Summary: They were six damaged and hurting individuals but when they were together they were something amazing. They were more than a team, they were a family. A series of one-shots set in the Savior-verse.

Pairings: Clintasha and background Peppernony

Warnings: Just general spoilers for the movie… but everyone should've seen it already by now so no worries! Warnings also for questionable, crackish behaviors by adults with superpowers. Also OOC internal monologues and lack of emotional stability. Also a warning for language because… I have a potty mouth. So there may be some naughty language. Sorry!

Disclaimer: If I owned anything having to with the Avengers I would be a rich, happy woman. Instead I am a broke, happy woman. One out of two isn't that bad.

Author's Note: Well hello there! It's been awhile since I last updated this story. So here we go. Hope you enjoy. I guess you can tell what this chapter is going to be by the title (awesome M.I.A. song by the way). It's probably not at all accurate or even correct, but I needed fluff and this is what I came up with. Hope it's somewhat enjoyable for someone other than me! Ciao for now!


Bucky Done Gun

Despite his name, Nick Fury was surprisingly not particularly prone to random fits of violence or rage. He was actually a rather patient man. It was a character trait that he was forced to develop as the director of SHIELD. If it wasn't reckless agents or hilariously obtuse politicians then it was the seemingly never ending plague of super powered threats to the world that seemed to be popping up every day at a scarily increasingly high frequency. Still…. there was something that tested his nearly limitless well of patience. And that would be his special brand of insane team of emotionally damaged superheroes. That's why he normally left Phil to deal with them. Phil was great with them. He could deal with Tony's ego, Natasha's pride, Bruce's introverted ways, Steve time displacement emotional issues, Thor's Earth challenged behaviors and Clint's totally screwed up worldview without blinking an eye. Nick trusted Phil's judgment when it came to the team …. Well, that is until the morning, two days after what was now being referred to as The Great Robot Incursion that Phil casually announced that Clint knew something Clint wasn't meant to know… yet.

"I'm sorry. Would you care to repeat that again for me?"

"Clint knows about Barnes."

Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes was really starting to be a royal pain in Nick's ass. Or rather, his alter ego, the Winter Solider was a pain. The man was a ghost. He was used for jobs that almost no one else could pull off and then he would vanish without a trace. Multiple agencies had their best people searching for the assassin through the almost seven decades he'd been active but there was never anything that came of their searches. SHIELD was no exception. That is until the day Natasha admitted that she knew who the Winter Soldier was. With that information, it was a little easier to track the assassin but he was still a ghost and it was damn near impossible to catch him. Then suddenly one day he was all over the place. That was the moment that Bucky and not the Winter Soldier became the true pain. Because Steve Rogers had no reason to care about the Winter Soldier but he would be more than a little pissed to find out that Bucky was alive and that no one told him.

So that begged the question of what kind of concentrated crack Phil Coulson was on that he allowed Clint Barton, aka the guy that lived with the one person in the world Nick didn't want knowing that Bucky was alive (at the moment) to know that the Winter Soldier was in fact Bucky (and also alive).

"Why does Clint know?"

"He figured it out on his own actually and confronted me with the information the other night."

"And the reason that you didn't deny it….?"

"Clint managed to take a few scattered facts and piece them together into a cohesive and absolutely correct theory. Not to mention he managed to build an EMP strong enough to take out Stark's homicidal robot army on his own from scrap that he found lying around in the Tower. Denying it would undermine everything that we've tried to instill in him for the past ten years."

Nick sighed. He knew the archer was smart. But he also knew that everyone around Clint knew he was smart but Clint. He grossly underestimated his own intelligence. Phil was absolutely correct. If he denied Clint's theory, especially since he was right, then it would be a slap in the kid's face. Even if this ended badly (and it would), Nick couldn't find it in himself to be mad. Too many people hurt Clint in the past. He never wanted to be one of those people. Plus he made it a habit to try not to lie to him (or Natasha or really any of them) since the whole Phil wasn't actually dead thing. It's been over a year now. They had to get over it eventually, right?

"You're right," Nick sighed again, leaning back in his chair. He folded his hands on his stomach. "He really killed Tony's robots?"

"Of course not," Phil shook his head. "He knows how much those robots mean to Tony. The device only disarmed them so they'd be willing to stop trying to kill them and listen. It worked. Things seem to be better. Or at least the appliances in the kitchen have stopped insulting Thor and burning Bruce's waffles. And no attempts on their lives have been made in the past two days. So progress."

"You know your team is very much not okay, right?"

"Why is that when they do things like fight homicidal robots in the living room they're my team but when they successfully save New York City from mutant spiders they're your team?"

"Because then they're the heroes that I always imagined them to be. Every other moment of the day, they're your unruly misfit children." Nick stifled a laugh at Phil's muttered, no doubt unflattering comment under his breath. "But you do have a point. Call them in."

"You want to do this here?"

"This is going to get messy and they have a lot less access to weapons here. Also they've only just now declared peace with the robots. They don't need to give them more ammunition against them." Nick paused. "And I actually just said that. That sentence actually left my mouth. I'm really starting to dislike them."

"No, you don't."

"I wish I did."

"Me too."


Natasha had a bad feeling in her gut as she and the rest of the Avengers strolled through the doors of SHIELD headquarters exactly one hour after Phil called them. She had no idea why they were being called in and that worried her. She only felt slightly better that seemingly everyone else was in the dark. Well, everyone else except Clint. Though he feigned ignorance, there was a gleam in his eyes that showed he knew what was happening. But anytime she tried to get close enough to him to ferret the truth out of him, he managed to duck her. She was going to kill him when this was over.

"I'm sure you're wondering why we called you in here today," Nick started after they finally managed to take a seat in one of the more secure conference rooms. The only people who had clearance to use the room in the first place were the two men sitting at the head of the table… and Clint and Tony but that's because one kept sneaking in and the other one hacked his way in. Either way, it didn't really matter. For people that were not one of the above, the room was inaccessible. This did nothing to assuage her fears that something terrible was about to happen.

"We're here to discuss a threat known as the Winter Soldier," Phil added.

And that feeling right there? That was her heart dropping down to her stomach. Her eyes widened as she looked between an oblivious Steve, bland Phil, slightly nervous Nick and a smug Clint. He knew. She didn't know how the hell he knew but he knew. He gave her a bright smile and a nod. He knew but he didn't care. His gaze flickered to Steve. It was her turn to nod now. They could deal with how this impacted them later. He, and consequently she, was more concerned with how Steve was going to take this. Probably not well…

"Winter Soldier has been active since shortly after the end of the World War II," Phil continued, ignoring his assets' silent conversation. He pointed to a screen behind them. The too familiar eyes of the Winter Soldier stared out at the gathered superheroes from behind a fringe of shaggy brown locks. The lower part of his face was obscured by a mask. This was really happening. They were really talking about this.

"The second war of the worlds is the era from whence our leader originated, correct?" Thor asked, with a furrow in his brow. The god was making more of an effort to pay attention during briefings. If the briefing was discussing anything other than the Winter Soldier, Natasha might have found his attention adorable. But it wasn't, and she sincerely wished that Thor would be his normal, loveable and easily distracted self. She would kill for him to wage war on the projector or something equally ridiculous. But of course he wasn't. Thor was starting to take the whole future King of Asgard/Protector of Earth gig seriously. Dammit.

"That's correct," Phil replied. "The first known appearance of the Winter Solider was approximately two years after the end of World War II and three years after Steve was frozen." He turned slightly to the screen behind them. Natasha found herself studying Steve's reaction to the picture. She wondered if he recognized any of his friend in the cold, calculating eyes watching them from the picture.

"When was this taken?" Steve asked.

"In 1955," Nick answered. He clicked on the laptop. Another picture replaced the first. This one was of a slightly older version of the assassin she knew. "And this one was taken two weeks ago."

"He's barely aged in fifty eight years?" Bruce murmured, sitting forward. His gaze flickered between the screen, Steve and Natasha. "Is it possible that he's also been exposed to the super solider formula?"

"There is a possibility," Phil agreed. "But the most likely scenario is that he has been cryogenically frozen when he is not performing a hit. Make no mistakes about it, whether he's been exposed to the super soldier serum or not, he's dangerous. We've sent some of our best agents after him through the years but they've all failed. The only one that has ever managed to get close to him would be Natasha."

Natasha fought the urge to flush as all eyes were on her. Clint's were filled with understanding while Nick and Phil both appeared apologetic. Tony's eyes were unreadable but she swore she saw something close to guilt in the depth of those brown orbs. She updated her previous oath to murder Clint and amended that to murdering Clint and Tony. Bruce, Steve and Thor all seemed to be appreciative and a bit in awe.

"So you know him?" Steve asked. Natasha nodded tightly.

"I do. We, uh, traveled in the same circles in the past… so to speak. It's complicated." There was a muffled snort from the left side of the room that was echoed by a poorly concealed giggle from the immediate right of the snort. She was going to murder them in ways that hadn't even been invented yet.

"What's the deal with him? Why are we being read into this now?" Bruce asked, narrowing his eyes. His gaze cut between Natasha and Clint. He might not know but he had a hint that something wasn't quite right. She sent him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. She knew it failed when his brow furrowed further.

"In recent months, there was been an increased number of sightings of the Winter Soldier. Our sources report that he had a rather final and bloody parting of ways with his former employers," Nick continued. "He's gone rogue. While he hasn't been active in terms of assassinating, it appears that he has been looking for something." His eye settled on Clint briefly before turning to the rest of the team. "At first his appearances seemed random. But a pattern was suggested that actually makes sense. The increased rate of his activities seems to coincide with the attack on New York. Specifically when your faces were broadcast around the world."

"You think that he may be a fan?" Steve's brow furrowed as he immediately discarded that theory. "Or maybe he's after Natasha?"

"Yeah, okay," Clint interrupted, rolling his eyes. "Seriously, how much longer are we going to drag this out? It's definitely not going to be any less awkward when you finally get around to telling them who he's really after."

"Who is he really after?" Bruce asked warily.

"He's after Steve," Tony replied for the archer, confirming Natasha's theory that he knew too. "Actually it's safer to say that he's probably looking for Steve."

"For me? Why? I've never seen him before."

Phil cleared his throat and sent pointed glares at Tony and Clint. They remained unrepentant. "I think that this might be a better picture." Natasha clenched her jaw as as a picture of Steve and Bucky was pulled up. He zoomed in on Bucky. Steve dropped the pen he was using to take notes. His eyes were wide. If Natasha ever doubted that Steve was still haunted by the loss of his best friend, the sheer hurt and surprise reflected in his eyes in that moment would've wiped those doubts away. She closed her eyes, trying to block out how much Steve's hurt was affecting her.

"Bucky?"

"We have reason to believe that the Winter Soldier is in fact Sgt. James Buchanan Barnes."

"Bucky is dead. I watched him fall," Steve argued, his tone flat.

"Someone bought him back," Phil replied, voice calm and steady. "From the limited intel that we do have, it appears that the Winter Soldier has been enhanced, both surgically and chemically. He doesn't appear to have any knowledge of an identity prior to becoming the Winter Soldier. From what we understand, he doesn't appear to be a completely willing participant in his crimes. That's primarily why SHIELD has always been interested in bringing him in and not eliminating him. "

Steve ran a hand through his hair. "This is impossible! Bucky would… he wouldn't…. He died. I saw him fall. There was no way he could survive that. How do you even know it's him?"

"As I said," Nick took over, "there has only ever been one person who got close to him. Only one person has seen underneath the mask so to speak. That person positively identified him as Sgt. Barnes."

"Natasha?"

Steve's voice was quiet, barely a whisper. But in the heavy silence that fell over the room, it sounded like a shout. The amount of hurt and pain she could hear in his voice cut her worse than any blade. This is why she never wanted to be close to other people. They couldn't hurt her but she also couldn't hurt them. It seemed sometimes that all she did was hurt the people that she cared about the most.

"Natasha, you knew?"

She opened her eyes and found the glassy blue eyes of someone she truly did consider to be one of her best friends watching her in disbelief. Her heart broke even more.

"Steve, I…."

"Why didn't you tell me?!" he yelled. She flinched. It was an unconscious reaction. She knew that Steve would never strike out at her but she couldn't help but shrink back. She sensed more than saw Clint shift into a defensive position. She gave him a look. He settled back in his seat, though his eyes were focused on Steve. That was the best she could ask for right now.

"I wanted to tell you, Steve. As soon as I knew who he was to you, I wanted to tell you. I just didn't know how."

"It's actually really easy. You walk in and say, 'Hello, Steve. Gee you know how you've been torturing yourself thinking that you failed your best friend. That you lost everyone and everything that you loved from your time. Well it turns out you didn't. Hurray.' See? Easy. And you wouldn't even need a Point Power presentation."

Out the corner of her eye she could see Tony about to correct that. Thankfully Clint chose that moment to launch a paperclip at his head. The archer wagged a finger in the air in warning. Tony pouted. Clint threatened to hit him with a notebook next. Tony stayed quiet. The entire exchange went ignored by Steve.

"When were you going to tell me, Natasha? Actually better question, were you ever going to tell me?" she lowered her head, unable to argue because he was right. She deserved this and so much more. As soon as she knew that James Buchanan Barnes was the Bucky that Steve missed so much, she should've said something. Instead she stayed silent. She deserved his rage. She deserved his…. Hatred.

"So you done yelling at Natasha?" Clint drawled, with an air of obviously feigned casualness. "Because way I figure it, she's not the only keeping this a secret. Phil and Director Fury both obviously knew. I know. Tony knows. You want to yell at us too or you want to actually give trying to find and help Bucky a shot?"

"Tony knows too?" Nick turned a stoic glare on Phil. Their handler shrugged before looking to Clint. The archer smirked.

"I was having trouble understanding all of this at first. I knew you were only assigning these missions to Natasha. The files were encrypted to hell and we weren't read in on any of the debriefing sessions. At first I let it go because it made sense. Winter and Nat have a history together. But then I started to wonder why we weren't allowed in on this. Personal history usually doesn't stop SHIELD from being involved, and yes, I'm referencing the Swordsman. Anyway, I figured that Winter had to have something to do with one of us. You obviously thought that loyalty would win over common sense, and you're not entirely wrong most likely. We don't make good choices when it comes to each other. So yeah, I asked Tony to help me hack into the files and make sense of what I was reading. So here we are."

Despite everything happening, Natasha couldn't help but be proud of her partner in that moment. She really wished that one day he would realized his own intelligence and worth. But the moment of pride passed and reality returned. The silence returned heavier than before. They sat there for long, torturous moments letting the silence stretch on, never daring to break it. Well all except for…

"So what's the plan here?" Tony asked with his usual lack of tact or shame.

"The plan is the same as always: locate Sgt. Barnes and bring him in," Fury replied, looking first to Natasha and then to Steve. She nodded. She knew deep down that Fury would never be so cruel as to ask them to take down Steve's childhood best friend after giving him back, but hearing it definitely didn't hurt her growing anxiety.

"I'm going after him. Alone."

"No, you're not," Bruce countered, giving Steve an incredulous look. "It doesn't sound like he's the man you once knew. He's dangerous. You're thinking of him as your childhood best friend but he's so much more than that now."

"Brucey is right. He's been turned into a remorseless, brutal killing machine. A damn good one too," Tony added. "I mean I know he's your friend and all. But remember what Clint was like after Loki got his hands on him. Pretty sure half of SHIELD thought he was their friend too." He grunted when Clint did not refrain from throwing the notebook at him. Tony kept talking as if nothing happened. "He's not your friend right now, buddy."

"But you said he was looking for me."

"No," Clint started, pausing momentarily. "Well, actually yes, no, ugh…. It's complicated. It's just a theory that seeing you sparked something. But it's not a fact. If the brainwashing really is anything like me with Loki, then Bucky could still be in there but he's buried underneath the Winter Soldier. And he's been the Winter Soldier way longer than he's been Bucky. Seventy years, Steve. We can't risk your life or any of the rest of our lives when we all stupidly follow you on this search on a theory that hasn't actually been tested yet."

Natasha could see the tension in Steve's body but she also knew he was going to back down. Clint put himself out there by sharing that bit about Loki. The archer was tight-lipped about his experiences while brainwashed. He only told them that he could remember bits and pieces. But it sounded like a lot more than that. Steve would back down… for now. But she wasn't foolish enough to believe that was going to get anything but worse before it got any better. The sooner they found Bucky the less blood would be shed.

"Where do we start?" Steve finally asked.

"For now, Mr. Stark, you'll find that I've transferred all the data that our team has compiled on the Winter Soldier and his former employer to your hard drive. Even the data located on the portable hard drive I keep with me to make sure you're not hacking into classified information."

"I knew it," Tony muttered.

"Hopefully you'll have better luck at creating a program to locate him."

"It's not luck, Agent. It's skill. Something that your IT people kind of lack."

"How long is that going to take?" Steve snapped.

"Hey, Capsicle, I think you're forgetting who you're talking to here. I'll have it done by tomorrow morning the latest. We can start looking for him then."

"We can start discussing a strategy then," Nick corrected. Steve opened his mouth to protest. "Captain, you're not thinking about this logically. I understand that he is your best friend. But you are the leader of my team. I need you to get it together. We will do everything in our power to help him. But you have to trust us."

"Trust you?! You kept this from me for a year!"

Natasha was happy to see that she wasn't the only one in the room rolling her eyes. Did Nick really think that line was going to work?

"Then trust us, Steve," Bruce chimed in. "We'll help you find Bucky and we'll do everything in our power to help bring him back."

Steve took a deep breath. "Fine," he said, exhaling slowly. "For the record, I do trust you." He paused. His blue eyes met Natasha's waiting gaze and warmed slightly. "All of you."

"Awesome, let's go hunt us a cold hearted assassin with no sense of humor or emotions!"

"I didn't know we were chasing Natasha."

Yeah, she was definitely going to kill Clint and Tony one of these days.


He's been in awkward situations before. Hell, he found obscene levels of happiness in causing awkward situations. But this? This was super freaking awkward. For all that Phil and Nick had the foresight to get them out of the Tower to have that conversation, neither of them seemed to think about what was going to happen on the ride home. Clint didn't really think about it either. But if had… it probably would've matched perfectly to the reality. And the reality was Steve barking at poor Happy to stop the limo more than halfway to the Tower. At first everyone was protesting but the biting edge in Steve's words and the raw hurt radiating from the usually collected captain was enough to get them all to back down. They sat in stunned silence as Steve climbed over Bruce and Tony to exit the limo.

"Thor?" Tony gestured with his head towards Steve's rapidly disappearing form. The thunder god nodded, stepping out the vehicle and taking to the skies.

"So how long do you think it's going to take Steve to notice that Thor is up there?" Clint mused. As the limo started moving again, Clint craned his neck to see if he could spot his friend. He could faintly make out Thor above them trying not to get too high lest he lose sight of Steve. Unfortunately, not getting too high left him very visible.

"On a good day, it usually would take Steve less than a few seconds," Tony answered as he toyed with something on his phone absently. "Today? It'll probably take him like five minutes before he figures it out and makes Thor come down."

"So what was the point?" Natasha asked.

"At least now Captain Broody Pants won't be alone," Tony grinned. "Thor won't leave him and this will lower the chances of Steve going off to do something incredibly stupid."

"Nice," Clint nodded in approval of both the plan and the nickname.

With Captain Broody Pants out of the limo, things were significantly less tense. Clint and Tony spent the remainder of the ride ranking all of the seasons of Buffy. Clint felt he was very justified in threatening to shoot the genius for suggesting that season six was superior to season two. Bruce, on the other hand, did not. Ordinarily that would mean nothing to Clint but Bruce also turned into an enormous green rage monster. That tended to make people listen when he spoke. Especially when he got the gamma green glow going on in his eyes.

The argument (such as they often happened with Clint and Tony) went completely forgotten once they finally reached home. For one, things were still kind of uneasy with the robots and two, Clint found a suitable distraction.

"At last the prodigal team returns!"

Clint blinked at the unusual greeting waiting as soon as they walked off the elevator. His confusion soon morphed into happiness as he recognized the petite brunette standing with her hands on her hips in the center of the common floor.

"Darcy!" he swept the assistant into an enthusiastic hug, pulling her back to see a matching smile on her lips. "When did you get back?"

"Like an hour ago," she grinned. "So what did I miss? It's been two weeks. I know some crazy shenanigans had to have gone down. Also why are the robots being so super nice?"

Clint exchanged amused looks with the rest of the team as they all spread out around the room, getting comfortable. Darcy raised an eyebrow and gave him a look. He shrugged and swung himself onto one of the lower placed shelves that he knew Tony had built especially for him. Natasha sat down beside him, folding her legs up to fit under her chin.

"See, the gist of it all is that the robots got all territorial and pissy. They declared war. So I built an awesome robot killing bomb. Then after Tony got them all back online, we made up. Now we're all the best of friends… or at least not attempting to murder one another anymore. Also in non homicidal robot related news but equally as jacked up and important news, Steve's dead best friend from the 40s, isn't really dead." Darcy raised another eyebrow while Bruce muttered something about tact. "Yeah, he's not a zombie but bottom line is he's not exactly Bucky either and he's killed a lot of people. Now we have to stop him and get him back to normal before Steve goes completely crazy. I feel like this may be harder than dealing with the robots."

"Much harder," Tony agreed. "Although I say there is a good chance that Thor might get to keep his eyebrows this time."

"Huh," Darcy murmured. "I go away for two weeks and miss all the good stuff. I'm so never going on another vacation again."

"Eh, I'm sure some more screwed up things are bound to happen before this chapter is over."

"Chapter?" Bruce asked. He stared at Clint in confusion before sighing. "I thought we agreed you're not allowed to hang out with Deadpool without adult supervision. And for the last time, Tony doesn't count as actual adult supervision."

"You agreed," Clint murmured defiantly.

The older scientist rolled his eyes and rose to his feet, saying something about going to his lab. Tony perked up at this part and bounded off after his friend. Darcy followed after them, claiming that she wanted to finish unpacking. Clint shook his head his head before looking at the far too silent redhead next to him.

"So now that the others have not at all subtly cleared out, you want to want to tell me what's on your mind or should I just start guessing?"

Natasha rolled her eyes before opening her mouth to answer. She closed it just as quickly however when it seemed that nothing was coming to her. This went on a few more times before she closed her eyes and sighed. Clint reached for her closest hand, letting their fingers tangle together.

"What's up, Tasha?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For not telling you about everything with James."

Clint raised an eyebrow. "Last time I checked, I'm a spy too. I know you couldn't tell me, Nat. I'm not mad at you for not telling me. I'm not mad at you at all."

Natasha squeezed his hand before shaking her head. "That's not what I'm apologizing for. I know that you know I couldn't tell you about Winter Soldier. I'm apologizing for not telling you everything about me and James."

"Oh," Clint murmured. That was a bit much to wrap his head around but truthfully it really wasn't a big deal to him. He knew what the Winter Solider meant to Natasha. But Clint also knew what he meant to Natasha. He was fairly confident that even with the inevitable addition of Bucky to the team, their relationship would stay the same.

"Nothing is going to happen between us," Natasha promised, drawing him out of his thoughts. "We were done with that decades ago. I just really need you to know that."

Ah, so that's what was bothering her. Clint had to admit that while this softer side of Natasha was taking some getting used to, he was actually enjoying the ride. Although it was safe to say that he would love her no matter what.

"Nat, you remember two years ago when I had to go on a mission with Bobbi? You know the one where our old aliases as a married couple were activated?"

He could feel her tense though she gave no visible sign of a reaction. Bobbi would always pull a reaction from her. He found it adorable that his former partner (and former girlfriend) still annoyed her despite him having been partnered with (and dating) Natasha far longer than he was partnered with (and dating) Bobbi. He squeezed her hand.

"Yes, I remember," she muttered.

"Well do you remember how nervous I was about going on the mission? It wasn't because I was worried about facing Bobbi or anything that lame. It was because I was worried about how it was going to affect us. You remember what you said to me?"

A slow smile curved her lips just as he thought it would. "I said that I knew I had nothing to worry about. There might have been a very clever metaphor about birds of a feather not flocking together. Then I told you that we would always be together. Nothing could separate us. Not even blond hussy agents that don't know their place."

"Surprise, surprise, you were right," Clint bumped his shoulder against hers. "We're the same people we were two years ago. We just put a label on what we are now. But nothing has changed. And nothing is going to change once we bring Bucky back in. I know that we're together. I know that I'm your partner. I got this, okay?"

Natasha nodded, bringing her free hand up to cup his chin. "Okay," she whispered. "But for the record, I trust you completely. It's Bobbi that I don't trust. If she calls you her Clint one more time, I may have to violate Phil's orders to not murder our fellow agents."

Clint smiled. "And I wouldn't have it any other way." He leaned his forehead against hers, enjoying the intimacy and quiet of the moment. He knew with absolute certainty that it would be ruined in a matter of moments. He was right.

"You two have a very sick but sweet relationship," Darcy commented as she, Bruce and Tony filed back in the room. All from the same direction despite having clearly gone different ways. He had to give them credit. They just spied on two spies. He didn't know whether to congratulate them or shoot them. Maybe both. He still had some of those paint tip arrows left.

"Sir, I don't mean to interrupt Agent Barton no doubt plotting revenge on you all but there is a call from Thor on Comm. Line 1. He says it is an emergency."

"Patch it through to the screen, JARVIS," Tony requested, while also glaring at Clint. The archer smirked back. Maybe now he wouldn't do anything at all. It would be more fun watching them all flinch, waiting for something to happen. His smirk grew. Though it fell just seconds later as Thor's face appeared on the screen. The alien prince was standing with his back against a wall. They watched as he peeked around the corner only to pull back as a hail of what appeared to be plasma fire went sailed through the air, missing him by mere seconds.

"Thor, what the hell is going on? Where's Steve?" Tony asked.

"I followed our friend as you requested. He somehow became alerted to my presence and demanded that I come down and join him on his journey to the place of his birth. We were in the middle of touring an alleyway that holds great sentimental value to the captain when the Soldier of Winter appeared. He started yelling and then shooting at us from a metal arm. Friend Steve will not allow me to harm him, so I am requesting assistance."

Thor paused in his dialogue long enough to shoot a dirty look at someone beyond the screen. Clint could pretty much guess who it was since the person seemed to want the rest of the team to stay away. Once Thor conveyed his personal opinion on the matter via a very human like glare, he turned his attention back to the waiting Avengers.

"I trust that you will be able to locate us using our communication signal. Despite what our foolish leader is thinking, I'll be keeping the device on." There was an explosion in the background and the sounds of panicked screaming. Thor's normally jovial features darkened. "Hurry." With that the feed went dead.

A heavy silence settled over the room. It was, of course, broken by Tony after a few stunned moments. "Um, Natasha, is there something you all forgot to mention during this morning's oh so interesting debrief?" he didn't even wait for her to answer. "He has a freaking bionic arm?! That's so not fair!"

"You have a bionic heart and suit," Bruce pointed out. "I'm not entirely sure you need anything else. Need I remind you that you and your robotics got us into a really big mess just last week?"

"I'm just saying."

"Yeah, well don't. Let's suit up before Bucky manages to piss off Thor. Also someone bring Steve's shield. If he's shooting plasma beams at us, we might need it."

"I'll hold down the fort," Darcy said, before plopping down on the sofa and turning on the television. "Go team, Go!"

Sometimes Clint really hated being the super hero.


Half an hour later, Tony was staring at what used to be a quiet Brooklyn neighborhood. That, of course, was before one of its former residents went crazy with a plasma cannon. Not that he took sole responsibility. There were a few thunder produced scorch marks on the ground as well. Looks like it didn't take much more to piss off Thor. From his position above, hovering next to the Quinjet, Tony could make out Steve and Thor huddled together behind a bus.

"So what's the plan? Do we just sit here and wait for Bucky to destroy everything or do we….." Tony trailed off as the bomb-bay doors opened and Natasha jumped out. "Or we can just say screw plans and wing it."

"Damn it, Nat," Clint muttered. Tony shared his frustration. "Bruce, take over."

Tony grasped the logic behind the move. In the interest of not destroying Brooklyn (again) they all decided that Bruce (and the Other Guy) would stay on the jet. That would insure that once they managed to subdue Bucky, they had a quick getaway. But Tony was starting to think that maybe big, mean and green was exactly what they needed. Because Bucky wasn't slowing down and Steve was still resolutely holding Thor back. And that was before Natasha showed up on the scene and things went completely insane.

"Natalia?" Bucky questioned, his arm no longer firing. The redheaded assassin stood in between him and his original targets. Clint appeared out of nowhere (as was his way) and was hovering on the sidelines. "What are you doing here? Did they send you?"

"No, James," Natasha replied, slipping into Russian naturally. "I'm here to stop you from making a mistake. You don't want to hurt this man."

"Who is he?! I can't get him out of my head!"

"He's your friend," Natasha said, her tone gentle yet firm. She was inching closer to him while speaking until she was only a few feet away from him. Bucky tilted his head to the side.

"My friend?"

"Yes." She looked over her shoulder to where Steve and Thor were peering around the bus. "Steve, come here? Clint, pass me the shield."

Steve bolted over to where the two assassins were standing without hesitation. Clint, on the other hand, was reluctant to hand over the shield. But he did. Now that both of his hands were free, Tony watched as the archer pulled out his compact bow, making sure it was ready in case something went wrong. Correction, making sure it was ready for when something went wrong.

"Do you remember this?" Natasha asked, drawing their attention back to the hopefully (but realistically not at all) peaceful reunion.

Bucky took a hesitant step backwards. His eyes were locked on the shield. "I don't understand."

"It's because you don't remember," Steve said, taking a step forward. Bucky stepped away again, his arm still raised in a threatening position. "You need to remember who you really are. You're James Buchanan Barnes but everyone called you Bucky. You're my best friend."

"Buck….y?" the assassin muttered. "Bucky?" his free hand rose to clutch at his own head. "Bucky…"

"Uh, guys, you might want to move. I don't think he's okay at the moment," Tony warned.

"Bucky, its okay. It's me. It's Steve!" Captain Oblivious continued. Tony rolled his eyes. That was the only reason he didn't notice Bucky firing until it was too late. The shot found a mark and Tony saw red as Clint hit the ground.

He didn't hold back as he fired a shot of his own from his own cannons (guaranteed to be better than any of the crap Bucky was packing). Bucky yelled in pain as his metallic arm was reduced to scrap metal. He collapsed to the ground even as Thor flew behind him, nailing him with the handle of the hammer. Tony had been on the receiving end of that thing a few times (Thor really did not appreciate previous attempts at setting his cape on fire) and he knew it hurt. Good.

With the threat handled, Tony and Thor settled down on the ground beside their fallen friend. Natasha and Steve stood motionless by their side. Tony ignored them and focused on Clint. Thor gently helped roll the archer over so that they could assess the damage. His tactical vest was ruined. It was meant to withstand a lot of things but a direct hit from plasma cannons was not one of them. He could see reddened skin that was already starting to blister.

"Clint, you with me?"

Clint didn't respond. Tony tapped his cheek as gently as possibly while wearing gauntlets that fired explosives. It took a long, tense moment but finally hazy and pain filled eyes opened a crack. He groaned. Tony smiled faintly.

"Hey, you with us now?"

"Is... are they… okay?" he grunted.

Tony rolled his eyes before tilting Clint's head so he could squint up at Steve and Natasha, who were both practically wringing their hands together in obvious worry and guilt. Clint nodded and closed his eyes again. Tony patted him on the cheek again, prompting him to open one eye. "In case you just forgot, it's us who should be asking you if you're okay. Because you're the idiot that jumped in front of the bigger idiots with the indestructible shield!"

"'s okay."

"It's not okay," Tony ground out. He was getting ready to rant when Bruce's voice cut him off.

"Tony, you can yell at Clint when we've treated him. Right now he's probably going into shock. I don't need to tell you that's bad, right?"

Tony took a deep breath and realized that Bruce was right. He could recognize the symptoms. And the suit's scanners were indicating the same thing. He sat back and let Thor lift their friend as gently as possible. He felt his heart clench as Clint let out a small yell of pain. But instead of giving into the urge to do something stupid like kick Bucky or yell, Tony found a new target for his wrath. He glared at Natasha and Steve even as Thor loaded Clint onto the Quinjet where Bruce was waiting.

"I don't know what the hell got into the two of you today but whatever it is, you need to get over it. Rogers, you're the leader of this team. You're supposed to be the man with the plan. Today you acted more reckless and stupid than Clint and I combined. Not a good thing. Your refusal to listen put Thor in danger and actually got Clint hurt."

Steve opened his mouth to protest but quickly closed it when he came to the very visible realization that Tony was right. Satisfied with that, Tony turned to Natasha.

"The same goes for you. Look, I get it. Bucky is kind of a big deal. But unless you pull your head out of your ass, you're going to end up getting your partner, aka your boyfriend, killed because you can't stop thinking about the past." Tony rose to his feet when he saw Thor pulling Bucky onto the jet.

"I agree with Tony," Bruce said over the comms. Now that he was a little calmer, Tony could hear the telltale signs of anger coming from his science brother. "Phil is on his way over with a team to assess the damage and begin cleanup duty. You two can stay behind to give him the full update on everything." He paused. "Don't worry. I promise we'll call if anything you should change in either of their conditions."

Both Steve and Natasha nodded. "Yeah, okay, that's fair."


Steve was not having a good day at all. First, he learned that his best friend was alive but definitely not well. He was instead a brainwashed assassin who might also have been driven insane by Steve's return to life. Then he found said not dead best friend while walking around Coney Island with Thor. It was not quite the reunion he was hoping for. And then as if being shot at by his not dead, not ok best friend wasn't horrible enough, he had to blank on Leader 101 and ended up getting someone he cared about like a brother hurt. And then he got lectured by Tony and the silently disappointed treatment from Phil. Yes, today was not a good day by any stretch of the imagination. But at least it was pretty much over. He glanced at the assassin beside him. She was leaning against the elevator with her eyes closed. He knew today wasn't much better for her either.

"Natasha?"

One eye opened slowly. "Yes?"

"I wanted to apologize, you know? For earlier…. What I said. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you or made you feel bad about not telling me about Bucky. I get why Director Fury didn't tell me. I clearly wasn't thinking this afternoon."

Natasha gave him a ghost of a smile. "Well, contrary to popular belief, and the eyesight of most people, you are human, Steve. It's kind of to be expected. We all have off days."

"But we don't always almost get our friends killed on our off days."

"No," Natasha agreed. She let out a slow breath. "No, we don't. But the good thing is that Clint is not dead and neither is James. Despite our foolish actions and poor choices today, we both got what we wanted out of this. James is alive and back with us and Clint is still breathing. As Clint would say, today was a win."

Steve laughed quietly. "Yes, I guess when you put it that way, it was."

The elevator came to a stop opening to the floor where the Tower's Infirmary was housed. They walked in a more comfortable silence to the room and stopped in the doorway assessing the situation. Bucky was awake and calmly sitting on one of the beds with Bruce seated beside his bed. The brainwashed assassin was out of his gear and wearing a plain white t-shirt and a pair of loose fitting pajama pants. He had obviously showered and his hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail. What was left of his metallic arm was gone and Bruce was gently examining the damaged flesh and the intricate looking mechanism the arm was connected to. But even with that, he looked relaxed and calm as he read from a file in front of him. He looked less like the scary Winter Soldier and more like the best friend he watched fall from the train. He looked away from them to see the other patient.

Clint was also out of his battle gear and wearing a pair of his own pajama pants. Steve knew this because they were a loud, gaudy purple color with black birds all over them. Clint claimed that Tony bought them as a gag and that he hated the pants but Steve had seen the archer in them far too many times to truly believe that story. Clint's bare chest and stomach were covered in gauze and Steve winced at the imagined damage underneath those bandages. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully though. Thor was beside him watching something on the tablet that Tony gave him in one hand while the other rested on Clint's leg. Steve was glad that Thor volunteered to keep watch over Clint but he seriously hoped that the god was watching anything other than reality television... again.

As he stepped further into the room Steve found that Tony had set up shop on one of the other beds. He was sitting cross legged on the bed with schematics of some sort in front of him. Of course, he didn't need to wait long to know what Tony was working on when the team's resident genius asked Bruce if he should make Bucky's new arm run on nuclear generators or if they could truly make it bionic. Bruce's response was enough to make even the unusually stoic Natasha laugh quietly.

Honestly, Steve wasn't surprised to see that the rest of the team was still there. It was one of the best things about his team. When one of them was down, they were all there to support them. It's the one thing he should've remembered. He should've known that his team would have his back. He should've known that his team… his family was going to be there for him. But he was so blinded by the idea of Bucky being alive that he lost focus of the present and the life that he built in the here and now. As a result, he failed them. And that was not a failure he would take lightly.

"Oh my god, if you start apologizing and/or crying, I will not be responsible for my actions," Tony blurted out. Steve gave him a look. Tony rolled his eyes. "Look, it's been a really long day. Can we just assume that you're sorry and it'll never happen again?"

Steve shook his head and laughed. "Yeah, okay that works for me." He looked to Thor, who nodded in response. A quick glance at Bruce showed the same reaction. He really needed to stop underestimating his team. They were amazing.

Natasha slipped over to Clint's free side. The archer didn't react as she sat carefully on the edge of the bed. She brushed his hair back with a tenderness she never showed to anyone outside of this room before looking over to Bruce.

"How is he?"

"A few bad burns, mostly second degree. There's one third degree that we need to keep an eye on but for the most part he should be fine if he takes it easy."

"It's Clint. He doesn't know what taking it easy means."

"I know. That's why he's sedated," Bruce smirked. "And he's going to stay that way until tomorrow." Natasha laughed again before settling herself into a more comfortable position at Clint's side.

Steve drifted closer to Bucky. His old friend was sitting rather calmly to say that he was in a blind panic only a few hours before. His eyes were slightly glassy. "Did you drug him?"

"No, we just gave him a few Xananx pills," Bruce shrugged.

"Isn't that the same thing as drugging him?"

"Yes, but the way I said it made it sound less wrong."

"Not really," Tony chimed in.

Steve ignored them and went to stand by Bucky's free side. Now that he was closer, Steve could see that there was a manila folder spread out on his lap. He only needed to glance at a few of the papers to know that it was the file on Sgt. James Buchanan Barnes. Bucky's eyes were locked on a photo of them shortly after Steve rescued them from the HYDRA warehouse.

"This is really me?" Bucky asked. His voice was rough, yet still familiar.

"Yeah, it's you," Steve answered.

"Oh," he brushed a finger over the picture. "I really don't remember."

"I think that's to be expected. You've been the Winter Soldier longer than I've even known you."

Bucky's brow furrowed as he looked from the picture to Steve. "You…. You saved me … that day. You saved me?" Steve's eyes widened even as he nodded. "We were… close?"

"Like brothers," Steve confirmed. Bucky closed his eyes for a moment and a small smile appeared. It was a ghost of his usual blindingly bright smile but as Steve thought that smile was lost forever, he was willing to take what he got. Bucky opened his eyes and Steve saw the tears forming.

"Dr. Banner said your name was Steve... but I want to call you Stevie. Why?"

Steve grinned. "Same reason I call you Bucky. It's all I've ever called you. And that's all you ever called me."

Bucky frowned before wining. Steve was about to ask Bruce to do something when Bucky straightened up a bit. He tilted his head to the side as if taking a new perspective on Steve.

"You got big, Stevie, " Bucky murmured. Steve swallowed the lump rising in his throat and laughed.

"Yeah, I did."

"I still don't really remember everything," Bucky admitted. "But I know that I… trust you," he smiled a little brighter. "Thank you for finding me again."

"Always, Bucky."


"Aw, they're so adorable!" Darcy cooed as she, Phil and Nick watched the reunion from Phil's office within the Tower. "Also got to say, New Guy is pretty hot even without an arm."

"Darcy, please refrain from traumatizing Sgt. Barnes. He's likely going to be overwhelmed enough with learning to adjust to our time in addition to the guilt. He doesn't need you indoctrinating him into your special brand of Darcy," Phil countered. Nick bit on his lip to stop himself from laughing at the conversation between Phil and his assistant. Phil glared in his direction.

"So what are we doing with him anyway?"

"As soon as he's stable, aka after Stark builds a new weapon of mass of destruction that he will call an arm, he'll be sent away to be deprogrammed. We don't need anyone setting him off with a magic code," Nick answered. "I don't like the idea of him going out in the field just yet but I do believe that being around Steve and the rest of the Avengers might actually expedite his recovery. He's been through traumatic events. Once he's completely regained his memories, I expect he will relate a lot with Clint. They maybe able to talk through things."

"So basically what you're saying is that you two have adopted another yet another one?" Darcy retorted with a grin. Phil and Nick narrowed his eyes. "Whatever, I get the hint. I'll just be downstairs checking on the invalids." She gave them another grin before sauntering out the room.

"You know, she's right," Phil said once they were both sure she was gone. "So don't spoil this one, alright?"

"I really wish you would stop saying that. I don't spoil the team."

"Right, that's why Natasha only has to threaten to stab someone and you're tossing new weapons in her direction. And for the last time, Stark is a billionaire. We don't need to increase R&D's budget to accommodate his and Banner's experiments."

Nick snorted. "You know this is rich coming from the guy that gives Clint and Darcy everything they want no matter how insane the request."

Phil gave him a blank look. "That's totally different."

"Hypocrite."


*The end for now.