Frayed Lines

In which Steve is very confident.

"Tony! Haul your tin can ass over here!" Bucky shouted as he ran behind the couch to avoid Wanda hitting him with another beam of energy.

Loki, Wanda, and Sam were attacking the Avengers tower, supposedly to take down that threat before they took down the city.

"Calm your tits, Buckaroo." A blue beam shot from his left to collide with a red one. "I'm here. But Natasha is down and Vision is trying to protect her from the bird and Reindeer Games." Bucky could hear the worry in his voice. Just Loki was a big problem, even for the Vision.

"Alright, I'll go over to him." He ran over to Natasha only to be brought down by a bullet to the thigh. He glared up at Sam, whose cold blue eyes glittered maliciously.

"Another down, sir." Sam calmly stated to Loki, who was lounging on an arm chair. Every attempt to injure him was deflected by that goddamned spear.

"Shut the hell up for once, Sam." Bucky groaned in pain as he crawled next to Natasha and handed her a gun. She nodded a thanks to him and began shooting at Wanda, who destroyed Tony's repulsors with Loki's help. Tony landed clumsily on the ground and ran over to join the back-to-back action.

"Any more brilliant ideas, Vision?" Tony looked up at the being, who was currently being forced to the ground by Wanda.

"I'm sorry Mr. Stark, but no." Vision was completely oblivious to the sarcasm oozing out of Tony. "I believe we may be compromised." A glance to the right and Bucky realized Tasha was out of bullets, Tony was defenseless, and Vision was tiring quickly.

"Too bad. I guess these new Avengers are too easily beaten." Loki pouted, his eyes glittering with victory. "If only you didn't drive away your precious Captain, maybe you wouldn't have death at your door." Sam and Wanda stood smirking next to Loki, completely unaware what was about to happen to their once good friends.

Loki steadied his spear theatrically, spinning it and holding it close as the blue glow filled the room. Bucky grabbed Tony's and Tasha's hands and held them tightly. Tony and her did the same with Vision. He closed his eyes and waited to see Mrs. Rogers and his mother again, praying that Steve would be okay.

The whirring reached a crescendo, then the light was released. Bucky and the Avengers waited for their world to come to a close.

A sudden metallic noise filled the room and rubble from the ceiling fell onto Bucky's head. What the hell? He cracked open an eye to see a dark shape throwing Sam and Wanda out of the window, Loki soon following after. He opened his eyes fully to see a man clad in black tussle his hair up and dust the remains out of it.

He glanced Bucky's way and smirked, holding out a hand to help him up.

"Who are.." Bucky came to a realization as the brown hair and beard clicked together.

"Steve?" Natasha ran up and out of Bucky's grasp and tackled Steve with a hug. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Just a few places." A smirk wound its way around Steve's face. "But you know, I've decided to come back for a while."

"It's good to have you with us once more, Captain." Vision welcomed him with a small smile as Natasha continued to cling on as if her life depended on it.

"What the hell just happened?" A severely wounded Sam crept out from underneath rubble. Behind him staggered out Wanda, all traces of blue in their eyes gone.

"You went a little ballistic is what just happened." Steve laughed as he helped both of them up. "But hey, at least you redecorated Tony's living room."

Small snickers came from the Avengers as Tony glared at Steve, happy that their leader was back.

Bucky felt a small knot forming at the pit of his stomach. Somethings off about the Captain. He inwardly cringed at the disuse of Steve's name. If only he decided to try and open up to his Steve once more.

"Buckaroo."

"Huh? What?" Bucky's head snapped up to see Steve staring at him, along with the rest of the team.

"Hope you don't mind I test you for a new prosthesis later." Tony winked at him. "Looks like you'll be needing a new one."

Bucky nodded mutely and an awkward silence ensued before Tony turned to Steve.

"Well it's great to have you back, Capsicle." Tony grinned, patting the soldiers shoulder. " Looks like you got some action." Tony winked, hinting at how slouched the super soldier was.

Wait, since when did Steve slouch? Bucky looked closer at Steve's face, noting the unusual brightness to his eyes. Almost seems like his works. No, Steve's too pure, right?

"Well I can't exactly say no..." He winked. "Chicago's a wonderf-"Steve's posture suddenly became rigid and his eyes almost glowed blue. Actually, they were glowing.

"Steve?" Nat narrowed her eyes, slowly slipping into a defensive stance. "James..."

"Loki's soldier..." Steve muttered out of the blue. A sadistic grin crept up his face and the team stepped forward.

"Tony, get his arms." Bucky whispered. Tony gave a slight nod as he crept forward to detain the soldier when all hell broke loose.

Steve snapped his head towards Tony, still wearing that eerie grin as he threw the man across the room, the Iron Man armor the only thing keeping Tony from getting seriously injured.

Natasha tried to leap forward and use her Widow Bites but Steve quickly dodged her and sprinted away, grabbing his shield in a fluid motion right as Bucky's arm came down.

Steve threw Bucky off, leapt up, dashed towards the window and leapt out of sight.

"We lost him again." A small sob erupted from Nat as Bucky staggered to his feet. "And we just got him back..."

We just got him back.