Dauntless

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Ragonik, Sokovia
May 27th 2014

When Pietro Maximoff woke up, it was to the blistering pain in his left leg. Hissing, the silver haired male shot up. Or tried to. His arms refused to obey his commands, and his torso didn't feel like moving either apparently.

"Settle down Pietro, she will help."

Squinting against the lighting, which actually wasn't as harsh as he'd been expecting, the Sokovian scanned the room for his sister. But he didn't even get to twist his head around, because his gaze fell on the two unknowns in the room with him, and it all came rushing back.

Being given leave from the base to practice their powers in the surrounding area, the run, free and wild, watch Wanda lift impossible things with her new powers. And then coming across two people in the woods, a couple that'd clearly decided to go on a backpacking holiday through the forest. They weren't locals, that much had been obvious by the quality of their clothes.

It'd angered him, angered him that these people considered his country nothing more than a pit stop. He'd felt justified, casually asking Wanda if they should test their powers on these interlopers.

He hadn't even considered the possibility that there might be something special about them too.

And while the man had screamed when Wanda had used her powers, the girl had reacted. She'd been violent, pulling Wanda from her hiding place and the fear on her face had jolted him from his shock and into action.

But then the girl had slowed him down somehow -he didn't know how, he needed to know so he'd be able to overcome it- and then the male had shot him. No wonder his leg hurt.

Before he could even consider leaping up and attacking the duo, Wanda's hand came to rest on his forehead, brushing back the hair that had come to rest there. His eyes darted over to look at her, but his twin was a blank mask, unreadable to his eyes.

Yet she was not attacking the duo, even seemed comfortable in their presence.

So as Wanda eased him upwards, Pietro found himself gasping in pain as the bullet -he could feel it, feel it in his leg and then moving about- was pulled from his thigh. The redhead that he'd attacked was holding it between a bloodied finger and thumb before she threw it away, going back this his wound and…

And slowly healing it. It wasn't a painless process, but had she not done it, he'd have been recovering from the wound for months. That didn't mean he wasn't above wanting to beat her black and blue for hurting Wanda.

"Don't even think about it."

His gaze darted over to the male, who was stood with his arms folded, guns strapped to his thighs and a single, wicked looking knife in hand. In a metal hand. What the hell kind of people had they attacked?

"Pietro, do not threaten Harry. He will not respond kindly," Wanda's eyes darted over to look at the metal armed man, her face showcasing her worry. Because the man was apparently capable of being very dangerous if he threatened… Harry?

The woman then. She was a pretty thing, with vibrant, dark red hair and the brightest of green for eyes.

"Harry?" His sluggish mouth finally managed to vocalize, focusing on the way the female's shoulders tensed slightly, how Metal Arm took a threatening step forwards.

Without even looking up, the girl addressed him, "Bucky, it's fine. We're in my tent, he's under my magic and they won't harm us because they can't. Trust me?" She didn't even pay him any attention, instead cocking her head back and looking over at the male she'd addressed as Bucky.

In the tense few seconds of silence, the male eyed the two of them and Pietro had never wanted to put himself between Wanda and someone else so much before. He hadn't realized it at first, but now he knew he was looking at a man who wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he proved to be a threat. A man who'd killed before, judging by the look in his eyes. Who would kill for the girl called Harry.

But then, the icy blue eyes shifted over to look at the female and he slowly nodded, sheathing the knife.

Great, one manic now on standby instead of high alert. Now what the hell had the girl been talking about when she said tent? Because Pietro had seen one small tent when they tried to test their powers out, and it was nowhere near big enough to be the place they were currently in. This place, looking like a quaint little home that had no place in the middle of a forest.

.

It was five minutes later, five minutes of irritating silence that he couldn't break -if he opened his mouth he was going to whimper or cry in pain before these strangers and that was unacceptable- and the other three refused to break, that the female seemed done healing his leg.

She stood up, taking a step back, right into Metal Arm who'd moved as if he were a ninja. He wrapped her close to his chest, possessively resting his head atop her's and burying his nose in the wild wine-coloured curls.

They were very much the couple in the forest, but Pietro couldn't read half of their interactions. That had never been his forte, people had always been Wanda's thing. She understood them better than him, which was perhaps why she'd gotten the more mind based powers.

But he didn't think even Wanda would be able to read all the reasons behind their interactions, how the male's metal fingers rested just as the swell of the female's hip, her top stretched taunt beneath his grip.

"Thank you, for healing my brother." Wanda's voice broke him from his thoughts and Pietro snapped around to stare at his sister, mouth open in affront.

"She shouldn't have." The male, Bucky, spoke with real annoyance in his voice, helping the female in his arms slowly work her way out of the shirt she was wearing.

Pietro wasn't able to stop his eyes drifting across the female's figure, taking in the deep blue of her underwear, even as he felt the murderous eyes of 'Bucky' silently promising his death. He stopped though, when the female presented her back to the three of them.

Huge bruises marred the skin there, and he knew instantly what it was from. He had thrown her into a tree after all.

Wanda watched with her lips pursed into a thin line as Metal Arm went about smearing some kind of paste across her back, the bruising fading almost seconds afterwards. Even though she'd attacked Wanda, a part of his twinged with guilt at the wound, but he refused to back down. They weren't at fault here, if they hadn't been in the forest, then-

"We are at fault, Pietro."

"What?!"

"We should not have attacked them. It was an abuse of the powers we were given. We were nothing more than Stark, with his shiny new missiles."

His stomach churned. That couldn't be right, could it? They wouldn't do that, they hadn't attacked innocent people-

But then again, hadn't these two just been minding their own business. He'd heard them, speaking of going to Egypt next. A tour of the world? They'd just seemed so relaxed, travellers, he hadn't thought.

"I'm sorry." It stumbled out of his mouth before he could stop it, certainly before he could even think about what he was saying.

While Metal Arm stiffened even more, the tension left Harry completely as she pulled her shirt back over her head.

"Good. I've already talked to your sister, but I figured it's best to clear it up with you too." She knelt by the couch he was laid out on, her eyes intensely focused on him and Pietro found himself fighting off the urge to squirm under her gaze.

"Never go into a fight expecting to be the strongest. Because I've seen people more powerful than me meet their deaths that way. And don't go around using your powers on people who don't have any, make the right choice, not the easy one." She stood up then, running a hand through her hair and turning her back on him, as if he'd not thrown her into a tree mere minutes ago. Was it minutes? How long had he been unconscious?

"Wanda'll have to help you to the table, because I don't want you walking on that leg for the next thirty minutes. Hope you like stew."

.

He actually had no idea why he was sat up to table with a genuine witch, ex-assassin and his sister, in a tent that was bigger on the inside than it was out. He couldn't even begin to guess how Harry had managed to talk the two of them into staying for dinner, even if the stew smelt good and tasted even better.

But they did stay, and they listened to Harry story of how she'd met Bucky and how they'd been travelling the world so far, their adventures. He clenched his jaw at the mention of HYDRA, what they'd done to the man who'd stared him down with no fear in his eyes.

But they weren't working with HYDRA, they were using them. Using them to get back at Stark.

They weren't like Metal Arm, because they were the ones with the power here.

He tried to ignore Harry's sad smile whenever she looked at him, like she knew more than he did.

When Metal Arm had grumbled that Harry should have just forced them to be good people, the redhead had frowned in disapproval.

"If we forced them to comply, to become what we consider good and right, then we would be no better than those that used you Buckster. People have choices, and it's not something to be taken away in any circumstance."

Metal Arm had annoyed him, but then he remembered their fight not thirty minutes ago, along with Metal Arm's background story. And he felt like the worst kind of scum. Mind control on a recovering brainwashed assassin.

Yeah, brilliant. He was a horrible person.

And yet still, Harry had invited them to dinner. It was obvious that Metal Arm would rather have them anywhere but here, but Harry was happy for their company. She'd gifted them a strange necklace each, made of some kind of obscure bottle-caps, something that'd let her know if they were in trouble and needed any help. He hadn't thought they were people like her left in the world, but clearly he stood corrected.

So it was with a full stomach, a better understanding of what it meant to have powers, and with a new friend -and quite possibly an assassin plotting his death- that Pietro found himself stood outside of the magic tent.

Sharing a look with Wanda, Pietro had pulled the necklace over his head, letting it come to rest loosely around his neck as Wanda did the same.

"Well, that was surreal."

"They are good people Pietro, good people who have been through bad circumstances and are working on making themselves whole again." His sister smiled, looking up at the sky above their heads, which had turned to twilight while they'd been beneath the canvas of wonder-tent.

"Harry believes that we'll make mistakes on the path we are on, that we will come to regret it. But she also believes that it is important we do our own thing to build character. Otherwise, I believe she would have us travel with her."

"Travelling the world in the wonder-tent sounds good, yes? Sharing that space with the possessive assassin? Not so much."

Wanda laughed, a husky little thing and her eyes gleaming red as her power swirled between her fingers.

"We have made good friends today. Do try to not ruin it brother."

As soon as the Maximoffs had left the general vicinity, Harry turned to look up at Bucky with her eyes wide and bright.

"Are you angry?"

"I don't understand why you want to let them continue working with HYDRA. After what they've done…"

Taking a gentle hold of Bucky's hands, Harry slowly wrapped them around her back, snaking her own up to come to rest around his shoulders.

"They aren't like HYDRA, Bucky. They'll make mistakes, but that'll help them grow. And those necklaces will let me know when they need our help. And they will. They'll get in too deep, and then we'll help them. And you'll get supreme satisfaction of looking Pietro in the face and calling him an idiot."

A low chuckle made its home in her hair, followed by the strong nose that usually rested there whenever Bucky decided to hug her. Or whenever she decided Bucky needed a hug.

"I'll be calling him a lot worse than that."

Harry snorted, slowly tracing circles across Bucky's skin, the back of his neck, the thick scar tissue that surrounded the metal of his shoulder. She could feel him slowly melting, like butter beneath the touch of heat, becoming softer with each passing second.

God he was a wonderful human being. He wasn't a good man, but he was striving to be. And for Harry, right now, that was enough for her.

Pressing her face a bit further into his shoulder, the human one, Harry inhaled, the warm musk that was Bucky's natural scent mixing with the lingering zing of his aftershave.

"Smell good?"

"Mmm, you smell the best."

Another laugh, huskier than the first, found itself muffled into her curls and Harry felt the smile curving at her lips. She loved this world, loved the lack of pressure, loved that she could live her life how she wanted it without any expectations, loved-

She liked almost all the friendly people she'd met so far.

But she loved the person she'd been spending the most time with. She'd never been in love with anyone before. There'd be crushes, fancies, those she'd fallen into lust with, as few as there'd been.

But never full out love. Not like this. The ease with which the two of them interacted, the way she wished that their days of constant travel could never end, her desire for things to never change.

She was in love with Bucky.

"Doll? You there?"

Looking up at the male, Harry took in every sharp line and smooth curve of his face with new eyes. She loved the light stubble that always dusted his jaw. Loved the long hair he'd taken to throwing back in a rough bun or ponytail, loved the frosted blue eyes that only ever seemed to warm for her.

"I love you." It came from between her lips as naturally as breathing, and acceptance flooded through her system. The sky was blue, the grass green, and Harry Potter was in love with Bucky Barnes. It was that simple.

"You do?" Bucky's voice was hoarse, eyes shining and lips parted, tongue half done on its job moistening them.

Stretching up onto her tiptoes, Harry pressed her lips against his, angling her head so that their noses brushed instead of bumped.

"Yeah," She breathed against his mouth, pulling back for only a second before recapturing the them as Bucky's fingers dug into her hips, "I do."

.

Bucky's hands were everywhere, one hot and one cold but each as greedy as the other.

They'd stumbled back into his bedroom, the back of her knees meeting the mattress and sending her toppling onto the perfectly made sheets. Bucky followed her down with an enviable ease, their lips never parting until he decided he'd much rather nip at the corner of her jaw than tease her mouth any more.

Her hands had scrunched at the hem of Bucky's shirt, halfway to pulling it up but thoroughly distracted by his mouth's seductive pinches.

"Shirt off," Harry grumbled, letting go off the offending fabric with one hand to shimmy out of her own.

"Speedy Bastard really annoyed me you know, getting a look when I've been waiting for weeks."

A kiss was pressed to her collar bone, Bucky throwing their shirts away and clearly uncaring where they'd land. As far as Harry was concerned, they could be stole sucked into a portal leading back to the Wizarding World and she wouldn't care.

Hell, the world could be on fire right now and she'd still care more about getting Bucky out of those jeans.

Unclasping her bra took a few seconds, but shimmying out of it and then having Bucky immediately start lavishing her with attention was more than worth it. The incredible sensation of cool metal against one nipple and hot flesh against the other was mind-boggling, and all Harry could think to do was arch her back and whimper for more.

"You're gorgeous doll-face," Bucky mouthed into the wet patch he'd left on her collar-bone, stubble scratching at her skin and Harry lightly growled beneath her breath.

One dainty hand found the tent of his jeans and gave a teasing squeeze, provoking a gasp from her companion.

God he looked good, head resting on her shoulder and lips mouthing some form of pray against her skin.

The metal arm slid beneath the material of her jeans, squeezing at her bottom and Harry worked her free hand into popping the button of her jeans.

.

Any remaining clothes were quickly abandoned and Harry found herself pressed into the mattress, gasping loudly and clenching the fingers that were wrapped around her own.

"Everything okay?" Bucky whispered, pupils blown wide with arousal and lips as red as her hair.

"I will be when you start moving," Harry insisted, bucking her hips and enjoying the way Bucky hissed.

"Brooklyn girls were never so demanding."

"Yeah, well you picked and Englishwoman, and our men are usually polite enough to not just stop when things are just getting started."

Bucky laughed at her words and the lack of heat behind them, clearly much more interested in the breathless tone that'd voiced them.

"Well doll, I don't know about any Englishmen, but this Brooklyn boy will leave you breathless."

"That a challenge?"

A jolt of hips and Harry arched, pressing her chest to Bucky's.

"It's a promise."

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Valley of the Kings, Egypt
July 13th 2014

Harry woke up to the feel of cool metal around her neck.

As she had already assured Bucky, the runes she'd painstakingly stitched into every canvas wall of the tent had activated, and as soon as a threat was made on her life, the source had been paralysed. He'd warned her that violent reactions to dreams could happen, and really, seeing as they'd been sleeping in the same bed now for over a month, she'd been expecting it.

It didn't stop her from panicking slightly when she woke up to someone so close to strangling her.

Shifting slightly, Harry forcefully rolled over from where arry

Bucky's had been spooning her, looking into his panic filled, but lucid, blue eyes. She deactivated the runes with little thought, capturing Bucky's face with her hands before he could even begin to recoil away.

"No panicking remember? Not when my magic threw you across the room a week ago."

Sneaking a little kiss in before Bucky could open his mouth to speak, Harry drew back her head as Bucky's arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer.

"No panicking. But I'd really like to not go back to sleep. Or stay in this room really."

"Well, since I'm up, let's go do what brought us to Egypt in the first place."

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New York, America
July 14th 2014

"Is this a joke?"

Tony looked like his birthday had arrived early, but this time, it'd brought Christmas along for the ride. Christmas and Independence day.

Eyeing the eagle that was perched on the balcony outside cautiously, Steve Rogers approached slowly, staring out of the glass panelling. But it was just as JARVIS had said.

Their country's symbolic animal was indeed taking up residence on Tony's favourite chair outside, and it did indeed have a letter attached to its leg. A letter addressed to him.

Tony was still cackling in the background.

With a sigh, Steve gestured for JARVIS to do, something, and one of the glass panels lowered itself just enough for the eagle to swoop gracefully inside.

Tony squawked in shock as the bird landed neatly before Steve and then proceeded to present its leg to him. Offering up the letter it was carrying.

"Is that a bald eagle, delivering your mail?"

Sighing, Steve reached out and accepted the letter, confusion heightening when the bird didn't make to retreat and instead went about making itself comfortable on the back of the sofa. Right by his shoulder. And nipped at his ear. In an almost affectionate manner.

"JARVIS, are you getting this?"

Growling, Steve ripped open the letter with a little more force that he probably should have, only just managing to catch the golden ring that shot out from it confines. There was nothing to be done for the series of small, square photos that fluttered to the ground, landing in disarray, followed by a thicker sheet of paper that Steve assumed to be the letter itself.

It wasn't until Tony sucked in a deep breath that Steve, who'd been studying the dusty looking gold ring with an artist's curious eye, turned his attention to them. And stopped.

Because there, on those little squares of paper, was Bucky and his companion.

Snatching as many up as he could, Steve couldn't stop Tony from getting his hands on one or two, but he saved the vast majority from the nosy man.

In one photo Bucky and the female, Harry, stared back out at him, stood before the Eifel tower. They were both dressed in reasonable summer wear, Harry grinning while Bucky looked over at her and rolled his eyes.

The next one, they were stood knee deep in some kind of water -a river?- and Harry kept splashing Bucky until he tackled her into the water. It kept replaying over and over again, like some kind of moving picture. Literally, a moving picture.

"JARVIS! How the hell is this picture moving?! It's on paper! Paper!"

Leaving Stark to his little technology crisis, Steve allowed his attention to drift back to the photos, the next showing the duo before one of the pyramids.

He'd feared the worst, reading all about what HYDRA had done to the Winter Soldier, to force his compliance. But Harry was good for Bucky. She was taking him across the world, and they were both clearing enjoying it. Steve just wished his best friend felt safe enough to bring his girl home, so that Steve could meet her.

Meet her and thank her. She'd done right by Bucky, and that was good enough for him.

Pulling out the letter, Steve flicked it open, fires of hope sizzling to mere embers when he noticed it wasn't in Bucky's handwriting.

'Hello Steve Rogers,

I don't know if you're aware -I assume you are by now, but assuming makes an ass out of you and me, so- but your good friend Bucky? Yeah, he's alive. Doesn't quite feel up to writing just yet, so I traded a foot-rub so that I'll do it for him. He says hi by the way. Oh, and to stop getting into fights that're over your head and leave that to the actual god. I assume that's Thor? Anyway, I thought it'd be best to send you an update on how we're doing now that Bucky feels comfortable letting you know. So here, have some photos of our many adventures so far. And a ring. Bucky felt you'd like the ring; it's one of the things we picked out from the tombs we found.
By the way, the eagle that delivered this letter is a post eagle. Basically, it's a normal one that I magiced into carrying post. It can find anyone in the world and deliver mail as long as you have a full name, or name and address. His name is Washington, and yes, Bucky picked that out for you. And he's all yours. Consider it a late birthday gift from the two of us.

Wishing you all the best,
Hariel 'Harry' Lillian Potter & James Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes

"It'll deliver mail to anyone?" Tony's voice echoed over his ear and Steve swore, leaping to his feet because when had the man got behind him?

"I don't believe it. Let's try and have it send some flowers to Pepper."

.

It would only be fifteen minutes later that Tony would receive a call from Pepper, who though touched he'd thought to send her flowers, couldn't understand the significance of the eagle.

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New York, America
December 21st 2014

Stamping the snow off her boots, Harry looked around the swanky lobby that belonged to Stark. Stark Tower? Avengers Tower? Harry wasn't too sure. It was the tower though. And right now, that was all that mattered.

Running her hand across the bridge of her nose, Harry tapped a finger against the large red end she'd transfigured, the shining example of holiday spirit. Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.

Beside her, Bucky huffed, in a similar get up with antlers sprouting out from his head. They'd gotten a few funny looks coming in through security, but most just seemed to assume it was some kind of dress code for Stark's private Christmas party, which was happening upstairs.

And with the Christmas Miracle of the year out the way -the children's ward at the main hospital had been empty by the time Harry left- Harry felt like it was time to start reaching out to the Avengers. Even if there was only one of them in the tower right now, seeing as evil never slept.

She'd already thrown out a spell to track down Bucky's old friend Steve, and he was on the other side of America right now. The tower was practically empty, she knew for a fact that Thor and his lady love weren't there.

Mainly because she'd invited the duo, along with Darcy and Erik, to join them for a Christmas meal the next day, which they would be hosting in the tent. Thor was quite eager to see what her magic would do for this Midgardian holiday.

His companions just seemed to want to see the 'TARDIS' tent.

Though what that actually meant, Harry wasn't too sure. She was however, about fifty percent certain that it was a pop culture reference.

Given that she'd been out of contact with the muggle world since the age of eleven, had time travelled and not really gotten a chance to watch TV with the Dursleys, it was little wonder that she was as behind as Bucky. Hell, he was proving to be a bit more insightful on this front than she was already.

Threading her fingers through Bucky's flesh hand -because even now he felt more comfortable with his stronger arm free- Harry stepped onto the elevator and gave a little wave to the slightly dazed guards.

.

They only went up three or so floors before the power seemed to cut, so to speak. Bucky tensed, but didn't immediately go on the offensive. Of course, he knew that Harry could teleport them out within a split second. It didn't mean he wasn't going to raise his guard.

Meanwhile, Harry just adjusted the bag that hung over her shoulder, beaming pleasantly up at the camera in the elevator.

"You are in a restricted access zone, state your intentions." The voice was posh and reminded Harry of the way Blaise Zabini had spoken, but the accent was all English, not Italian.

"Hi, my name's Harry and this is Bucky, we're here to spread some holiday cheer?"

Raising their linked arms, Harry waved them back and forth, like this blatant display of openness would somehow make them more believable. There was still a pause, in which Harry found herself frowning, adjusting her grip on the bag and soothing her thumb across Bucky's knuckles when his fingers clenched, hard enough to drive his short cut nails into the back of her hand. Harry hissed in pain, accepting Bucky's apologetic kiss to the temple before she once again turned to the camera.

"I've bought cookies and chocolate. Magical food. N-Not like drugs or anything!" Harry spluttered out, elbowing Bucky in the ribs when he gave a husky chuckle at her stumble. "Magically baked. And the gingerbread men do battle and everything. Please let us in."

There was another moment of still silence, before finally, the elevator began moving again.

"Welcome to Stark Tower, Miss Potter, Sergeant Barnes. Sir will see to you shortly, and I am to inform you, that you are lucky Sir thought he would be feeding Captain Rogers, and had subsequently ordered a great deal of food."

Grinning sheepishly, Harry rocked back on her heels, before thinking better of it and resting her head against Bucky's shoulder.

"Sounds good to me."

.

Tony Stark does indeed meet them in the penthouse. With one hand raised and garbed in part of the Ironman suit. Bucky was quick to put himself between the two of them, metal arm raised in defence at the same time Harry went for her wand.

However, it only took a tense two seconds before Stark apparently decided he did indeed like them, and inviting them to join both himself and Pepper for dinner. Harry felt a bit bad about crashing what was so clearly a date night, but they were already here, so it appeared it was time to suck it up.

Sat up to the expensive glass table, with the expensive silver cutlery and the expensive wine and food, Harry shared a look with Bucky.

"Now I really feel like we've been slumming it these past few months."

Her companion snorted, offering his hand to Pepper, planting a kiss upon it before he took his seat.

"You pretty much plucked me out of the slums, Harry. The tent's been a luxury."

Tony -"It's not Stark, it's Tony!"- had seated himself at the head of the small table, Pepper to his right but allowed Harry to take the seat to his left She'd felt Bucky's frown, that she was between him and the biggest threat in the room, but he didn't say anything.

"Thanks for not kicking us out," Harry murmured, offering Pepper Potts a sheepish smile.

The woman just smiled back at her, primly plucking up her knife and fork and serving herself a slice of turkey.

"It's no problem. Much better company then the people who tried to crash our last Christmas."

.

Dinner went surprisingly well.

When it came out that Bucky had always had an interest in technology, having worked both on the docks and in a mechanics garage -one guess which job he'd preferred-, Tony had insisted on dragging him down to the workshop once the meal was over, eager to show his new friend the innermost workings of whatever car he'd been playing about with.

Lacking anything better to do, Harry and Pepper had followed after the duo, the strawberry blonde smartly informing her that she would purchase some books for Bucky to study the subject in depth if that was what he wanted.

Momentarily stunned, Harry had accepted the books on her friend's behalf, shooting a quick cleaning charm at one of the unoccupied work benches.

The second the bag was open, the armies of gingerbread-men began marching out, much to Pepper's surprise and Tony's delight. The four of them sat, watching as the miniature battle took place, before finally, the one's carrying the red star upon their backs, instead of the green lightning bolt, won.

Bucky had offered her a little smirk, evidently smug that the little men he'd designed had dominated the battlefield.

Harry swore there would be vengeance for her little army in the future.

"Hey Fury, just thought I'd let you know that Terminator 2.0 and his Firecracker friend stopped by early."

Stood by the window overlooking the great expanse of New York City, Tony Stark rubbed thoughtfully at his jaw with one hand, the other nibbling on one of the limbs lost in the great gingerbread-men war of '14.

It'd certainly been a sight to see, and now he was more determined than ever to work out 'magic'. Thor had told them that magic was science that they just didn't understand yet.

JARVIS had gotten the readings of the strange energy that Hariel 'Harry' Potter had been giving off, and had made sure to bury it deep, deep within the Stark servers. He did not want HYDRA or SHIELD getting their grubby little hands on that. This was his puzzle to solve.

Regardless though, it was probably best to call in and let the former Director of SHIELD know what'd happened over the past four hours. Bucky and Harry were long gone now, Harry having agreed to teleport out of the building right in front of him. It'd been incredible to watch.

Teleportation. Not only was it real, but he actually had a chance at cracking it right now. Maybe. There'd be a lot of work. And she'd only agreed to that if he took a look at the assassin's arm in the future.

"What the hell are you talking about Stark."

"You know, your Seasonal Soldier and his pretty little red-head. I have to say, I do love her hair. Very pretty colour, it appeals to the alcoholic in me."

The magical's hair was wine coloured after all. And while wine wasn't his first choice, Tony wasn't picky enough to not appreciate a good glass of wine.

"You better not be talking about the Winter Soldier, Stark."

"Oh but I am. They crashed our dinner, brought cookies that do battle and some magical liquor, so all was forgiven. I'm not even kidding, Firewhisky, it has you breathing fire. Fire."

And hadn't that been a surprise. He'd had JARVIS run diagnostic on a sample, but it'd come back with usual ingredients, mixed with the energy that Harry was constantly giving off.

"I'll send a half-full report at some point in the future. More importantly, I found out it's not just teleporting she can do. Heal wounds, enchant little gingerbread-men to do battle, make some killer magical whisky, and I'm betting there's more. Hell, she cleaned one of my work benches better than any professionals I've ever hired, and that was in the space of a second. I want her on the team. We need someone with super-healing. But where she goes, Barnes'll follow. They're tight Fury. So whatever plans you've got for them, if I get them on team, you drop them."

"Stark-"

"No! If they agree to come stay here, they're mine. End of story."

"You'll have to get to them first, Stark."

.

Chengdu, China
January 2nd 2015

Nuan Kao knew Chengdu like the back of her hand. Born and raised, she'd grown up running down the streets, exploring the scatterings of parks dotted about, attended the local schools. She hadn't done too bad for herself, seeing as now, at the age of eighteen, she had a job lined up ready and waiting for her in a week's time, when she would officially get her exam results.

Life was going rather well, in all honestly.

Until two sets of hands reached out, one pair taking hold of her arms and the other set covering her mouth as she tried to scream. Cheap cologne invaded her senses and Nuan choked at the overpowering scent, so strong it felt like she could almost taste it.

Nuan struggled, twisting her body back and forth as all the warnings of being female, being out after dark and being out on your own, echoed through her head. Tears began leaking through her eyes, even more so as a knife went through the palm of her hand before pressing against the tender skin of her neck.

Nuan froze, even though every instinct she had told her to scream and sob over the throbbing pain in her hand, the blood pulsating through it. The thick liquid was trickling down between her fingers, and a sobbed wrecked out through her throat.

"Here's what's going to happen," one of the men snarled, pressing the knife a little deeper into her throat, "you're gon-"

He cut off with a choking sound, the knife suddenly getting ripped from his grip and thrown to the other side of the alley.

There was a flash of metal, and Nuan took a step back in terror as a men with an arm made of metal hefted her attacker into the air, the other unconscious on the floor by his feet. His hair was long, stopping just before his shoulders started, a deep chestnut brown. He was white, with pale blue eyes that burned as he tightened his grip on her attacker.

A pair of hands came down on Nuan's arm and she screamed in shock, attempting to twist away.

"Wait, wait. I'm trying to help."

It took the dark haired woman a second to puzzle through the English as it was spoken, but Nuan had already found herself calming when she'd laid sight on the other woman.

She was short, evidentially European, with thick red hair and eyes greener than Nuan had ever thought possible. Most importantly though, was the fact she'd taken Nuan's hand ever so gentle with her own and was, healing it?

Staring, the eighteen year old could in watch in wonder as the wound sizzled, slowly healing over and leaving nothing more than a tickling sensation behind.

"Bucky."

It took Nuan a few seconds before she realized this wasn't an English word she didn't know the meaning of, and she wasn't addressing Nuan at all, but instead speaking to the owner of the metal arm.

His name was Bucky? What strange English name was that? Or American?

The male with the metal arm -Bucky- grunted in annoyance, but nevertheless dropped the man he'd been holding to the ground. He too crumpled to the floor, the blood leaking from his lips indicating he'd taken a good punch to the torso, internal bleeding.

Bucky straightened, looking the both of them up and down before he crouches beside the two of them. There was something fond in his face, as he looked at the woman with the impossibly green eyes, and it didn't fit. Not with the man who just so ruthlessly tore the men hurting her apart. So to speak.

"T-Thank you." Her English is shaky, and she was pretty sure she slipped on a vowel of two, but her heroes seem to understand her, because they both smiled.

Or rather, the female gave a sad grin and the male's lips twitched slightly at the corner.

"Do you want us to walk you home?"

Nuan blinked slowly, watching as the duo exchanged looks before they glanced at her again.

It was a little hard to work through the English again, especially since panic was still thrumming through her veins, but she managed it.

Nuan nodded her head, accepting the hand the female offers to help her to her feet. Her healed palm didn't so much as twitch with pain, and the eighteen year old was sure that today, she was the luckiest girl in the world.

"So, that was horrible."

Harry glanced at him from the corner of her eyes and Bucky nodded, his own face tight as they both returned to the alley where that girl had being attacked. Or kidnapped.

One of two options.

Neither really appealed to Bucky, and he was damn well glad he stopped it.

With Harry's help of course, even if she was the one patching up the girl.

The metal plates of his arms creaked as they shifted, hand curled into a fist and refusing to unfold, despite Harry's firm look.

"Tony says he'll have the arm figured out shortly, and you can go to him for a tune up."

"Of course he does."

Understandably, he was still wary around the man. He'd killed Howard Stark and his wife after all. Under the orders of someone else, but he'd still been the one to shoot the bullet, to ensure the car would crash in a way that would result in no survivors.

If Stark knew this or not, Bucky wasn't too sure, nor did he feel like pointing it out. He'd rather just pretend that stage of his life hadn't happened. At all. It wasn't a good coping method, in fact, Bucky was pretty damn sure that such a thing was going to come back and bite him.

But it worked for now, and seeing as he was taking life one day at a time, then it was completely acceptable.

Harry's thin, soft fingers wove themselves between the metal digits of his left hand and Bucky looked down at the twining duo. The contrast of supple pink flesh against unyielding, shining alloy. His thumb brushed against the back of her knuckles, the sensors registering the texture of her skin, the slight warmth that it gave off, regardless of the winter chill and her distinct lack of gloves.

"Where now?"

Harry rocked back on her heels, pursing her lips and then grinning wildly.

"I'm thinking somewhere warm."

.

Kilauea, Hawaii
January 14th 2015

"Never seen a Volcano up close before, doll."

Stood back, with arms folded and eyes focused on the lava that was pooling out of the earth, slowly crawling across the rocky surface of the island, Bucky let out a low whistle.

They'd been island hopping for a while now, but this was the first time they'd decided to come and get an up close look at a natural disaster. Beside him, Harry was watching, just as intrigued and focused, eyes round in a way she too had never been so close to such an exciting sight.

There was something therapeutic about watching lava slowly cascade down in little rivulets. Hell, it smelt awful. Were it not for the warning that all other senses besides sight offered, then Bucky was pretty damn sure more than a handful of kids would have stuck their hand right in the pretty red stuff.

He was tempted, even though he knew for certain it'd melt right through the metal of his arm. While it'd been designed to stand up to some pretty intense stuff, he was sure lava wasn't one of those things.

Still, it was a pretty sight, all that bright red against the near blackness of the rock surface. It called out to the artist in him. No doubt Steve would have loved to capture the image on paper.

"Picture time?" Harry had already drawn her camera, cocking it in their direction with a wiggle of her eyebrows. Several tourists were already stood around them, so it wasn't like it was going to be a chore to flag one down.

Accepting the bulky camera from Harry's hands, Bucky made his way over to a pair of girls, perhaps just out of their schooling years. It was always easier for him to get something simple like this from girls. A quick flirty smile, a line right out of the forties, and they'd be putty in his hands.

Really, he had no idea what mother's were teaching their sons these days, but it clearly wasn't anything resembling manners. Otherwise the ladies would have a bit more resistance too it.

"Excuse me, can I steal a moment of you time? We'd like a photo," Bucky gestured helplessly over towards Harry and then back to the camera, watching as the two girls shared a look before slyly nodding.

Okay, so he knew he was attractive, such a thing wasn't his fault.

Handing the camera over, Bucky danced across the rocks towards Harry, throwing one arm around her shoulder and grinned as the teenager fumbled with the bulky camera. If it weren't for the fact it spat out moving pictures, then he'd have already insisted Harry get one of the better, smaller ones.

Moving pictures were so wonderful though.

The flash that signalled the job was done burned the back of his retinas, and blinking, Bucky stumbled forwards to accept the camera again. He wasn't expecting the words that came out of the teenager's mouth.

"Can we get a photo with you?"

Both he and Harry paused, sharing a confused look as the blonde teen blushed, stammering on.

"It's just, you're Bucky Barnes, right? We read all the SHIELD files on the internet, we're so glad you escaped by the way. You're a hero, you know that right?"

Something caught in his throat, and Bucky could only managed to give the freckled girl a nod, her dark haired friend nodding along.

"He'd be happy to get a picture with you. As long as we can take one on our camera too," Harry chirped from beside him, sending him a look. One that couldn't be interoperated in any other way than an order for him to go along with what was happening.

With a detached form of shock, Bucky found himself stood between the two girls, Harry holding a thin, mechanical box -one of their phone's, he realized- between her fingers and grinning.

"Smile people."

Instead, Bucky wrapped his arms around the two teens shoulders, offering a flash of teeth as Harry took three photos, one for each girl on their phones and one on her magical camera.

"Can we get a kiss?"

The freckled blonde was blushing furiously, but he had to give her credit for her guts.

Obliging, Bucky planted a light kiss on both girl's cheeks, offering them a wink as he went back over to stand with Harry. Harry, who'd made two copies of their moving photos and offered them to the girls, souvenirs no doubt.

The two teens were squealing so loud that Bucky wouldn't be surprised if they didn't notice Harry apperating them away.

But huh, that'd been an interesting encounter.

I did want to have 10,000 words wrote for this next chapter, but now that I'm writing the next little sction, it seems like that'd fit in more with the next chapter, so, here we are.

Tsume

xxx