Clank, clank, clank

"Open the doors. Let her through."

Clank, clank, clank

"Mr. Wallis is right this way, madam,"

"Hmm, yes. Leave us."

"Of course," The nervous man nodded in deference before walking back out of the room.

The door slinked shut.

Clank, clank, clank

Stepping forward, the woman peered through the class divider, receiving a glare in return.

"What do ya want?" The prisoner grumbled, looking away.

"Hello Kevin," she smirked, "I have a bit of a… 'Proposition' for you."

. . .

Tony

"Oh, c'mon! That's not fair, you cheated!"

"I did not!"

"Blue shells are cheating!" Tony pointed at the dubious face of the soldier, "And that makes you a cheater!"

"Then what do ya call your banana peels, huh?" Barnes shoots back, accent thick due to his agitation.

"Strategy."

"I'm calling bull shit." He grits, putting his controller down and standing up.

Tony's brow scrunched, "Where are you going? We have another race!"

"Hell if I know." He called over his shoulder as he left the room.

Tony watched him go in confusion.

(Well, somebody's in a bad mood.)

(I wonder what's wrong…)

(Maybe he just doesn't like being called a cheater?)

(Doubtful.)

Tony huffed out a groan and buried his face in his hands, knowing there was no way he could just ignore a grouchy recovering brainwash victim.

He waited another five seconds to bonder what the fuck happened to his life before getting up and following after the soldier.

JARVIS kindly pointed out that he was out on the air strip, and Tony tried not to drag his feet too much.

(Feelings…)

(Just, ugh.)

"Hey buddy," He called as if talking to a skittish dog when he finally got to where the other man was standing, staring out into the distance like it was some cheesy drama movie.

James shot him a steely look out of the corner of his eye, clearly unamused.

"You mind telling me who pissed in your coffee this morning?" Tony asked casually, "Because you've been bitchy all day. I know you've been having nightmares, but they normally don't affect you like this."

Barnes glared weakly for all of two seconds, before slumping with a defeated sigh, "I've been thinking a lot about HYDRA lately-"

"Haven't we all?"

"- and I can't help but think there's something I'm forgetting; something important." He revealed, placing a hand on his head.

Tony scoffed, "You do realize you remember and forget shit all the time right? Last Tuesday you thought I was the mechanic for your arm, and just yesterday you remembered your mom's name. I'm sure whatever it is you've forgotten can't be too terrible."

"Either way," James continued, not looking convinced, "I can't stay cooped up here anymore. I need to get out, do something." He shifted, obviously on edge and jittery.

"What," Tony said, trying to seem casual and not hurt, "You want to leave and go see Rogers? I mean, I guess-"

"No!" James had paled, "Don't get me wrong, I love Stevie, but I still ain't ready to see 'im yet. Not… not right now, anyway." He licked his lip and turned away, "But I do need to do something! I'm going mad, here!"

"Okay!" Tony held up his hands, not even a little relieved that Barnes wasn't leaving him for Rogers.

(Not even a little.)

(Cross his heart as he lies.)

"I wasn't gonna bring you in so soon," He started,

(Read: Never.)

"But seeing as this isn't prison, I'm in no way a warden, and it's been awhile since I've done something completely stupid, the last time being you… I think you might, perhaps, maybe, sort of, be ready to kind of handle my ingenious, if half cocked, plan."

Barnes stared at him blankly, "You done?"

"Yep."

"What's the plan?"

"That depends," Tony grinned, waggling his eyebrows, "What size dress do you wear?"

"No."

"Fine." Tony crossed his arms with a pout. "You want to get out and do something? Let's take out HYDRA."

James raised an eyebrow, "HYDRA?"

"HYDRA."

"…All of HYDRA?"

"You said you wanted to get out," Tony shrugged, waving a dismissive hand, "Though I guess we could go steal the Statue of Liberty- but then I'm kind of a good guy right now." He rubbed his chin, "Eh, either way they're gonna call me a villain again, so yeah," a smirk, "Go ahead and pick."

After a long, incredulous, look, "HYDRA, okay, I guess I can do that. What's the first step?"

Tony shrugged, "Well, mostly I was just looking for you, destroying places as I went. I'm not entirely sure how to go about this now that I'm not on a scavenger hunt, to be honest. Any ideas." He smiled.

A pause.

"You're absolutely hopeless, aren't you?"

(Hey!)

(He's not wrong.)

(Fair.)

. . .

Several hours and many, many, cups of coffee later, Tony sat in his swivel chair, chugging the last dregs of his latest mug of heaven, while James sat stoically reading one of the many HYDRA files Tony had acquired.

(Read: Stole.)

(Read: who gives a shit?)

After his cup was empty he placed it back on the table. He propped his feet up with and whined "How much longer? I'm dying of boredom here!" he through his hands up and almost fell backwards, "Oh shit!" He scrambled back into a sitting position, "Ignore that."

Luckily (?) James hadn't been paying any attention to him in the first place, gaze solely on the paper in his hands.

(Really, did he have to ask for paper?)

(The digital files would have been just as good, if not better.)

(Stupid senior citizens and their love of dead trees.)

Annoyed that he was being ignored, Tony waved his hand in the soldiers face, "Oi, are you almost done, or what?"

Swatting Tony's hand away, James looked up with a serious face, "I think I remember the important thing I forgot." He said slowly.

Tony felt his stomach drop at the serious tone, "And that was…?"

"Project Insight."

. . .

Steve

Sitting at his kitchen table, doing last minute paper work, Steve found himself humming as he drank his morning orange juice.

It was a beautiful day, clear skies, there hadn't been a villain that required the Avengers for two weeks, and Ironman was actually-

"Steve!" Clint burst into the room, followed closely by Coulson and Natasha. All three had varying looks of worry on their faces.

Steve slowly sat his juice down. "I'm not gonna like this, am I?"

"Ironman's gone rogue. Again." Clint stressed.

Steve groaned. Of course he had. Opening his mouth to reply, Coulson beat him to it.

"There's more," He told him gravely, "This time he has a friend. A very dangerous friend."

Steve felt his breath hitch, sitting up straighter, "Who?"

"The Winter Soldier."

. . .

AN: Tada! So many of you remembered Mark! Yes, he is the same kid from 32.

I think there are ten more chapters (max at fifteen. But I really doubt it) left in this story. Could be more, could be less (Doubtful), depending on how Cap 2 goes. I redid my outline (well, the ongoing stuff, anyway) and I'm reworking some dialogue, so things are looking good!