"This is it. We have to do something."

It had been four days since an upset Scott had stopped Sam from going in.

He could see a glimpse of the Falcon in his stealth suit; black and dulled silver, creeping towards the base. Sam was cautious, receiving direction from Sharon, weighing his risks. Scott ran in ant form until he was a few feet away, then yelled up at his friend so he wouldn't be startled when he popped up in human size.

"Hey, tic-tac. Good to see you're still goin' strong. Where's Steve..." Sam's grin faded as he realized that Scott was sickly pale...and shaking. "What's wrong?"

"Turn off your earpiece."

"What? What happened? Why?"

"Just do it so I know." Scott swallowed, then almost choked.

Sam's brow furrowed in concern. "Know what man, what's goin' on?"

"I swear on my life, Sam, turn it off!" The desperation in Scott's eyes was easy to detect. Rookies were like that. Sam had seen the same look in the eyes of countless new recruits and first deployments. Once you'd been damaged enough, it kind of fogged over, lost its freshness. It was still there, but the person behind it was hardened. Scott hadn't reached that point. Sam hoped he never would.

"Okay," Sam replied in a softer voice. He told Sharon to hold on, then pulled his earpiece out. "What's wrong?"

"Sharon's HYDRA."

"What the hel-ck are you talking about?"

"She led us straight into a trap with Zemo waiting on the other end. She lied to me over coms, told me it was clear from there on out. Now Cap's taken and it's my fault for falling for it." Scott didn't want to seem sensitive, but this was not how he imagined his first mission with the team. He never meant for it to go this way. Steve was in danger now because of him. "She...she betrayed us." It was shocking, angering that he didn't see through the lie. He wanted to yell, cry, kick something. Instead, he looked at Sam weakly. "Tell me you're not HYDRA too."

Sam put his hand on Scott's shoulder. "Look, man, Sharon's not HYDRA. She never told you guys to keep going. I was on coms too, I heard what she said. She tried to warn you! Your connection got cut and we've been trying to get it back since. I was about to go in after you two."

Relief poured over Scott's expression. "Well, if it wasn't her and it wasn't me, who was it?"

"I don't know." He sighed, stepping back. "Probably some nasty trick of someone in HYDRA. Crossbones or something. He's good at that sort of thing - making people trust him. Probably capable of intercepting the coms too." Sam clenched his fist. "I got a fight to pick with that guy."

"Whoever it was, they're going down."

Sam smiled at the determination in Scott's tone. "That's what I'm talkin' about. So where's Steve?"

"Taken. HYDRA probably has him in some holding cell by now. I would be in there too, but he jumped our guards and made me leave. I didn't want to, but I figured I could come back for more help that I could give alone."

"Yeah, that, and there's no arguing with Steve once he makes up his mind. So he's not...down, is he?"

"I heard gunshots on the way out."

"That could mean anything. Was he in a position that they would shoot to kill? What kind of shots did they sound like?"

Scott hesitated. "I don't think he's dead. Zemo was planning something big. I overheard something about interrogation; I think that's where we were supposed to go."

"I have to believe he's alive," Sam said as they walked towards where the helicarrier was hidden in the woods. "I can't believe he would go down so easy."

But that was four days ago.

Since then, Clint had arrived. Now, they just had to figure out how to get him out. Conditions had changed; HYDRA was amping up their security and they had barely been able to remain undiscovered.

"This is it. We have to do something." Sharon paced the floor, her frustration evident. They should have been in days ago.

"How much time do we have?" asked Clint, strumming his bowstring and glancing at the other's expressions.

"Knowing Steve, he won't give in or give up, so as far as information goes, an eternity. The question is, how much time do we have before he's too far gone?"

"He's a super soldier, isn't he? I hate to point it out, but can they kill him easily? I mean it's hell, but can he break?" Scott despised the concept of letting their friend stay in HYDRA's hands, but it was a valid question.

"It's not only a question of getting Steve back before his body gives out. I'm afraid of him being mentally gone," said Sharon, trying unsuccessfully to draw up a plan of how to save her best friend without severe consequences.

"You may not have seen him before it happened, but he hasn't been the same since SHIELD fell. It did some nasty stuff to his brain. A man can only take so much." Clint stood and walked the to the cockpit and back. He shook his head. "Throw in your best friends turning against you, and that does stuff to you. Stuff you can't just get rid of. We have to get him out as soon as we can."

"No one disagrees on that," Sam interjected. "That's not the point. The point is how. How do we get ourselves in and come out with him and Bucky alive?"

"What's the status of Steve's friend, Scott?" asked Clint.

"I don't know. If HYDRA took over our supposedly super secure coms, I wouldn't put it past them to have completely reprogrammed Bucky as well."

Sharon rubbed her temples, trying to concentrate. She had known this mission would go wrong. How could it have gone right? Oh, Steve, why? Why are you in there and not on that date you promised me? Why aren't we dressed as civilians and eating a nice dinner and seeing a movie and holding hands as you walk me home? Why can't we just be normal, be together, be happy?

"Sharon?" Sam gently called her back to reality. Her mind wandered easily when she was trying to avoid panic.

"Yeah? Sorry. So, we know he's being interrogated?"

"It's our best bet," sighed Scott, "and his worst one."

"I would imagine they'd use Bucky against him, wouldn't they?" Clint asked, a glint in his eye. He remembered the days Loki brainwashed him and turned him against his friends. It wasn't fun, but it wasn't his fault. Same thing here, which made the whole thing even more complicated. They couldn't just take one of them out. They had to save both.

"Of course. This whole thing was a trap. Steve knew that from the beginning, but it was one Zemo knew he couldn't resist, whether he knew what could happen or not."

"Is this all the backup we're getting?" interrupted Sam. "I mean, no offense to my wingman here, but it's us against an entire army of agents with machine guns."

"Your 'wingman,' huh?" Clint muttered with eyebrows raised. "At least I came."

"Guys! Steve is in there right now, probably terrified, probably being tortured in some way and we're not jumping in to save him?" Scott clenched his fist in exasperation. "I mean, I'm new to this whole Avenger thing, but isn't saving people what superheroes do?"

"Everybody shut up!" Sharon collapsed into a chair and put her head in her hands. The men stood awkwardly, waiting in silence as she sat and sat, not looking up, not saying a word. At one point, Sam wondered if she had fallen asleep. She finally raised her head, her eyes a little redder and more watery than before, her cheeks flushed pink.

"I've got it." Her expression was daunting, as if she could shoot someone down with her eyes.

"Got what?"

"A plan."