In Another Life | Sergeant James 'Bucky' Barnes / The Winter Soldier + Ikaris

Chapter 31

Kunar Province, Afghanistan

In a desolate landscape, there was only a desert, with snowy mountains in the distance. A line of vehicles were racing across the dust, leaving trails of it behind them. A jeep, an Army one, crawled along the dirt trail as ACDC's Black 'n Black pumped.

Inside one of the humvees, a small silver radio was blasting the song. A soldier smirked at the stereo.

A hand was holding a glass of scotch with ice in it, which was trembling with turbulence.

In the seat next to him and in front of him, two men in military uniforms shot nervous glances at him. Neither of them appeared to have said so much as a word. Tony was wearing a business suit and a pair of sunglasses. He had, of course, noticed the glances he was getting.

"I feel like you're driving me to a court martial. This is crazy. What did I do?" Tony asked to ease the mood.

The soldier just stared ahead.

"I feel like you're gonna pull over and snuff me." Tony looked towards the young soldier. "What, you're not allowed to talk?"

Scarlet practically growled beside Tony. "You should talk to soldiers with more respect."

"Hey, Forrest!" Tony said.

Again, Scarlet nearly lost her temper.

"We can talk, sir." The soldier said.

"Well, I wouldn't want to talk to you if it was possible." Scarlet snarked under her breath. Tony rolled his eyes, having long learned to ignore Scarlet's snark.

"Oh, I see. So it's personal?" Tony asked as he went to face the window instead of the inhabitants of the HumVee.

"Of course it's personal," Scarlet mumbled, rolling her eyes. "Is it so hard for you to believe you are not that likable?"

"No, you intimidate them," a female voice sounded from the front. At that Scarlet snorted, hard, locking her phone.

"This guy?" Scarlet arched a brow. "He intimidates you? Puh-lease. He's about as intimidating as a golden retriever puppy." Tony pointed a finger at Scarlet, who mimed biting it with a sharp grin that looked completely feral. Tony snatched his hand back, the airmen all chuckling at the behaviour.

"You shut your face, Cyborg." Scarlet glared at the reminder that she now had been successfully transformed into a cybernetic organism, her skeleton had been replaced with a hyper-alloy replica while still retaining key biological components. Instead Scarlet just scoffed.

"Weak insult, metal head. Give me that." Scarlet snatched Tony's drink off him and Tony just rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the conversation with the airmen.

"No, you intimidate them," The driver commented again, they were the only one who hadn't been shooting glances at Tony.

"Good, God. You're a woman." Tony said with interest, "I honestly couldn't have called that." Silence. "I mean I'd apologise but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought you as a soldier first."

"Smooth." Scarlet snorted.

"I'm an airman." The woman said.

Tony was stunned by the revelation. "You have actually excellent bone structure there." Tony said, trying to ease the atmosphere. "I'm kinda having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?"

"Nice save, playboy," Scarlet teased, elbowing him in the side.

That earned a few laughs from soldiers, including the woman. Tony eased in his seat, sensing that it would no longer be so tense. "Come on! It's okay, laugh."