Good afternoon all! I am so very sorry for the massive delay in updating this. Things have been seriously out of control of late, and I've been working on my new book, so my apologies for leaving you all hanging!

I won't make promises to update again soon because that would be unfair if I can't keep to it, but I'm working on chapter seven as soon as I'm done posting this, so I can hope there will be an update really soon. I am so very grateful to everyone for being patient, not hounding me, and sticking with me. I swear this story will not be abandoned at any time!

As always, everything Marvel related, persons and placed are the property of Marvel Cinematic Universe. I own nothing, and no copyright infringement is intended. No money is being made from this story.

Chapter Six- Burning Off Excess Energy (Tony)

When he made it back to the Tower, for the second time that night, Tony was stripped of the armour by his machinery and scrubbed a hand over his face tiredly. Fuck, he damn well hated having to attend functions, he hated it even more that it had been made public knowledge because of the news crews, it was only ever going to attract HYDRA to them, especially once they caught a shot of Barnes there with them.

He'd taken the suit back out to search the area for any sight of the HYDRA agents that had crashed his charity party. The last thing they needed was FRIDAY having to put the entire Tower into lock down because he wasn't thinking straight and didn't bother to check for anyone suspicious.

Burning with excess energy, Tony quickly changed into a pair of joggers, a tank top and headed for the gym. He had to do something that would burn off his energy, he was practically vibrating as he walked. He stopped off in the kitchen, grabbed a towel and a large bottle of water. He'd wanted nothing more than to rip those HYDRA men apart, to destroy them. Seeing how one of them had held a gun to Wanda's head, he'd seen red.

Wanda may not like him very much at the moment, especially since he was partly to blame for her being incarcerated on The Raft for a while, but that did not mean he wouldn't protect her with his life. Yes, she had been angry at him for trying to keep her locked in the Avengers compound during the search and capture of Barnes, but he had truly believed he was doing the best for her.

Maybe he had been rash in his decisions, and maybe they hadn't been the best ones he'd ever made, but he made them with good intentions, and that was really all that could be done in the time that they had been in. But, that was neither here nor there anymore. What was, was the fact that HYDRA were more determined than ever to take back their toy.

And as much as Tony would love nothing more than to be rid of Barnes, he couldn't allow them to turn him back into the Winter Soldier. It had been by some miracle that Steve had managed to beat him, well, sort of beat him. There was no telling what would happen if Barnes came back 'wiped' and back to the way he was, there was no telling if he wouldn't be stronger.

He took the elevator down to the gym level, stepped out into the vast room and was marginally surprised to find it completely empty. He'd half expected at least Steve to be down here and making his way through the infinite supply of punching bags that Tony kept in stock for him. Tony had learned very quickly to buy them in massive bulk orders, Steve could easily go through ten of them in one night, and that was on a normal night. If he had a bad day, it could be three times as many.

He dropped his towel and water near a bench and started with some stretches. The last thing he needed was to pull a damn muscle because he was too angry to stretch and dived straight into working out. He wasn't exactly twenty anymore, and his body, unfortunately, couldn't handle being thrown into an intense work out without a good amount of stretching.

Full stretched and feeling limber, Tony started easy and dropped to do some push ups. He counted out loud to himself as his mind worked overtime to process everything that had happened that night, and the days leading up to it.

Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. How long had HYDRA been rebuilding themselves that they felt safe to launch an open attack on them? Had they done it because Bruce wasn't there? Why choose the night of a charity function? It could have something to do with having most of them in one place at one time.

Twenty-one. Twenty-two. Twenty-three. Who was the new leader of HYDRA? That was something Tony needed to find out and fast, it wouldn't do well to leave the man nameless when he could potentially do a lot of damage to them with the right amount of power. He made a mental note to have FRIDAY take the security footage and use facial recognition to try and get a match on the guy.

Thirty push ups and Tony switched to sit ups, keeping his routine mindless for the moment while his mind whirred away. What had made Steve think that Tony would welcome him with open arms when he'd brought Barnes with him? What had happened that drove them to come here? He knew there had to be more to it, that he wasn't being told the full story.

Thirteen. Fourteen. Fifteen. Sixteen. Something else must have gone on when they had been ambushed in Siberia, or something leading up to it, if that was what had really happened. But, he couldn't see Clint lying to him. Between him and Bruce, Tony thought of them both as his brothers in all but blood. Hell, he'd thought Steve was someone he could trust and look how that had turned out.

Tony shook his head and stopped his sit ups, he really didn't want to go down the road of becoming paranoid and not trusting the others. They hadn't done anything to warrant his suspicion, or his anger. Even Wanda, with her petulant, teenage attitude, had never lied to him or given him reason to believe she was even so much as bending the truth.

He had equipment on his floor that he could work out on, but he really wanted to use the full room and go all out, he also realised he was spending far too much time in either the workshop or on his floor. And this gave him a chance to really think, instead of being tempted to just bow out and go to bed.

The very fast retreat of HYDRA bothered him greatly. In the history of all HYDRA attacks, they were not a cult that backed down easily and they most certainly did not give up. So either they had something they wanted already, or there was a very good reason for them retreating. Neither was good for them, either option left them defenceless because they didn't know just what HYDRA had, or why they had retreated.

Tony opted to switch to something a little more taxing, and moved to the pull up bar. He jumped and grabbed hold, centred himself and began. There was something niggling in the back of his mind, something that he felt was important. The problem was, Tony couldn't quite work out what it was, and that annoyed him.

No, that wasn't quite right…it wasn't important as such, but it felt like a key detail, something that would end up being a revelation. His arms burned with the effort of pulling his body up, the aching making him feel alive. The more he thought about Barnes, the more the anger he had been bottling burned in his gut, tearing a hole through him.

It still bothered him that Steve seemed to believe that he would be able to make nice with the guy when he'd done something Tony couldn't get past. Yes, he recognised Barnes wasn't really at fault, and he recognised that Steve felt like he had been doing the right thing. But there was a vast difference between recognising something, and being able to forgive it.

Forgiveness wasn't really in Tony's nature. Hell, it wasn't in Pepper's and that was probably why they had fallen apart in the end. But Barnes…Tony hated the way he moved around, the almost awkward shuffling, innocent look and soft eyes. It disconcerted Tony, made it difficult to remain angry at the guy.

Tony shook his head, clearing his head and dropping from the bar after he lost count. He opted for the punching bag, figuring that if Steve got some release from it, then maybe he would. Wrapping his knuckles in the protective bandaging, Tony began. He never heard the doors open, nor did he hear the soft voice of FRIDAY greeting them.

It wasn't long before his knuckles ached, his arms burned and sweat stung his eyes, but damn it felt so fucking good to punch the shit out of something. So good. He felt no guilt that he was envisioning Steve's faces, Barnes' or even Natasha's. His emotions burned hot in his stomach, his eyes suspiciously wet but he mentally snarled at himself.

In his anger, Tony misjudged a punch, his weight off balance, and hit the bag badly, his knuckles giving a dangerous crunch while Tony howled in pain. "Fuck!" He screamed.

A cold hand encircled his wrist. "Here, let me look."

Tony wrenched his hand free, swearing in pain. "Fuck off, Barnes!"

He told himself the wounded look didn't affect him- it didn't make him feel an ounce of guilt at putting it there. "You might have broken your knuckles."

"No shit, really? They're not broken, FRIDAY would have piped up by now."

The fuck? He was explaining things now? Tony really needed to work on keeping his tongue in check, especially if he was just spouting off the first thing that came into his head. Barnes was still studying his hand, as if his eyes would somehow be able to see under the skin and work out if there was any damage.

Tony snatched his hand back and scowled darkly. "Back off, Barnes. Go work out elsewhere."

Barnes shrugged and moved to the other side of the vast gym, taking up on some running while Tony decided to leave punching alone and take a rest, gulping his water. Five minutes' rest, a quick test of his hand, and Tony opted for a weights machine.

He watched the soldier from his peripheral vision, hatred coursing through him with each pump of his arms. Barnes moved to the punching bag and Tony took to the treadmill.

"FRIDAY, can you put the tunes on please?" He asked.

His AI complied without response, the speakers blared to life and he ran like the very hounds of hell were on his heels. His lungs burned, the muscles in his shins and thighs protested but he ploughed on until he damn near killed himself tripping over his feet.

Swearing loudly, the music shut off and FRIDAY came over the speakers. "Boss, I detect a sprain in your ankle. An ice pack would be advisable to reduce the chance of swelling."

Tony looked to the nearest camera and gave it a dark look. "Thank you, FRIDAY. I believe an ice pack would be useful."

He limped towards the elevator when Barnes stepped into his path. "Let me bring an ice pack down to you. Walking on a sprained ankle is only going to make it worse."

There was a momentary pause until Tony gathered his wits. "Oh and I suppose you'll offer to carry me back to my room next, tuck me in and sing me a lullaby. I'm a grown ass man, Barnes."

Barnes just snorted and shrugged. "Whatever. Suit yourself."

"I damn well will."

"Is this how it's always going to be?" Barnes demanded. "You constantly taking shots at me, snarking at me, and bullying Steve because he chose me over you? You're acting like a jealous lover, Stark. Is that the problem? Are you so up Steve's ass that you think you're in love with him?"

And if that wasn't all the motivation Tony needed to lose his shit. He span around, ignored the pain in his ankle and launched himself at Barnes. The solder was ready, throwing him away like a piece of trash. Tony bounced up, ran at Barnes and ducked a punch, landing one to the soldier's stomach. But it did little damage.

Barnes' fist connected with Tony's face and for a moment, his vision went black. He staggered away, giving himself a split second to recover and enough time to dodge the second punch, one that would have undoubtedly knocked him unconscious.

Blows were traded back and forth, and to his credit, Tony held his own, matching blow for blow and never giving up. Dropping to a crouch, he swung around and kicked Barnes' legs out from under him, straddled his hips and swung both fists repeatedly into Barnes' face.

His arms began to tire, his knuckles ached deeply, and his ankle screamed in protest. Finally, panting for air, his punches weakened until he might as well have been a kitten trying to be vicious. Barnes shoved him aside, fist raised and rage written all over his features.

Tony just stared, unable to bring himself to raise his arms in defence and locked his eyes with Barnes'. "Murderer," he whispered.

Something flickered in Barnes' eyes and he surveyed Tony, as if realising for the first time the amount of damage caused, and horror entered those blue eyes. "What…?"

Tony coughed and spat blood, wriggled out from under Barnes and shakily climbed to his feet. "There my point is proven. The Winter Soldier is still inside you. The murderer is still there," he rasped.

He hobbled out of the gym and into the elevator, collapsing into his room and laying on the floor, his entire body throbbing in agony. He vaguely heard the doors of his room open, someone shouting for help, FRIDAY's voice through the speakers and then nothing as he fell into unconsciousness.

So! We have our first bit of real action between our little scrappers. I can give a tiny spoiler in that the next chapter will be purely from Bucky's point of view, which I am hoping will be a welcome change, though it will quickly shift back to Tony in the chapter after.

Thank you again to everyone that has stood by me and understood that I simply haven't had the time to work on this. Hopefully I now have the balance between working on this, and working on my book sorted out and an update won't be left for so long!