The Other Stark

Chapter 17

An hour before dawn, Buck was knocking on Steve's door, calling for his friend. Captain America wasn't one to be late, and all the other Avengers were already up, getting ready on the hangar of the building.

"Punk, wake up! Everybody's almost ready! We need to get going," he said outside the door, seconds from reaching the doorknob.

"Steve!" Tory whispered, trying to wake the blond beside her, but he was sound asleep, trying to enjoy the rare peaceful sleep.

"Steve, get up."

The man only groaned and turned to his other side, with his back facing her. She looked at the door and saw the doorknob turning. Not knowing what to do, the woman just sat on the bed and watched the super soldier entering the room.

Bucky stopped on his tracks as he noticed Tory on his best friends bed, wearing his best friends shirt.

"Morning Buck," Tory greeted him, shy smile on her lips.

With the mention of the name, Steve's head picked up and he looked at the other man in his room.

"Shit," the blond whispered, sitting up on his bed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Well, I'm going to get ready. See you guys in some minutes," Tory laughed and got out of bed, giving the blond a peck on the lips before living the room. Bucky had a shit eating grin on his face and a raised eyebrow when Steve looked back at him.

"Not a word, Jerk," he said, heading straight to the bathroom, trying to contain his own smile.

...

Tory entered her room and went straight to her closet to get her duffel bag and her combat gear, images of all the kisses she shared with Steve replaying on her head. She changed to jeans, oversized shirt, and combat boots, and went straight to the lab to check things with Bruce.

On the workshop, Bruce and Tony were talking about projects they wanted to develop when she arrived, both men too distracted to notice her presence.

"Everything's alright? Did you get the syringes? All the devices? I've made a few changes on your suit, Tons," Tory informed, looking for things she needed, before reaching for a huge dark suitcase under one of the tables.

"All here," Banner answered, eyes glued curiously on her, glass box in hands.

"Good thing you like to tell me when you do things to my suit," Tony sarcastically told his sister, eyes also on what she was doing.

"Sorry, it was a last minute thing," she responded, a digital scanner suddenly appearing on the wall in front of her.

Tory placed her hand there, the scanner turned green and a door opened, showing a hidden room. Both men exchanged a look.

"Was that always there?" the billionaire questioned, looking at his sister taking some pieces of weapons from inside the place.

"Yep. Been keeping all my nanobots in here and I have a feeling we'll need it all," Tory informed them. She put everything inside the already full suitcase and started living the room pulling it.

...

On the hangar, the Avengers were all waiting for the last ones to arrive, with everything they needed inside the quinjet.

Nat was watching both supersoldiers and Sam talking from a distance, with Clint by her side. She was sure something happened and she was up to discover what.

"What's up with Steve?" Natasha asked, never taking her eyes off of them.

"Don't know. Went to talk to him and he seemed normal," Barton responded, his focus on cleaning his arrows.