Title: Life for me ain't been no crystal stair

Disclaimer: not my characters. Title from Langston Hughes.

Warnings: talk of violence/death/roaring rampage of revenge; discussion on the existence/creation of the Winter Soldier

Pairings: Steve/Bucky, Natasha/Clint, Jane/Thor

Rating: PG

Wordcount: 2005

Point of view: third

Prompt: Any; Any; 5 heroes, 1 villain

Note: please give me povs you'd like to hear from?

Natasha hands off the file and then goes to rescue Clint. She had no time to warn him and he's in deep-cover – maybe a day before the cover is blown, and all the fail-safes provided by SHIELD are gone.

So she wishes Steve the best and leaves because Clint needs her now.

.

A month later, as Natia Collins, she breezes into Stark's tower with Clint on her heels. They fall onto the nearest bed and sleep for nearly 16 hours.

Stark is waiting for them in the floor's kitchen but he looks at Nat's bruised face and Clint's splinted arm, and bites back whatever smartass comment's on the tip of his tongue to say, "So, heard the latest on our Capcicle?"

"No," Clint says, perching on one of the stools at the counter. "Please, enlighten us."

Apparently, and to no one's surprise, while Nat was keeping Clint alive and (mostly) in one piece, Steve began a two-man crusade against Hydra. With Banner, Dr. Foster, Foster's keeper Darcy, and Thor, Stark's been stalking ("C'mon, isn't stalking a bit harsh?") him and diverting people who wish him ill, "but," Stark says, "it's damn exhausting. Like he's got a death wish or something."

Nat stares at him and blinks once.

"Oh, fuck me," Stark groans. "Of course he's got a death wish."

…

When Jane accepts Stark's offer of lab space and rent-free housing, she and Darcy move in immediately. Thor, of course, follows. As cozy as Jane's apartment in London had been, there are numerous ways in which Stark's tower is vastly superior – not the least of which is soundproofing.

Stark even has a new battle to fight: aiding Steve Rogers in finding his lost brother. Thor hopes that Rogers' quest has a happier ending and determines that it, indeed, will.

After Stark, with some help from Banner, relates all that has happened with their band while Thor sojourned with Jane, Darcy demands, "Bucky Barnes has spent the last 70 years as Hydra's pet killer?"

"Yup," Stark answers.

Darcy grabs a pillow from the seat beside her and screams into it.

Jane asks hesitantly, "Darcy?" while Stark and Banner stare at her. Thor waits.

Darcy lowers the pillow, looks at Stark, and brings it back up to scream again. After, she drops the pillow and leans back in her seat, hands covering her eyes.

"Are we all better now?" Stark asks.

"Thor," Darcy says, "you better lightning the shit out of those bastards. Bucky Barnes! Fuck."

Everyone maintains silence for a moment. Thor then promises, "They will pay for what they have done to our friend's brother, Darcy." She peeks through her fingers. Thor says, "You have my word."

"Good," she says savagely, letting her hands fall. "Flaying alive would be too decent."

.

Later that evening, Darcy has Jarvis stream historical footage of Rogers and Barnes (and their fellow "Howling Commandos," what a wonderful name for such a fierce band!). Darcy explains the context of the battle, and the outcome. Then, she has Jarvis show the recovered footage of SHIELD's demise.

"Do you see?" she demands as Rogers battles Barnes. At the first meeting, in the scant footage provided, they are evenly matched—and in the second, Rogers clearly does his best to limit the damage Barnes takes.

"We will save him, Darcy," Thor promises. "And we will bring him home."

"I just—" She sighs heavily. "Captain America is too perfect, you know?" She waves one hand in the air, saying, "He's the ideal – 'What Would Cap Do?' But Bucky Barnes…" She sighs again. "I spent a lot of years in love with him. A lot of kids do – he's cool, he's a little dangerous, but at heart?" She glances up to meet Thor's eyes. "He was Captain America's best friend when Cap was a nobody shrimp in Brooklyn. Bucky Barnes was a good guy, Thor." She points at the screen. "And they turned him into that."

Darcy grabs a pillow and digs her fingers into to, saying, "I can't even tell someone, organization a petition, get the internet to stand behind him. It wouldn't help, not now." She laughs, sounding angry. "Bucky Barnes died years ago and he's gotta stay dead to keep him safe."

"I give you my most solemn oath, Darcy Lewis," Thor says, standing to give her the proper salute, this mortal girl who has become so dear to him. "Bucky Barnes will be recovered and avenged."

She smiles at him with tears in her eyes. "Make it hurt, okay?"

He vows, "I shall."

…

After flipping through the data Natasha – "I like the name," she informed them, "I'll be keeping it" – compiled, Bruce had to spend several hours meditating. Like Steve, Barnes' serum worked as intended. But at least the catastrophic results of Bruce's attempt kept him safe from becoming someone else's mindless weapon. Anyone trying to do that to him - it would only end badly for everyone involved.

He's as angry as he is relieved. He does his best not to think about it – or to consider that it might be best to put the Winter Soldier down. If he could do it to himself, he would have years ago.

That is something Bruce never says aloud. He knows, as well as anyone who saw Steve in the aftermath of Project Insight, that Steve should have drowned in the Potomac. And if the first thing Barnes does is save someone's life… well, hope is a good thing. And Bruce never believed in his mother's God, but he sends up a prayer that all of Steve's hope is not groundless because if his search ends badly, Steve will not survive.

All Bruce can do is be there to offer the other guy's strength, and to hope.

…

"How do you think this'll go?" Clint asks one night, holding Tasha as she flicks darts into the ceiling. Steve's been blowing the shit out of various and sundry Hydra bases for six months. There's been no trace of the Winter Soldier anywhere.

Fuck. The goddamned Winter Soldier. The boogeyman for spooks. Clint heard whispers of about the guy back when he killed for the highest bidder, and then Tasha told him the dude was real —

And he's Captain America's best friend. One of the best snipers the US ever had. Hell, he was Barney's favorite Commando. (Clint liked Dernier for the explosions till he became a sniper himself.)

"He didn't kill Steve," Tasha finally answers after she's flicked the last dart. "He hesitated during the first attack and then actively saved Steve in the second. Those are good signs."

"But?" Clint asks, bringing his hand up to trail his fingers through her hair.

"But," she says softly, "Steve won't think of the danger. You didn't see him after, Clint – he was totally blank. If Rumlow had wanted us dead on that street, we would've been because Steve had completely checked out." Tasha leans back, tucking her head under Clint's chin.

"Steve knows that Barnes might be too far gone but he doesn't care," she says. "That's why he needs us."

"Well, he's got us," Clint says. And so does Barnes, however this shakes out.

…

Tony first notices the string of violence at completely hidden (till after the violence) Hydra bases and safehouses when the whole Ultron thing is getting really bad so he can't look any further at it.

It's the first hint of Barnes they've gotten in over a year and a half.

.

After the whole Ultron thing is finally over, Tony puts on his big boy pants and brings the info to Natasha, who re-analyzes everything he and Jarvis have already gone over, sighs, and then brings it to Steve. 'cause he likes her better.

.

When they start tracking Barnes, Tony unfortunately has to leave Jarvis at home. He's in the suit, of course, but he can't latch onto the buildings they borrow for the trip, and Tony complains about that, oh yes he does, until Barton finally gets annoyed enough to demand, "And whose fault is it, Stark?"

Tony just huffs and turns to Bruce to talk about that last thing Foster had mentioned before they left and Barton sinks back into his seat, smirking. Fucker.

.

See, look, the thing of it is this: they all think they've got something to atone for, Bruce and Natasha and Barton, and even Thor and Steve. That red Natasha talks about sometimes, or those years Clint spent as a hired killer, and the people who were collateral damage from all those times the army tried to capture or kill Bruce (and there's an entire department of people busy making sure the army never looks at Bruce ever again because Tony does not share), and then Thor feels guilty about all the shit Loki pulled and then Loki died saving him or something, Tony wasn't really paying attention.

And Steve. Steve's rage and pain and regret is writ large across the world. Tony hadn't realized just how young Steve Rogers really is until he saw Steve's face when Tony said, "We've finally got proof of life," and Natasha handed him the tablet. But Steve is so goddamned young. He's not even thirty yet. And Barnes is just as young.

The thing is, before Iron Man, Tony was the goddamned Merchant of Death. He designed weapons to kill as many people as possible and he sent them out into the world and he never thought twice until he got shot by his own gun.

So, yeah. Maybe this is about trying to make up for all the bad shit he's done. Maybe it's about redemption and regret and hope against all fucking hope. Maybe.

Tony's read everything there is about the Winter Soldier. He's picked through the sites Barnes has sterilized and there's nothing new. But what there is –

Look. Tony has created a shit-ton of weapons. And he's got Pepper and Darcy and three other people who know that if they so much as breathe about Barnes' existence they'll be locked away somewhere for the rest of their lives working on how to bring him back to life without being scapegoated for the whole fucking mess. Tony is a goddamned genius when it comes to elegant, intricate, fatal-beyond-all-reason weapons.

The Winter Soldier? Was a damned elegant weapon. But just a weapon. And, yeah, Barnes is dangerous. They're all dangerous.

Weapons don't live. Don't think. Don't decide who to kill and who to let live. But Barnes chose to pull Steve out of the river when he couldn't have been thinking much of anything at all, and that - that is why Tony is with Steve and the rest of the team, hoping like crazy to bring Bucky goddamned Barnes home.

…

Sixty-one years ago, Lawrence White was a twenty-six year old doctor with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division and part of Dr. Arnim Zola's research team. He, like so many others, had come to America ("land of the free") for a new start.

He's staring his death in the face and he remembers Dr. Zola telling him, "Come, Dr. White, see our greatest triumph." Dr. Zola had grinned, eyes bright behind his spectacles, and laughed as he opened the door. "Right here in their heart, we grow their doom!"

A man was unconscious, chained to a chair, lank hair falling around his head. "This is the fist of Hydra," Dr. Zola said. "We must keep it at peak conditioning. Come! I'll show you."

The Fist of Hydra. Lawrence believed in Zola's vision then, and he still does. He is old now, has seen so many rises and falls, and always he sailed through. He and Pierce and the others – they were so close. So close.

He is looking his death in the face and he is terrified. For months now, he has seen the signs. Only the greatest could have caused such destruction, and the greatest is what this weapon was designed to be.

He closes his eyes and lets his death come.