Redbanks: Raising Hell (Biker!SteveRogers AU) - 2

Prologue

Welcome back to Redbanks...are you ready for more chaos?

Let's go see how everyone is doing after that shocking event we left you and them with shall we?

**

The music was loud in the bar as Romanoff's was heaving with life once more. Its grand re-opening curtesy of Mayor Stark as 'compensation' with what had happened being the busiest that anyone had ever known.

Tonight, it had drawn the likes of Shield, the guardians, the Fantastic gang, and due to join them later were the Panther Gang and the Dora Milaje.

A coming together to celebrate and honour.

Three months had passed. Three long months indeed and it had been a struggle at first. The bar had been the main source of income, and there was no way they could survive with each of the businesses that they had. Plus, now it was only Bucky running the garage. He couldn't do it alone.

"You owe us." Bucky had all but stormed into Tony's office a few days after the shooting. It had sent the whole gang reeling. All of them angered and out for revenge on Rumlow and his gang. "We put out lives on the line to keep your damn town safe from fucking Hydra, so you're gonna give us back our bar! It's our livelihood!"  His fist slammed down on the desk to show the Mayor that he wasn't messing around.

Tony had looked at him and nodded, knowing what it had cost. "Work starts tomorrow."

He had been true to his word. The demolition and construction crews had rolled in the next morning and within a few weeks, everything was complete and ready for re-opening.

Now tonight was the chance to come together. Each allied gang had done all they could to help the Avengers out. Whether it was a case of bringing illegal substances at half cut prices or essentials to survive.

Lilith Sinclair was back in her usual place behind the bar, distracting herself from thoughts that had been invading her mind more so than often lately as she served biker after biker. Rocket's band were once again providing the music on stage for part of the evening and were setting up, Johnny was busy making an exchange of 'stones' with Okoye, who seemed more than happy with the trade. Coulson and Fury were at the pool table and both Clint and Yelena were going head to head with a round of darts.

They were all here to celebrate him.

His corner sat empty. No one daring to take a seat there for fear of tarnishing what it had been known as. Even if the bar had been rebuilt. That corner was still his.

It always would be.

"Demon! Gimmie a bottle!" Bucky now summoned Lilith over to one side of the bar and she slid it down to him. "Gonna need it."

She grinned and now cracked open one of her own, taking a long swig. The amount of alcohol she had consumed over the last few months was enough to rival a brewery.

She had needed it to cope.

Whiskey and cigarettes. They were the only thing that could calm her nerves, and they'd been high since everything that had happened with Hydra. She still had nightmares about it. Mainly the blood...

Lilith had to be strong though, she had taken a step up and tried to lead like they had asked of her. But despite her Hydra bloodline and roots, she was no leader. At least she didn't think that she was.

The gang would tell her otherwise though. Bucky especially.

"Listen Lil, if you weren't doing it right, you'd soon know. We're all honest with one another. If we believe things are going to shit then we'd tell you - but they're not."  He had told her one evening as they had sat at Redrocks lookout in the Redbanks national park, drinking and smoking until late.

"I don't wanna be like him." Lilith had said of her father, she still hated that she would forever be associated with Johann Schmidt. It made her sick to her stomach. "Now that the truth is out. I worry they think less of me."

The truth had come out after the shooting. Sam demanding to know what he'd heard Rumlow say. She'd been honest and told them everything, not expecting the gang to accept it the way that they had done. But they had.

"Look, your dad may have been a complete bastard, but you're a different cut from him. Trust me. Hydra won't touch you - not after everything that's happened. Remember, family don't have to be blood doll."  He'd put an arm around her. Lilith was like the little sister he needed to protect, especially now. "I'm with you till the end of the line."

She looked out at the view. The desert sunset painting the sky in a marbled effect of oranges, reds, pinks and purples. It was a sight and one that she now knew she could never leave behind. It was what had kept Steve here after all. "Thanks Buck."

Lilith now came round from her thoughts and carried on, Nat practically dancing around her as she served everyone. "Come on slacker, this bar ain't gonna run itself." The redhead smirked and nudged her gently in the ribs.

"Sorry, just thinking..."

"Dangerous, am I gonna have to call Dr Banner to get your head checked out?"

Lilith shook her head, "Banner's certainly had his fair share of dealings with us over the last few months." Then being cut off on seeing the doors of the bar open forcefully, both slamming back against the wall and causing everyone to turn around to see what was happening.

A small smile crossed her lips.

Everyone turned as the latest arrival kept his presence firmly in the doorway to the bar, the sound of the jukebox playing 'Burn it to the Ground' - a rather apt Nickelback song chosen by Sam as a way of saying 'fuck Hydra' being the only sound that was heard.

All eyes now fell on the person who stood in the doorway observing the turnout as their jaw's of every single gang member dropped. None of them really expecting him to show his face that evening. All conversation had stopped and still the music was the only thing filling the bar.

He certainly knew how to make an entrance.

Steve Rogers took a long drag of his cigarette and smirked at them all from behind his sunglasses, blowing out some smoke before finally addressing them all.

"Did you bastards seriously think that you were gonna start without me?"