Next chapter! I'm sorry that it took me so long to write it. I hope you like it, please let me know what you think! And I know that's the last part's a bit rushed, but I hope you don't mind that. And thank you so much for the reviews!

I don't own the characters or places!

"They're in there." Sam muttered and pointed at the gate in front of them. Tony and Steve had arrived twenty minutes ago at the coordinates Sam had given them. Now they were watching the entrance to a cave in the middle of nowhere. It was cold and Tony was glad that his suit had a heater. Steve, on the other hand, was freezing. And so was Sam, he was wearing his Falcon suit now.

They were hiding behind a few trees (there were enough of them in this forest) and watched the entrance. Sam said the Hydra agents had vanished in there an hour ago. Until now, no one had come out again. The two Hydra agents Sam had been following had called reinforcements, but they didn't arrive yet. So it were just those two agents. And Bucky, of course. Though it was difficult on whose side he was at the moment. Probably on his own side.

Tony, Steve, and Sam were three. If the reinforcements didn't arrive in time, it wouldn't be difficult to deal with the Hydra agents. With Bucky, Tony wasn't so sure. And the others seemed to feel the same. Tony could tell that Steve was nervous from the look on his face, and Sam was tensed.

"Do we go in?" Sam asked quietly. "We can't wait here forever."

"JARVIS' still scanning the entrance for activity." Tony explained. "Seems like someone's coming."

"Hydra?" Steve muttered. "Or Bucky?"

"We'll see. There he comes." Tony whispered and they all watched the entrance quietly.

It wasn't Bucky. It was one of the Hydra agents. He was carrying a small red book in his hands and searched for his phone. When he found it, he started a call. "Yes, we're there. It was like we expected. He went to the base where they kept him first." The man listened for a few moments. "Looking for information? We're not sure. We went inside but didn't go far yet. It's too dangerous when he's there, and we're just two people. Reinforcements will arrive in one hour." He listened again. "I know that it's too long! What do you want us to do? Go in there and get ourselves killed? I know that we need him! We've got the book and we know what to do, but for that he needs to listen to us. And I bet he knows that it's dangerous for him to listen to people like us." There was another pause. "Alright. We'll try it. You're sure that the transmitter works in there?"

With one last nod, the man ended the call and went back inside the cave.

Tony, Steve and Sam exchanged looks. "Now or never." Steve muttered. "We have one hour."

He already wanted to run to the cave, but Tony caught his arm. "Wait a sec." He muttered and looked at JARVIS' scans once more.

"Why? This is our chance!" Sam exclaimed, but Steve just shook his head.

"What's going on?" He asked calmly.

"The transmitter he mentioned." Tony explained. "Complete immobility if it works in there. And I bet it will."

"He'll have no other choice than to listen to them, if he can't defend himself." Steve muttered in horror. Then he turned serious again. "How will it affect us?"

"The same." Tony muttered. "But JARVIS might be able to help. You have your coms?" Steve nodded slowly, and Tony looked at Sam questioningly. He nodded too.

"Alright, this might be unpleasant." When he finished that sentence, a shrieking sound appeared in their ears. It was not as unpleasant as Tony feared, but it bothered him either way.

"What's this?" Sam groaned and touched his ears carefully.

"Neutralizes the other tone." Tony explained shortly, and Steve grinned.

"Brilliant."

Tony shrugged. "Let's hope it works." He gestured for Steve to lead the way. "You go first, Cap. I'll have your back."

Then they went inside the cave.

They followed a long dark hallway that led to a pair of stairs. Steve was moving slowly and stopped often to listen for noises. They didn't hear anything. Tony was the last one to arrive at the stairs and when he looked down, he couldn't see anything except darkness.

"Should I risk some light?" He asked quietly, knowing that the others couldn't see as good as he could in his suit.

"Would be great, I don't want to die here because I break my neck falling down some stairs." Sam muttered.

Steve nodded hesitantly. "Then you go first." He decided.

At the end of the stairs, two different hallways continued in opposite directions. JARVIS scanned both of them for thermal signatures. "The right one." Tony muttered and let Steve take the lead again. In the distance, they could see light. Steve took the shield from his back soundlessly.

They didn't have to walk long until they heard noises. Steve stopped immediately and held up his hand. They listened in silence for a few moments, but the source of the noise still seemed to be far away.

Tony couldn't understand anything, and JARVIS also couldn't help him. He wanted to move on but waited for Steve's decision. However, the decision was made in the moment they heard someone scream.

"Bucky." Steve muttered and then he began to run. Tony and Sam followed him immediately. They ran through corridors and open doors, always following the noises. The screaming had stopped some time ago, but now someone was talking very loudly. Tony couldn't understand what was being said, but he knew that it wasn't English.

That's when he heard something else. "JARVIS." He said attentively, but apparently JARVIS had already detected the noise. The shrieking tone in their ears made Steve and Sam stumble in surprise. "It's alright, just a security measure." Tony muttered and took the lead. JARVIS was scanning their surroundings now.

"This tone. The screaming. They've got Bucky." Steve muttered, his voice horrified.

"We don't know that." Sam argued immediately. "And nothing's decided yet."

Tony hoped that he was right but didn't say anything. He stopped at a corner and moved forward more slowly. The scene in front of him confirmed his fears. Tony suspected that the transmitter was still causing the noise, even if he couldn't hear it anymore. Bucky was kneeling on the flow, fists clenched at his sides. One of the Hydra agents was pointing at him with his gun, while the other one was reading from a small red book. Tony couldn't understand what he said, but he didn't need to. They were turning Bucky into the Winter Soldier again, they had read enough about that in the old files.

He glanced over his shoulder to see Steve and Sam looking at him with tensed expressions on their faces. "We're too late." Tony informed them. "Expect a fight. And don't try to appeal to his senses, I don't think that he'll hear you now." The last sentence was directed at Steve, who nodded reluctantly.

"What are we going to do now? Just go in there and attack them?" Sam asked and Tony looked at Steve again.

Steve swallowed, before his expression turned calm again. "It's our only choice."

Head held high, shield in his hands, Captain America marched into the room.

Followed by Iron Man and the Falcon.

"Hey Pepper, you're early." Natasha greeted her. Pepper had just arrived back at the tower, Happy had been waiting for her at the garage. He was carrying her things upstairs (she insisted to do it herself, but he didn't listen to her) and she went to the kitchen. Slowly, she was getting hungry. After Tony left, Pepper had packed her things and left the house. It was beautiful, but without Tony it wasn't the same. She didn't want to have breakfast there, her appetite had left her.

She forced a smile on her lips, even if it wasn't easy. She was worried for Tony, Steve and Sam (even if she didn't really know him). "Yes, something unexpected happened." She said shortly and grabbed an apple from the counter. Then she sat down next to Nat.

"You mean that they found Bucky." Natasha stated simply. "Steve left last night, we found a note this morning. We knew that he'd inform Tony, after all, they wanted to deal with this together." She smiled slightly. "I'm sorry that your trip ended this way. I hope you had fun either way."

When she thought of the weekend again, Pepper had to smile. "It was perfect." She said quietly.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Natasha asked hesitantly, knowing that Pepper wasn't really in the mood. "He never told us where he wanted to take you."

"He bought a house." Pepper noticed the happy tone in her voice herself.

Nat chuckled. "Sounds like Tony. Tell me about it."

And Pepper did. She told Natasha about the big, wooden house and the lake. She told her that they walked around the property and that it was really beautiful. When she came to their picnic the previous evening, Natasha suddenly grabbed her hand and turned it around so she could see the ring.

"It's beautiful." Natasha whispered and then she hugged pepper tightly. "Congratulations, Pepper! You really deserve to be happy."

"And it was about time Tony proposed." Another voice behind them said loudly. Pepper looked over her shoulder to see Clint and Bruce walking towards them. They were both smiling. "Congratulations, Mrs. Soon-to-be-Stark." Clint grinned when he sat down next to Nat.

Bruce hugged Pepper and smiled shyly. "I knew that he was planning something, but this is unexpected." He explained and Pepper smiled at him.

However, there was the dull feeling in her stomach again, ever since Clint called her Mrs. Soon-to-be-Stark. Just like Tony did last night. And with that, all the worry came back. She knew that they would be fine, after all they were three and Bucky was alone. But Hydra was also there, and Bucky was dangerous…

"You don't have to worry. He'll come back to you." Bruce said quietly and Pepper looked at him surprised. Bruce smiled slightly. "You look concerned." He answered her unspoken question.

For a few seconds, Pepper considered lying, but she knew that it was pointless. They all looked at her like they knew exactly how she was feeling. Which they probably did.

"It's not always easy." She said slowly. "That he always risks his life. I know that it's what he does and that he loves it. I could never take that from him again. Nevertheless –"

"Worrying is natural, Pepper." Bruce interrupted her softly. "We all do that sometimes." Did she just imagine it, or did his eyes wander to Nat for half a second?

She sighed. "I know." She didn't know what else to say, so she stayed silent.

"We would have accompanied them, but Steve just vanished last night without telling us about it." Clint explained.

"And we don't blame him for that." Natasha added with a glance at Clint. "This is Steve's business, not ours."

"But we are his friends and we want to help him." Clint argued and Pepper realized that they had this discussion before.

"And Steve made the decision to go after Bucky without us." Nat emphasized.

"Tony's with him. And that other guy –"

"Sam."

"Yes, Sam. And they can help him, but we can't."

Natasha sighed. "I already told you that it's not that easy. And going after Bucky with an army wouldn't help at all. It's not even said that he recognizes Steve. Last time, he didn't. And I'm sure he doesn't want to scare him."

Clint groaned and didn't reply something.

Pepper exchanged a look with Bruce, who just shrugged silently. The door of the elevator opened and Pepper turned around to see Happy walking in. "Your things are upstairs, Mrs. Potts." Happy explained. "Is there something else you need?"

She shook her head. "Everything's fine, Happy. I think I'll just go upstairs to get some sleep."

Happy nodded, but he didn't leave again. There was indecision on his face and Pepper raised her eyebrows. "What is it, Happy?"

"Well, when we went upstairs, I couldn't help noticing the ring on your finger. And I wanted to gratulate you." He said it hesitantly and Pepper had to smile.

"Thank you, Happy."

"You two deserve to be happy together." Happy said and walked back to the elevator slowly. Apparently, he was feeling really uncomfortable now. Happy used the moment Thor walked in to leave quickly, and Pepper also excused herself.

Of course everything went wrong. As soon as Steve entered the room, Bucky and the Hydra agents attacked them. The Hydra agents wanted to escape and Sam followed them immediately. Which left Steve and Tony alone with Bucky.

Steve had been right, the Winter Soldier was a very skilled fighter. He could deal with the two of them easily, and that rarely happened. Probably, it was also because of the small rooms and hallways. Tony's suit wasn't of much use there, the risk that he blew up the whole place was too high. There were pipes on the ceiling, filled with different liquids. Tony wondered why they needed something here, but he didn't have the time to look around more closely.

When Bucky realized that he couldn't defeat the two of them, he started to move to the exit, following Sam and the Hydra agents. He was fast and seemed to know that place by heart, he was able to shake off Tony and Steve easily. Without JARVIS' help, they would have never found the secret passageways that Bucky used. When they finally left the underground building, Tony could finally fly again. From the air, it was easy to spot Bucky. He was running towards the bikes of the Hydra agents. Apparently, he wanted to escape. Tony told Steve where Bucky was going, and his friend followed him immediately, throwing his shield to slow Bucky down.

Tony noticed movement not too far away and realized that it were Sam and the two Hydra agents. But they weren't just two anymore. "I could need help here." Sam's voice sounded through the comms and with one glance at Steve and Bucky, Tony went to help Sam. Instead of two Hydra agents, Sam was now fighting against ten men.

Four of them were already lying on the ground, but the others were trying to take Sam down. One of his wings was broken and Tony doubted that he could still fly. However, together it wasn't difficult to defeat the Hydra agents. They didn't have a chance against them. "Bind them." Tony told Sam and went looking for Steve and Bucky again.

He found them not far away, the shield was in Bucky's hands now. He was trying to hit Steve with it, who dodged away quickly. However, it was clear that he was slowly getting tired.

Tony was able to hit Bucky from behind and the shield fell to the ground. Steve got hold of it immediately, but Bucky had already turned to Tony and was trying to get to him now. Tony didn't want to shoot Bucky, knowing that Steve didn't want that. Instead, he was aiming at the mechanic arm.

Together, Tony and Steve were able to force Bucky to the ground. But before they could do anything else, they heard Sam's voice. "They get more help!" Sam shouted while he ran towards them. "At least five cars, heavily armed!"

Tony sighed. "And I hoped that those eight guys have already been the reinforcement." He muttered. Bucky had used that moment of distraction to fight them again.

"We have to leave, we can't win a fight against all of them!" Sam called and Tony nodded. "Get the jet, I'll deal with them!"

He didn't see Sam running away quickly. Tony focused on Bucky and Steve again. When he saw Bucky's hands on Steve's throat, the shield lying on the ground next to them, Tony lost it. Without thinking any longer, he took the shield from the ground and hit Bucky on the head with it. Hard.

Tony helped Steve to his feet again and handed him the shield. Steve was gasping and paled when he saw Bucky lying on the ground. "Is he…?"

"Just unconscious." Tony answered his question quickly. "It was the only way to get him away from you."

Steve nodded slowly. "Thank you, Tony."

Tony grinned, even if Steve couldn't see it. "No problem." He turned around when the sound of cars came closer. "However, that looks like a problem."

"Where's Sam?" Steve asked, voice alarmed.

"Getting the jet." Tony muttered and turned around to face the Hydra agents. Next to him, Steve raised his shield.

When the first cars stopped in front of them, Tony and Steve exchanged a look. They would be able to take those men down, but there would be many injured people. Tony knew that Steve didn't like hurting innocents. However, this was Hydra. And they weren't innocent at all, so probably his friend would make an exception here.

"Come on, Sam." Tony muttered when he got everything ready to fight again.

They stayed like this for a few moments, Tony and Steve standing next to each other, ready to fight, and the cars of Hydra, facing them. Both sides were waiting for the other to make the first move.

"Get down!" Sam's voice sounded in Tony's ears and he yanked Steve to the ground immediately. The explosion took place right in front of the cars. There was dust everywhere and some of the trees around them were falling to the ground, burning.

"To the jet!" Tony shouted and they both began to stumble in that direction.

"Where's Bucky?" Steve asked loudly and Tony looked around as well. A short scan from JARVIS told him everything he needed to know.

"He's gone, Steve." He muttered.