A/N: Sorry this chapter is so late! I been super busy with school and life and there hasn't been much time to write! This chapter picks up right where the last left off!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers

Chapter 11

"Who the hell is 'Bucky'?" The man asks in a mechanical tone.

Tony can literally hear the moment Steve's heart shatters. The blond takes a calming breath and steps forward as the other man, Bucky, takes a step back. "Bucky . . ."

"Stop calling me that!" The man exclaims in irritation as his hand hovers over the gun holster at his hip. "I am not 'Bucky.' I am the Winter Soldier, commander of the Spetsnaz under General Karpov."

The genius glances between the two former friends and gulps. "Guys, it's him . . . he's the first trial."

"You think?" Clint questions as he tightens his grip on his bow.

"Well, he is the only one around," Tony answers slightly annoyed. "Plus, this is Sergeant James Barnes, a soldier to the U.S. Army and he's Cap's friend. You don't get any better than that."

"So, what are you suggesting?" Natasha asks keeping both eyes locked on the enemy in front of them.

"I'm suggesting that we deal with this. How, though, is up for grabs," Tony responds before turning to Steve. "Cap, it's your call."

The soldier takes a deep breath before his eyes steel with determination. "We bring him in—alive."

"Bring me in?" Winter Soldier repeats in a mocking tone. "Do you really think that people like you will be able to accomplish such a task?"

Cap takes another step forward and glares. "You'd be surprised at what we can do."

"We'll just have to see about that," Winter Soldier responds in a confident tone. He raises his right hand into the air and snaps his fingers.

The Avengers stand in confused silence for a moment before dozens of combatants appear behind Winter Soldier, dressed in all black and armed with assault rifles and various other weapons of destruction. Luckily, Tony doesn't see any tanks in sight—a blessing really.

"Holy—" Clint exclaims as he loads an arrow into his bow.

"Brace yourselves!" Rhodey shouts.

"ATTACK!" Winter Soldier yells. The armed men let out a thunderous battle cry before charging towards the Avengers.

"You guys deal with the Spetsnaz; I'm going after Bucky," Cap orders, as the Avengers rush to intercept the soldiers.

"Be careful," Tony says, only for the other man to remain silent. "Cap!"

"I will," Cap responds in a neutral tone before charging towards Winter Soldier, who pulls a whip off his back that glows and crackles with electricity—the same weapon that Whiplash used on Tony a few years back.

The billionaire glances after his boyfriend with a concerned expression until the massive amount of soldiers surrounding him can no longer be ignored. Tony growls in annoyance as he takes out several enemies only for twice the number to reappear. The genius wants this battle to be over with as soon as possible because he's concerned about Steve and while the man can take care of himself, he gets more reckless in battle when his friends are involved.

Tony launches himself into the air to avoid a spray of bullets flying in his direction before taking out the soldier who fired at him. He turns to deal with the rest when he sees three rouge Spetsnaz approaching Cap, who's focused on his fight with Winter Soldier, from behind. "Steve, watch out!" He yells, accidently letting the blond's first name slip through. Iron Man sees Cap dodge Winter Soldier's kick before whirling around and throwing his shield, knocking the three Russians out.

The Winter Soldier's muscles lock up and he freezes. "Steve?" He says desperately. The brunet grabs his head and lets out a loud groan.

"Bucky?" Steve responds, shock written over his features.

Winter Soldier groans again before straightening his posture and unholsters the gun at his hip, aiming the weapon at Steve. "Nice try," he says before firing. Cap raises his shield to block the attack.

"JARVIS, what just happened?" Tony asks as he returns to eliminating the foot soldiers.

"It appears that the force that is controlling James Barnes is weakening," the AI responds.

"Cap, this is your window. Whatever has got a hold of your buddy is weakening," Tony announces over the comms.

"What do you want me to do?" Cap asks.

"Keep talking to him—maybe you'll trigger something that will free him," the genius responds.

"You think?" Steve responds, a sliver of hope slipping into his voice.

"We won't know unless we try," Tony says before dodging another attack.

"I'll see what I can do," Cap answers with determination.

"Do you really think it will work, sir?" JARVIS inquires.

The billionaire gulps. "For Steve's sake, I hope so."

The battle continues, each side not willing to forfeit. Natasha and Clint both run out of ammo and have resorted to hand-to-hand combat. Tony takes out three more Spetsnaz and sighs at the few dozen remaining. After this battle, he's never coming back to Russia again.

"Cap, how ya doin? Please tell me it's good news?" Clint asks as he ducks to avoid another attack.

"I think I—" Cap cuts himself off and jumps to avoid Bucky's next blow. "I think I almost got him." The soldier grunts and gives his friend a pitying look. "Sorry buddy," he says before a sickening crack is heard. Winter Soldier is disarmed and falls to the ground. Cap shakes out his hand and cringes at the crumped heap that is his friend. "He's down."

"Alright!—ACK!" Clint exclaims as he's knocked down when one of the Spetsnaz hits him with the butt of his gun. Natasha sneaks up behind the enemy and delivers a roundhouse kick to the side of his head.

"I've got an idea," Tony says as he lands and knocks out a few soldiers with his gauntlets. "Rhodey, land for a minute, will ya?" Rhodey complies without a word and the billionaire says, "Thor, bring the thunder."

"Did you really just do that?" Rhodey asks in a disbelieving tone.

The God raises his hammer into the air and storm clouds appear before lightning descends on the soldiers. Each one screams in terror for several seconds before falling silent and collapsing unmoving to the ground.

A hushed calm appears over the land and Clint sighs with relief. Hulk transforms back into Bruce and Natasha brings him some warm clothes she previously found in a cabin before all the fighting started.

Tony glances over the team and deems them fine before walking over to Steve and clasping his shoulder with one armored covered hand. "You did good, Cap."

Steve closes his eyes as a fond smile creeps on his features.

Tony lifts his faceplate and looks at the other man. "Are you okay?"

Steve nods and opens his eyes. "A few minor bruises, but I'll heal in a few hours and that's not what you meant, is it?"

"Nope," Tony responds.

Cap sighs. He pulls off his mask and glances down at his friend with a saddened expression. "Once we get to the bottom of what happened and get Bucky back on our side, I'll be fine." He turns his head to look at Tony. "Are you okay?"

The genius moves his hand from Steve's shoulder to the middle of his back. "Yeah, just some minor damage to the armor. Their guns aren't as powerful as their propaganda."

Steve snorts loudly which causes Tony to chuckle. The blond turns into their half embrace, resting his chin on Tony's armored covered shoulder, which must be freezing to the touch. The genius wraps his arm tighter around the soldier, offering his boyfriend the silent comfort that he needs.

A loud and pained groan erupts several minutes later that brings the two out of their quiet daze. They exchange a worried glance and hurry to Bucky's side, kneeling on either side of the man. Tony watches as Bucky pulls off his goggles and looks around, confused by his surroundings before his eyes fall on Steve's form. "Steve?" he says in a disbelieving tone, as if this whole situation is too good to be true.

Steve bites down on his lip, looking overwhelmed with happiness. "Hey Bucky."

Those words prompt Bucky to launch himself off the ground and bodily tackle Steve, knocking the man onto his rear in snow covered pavement. Bucky wraps his arms tightly around Steve's neck and buries his masked face into the man's shoulder. Steve pats Bucky on the back, a soft smile on his face.

"They told me you were dead," Bucky says his voice muffled by Steve's shoulder. "I didn't want to believe it, but . . . you didn't come."

Steve's smile falls and his features become shrouded with guilt and hurt. He glances at Tony, who can only offer him a sympathetic look in return at this moment.

Eventually, Bucky's hold on Steve loosens and he releases his friend before sitting on his heels and glancing over the blond's features. "Am I dreaming?" Steve shakes his head and remains silent. Bucky takes a shaky breath before pulling off his mask and glancing around. "Where are we?"

"Zima, in the Sakha Republic," Tony answers, making himself known. He watches Bucky turn and give him a suspicious yet curious look. The armored man gives him a friendly smile. "Tony Stark, I'm a friend of Steve's."

Bucky's eyes widen briefly and he looks between the engineer and the blond before chuckling and holding out his hand. "James Barnes—you can call me Bucky."

Tony shakes his hand before standing up. The other two men follow his example and the engineer takes the chance to glance over Bucky's features while the latter chats with Steve. Barnes looks worn and weary, probably from years of experimentation and torture. Despite his haggard appearance, his eyes are alight with youthful joy and he looks at Steve and the world around him as if he's seeing everything for the first time. The genius is pulled from his thoughts when Bucky says,

"Hey, did you know that bastard Skull is back? I remember runnin him outta town a while back. I woulda had him too, if I didn't lose him in that fucking storm," Bucky says, irritated.

Wait; didn't he hear Skull himself say something similar? "Do you remember what he was doing or when all this happened?" Tony prompts nervously.

A thoughtful expression floods Bucky's features for a moment before he snaps his fingers. "Yeah, he was testing out some foreign looking tech on some civilians," he scowls again. "I remember that clearly because the winter was harsh and people were dying quicker than they should have from "frostbite." That was in the early 1970s. I don't remember the exact month."

Tony and Steve exchange a worried look. "Fuck," Tony mouths out.

Bucky glances between the two men. "Did I say something wrong?"

"No, of course not," Tony responds, gently. "You just . . . confirmed something I've been wondering about . . . thank you."

"Just out of curiosity, Buck, how much do you remember?" Steve inquires.

Bucky shrugs, looking at the ground and fiddling anxiously with the mask in his hands. "Not much . . . just a bits and pieces. One thing I remember clear as day was a fellow named Dennis Smith. He was an American who was . . . uh, held prisoner for a while. When I was guarding him, he would talk with me and we talked about a variety of things, mainly about sports—apparently it's 2013 and Maryland has a team called the Ravens and they recently won the Super Bowl? He was very passionate and spoke highly of them . . ."

"What happened to him?" Steve asks concern written on his features.

"He died," Bucky declares ominously.

Steve takes a step towards his friend. "Bucky . . ."

"Hey, no, don't. It was a long time ago," Bucky says in a neutral tone. "I've had time to cope."

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" Steve asks.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just trust me on this one," Bucky responds, continuing to look at the ground.

"You know you can talk to me right? About anything?" Steve says.

"I know," Bucky answers, finally meeting Steve's eyes and giving his friend a tight smile.

Tony looks between the two men, feeling useless. Don't get him wrong, he does want to help, but he's not good with talking about serious subjects— one of the reasons why he avoided Pepper every time she wanted to talk about their relationship. That's probably why they didn't last long. "So," Tony begins, hoping to lessen the tense atmosphere. "Are you ready to see New York again?

Bucky gets a surprised look on his face before his eyes shine with delight. "I get to go with you?"

"Of course," Tony says in an obvious tone hoping to disguise the fact that his heart shattered at that sentence.

"If you ladies are done gossiping," Rhodey begins announcing his presence. "Can we go? The others are already on the Quinjet and I'm starting to chafe."

"I told you that if you're not going to wear an under suit, you need to use baby powder on your inner thighs before going long periods of time in the armor," Tony scolds.

"Well, excuse me for thinking we were gonna be in and out, mom," Rhodey says, lifting his faceplate and emphasizing his tone with a glare.

"You're excused," Tony retorts.

"Why you—"

"Hey!" Clint says over the comms in an annoyed tone. "Let's go! Natasha told me I can't shit until we take off so hurry up and get back here!"

"Is he always like this?" Bucky asks in a confused voice.

"Pretty much," Steve responds with an eye roll. He bends at the waist to pick up his shield. Tony wolf-whistles, which causes Rhodey to snort, and Bucky to laugh loudly. The blond stands again, shield in his hand. He has a frown on his face, while his eyes are alight with amusement. "Tony . . ." he begins trying to feign exasperation and failing.

"Not sorry," the engineer replies with a grin.

Steve snorts and shakes his head fondly before wandering away from the three men, and setting a course for the Quinjet.

"Wow, guys, doesn't Steve's ass look simply divine in those tights," Tony exclaims loudly, which causes Rhodey to snort. Steve's response is to turn and look at Tony through half-lidded eyes and a flirty smile on his lips.

Hm, two can play at this game. Tony wets his bottom lip with his tongue before biting down on his lip and giving his boyfriend a come-hither look with his eyes. The blond obliges, taking slow, purposeful steps towards his lover.

"Oh shit—Stevie-poo, when did you get game?" Bucky exclaims proudly.

The soldier halts mid-step, expression quickly changing from seductive to aghast. "Oh no, don't you dare bring back—"

"Stevie-poo? Oh shit yes, I'm gonna have to use that," Tony declares with an amused grin.

"Oh no," Steve says, horrified. "You guys are teaming up on me."

"Hey, if you and Rhodey are gonna do it to me, Bucky and I can do it to you," Tony responds with a grin. When Steve frowns, the brunet says, "I love you."

A small smile graces Steve's lips. "I love you, too."

"Seriously, guys, I really have to poop, can you please just flirt on the plane?" Clint announces with a hint of desperation over the comms.

Tony sighs heavily, feigning annoyance. "Fine, we're coming, you impatient fucker." To the three men standing with him, he says, "Let's go."

Natasha flies the team back to New York. She lands on the Helipad atop Stark Tower. Everyone exits the jet still in uniform except for Rhodey and Tony, who both shed their armor and redressed in their civilian clothes. The team stand on the Helipad chatting amongst themselves before Bucky gets a depressed look on his face and turns to walk away from the Avengers.

"Hey, Buck, where are you going" Steve asks in a troubled tone.

"I got nowhere to go, Steve, "Bucky answers with a depressed look on his face. "I gotta start looking for a place."

Tony shrugs. "Why not stay here?"

Bucky furrows his brow. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's cool," the genius responds. "Hell, I'll even extend the invite to Rhodey since he'll be offended if I don't offer."

"You're damn right," Rhodey says crossing his arms and nodding.

"Aww!" Clint cooed sliding over and pinching Tony's cheek between his thumb and index finger. "I knew you were a good guy!"

Tony raises an eyebrow. "By you pinching my cheek, I assume you're prepared to lose that hand?"

Clint squeaks and quickly hides behind Natasha, who rolls her eyes.

The billionaire shakes his head and turns back to Bucky and Rhodey. "So, what do you say?"

"Look, I'm in," Rhodey answers immediately.

"Yeah, me too," Bucky responds with a grateful smile. "Thank you."

Tony shrugs. "No problem. There's plenty of room—too much in fact." He feels a warm hand rest on his lower back, which causes him to smile. Steve . . .

"Looks like someone's getting some tonight," Clint whispers hoarsely, causing Natasha to snort and Rhodey to howl with laughter. Steve glares at Clint and the archer just shrugs and grins.

"I'm done—I'm so fucking done," Rhodey exclaims in between bouts of laughter. "That was so good, but I am done. I'm gonna get something to eat—woo lord . . ." He turns and heads for a small-enclosed room not far from the team, which contains the elevator.

"Hey! Don't touch my pie!" Bruce says before following the man.

"Nor my tarts that pop!" Thor agrees before following Bruce.

"Hey Bucky," Tony says, changing the subject and catching the man's attention. "This might sound weird, but would it be alright if JARVIS scans you to make sure everything in your brain is working properly." At Bucky's suspicious and offended look, the genius adds, "You don't even have to come to the lab. JARVIS can scan you from everywhere and it's completely harmless. It's just a precaution to make sure that the technology the Russian's used to control your mind is eradicated."

Bucky gives the genius a look of approval before it switches to one of confusion. "What is a JAR-VIS?"

"Basically, he's a—" Tony pauses. "The Tower talks."

The soldier gives Tony an impressed look. "Well what do ya know!"

Tony opens his mouth to respond when Clint screams, startling the man. "Holy shit, Clint, what the hel—"

"I just realized I have an entire pizza downstairs and Rhodes is alone with it!" The archer jumps out from behind Natasha and runs to the elevator.

"Shall we gentlemen?" Natasha asks with a small smile.

"We shall," Bucky responds. He holds out his arm, which the woman takes as they head for the elevator.

"Smooth," Tony says impressed.

"Huh, why didn't I think of that?" Steve wonders aloud.

"As I recall, you were too busy with your tongue in my throat," Tony says with a smirk.

"Ton—" Steve sighs. "What's the point?" He murmurs before reluctantly following the brunet the elevator.

The elevator doors open and the five teammates exit into the common room and find the place empty, which is odd because Rhodey, Thor, and Bruce had previously come down. They enter the kitchen area and Clint immediately rushes to the fridge and throws open the door before growling in frustration. "That little bitch stole my fucking food!"

Tony rolls his eyes. "While you handle that, I'm heading to the lab. I better not find any bodies when I come back up."

"No promises," Clint responds in a clipped tone.

"Just so you know I'm not bailing you out again." Tony turns to head for his lab when he feels Steve tug on his shirtsleeve. He glances up at the man with a curious expression.

"I'll come down later, okay?"

The genius gives Steve a soft smile. "Okay." He rises to his tiptoes and gives his boyfriend a quick peck before sliding out of his grip and descending the stairs to his lab. He punches in the code and opens the door. Tony enters his lab and claps his hands twice. "Honey, I'm back~"

"Very amusing, sir," JARVIS deadpans.

Dummy chirps happily and rolls over to Tony, stopping at the man's side. The billionaire smiles and pats the robot. "Hey boy, I see you're behaving yourself for once."

The robot chirps proudly.

Tony shakes his head and walks over to his workbench with Dummy following loyally behind him. He plops down in one of his lab chairs and glances over at the monitors in front of him. "JARVIS, I need you to, run a scan of James Barnes in real time."

"Are we searching for anything in particular?"

"Mainly to make sure that the people who brainwashed him aren't still lurking around. Go ahead and check for anything else you might think of."

"Right away, sir."

The AI falls silent. Tony attempts to focus on the monitors in front of him, but he's distracted by his thoughts of the battle and Bucky. Something about his and Steve's earlier conversation with the other brunet doesn't seem right. "JAR, I need you to look up someone for me—Dennis Smith. He was in contact with Barnes while he was under control by the Russians."

"One moment," JARVIS responds. A few seconds later, a variety of windows open on the screens in front of Tony. "Dennis Smith was born in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1992. He was attending college and studying abroad in Russia at the time of his disappearance. His classmates have said that the last time they heard from him was in March of this year. His body was discovered in Moscow on July 15th, 2013."

Tony's eyes widen. "Shit, that was just last month." He remembers Bucky mentioning earlier that he only remembers bits of what happened to him, which sounded suspicious to Tony. He's thinking that the Russian's either hypnotized Bucky into forgetting certain events or the man is lying about how much he remembers. Based on Tony's personal experience, he's betting heavily on the latter. "Is there any other information on Dennis?"

"If by that you mean, is there anything about how he was captured and what happened while he was imprisoned then I'm afraid I have no further information."

"Fuck," Tony mouths out. He rests his elbows on the table in front of him and runs his hands through his hair.

"What do you want to do with this information, sir?"

"We make sure no one finds out that we know especially Bucky or Steve. In fact, make Steve the top person on the list to not find this out," Tony announces.

"Sir, I thought you said—"

"I know what I said," Tony snaps before sighing. "Look, I know that Steve and I agreed to be honest with each other before we started this whole relationship thing but, I can't tell him this—it's not my place. The only person who has the right to tell Steve is Bucky."

"That's actually quite mature of you, sir."

"Yeah, well," Tony says while rolling his eyes. "I don't feel mature." The billionaire's phone suddenly goes off, which startles the man. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out the device before accepting the call without checking caller ID. "Hel—"

"Stark, I need you to come in."

"—lo to you too, Director. What can I help you with?"

"There's an issue with our servers and we can't seem to figure out the problem."

"Gee, there's a shocker."

"I don't have time for games, Mr. Stark. Now, shut your smart mouth and get to base."

Fury hangs up and Tony gives his phone an offended look before sighing.

He slides his phone back into his front pocket and continues looking over the monitors, reading more about Dennis, when he's brought out of his thoughts by a loud crash. He looks up and sees Dummy attempting to pick up the toolbox he knocked over. The genius blinks. "I really will donate you to any elementary school, just you watch." Dummy hangs his arm in shame and Tony rolls his eyes.

"Sir, James Barnes's results are in."

"And?"

"There is no evidence of outside influence in Mr. Barnes's brain at the current moment. Everything appears to be functioning normally."

Tony sighs. "That's a relief. We'll have to keep an eye on him, though, just to be safe."

"Of course, sir."

The genius reluctantly stands and heads upstairs. He hears voices flowing from the kitchen and follows them before finding Steve and Bucky sitting across from each other with mugs placed in front of them—it smells like they're drinking tea. Tony scrunches his nose and gently hits Steve on the arm.

The blond looks up at Tony. "Hey," he says before giving the billionaire a concerned look. "You okay?"

"Fury wants me to go into Shield," Tony says, rolling his eyes. The director always wants something when it's inconvenient for everyone else.

Steve gives Tony a sympathetic look before patting him on the shoulder. "It's okay, Tony. You go ahead, we'll be okay."

"Aw, you just want me to go, so you can talk about me to Bucky," Tony teases with a smile.

"I wasn't—" Steve begins.

"You totally were about too," Bucky says, ignoring Steve's glare. "I want all the details." He leans forward in his seat and looks Steve in the eye. "All of them."

"No," Steve says, sharply. Bucky responds with a smirk that says he is getting the information out of Steve one way or another.

The billionaire rolls his eyes fondly at their banter. "Fine, while you two lovebirds catch up, I'm going to deal with Fury and try not to throw myself off the Helicarrier." He goes to give Steve a kiss on the cheek, but the soldier turns his head and presses their lips together gently. The brunet smiles into the kiss and slides his tongue against Steve's teasingly before pulling away. "I'll see you later?"

"Okay," the blond responds.

"Barnes," Tony deadpans.

"Stark," Bucky retorts.

The two hold blank looks for a beat before bursting into laughter. Bucky waves goodbye to Tony, as the brunet heads for the landing pad to slide into his armor and head for Shield Headquarters.

A/N: I had to give a shoutout to the Ravens! I had too! :P lol. I hope you guys enjoyed! I hope that I'll be able to update soon!