Ascertainment || Bucky Barnes (2)

10

Once again they were around the huge black glass table just off the control room. Basil was slumped in his chair, not spinning this time. The remainders of the avengers all gathered out of uniforms in the silence. The crew below them flying what remained of their helicarrier were quiet in morning of Agent Coulson. Tony was leaning back in his seat. Uncharacteristically quiet and slightly banged up. He had some bruises starting to bloom on his face. Nat was just as banged up from her fight with Barton. Both of them were in simple black T-shirt's and jeans. Steve didn't seem to have a scratch on him but he was sad. He wore a blue tshirt and his usual beige trousers. Basil half curled up at his side. His curls still damp from a shower and the blood all gone. He wore a white top which exposed the bandages round his arm and black jeans. Out of all of them, he had the worst injury but was healing well. Thor and Banner had been lost who knows where.

Fury stood at the head of the table, shoulders back and agent hill standing to attention in the back. He sighed and held out something small. "These were in his jacket", he tossed the items onto the table in front of Steve and Basil. "I guess he never did get you to sign them".

Steve leaned forwards to pick one up. It was a card. The trading cards that Coulson had been so proud about. Steve turned it round to see his own image blood stained. The blood still wet and leaving marks on the table. Basil made a soft noise and picked up another. It was him and Bucky. A image taken from one of their filmed interviews. Bucky had his arm round Basil's shoulders and they were both smiling at the camera. The black and white image stained red from the blood dotting the edges. Basil sighed deeply, wanting to cry. He picked up a bottle from the floor and took a swig as he tucked the card into his pocket. It wasn't like Coulson would be wanting them back now anyway.

Fury continued speaking. "Banner, Thor. I've got nothing for you. I've lost my one good eye. Maybe I had that coming. Wait, Parrish, are you drinking?"

Basil moved the bottle and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Yes. Want some?" He shook the bottle of whiskey.

"Yes gimme", Tony held out his hand and Basil passed the bottle over. The man took a big swig. "Ah, good stuff. Nice".

Fury shook his head with a sigh as if he was teaching school children. "Maybe I had it coming. Yes. We were going to build and Arsenal with the tesseract. I never put all my chips on that number through because I was playing something even riskier. There was an idea. Stark knows this".

"I do. Gimme back that bottle". Basil handed it back over and he took another swig.

"Called the Avengers initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them too, to fight the battles that we never could". Fury inhaled deeply and leaned on the back of a empty chair. "Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes". Tony got suddenly to his feet and left the room silently.

"Well", Fury sighed as he watched him walk away. "It's an old fashioned nothing".

"Yeah", Basil muttered as he drained the last of the bottle. He set it down on the table with a clink then stood up. "I'm beginning to understand the idea of old fashioned". Then he too was walking away from the room. His arm aching.

——

There was a knock on Basil's cabin door. He sighed and pushed himself up onto his feet from where he had been sat on the floor against rhetoric bed. This time he was not in the mood for jokes and simply pressed the button the open the metal hatch. Steve stood on the other side dressed again in his uniform, or  another uniform. This uniform was clean and not torn up. He had a bundle of navy blue cloth under one hand and Basil's belt and helmet in the other. "We've got to go", he stated. "Moving out". He tossed the uniform and Basil caught it.

"Where?" He asked as he unfolded it.

"I'll tell you on the jet. Meet you in hanger four".

"Wait Steve! You forgot my hunting knives!" Steve turned and pulled the four scabbards from where he had tucked them into his belt and handed them over. Basil tucked them under an arm. "I'll be five minutes, tops", he called as the door shut again.

He set the blades and belt down on his bed and held up the uniform. It was exactly the same as the last one but this one didn't have a tear in the arm or blood stains covering it. He sighed. "I guess they found where Loki is planning on opening the portal then", he muttered as he began pulling his clothes off. "Whoopee doo. More fighting. Yay".

He gripped his dog tags in his palm. The thin metal hanging on his bare skin. He never took them off. "Hey Sarge. If I die fighting aliens or gods or whatever Loki calls himself, you're never going to let me live it down. I decide out of the graciousness of my heart to look after your best friend and now I'm stuck in the future fighting aliens", he snorted as he began zipping up his uniform. "No wonder you used to freak out so much. Steve's great but honestly, the shit he gets in to. When I die and meet you where ever we go after we end our earthly existence, I am so going to demand pay back. I swear, Steve and his trouble are giving me grey hairs". He laughed to himself as he buckled on all his blades. He turned to the small mirror and ran a hand through his curls as he picked up his helmet.

"I just hope no one is going to die today Sarge. I am not sure if I can deal with another man bleeding out in my hands". He raised the dog tags to his lips and kissed the metal. The words were shiny in the light. James Buchanan Barnes and Jahi Basilton Parrish.  Then he tucked his helmet under his arm and folded the tags under his clothes before walking through the door.

Unedited