Tony Stark always wanted to know who the Soldier was. Now is his chance to get to know one Bucky Barnes. But is that really what he wants?

This is the beginning of the end, guys. I plan to wrap this up in four chapters but it can easily be five. The following chapters all belong together so there will be no more individual summaries for them. I hope you enjoy it.

Tony was woken up by an alarm that he had never heard in his whole life.

He groaned and after a quick glance at the clock he put his head under the pillow. It had only been seven hours since the Soldier had left, four since he'd gone to bed, and he was pretty sure that he had no meetings today. There should be no alarm today.

He tried to ignore it but when the beeping didn't stop he groaned. "Jarvis. Make that stop!" The beeping continued but it was toned down a bit.

"Sir, I think you would like to look at that" Jarvis answered and in that moment Tony remembered what that special beeping was for.

When he had first installed Jarvis into his home he had set up an alert for the Soldier. If he was ever caught on tape Jarvis would notify him and start the alarm that was currently making too much noise. When Tony remembered that he finally sat up.

"Show me" he demanded without even bothering to get out of bad and Jarvis pulled up the recording of a street camera.

The Soldier was standing in the middle of the street and he was armed. He blew up a car and then went to rip off the door of said car but he obviously didn't find what he was looking for. A few seconds later he was collected by some people and they drove away before the police could arrive.

Tony replayed the video several times before he had the thought to ask who was in the car.

"Sir, that is Director Fury's car" Jarvis told him and wasn't that just the biggest surprise ever.

Tony had secretly suspected that the Soldier was working for Shield but that didn't seem to be the case.

"Jarvis, full access to all Shield server. Find out what Fury's status is and dig as deep as you can to find something about the Soldier."

The time for respecting the Soldier's privacy was totally over now. Tony was going to find out who the hell he worked for and then he was most likely getting him out of there. It took only a few minutes before Jarvis presented his findings.

"Sir, Director Fury's whereabouts are unknown. I could find nothing about the Soldier."

If no one knew where Fury was then that meant he wanted it that way. Which implied that something fishy was going on with Shield. Tony decided not to think too hard about the fact that the Soldier wasn't working for Shield.

"Who was the last person Fury had contact to?" Tony asked and a second later the image of Maria Hill flickered over the screen. "Where is she now?"

"On her way to Washington, Sir. Shall I contact her?"

Tony thought about that but in the end he decided against it. Shield would take care of Fury. He had to find out everything he could about the Soldier now.

"Was there no record of the Soldier before this happened?" Tony inquired and started to get dressed.

"No. But I only used video and photos as point of reference."

Tony tsked. It was time to dig deeper than that. "Search every accessible databank for descriptions of the Soldier. Concentrate on the metal arm, the mask and the leather."

"Certainly, Sir."

Tony went to his kitchen to fix himself some breakfast even though it was late in the day. While he waited for his toast he impatiently drummed his finger onto the counter. This was not good. The Soldier had told him that something was going to happen, he had known that something wasn't right, and Tony could only guess that he meant this.

If this truly was the first time that the Soldier made such a bold appearance in the open then it had to mean that something big was going down; something that would make the secretive nature of the Soldier's work obsolete.

"Jarvis, I also want you to keep an eye out for anything regarding Fury" Tony mentioned absentmindedly while he buttered his toast.

"I already set up a program for that" Jarvis answered but Tony barely acknowledged it, munching on his toast . His thoughts were still with the Soldier.

If whoever he worked for had kept him secret for the longest time and now shoved him out in the open it had to mean that his work was nearly done. That there would be no use for him anymore.

If that was really the case Tony had to do something. Bring him in, get him away from his handlers. But before he could do that he needed to know who exactly the Soldier was working for. He really hoped that Jarvis would find out more.

In the meantime he tried hard to concentrate on Mark 43 because he suspected that he would need a functioning suit soon enough.

When Jarvis finally announced that he had found something Tony let out a breath of relieve. It had taken so long that he had feared there was nothing to know about the Soldier.

"Show me" Tony demanded and Jarvis brought up everything he had found. It wasn't much, but what Tony could see was old.

"There is also a large part of the Shield database that I can't get into. It seems to be separated from the normal Shield server and it is very well hidden. I doubt anyone who didn't look would find it."

"Start finding a way in" Tony ordered and concentrated on the things Jarvis had found. Jarvis had started with the description but after he had found a few reports he had enlarged his parameters.

The oldest reports were only listed because they all had one thing in common: soviet slug, no rifling.

Tony quickly scanned over the reports and he counted over 24 deaths. They all were expertly executed, next to no collateral damage, and no one ever really saw the person who did it.

One report in particular caught Tony's eye because the acting agent there had been Natasha Romanoff. Tony examined that one a bit closer and there he read the name Winter Soldier for the first time.

It appeared in some other reports but when Tony let Jarvis search for that name nothing trustworthy came up. It seemed like a ghost story.

Tony spend the rest of the day with his research, letting Jarvis run different parameters through the databases but there was nothing more to be found. It really seemed like the Winter Soldier was a ghost story but since Tony knew better than that he kept going.

Late in the night Jarvis suddenly announced "Sir, Director Fury's file was just marked with KIA."

"Shit" Tony breathed. "Was it him?"

"There is no report."

Fuck. "Run a facial recognition program on the Soldier" Tony demanded and felt a bit bad. He had stayed out of the Soldier's personal life for so long but now it seemed like that time was over. He needed to know who he was to find out who he worked for. To get him out of this mess.

It did occur to Tony that maybe he shouldn't do this to keep the Soldier safe but to bring him in, get him to take responsibility for what he had done, but he disregarded that thought as soon as it came to him. All Tony could think of was to get him away from Shield so that they couldn't hurt him.

"Sir, due to the mask, not enough pointers could be set. The facial recognition failed."

Tony clicked his tongue. He couldn't do anything like this. He had always thought that the eyes of the Soldier somehow seemed familiar but if it was true that he had met him when he was just two then maybe he remembered that. Either way it wouldn't help him to find out who the Soldier really was, not with the little information he had.

Tony stayed the rest of the night in the workshop, trying to find more, and when his vision started to blur he got himself some coffee. He worked until he was sure that there was nothing more to find out about the Soldier because it turned out that he really was a ghost who barely left a trail. Tony had stared at the reports when the alarm went off again.

"Sir!" Jarvis exclaimed and he sounded urgent.

"Show me" Tony immediately replied and there he was.

On a bridge in the middle of traffic and just hoping off a car. Tony watched in shock as the Soldier took a grenade launcher and fired it at someone that looked suspiciously like Steve.

"Jarvis. Is that Cap?"

"Yes, Sir, it is. Agent Romanoff is there as well."

"I thought they were on a mission and not here. Why did no one tell me that?"

Jarvis stayed silent at that and Tony cursed. He knew he should immediately get his suit and fly over to help Cap but he was glued to the screen.

Tony was fascinated by the way the Soldier fought and it was the first time he saw the arm in action and it was beautiful. Also deadly and it should probably terrify Tony what the Soldier was capable of but he wasn't.

He closely watched the fight between Steve and the Soldier and they were evenly matched even though Steve didn't hold back and wasn't that interesting. The fight came to a stop when the Soldier lost the mask and Tony could see how Steve froze on the spot. It wasn't unlike himself because he recognized that man.

"Facial recognition starting now" Jarvis said but Tony didn't need that to know who the Soldier was.

"That's Bucky Barnes" he whispered and watched in horror as the Shield strike team took Steve into custody.

Steve didn't even seem to notice what happened, he was still staring at the point where the Soldier, Bucky, had vanished.

Tony knew from the stories of his father that those two had been best friends since childhood and Tony grew up with stories about them and the Howling Commandos. There had been pictures in his father's workshop. That's why he instantly knew the Soldier.

"Tell me about Bucky Barnes, J."

Jarvis recited the known dates and Tony peaked up when Jarvis talked about the imprisonment of Bucky.

"What happened there?" he asked and Jarvis pulled up all the files he could find.

If Tony read that correctly Arnim Zola had tried to recreate the serum and injected a lot of soldiers with it, including Bucky who was the only known survivor of those experiments. And it looked like the serum had worked. Bucky must have survived the fall from the train because of it and someone obviously found him. The only question was who.

Tony guessed he would find that out once he was in Washington. Before he could get into the suit though his phone rang.

"Sir, the call is from Director Fury."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "You said he is dead."

"The file said he is dead" Jarvis shot back and Tony rolled his eyes. He probably should have known better than to believe what Shield said. He should have learned his lesson after the thing with Coulson.

"Fine. Put him through."

"Stark" Fury greeted him and he sounded tired.

"Director. How is the afterlife treating you?" Tony asked but Fury didn't react to that.

"You can't come here."

"Excuse me? Steve just got arrested, by your men as I might point out. I think someone should come over there."

"Hill is already in place. And those are not my men. They belong to Hydra."

Tony blinked surprised. "Come again? Hydra as in Nazi-World-War-II-Hydra?"

"Yes. I need you to stay out of this."

"Okay just so that there are no misunderstandings: you are presumed dead, Steve and Natasha got arrested by Hydra and the Winter Soldier is Bucky Barnes and you don't want me to help."

Only now did Tony's brain make the connection between Hydra and the Winter Soldier and it didn't sit right with Tony that one of the Howling Commandos, Steve's best friend, was now used by them.

"Hill will get Steve out and we don't need you for the rest."

Maybe Tony wasn't an expert on strategy or on Steve Rogers but he was pretty sure that he wouldn't fight his best friend.

"Steve won't fight Bucky."

"He will fight long enough to save many lives" Fury answered and Tony narrowed his eyes.

"You don't expect him to walk away from this."

There was a prolonged silence on the other end but then Fury sighed. "No. This is not what he hoped for."

The gears in Tony's head started to turn and when he came to a conclusion he personally wanted to kill Fury. "You knew. You knew that the Soldier is Bucky and you didn't tell Steve because you hoped he would take him out before his identity was revealed."

The short silence on the other end was all the confirmation Tony needed but then Fury spoke again. "Steve is compromised. He won't fight to kill the Winter Soldier but the Winter Soldier will definitely do everything to kill Steve."

"What happened to Bucky?" Tony asked because he couldn't help it. He needed to know if he wanted to get him out of there.

"We will send you a file with everything we know. We hoped you could bring him in after this."

Tony would study that file until he memorized everything but he would certainly not bring Bucky in just to hand him over to Shield. If Bucky had been in Hydra's hands since he fell from the train he certainly deserved a break. Tony would not allow Shield to use Bucky as well.

"What about Cap?" Tony asked because he felt like Fury wanted to steer the conversation away from that.

"There is nothing we can do. He will want to take down Hydra and he probably won't fight the Winter Soldier. We don't need two of our people to die here."

Tony needed to sit down at that. "You are really going to sacrifice Captain America?"

"He is going to sacrifice himself. For the greater good. And after you brought Barnes in and he is on our side he will be Captain America."

Tony couldn't help but to admire Fury's efficiency even if he didn't agree with the plan. Steve was his teammate, maybe even his friend, and he didn't deserve this. And if Tony had any say in it the Soldier would not be a puppet to Shield.

But if Tony wanted to be involved in Fury's plan he had to play along, do as he was told, so that he could get to the Soldier first. And for that he needed that file. "What do you want me to do then? It will look suspicious that Iron Man is not there to help."

"We took care of that" Fury said and Tony could hear how smug he sounded. "Iron Man was seen in Japan not fifteen minutes ago. Everyone will understand that by the time you come back everything is over. You can help with the clean-up."

"You want me to pick up the pieces" Tony asked and he felt sick at that.

This whole plan was cruel and unnecessary. But it couldn't be helped, not if Tony wanted to help the Solider. Bucky. He should probably start calling him that now.

And while Tony was convinced that Steve wouldn't kill Bucky, not now after he knew who the Soldier really was, he wasn't so sure that Steve would allow Bucky to kill him. As far as he knew Cap he always found a way. And he was stubborn as hell.

"Yes. You will be the new leader of the Avengers and it makes for a good first public appearance."

Tony thought about that for a second, he weighed every option he had, but this seemed like the best if he wanted to help Bucky. He just needed to trust Steve that he would not get himself killed.

"Fine. Send that file."

Fury didn't respond to that, the last thing Tony heard before the connection was cut was Fury saying "About damn time" but a few seconds later Jarvis announced that the file arrived. Tony got himself another cup of coffee before he dug into that.

It was Hydra's file about the Winter Soldier and it only dated back to the beginning of December 1991. It was suggested that before that the Soldier had belonged to the USSR and was transferred to Hydra shortly before it was dissolved.

Tony felt nauseous when he read how Hydra, and before that the Russians, had treated the Soldier and he was really glad he was already sitting down.

There was no record of the arm which suggested that it had been attached before Hydra got him. Tony was torn between awe for whoever made that arm and being sick when he thought about how it was connected to the body. If that procedure took place before 1991 it couldn't have been pretty.

The file also explained why Bucky didn't recognize Steve during their fight and since Tony had done his research about nerves and the brain he understood exactly what Hydra had done to Bucky. It was a fairly advanced procedure but also unnecessary cruel. Tony could only imagine the pain that Bucky had to endure and even that was enough for Tony to gag and put his coffee away. He wished he had brought down something stronger.

After that Tony dreaded to read on but there were still so many pages left and he bravely went through them. Everything that was ever done to the Soldier was documented here, like the most horrifying resume ever, and even though it made him sick Tony could also see how he could help the Soldier.

The conditioning, because there was no better word for it, seemed already to fade if he took Bucky's hesitance to attack Steve after the mask was removed, into account. He was convinced that it would break over time if Hydra didn't get a chance to renew it in certain intervals and if he factored in the healing factor he should have it shouldn't even take that long.

Maybe it was already deteriorating and Bucky wouldn't fight Steve to kill but only to stop. Tony could at least hope.

Tony took a break from the file when he reached the list of assassinations that Bucky had carried out. It was long and Tony tried not to think about all the time before Bucky came to Hydra. This could only be a third of the killings he had carried out. Tony felt his stomach grumble and he realized that it had been some time since he ate but he wasn't sure if eating before going over that list was the best course of action. So instead he went to make more coffee, he pointedly stayed away from the alcohol, and while he waited for the machine to brew his coffee he compared the scarce notes of the arm from the file to his own.

It looked like Hydra had made their own plan of the arm when it needed to be repaired since they weren't provided with the original ones and Tony shook his head at the inaccuracy of it. He didn't understand how someone could look directly into the arm and still get it so wrong. Even his own notes were better compared to that and he had been twenty-one at the time. No wonder the circuitry had been in such a bad shape when he had repaired it that once.

If those plans were still the ones Hydra acted on than Tony needed to get his hands on that arm as soon as possible.

When there was nothing more to learn from the schematics except that Hydra certainly consisted only of idiots Tony turned back to the list of killings. His coffee had gone lukewarm by now but he took the pot with him. He was pretty certain that he would need something to hold onto.

He wasn't sure why he hesitated that much but somehow he really didn't want to see how and who the Soldier had killed. He took one last deep breath before he opened that particular file and his entire world crumbled at the first entry.

The Soldier had killed his parents.

It had been his first assignment under Hydra and according to the report he had carried it out flawlessly. Shot the tire, so that Howard would lose control of the car and crash into the transporter that turned the corner in just that moment.

Tony thought back to the night after his parents' death. The Soldier had visited him and now Tony got it. He had been there because he had made the connection between Howard and him so it hadn't been by chance that the Soldier had come to him.

Tony's hand tightened around the mug and it made a strained sound but Tony didn't notice it. He stared at the entry for a few seconds before he noticed the report that was attached to it. He took a deep breath before he quickly read that and the only thing that made this whole situation more horrible was that Maria was considered unimportant. The objective had been to kill Howard and no one had cared that Maria was in the car. She was considered necessary collateral damage so as not to raise suspicion.

Tony walked away from his table and the file and sat down on the couch. He realized now that the Soldier hadn't seen the news that evening but that he knew of the accident because he had caused it. He was responsible for the fact that Tony was an orphan now.

Tony didn't know if he should laugh or cry and in the end he did neither. He just sat on the couch doing nothing until Dummy started to worry and rolled over. He gently bumped Tony in the shoulder and that brought him back.

It made no sense to accuse the Soldier of murdering his parents, Tony knew that. Bucky was just a puppet to Hydra and they were to blame. Tony knew that but it was still hard to accept it. He would probably need some time for that.

When he felt composed enough that he could go back to the file he was surprised to see just how many people the Soldier had killed. Jarvis had found 26 killings that could be linked back to the Soldier but that was nowhere near the number Tony found in that file. That was closer to 60.

Tony wondered what they did with the Soldier between those killings and he went back to look if he could find something about that. He had read right over it the first time but now that he was really looking for it he found it quickly. The file repeatedly referred to cryo-freeze and it made sense. If that was a thing that worked.

Tony tried to find out more about the procedure it but it seemed like Hydra had just copied that from the USSR. Maybe it only worked with Bucky because he had the serum. After all Steve had been frozen for nearly 70 years.

Tony was fascinated by that topic right until he read that the cold and ice had a great effect on the arm. Of course the metal would get colder than the body it was attached to and there appeared to be some cases of severe frostbite.

It was just one more careless thing that set Tony's teeth on edge because he was sure there could have been a solution to this and a simple one at that. It rubbed him wrong that Hydra was so careless with it's obviously highly applied asset.

All this information began to whirl in Tony's mind and he had to take another break. It was all just too much. He never expected to find out that much about the Soldier and he certainly hadn't thought he would be personally affected by it. But that was the case and not only because the Soldier had killed his parents.

After reading everything that had been done to Bucky it was close to a miracle that he remembered Tony again and again and Tony wondered about the reason. Tony's name was never mentioned in the file which probably meant that the Soldier's handler had never found out about him, otherwise he would be most certainly dead.

Tony's head spun with the implication of that and he left his workshop. He needed some distance.

That only worked until Jarvis announced "Sir, there is another fight."

Tony noticed that he had worked through the whole night and he wondered how Steve was doing. He probably hadn't slept either. He refused to think about the night Bucky must have had.

Tony told Jarvis to pull up the feed and those Hydra bastards were using the helicarriers with his repulsor technology. That was definitely the last time Tony shared anything with Shield.

Tony couldn't make out Steve in all that mess until he jumped from the helicarrier and the man with the wings, Sam Wilson Jarvis helpfully supplied, caught him. Then Bucky showed up and everything went downhill.

Tony lost sight of them once they were inside the carrier but when Steve fell Tony could see that the Soldier dived right in after him. Maybe he did remember after all.

Steve had miraculously survived his fight with the Soldier and when Tony visited him in the hospital he was already mostly healed up.

"I found your Shield, Cap. You ought to take better care of it" Tony started when he walked in but Steve didn't look happy as Tony put it down next to his bed.

"Where have you been?" he was greeted accusingly and Tony shrugged.

"On a mission in Japan. Didn't Fury tell you?" Tony asked and shook his head. Steve narrowed his eyes and Tony handed him a phone. "It's a Stark phone. Call me when you have time" Tony said and he could see that Steve understood that Tony didn't want to talk here.

"I could have needed your help" Steve carefully said and Tony smiled. "Fury said as much."

Steve's eyes darkened at that and he nodded. "Okay. Maybe you can help with cleaning up."

"That was the plan, Cap" Tony said cheerfully and left again. He really hoped that Steve understood that Fury wasn't to be trusted and that he would call but he shouldn't have worried because later that day is phone rang.

"What is going on?" Steve asked and Tony could hear wind in the background.

"Are you on your bike?" he asked and Steve laughed.

"Figured it wasn't safe to talk in a place with cameras."

"Good thinking. Fury knew about Bucky" Tony dived right in.

There was a brief silence before Steve said "That bastard. He told me he didn't."

"He lied, Cap. He always lies."

"Where were you?"

"In New York. He gave me Bucky's file as thanks for staying put."

"You have his file?" Steve asked and he sounded hopeful.

"Only the Hydra part. No idea what happened before 1991."

"Can you help me find him?"

"Three steps ahead of you. There's a map on your phone with the most likely places he would hide."

"Why are you doing this?" Steve asked and Tony briefly thought about telling Steve the truth but decided against it.

He was so used to keeping the Soldier to himself that he really didn't want to share now. "Fury wants me to bring him in. So that he can work for Shield. I think Bucky has been through enough."

"You just wanna piss off Fury."

"Think whatever you want, Steve. Use the map, get him back."

"And then go where?" Steve asked and he sounded tired.

"Avengers' tower. There's a floor for you and your boy."

Steve appeared to be speechless but when he found his voice again he sounded grateful. "Thank you, Tony. I will keep you updated."

The call ended and Tony sighed. Steve wouldn't be so grateful once he found out why Tony really wanted Bucky to come back to the tower.

Several weeks passed where Tony heard from neither Fury nor Steve. It made a bit more sense when Maria Hill came to work for him, telling him that Shield was done and Fury in the wind, destroying Hydra cells, but he still wasn't pleased with that. He had hoped that Steve would make good on his promise to keep him updated.

The fact that Shield was gone for good now was something Tony deeply appreciated because that meant he didn't need to hide Bucky once he came to the tower and he also didn't need to invent some lies for Fury why he hadn't found the Soldier yet.

When Steve finally called to tell him that he and Sam found Bucky Tony was so relieved that he needed to sit down. He heard some rustling on the other end of the line and then Steve lowly said "He remembers everything, Tony. I don't know if he can cope." Steve sounded really tired and while Tony did feel with him, he could only imagine how Bucky would react to all his memories, he was also happy because it meant that Bucky would remember everything about being the Winter Soldier. And therefore about meeting him. Tony had been worried that Bucky wouldn't recognize him but it seems like he didn't have to.

Steve told Tony that they were already on their way back to the tower and would arrive in less than a day and Tony made sure that everything on Steve's and Bucky's floors were in order before he prepared one for Sam too.

Tony would never admit it but he was quite nervous about meeting Bucky. He could handle the Soldier just fine but if Bucky now remembered everything, including killing Tony's parents, then it probably wouldn't go over so smoothly.

Instead of worrying too much about that Tony kept himself busy in the workshop after the guest floors were prepared and he did a last check on the arm. He didn't have a chance to offer it to Bucky after that first horrible try but he wanted to do so shortly.

Tony knew that Bucky would probably need some time to sort everything out but he hoped that getting a new arm that wouldn't hurt him would help with that.

When Steve, Sam and Bucky finally showed up Tony was a nervous mess but he tried to play it down. He greeted them in the entrance hall and couldn't help but smile when he saw Bucky.

He looked different without the leather and his hair back in a ponytail and since it was the first time without the mask Tony had a hard time connecting the Soldier to Bucky.

But when Bucky's eyes met his Tony's worries were forgotten because they were still the same. Tony would have recognized those eyes everywhere.

Tony approached them to greet them and Bucky took a step back to hide behind Steve's back. Tony immediately stopped, confused by that reaction. But when he looked closer at the Soldier, Bucky, it suddenly made sense. Bucky looked at Tony like he tried to determine the level of threat Tony posed and the Soldier hadn't looked like that at Tony since he was seven.

And just like that Tony's hopes were crushed because while Bucky remembered everything he obviously didn't remember Tony.

So this is my explanation why Tony didn't rush to Steve's aid in Captain America 2. I hope you liked it.

It is still amazing to me how much love this series gets and I thank each and everyone of you for your subscription, favourites and comments. It really means a lot to me.