Set post Age of Ultron. Steve and Clint join Sam in chasing up one of those leads in their missing person case.
Short one shot with some quality bro bonding between the three.
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine. If they were there would have been at least a sighting of Bucky in AoU. They all belong to Marvel.
AN:I had to do a one shot so I can actually have something finished! Plus, Steve, Sam and Clint hanging out, what's not to love.
It had been over a year and Steve was exhausted by his repeatedly frustrated hopes.
Some part of him, a very naïve part he now admits, had thought that despite it all, if Bucky, what was left of Bucky, could see how deeply dedicated Steve was to finding him, he would let himself be found. But nothing was ever that simple.
Steve still believed, with all the earnest conviction that had cemented his legend, that it was Bucky - not just The Winter Soldier - that had pulled him from the Potomac that day.
He believed his passionate, loyal and compassionate best friend was still in there, that he'd looked him in the eyes in those last moments on board the Insight helicarrier.
He'd known that he'd be locked in competition with whatever remnants of Hydra managed to regroup in the wake of the SHIELD reveal. That they'd come for their Asset. That after over 70 years of benefiting from his abilities, they'd need to reclaim him almost purely for the sake of reclaiming their own identity in the wake of their near destruction.
He'd been prepared for Hydra, he'd even gone so far as to seek them out and pre-emptively quash any pursuit from the factions he and the other Avengers found. He'd honestly believed he was clearing the way, that it wasn't a distraction from his and Sam's hunt but an aid to helping Bucky's return home.
Weirdly it had been Clint who'd finally revealed the depths of Steve's lack of understanding, and his ignorance and inexperience with the dark and mercenary world his chosen brother had been consumed by.
He'd simply pointed out to Steve that if the Soldier wasn't Hydra's weapon any more, that someone else would want him in their arsenal.
To put it plainly – as Clint tended to do – Bucky was 'worth a fucking fortune'.
Natasha as she'd promised had been away a great deal, trying to work out who she was going to be now that 'SHIELD agent' wasn't the defining aspect of her identity any more. But Clint, once he'd shaken off the pursuers that the data release had put on his tail, had clearly decided that quality bonding time with his Battle of New York colleagues was the order of the day.
He'd been rotating in and out of Tony's, Thor's and his and Sam's orbits ever since - even more so post-Ultron - and lending his unique and usually unsolicited insight on all manner of things.
But he was insightful. Especially once he'd given up the pretence that Natasha hadn't told him all about Hydra's foiled plans and the true identity of their legendary ghost assassin.
It turned out that for a spy Clint was pretty lousy at pretending ignorance in front of people he actually cared about, and apparently being adopted by the Black Widow won you a bonus Hawkeye-shaped prize as an added extra. Steve couldn't have been more grateful.
It was Clint who'd helped them rule out leads and make sense of the frequently contradictory rumours that emerged from across the globe. Natasha sent the odd news story on suspicious – or even on two occasions seemingly natural – deaths that she thought might have been The Winter Soldier's work. But there was nothing concrete, he was as good as his reputation had made out.
It was this that had finally made Clint pull him to one side. They were in Moscow, subtlety checking into the demise – a shooting this time - of a US diplomat stationed there. Natasha had believed he might have been responsible for Bucky's 'shipping' from Russia into the US and Pierce's hands. On the ground, Sam, Steve and Clint had pretty much confirmed this connection.
"This is unbelievable" Clint whispered to him and Sam as they explored the crime scene under the guise of Interpol agents.
In the past year and a bit Steve had called in any favour he could think of, and even a fair few he hadn't been aware he was owed, but he'd do pretty much anything to make up for failing his friend. This had gotten them these cover IDs and a helping hand or two along the way.
"I don't understand how this happened?" Sam said. "They're saying he was killed with his own weapon, which is locked up in a different guarded building. There's no forced entry, no evidence and no one saw anything? I mean come on, why can't someone throw us a bone here."
"As I said frickin unbelievable," Clint said with more enthusiasm than a murder could ever warrant. Steve shot him a look.
"Hey sorry but this is what I do. I have to appreciate the artistry." Steve felt a twinge of despair that his dearest friend was now a killer that killers admired. Possibly THE killer.
Clint clearly read his reactions and had the grace to look guilty. "Sorry Cap, but this is the kind of stuff legends are made of. I'm truly sorry that Barnes was turned into this against his will, but god he's good. Better than me; probably even better than Nat. Never tell her I said that."
Sam shot them both with a sceptical but honestly inquiring look, "A lot of the data leak regarding The Winter Soldier was redacted but the bits I could follow seemed to imply…"
"That he shot JFK?" Steve finished.
"Well yeah," Sam concluded.
"Really!" This was clearly news to Clint.
Steve looked down at his feet and shook his head in longed for denial, but looking up at these two men he respected he had to be honest, "Zola pretty much confirmed as much to me and Nat before the missile hit."
"Ok good just got upgraded to epic."
"Shut the fuck up man" Sam muttered in Clint's direction.
Clearly Steve still hadn't mastered stoic, he wondered if he'd even mastered 'sad but not completely devastated' yet where Bucky was concerned. From the frank look directed his way by Sam, clearly not.
Clint took one look at the pair of them and let out a groan that drew the eyes of the local law enforcement in their direction.
In the next moment he was Hawkeye the consummate professional once again, giving them an apologetic shrug that seemed to indicate everything from overbearing bosses to unpaid overtime in one non-committal and universal gesture. The officers turned back to their pretty-much pointless search for the evidence that didn't exist.
Clint somehow managed to draw Sam and Steve further across the vast apartment into a spot away from the other occupants.
"Steve, I know I'm sounding a bit of a Winter Soldier fanboy," he held up his hands, "which I won't deny I am. But that's not why I'm mentioning the skill level on display here."
Steve gave him a fixed 'I'm listening' look, Sam simply raised an irritated eyebrow and crossed his arms.
"Do you know how much a hit like this would cost on the open market?"
"Buck wouldn't…" Steve began before a raised palm from Clint stopped his automatic defence of his friend.
Steve had no proof that The Soldier wouldn't kill for money, but he honestly believed it.
"Not what I'm saying" Clint continued. "But put a figure on it."
Sam sighed, put his hands in his pockets and gave it a shot "Ten mill?"
Clint pointed out the window where the Kremlin was clearly visible and then to the seal of the Office of The President painted on the wall.
Sam shot Steve an 'oh' look, before turning back to Clint "20 million?"
"That's closer to it. But as you said this isn't about money for him, it's totally personal. But for anyone else seeing or hearing about this that's where their mind is going to go. Where I'm going with this is that forgetting Hydra and almost every intelligence agency in the world who'd like to get their hands on him, you've got to be aware that he's a valuable commodity. If fact he's worth a fucking fortune."
"If he has anything of himself back, anything at all, he wouldn't co-operate" Steve stated adamantly.
"You think that would stop the type of people we're talking about? I hate to say it but you, Nat and 'he who must not be named' screwed us over on this front with the data dump. Those Hydra bases we've been digging out of all that info, other people can do it too. And I'll bet you dollars to donuts that at least a few of those places will have the equipment Hydra created to keep their prized asset in line."
Steve felt sick. "And there'll be plenty of fleeing former Hydra agents looking to sell them those locations for a price."
His tunnel vision in locating Bucky had clearly disabled some sort of higher brain function. He should have seen this.
"Oh man, this isn't going to get any easier is it?" Sam said with a sigh.
Clint shrugged. "International terrorism and espionage – it's not for everyone."
"So what's our best play here?" Sam asked.
"Kill the buyers, be the buyers. Maybe both to play it safe."
"That means we have to stop looking for him to look for them, doesn't it?" Steve asked.
He didn't even know why he was asking, it was clearly the best way to go, but it felt like giving up.
"We're not giving up" Sam said, clearly on board, "we're just regrouping and coming at it from a different angle."
Dammit Sam really could read him too well.
"And honestly it's not like we're getting any closer to finding him" his friend concluded with an apologetic look.
"Hell maybe making him feel less like the billion dollar prize pig at the fair will let him feel safe enough to come in." Clint added.
"Billion?" Steve spun round to look at him. He was continually changing position. Probably some spy instinct Steve didn't possess.
"Well if they get a chair and one of those scary freezer pods that were in the file you showed me, and then dedicate the crazy-ass resources they'd need to track him down and actually take him down without killing him, then they'll definitely be looking at an international auction starring the deepest pockets in the world. I doubt even Tony would make the cut. If he's as good as I've heard, a billion would probably be the opening bid. And that's if they don't realise he's also a super soldier."
"Oh." Steve looked for a chair, he needed to sit down. Ok no chairs, the table would have to do.
They wanted to auction off his best friend - his tortured, amnesiac, experimented-on best friend. He though he'd, not gotten over, but at least come to terms with maybe, what he'd found out so far about what had been done to Bucky during the decades he was sleeping below the ice. But this was worse than being punched in the gut with that scarily powerful arm Hydra had given his friend. He felt ill.
"So let's get the bastards. And maybe whoever is captaining The Soldier's ship will see we're on his side. They'll sure as hell be easier to locate than he is."
Steve really liked Clint's no nonsense approach some times.
Steve stood up, lifted his chin and looked them both in the eyes "Where do we start?"
So here they were, flying back to the US on the jet Stark - Tony - had given them for Avengers business. Steve still wasn't sharing his hunt for Bucky outside of those who had been involved in DC. Clint was the only exception and that had been Natasha's choice.
He trusted his teammates but this was beyond personal, this was his family.
Steve sank down into the seat. He felt like his strings had been cut. He'd been so sure that if he could just find Bucky he could bring him home. Of course 'just' and 'home' were two concepts he'd had to redefine recently.
Clint and Sam were making the most of the obscenely well-stocked mini bar. Sam had poured himself a bourbon and came and took the seat opposite Steve.
It looked like Clint was giving them some space. Well as much as he could in the small private jet. He was over talking to the Stewardess, and if Steve hadn't known about his family he would have believed he was actually doing it because he wanted to, rather than to give him and Sam some privacy. He really was a good guy.
"You get this is a good thing right?" Sam asked him.
"I don't see how any of this could qualify as good." Steve tried to inject some wry humour into the statement, but even he had to admit it came out sounding closer to sad and bitter.
Sam placed his drink on the table and Steve shot the glass a longing look. If only.
"Look you've said that if he knew who he was he'd come to you, do you still believe that?"
Steve nodded.
"And if he was The Soldier still, he would have gone back to Hydra. So he's somewhere between the two, he's on a journey and if we try and stop him we might do more harm than good. Plus who he is now seems really pissed off – justifiably - so I don't see that ending well for anyone."
"But it feels like I'm letting him down Sam. Again. He's out there by himself, being hunted."
"So we track the trackers and kill the hell out of them. We'll protect him Steve, we just don't need to see him to do it."
Sam was right. He usually was.
"I've got a lead on a Serbian gang in Belgrade who are indicating they've got Hydra tech to sell to the highest bidder. Want to go check it out?" Clint said taking the seat next to Steve, who sat up in surprise.
"How?" Steve didn't understand when Clint could have made the call, much less heard back with solid info.
"Hey it's what I do" he said with a smirk.
"How fast can we get there?" Steve asked with some renewed enthusiasm.
"We'll have to call in a fake emergency to explain landing somewhere off our flight plan, but we should be able to get there in an hour or so. We'd have to be in and out quick."
"Ok let's do it."
It was time to stop being sad, lonely, Steve Rogers and be Captain America. That was who Bucky needed to protect him from the vultures of the criminal underworld that were circling, so that's who he'd be. He had a focus now; it helped, it really did. And if they could find him someone or something to punch that would also go a long way to making him feel better. If these people wanted to wipe and use Bucky just like Hydra did, or make their fortune helping someone else do it, there was no one who'd deserve it more.
"I'd say suit up but I'm guessing we need to do this on the down low."
"Actually we'd probably need to go in as mercs, but I've got some stuff…" Clint corrected.
"Why am I not at all surprised?" Sam said with a raised eyebrow and an amused smile.
Nothing would be 'good' until he had his friend – he looked at Clint and Sam – his best friend, back and safe with him. But, if he could help him stay free and take down some criminals at the same time, maybe, just maybe that would be ok for now.