Winter Is Coming (A Bucky Barnes Fanfic)

Chapter 5: Icicles

"You can't get too much winter in the winter." -Robert Frost

***

For this chapter, anything italicized will be a dream, not a flashback.

"By godly, you don't by any chance mean-" Bucky's question is answered as they enter the room to see the dilemma.

Thor stands with his muscular arms crossed over his chest at the head of a glass table. "I am telling you, there is some kind of interference here. I am able to see it from Asgard."

"What kind of interference?" Natasha asks. "We monitor every little thing that happens here. If we haven't seen anything, I seriously doubt that something is happening."

Thor sighs, frustrated. Harley distinctly remembers him from old myths in school, and she knows he really exists as an Avenger, but she never thought he would be so similar to the stories. He has the hair and everything.

"Does he have the, uh, hammer thing?" she asks Bucky as Thor and Fury start to bicker.

Bucky nods. "Oh yeah, he has the cape and everything; although, I've never seen him with the helmet."

"Obviously your Asgardian technology is not up to date," Fury says. "We know what goes on as soon as it happens. Nothing gets past us."

"I believe it is Loki who is causing mischief," Thor hypothesizes, ignoring Fury's comment. "He is the only one capable."

"And where is Loki?" Steve asks with a surprising edge to his voice.

Thor looks down and scratches the back of his neck. "Prison."

"So you think he's doing this interference from...prison?" Bucky questions.

"I do. He has the capability."

"Then it's not much of a prison, is it?" Harley thinks.

"We'll do a double check on all our fronts tonight," Fury promises. "I still think your technology is untrustworthy though. Anything that passes by us unseen had better be a damn ghost."

"Well, wait, he hasn't even told us what kind of things he's seen," Harley argues. "What's happening that you think is causing a problem?"

Thor looks at her strangely, like he just noticed her presence. "Who is the new petty human?"

Harley is taken back by his comment and almost sets him ablaze for calling her petty, but Bucky seems to know what she's thinking and hits her arm warily, shaking his head when she glances up at him.

"This is Harley Conrose, a new super human we recently recruited," Fury explains. "Now answer her question."

"According to our Bifrost generator, he has seen some out of place situations," Thor says. "Strange things are being imported; days later, the same objects are being exported again."

"So you haven't even witnessed them?" Natasha doesn't believe a word Thor has said, and it shows.

"Well, no," Thor admits. "But I can sense it! Loki will always be a problem."

"Romanoff, Stark, go check our readings and see if we're getting anything suspicious," Fury instructs. "We'll keep an eye out."

Thor nods stiffly and takes one last glance around at everyone before departing via Bifrost.

Fury shakes his head. "Those damn gods think they know everything."

***

When Thor returns to Asgard, he goes straight to Loki's cell. Those pathetic humans on Midguard do not believe him, he knows it. He must prove it.