Steve avoided the dagger thrown at him, but was distracted for the split of a second - long enough for them to escape. However, he thought his mind was playing him a rick. "...Buck...?" He asked quite surprised. He...couldn't possibly be alive. He saw him fall, after all. He shook his head. It had to be a trick of his mind. The archers where already firing at the four fleeing people, who obviously were from the rebels. That would get him a headache later. He could already feel it. There was too much that just didn't fit in his view of how the rebels should/would act.
(He also noticed how bad the aim of the current archers were...ah, he remembered the good times when Barton still taught archery. He was the best marksman he knew and was sad that he retired.)
"What are you waiting for, you imbeciles! Go, get them!" Stane had already called as soon as the four started their escape, so some guards where following them suit. "Rogers! What are you waiting for? Follow them!"
"My lord, i thought i should plan the offense-" Steve really didn't want to follow them. Part of his mind still believed it was Bucky.
"I don't care about that, someone else can do it. I said, go get them and bring me their heads! "
Dutifully, but not happy about it, Rogers left and followed them, even though they had quite the lead.
"Really smart guys!" Sam hissed, making sure the unconscious girl in his arms wouldn't get hurt.
"Shut up and run!" Natalia called, turning a sharp corner while James pushed over some of the stands.
"Now what?" Wilson was going crazy on the inside. This isn't his kind of day.
"Left!" the Winter Soldier called and as they turned, they quickly yelped and turned back and made a dash down another street before any of them could get hit with an arrow.
"Okay, now what?" the Falcon just repeated what he said.
"Hey! Stop them!" came a yell and the trio cursed, making another turn and unconsciously running back towards the castle.
"Shit!" Nat hissed as she saw Rogers from a distance.
"Here!" the male assassin dragged the other two into a narrow street.
There were people running and scream as they were passing by, and surely they'd tell them where they saw the roughs run to.
"We need to get out!" the Widow took an empty bottle and threw it at a guard before she and the Wanda carrying Sam rushed past a fence.
"James?!" Natalia stopped and turned when she saw her friend shutting the gate.
"Go! I'll find you!" he needed to get them some time, no matter the cost.
The two assassins shared a final look before the male turned back from where they came and rushed off, the footsteps of the guards following him.
"Nat, we need to go!" Sam urged and nodded to the exit.
"Right," she swallowed and followed Wilson out, both of them looking for anywhere to hide.
"..."
"Captain Rogers?"
Steve stood in front of the gate for a moment, before turning to where he saw someone running. "Someone look for anyone outside of that gate. Take a group of six. The rest follows those who are running into this direction" he commanded. He himself followed the man who was running - even though he couldn't properly see how many people took that direction.
The Bartons meanwhile sat at the dining table and enjoyed a nice soup Laura made. Cooper and Clint had finished stacking wood, which would probably last a few weeks until they would need to get more wood. After dinner, the kids said good night to their mother and Clint tucked them in.
"Papa? Can you teach me archery tomorrow?"
"You're asking me that every day, Cooper."
"Yeah. I am. And?"
"Maybe." Clint smirked, as Cooper pouted. "You answer that every day..."
"Yeah i do. Enough now. Sleep. I need your help tomorrow, we need to thresh the corn." He kissed his kids good night before going downstairs to his wife, who just finished the dishes.
"I think i will go to bed early today, Clint. Don't stay up too late, okay?"
"Sure honey." He kissed her, before she left. Then, deciding it was too early to go to bed too, he started to make some new arrows, or to be more precise, make some more shafts of the arrows.
"Nat?" Sam asked over his shoulder, asking for directions.
"Straight ahead!" she called, seeing a barn with horses.
"Finally!" the two quickly snuck inside and heard voices not too far behind.
"Find them! They couldn't have gotten far!" one of them called.
"We better move," the Falcon muttered as they saw some of them come their way.
"We're not leaving without James!" she quietly hissed.
"You think I want to? Unless we get out of here, we're gonna get captured!"
"I don't-" before they could finish arguing, the doors were thrown open and the guards came in.
"We found them!" they called, swords and spears at the ready.
With Wanda still out, outnumbered, outgunned and with hardly any way to escape, the two rebels didn't have much of a choice but to put their hands in the air and surrender.
'Left, right, right, left,' James kept saying in his head, focusing on running as he heard the calls from behind. That was a good thing – I meant his plan worked. He had also managed to pull up his hood, being able to stop for a moment and blend in before running again.
Now he just had to loose these guys and find his friends. But that was all easier said than done as something hit him hard and smacked him into a wall.
It happened to fast to know, but he sure as hell knew it wasn't a normal attack. When he managed to get out of the wall and see clearly, there was a huge, blonde man in a cloak-armor mixture of attire. Taking out his sword, he planned to fight this guy off, until the squad of guards that was following him caught up.
Clint had heard some unusual noise. Like, at this time of the day usually nobody was so loud at the feet of this hill. So, the Archer got up, snatched his gear (and his sword back from when he was a soldier) and made his way down to his barn. Arriving there, he saw too many people he didn't know. He heard the last bit of the conversation - well, basically just what the guards (guards? Why were guards on his ground?) had said.
"Yeah. And i found you. In my barn. Can you explain that to me?" Clint therefore snarled, pointing an arrow at the men (and women). Two guards turned around. "Barton? Is that you?"
"Yeah, it's me. What are you and your men doing here, Morris?"
"Hey man, I'm sorry - we had no idea you were living here..."
"Cut the crap, you know exactly where i live. I've seen some of you sneak around here, and when i asked why they said they wanted to get me back to teaching."
Morris, the eldest of the relatively young guards sighed.
"Can't deny that..."
"Great. Put your weapons on the ground. Now. Everyone." The guards complied hesitantly, and Sam laid his weapons to the ground too. Clint only now saw past the guards and recognized him, but kept silent. When everyone had put his (or her) weapon down, he lowered his bow too. "Good. And now, Morris, leave this barn. Whatever you searched for, it isn't here. That unconscious lady there is my niece-"
"You got siblings?" Morris interrupted.
"A brother. Anyway. She's my niece and her friends were nice enough to not leave her in the next bar and let her get raped by some drunken idiots. Leave before i change my mind and use you as my next target-practice." -he had to admit, the story with the niece was improvised, but he knew Sam, and knew that he was a good man, so trusting him, he provided some cover.
Steve finally caught up. "Thor?"
"Ah, my friend. Long time not seen. I caught the man who were running from you."
As the hood was pulled deeply into the mysterious-Bucky-look-alike-runner's face, Steve put the doubts about this man's identity into the far back of his mind. "We need to get him to the dungeon."
And that's what they did. A bit later Steve told Stane what had happened. "So far nothing about the remaining three."
"...well, better than nothing. He will hang tomorrow afternoon. Let that be announced. We need to make an example for every traitor and rebel out there." Stane grumbled and send a message-boy away to let it be announced.
As the guards left, Nat quickly grabbed her weapons again, on her feet and pointed the swords at Clint.
"Who the hell are you? And why did you help us?" she quickly narrowed her eyes before Sam put a hand on her shoulder.
"It's fine…" he whispered and looked for his leader to the archer.
"…He's an old friend," he had put Wanda on the straw so he was sure she'd be okay.
"It's been a while hasn't it Barton? How's the normal life working for you?" Wilson felt kinda nostalgic, seeing his old friend again.
"Care to explain?" Natalia hesitatingly lowered her weapons before biting her lip.
"Never mind. We need to see where James is," she felt angry and worried at the same time.
As the guards cuffed and pushed him along, James cast a quick glance at Rogers, before closing his eyes and allowing himself to lead away. His whole body hurt and the guards weren't exactly gentle.
When they arrived at the dungeons, he was shoved into a single cell, hitting the ground.
"Pfff, rebels… They're all just a bunch of weaklings," the guards taunted before closing the cage and leaving, their laughter following them.
"Wonderful Barnes…" he muttered. He was lucky so many seemed to ignore his metal arm and think of it as armor, so he managed to break the rope his hands were tied with.
But as he tried to do the same with the metal bars, he found it a bit difficult.
"Naturally… reinforced steel… This is the Iron Kingdoms prison after all…" he sighed and leaned with his back and head against the cold, stone wall.
"And now I'm gonna die… again…" he closed his eyes and hoped to God his friends at least made it out alive.
"You're welcome for saving your ass" Clint grumbled, before turning to Sam. "It's working well. Less pain-in-the-ass-students with no patience or talent, let alone skill. We're happy here, so i would like to know why exactly some rebels sit in my barn and cause me problems. You owe me for that, by the way. And you, lady, should calm down first." Clint looked at the woman with the red hair who oh-so-gratefully had nearly cut his throat. "When guards were following you, you must come from the town, which is roughly two hours away, if you walk. You should drink something, maybe eat a bit. I will get you something. Be quiet and wait." He left the barn and got some water and soup for the three - he didn't knew if the other young woman would wake up, though.
"Don't tell me to calm down! I need to find my friend!" she hissed, worry washing over her. James said he'd be here...
"I get that. It's painfully obvious. But still, you're rebels. If they got him, he will hang. But not this evening. Stane likes to make a show out of everything." Clint said, returning with the food and water. "Get out of your temper and start to think." -well, forgive him for being in a bit sour mood after discovering men he don't know on his land, close to his home, and nearly getting killed.
"We need to save him," she spoke through gritted teeth.
"Nat... Calm down... We go back there now? We're gonna get caught. Who'll save him then?" Sam put a hand on her shoulder and felt her relax slightly.
"...It's more than that and you know it..." she turned to the Falcon.
"You know Rogers will be there..."
Once again - like usually every morning - Clint was woken by the sun. Tiredly he sat up, rubbing his eyes. He had three rebels in his barn, one of them being a good friend.
"...so, we got visitors in the barn?" Laura asked between two yawns. Clint hadn't even realized that he had spoken out loud. "Ah. Yeah. We have. Sam Wilson is one of them, you might remember him-"
"Yes, i do. So, are they rebels?"
"Yes. But one of them is missing, and they want to search for him. He will hang today, i guess."
Laura sighed. "Get up, and bring them some breakfast. As long as they don't harm the children, it's fine." Clint kissed his wife. "Honey, you're an angle. Oh, last night there were guards. I told them the brown haired girl was my niece and her two friends brought her here so that she wouldn't get raped." Laura nodded. "Alright...go already...i will sleep another hour" Laura mumbled, as Clint nodded and left, taking some breakfast to the barn.
"Morning" he greeted.
"Morning Barton. Thanks for covering for us..."
"Yeah yeah...i will ride to the town and keep my ears open for what will happen to your friend. I guess they will announce it as soon as possible. You can stay here for the time being, as long as my children and my wife stay unharmed."
"Understood."
"Good. Till later." He left and rode to the town. As he thought, there was already an announcer doing his job. "Hear me people, as the resident ruler has an announcement to make: This afternoon a rebel will hang, as an example to what will happen with every other man or woman who defies the king."
Barton blended into the crowd and left, returning to his home and the barn, where he told what he had heard.
Steve had another sleepless night left behind. This time not because he was brooding over some plans, but more because he couldn't get rid of the feeling that the prisoner, the rebel, really was Bucky. However, he couldn't do anything for him, and visiting the prisoner in the dungeon would just raise suspicions. He still wanted to talk to him...but that wouldn't be possible, now that he was going to hang...