A/N: Thank yous to my wonderful betas Emerald2211 and BlueOwl!

The child was bleeding out, but there wasn't any time to bind the wound. More guards had arrived and there was something happening on the upper levels. So once he eliminated the targets closest to them, he picked up the child with his only operational arm and ran. The pistol was still in his hand, but he would be forced to drop the child in order to use it properly.

He wasn't given a mission or any sort of order before they were attacked. Just the kid who looked familiar in a way he couldn't quite explain as she gazed at him with big weepy eyes before the gun was fired.

New mission was to get the kid away, he decided. First find a room with medical supplies, bind the wound, then get out.

Running back to that room wasn't what he wanted, but what he wants is irrelevant. There was no one left alive there, and after putting the child on the ground (he would not put her in that chair), it took only a moment for him to bandage the wound. He knew a doctor would be needed since stitches won't be enough, but that can only happen once they are out. Threatening one of the doctors here would take too much time. Would be too risky.

Keeping the arm stable and bind was all he was able to do before moving on.

The girl didn't respond while he worked, and he kept checking to see if she still had a pulse. It was faint, but there.

Picking her back up, he made sure to keep the gun in a position where he could still use it. It was not the best solution, but the only one he had that didn't require leaving the child behind.

The noise above was getting louder, and it sounded like a fight was happening. If that was the case, he could use the confusion to slip out of the building. He knew where the exits were even though he had never been in this place before. He had to push away the nagging feeling that something was wrong about that.

The girl still had a pulse.

The bodies were still in the hall. Still in the same places. Like this was just another mission. And it was just another mission, regardless that his new handler didn't give it to him. He knew what needed to be done. Why else would he want to protect her if it wasn't his new mission?

He didn't meet another living person until they reached the stairs. Elevator was too risky, and then ten flights was a reglable distance to run. Fighting on the stair cases were simple as he only needed to toss them over the rails and let gravity do the rest.

The situation only changed once one of the doors was smashed by a large man with a shield (shouldn't he be smaller?).

"Bucky? Oh thank god."

He shot the man in the right leg (not the head) before resuming his escape plan. It was only a few more flights. The girl still had a pulse. There was an underground exit on the second level that shouldn't be too packed. Used only for loading and unloading equipment. Though he doesn't know how he knows that.

"Cap? What happened?" A slightly distorted voice called out moment before explosions erupted from below.

Any reply from the man with the shield (he knew that man) was lost in the noise. However, the sounds of uneven footsteps getting closer was enough of a warning.

Instead of stopping to eliminate the threat, he went through the nearest door. He shot two people without pausing as he ran down the hall. It was a slight change of plan, but necessary since killing the man with the shield was impossible. Fighting was okay, but killing was out of the question.

"Bucky, stop!"

"Bucky?"

"Who the hell is Bucky?"

The girl called him that too, but that was...different. Didn't make his head fog up and feel like something big was missing. Something important. He wanted to stop and find out what is up with that man with the shield, but that would be going against his mission.

The girl still had a pulse.

Tony has to say, when he created his suit he never thought he would end up flying with another person, much less Captain freaking America. Even using the suit model that was outdated months ago, he was still flying at mach 2. Just the sonic boom along would be enough to ruin someone's ear drums but Cap only squinted his eyes during their trip. Not even closing them all the way the few times Tony looked. Part of him just found the whole thing ridiculous, and the other part wonder just what Roger's limits were.

At the very least he was going to make the guy a new mask with some goggles to protect his eyes because apparently that was all Cap needed.

"Striker B, we have visual on the bank," Tony called over the com as he slowed down his flight.

"Striker B? Why are we Striker B?" he heard Clint say in the background before Natasha took over.

"We're still scheduled to arrive in ten minutes. I would recommend the two of you to just do some recon but-"

"Sorry, Cap is getting ready to jump out of my arms to punch some Nazis. See you in ten," Tony said before hanging up and getting ready to land.

There was a moment where Tony landed and noticed that even with his suit on, Captain was still an inch taller than him. However, there wasn't any time to think about that since Captain just started running to the bank. It was a good thing that Natasha had the forethought to warn the police because they were already gathering attention. Not that Tony helped much.

There is no way they were going to be able to be sneaky about this.

The bank looked completely normal on the inside, but after getting to the 'employee elevator' that changed. Even if Tony didn't know about the power usage of the building that was approaching his own (before the arc reactor), the fact there was ten sublevels in the building was a serious tip off something was wrong with the place.

"Looks like they have secret underground labs for their secret underground labs," Tony tried joking, though Capsicle didn't even crack a smile.

Which just led to a very awkward elevator ride down. Tony was even thinking of just blasting the bottom and flying down before the box stopped for them.

"Seems like they finally figured out that we are here."

Cap ripped open the doors like it was nothing, revealing they had stopped halfway through a floor. It was a tight squeeze with the suit which was why Rogers ended up climbing out first. Which might have not been the best idea since guns were being shot almost before Cap was able to pull his shield off his back.

"No doubt, definitely got the right place," Tony commented before finding his own way out.

When he got on the floor Star Spangled Banner was already rushing down the hall unflinchingly looking for their friends. It definitely no longer looked like a bank, more like something straight from a b-list sci-fi movie. At least they have their aesthetics on point.

Tony mainly covered Captain America's ass while he lead the charge. It was weird. Tony was more than used to blowing up terrorists doing questionable experiments and that was usually solo. Cap was used to a team, or at least used to having someone back him up. Everyone knows about the Howling Commandos and there has been a movie or two that focused on that team dynamic rather than just Captain America. Howard preferred those movies.

"I don't know whether to be impressed or nauseated by this."

Tony was leaning toward the latter looking over the mess that they called a lab while Rogers got some information out of the guard he slammed into the wall.

"The ventilation in this place alone is awful."

"Stark."

"I get that you have the whole evil scientist thing going on, but that doesn't mean you should cut corners with basic lab safety."

"Stark, now is not the time," Cap repeated, looking only mildly annoyed while the guy he was holding looked to be moments from shitting himself.

"Right, sorry, didn't mean to interrupt your little interrogation."

Tony continued his brief look around the lab, slipping a flashdrive he built into his suit into one of the motherboards to let Jarvis download all the files while they moved on.

"Come on, he said the soldier should be on the floor below us," Rogers said with a stern expression.

"Lead the way," Tony said with a grad gesture even though Cap was already racing to the stairs.

Tony lost track of Rogers as it felt like ten times more guards suddenly appeared to stop them. At first he was trying his best to non-lethally take them down but it quickly became apparent that wasn't going to work. There was even a guy who had one of the weapons the alien bastards yesterday used.

"Bucky?" Tony heard Cap call out from down the hall before a shot rang out.

It would have been fine except that Tony could no longer see his stupid blue capped head any more.

"Cap? What happened?"

Tony blasted through two people before he was close enough to see Rogers kneeling while using his shield to get back up.

"I found them," was all the man said before suddenly getting up and running upstairs.

The door swung shut behind him, but that didn't stop Tony (or rather Jarvis) from spotting the small pool of blood from where the good Captain was momentarily kneeling.

"Did he even realize he got shot?"

"Is that a rhetorical question, sir?"

Tony ignored his AI as he got to the staircase and noticed that Rogers was already out.

"Great. I always wanted to go on a wild goose chase," Tony mumbled before just flying up the flight of stairs.

Rogers couldn't have gone too far.

The sounds of fighting greeted Tony as he blow off the door. Cap was further down the hall fighting with his shield while yelling at someone further down. Without needing to be asked, Jarvis confirmed for him that it was indeed Barnes and Lani via zooming in part of the video feed in his mask.

"Well, that doesn't look good."

There was blood all over Lani's hoodie and Barnes was missing most of his robo-arm. At least that will give him a good excuse to look at it once this is all done with. Tony probably should have just helped Rogers with the fighting, but this was a rescue mission and even with them being indoors, there was enough room for Tony to fly along the ceiling to get to the other side of Barnes.

Who proceeded to shoot at him. Which, thinking back on it, Tony couldn't really blame the guy. If anyone tried saving him while he escaped the Ten Rings he would have shot first, asked questions later, too. Once you get it in your mind that no one is going to be coming for you, then you learn not to hope for it.

"Whoa, hold it robo-cop. We are here to help," Tony said, even holding his hands out in a non-threatening manner (as long as you ignore the thrusters in his palms).

There was a moment where Tony noticed that Barnes didn't look scared but strangely void of any emotions before he was kicked into the wall. Which was just another point in Barnes being a super soldier, or something close enough, because Tony was pretty sure the swift kick also dented his armor.

"Bucky!" Cap yelled as he rushed past, having dispatched the guards holding him up.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine. Just got roundhouse kicked by Bruce Lee over there."

Rogers didn't even act like he heard him. Just kept on chasing his BFF.

"Sir, the jet has landed with the rest of the Avengers and the Bank is being evacuated," Jarvis calmly informed him.

"Good, let Bruce know that Lani will need some medical assistance and maybe our one-arm army friend," Tony replied back with the fake calm perfected over the years.

It was not good that Lani seemed to still be unconscious. An half an hour has passed and who knows what could have been done to her in that time frame.

"Bucky, please, it's me, Steve!" Captain America actually pleaded.

It was a little weird considering how Barnes froze up after seeing Cap for the first time yesterday. Maybe adrenaline could be the reason why Barnes was running from them. Running from Iron Man? They just met, that makes sense. But his long lost friend that he purposely searched for? That just made Tony think on when Cap and Natasha recapped their conversation with the 'Winter Soldier' and about being wiped after each mission.

Tony wanted to say that was impossible, but that was just his life recently. At least things were back into the ream of science instead of alien magic.

"Let's just ignore the whole Hydra evil scientist and soldiers for a moment and talk. May seem hard to believe but we are here to help," Tony said, and it may have been due to the two on one dynamic, but Barnes didn't move.

Just stood there slightly crouched with a blank face. Only reason why Tony knew Barnes heard him was from how his eyes flickered off Rogers' face for a moment. Made Tony wonder if this was what Natasha was talking about when she warned them about the Winter Soldier. There was a certain calculated look to Barnes' eyes that weren't there before, though the whole dangerous vibe was thrown off by the limp kid in his arms.

"We have a doctor all ready for us - remember Banner? - and all you need to do is hand me Lani and I can fly her to him in a flash," Tony continued with a smile, even though his faceplate was still in place.

"No," Barnes said as his eyes snapped to Tony, as if now registering him as a threat.

If Tony wasn't in his suit, he would have taken a step back from the force of it.

"Okay, I really need to start learning Russian but that sounded like a negative so-"

"Bucky you can keep carrying Lani, but please let us help. We can get out of here together and then you'll be safe. You'll stay safe. I'm not going to let this happen again," Rogers pleaded and Tony was really starting to feel like a third wheel in this conversation.

He was also contemplating just taking the kid because this close up she looked ashy and Jarvis pointed out that the blood seemed to originate from her right shoulder. But then again, Tony didn't really want to know how he would fare against a maybe super soldier. Even if it was only a one-armed one.

"Jarvis should have uploaded himself to their mainframe by now, so if they had any automatic doors or lockdowns they will be going off in order to keep any stragulars here. Except for where we need to go to in order to get out," Tony explained, taking a step just as the light turned off and was replaced with red emergency lights.

Barnes' attention was back on him, back with that vacant expression, but at least Rogers looked impressed. Or annoyed, it was hard to tell.

"Stark, there still Hydra operatives in the halls with us. This isn't going to make it easier to get Bucky and Lani out," Cap said, so apparently Tony was wrong with him being impressed.

"I'm sure we can handle a few, and Barnes here seemed to be doing well enough. Even with the sack of potatoes he's carrying."

Capicle gave his 'I'm disappointed in you' glare, but Barnes seemed to be fine with the new plan since he started walking. Not running. Which also seemed to be enough for Rogers. Jarvis was also now able to let them know when they were about to run into someone thanks to the hundreds of cameras up in the place. Usually Cap dealt with them since Tony was taking the rear and explosions aren't the best weapon in close quarters.

Mostly it was just a painfully awkward jog back outside. Barnes wasn't talking, and sure, he wasn't the most talkative person back in the tower yesterday, but he was still acting like a human. Now he's just completely silent, only changing his direction if anyone gets too close to him and Lani. Worst was the fact that Cap kept looking like he wanted to talk only to get cut off by looking to his friend.

Tony was 90% sure that Barnes got wiped, and 10% sure he was just being an ass by the time they got to the main bank.

Which was now completely empty, despite them being below ground for only 12 minutes. Well, almost completely empty since the rest of their super powered boy band was there.

"Put her down here. Do you know where she's injured?" Dr. Banner said with a steady voice.

"Shot right shoulder," Barnes said as he carried Lani over to the area Banner set up.

"Oh, so now you speak up."

"Stark," Roger warned while Natasha repeated what Mr. Robot said in English.

Which of course only heightened the seriousness of the situation.

"Who the hell shoots a little girl?" Clint asked in horror.

Barnes at least allowed Banner to take a look at Lani, though he still hovered way too close. Something that made Natasha look like she'll be ready to strike at a moments notice.

Tony knew that there wasn't much they could do standing around like this, and the more time they spent here the more Hydra operatives were going to be able to escape, but no one wanted to bring that up. Not when Banner removed the dressing covering the wound and it was way too deep. Tony could see bone.

"We have to get her to a hospital, get a blood transfusion-"

"No."

"He's right," Natasha stated slowly. "She'll be too vulnerable there. They would just come back to finish the job posing as a doctor or nurse."

"We'll bring her back to my tower then. You don't mind right, Brucey? You can even have Jarvis fly the jet. He is a great co-pilot."

"Do you even have O negative blood bags? We don't have time to figure out her blood type."

"Got some sent in when I was first contacted about the Avenger initiative," Tony explained, and that was enough to get people moving.

It was clear that Barnes wasn't about to let Banner leave with Lani alone, which meant that one of them needed to go along to keep the peace. A re-brainwashed assassin and the Hulk stuck in the sky with a dying girl was pretty close to the worst situation Tony could think of. Problem was Rogers looked torn and they really didn't have the time.

"Hey Cap, go with them. Banner could use your muscles to keep pressure on the wound and we shouldn't need your help to round up Hydra. We have the police now," Tony said, not really expecting Rogers to accept his request, but sometimes people need to be forced to make a decision.

Then to his surprise and contradicting everything he was told about Captain America, Rogers just nodded before boarding the jet.

A/N: So funny story, I honestly couldn't decide if Steve would stay and finish off Hydra or leave with Bucky and I just flipped a coin (okay I rolled an online dice).

Also Today is my dog's b-day! He is 12 and still acts like a puppy.

Thank you everyone who favorited/followed this story, and super thanks to the guest named Alex Andrea (is this soon enough for you ;) ), PebblePeak, Princessagic (times 2), Roxycall18, the guest named Laurel (that is very close to my real name), N4N4251, The Bug, the guest named Fan, jcheriscar, Cboylan, I.D's Fantasy, KEZZ 1, mk0008, Bisque-Ware, Miss A. Winchester, BlackDove WhiteDove, Goldenfightergirl, the guest who is going to wait to read the rest (not everyone can read wip), Azaira, Inu-Agel Z, Isanxd, Amir-015, the guest named SunnySides, Phoenix1234321, Artekha, Nameless Angel 00, ColdCypher, Death Fury, Omega-66, and Marlaike for taking the time to leave me a review. Honestly, reviews are like 80% of the reason this story has more than five chapters.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter and I'll try my best to have the next one out in a week.