It turned out smuggling the freaking Winter Soldier out of the mall wasn't that hard. Most people were too worried about getting out of the mall, or they were being directed by the police to a safe place outside. The few that actually paid attention just thought Weapons was a normal guy Thor was helping to safety, which was sort of true. They were trying to help get Weapons out of danger and to Tony's, but Weapons was far from being a normal guy.

Holy crap, they had the freaking Winter Soldier just tossed into the backseat! Darcy kept thinking on repeat as she drove. Thor had stripped him of all his weapons, just a bunch of knives and a couple small guns, and placed him in the backseat. He was lying down on his stomach, arms crossed underneath him, with Mjolnir on his back. That would keep him still until they reached Tony's place. Knowing that didn't stop Darcy from looking in the review mirror every ten seconds, however, to make sure Weapons was still asleep.

"I hope Jane doesn't mind me stealing the car for a while," Darcy muttered to herself sarcastically, checking the lanes around her for cars. Just to be safe, she had Thor call Jane and explain what they were doing. Thor shook his head quickly, trying to hand the phone back to Darcy. "Dude, she already wants to strangle-hug me. You can smooth it over with her, and I'll talk with her… later." Later, like when Darcy knew Jane had calmed down and Darcy could unleash Thor's puppy dog eyes that worked remarkably well with most people. Mostly women, but Darcy had seen it work on some men, too.

Darcy could hear Jane nearly freaking out over the phone and she did not envy Thor as he told Jane the plan. After a few minutes, Thor was handing out the phone towards Darcy as she drove, a small sorry smile on his face eyes pleading. Damn puppy dog eyes! My own weapon was not supposed to be used against me! Darcy thought, grabbing the phone with a sigh. She supposed the conversation over the phone would go slightly better than face to face. Maybe.

"Hey, Jane!" Darcy chirped, trying to sound like nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Darcy Lewis, you drop the Winter Soldier, who tried to kill you, off with SHIELD, and bring back my car!"

Wincing, Darcy held the phone away from her ear. "Don't you know you're not supposed to drive and talk on the phone at the same time?" By default, Thor was no longer allowed to drive. They had tried a couple times, and it hadn't turned out well. Either time.

Darcy heard Jane inhale slowly, exhaling even slower. "Darcy-"

"We're just taking him to Tony's, alright? He can stay there and won't be a danger to anyone, and he won't be in danger. It'll be fine!" She hoped. She really, really hoped. "We'll call you after we get there."

"Just be careful," Jane grumbled begrudgingly after a few moments, knowing there wasn't much she could do since they were already on the way, and there was no changing Darcy's mind. "And I'm so getting you back for this!"

Darcy whipped into the parking lot for the newly constructed Avenger Tower, pulling into the special parking area for the Avengers or close friends. Who would've thought that Darcy would be one of those close friends? Well, Darcy did. She knew she was going places. Take that high school teachers!

"Welcome back, Darcy, Thor," Jarvis' voice called out as soon as she stepped out of the car.

"Hey, J!" Darcy smiled. "And thanks for the SHIELD help at the mall." She noticed Thor getting in the back seat to pick Weapons up. Thankfully, Weapons stayed asleep the whole way. Occasionally, he would twitch in his sleep, but he never woke. Maybe the universe had begun looking out for Darcy again. Helping him was scoring her some good karma, right?

"So… J…" Darcy began. "We've got a guest with us." Guest was definitely a loose term for Weapons, but it would work for now.

"Yes, I can see that," Jarvis said, somehow sarcastically. "Why is the Winter Soldier with you?"

Darcy motioned for Thor to explain, since getting Weapons away from the public was technically his idea. Darcy chimed in every now and then as Thor heaved Weapons onto his shoulder, heading for the elevator. Once they got there, the elevator opened but didn't move to ascend through the tower.

"I do not think it would be wise to allow him entrance without informing Mr. Stark first," Jarvis told them, not letting the elevator go.

"Please, Jarvis?" Darcy pleaded, fingers interlaced. "I don't think he's particularly dangerous if we don't provoke him, and here we can keep him contained if he is a threat," Darcy told the AI again. It had sounded like a good idea, she hadn't considered that Jarvis wouldn't let her. They were friends, or as much friends as they could be considering Jarvis wasn't physically a person. "I'll talk to Tony and-and… I'll take personal responsibility for him."

"As will I," Thor announced in what Darcy called his 'Avenger Voice'. "I will also speak with Anthony about this."

There was silence in the elevator. Darcy nearly held her breath, waiting for an answer.

"I will allow the Winter Soldier to be held in Mr. Stark's fifth lab. There is a chair with restraints strong enough to keep him contained," Jarvis told them, sounding hesitant. "You will call Mr. Stark right away and explain it to him."

Darcy fist pumped the air and grinned. "Thanks, J! I owe you. If you were corporeal, I'd kiss you."

"That will be unnecessary," Jarvis told her, although Darcy sensed a would-be smile from the AI.

The elevator finally closed and began its crawl up the tower slowly. Darcy wasn't sure how many floors there were in the tower, but the numbers kept climbing. Finally, the elevator stopped and opened into a large workshop of Tony's. There was an old desk against the wall, with several machines that Darcy had no idea what they did. Most of the surfaces were lightly covered in dust, like Tony hadn't used the space in a while. He probably had people, or robots, to keep it up every now and then since it didn't smell musty. The chair looked a bit like an operating chair with metal restraints that curved around the arms and legs.

Darcy paced as she stared at her phone while Thor messed with Weapons. Sure, her and Tony were bffs, but how would he react to her bringing a potentially dangerous (hopefully) ex-Hydra assassin into his home? Not that Weapons could do anything without Tony knowing, really, but it was the principle of the matter. "Suck it up, Darce," she told herself, standing taller. She was no chicken!

The phone ringed. And ringed.

And ringed.

Then finally went to voicemail!

A vague sense of dodging a bullet filled Darcy as she exhaled in relief. She didn't bother leaving a voicemail since Tony probably wouldn't listen to it anyway.

"He is secured to the chair," Thor told her, coming back to the other side of the room where Darcy had gone to make the call. "Did you get a hold of Anthony?"

She shook her head. "Nope. I'll try again in a bit," she told him, putting her phone back in her pocket.

"Then I will call Jane and tell her we made it," Thor nodded. Then he left the room, his clothes swishing. Wait… Shit! They totally abandoned all their stuff from the mall earlier! She had completely forgotten her- their- stuff after getting attacked and everything that happened. Well, damn.

Jarvis informed Darcy that Tony was at some expo for Stark Industries, and would be back later. Until then, Darcy paced in the lab, trying to figure a way to explain to Tony why she had brought Weapons into the tower. On one hand, Darcy knew Tony didn't like strangers in his tower. But on the other hand, Weapons was SHIELD's problem, technically. The tower was a sort of headquarters for SHIELD, so she supposed she kind of brought Weapons where he needed to go.

"Ugh," Darcy grumbled, shaking her head while looking over at Weapons. She was just going to tell Tony straight up what happened and let the chips fall where they may. While she waited for Thor to get back from talking with Jane, she walked around the lab and fiddled with little gadgets. She may not know what the gadgets did, but she knew fancy science equipment when she saw it. Thankfully, she didn't set anything on fire like the first time she visited Tony. That had been fun.

As she fiddled with things, she almost didn't hear the faint groaning from the other side of the room. Darcy whirled around once the noise registered, and she walked towards Weapons cautiously. He may be strapped down, but the man had a reputation for a reason and Darcy wasn't going to be the one to test it.

He didn't wake, but he still twitched, his head tossing occasionally. He was kind of handsome now that Darcy got a better look at him; now that he wasn't trying to kill her. However, he still looked a bit worse for wear, and more than a little homeless.

Darcy pulled up a chair nearby and sat down, waiting for him to wake up. She had seen his fear before Thor had knocked him out, so she hoped she could make him feel somewhat safe when he woke up. Although, if she were to wake to a strange place, strapped mechanically to a chair, she wasn't sure she'd feel safe. Darcy didn't exactly look threatening, so maybe that would help her case.

When Weapons did finally wake up, it was with very subtle movements; a twitch here and there to test his mobility and a slow intake of breath. Darcy had almost missed it while she played on her phone. Looking up, she met his eyes underneath his hair and she froze. Should she say something first? Or let him take a few minutes to himself before she started talking to him?

He watched her intensely, panic slowly clouding his face as he began to subtly test the metal restraints on the bed.

"You're safe," Darcy blurted, putting her phone away again. Then she wanted to face-palm herself. If that didn't sound like something a bad guy would tell someone… And she really couldn't guarantee he was safe. Maybe he'd be given to SHIELD and they'd kill him. She wasn't sure. "Well," she amended with a humorless chuckle, "you're safe for now anyway." Oh my god, I want to smack myself. "Why is everything I'm saying sounding like a horrible horror movie villain?!"

He watched her, confused. Darcy couldn't really blame him; she wasn't exactly being smooth. "You're not Hydra," he murmured, still hiding his face behind his hair.

"Nope!" Darcy answered, even though he didn't ask anything. "Do I look like some creepy Hydra agent?"

He didn't answer her, but he did a quick scan of the room, still watching beneath his hair. Darcy heard a small, resigned sigh from him. "You're SHIELD then."

"Uhh… not quite," Darcy told him, honestly. She wasn't SHIELD, not really. Jane and Erik worked for SHIELD now; Darcy wasn't on the payroll. She was working on it though. "Do… do you remember what happened at the mall?" He shot her a sardonic look, but remained quiet.

"Not one for talking, are you?" Darcy rambled. "That's okay. I can't imagine you'd be a chatty Kathy." She wracked her brain for something to say to fill the awkward silence. Before she could think of anything, Thor came back into the room. Weapons went stiff as a board, suddenly jerking his left arm to try and get free. Darcy flinched backwards at the quick movement, but exhaled when the restraints held.

"I'm glad you are awake," Thor greeted him neutrally. "I was afraid I hit you too hard with Mjolnir."

Weapons kept jerking in the chair, fear and panic clouding his features. "Let me go," he mumbled repeatedly, almost too quiet to hear. He continued to thrash around while Darcy and Thor glanced at each other, unsure what to do.

Thor looked ready to jump in to make sure Weapons didn't hurt himself in his thrashing, but Darcy shook her head. "Maybe wait outside," Darcy suggested. After a quick look at the chair, Thor nodded and headed back out of the room slowly. Wearily, Darcy watched as Weapons calmed down, the frantic yanking yielding to an unnatural stillness as he looked ahead at the door Thor left from. "Weapons?" Darcy asked quietly, nearly whispering.

He swung around to look at her, looking directly into her eyes from beneath his hair, before muttering in another language. If Darcy had to guess, it was probably Russian. She didn't know a lick of Russian, not even a hello or a yes or no. "Uh, I'm gonna go," she told him, jerking her thumb towards the door. "Try not to hurt yourself." She had to call Tony, anyhow, and since Weapons wasn't quite stable, she figured now was as good a time as any. She could practically feel his eyes following her, and it made the hairs on her arms stand up. Maybe she'd do some research on the Winter Soldier while she was at it.

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes. Soldier of the 107th Infantry Regiment, prisoner of war, a member of the Howling Commandos, and best friend to Steve Rogers…

He hadn't quite remembered exactly who he was yet, but he had recognized the holographic figure in the museum. He knew his face, even if he didn't know who he truly was. Granted, that James had looked confident, youthful, hopeful… He couldn't say if he looked like that anymore. He was no longer that person, and he was still fuzzy on when that had changed. Vaguely, he remembered a train, some kind of weird lab, pain and fear… lots of pain and fear. Then lots of nothing.

After seeing the man on the roof of the tall buildings, something had made him pause. He hadn't been trained to pause. Then he saw the man on the highway again. The man had called out to him. Bucky. That was…something. He could feel his mind trying to remember, nearly making him scream in frustration. Or he would have, if they hadn't conditioned him to remain disconnected from emotions. Sometimes he slipped though; they never liked that. Flashes of the man flitted through his mind, although he looked significantly different in some of the random moments. Had he known the man somehow? Most of his earliest memories were his training and conditioning. But he could feel that he knew the man somehow.

Then they had wiped him.

Again.

No matter how many times they wiped him, even if he didn't quite remember the exact procedure, a gut reaction told him it was very unpleasant.

After saving his latest mission, Captain America, he had immediately laid low, watching as Hydra was exposed and fell apart inside SHIELD. With a calculating mind, he knocked someone out to steal their clothes, and randomly picked people's pockets for money. He kept his head down, automatically taking the money he stole to buy him clothes from a run-down store near the outer part of town. Then he had to make a choice: Go back to Hydra, or remember who the hell he was.

Automatically, he decided to figure out who he was, why that man seemed familiar. Why Bucky was familiar. If he didn't like what he found of his past then he'd go back to being no one. He'd be the Winter Soldier. It's what he was used to, after all.

He didn't like what he found out about himself after a trip to the packed museum. He was on edge, people wandering around aimlessly, shouting and yelling for children, speakers announcing program times and seating. It had almost been overwhelming at first, but he used his training to focus on his personal mission for information.

Honestly, he had seen the Captain America display first; his eyes roaming over what he found was the display for the Howling Commandos. He read the entries about them on the walls and small pedestals. They had fought against Nazis and Hydra, destroying bases and risking their lives to rid the world of the cruel organization.

Then he had saw his own face. Immediately, he searched for a name to go with the heroic form.

Sergeant Buchanan 'Bucky' Barnes. That's who he was. He had wandered over to a nearby display, this one just for him. As he read, he recalled what little bits of memory he had, though they were mostly fragments that made no sense. He realized just how badly Hydra had messed with him, how far he had fallen. A rage he didn't think he had ever felt before slowly engulfed him until he wanted to rip something apart brutally. His training prevented him from snapping in that museum, but he knew he had to go. Where he didn't quite know, but he needed to get away. Away from the memories, away from his betrayal. Away from him- the old him with a future, with friends, with a life, and a name that wasn't associated with death.

He needed to be moving, finding places to stay under the radar. He didn't want to go back to Hydra, and what remnants were left of SHIELD would certainly be after him now. Even if he did save Captain America in a split second decision, that wouldn't count in his favor to help his case. He had been trying to kill the Captain in the first place. No, SHIELD would probably kill him on sight. If not, then they'd take him and lock him up where he would never see anything but four walls ever again. They might want him for information, but he didn't really know anything of Hydra. He was only briefly told his missions and he did them without question.

A couple months pass by in a tension filled daze. He was constantly looking over his shoulder wherever he went, convinced that everyone would know it was him. Convinced that what slim fragments of freedom he now had were going to be taken from him against his will at any second. He didn't sleep well, usually. Dreams and nightmares plagued by Hydra kept him awake for days at a time until he finally collapsed in exhaustion in alleys or in fields as he traveled. Those were his good days.

Memories of assassinations and missions came to him first, while memories of his past surfaced randomly if something triggered in his mind. It was both incredibly frustrating and comforting that the old memories wouldn't surface easily. Rage and guilt ate away at him without comparing his actions to his self from the past.

The bad days were the days he remembered.

Vague voices filtered through his mind. He wasn't sure if they were real or if they were from flashbacks of memories. Everything was always fuzzy after he blacked out. He expected to wake up in an alley, or an abandoned building of some sort. Then he remembered the mall, running for his life. He had tried to escape in the throng of people, but it hadn't worked. He recalled a tall man…with a hammer? Then a dark haired woman and a lingering sting of pain in his left arm.

Blinking his eyes open slowly, he saw a light above him, bright enough to leave spots in his vision when he blinked through his sleepy haze. Trying to move, he remembered he was strapped down again, similar to how Hydra would contain him. He was still too sleepy for that fact to make his heart race and let panic cloud his thoughts. What was the point? Realistically, he knew he couldn't hide forever. What difference did it make if he was caught now or months down the road? Although, he'd miss getting to do mundane things just because he wanted to. That part of being free had troubled him at first. Being able to do what he wanted, simply because he wanted to, and not because he was ordered. That had been one of the most liberating feelings he could remember feeling. It was bitter sweet, really: Then he'd remember why he hadn't been allowed to make decisions and the warm feeling would dissipate almost instantly.

The voices that he could hear from somewhere around him stopped making incoherent noise, leaving silence around him. Still trying to blink away the spots, he finally looked around again. This time, he saw the tall man again, the dark haired woman, and a shorter dark haired man who was talking animatedly to the previous two. He must have made a noise or moved, because they were all focused on him, and none of them looked particularly excited to see him awake.

Tadah! Chapter 2! Please leave a review and let me know what you guys think! I'd love some feedback! Thanks again for reading! -K