” He then looked at Bucky as if trying to gauge if he was right.

Bucky looked into the crowd, trying to see if Kitty had returned.

“Oh. My. God. One of them is in here with you, aren’t they?” Bobby’s eyes widened and he looked anxiously into the crowd, “Nevermind that, which one?”

“What does it matter? This place is so crowded and you said you’re almost done with whatever it is you’re doing. The chances of them seeing each other are low,” Bucky reasoned.

“But never zero,” Bobby brought up, “Please tell me it’s either Logan or Kurt.”

Bucky looked to the side and Bobby covered his mouth, “Kitty. Shit.”

Bobby sprang into the crowd, trying to get through the people and find Illyana. Bucky followed after him, trying to get him to stop. When he was unsuccessful, he tried to talk to him, “Who are we looking for exactly?”

“Pale chick, straight blond hair with blunt bangs, freaky blue eyes, black dress,” Bobby rambled off a description as he looked around the area for Illyana. At one point, he stopped and then turned around, weaving in between the people so often that Bucky lost him.

Bucky found himself in the middle of the crowd and then looked around him as he once again left the middle of the floor. He continued walking around in an attempt to circle the area.

At last, he spotted Kitty standing near the edge of the crowd as well. She seemed entranced by something in the crowd. Bucky walked forward and stood by her side, trying to pick out what she was looking at.

Blond hair with blunt bangs tied into a neat bun, blue eyes, pale skin, and a long sleeve, black, backless dress.

Illyana stood in the center of the room. While she was surrounded by people, she stood by herself. She hadn’t noticed Kitty looking at her. All Kitty could do was stare. For a moment, Bucky thought about trying to convince her to talk to her, but he thought back on Bobby’s comments. Plus, Kitty would never listen to him.

Seconds seemed like hours until Bobby finally emerged from the crowd and began talking to Illyana. He spoke to her at a rapid pace, throwing Illyana into confusion. Illyana looked around as if trying to spot a threat and finally laid her eyes upon Kitty.

They shared a gaze for a few fleeting moments. Kitty’s stare displayed regret and a tinge of hope as Illyana looked back at her. Illyana’s gaze held heartache and a bit of relief. Both of them shared a mutual nostalgia in their faces.

Neither Bucky or Bobby dared to interrupt the temporary stare. Instead it was Kitty that conducted the break. She turned away and finally noticed Bucky standing right by her. She didn’t have the courage to say anything and swallowed her words.

Bucky watched as Bobby guided Illyana out. She still looked back at Kitty as she was taken away from the lobby and they left the building.

“I, um, didn’t know they were here,” Kitty said, trying to break the silence.

“I just talked with Bobby,” Bucky admitted, “He said he and a few others had a mission here and that they were nearly done. You.. don’t have to worry about them.”

“Let’s just head in,” Kitty suggested as people began to move from the lobby into the main hall, making the room now seem much emptier.

“Agreed,” Bucky nodded and they headed inside.

As they were walking, Kitty looked like she was getting back in her head, going completely nonverbal.

Bucky sighed and spoke, “I know what it’s like. I split up a team once too.”

“What?” Kitty snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him with confusion.

“Bobby said that your old team split up a while ago and that you were a part of the reason,” Bucky expressed quickly, “I just wanted to say I know what it’s like. You’re not completely alone in this.”

The confusion remained and she repeated herself, “What?”

Bucky debated how to respond, “I was the reason Captain America and Iron Man fought years ago. I caused the team to split in half and the reason Sharon, Sam, Steve, Wanda, and the others were deemed criminals.”

“I know about that. That was broadcast to the entire world. What I’m confused about is why did Bobby tell you any of that?” Kitty clarified.

“Oh, well, I asked him why his being here was such a bad thing. He didn’t give me a lot of details though,” Bucky conveyed.

“What he said was true, but why did you feel the need to tell me that?” Kitty queried, knitting her brow again.

“I don’t know,” Bucky trailed off, “I wanted you to know that our experiences at HYDRA isn’t the only thing we’ve shared.”

Kitty nodded, not replying in words. While the conversation itself seemed out of the blue, she found it strangely touching, almost understanding. To be understood is a comforting feeling. Maybe at long last there was an inkling of trust between them.

She wouldn’t have long to reflect on it before they stepped inside the main hall and heard the sound of a scream.

^^^

Once they’d entered the main hall, Sam, Logan, Torres, Walker, and Kurt entered the area. Rather than stick together, they split up at the sight of the massive main hall.

The main hall itself was divided into two levels and was full to the brim with people dressed in intricate regalia. The place was loud with chatter and the clinking of champagne glasses.

Torres, Walker, and Kurt all stayed on the lower floor while Sam and Logan went upstairs. Kurt found himself in a lighthearted conversation with someone by the center of the room. Logan watched him and the others by the edge of the second floor, looking down upon the crowd. Sam, Torres, and Walker thought it would be best to keep walking the area so as to not seem suspicious.

Sam picked up a glass from one of the passing waiters and took a sip as he walked. It was disgusting to say the least. He choked down another sip of the alcohol and decided to just hold it as he walked.

“I must say, I’m glad that there is another here who finds this champagne to be quite revolting,” He heard a woman’s voice near him. A woman with blond hair and icy blue eyes, dressed in all white stood by his side with her head slightly tilted.

She graced him with a shallow smile and held out her gloved hand, “Emma Frost.”

“Simon Wheeler,” Sam responded with his fake name and shook her hand, “It is a pleasure to meet you, miss.”

“It has been a delight to meet you as well, Mr. Wheeler,” She weaved her arm into his, “Shall we converse?”

Sam nodded, a bit baffled by her sudden move. He then tried to recall who he’d been looking for, suddenly finding difficulty in doing so.

“Do you attend these events often, Mr. Wheeler?” She asked.

“No I do not. I’m sure that’s obvious, isn’t it?” He decided to add a lighthearted joke.

“In truth it is,” She replied with another slight smile, “Most people conceal their reactions to the poor alcohol.”

“I see,” Sam accepted and then went to question, “Do you?”

“I do. I enjoy these things. It makes me quite the expert when it comes to the quality of these events,” She mentioned.

“So do you come to these things for enjoyment then?” Sam was trying to make conversation, “Or do you have other intentions for tonight.”

“Unfortunately I am here on other business,” Frost admitted, “My business partner and I are here to strike a deal that’ll benefit the both of us. If I might ask, what brings you here, Mr. Wheeler?”

“Similar thing,” Sam said.

“So I assume you have connections to the Power Broker as well then?” She tilted her head with intrigue.

“Yes,” Sam nodded his head, keeping his answers short.

Sam couldn’t tell if she was irritated by his lack of lengthy answers or not. She was difficult to read. He was still attempting to remember the names he’d been told by Kurt and Kitty. It was like something was stopping him. He knew it was there in his mind, but it felt like there was a barrier between him and the information.

As a result, he decided to continue the conversation. It was nothing more than small talk and at one point, Frost went silent.

“You alright, Ms. Frost?” Sam asked, concerned by her sudden silence.

A smile with a sinister undertone crossed her face and she replied, “Perfectly fine, Mr. Wheeler,” She flashed another shallow smile at him and then removed her arm from his, “As delightful as this has been, I must take my leave. Have a fine evening.”

“So long, Ms. Frost,” Sam bowed his head.

“Oh, please, call me Emma,” She corrected him and then went to add, “I look forward to seeing you in the future, Mr. Wilson.”

Emma left him and disappeared into the crowd. Sam’s expression turned to concern as she used his real name. As soon as he knew she was gone, he hurried through the people to find Logan. He finally spotted him standing near the railing and made his way over to him, joining him by his side.

Sam began to ramble off, “I think we may be compromised. Logan there was this woman and she knew-”

He stopped when he saw Logan gripping the railing tightly.

“Everything alright-?” Sam asked worriedly.

“Did you plan this?” Logan spoke accusingly and turned to him with fury in his eyes.

“Plan what? Logan I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sam replied, watching his movements carefully.

Logan glared at him and removed his hands from the railing. He was getting ready to unsheathe his claws, clenching his fists tightly.

Sam’s eyes widened and he looked around quickly, trying to lay eyes upon whatever it was that had caused Logan to be filled with so much rage.

Finally, he spotted the scene happening below them and realized the grave danger he was in.

^^^

Kurt, Torres, and Walker had also split up on the lower floor. Kurt had put on his human disguise long before the gala. However, after a half hour Kurt had finished his pleasant conversation with a random wealthy attendee and had decided to walk with Torres.

They rather enjoyed each other’s company as they strolled among the other guests. Torres asked him about what it was like to have to put on a disguise every time he went outside. Kurt responded with a shrug and that he’d gotten used to it.

“Come on, it has to be annoying at the very least,” Torres started.

Kurt scratched the back of his neck, “I suppose so. I am just used to it. I’ve done it for so long zat it is no longer as pressing as it used to be.”

“It doesn’t bother you that you constantly have to hide?” Torres continued to ask.

“Maybe a little bit, but not enough to be important,” Kurt shook his head.

“The fact that you have to hide who you really are is important,” He insisted.

“I guess,” Kurt shrugged again.

Torres looked at him with slight bewilderment, “I don’t get why you don’t see why that’s so wrong.”

Kurt sighed, “Vhen I vas younger, I did not have access to zis technology. I vas alvays blue. I grew up having to stay home and among my peers in ze circus. It vas ze only place vhere I could simply be, but even zen I vas viewed as a freak among members of ze audience.”

Torres listened and Kurt continued, “After my time at HYDRA, I failed to recognize myself. It hurt to know zat somzing I had worked to gain pride in would become ze reason for my suffering.”

Torres nodded, “So what you’re saying is you’re ashamed?”

Kurt chuckled, “I have never zought of it like zat, but I suppose you are right. Vielleicht it is part of ze reason I vanted to start zis partnership,” He then paused, “But enough about me, ich muss fragen, vhat is it like to vork vith Captain America?”

“It’s as cool as you think it is,” Torres started, “I’ve been a Captain America fan since the Avengers showed up in New York. I always wanted to be a hero like them. I never thought I’d actually be in this position one day.”

“So you are a fan as vell?” Kurt grinned at him.

Torres nodded, “Yeah, the whole ‘American Dream’ thing is something my family has been all too aware of. I immigrated to the U.S., so my mom’s always wanted me to do something great with my life. She thought coming to America would be the first step,” He took a breath, “It was hard, but hearing stories about heroes made me want to be one. Obviously I don’t have any major superpowers so I joined the Air Force, worked my way up, met Sam, and here we are.”

"Zat is a vonderful story. Sounds like ze embodiment of ze American Dream," Kurt nodded his head.

"Well, you have to make the best out of what you have, right?" Torres grinned and held his arms behind his back

“Ja. Sam must have seen something great in you. Zat great resilient spirit,” Kurt remarked and then tacked on, “I know I do.”

Torres patted him on the shoulder, “Thanks, man.”

“Of course,” Kurt smiled at him.

“Well, well, well, if it ain’t my brother,” A woman with a southern accent, dressed in a long, silk, green dress with matching green gloves walked up to them. She had long brown hair with a series of white streaks and green eyes.

“Anna Marie!” Kurt exclaimed and rushed to hug her, “It is so gut so see you, meine Schwester!”

“It’s been too long, sugah,” Anna Marie greeted him and then looked at Torres, “Now who’s this?”

“Ah, zis is mein Freund, Joaquín Torres,” He introduced him and then went to introduce her, “Joaquín, zis is meine Schwester, Anna Marie.”

“Nice to meet you, Ma’am,” Torres bowed his head and then tried to make the connection, “You two are related?”

Anna Marie looked at Kurt with slight concern, “Does he-?”

Kurt nodded, “She is adopted. Our Mutter is also blue.”

“I am really confused,” Torres admitted with a laugh, causing both Kurt and Anna Marie to smile.

Anna Marie then turned back to Kurt, “Hon’ what are you doin’ here?”

“Ve have a mission of our own as I assume you have as vell,” Kurt responded, “Vhich, I must ask, vhat you are doing here?”

“Sugah, as much as I wanna talk, I gotta head back to the mansion. Gambit’s roundin’ up Bobby and Illyana to leave,” She spoke to Kurt, looking slightly saddened at the thought of leaving.

“Bobby’s here?” Torres asked.

“He was in the lobby, were you an’ him friends?” She questioned.

“Kind of,” Torres answered curtly.

“Ah, well, that’s too bad. I’m sure he woulda loved to see ya,” She remarked and then went back to speaking with Kurt, “Please come by the mansion when you got the time. An’, if you can, bring Kitty and Logan.”

“Zat is a tall order,” Kurt laughed and shook his head, “But I vill try.”

“That’s all I can ask for, sugah,” She then went to hug him, “And stay outta trouble for me.”

“Natürlich, meine Schwester,” Kurt tightly hugged her back.

Anna Marie waved goodbye to Torres and then left the main hall.

“Another mutant, huh?” Torres joked.

“Vell, ve are everywhere,” Kurt joked back.

“And still no sign of the people we’re looking for,” Torres stated.

Kurt looked around. When he found no sign of Frost or Shaw or any member of the Hellfire Club, he sighed. He looked at one side of the hall and spotted Walker looking at something.

“I am going to speak vith John for a bit, if zat is alright,” Kurt suggested.

“All good by me. I’m going to see what they have to eat here,” Torres started and then walked off first.

Kurt walked towards Walker and stood by his side for a moment, looking at all the artifacts and expensive items arranged in the area, trying to identify what he was looking at specifically.

He used Walker’s eyeline to finally see what he was looking at. It was an ancient knife that had survived the tests of time. Its age was apparent in its rusted appearance. Kurt read the little note underneath it.

“Ze dagger zat Brutus used to kill Julius Caesar,” Kurt spoke up in an effort to make conversation, “Vhat an intriguing find.”

“Story’s interesting,” Walker answered, still staring down the dagger.

“Really?” Kurt tilted his hand, “I never took you for a child of history.”

“I’m not, I just said the story behind it is interesting,” Walker repeated, this time with a bit of irritation.

“Ah yes, a tale of betrayal,” Kurt contributed, unsure of how to take this. Walker just nodded in response.

Kurt felt uncomfortable and shifted his position slightly. He looked at Walker, watching his expression change. Walker wore an unusual faraway look that Kurt found strange.

As the silence set in, Kurt tried to think of a way to leave Walker without it being rude or obnoxious. He turned away, trying to find something to catch his attention and take him away from this trying situation. He secretly hoped Torres would somehow appear and lighten the mood.

Kurt could hardly turn back to Walker before he felt the sudden dagger digging into his side and the darting pain that followed.

Chapter Text

Kurt was forced to look at Walker as he pressed the dagger deeper into his side. He opened his mouth to speak, but Walker began to twist the blade. The pain shot through his body and all he could do was attempt to teleport.

He looked above the crowd, teleporting above them in short bursts. Unfortunately for him, the dagger and Walker along with it came with him each time. Walker, in a panic, continued to randomly rotate the blade. Kurt cried out and made his final teleport to the ground, both hitting the ground with a thud.

The partygoers screamed or whispered to each other, with some crowding nearby while others got far away. The only thing that remained constant was that people were always watching.

Kurt suddenly felt drained. He tried to move his legs, but he found that to be useless. Breathing became hard and he could feel the blood bleeding through his suit. Walker didn’t take long to get back up and scramble over to him. He stood over Kurt with a wicked smile and then bent down, slowly and painfully removing the blade from Kurt’s side.

Walker then stood back up, looking at the fresh blood covering the dagger. He then got over him and raised the dagger again to stab him in the chest or at least puncture a lung.

As the dagger descended, it was knocked out of Walker’s hands and flew to the side. Walker’s head hit the ground again. Kitty had struck him down.

Walker took a moment to recuperate before rising up and attempting to strike Kitty. She didn’t let him, instead just phasing through the hit and advancing forward to strike him with a roundhouse kick. Walker stumbled and then recovered and went to punch her. She caught his fist, twisting it and prolonging the pain.

Bucky shoved his way through the crowd just in time to watch her catch and twist Walker’s fist. There was no mercy left in her eyes, just pure, unbridled hate. She continued to unnaturally rotate his fist and watch the pain and anger grow in Walker. Walker then took advantage of the moment and used his other hand to strike her in the face. She let go of his wrist and fell back, her hand quickly going to touch her lip.

Kitty removed her hand from her lip. She was bleeding. The shock of being hit wore off moments before Walker lunged toward her again. She acted quickly and phased through him before kicking him in the back and sending him to the ground. His head hit the floor and the sheer force of the blow.

After she knew for certain Walker wouldn’t resist, she lifted her foot over his head. Bucky recognized the move immediately. It was a killing technique unique to HYDRA when permanently neutralizing an opponent. All this time, he hadn’t seen her once use any HYDRA tactics in a fight, but in all her fury and blind rage, she neglected to suppress that fighting style. Once she lowered her foot on Walker’s skull, he’d be dead. Bucky burst towards her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her away from Walker as she lowered her foot.

Kitty snapped back to reality in a panic as soon as he looked down at who yanked her away. She spotted the gleaming metal between Bucky’s glove and sleeve and then phasing her way out of his grasp. Once she was free, she took a few steps and turned around to face Bucky. The panic had begun to set in.

They’d been in this position before. Pitted against each other. Bucky didn’t want to repeat this again and he could tell by the dread and the fear on her face that she didn’t want to either.

Kurt let out a small cry in an attempt to speak, failing. Kitty’s attention instantly turned to him. All of that fear, all of that dread disappeared as she looked at Kurt. She didn’t even bother to glance at Bucky before she ran over to Kurt and knelt down next to him.

“Kätzchen,” Kurt said weakly, “I need you to listen to me.”

Kitty nodded, “Tell me what I need to do.”

“Take your jacket and apply pressure,” Kurt groaned halfway through his directions, “Apply pressure directly over it.”

Kitty nodded and took off her suit jacket, folding it up and then putting it on top of his stab wound. She started to apply pressure, keeping her eyes trained on his.

Kurt dropped his head back, lying on the ground, his eyelids nearly shutting.

“Okay, Kurt. I’m going to need you to listen to me now,” Kitty tried to keep him awake. Kurt moved his head in what she assumed to be a nod, “Breathe with me. Look at me.”

Bucky glanced back as he went over to Walker and checked his pulse. Torres came out of the crowd, panting, “Logan and Sam are fighting!”

Bucky shot up, glanced back at Kitty and Kurt. Once he knew that they had their situation handled, he nodded to Torres and they went off to the second floor.

After essentially sprinting up the steps, Bucky and Torres found Logan and Sam engaged in combat. Sam didn’t have his shield and had instead snatched a large silver tray from a waiter, using it defensively. Logan continuously lunged for him with his claws as Sam fought them back with the metal tray.

Bucky and Torres ran behind Logan and restrained one arm each. Sam hit him in the face with the tray. It took a moment for his healing factor to kick in and he lifted his head to look at who was holding him back. As soon as he spotted both Bucky and Torres, he tried to tug himself out of their collective grasps.

“What the hell did you do to them?” He demanded to know.

“We didn’t do anything,” Sam responded.

People who’d been attending the gala, were leaving rapidly. Nobody wanted anything to do with the scene unfolding in front of them. Only those who were paralyzed with interest or fear remained in the corners of rooms.

“Walker acted on his own. Kurt and Kitty both got hurt,” Bucky went to tell the truth.

“How in the hell did Kitty get hurt?” Logan pulled at his arm with more force.

“She fought with Walker. She’ll be okay,” Bucky tried to comfort him.

“And where is Walker?” Logan continued to question, unrelenting in his effort to get out.

“Kitty knocked him unconscious,” Bucky answered and pulled back.

“Damn right she did,” Logan mumbled and then finally got himself free, stepping away from them.

Logan went over to the edge of the second level and looked down to see Kitty leaning over Kurt, pressing her folded suit jacket on the wound. Kitty was leading him in breathing, barely keeping him awake. Kitty finally looked away and looked up at the second level, locking eyes with him.

Logan spotted the blood on her face and watched as the blood bled through the suit jacket and stained her hands. She seemed to be silently pleading with him and stopped as soon as she heard Kurt groan again and turned back to him.

Logan clenched his fist and turned back to them, “If Walker was really acting on his own-”

He was interrupted by the entrance of SHIELD agents into the building. The agents were heavily armored with advanced weaponry. They had their guns trained on Logan. Those on the first floor ushered out the remaining guests and then surrounded Kitty and Kurt. Kitty covered Kurt with herself, looking at each of the agents with a growing alarm. Logan raised his fists.

Sam tried to get the agents on the upper level to lower their weapons, succeeding for the most part. They then got all of the agents on the lower level to lower their weapons as well, causing Kitty to calm down. By this time, Kurt had fully passed out.

It only took one agent to start the fight all over again. And they did. One agent spotted Logan’s claws, their eyes widening and they raised their gun, pressing their finger on the trigger. A single shot rang out and hit Logan

Logan went into attack mode. He sprung forward and attacked the agent with his claws. As a result, other agents opened fire. Their shots had little effect as his healing factor demeaned each bullet.

Bucky pulled Sam and Torres away from the massacre and towards the staircase. Logan managed to take down each agent one by one, leaving a trail of blood in his path. He never enjoyed what he did. He thought he was doing what he had to do. Perhaps he would have surrendered if it had not been for the fight. But it was much too late now.

“Stop!” Sam yelled out, despite Bucky’s protests.

Logan dropped an agent to the floor and turned to look at him, claws unmoving. He waited for whatever he was going to say.

“Logan, look at them,” Sam pointed to Kitty and Kurt below, “Stop for them.”

Logan looked down at Kitty and Kurt. She was trying to wake him up.

“Stop for them,” Sam repeated, approaching him slowly.

Logan sighed, the claws retracting. He was thinking. He finally glanced at Kitty and Kurt one last time before locking eyes with Sam, “I’ll turn myself in if you let them go. Get Kurt proper medical care and leave them alone afterward.”

Sam looked at Bucky and Torres. Torres nodded immediately and Bucky took a second to think. He finally nodded his head as a sign of approval.

“Deal, but you have to come peacefully,” Sam stipulated.

Logan nodded and then raised his hands up in surrender. An agent from the lower floor came up and handcuffed Logan, and then escorted him downstairs. As they headed for the door, he looked back at Kitty as he passed, mouthing, “Keep each other safe.”

Sam, Bucky and Torres followed behind him. Another group of agents came in with two stretchers, loading Walker onto one and Kurt onto another. As Kurt was loaded onto a stretcher, Kitty stayed close by and made sure that the agents were careful with him. Kitty stayed with Kurt, getting anxious as he was loaded onto the stretcher. She looked back at Bucky, Sam, and Torres. The exact intention of her expression was undecipherable, but overall it consisted of pain. The pain of being duped. The pain of watching her friend get hurt. The pain of nearly having to repeat history. And now the pain of having to watch Logan be taken away to some prison. She then turned away from them and sprinted after Kurt, refusing to leave his side.

Sam, Torres, and Bucky all left the hotel for the base, feeling exhausted and guilty. As they got into the base, Bucky found a mini fridge and pulled out a bottle of beer. All Torres could find were foam cups. They worked with what they had and Sam poured each of them a cup. Sam only had one drink. Torres had two before staring at the folded costumes on the table. Bucky had a few more drinks since he couldn't get drunk due to the serum. Like Torres, he stared at the costumes on the table. But his eyes landed on the two unfolded costumes at the edge of the table. The black and red costume and the yellow and black costume.

Walker had truly ruined things for them.

Chapter Text

It had been a day since the incident at the gala. Bucky, Sam, and Torres were all transferred to a hotel instead of having to stay at the base. Sam and Torres had gone to the hospital early in the morning to check on Kitty and Kurt. They’d stayed for a while until it was evening.

Once Sam walked in, Bucky snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at him, asking, “So? How is everything?”

Sam sighed and slumped down in the chair across from Bucky, “Not good. The surgeon had to keep Kurt for over seven hours because the knife that was used to stab him was so old, pieces broke off upon entry. They managed to stop the bleeding and stitch him up, but he’s still unconscious,” He massage his temples, “And Kitty’s unresponsive. She’s just been sitting- waiting to see him.”

“Unresponsive?” Bucky’s eyes flitted to Sam’s.

“She won’t talk to me or Torres. Speaking of which, he got pulled away for another mission, so I dropped him off at the airport,” Sam explained.

Bucky nodded and pinched his nose, “What are we going to do?”

“I don’t know, Buck,” Sam crossed his arms and looked at the window. He was considering a suggestion, debating if it was the right way to go. He then finally looked back at Bucky, “You should-”

“No,” Bucky shook his head, “I’m the last person that either of them would want to see.”

“Arguably, that’s Walker,” Sam remarked, “Bucky, those two kids just went through something horrible. He’s injured and she’s in anguish. They need somebody and Logan’s not here to be that somebody.”

“I’m not that person either,” Bucky denied, “Sam, they don’t want me around. I can guarantee you that.”

“Just try. If she doesn’t want to talk to you, don’t have to. You can just sit there in silence. It’s something you’re exemplary at. If they don’t want you around period, then leave,” Sam reasoned, “At least you tried, right?”

Bucky debated it in his head for a few seconds before reluctantly agreeing, “Fine, but before I go, what are Walker’s whereabouts?”

“He has a mild concussion, so he flew back to the U.S. to ‘finish up a few things’ and rest,” Sam recounted.

Bucky stood up and then headed for the door before hearing Sam say, “Wait.”

He turned to face him and raised a brow.

“Whatever it is you’re not telling me, I promise you, it’ll mean a lot to her for someone to show her comfort after it all,” Sam stated.

Bucky nodded solemnly and left the hotel room.

^^^

Bucky entered the hospital and took the elevator up to the fifth floor. He eventually found the waiting room where Kitty was sitting, staring off into the distance. There were one or two other people in the waiting room, but they were either on their phones or asleep.

Kitty was still in the gala outfit she’d worn a day earlier, the only difference being the absence of the suit jacket and the dried blood staining her face, hands, and portions of the corset. There was also a small bit of blood on the star of her necklace. The blood on her face, however, was painted in a strange way, having looked like certain parts of it were washed down. She’d been crying. Weeping even. It was apparent to Bucky that she must have shed tears long before his visit or Sam’s. Now all she had was a numb expression.

If she’d noticed him walk in and sit down a seat’s distance away, there was no indication of it on her face. She just had a distant stare, looking towards one hallway, presumably the one where Kurt had been taken down hours earlier. She was still waiting.

Bucky watched her a few minutes more, looking for any reaction. She’d completely dissociated, just staring at the hallway.

He tried to think of something to say, something that would get through to her, “Tell me about him.”

Kitty blinked for what seemed like the first time since he’d gotten here. She still looked out at the hallway. She spoke softly, “He liked to read.”

“What did he like to read about?” He asked quietly.

“Classical stuff mostly, but he liked fantasy adventures and stories like that too,” She took a shaky breath, “I met him when I was ten. I was scared out of my mind and I couldn’t stop crying. Then I heard this voice coming from a hole in the cell wall. His voice was faint, but it was comforting. He didn’t like hearing me cry, so he’d tell me stories about pirates and castles and all that fantasy stuff.”

Bucky listened with a nod, watching her expression change as she reminisced, “Eventually, I stopped crying so much and, despite the guards, we would talk through the hole in the wall. On the bad days when we thought HYDRA might wipe one of us, we’d tell each other the things we didn’t want to forget.”

Bucky nodded. He remembered the machine and it made him sick to think of that being used on a couple of kids. Especially Kitty and Kurt.

“When I had nothing I had him,” She finished and now looked at the ground.

“And you still have him,” Bucky stated.

“But they won’t let me see him,” She faltered.

“Why not?” His brow furrowed as he asked.

“Because I’m not blue,” She put her hand on the side of her face, “They had to remove the watch when they were prepping for surgery and revealed that he’s blue, so they’re not letting anyone in.”

“They will soon,” Bucky said in an attempt to comfort her. He now looked out at the hallway, looking for any indication from a passing nurse or doctor.

“Why are you here?” She questioned.

“Sam asked me to come down here. He said you weren’t talking and he suggested I come,” Bucky explained quietly.

“And why did you accept it?” Kitty asked and then went back to silently staring at the hallway.

“I think the better question is, why are you talking with me?” Bucky inquired.

Kitty paused, not expecting the question to be turned on her. All she could muster up was, “I don’t know.”

Bucky’s lips twitched, resisting a small smile and retaining a neutral expression.

“You eaten?” He asked.

“I’m not hungry,” She shook her head and insisted.

A doctor came in with a clipboard and looked around, finding Bucky and Kitty immediately. The doctor came over, “Are you two here for Mr. Wagner?”

Bucky and Kitty nodded.

“He’s very lucky. We were able to remove the debris from the weapon without much resistance and stop the bleeding before he could lose too much. He’s still asleep, but his vitals are stable and he’s recovering well,” the doctor explained.

Kitty breathed a sigh of relief and then stood up, “Can I see him?”

“Yes, but he is still asleep,” The doctor brought up again, “You could use this time to get a change of clothes or sleep yourself.”

“I’m fine, where’s his room?” She ignored the doctor’s advice.

The doctor shrugged it off and began to lead Kitty and Bucky down the hallway. They took a couple of turns before they walked into Kurt’s room.

Kurt was asleep on a gurney with an IV stuck in his arm. He was a slightly lighter blue than normal, but he was breathing fine. Kitty ran over to his side and looked him over. When she couldn’t see anything wrong, she smiled out of relief and then took a seat in a chair near his bed.

Bucky watched them from the doorway. The doctor then nodded to him and then left the room.

“Like I said, you still have him,” Bucky said and leaned against the doorway.

Kitty looked away from Kurt and at Bucky, simply nodding. She moved the chair so she was seated right next to Kurt. She gently lifted his hand and held it.

Bucky felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He took it out and checked it. It was a text from Sam, asking how things went. He glanced at Kitty and Kurt and then answered that things were going somewhat okay. Sam texted back that he’d come over soon. Bucky sent him a thumbs up.

He hadn’t noticed Kitty watching him send the last text, “Something going on?”

“Sam’s coming by again,” He answered, still staying in the doorway.

Kitty looked at Kurt again and then back at Bucky, “I have a question and you need to answer me honestly.”

Bucky looked at her with uncertainty, “Ask away.”

“Why did they take Logan and not us?” She asked.

Bucky looked away. She didn’t know about the deal Logan had made with them. God only knew what kind of prison Logan was being taken to. He decided to tell her the truth, just as she had requested, “He made a deal with Sam. He’d turn himself in in exchange for Kurt’s medical care and both of your freedom.”

Kitty inspected him for any sign of lies or deception and then frowned. She gave the faintest nod in response.

“Sam’s true to his word. Neither of you have to worry about being put in prison,” Bucky tried to comfort her.

“And what about Logan?” She questioned, genuinely worried about him.

“I,” Bucky tried to think. Again, he had no idea what SHIELD was going to do with Logan, “I don’t know as of right now.”

He saw her face drop.

“But I’ll find out,” He added.

She mouthed a thank you and then Kurt stirred in his sleep. Her head whipped back to him. He continued to stir and his breath quickened like he was having a nightmare. Kitty’s expression turned to concern and she stood up.

She held onto Kurt’s hand and squeezed it lightly, trying to signal that she was there. He continued to move, but his movements were stiff since he was still in pain. Kitty began to panic again and then moved forward, letting go of his hand and wrapping her arms around Kurt, hugging him tightly and keeping him close. She was saying something to him, but it was too quiet to hear from where Bucky stood.

Finally, Kurt calmed down and stilled. Kitty let him go and went back to holding his hand. She slumped down in her seat. She put one hand over her face and rubbed her eyes.

It was then that Bucky really saw the exhaustion in her. She was too young to be this tired. Too young to be this battered and bruised. Too young to have lost so much. He then looked at Kurt as he continued to sleep. He was too young to have to be in this place. Too young to have been betrayed in such a bloody way. They were too young for this kind of pain.

Bucky tried to think about what he could do without overstepping. He then reached into his pocket and fished out three dollars in ones. He quietly walked over to Kitty and held out the money.

She looked at him quizzically, “What are you doing?”

“You need to eat something. Get whatever you need from the vending machine down the hall,” Bucky offered her the money.

She looked at it with hesitance. Bucky continued, “Wash the blood off of your hands and face, and then ask a nurse to help with your lip.”

Kitty still hesitated and then looked at Kurt.

“He’ll still be asleep by the time you come back,” Bucky assured and then added, “I’ll wait in the waiting room.”

Kitty considered it, weighing the options in her head. She then took the money and looked at it. The two of them then walked to the door. Bucky walked out and into the hall. But Kitty stayed in the doorway and looked at Kurt again with uncertainty.

Spotting her continued hesitancy, Bucky spoke again “All I’m asking is for you to take care of yourself. Kurt would want you to. He’ll still be here when you come back.”

Kitty looked at the ground and then nodded as she stepped out into the hall before walking down the hallway towards the bathroom and the vending machine. Even after everything, that inkling of trust was still there.

Bucky watched her go and murmured, “That’s all I can ask for.”

Chapter Text

A week had passed since everything had happened. Kurt had woken up several times, but hadn’t stayed conscious for very long before drifting off again. Kitty had been with him nearly the whole time and had only left to get a change of clothes and shower back at the base. She’d brought back a Bible and a couple of other books for him to read.

Meanwhile, Sam and Bucky had taken turns keeping watch over the two of them. On this particular day, Torres had returned from his mission. He’d come to the hospital with Sam and Bucky to see how things were.

When they got to Kurt’s room, they found both Kitty and Kurt asleep. Kitty had fallen asleep upright in her chair and her head was slowly going down. Seeing this, the three men decided to leave them alone for the time being and talk in the waiting room.

Once they’d got to the waiting room, Torres spoke first, “So Walker.”

“What about him?” Sam raised a brow.

“He might be causing us another problem,” Torres introduced the subject.

“What did he do now?” Bucky asked, annoyed.

“He arrested Bobby,” He explained and crossed his arms.

“You’re joking,” Sam spoke with disbelief, massaging his temples.

“He’s really making it impossible for us to have a good relationship with these people,” Bucky pinched his nose and then sat down.

“Have you spoken to Bobby?” Sam asked Torres.

Torres nodded, “Yeah, he’s doing alright, but he’s upset. He didn’t expect any of this to happen.”

“Nobody did,” Sam remarked.

They all received a text and pulled out their phones with varying eagerness. They all checked the text and looked at each other, saying in unison, “Val.”

“Anyways, I’m starving. I’m gonna see what they have at the cafeteria here,” Torres announced as he walked out.

Sam sat down next to Bucky. The two had a quiet conversation before they heard the clacking of Val’s heels.

She stood above them, “Hello, boys.”

Bucky gave a grunt of acknowledgement and Sam greeted her.

“What brings you here?” Sam asked, looking at her speculatively.

“Sam, I’m gonna need to have a teensy talk with you,” She replied.

Sam got up and stood in front of her. Bucky then went to stand as well.

“One on one,” She added as she watched Bucky. Bucky narrowed his eyes and then sat back down in the chair.

As Val led Sam away, Bucky noticed a strange look come over Sam. The look wouldn’t stand out to most people, but his gaze was distant. Like he wasn’t there anymore. He turned away before Bucky could continue to inspect him. He made a mental note of it and then watched them go down the hall.

Meanwhile, Val led Sam down the hall and took a few turns before stopping in a relatively empty part of the hall next to a vending machine.

“So,” Val started, “What’s the plan here?”

“What do you mean?” Sam asked in response.

“Are you going to arrest them or not?” She put a hand on her hip.

“We weren’t planning on it,” He shook his head and folded his arms across his chest.

“Sam,” She looked at him with slight judgment, “These are dangerous people. We can’t allow them to run amuck. You saw what that Claws guy did to that SHIELD unit and what that girl did to John. Twice. We should take advantage of their temporary weakness and get 'em.”

Sam thought for a moment. That faraway look returned to his face like he was no longer mentally present. They failed to notice a drowsy Kitty turn the corner and then quickly jump back, hiding behind the corner.

“How about this,” She posed a suggestion, “We wait until Bluey is pretty much healed and then we move them to the States under the guise that there's a better doctor there and arrest them.”

Sam didn’t respond, still wearing that foreign look. Kitty listened in with a hand over her mouth.

“Of course, Bluey and Tech girl are joined at the hip, so we need to keep them separate once we have them apprehended, but I’m sure we can come up with some kinda plan to separate them,” Val continued to ramble off.

Sam was still quiet. Kitty was getting in her head. How could this be happening? Why did she ever trust that things could change? That things could be different?

“How does that sound?” Val finished her babbling.

“Sounds good,” Sam answered in a monotonous tone. It was unusual for him to sound this flat.

“Fantastic. Glad we’re on the same page,” Val smiled and then bid farewell, “I’ll leave you to babysit.”

Val went down the end of the hallway, the clacking of her heels growing faint as she left. Sam remained in place for a few moments longer before he went past the vending machine and towards the corner where Kitty was hiding. As he turned the corner, she remained in place, deciding to confront him.

“How could you?” She spoke accusingly.

“How could I what?” He countered.

“Don’t play dumb, I heard what you were saying,” She fumed, “Bucky said you were true to your word.”

“I’m true to my word when it comes to good people. I never said I was true to my word to dangerous people like you,” He responded, taking a step towards her.

“That is awfully hypocritical,” She pointed out.

“Is it?” He began to rant, “People like you- mutant- pose a threat. A threat that needs to be either controlled or eliminated.”

As he went on, Kitty watched him. Initially, her expression was that of hurt, but then it was slowly overcome by suspicion and then realization. As he continued to rant, she took a few steps towards him and then reached out, lightly touching his hand and then phasing him slightly, enough to keep them on the floor, but the rest of the body one could go right through.

The familiarity in Sam’s face returned. Kitty allowed time for the realization to dawn on both of them. Frost. She got in his head. It was remarkable, but a pain in the ass.

Then nurses and doctors began to walk down the hall, suddenly it was crowded. As Kitty continued to phase him, Sam realized he was unable to breathe and began suffocating. Kitty let go of him and he became solid again. He gasped for air, taking multiple deep breaths.

Things may have been fine if a doctor and a nurse hadn’t noticed the situation. A nurse ran over to Sam, checking him before yelling at Kitty, “What did you do to him?”

Sam was working on regaining his breath, leaving Kitty to defend herself.

“I didn’t mean to- he was-” She responded.

“You nearly killed him,” A nearby doctor cut her off.

“I wasn’t going to kill him, I was trying to help-” She continued.

“You tried killing Captain America,” Another nurse accused.

“Who tried killing Captain America?” A different doctor asked as a new group of medical professionals came in.

“Call security,” One doctor spoke to another, “Before she can harm anyone else.”

They all began to whisper around her, pointing at her. By then, Sam had regained his breath. That familiarity was gone, he was back to being Frost’s puppet. He and a couple of other doctors tried to surround her and get her to surrender peacefully.

Kitty panicked and spun around, sprinting past them and down the hall, phasing through any person she could. Sam and the group of doctors were hot in pursuit. She managed to get enough of a lead to check on Kurt, before sprinting away. In her head, she profusely apologized to Kurt. She got to the waiting room and paused to catch her breath.

Bucky spotted her and stood up, rushing over, “Kitty, what’s going on?”

“It’s Sam,” She panted, “Frost has control over him. Everyone thinks I tried to kill him- I didn’t- I’d never-”

One of the doctors shouted from down the hall and the group ran towards them.

Kitty’s breath quickened and warned Bucky, “Don’t let him anywhere near Kurt and don’t let them take him to the US.”

“Kitty-” Bucky started, but Kitty ran off, phasing through the wall as Sam and the group of doctors ran into the waiting room and looked around.

They then continued down the hall. Bucky walked to Sam, “What happened?”

“Katherine tried to suffocate me with her powers,” Sam responded and then elbowed past him and down the hall.

Bucky was left with no words. That was out of character for him. He was left in confusion and then went to find Torres.

A couple of hours later, Kitty found herself on a plane. How could all of this have gone to shit so quickly? She tried to wipe her eyes before she could cry. She hated feeling this helpless. She hated that she had to leave Kurt. She hated that she’d tricked herself into believing in Sam, Bucky, and Torres. She hated that she still felt like she could trust them. Did she learn nothing? It felt like it.

Most of all, she hated feeling this alone.

Chapter Text

“So wait wait wait,” Torres started and stopped, seeking clarification, “So what I’m hearing is she basically tried to kill him and then ran away?”

“That’s not what I said,” Bucky shook his head.

“But that’s what happened, right?” Torres raised a brow.

“That’s what it looked like, but I don’t know if that’s what happened,” Bucky responded as the elevator reached the floor Kurt’s room was on.

Both men stepped out and began walking down the hall towards the waiting room.

“Really? A bunch of people said that’s what they saw,” Torres said, looking at him with uncertainty.

“I don’t think that’s what happened,” Bucky repeated, shaking his head again.

“Okay, why not?” Torres asked. He was curious about why Bucky wasn’t as quick to jump to the same conclusion as everybody else.

Bucky sighed. How could he explain this? He then went for it, “People like her and Kurt don’t just kill people. Especially not people like Sam.”

“How would you know that? Logan didn’t seem to hesitate when he hurt all those agents,” Torres pointed out.

“I just. I know, okay?” He tried to assure him and sighed again, “Look, before she ran off, Kitty said something to me. Why would she go through the effort of stopping to tell me she’s innocent?”

“I’m just spitballing here, maybe she was trying to get you to not go after her too?” Torres threw it out there.

“Things just don’t feel right,” Bucky mumbled.

Torres looked away from him and his expression changed to confusion. There were SHIELD agents scattered around the halls in groups of two. There were about six sitting or standing in the waiting room. Sam was talking to a couple of them.

Torres leaned over to Bucky, “Okay something may be up.”

Bucky ignored the urge to say ‘I told you so’ and just crossed his arms. He followed Torres as he walked up to Sam and waved.

“What’s going on?” Torres asked, referring to the SHIELD agents wandering the halls.

“Extra security,” Sam answered curtly, not turning to face him.

“For what exactly?” Torres continued to question.

Bucky inspected Sam’s behavior, immediately marking his behavior as unusual.

“We can’t risk another breach or threat,” Sam replied.

“So what you’re saying is you’re trying to keep people from getting in,” Torres looked at him with confusion.

“When what you’re really doing is keeping people stuck inside,” Bucky added, watching for Sam’s reaction.

Sam shrugged, “It works either way.”

“Why the sudden change of heart?” Torres questioned cautiously. He was picking up on the same abnormal behavior as Bucky, “I thought we were trying to get them to trust us again, not cut them off from one another.”

“Director de Fontaine believes Katherine and Kurt are threats. After what Katherine pulled, I’m inclined to agree with her,” Sam explained with a short tone.

Bucky’s face turned to suspicion as he heard him speak. He tilted his head slightly and glanced at Torres. He knew something was wrong too, and he was unnerved.

“Since neither of you have anything to say, I’m going to explain the plan from here on out,” Sam paused and looked between them for any sign of interruption before continuing, “Once Kurt is well enough, we’ll transfer him over to the United States and then put him in prison.”

Torres’s eyes widened, “No. We aren’t doing that. What has he done that would cause us to put him in prison?”

“He’s a flight risk, just like Kitty was. We can’t risk him getting loose and hurting more agents,” Sam argued.

“And what about Kitty?” Bucky asked, narrowing his eyes.

“I spoke with Fury. He set up a team to find and apprehend her,” Sam explained.

“Is any of this really necessary? They’re a couple of kids,” Bucky pointed out.

“They’re not kids. They’re weapons. Unstable weapons,” Sam insisted, “Trust me, this is beyond necessary.”

Bucky and Torres exchanged a glance. Something was definitely wrong with Sam.

A SHIELD agent approached them and pulled Sam away to talk. Bucky pulled Torres to the side out of Sam’s earshot.

“Okay, something’s clearly wrong with him. What do we do?” Torres asked with concern,

“I’m going to find Kitty myself. She knows something that we don’t,” Bucky replied, looking around to make sure no one was listening in, “I have the tracking skills to find her, I just need a place to start.”

“I don’t think she’s in Madripoor anymore,” Torres speculated, “But she’ll eventually come back because of Kurt.”

“We can’t wait that long. She knows it’s not the right move to stay in a place where she’s in danger,” Bucky shook his head and then recalled the conversation he’d overheard between Kitty and Kurt on the jet, “But you’re right, she’ll come back for Kurt. She probably knows about the move. She won’t stand for it.”

“I can stay here and make sure Sam doesn’t have Kurt moved before you find Kitty,” Torres brought up the idea, earning an approving nod from Bucky.

“That solves that. All I need now is somewhere to start,” Bucky sighed.

“She won’t be at MIT. The investigation team has probably already searched that place,” Torres chipped in and then perked up, “Okay, hear me out on this one.”

Bucky looked at him with concern and slight apprehension. Torres began, “We can’t ask Kurt because he’s too out of it. We can’t ask Logan because he’ll be mad at what’s happened and he'll probably side with Kitty and refuse to help us no matter what we say,” He then paused to hint, “But, think about it, who’s the other mutant that we know has a connection to Kitty AND we know for certain his location?”

Bucky thought for a moment and then sighed, realizing who he was referring to, “Bobby.”

“Bobby,” Torres confirmed with a smile and a nod.

“That’ll work,” Bucky nodded, “Is the prison he’s at listed in SHIELD files?”

“You don’t need to check, I’ll text you the address,” Torres whipped out his phone and began typing.

“What address?” Sam asked, approaching them from behind.

“I’m..” Bucky tried to think of a lie.

“He’s joining the team to track down Kitty,” Torres came up with a half-truth quickly.

“Yes, that’s true. I am,” Bucky spoke with a bit of a robotic tone as he repeated Torres’s words.

Sam evaluated both of them for a moment and then turned away to walk back to the waiting room, “Fine by me. Let me know if you find anything.”

They waited for him to leave before they started walking down the hall towards Kurt’s room. They stopped by the door, finding two SHIELD agents guarding the entrance. They walked past it a bit before Torres stopped Bucky.

“I’m just gonna warn you now, Bobby might be a little on edge,” Torres warned.

“It’s Bobby, how on edge could he be?” Bucky asked wryly, raising a brow.

“I’m just warning you,” Torres said with caution before tacking on a “Good luck,” and patting him on the shoulder.

“I’ll let you know if I find anything,” Bucky began to walk off and then stopped, “If we have any chance at salvaging our relationship with them, keep Kurt here as long as you can.”

“Yes, sir,” Torres jokingly saluted, trying to keep the situation lighthearted.

Bucky rolled his eyes and did a small salute back at him. He then turned around and went down the hall towards the elevator. As he entered the elevator, he received the text from Torres with the address.

Back to Virginia we go, Bucky thought as he began to descend.

When he arrived at the prison several hours later, he had no idea what was in store for him.

Chapter Text

As Bucky was guided through the lobby and into the visiting room of the prison. As per usual, the room was divided in half with a clear divider and red phones on either side of the glass. On the visiting side were chairs and a couple people, holding phones to their ears and talking to people on the other side of the glass. Bucky was guided over to a seat.

A few moments after he sat down, a guard brought in Bobby from behind the door. He shoved him over to the seat across from Bucky. Bobby wasn’t amused at all and flipped off the guard. The guard wanted to retaliate, but spotted Bucky and backed off. Bobby smirked and then finally laid eyes on Bucky, his expression dropping to irritation.

Bobby sat down. Bucky picked up the red phone to speak with him. Bobby didn’t do the same. He looked at him, evaluating him quietly with a judgemental look. He then finally picked up the phone.

“Come to gloat?” Bobby questioned rhetorically.

“No,” Bucky shook his head, “I need to speak with you.”

“Oh, how interesting, what about?” He asked, clearly not amused with having this conversation at all.

“How did you get caught?” Bucky questioned.

“After I came back from Madripoor with my team, I realized I needed my computer for something and I also realized I left it back at the CIA. I tried doing the thing I was gonna do without it, but it didn’t work,” Bobby went to explain and then added, “So I came back to the building and guess who was waiting for me?”

“Walker,” Bucky answered, pinching his nose.

“Bingo,” Bobby pointed a finger gun at him with his free hand and clicked his tongue.

“Why didn’t you fight back? With the training you have, you could have easily escaped,” Bucky asked into the prison phone.

“Do you know how bad it would’ve looked if I had frozen the guys who had arrested me? If I had resisted arrest?” Bobby spoke, suddenly very annoyed. It was a dramatic change in demeanor for Bobby. In the few times they’d met, Bucky had observed Bobby as a lighthearted individual, or in the very least, sarcastic enough to pass.

“So you’d rather take the fall,” Bucky assumed, looking him dead in the eye.

“Yeah and here I am,” He dramatically gestured to the prison booth around them, “Taking the fall.”

Bucky pinched his nose, trying to think of something to say and opting to just ask, “Do you have a lawyer in the least?”

“I know a guy who knows a guy who knows another guy in Hell’s Kitchen,” Bobby rambled off, picking at his thumb and hardly paying attention.

“Hell’s Kitchen seems a little out there,” Bucky commented.

“Yeah, well, apparently he’s a good lawyer so,” He shrugged.

“And you think you can-” Bucky started.

“Dude, look,” Bobby cut him off, now looking him dead in the eyes, “What do you want from me? Because you obviously need something and you think I have it.”

“Straight to the point, huh,” Bucky cracked a slight smile that faded immediately upon seeing Bobby’s still annoyed expression, “Okay, fine. Kitty’s disappeared a few days ago. I need to find her. Do you have any idea where she could possibly be?”

Bobby’s brow furrowed, “Why would she, Kurt, and Logan disappear? I thought you guys were working together?”

“Well,” Bucky began, trying to think of a way in which he could explain without making Bobby freak out.

“Dear god, what did you guys do?” Bobby asked, raising his voice slightly.

“You saw us last at the gala,” Bucky decided to ease him into it, “After you left, things went downhill and Walker hurt Kurt. Logan-”

“He hurt Kurt? You let him hurt Kurt?” Bobby asked with concern, straightening up in his seat.

“Let me finish. We didn’t let him, he acted on his own fruition. Kitty beat him senseless. SHIELD agents then came into the building and Logan tried to fight his way out of the situation. A lot of people got hurt, but we managed to get him to stop and turn himself in in exchange for both Kitty and Kurt’s freedom as well as medical attention for Kurt,” Bucky finished the first half of his explanation.

“Then why did Kitty run? She never leaves Kurt,” Bobby asked, watching Bucky with suspicion now.

“I don’t know what happened for sure, but Kitty apparently tried to kill Sam. I think it’s because Sam was changing the deal when he was talking to Val,” Bucky continued his explanation.

“Changing the deal? You mean he went back on his word?” Bobby rolled his eyes and spoke with sarcasm, “Well no shit she’d leave after that, but not try to kill him. That’s unusual.”

“That’s what I thought. When she was running, she told me she wasn’t trying to kill him. I don’t think that’s something she’d do,” Bucky began to speculate.

“So all of you guys were at the gala together. Were some of you in the main hall area?” Bobby asked. He was going somewhere with this.

“Sam, Torres, Kurt, Walker, and Logan,” Bucky listed off the names.

“And you and Kitty were in the lobby so you didn’t see what was going on in there until the last second,” Bobby stroked his chin, thinking, “Did any of them start acting weird after the gala?”

Bucky’s eyes flitted to his, “Sam.”

“Did he, perhaps, seem like a completely different person the last time you spoke to him?” Bobby had a suspicion.

“He did. Bobby, if you know what’s going on, you have to tell me,” Bucky tried to get him to hurry up.

“So you’re right about Kitty not trying to kill him. The thing about her powers is that when she phases, it makes her immune to telepathic interference. She wasn’t trying to kill Sam when she phased him, she was trying to bring him back,” Bobby explained, a smile tugging at his lips.

“So you’re saying there was something in his head. That there still is,” Bucky thought over this conclusion, his expression turning serious.

“Not something. Someone. There was a telepath at the gala. Her name is Emma Frost. She was a part of the reason my team was there,” Bobby provided more of an explanation.

Bucky then tilted his head, “And why was your team there?”

“We got a tip off that the Hellfire Club- this kinda bad kinda good organization- it’s a whole thing- was up to something bad. We weren't sure what it was so a small team was sent in to investigate. We found one of the leading members there making a deal with some of the Power Broker’s goons,” Bobby recalled his team’s missions, “A bunch of us went because we expected a fight since wherever Shaw is, Frost is as well, but we didn’t see her at all.”

It clicked in Bucky’s head, “Frost was dealing with us while Shaw was dealing with all of you.”

“Bingo again, my man!” Bobby grinned, looking excited for the first time in their conversation.

Bucky didn’t want to ruin the moment, but he still asked, “Does your team even know what the Hellfire Club and the Power Broker are up to?”

“Not exactly. Once Shaw had left the goons alone, two of my teammates went to find out. One guy distracted Shaw while the lady went after the Power Broker’s goons. She found out that everything that had been said was on an encrypted file. She managed to copy the file and steal it and we got out of there without a hitch,” Bobby explained, now fidgeting with his thumbs. And then he got an idea, “You know what? I’ll help you find Kitty, but you need to do something for me,” Bobby decided with a grin.

“What?” Bucky asked simply. He speculated that he might ask him to get out of prison or do something for him.

“Find my stuff from when I was arrested,” Bobby requested, “Then go through it and find a black flash drive with a little blue X on it and take it.”

“That’s.. It?” He half expected him to ask for something large.

“Once you find Kitty, have her decrypt it,” Bobby added.

Bucky nodded slowly, “And you want nothing else?”

“Nope. I’ve got everything handled here,” Bobby gave him and thumbs up.

“Are you sure?” Bucky gestured to the area around them, the gray, stained walls, and the glass wall between them.

“I’ll work it out,” He waved it off, “Anyways.”

“Anyways indeed. So where is she?” Bucky asked, getting to the point, “Would she be hiding out at the school all of you went to?”

“Oh god no. She might be desperate, but she’s so stubborn she won’t go back,” Bobby said and warned, “Trust me, you do not want to go there searching, it will not end well for you.”

Bucky raised a brow, not asking verbally, but the slight curiosity was present on his face.

“If you think Kitty, Kurt, Logan, and I are powerful, the people there are much more so. You do not want to mess with them,” Bobby warned with a chuckle.

“Got it, so upstate New York is off limits,” Bucky acknowledged, “Then what do you think?”

“Hm,” Bobby thought for a moment, “Try her MIT dorm.”

“No, that is way too obvious. She’s not going to hide there,” Bucky mentioned.

“Obviously Kitty’s not going to be there,” Bobby said with another stupid grin.

“Then why would I go there?” Bucky looked at him. His logic was unbelievable. Maybe he was just messing with him. Wasting his time.

“Kitty might not be there, but someone who’s looking for her who knows her better might,” Bobby said, searching Bucky’s expression for any sign of realization.

It clicked in his head, “So then I could ask them where she is.”

Bobby scrunched his nose and tilted his head, “Depends on who it is.”

Bucky rolled his eyes and sighed, “Alright, then who should I not ask?”

“Anybody you get a bad feeling from,” Bobby answered.

“Okay then. Who should I look out for?” He tried to get more details on who to avoid.

“Pretty exclusively anybody named Erik and anyone he’s with,” Bobby advised, “You know what? Actually, maybe don’t try confronting anybody head on until you know they’re a good person.”

Bucky nodded, “Okay then. Any other advice for the road?”

“When you find Kitty, not if, make things right,” Bobby said, “If you don’t things are going to get really bad for everybody.”

“I’ll try my best,” Bucky spoke honestly.

“We don’t have time for trying anymore, now you just have a do,” Bobby remarked and then went back to fidgeting with his thumbs.

“Thanks for everything, Bobby,” Bucky thanked him with a bow of his head, “And thank you for trusting me.”

“No problem. I like you. Something about you is really genuine. It’s refreshing,” Bobby replied.

“Thanks,” Bucky gave him a slight smile, “Once we fix things, I’ll come back here with Sam and have you cleared of your charges.”

“Like I said earlier, don’t worry about it. I have everything handled,” Bobby responded with an ominous smirk.

“Well, just in case you don’t,” Bucky assured him.

“Thanks for the backup then,” Bobby smiled.

“I’ll see you around. Thank you again,” Bucky gave him a faint smile.

“Hey, when you find Kitty, tell her I say happy birthday,” Bobby added a final request, “Then we’re cool.”

“I’ll be sure to add it to the list,” Bucky bowed his head and hung up the phone. Bobby did the same.

Bucky watched out of the corner of his eye as Bobby began to stand up before the guard forced him to sit back down. Bobby looked at the guard with apprehension, annoyance, and confusion. The guard said something inaudible to him and he rolled his eyes and stayed put, accepting whatever it was that was keeping him there. Bucky took this as a sign to leave and opened the door out.

As he stepped out, a man with red glasses passed him and stepped inside. The man in red glasses sat down in front of Bobby. Bobby looked like he was seeing a pleasant surprise and like he’s been caught red handed. He then locked eyes with Bucky and gave him a thumbs up as the door shut.

Bucky pulled out his phone and texted Torres a few details, figuring that if Frost could get to Sam, she could easily get to Torres. He then put his phone away and found a flight to Boston. He asked the police station to see Bobby’s belongings and found them in a box hidden away on the shelf. He found the drive immediately and then looked at the rest of his things, deciding to leave the rest for Bobby when he got out.

The flight to Boston was short, but it gave him enough time to think. What or rather who was he looking for? Would he have to ask Riri about Kitty’s whereabouts? Was this just a wild goose chase? The thoughts crossed his mind as the plane landed.

As he took the train from Boston to Cambridge, he noticed the weather turning darker. The clouds grew more gray as he stepped out of the train. The weather wasn’t unusual, but something felt off. He decided to wait until the next day to visit MIT as he heard thunder in the distance and went off to find a cheap hotel.

It was clear a storm was just beginning.

Chapter Text

The rain was still there the next morning. It annoyed Bucky, but he decided to brave the storm anyway and head to the MIT dorms. The downpour got worse the closer he got, but he didn’t think much of it. He passed a few students who complained about the weather. He eventually got inside and made his way upstairs.

Bucky approached the door and found a SHIELD agent standing by the doorway like he was guarding it. The agent stopped him and asked him why he was there. Bucky answered simply that he was tracking Kitty. He then asked what he was doing there, the agent answering that he was part of the investigative team.

As they finished their conversation, someone opened the door from inside. He was greeted by bright pink glasses being worn by an Asian girl with short black hair and an even brighter yellow jacket over her SHIELD uniform.

“What are you two arguing about out here?” She asked with a frown.

“This man says he’s also a part of the investigation of Katherine Pryde,” The agent responded, narrowing his eyes at Bucky.

The girl looked him up and down and then huffed at the agent, “That’s the metal arm guy that’s Captain America’s bestie. He can come in.”

“Come on in, big guy,” She said as she opened the door for him and he went inside.

Bucky looked around Kitty’s dorm room. Raindrops pattered against the floor to ceiling window. There were two other agents in the room as well that had made note of him as soon as he’d come in. One was searching the area around Kitty’s bed while the other stood by Kitty’s desk. The girl that had let him in went back to rifling through Kitty’s closet.

Unsure of where to go, Bucky walked over to the agent by the bed. Once the agent had noticed him, he told him to piss off and started looking under the bed. He scoffed and then made his way over to Kitty’s desk, standing by the agent searching for it.

The agent was a woman with dark skin, blue eyes, and remarkable curly white hair. She wore a black pantsuit and a velvet black headband. There was something about this woman that was intimidating. He got the feeling that she could easily be friendly and welcoming. If that’s what she wanted. And as of that moment, that didn’t seem to be where her mind was at.

She’d been sorting through the pictures that had previously been hung on Kitty’s wall. She’d made little stacks and was looking at a specific picture of Kitty and Kurt. The sky outside darkened slightly. The woman looked at the picture maybe a little longer than she should’ve before flipping it over and placing it in one stack. She then plucked off another picture and looked at it as she spoke, “You must be Mr. Barnes.”

Bucky stopped looking at the pictures and looked at her, “That would be me.”

“I was notified by Fury that you would be joining us at some point,” She set down the picture and held out her hand to shake, “My name is Ororo Munroe. I’m leading this investigation.”

He nodded and shook her hand, “James Bucky Barnes. And they are?” He gestured to the other agents.

“Agent Dayton is searching the bed area and Agent Anderson is outside by the door,” She introduced the other members of her team, “The girl in the closet is a trainee. Her name is Jubilation Lee, but she goes by Jubilee.”

“Nice to meet you all then,” Bucky took in the names before looking back down at the small stacks of pictures. He found it strange that they were turned down. He then looked back at her, “Any leads so far?”

“When we arrived, her laptop was gone, but we believe most everything is still here,” Ororo explained and after seeing him look at the pictures, she spoke again, “We think these might lead us to possible accomplices or people that may be hiding her.”

“Have you run facial rec on them?” He asked.

“Not yet,” She shook her head and then plucked another picture from the wall. It was a picture of Illyana, Kurt, and Kitty. In this picture, Kitty wore the black jacket with the purple dragon design on it.

Lockheed. Right. That could be something. Kitty hadn’t brought the little purple dragon to Madripoor which meant that he had to be here or with Kitty. Where was the black leather jacket now? Bucky looked around the room.

“Think I found something,” Agent Dayton announced from under the bed and then emerged with a cardboard box.

Munroe, Jubilee, and Bucky all walked over to where he’d come out. Dayton began pulling items out of the box before Jubilee dove downward and shoved him to the side as she looked through the items more rapidly.

“Hey, Ororo, this looks sick, right?” Jubilee pulled out the black leather jacket that would usually have Lockheed on it.

Bucky hid his shock with ease, seeing that Lockheed was noticeably absent on the jacket. He glanced at Munroe. There was a bit of thunder outside. She seemed about halfway there, having an expression mixed with seriousness and shock.

She then cleared her throat, “We can take the box to SHIELD for analysis.”

“What? I can’t keep it?” Jubilee asked playfully.

“It is evidence and it will remain within SHIELD custody until ordered otherwise,” Munroe directed. She had a certain regality about her that was rare. Bucky had only ever seen that kind of majesty in the Wakandan royal family. She’d fit in there without even trying. Munroe then turned back to the desk.

Jubilee pouted and then Dayton snatched the jacket from her, shoving it in the box. Him and Jubilee rifled through it a bit more, but that wasn’t where Bucky’s mind was at. He hadn’t failed to notice Munroe pocket one stack of photos.

When he turned back, she had finished sorting the remaining photos. She found a couple of rubber bands and wrapped the stacks before placing them in the box. Bucky didn’t want to bring up the stack of photos she’d taken, deciding to see what she would do.

Bucky had a hunch. Bobby said he needed to look for people that might know her whereabouts. He figured that meant her neighbors or friends at MIT, but now he thought he meant other mutants blending in with the population. He wouldn’t put it above certain mutants to hide within SHIELD. Right under their nose. He had no way of proving that either Ororo or Jubilee were mutants, but his gut was telling him that they were.

So he decided to test this theory. Ororo didn’t seem that interested in helping with the search after sorting the photos and was instead going through her phone.

“You wouldn’t happen to know very much about Kitty, would you?” Bucky asked as if he was asking about an old friend.

Ororo looked up from her phone. There was another bout of thunder outside. Perhaps there was some connection there? If Bobby could control ice, then who’s to say Ororo couldn’t control the weather?

“If by Kitty, you mean Katherine, then no. I do not know much about her,” Ororo denied with a shake of her head. While speaking, she’d allowed a microexpression of her true feelings to slip through. It had pained her to say Katherine instead of Kitty.

But again, he didn’t bring it up, he just continued, “Well, you seemed pretty interested in those pictures.”

“The other individuals in those pictures could potentially hold powers similar to hers. If they don’t, then they might know where she is,” Ororo made up what sounded like a rehearsed excuse, “I will have someone run facial recognition on them later today.”

“In this weather? You’d go all the way to SHIELD to run facial rec on a few people who might not be involved?” Bucky asked, adding slight exaggeration to his voice. He knew people would more easily reveal their secrets if caught off guard.

“I would because this matter is urgent,” She insisted. Okay. Maybe she was a bit more of a challenge than Bobby.

“I’m just saying that it could wait,” Bucky shrugged, acting nonchalant.

The sound of two voices came from outside. It sounded like an argument. Munroe seemed to notice it as well, turning her head to the door.

Riri opened the door with a victorious grin like she’d won against Anderson outside. Once she noticed Munroe, Jubilee, Dayton, and himself, her face dropped.

Munroe looked past her and raised her voice to check on Anderson, “Agent?”

A thumbs up came from the side of the door and Anderson gave a meek, “She got me in the, uh, downstairs area, Ma’am.”

Jubilee snorted, Dayton shot her a dirty look, and Munroe sighed. She then approached Riri, “I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

Riri took in the sight that was Ororo Munroe for a second before insisting, “This is my friend’s dorm, she’s been missing, what’s going on?”

“Nothing you need to worry about, Miss,” Munroe was trying to get her to leave by avoiding the answer altogether.

“Riri Williams,” Riri gave her name and then started to argue, “Like I said, this is my friend’s dorm. I think I’m entitled to knowing where she is and why SHIELD is going through her stuff.”

“Again, Miss Williams, this is none of your concern. All you need to know is that Kitty will not be returning to campus anytime soon,” Munroe informed her. What was bad news to Riri was a perfect Freudian slip. She said Kitty- not Katherine.

Then Riri noticed him and pointed at him, “You. I know you. You were here with Captain America. I think you owe me an explanation.”

Munroe looked back at him and raised a critical brow. Bucky stepped forward, saying to Munroe, “I’ll deal with her,” As he guided Riri out.

As Bucky shut the door behind them, Riri crossed her arms and looked at him with irritation. Anderson had seemed to recover by now, but was still standing strange. He hobbled in front of the door and glared at Riri who gave a brief satisfactory smile.

Bucky then guided her down the hall to where he remembered her dorm room’s door was.

“So can I get an explanation now?” She asked, putting a hand on her hip.

“Yeah, yeah, but you have to stay quiet about all this,” Bucky warned her.

“My lips are sealed,” She made the gesture of zipping her lips shut, “Now what’s the deal with Kitty?”

“She got involved in some.. Superhero stuff and it got her in a bad place. Now she’s on the run from SHIELD and nobody knows where she is,” Bucky explained as vaguely as he possibly could.

“Oh no,” Riri’s eyes widened and then her expression twisted to confusion, “Wait, superhero stuff? Is Kitty a superhero?”

“Kind of. I don’t think that’s what she would call herself,” Bucky sighed, remembering the conversation at the base. Vigilantes more like it.

“I didn’t know she was a superhero. Who knew two superheroes would be living right next door, huh?” Riri thought aloud and chuckled.

Bucky looked at her for a second, processing, “You’re a superhero?”

“Yeah, Ironheart,” She smirked and did the Ironman gesture. Bucky blinked. She frowned, “I should be in SHIELD files somewhere.”

“I’m gonna be honest, I don’t read those very often,” Bucky shook his head and then went back to the subject at hand, “Look, Riri, if you know anything about where Kitty could be hiding, you need to tell me. I’m not going to hurt her or turn her in.”

Riri thought and then shook her head, “I don’t know where she is, but she did leave me something a couple of days ago.”

“Where is it?” He asked. His curiosity was piqued.

Riri opened her dorm room door and then stepped inside, picking up a green velvet item from the edge of her bed. She then picked up a small card that had been attached to the tag, “Just this.”

Bucky looked at it and then picked up the card, opening it and reading it. It was a sentimental little note that simply read, “I’m sorry I couldn’t say goodbye in person. Keep this and remember me.”

He then set the card back down, “You didn’t happen to see her, did you?”

“Nope, it just appeared on my doorstep,” She shrugged and then set it back down.

Bucky pinched his nose, “Alright, one last question. When did those people show up?” He meant the SHIELD agents, but was specifically referring to Munroe and Jubilee.

“They showed up yesterday morning right before the storm started,” Riri answered, “They’re not bad, are they?”

“Not sure, but I think I’m gonna find out soon enough,” Bucky replied, seeing Munroe exit Kitty’s dorm moments later with an umbrella. She was leaving.

Bucky waved to Riri and she disappeared. Upon Munroe’s instruction, Anderson entered the dorm room. Munroe walked down the hall towards the elevator with Jubilee noticeably absent. Munroe dialed a number and then held the phone up to her ear. Bucky decided to follow, his footsteps almost silent. And now he was playing with fire, or apparently, the weather.

While Munroe took the elevator down, Bucky practically sprinted down the steps. He made it in time to see her leave the building and put up her umbrella. She made her way towards the train station. Bucky hadn't brought an umbrella and put his food over his head, finding a far enough away seat so that he wouldn’t be noticed on the train. Munroe seemed to be too involved in her phone call to have noticed him.

Munroe hung up a few stops later and left the train. Bucky followed. From where they were, the rain was much lighter, only a few drops hitting them instead of the downpour that had been present at MIT. Munroe walked down the street, checking her phone every so often. Bucky kept his distance, but was still able to follow her with ease. The streets were mostly empty as the rain began to intensify and the sky darkened.

Munroe stopped in front of a small café. She looked at the sign before she heard someone clear their throat. There was an older man seated at a table under an awning, shielding him from the rain. From what Bucky could see, the man had short cut white hair and pale blue eyes. His face was etched with wrinkles, but his demeanor held a certain intimidation. It was similar to Munroe’s manner in a way. He wore a faded red shirt with a black jacket over it.

This man seemed to be who Munroe intended to meet. She walked over and took a seat next to him. He handed her a cup of coffee which she hesitantly took.

The man raised a brow, “If I was trying to kill you, I wouldn’t do it with a cup of coffee.”

Munroe sighed and took a sip, “That is not what I meant.”

“Is this weather your doing?” He asked.

“Partially,” She replied.

The man nodded, “I see. Now, why did you ask me here, Ororo?”

“If you know where she is, you must tell me. I need to bring her home,” Munroe responded, skipping straight to the point.

“Why are you so sure I know where Kitty is?” He questioned, stirring his coffee.

“You arrived back in the United States right after she disappeared. Knowing you, that can not be a coincidence,” Ororo reasoned, watching for his reaction.

Bucky had hidden behind a nearby wall. He was close enough to hear their conversation and remain undetected. Or so he thought.

“I needed some time away from Genosha. I’m giving Lorna a chance to rule,” He provided an excuse that sounded tacky and ill-prepared. Munroe must have had the same thought.

“You wouldn’t leave Genosha unless something important was going on. I know you, Erik. And I know when you have an agenda,” Ororo pointed out.

Erik. That name was familiar. Where had he heard the name Erik? Oh. OH. That’s who Bobby said not to talk to or mess with. Bucky silently wondered why he’d issued that warning. This was an old man who, while intimidating in attitude, didn’t look like he could put up that much of a fight. Then again, neither did Kitty once upon a time.

“Worry not, I’ll be leaving in due time,” Erik said.

“With Kitty,” Ororo assumed, basically accusing him of lying.

“You think I would risk my people to harbor a fugitive?” He questioned, slight annoyance in his tone.

“Were you not once a fugitive?” Ororo countered, matching his tone.

“Touché,” He sighed and then took another sip of his coffee. He then turned the questioning back on her, “If I were hiding Kitty, what reason would I have to hand her over to you?”

“For her safety. The humans are trying to find her. They see her as a threat, but if we remove her from the picture, we may be able to salvage everything,” Ororo explained. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

“And if she chooses not to go with you?” He asked.

Ororo wasn’t expecting this question and paused to think, “She should know better than to refuse.”

“She should, but we both know her pride is stronger than her logic at times,” Erik nodded his head.

“She gets it from her namesake. And Logan,” Ororo added.

“Mostly Logan,” Erik remarked.

Ororo chuckled and then composed herself, “But she will see the reason if I speak to her. Erik, please, if she’s with you, you must let me speak with her.”

“I wish I could help you, Ororo, but I’m sorry. I don’t know where she is. She has no reason to ever come to me for refuge,” Erik apologized. The sky grew darker and a bit of thunder rumbled.

Ororo sighed and spoke through her teeth, “Thank you for meeting me then. Best wishes for Genosha.”

“Give Charles my best,” Erik replied and then sipped his coffee.

Ororo stood up, taking her cup with her and departing down the street. As she passed Bucky, he could see the frustration on her face. She started walking back towards the train station, leaving Erik alone at the café.

Bucky thought about leaving as well because of Bobby’s warning, but one thing stuck with him, keeping him standing there by the wall.

Erik was lying.

Chapter Text

Bucky tried to think of how to approach this. Bobby had warned him. And now he was at a crossroads. Stay out of possible danger or follow the only lead he had? He picked the latter and took a deep breath. If Erik was a dangerous individual, he had to approach this with extreme caution.

Bucky took a step forward and looked at Erik. He had no time to act before he felt his arm being yanked. There was no one pulling him. The tugging got stronger and he was basically dragged out from behind the wall. Erik looked at him with a mostly deadpan expression but had an aura of anger around him. Erik had only lifted a finger and suddenly Bucky was being dragged towards him to the table.

Erik flicked his finger and Bucky was basically thrown into the chair that was once occupied by Munroe. The chair itself was also metal and the bars of the seat came undone, trapping Bucky in place. Another bar emerged to restrain his human arm.

“How did you-”

“Metal bends to my will. I could sense your arm the moment you hid behind that wall. It’s vibranium, is it not?” Erik answered his question before he could even fully ask. Erik tilted his head, looking at his arm with slight interest.

“Don’t get to bend that very often?” Bucky made the remark, trying to figure out how to remove himself from the restraints. This man clearly did not trust him.

“No I do not,” Erik replied and then leaned back in his seat, “There’s no use in struggling or fighting really.”

Bucky stopped, knowing it wouldn’t be best to piss off this man. He sat back. Erik was narrowing his eyes as if he recognized him but couldn’t quite place his face. So things could definitely get worse.

“I suppose you are one of the humans looking for Kitty?” Erik moved on, asking the big question.

“I am,” Bucky started to respond and he felt the restraints tighten and Erik’s expression got darker, “But I’m not going to hurt her or imprison her or anything like that.”

“Foolish words coming from a foolish man. You really expect me to believe that?” Erik raised a brow.

“I just want to make amends. If you know where she is, tell me. All I want to do is help her and make things right,” Bucky said, trying to remain calm in this situation. Erik was too calm. Unnervingly calm.

“Making things right. Such a human sentiment. And yet, your kind is so proficient at making things wrong,” Erik scoffed slightly and then lifted his cup. After taking a final sip, he looked at Bucky, inspecting, “Yet your want to make amends reminds me that I've seen your face before.”

“I’m not here to debate philosophy. I’m here to help,” Bucky denied him this and watched Erik’s expression change.

“I’ll tell you the same thing I told Ororo, I do not know where Kitty is. I do not know why everyone is so convinced I know her whereabouts,” Erik insisted.

“See, the thing is, you do. You were lying to her. You know where she is, but you’re just refusing to tell anyone,” Bucky responded, narrowing his eyes.

“That is a bold assumption,” Erik tilted his head.

“But a correct one. I can tell when people are lying and the lie is written all over your face. So tell me,” Bucky said, lightly demanding.

“And if I do not?” Erik posed the question, unfazed, “It would be foolish to pick a fight with me.”

“I don’t want a fight with you, I just want to know where she is,” Bucky asserted.

“A human that doesn’t want a fight,” Erik began and then lifted his finger. Bucky felt his metal arm jolt up. Erik inspected it a moment before dropping his arm, “I know who you are now.”

Bucky’s brow furrowed and his eyes widened slightly. So he may have to fight today. A fight that probably wouldn't end well considering that he had a metal arm and this guy could control metal. Shit.

“The Winter Soldier,” Erik spoke, allowing it to sink in.

“I’m not that person anymore. I’m trying to make amends, so please let me,” Bucky swallowed a lump in his throat.

“You are a creation born of humanity’s evils. I will not allow you to further interact with that girl,” Erik was blunt and to the point, his face turning dark with a scowl.

Bucky sucked in a deep breath before looking at the ground, attempting to formulate a response. He sighed, “If I’m still what HYDRA made me, then what about Kitty, Kurt, and Logan? Are they still weapons to you?”

Erik glared at him, “What are you implying?”

Bucky looked at him, “They were weaponized by HYDRA too. What’s the difference between me and them?”

“They were victims,” Erik sneered.

“And I wasn’t? I didn’t choose to be the Winter Soldier. I didn’t choose to be their weapon just like the three of them didn’t choose to be turned into weapons,” Bucky argued, gritting his teeth. Something inside him snapped. He was tired of being perceived like this. He already hated himself for it, “I’ll be the first to admit I did a lot of horrible things that haunt me every time I shut my eyes. But I’m trying to fix things and I’m trying to be better. You don’t have to respect me. You don’t have to even give a single shit about me, but I’m trying to undo the damage I’ve done. I’m trying to be better.”

Erik looked at him with irritation, not liking having been proven hypocritical. He finally let out a frustrated sigh.

“I know that I am far from perfect and that you probably see me as being a bad person, but you don’t know me. You don’t know what I’ve seen or what I’ve had to go through,” Bucky continued, “But I know that if I had to endure that for decades, I don’t want to imagine what HYDRA had done to children. But, unfortunately, that’s what I’m dealing with. That’s what I have to confront in order to move forward. And this is my chance to make actual amends. So allow me this one chance.”

Erik studied Bucky for a moment, perhaps there was a shred of respect in his eyes. Or maybe pity, though Erik didn’t seem like the type to pity very often. No. It was some kind of silent understanding in Erik’s eyes. Erik then sighed again and asked, “And why should I trust you? No, why should she trust you after all of that?”

“I don’t want things to get worse. I may not deserve your or her or anyone’s trust, but I still want to make things better,” Bucky spoke honestly, not struggling against the metal to show that he meant no harm, “I’m not going to hurt her. I don't want to hurt anyone.”

“Words are easy. Proving them is much harder,” Erik said. He waved his hand and the metal keeping Bucky in place fell to the ground.

“So you’ll tell me where she is?” Bucky asked, a bit of hope blooming in his chest. This might actually work out.

“No,” Erik shook his head. All that hope died instantly, and then Erik continued, “It is up to her as to who she wants to see.”

“So you’re admitting that you know where she is,” Bucky started and Erik nodded, “But you’re just not going to tell me.”

“Soldier,” Erik began. Bucky grimaced at the use of that name. Erik then directed, “If you want her trust again, you need to allow her to make her own decisions. If what you said was true about you not getting a choice to become the Winter Soldier, then the ultimate sign of trust to her would be allowing her to make her own choices.”

Bucky nodded, “I understand that, but there’s limited time.”

“What do you mean?” Erik asked with a slight tilt of his head.

Bucky debated what to say. This man obviously had problems with humans already and he didn’t want to make them worse, so he decided to put it as honestly and as vaguely as he could, “Kurt got hurt. Kitty was with him until there was a threat. SHIELD wants to put them both in prison. Once Kurt is better, they’re going to try and put him in prison.”

“Typical,” Erik rolled his eyes. He then put the empty coffee cup in an empty trashcan nearby. He then thought for a moment, “I will try to rush her along but I can make no promises.”

“That is all I can ask,” Bucky simply replied.

“Know that if she or any of my people get hurt, I will not hesitate to end you,” Erik threatened with a deadly look in his eye.

Bucky nodded slowly, feeling a jolt in his arm and spotting Erik flicking his finger and taking in the threat. He could tell this man was true to his word.

“If she does not want to go with you, you can not force her,” Erik added and then suggested, “If you are really committed to proving your worth to Kitty, Kurt, and Logan, you would be better off helping to keep Kurt out of SHIELD’s custody than hunting for Kitty,” He waved him off, “You may leave.”

Bucky stood up slowly just in case Erik had anything else to say. He didn’t. Bucky began to walk off, reflecting quietly on the conversation. He figured that what Erik said was best, to wait. Erik probably knew Kitty better than he did. Bucky knew it would be best to wait and instead help Torres with managing Sam and Val while keeping Kurt safe alongside Torres. Then he had a thought.

“One last thing,” Bucky looked back at him. Erik raised a brow, “My name is James Buchanan Barnes and I am no longer the Winter Soldier.”