"What the hell Steve!" Natasha said fiercely, being the first to break the silence.
Steve pushed himself up into a sitting position, too busy trying not to huff noticeably to be embarrassed by the ridiculous maneuver he had just pulled off. Running and jumping like that was not good for his asthmatic body, Steve was so used to being able to push his body past human limits that he had forgotten how easily tired he got. He hoped he didn't have an asthma attack because he didn't have an inhaler and he doubted any of the others had one either.
"Do you have an explanation for that?" Tony asked, brows raised.
Steve took a deep breath to steady his breathing, after a moment it became less ragged and he was finally able to speak without wheezing.
He let out a small cough before he started to get to his feet. When Clint noticed his slight unsteadiness as he stood up he grabbed his arm and helped him get to his feet.
"I think you know why." Steve said through still heavy breaths.
A look of guilt flashed across all four of the people around him for at least a second. This confirmed what Steve had already known. His fellow Avengers, his teammates had known where the man he had been looking tirelessly for was and they had kept it from it intentionally. Steve still didn't know Bruce, Clint and Tony all that well, but Steve and Natasha had been through a lot, they'd saved each other's lives. Not only that but Natasha knew how much Bucky meant to him, she had been there when he had first realized his best friend was alive. She had been the one to get the file from Kiev for him, in order to aid him in his search. And despite that, she hadn't said a word about knowing where he was to him, she'd kept quiet just like the other Avengers, just like Fury.
"How did you find out?" Natasha asked quietly.
"It doesn't matter." Steve answered angrily.
"I think we know why we didn't tell you now." Tony said with his arms crossed over his chest.
Steve shot him a dirty look.
"If it weren't for your...current condition we wouldn't have kept it from you." Bruce assured Steve, though he didn't find it all that comforting.
"We didn't want you to do anything rash. We knew how you'd react." Natasha told him.
At the moment, Steve didn't care if they were right. He was too irate about being lied to stop and consider whether they're reasoning was sound or not, he just wanted to be upset.
"Had you have just told me-"
"What? Would you really have acted any differently?" Tony asked, not expecting him to answer because he was already sure he knew.
Steve imagined Natasha coming to him and telling him that they knew where Bucky was at. He could see himself requesting Fury let him go and when he was denied, he saw himself doing the exact same thing he had just done. Steve tried to ignore this thought, he didn't want Tony to be right about him.
"We need to bring him back." Natasha said, speaking to Clint mostly.
Steve couldn hardly believe what he was hearing. She just wanted to bring him back, like a little kid that had snuck out of his bedroom at night while his parents were throwing a party in the living room. She didn't even say it to him, she was speaking about him while he was in the room, the same way you would with a child.
"We can't turn around now, we don't have the time." Clint told Natasha.
"We can't go with him." Tony said, jutting a thumb towards Steve who was just standing there, dumbfounded by how much difference a few inches and some muscle mass could make in whether people cared about your opinion or not.
"We don't really have a choice, he may already have the staff and be gone by the time we show up if we turn around." Clint stated with a head shake.
So that was it, the true reason they hadn't said anything about Bucky to him. It wasn't just because they were afraid he'd do something drastic, it was because they thought he was going to try to steal the scepter and use it for some sort of ill intent. They were planning on having to fight Bucky, possibly kill him for it.
"I'm not going back," Steve said loudly, silencing all discussion between the other Avengers. "And you're not going to touch him."
"Steve-" Natasha started but Steve didn't let her finish.
He walked up to the front of the quinijet and sat in the empty pilot's seat. He could feel the eyes on the back of his head but he remained facing forward with his arms over his chest.
