Red, White & Blue | Bucky x Reader

Chapter Five

Later that night, I wander back onto the bridge to find Steve and Coulson standing over the pit, waiting for satellite facial recognition to find Loki. From the way Coulson keeps glancing over, I can tell he's still fawning over my friend.

"Could you sign them?" Coulson asks, referring to his collection of Captain America trading cards. "I mean, if it's not too much trouble."

"No, no. It's fine," Steve replies, trying to be polite but who is obviously embarrassed.

"It's a vintage set," Coulson brags. "It took me a couple of years to collect them all. Near mint. Slight foxing around the edges, but—"

"We got a hit," a bald agent, Jasper Sitwell, interrupts as the nearby computer beeps. "Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, cross match, seventy-nine percent."

"Location?" Coulson asks.

"Stuttgart, Germany," Sitwell answers. "28 Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding."

Fury turns to us. "Captain, Lieutenant, you're up."

With a nod, Steve leads me out of the room and down to the armory, where our new uniforms wait for us. Whereas Steve's uniform is an updated version of the one he wore during the war, complete with his famous shield, my uniform is nothing like the one I had during the war. Instead, my new one consists of a sleek, black catsuit with the eagle-shaped SHIELD logo on the shoulders.

Suited up, we hurry to the hanger and climb aboard the quinjet, where we find Natasha and the pilot waiting behind the controls. Steve and I slide into our seats as the quinjet takes off, flying toward Germany.

We arrive as the building empties onto the street, the people corralled into the square by multiple men wearing gold helmets with tall, curled horns and holding a gold scepter with a glowing blue orb. Upon closer inspection, I realize that the men are identical, and that they look exactly like the man in the image we have. Loki.

One of the Loki copies, I assume the original, strolls through the kneeling crowd as he makes his speech, and an elderly gentleman slowly gets to his feet, courageous enough to face down this villain. The crowd parts in fear as Loki stalks toward him, and Steve jumps from the lowered ramp of the quinjet. Without giving myself a second to think about it, I do the same, dropping the short distance to the ground.

We land in front of the man just as Loki fires a blue ball of energy from his scepter, and the blast ricochets off Steve's shield, hitting Loki in the stomach and knocking him off his feet.

"You know," Steve muses as we step forward, "the last time I was in Germany, and saw a man standing above everybody else, we ended up disagreeing."

"The soldier," Loki chuckles as he gets to his feet. "A man out of time. But who is this creature with you?"

Loki's eyes shift to me, and I scowl. "Not someone you want to mess with."

Up above, Natasha aims the quinjet's gun at Loki. "Loki, drop the weapon and stand down."

Loki disobeys, sending a blast of blue energy at the quinjet. But Natasha expertly maneuvers out of the way in time to avoid it. In that same moment, Steve launches his shield at Loki, but Loki swats it away, sending it soaring straight at me. I duck as it sweeps over my head, charging in.

Not used to working as a team, I take the lead, throwing punches and kicks at Loki while simultaneously dodging his reciprocal blows. Taken back by my new skills, the skills I gained in the years since the war, Steve takes a backseat, only stepping in after I get knocked away.

I rush in again, and Loki swipes at me with his scepter. I expertly drop to the ground and slide under the swing, kicking my leg out and hooking my toe behind one of his knees. Loki is knocked off balance as I pull his leg forward, and his guard drops long enough for me to disarm him.

However, as I grab the scepter from where it landed, the blue jewel glows brighter, and my arm is suddenly encapsulated by a blue light. Startled, I hesitate for a second, and Loki grabs the scepter from my hand before kicking me away and firing a blast of energy. I raise my arms in front of my face, hoping to protect myself, and a blue shield forms in front of my body, taking the full force of the impact as I'm thrown to the ground.

Steve charges in, throwing his shield at the villain, but Loki knocks it away before flinging Steve to the ground. Standing over him, Loki presses the scepter's tip against Steve's helmet.

"Kneel," Loki orders.

"Not today," Steve states, flipping up and kicking Loki away.

Steve charges in for another attack as I get to my feet, and above us, the quinjet begins playing loud music through the PA speakers. Steve, Loki, and I look up at the sky as a man in a red and gold metal suit comes soaring in, blasting Loki to the ground before landing in front of him.

Tony Stark pulls out every piece of weaponry his Iron Man suit has, aiming them all at Loki. "Make your move, Reindeer Games."

Slowly, Loki puts his hands up in surrender as his gold armour materializes away, revealing black and green robes and shoulder-length black hair.

Stark puts his weapons away. "Good move."

"Mr. Stark," Steve greets, a little out of breath, as we approach the man.

"Captain," Stark greets. "Lieutenant."