Chapter One:

Author's Note: This is the sequel to Avenging Enhanced. If you have not read it, plead read it before reading this fic. Also, this is a cross between comics, movies, and television characters/personalities.

Stark's POV:

"She's still unconscious?" I asked Natasha Romanoff, aka Black Widow, when I got to the Sudan.

"In the middle of the blast zone. We haven't been able to get in close enough to get her out," she told me.

"Let's go," I replied.

I took Romanoff and carried her over the wreckage that was once the village square to where Sophie Holden, agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Romanoff's charge as part of Strike Team Echo, lay unconscious. Surveillance showed that Holden and her partner James Buchanan Barnes, aka Bucky, aka The Winter Soldier, had some issues and she portaled him out, but was caught in the ensuing explosion. If either of them were normal, we'd probably have lost two agents. Neither was. Sophie was still alive, even though she was at the epicenter of the blast… and now Romanoff and I had to arrest her.

"Should we put power restraints on her, Stark?" Romanoff asked when we got to Sophie.

I looked at her. She looked more broken than I'd ever seen her before. She was barely eighteen. She was a genius, a protégé of mine. Her work in the lab at S.H.I.E.L.D. was revolutionary. When I went back into retirement, I was happy to leave the lab in her hands. Back home, she even had a fiancé. She had turned her life around so much in the last year, but it was like we were back at square one with her.

"No. It's too risky," I finally replied.

"What if she wakes up? With her power…" Romanoff started.

"She's been unconscious for nearly a day. Her body was in the blast zone. Even if she wakes up, she's going to be weak when she does. If she's still out like this, it's because her body needs to heal. If we put the power restraints on her, we'll risk taking away her healing factor. That could kill her. We're here to arrest her, not kill her," I cut Romanoff off.

She nodded at me and helped me put Sophie on a stretcher. When we got out of the blast zone, we put restraints on her, cuffing her to the gurney that we were putting on the Quinjet to take her back to the Avengers' base, where Sophie would be kept until she was healed, then put in prison pending trial.

Steve's POV:

The news was on and a special report started to play. At first, I was going to change the channel, but then they mentioned S.H.I.E.L.D. It wasn't every day that S.H.I.E.L.D. was mentioned on the news.

"… the agent in question, is one of the agency's superhuman agents. She is believed to have been on official business in the Sudan when the explosion happened. Reports say there were two agents involved, but the agent that was taken into custody within the last hour seemed to open some sort of portal and push the other agent through after he started going on a rampage in the village square.

"Here is the footage of Iron Man taking the agent responsible for a death toll that is estimated to be over 100 women and children into custody. Reports are that the Avengers will take responsibility for the agent until she is well enough to be transferred to a prison for superhumans to await her trial."

As the reporter was talking, there was footage of Stark and Natasha taking Sophie, who was unconscious and looked half dead, and loading her onto a Quinjet, shackled to a gurney. My heart dropped into my stomach. Bucky was nowhere to be found, but according to the report, Sophie got him out. What had happened? I had to find him. Suddenly, my attention was pulled back to the news.

"This incident has built more support for the proposed Superhuman Registration Act. In the aftermath of this tragedy, congress is calling for legislation to regulate superhumans or those with technology that would give them superhuman abilities, such as Iron Man. With public opinion turning further against superhumans who, to date, have operated outside the constraints of the law, leaving massive damages in their wake, it is a question of what the act will contain at this point, not so much if it will pass anymore."

I knew the reporter was right. I also knew that if I didn't find Bucky and fast, he would end up in the same position as Sophie. There was no way I could allow that to happen. I called the one person I knew who would help me no matter what.

"What's up, Cap?" Sam Wilson, aka Falcon, asked as he picked up his phone.

"Have you seen the news?"

"No, been busy training. What's going on?"

I explained what happened.

"I'm sorry about Sophie. Have they found Barnes?"

"No. That's why I'm calling."

"You wanna look for him again, don't you?"

"Will you help me?"

"You know I will, Cap. The only way we're going to get any answers about what happened out there is to find him."

"Exactly. And now there's more support for the Superhuman Registration Act. It's going to pass. This was the catalyst that people needed, Sam. We need to find Bucky and get him off the grid as soon as possible."

"I'm on my way to you. I'll be there as soon as possible, with a Quinjet that I'll keep in stealth mode so we can't be traced. It will make it quicker for us to track him with it."

I didn't like the idea of taking a Quinjet, but Sam was right.

"Alright. I'll see you soon."

Bucky's POV:

I had no idea where they had come from. How had they found me? I thought back to what had happened before I wound up in the safehouse I was in.

"Have you really turned traitor, Sergeant?" one of them asked me in Russian. "You know that you belong with us."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I replied in Russian, trying not to engage them.

"Bucky, retreat," Sophie said into my comms.

"Come with us, Soldier. We will remind you of who you really are. Our asset," the second man said.

My mind started to wander to what these men were talking about. Years of conditioning, the electroshock therapy, cryostasis, mind manipulation, training, to keep me the perfect spy and assassin. Now that I had my memories back, I realized just how much torture I actually went through at the hands of the organization they obviously worked for.

They went to grab me. I couldn't stand the idea of losing everything again. I attacked. Anyone who tried to touch me was the enemy.

"Bucky! Stop! Get to the meeting point!" Sophie said, appearing in front of me by way of fire portal.

I kept fighting off anyone who was trying to touch me. Suddenly, a portal appeared behind me. Sophie threw a disc at my cybernetic arm and I lost the ability to use it. She looked panicked. She kicked me into the portal, but as it closed, I saw the village square exploded… with Sophie still in the middle of it.

"Oh God. Sophie, please tell me that I didn't get you killed," I said to myself out loud.

Suddenly, I realized there were two people in the safehouse with me. I went on the attack. We fought for a bit, one of them was no match for me. He was easy to knock out. The other, not as much. After what seemed like hours, they caught me. My cybernetic arm was caught in a hydraulic press, successfully restraining me.

"Bucky!" the one who was able to fight me said to me. "Bucky! Look at me, Buck!"

I couldn't focus.

"What are we supposed to do with him, Cap?"

"If the timing were different, we could call Stark."

"But the accords. The registration act. All three of us are on the wrong side. We can't call Tony, Cap."

"I know, Sam."

"I know a guy who can help us."

"Call him. After we get Bucky a little better, we need to get to Barton."

One of the two men walked away. The one who kept trying to talk to me came back. He knelt down in front of me, looking me in the eye. I wanted to see him, but it was hard.

"Bucky, it's me. It's Steve. Come back to me, Buck. I need you."

His voice. His desperate plea for me. It touched something in me.

"I need my best friend right now. The world is falling apart and I need you, Bucky."

I finally looked at him… really looked at him. He was broken. He had been crying recently. This was my best friend, I was remembering. I was realizing what was going on… and I knew I messed up.

"Sophie… Steve… I'm so sorry."

"She's alive, Buck. She's in trouble, but she's alive."

"What are you talking about? The explosion…"

"She survived. But she was arrested."

"Arrested? For what?"

"Terrorism for one thing," Steve said to me. "What happened out there?"

I couldn't look at him. His fiancée was in jail because of me. I had messed up.

"Bucky?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap."

"What are you talking about?"

I told him what I remembered.

"Bucky… you can't help that."

"Really, Steve? I nearly killed our best friend, your fiancée, and you're going to tell me that it's okay?"

"None of this is okay, Buck. But you can't control having issues like that. They even have a term for it nowadays. It's called post traumatic stress disorder. Sam used to run a group for veterans at the VA."

"How can you be so understanding? Sophie is in jail. They probably have the power restraints on her again…"

"You're my best friend, too, Bucky. I'm worried about both of you. You didn't intentionally do this. And right now, I can help you," Steve said to me. "Sophie… when you're better and we have more intel, we'll get Sophie back. We just need to be careful since the new legislation passed."

"What new legislation?"

"After the incident in the Sudan, Congress pushed through a bill called the Superhuman Registration Act. All persons with superhuman abilities or the technology that gives them the abilities need to register with the government for training and assignment."

"I'm not doing that."

"Neither did I. I'm the leader of the resistance. We're called the Secret Avengers, Bucky. There are a decent number of heroes who don't think this legislation is a good idea."

Sophie's POV:

I woke up in a cell. My head was fuzzy and I could tell that my body has healed from a major trauma. When I tried to sit up, I can't. I realized that in addition to the familiar feel of the power restraints that I once wore for two weeks, I'm shackled to the bed.

"Don't bother trying to use your powers to get out of this, Sophie," a familiar voice I place as Stark's says from outside the cell.

"Stark, what the hell is going on?"

"You and Barnes messed up. The people want the heroes held accountable, Sophie. The two of you destroyed a village square. Where is he?"

"Bucky? I don't know. Even if I did, you know I'll never tell you."

"Then get comfortable. You, your friend, your fiancé, and a few others, are in violation of the law by not registering your abilities with the government. A new law passed with my help, Sophie, after the fiasco in the Sudan, thanks to you and Barnes. Now, enhanced humans need to register with the government and be assigned to situations. If they will not adhere to that, they face the consequences, which will include prison. Do you want to consider joining the registration list? They may be lenient on you if you do. If not, given your past transgressions…"

"Are you trying to blackmail me, Stark?"

"I'm just saying, Sophie, you are too brilliant a mind to waste in a prison cell. You have too much to offer this world. Swallow your pride and register. I might be able to get you out of jail if you do."

"But that's not even a definite."

"No, it's not."

"Then I'd rather keep my dignity than become a number on a list for them to call."

"Have it your way."

Stark walked away, leaving me to figure out how I was going to get myself out of this one.

Romanoff's POV:

"Any luck getting intel out of her?" I asked Stark.

"No. She won't listen to reason. She knows she's in trouble, but she won't register, won't give up Barnes. She'd rather take her chances going to prison for the rest of her life, which none of us even know what kind of life span to expect her to have, then give anything up," he replied. "Any luck getting Barton to agree to come talk some sense into her?"

Right After Sophie's Arrest:

"How could you be such a fool, Natasha?! Following Stark into this mess, arresting my daughter! What did you think was going to happen when you did this? Did you think that you I would be okay with this?"

"I'm not a fool, Clint. Sophie caused a major explosion on her mission. She was careless. Barnes is in the wind. Incidents like this are the reason the legislation was suggested to begin with, but to have her and Barnes going nuts like this out there, it didn't help matters."

"You're supposed to be my partner, my friend, the one I can trust, Natasha. Why are you doing this?"

"Do you realize how many people died in the Sudan because of them? And she's not talking, Clint. She won't tell us where Barnes is. How are we supposed to try to help her if she's fighting us?"

"Why should she trust you? You betrayed her! You're using her as a scapegoat and she's not going to give up Barnes! You know that already! So what do you really want, here?"

"We want you to talk her into cooperating. Give up Barnes, talk her onto the registration. If you do, we might be able to keep her out of prison."

"I'm not going to do that, Natasha. Don't you see that the registration is dangerous? If that list gets hacked or stolen then everyone on there is compromised, their families in danger. How can anyone be asked to do that, when we know that the people who will be the first to join will be the heroes, and still go out there and protect the world? What kind of gratitude is it that we've all risked everything and now we need to have our families put in danger to protect the greater good too? I can't do it, Natasha."

"You do realize, if she is tried for her crimes in the political firestorm going on right now she will be convicted of treason and you will never see her again, don't you? You convince her to sign up, register her abilities and we may be able to work with her."

"I'm not going to ask her to do anything she wouldn't do. She's had too much of her life taken away by having choices forced on her. I won't do it, Natasha."

"So you're going to side with her boyfriend instead of me?"

"I'm siding with my conscience, Natasha. Don't be a fool. You know Stark will take this too far in the long run. Get off that ship before it goes down."

"Warn Rogers that if he comes for her, I'll be waiting to arrest any of you that try to break her out."

"Natasha…"

"I hope you don't regret this, Barton."

I hung up on him, angry that the man I had come to count on so much was turning his back on me.

Present:

"No. Barton is on Rogers' side in all of this."

"Great. So Legolas is going to be zero help in all of this?"

"No. He might be a problem though."

"You don't think he'd… He's retired."

"We have his daughter in custody, Stark. I wouldn't put anything past him. And keep in mind, Barton's career as a hero started on the wrong side of the law. He's no stranger to this. Don't count on him just staying out of everything, especially with Sophie in the center."

"Great. So we have a master assassin, the Super Soldier, the Winter Soldier who's in the wind, Falcon, and who know who else backing the resistance. This is going to cause a lot of trouble as this gets out."

"We need to lock this prison down as tight as we can."

"I'm already working on that. And I've been working on another prison, one out of this dimension, specifically for superhumans. Once it's operational, it will be a lot easier to handle situations like this," Stark told me. "As for the problem with people wanting to back the Captain, I'm trying to work on that, too."

Stark's POV:

I knocked on the door, waiting for the residents to let me in. After a minute, a red-head let me in. She hugged me in greeting.

"Hey, Mary Jane. How are you doing?" I asked.

"Not too bad, considering, Tony. I'm guessing you're here to see Peter?"

"Yeah. I need to talk to him about what's going on in the world."

"I'll go get him. Hang on," she said as she walked out of the room.

A few minutes later, a guy walked into the living room. To those who knew him best, he was Peter Parker. To the rest of the world, he was also Spider Man. He had been since he was a teenager.

"Tony," he said as he came and greeted me. "I gotta admit, I wasn't expecting to see you, considering."

"We need to talk, Peter."

We sat down.

"What is it?"

"I think it's time for Spider Man to come forward. Join the registration."

"What?"

"I think you should lose the mask, show your true identity to the world."

"Why me, Tony?"

"Because you've guarded your identity closer than pretty much any other hero I can think of over the years. And right now, there are heroes who are forming a resistance against the registration act. Heroes that might be able to sway public opinion of the legislation. I think that if a hero like you came forward in support of the registration act, it could go a long way with gaining support."

Peter just looked at me.

"I don't know, Tony. I've been Spider Man since I was a teenager. I've always been very careful about who I let know that I was Spider Man because I don't want to put anyone I care about at risk. What you're asking me to do… It's one thing for me to follow the law and register myself with the government… But Tony, for me to unmask myself to the public… I need to really think about that. I'm not the only one who will be affected by it."

"I understand," I said to him as I stood up. "Just think about it and let me know."

I started to walk away.

"Tony?" Peter called to me.

"Yeah?" I replied turning back to him at the door.

"Did you really arrest Captain America's fiancée and Hawkeye's daughter?"

"Yeah, Peter, I did. She was responsible for a lot of deaths and is partially responsible for the legislation that all of us are facing now, so yeah, I arrested her. She's in a prison with power restraints on her so she can't hurt anyone," I said as I saw the look of shock on his face.

I left the door, hearing the lock click into place behind me.