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morgana-greenleaf · 3 years

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Tower of Tomorrow - Chapter 2

Tower of Tomorrow Masterlist

One year after TWS, Sam and Steve finally track Bucky down and bring him back to Avengers Tower.

Of course, there's still lots of HYDRA bases to be taken down, and Bucky finds himself actually enjoying the Avengers' company, and making friends.

Fury cleared Bucky to access the rest of the tower late the next morning, and the moment he stepped out of the lift he was accosted by Tony, holding a tablet that was projecting a hologram.

“So, I was thinking, since you’re stuck in the tower for a while, you’d need your own floor. There’s an empty one sandwiched in between Steve and Clint that should be fine. And it’s already got the basics – bedroom, bathroom, living room, plus a kitchen and laundry, although JARVIS can order you takeaway if you like, or you can use communal kitchen, that’s what most of us do, but it’s there if you like. And there’s a chute you can put your laundry and it’ll be back clean and dry within twenty-four hours, although you can do it yourself if you like. But that’s not what I’m here about, I need to know if you’d like anything special put in. Bruce wanted it extra-reinforced to survive the Hulk, and Natasha wanted it super-duper secure for all her secret spy stuff. And Clint has his set up so JARVIS can still send him warnings and whatnot if he hasn’t got his aids in. And for a dog.”

“I-I don’t need anything. You don’t have to-” Bucky began.

“Damn right I don’t have to. But I’m gonna. I need a new project to work on, and redesigning your floor might keep me amused for a few hours.”

Bucky hesitated. Did he really deserve his own floor? “Yeah, okay. But you don’t have to do anything special.”

“You must have something you like doing. Something to amuse you all day instead of moping around the tower like Steve’s been doing,” Tony protested, poking the hologram. “Look, there’s a huge empty spot here. We’ve gotta put something there.”

“A library? Maybe?” Bucky had always loved reading, although his family hadn’t been able to afford many. He must’ve reread The Hobbit dozens of times.

Tony smacked a hand into his forehead. “I’m so stupid! I didn’t build a library level! JARVIS, cancel my plans. We’ve got a library to design. Why didn’t I think of this before?”

“Because the reading you do is usually on an ebook?” JARVIS suggested.

“That-that’s not the point, JARVIS,” Tony huffed, fingers already flying across the screen.

“If it’s too much trouble, I can just use an ebook thing?” Bucky offered, but Tony dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

“No, this is fun. Plus, physical books are better. Just stay out of your level until dinner while I get the builders in.”

“What am I supposed to do until then?”

“Ummm.” Tony looked stumped. “I dunno. Explore. Go online shopping. Just don’t kill anyone.”

“Online shopping?” What the hell was that?

“Just ask JARVIS to order anything you like in. Clothes, shoes, books, knives, whatever you like.”

“I don’t have any money.” And speaking of which, was he supposed to pay rent? Because he’d rather just squat in abandoned buildings.

Tony looked shocked. “You’re on my money now. And I have a lot, so there’s no need to worry.”

“Okay, thanks.” Bucky turned away, but Tony caught his wrist.

“One more thing, JARVIS, scan him.”

A blue light ran up and down his body, and then JARVIS announced, “All done, sir.”

“What was that?” Bucky demanded.

“Most of the tower uses fingerprint ID or retinal scans. JARVIS is giving you access,” Tony explained, shoving past and into the lift.

Bucky wandered over to the kitchen benchtop, and glanced around to make sure there was no one else there. It was clear. He looked up at the ceiling.

“Building? JARVIS?” he asked, sceptical.

“Yes, Sergeant Barnes?” JARVIS responded.

“Can I eat this? The food here? Or do I need to buy my own?” he asked.

“All the food for here is in the communal area, and therefore, in theory, for anyone. However, I might advise against eating prepared food that someone might have saved for later, or Ms Romanov’s chocolates.” JARVIS informed him.

“Thanks.” He opened the fridge, and found a large tub of yoghurt. That would do. Even a year on from HYDRA, he still preferred to eat softer foods, closer to the consistency of the gloop they’d fed him. He filled a bowl, and then added in some berries from the fruit tray. He settled on the lounge nearby, and switched on the television.

It showed a report on the HYDRA base he’d destroyed just yesterday. “-believed to be the work of a vigilante group comprising of at least a dozen members,” some politician was saying at a press conference. “While their efforts are appreciated, we must reiterate that it is not their responsibility, but rather the job of the Army and Special Forces. We ask them to stand down. Anyone with information on the location of HYDRA bases should call the hotline 1300 655 506, where it will be dealt with by the appropriate authorities.”

The number flashed on the screen, and then changed back to the studio. “And just in, the notorious Winter Soldier has been detained in relation to the events last year in DC, as well as two dozen assassinations and several more suspected assassinations. Thought for many years to be just a ghost story-”

The screen switched off. Clint chucked the remote onto the ottoman and dropped down beside Bucky. “Don’t look at that. It won’t help.”

“Who told them?” Bucky growled.

“None of us. Things get leaked. It happens. Trust me. My home address got leaked, and I could barely get out the door the next day there was so many people. But Tony’ll get his press people onto it. They’ll sort it out.”

“That’s what Steve said about the lawyers. Sounds like Tony doesn’t do much, he just pays people to sort everything out for him.”

Clint snorted. “Guess that’s an advantage of being so rich no one can actually put a value on you. But seriously, they’ll sort it out. You might have to give a few statements, do some interviews, talk about what happened, which sucks, but then you’ll be fine.”

“I can deal with that,” Bucky said, “What I can’t deal with is sitting here all day with nothing to do.”

“Want to come to the range with me?” Clint offered.

“Am I allowed?” Fury had said he could go anywhere in the tower, but surely thing wouldn’t allow him to shoot things.

“Course you are. And anyway, the guns only have blanks on the range. Although I use real arrows.”

“And I can use a bow. How do you know I won’t shoot you with one?”

“I don’t,” Clint grinned, and lead the way to the range.

Bucky had a surprisingly good time at the range. He spent half an hour destroying the bullseyes of the four targets in his lane before Clint showed him how to on the fight simulator. The two of them spent hours fighting off wave after wave of holographic projections shooting holographic projectiles at them. As time progressed, and the simulator got harder, the walls started shooting jets of water at them, trying to knock them off their feet, or tipping piles of foam bricks on their heads (to simulate falling buildings), and then the wind machines turned on at full power. Bucky was just gland both he and Clint had had the presence of mind to fit as much ammo as was physically possible on their person.

Then the floor started shaking. Apparently Tony had found a way to simulate earthquakes. The man was a genius. And completely mad. Foam balls started rolling along the floor at them. A blue blip hit Clint in the head, and it took Bucky a few moments to realise that the simulator had ended. They stood there, in a room empty except for water and foam blocks and balls, with arrows and the blank bullets littered around. They were both drenched.

“Hey, you’re pretty good,” Clint said, clapping Bucky on the shoulder. “We should do this more often.”

“You’re not bad yourself, Hawkeye,” Bucky said. “JARVIS, what’s the time?”

“It is currently three forty-nine, Sergeant Barnes.”

“I’ve got to go and see the doctor for some assessments. Thanks for…this,” Bucky said, turning to leave.

“You’ll come to dinner though, right? 6 o’clockish, the kitchen. Everyone’ll be there. And we’ll probably have a movie night, after.” Clint began picking up his arrows.

“Sure,” said Bucky, and headed back out.

He managed to sneak into Steve’s floor and have a quick shower (once JARVIS informed him Steve was in the gym) while he dried his clothes in the drier.

It was one minute to four when Bucky stepped into the lift, and the clock flickered over to four o’clock as he stepped out of the lift into Bruce Banner’s lab. He swept his gaze over the lab, cataloguing everything in sight, every piece of equipment that might be used on him.

“Hi, Bucky,” Bruce said, setting his glasses down on desk.

“Hi,” he gritted out. This was a bad idea. The doctor would run tests on him. Experiment on him. Use him as a labrat. He tried to back away, but his back hit the wall, blocking his escape.

Bruce followed the movement. “Nothing that I’m going to do will hurt you, or alter your body in any way. I’m not a HYDRA doctor. I won’t do any of this without your permission, although I strongly advise you to do this.

“All we’re doing today is some scans, mainly focused on your brain and arm. For your brain, we would like to compare your current scans to the ones in the files from HYDRA, to see how the healing is going. The other thing we would like to look at is your arm, and how it is attached to your body. Tony will probably want to have a look at it at some point, if you’re willing.”

“The files said how it was attached,” Bucky mumbled.

“The files showed several versions, which I assume means different arms?” Bruce asked, and with a nod from Bucky, continued. “It also showed that a lot of your bones have been either replaced or reinforced with metal to support the weight. It’s anchored quite deep into your chest, I believe.”

“Why do you need to scan, then?” Bucky asked, dreading the answer.

“We don’t think that it’s particularly good for you, with the way it’s done. If it’s left the way it is, there might be permanent and serious damage to your spine and back.”

“I managed for seventy years.”

“Yes, and did a lot of damage.”

“Okay, fine. I’ll do the scans,” Bucky said. Better get it over and done with.

Bruce led him over to a gurney. “If you’d like to hop on here, I’ll put you in the machine. It’ll take at least an hour and a half to fully scan you, so feel free to sleep or something.”

Bucky took a deep breath, and climbed onto the gurney. He squeezed his eyes shut as Bruce wheeled him into the scanner and turned it on. It was cylindrical, just like his cryofreeze chamber. It made whirring noises, just like the cryofreeze chamber just before it froze him. He dug the fingernails of his right hand into his palm, and tried to focus on that instead. He couldn’t sleep like Bruce suggested, because who knew when he’d wake up? But he could survive an hour and a half in there, if it helped Fury clear him. He’d survived worse.

Ten minutes by his count into the scan, Bruce settled into a chair. “How about I put some music on?”

“Sure,” Bucky said. It came out barely audible, and weirdly high pitched.

There was a moment of silence, and then music began to play. “This is the Beatles,” Bruce said, “Rubber Soul.”

“Okay.” Bucky settled back and focused on the music.

The ninety minutes passed in a blur. The scanner switched off just as Help! finished, and Bruce pulled him out.

“Would you like to stay and see the scans?” Bruce asked.

“Yes, please.” This was a luxury never afforded to him by HYDRA doctors.

Bruce pulled the scans up on a holoscreen, and then pulled up the HYDRA scans next to it.

“This is the most recent scan, from July 2011. There’s minimal difference between that and the scan from 2004, so if we assume that nothing major happened between 2011 and 2014, we then compare it to your scan you just did.” Bruce pointed to an area on the brain. “This is your hippocampus, where memories are stored. If you look at the two scans, you can see it looks a lot better than it did in 2011. So we can assume that your brain has been healing very quickly. I’m guessing you’ve got a lot of your memories back?”

“Yeah. I think I remember pretty much everything, expect for what a normal human forgets. But I remember my family, and growing up and moving out, going off to fight. And fighting in the war, and getting captured. I remember all the experimentation and torture…from Azzano and from later.”

“Do you remember when everything was? The order of memories? Or are they just…there?” Bruce asked.

“I think most of the order of the memories I’ve worked out is from books than my memories. But every day, they make more sense,” Bucky said.

“That’s a good sign, Bucky. I’ll let Fury know, send him these and explain them. Is that okay?”

“Yeah. What choice do I have?”

Bruce looked guilty. “I wish it were otherwise.”

For some reason, Bucky believed him.

He left the lab feeling considerably better than when he’d entered, and took the lift up to the kitchen, where Clint, Natasha, Tony, Steve and Sam were loading platters of food.

“Help yourself,” Clint said, shoving a plate at him. Bucky grabbed it reflexively, then followed Clint over to the benchtop.

Clint filled his plate with pizza, which Bucky ignored in favour of the spaghetti bolognaise.

“Who makes this?” he asked, sitting down between Clint and Sam.

“Whoever feels like cooking, and then we just order takeaway for the rest,” Clint said around a mouthful of pizza.

“The spag bol’s mine, by the way,” Sam said.

“It’s very good,” Bucky said honestly.

“Oi! Terminator!” Tony yelled.

“What is it,” he said. One conversation with Tony had proved exhausting. He wasn’t sure he could cope with another.

“So, it’s movie night tonight. Have you seen Star Wars?”

“No, I’ve been a little busy.”

Tony gasped dramatically. “Okay, we’re watching A New Hope tonight.”

“A New Hope? We have to watch The Phantom Menace first,” Sam said.

“A New Hope came out first,” Tony said, “Therefore you watch it first.”

“The Phantom Menace is first chronologically. It makes sense to watch them in the order they happen,” Sam argued.

“All in favour of original trilogy before prequels?” Tony asked. He raised his hand, followed by Clint, and after a moment’s hesitation, Natasha. “Sorry Sam, you’re outvoted.”

“You didn’t ask Bruce,” Sam said, petulantly.

“JARVIS, please ask Bruce his opinion on the order to watch the Star Wars films,” Tony said.

“Don’t you think you’re taking this a bit seriously?” Bucky asked.

Tony looked scandalised. “No! This is an important part of your cultural education.”

“Excuse me sir, Dr Banner believes A New Hope should be watched first,” JARVIS interrupted.

“Argument settled. A New Hope it is,” Tony announced smugly.

Sam huffed, and looked away.

After they’d all finished eating, and worked together to wash up and clean the kitchen (which Tony managed to get out of by setting up the movie and making popcorn), they sat on the lounge (except for Clint, who sat on a purple beanbag, with a massive labradoodle lying on top off him, trying to steal his popcorn) and watched A New Hope. And when that ended, Tony put on The Empire Strikes Back straight away and no one argued, so they watched that, and then they decided they may as well finish the trilogy, so they watched Return of the Jedi as well.

By the time Bucky trudged out of the lift and into his new home, it was past midnight, so he didn’t get the chance to explore, instead just lay down on his bed without even undressing, and fell asleep.

All things considered, it was a good day. No one had tried to electrocute him, the doctor actually seemed okay, and the Avengers hadn’t treated him weirdly, and actually seemed to accept him, although he wasn’t convinced that would last. It was probably because he hadn’t spent that long with them yet.

Still, maybe tomorrow would be a good day too.

#fanfiction #marvel fanfiction #bucky barnes fanfiction #post tws

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