(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3 - 9th January 2014

She disappeared. It wasn't as if it were the first time. Bucky was used to Natasha having to go away for days, weeks, longer sometimes, and she couldn't always tell him where she would be or how long she could be gone. He didn't ask all that much, because he understood her job, her missions. He had his own tasks given to him by Fury sometimes too. This was different. This time, nobody seemed to know where she was, or if she was ever coming back.

"Just like clockwork," said Tony, as Bucky stepped over the threshold into the lab. "Hey, Sarge. You ever hear the one about how no news is good news?"

"I don't think you're helping." Bruce cut his eyes at his science bro, then quickly looked at Bucky with something like a sympathetic smile. "Sorry, but if you did come hoping for news on Nat, we haven't heard anything either, not yet."

Heaving a sigh, Bucky nodded in understanding, realising fast that if he went back to his place, he was only going to wallow in the dark and that wasn't doing him any good at all. Instead, he supposed he could hang out with the other guys for a while. Not that he ever expected to understand what they were up to. He never usually did.

"If you're looking for company, you're welcome to stay a while," said Tony, almost as if he read Bucky's mind, and honestly, he wasn't sure if he would be surprised to find that were possible with all his new technology around. "You've been in the modern world a while now, what do you think about artificial intelligence and its place in helping save the world?"

The snort from Bruce suggested he didn't approve of the question being asked. Bucky didn't take offence or consider it was because Banner thought he was too dumb to have an answer. For all that these guys were a hundred times smarter or at least more scientifically minded than himself, Bucky knew he had the respect of his fellow Avengers. In fact, it was usually Bruce who liked to remind them they all had their own strengths, whenever those who were more muscle-power than brain-power mentioned being at a loss in amongst the science.

"Artificial intelligence, huh?" said Bucky, staring into the back of the glass screen that Tony was reading from the front. "You mean like JARVIS?"

"Basically." Tony nodded, eyes finally shifting to look at the person he was talking to instead of his work. "But a little more advanced than that. No offence, J," he called over his head.

"None taken, sir," the building's AI dutifully replied.

"JARVIS runs the building, most of my affairs, the Iron Man suits, plus all the parts of Stark Industries that don't require that human touch," he explained, "but even he has his limitations. What I want to create - what we could create," he amended, tilting his head towards where Banner carried on calculating in silence, "would be a suit of armour around the world. A global peace-keeping initiative. Something to protect us all, keep the otherworldly things that are out there away from our collective door. I mean, it sounds perfect, right? Peace in our time."

"Tony, stop," said Bruce sharply. "What you're doing is not fair."

"Fair, shmair" Stark rolled his eyes. "I'm pitching the idea to the guy on the street. Better, the soldier on the street. You'd get behind an idea like that, right, Barnes?"

Bucky wished he had a good answer, but he didn't. Looking between Tony and Bruce, it was clear they had already discussed this subject a lot and come out on opposite sides of the argument. On the one hand, it did sound great. Something that could protect the world from another alien invasion or similar, that couldn't be bad, but artificial intelligence? That part did make Bucky a little nervous.

"You're pitching an idea with half the details missing," Bruce argued against Tony's last point, coming out from his corner to stand next to his friend, facing Bucky. "What he's not telling you is how he plans to make this so-called suit of armour, this great defence mechanism. It wouldn't be like JARVIS, all home-made by man and controlled by the same means. This would take real power, something beyond our understanding. You remember Loki's sceptre?"

"The one he used to turn the SHIELD agents into puppets." Bucky nodded. "You wanna use that?" he checked with Tony.

It was one of only a handful of times when he had seen Stark look awkward about anything at all.

"Use it for good," he said definitely, sounding as if he was trying just a little too hard to justify himself.

"You know, I think Bruce is right." Bucky shook his head then. "I'm probably not the guy to help you out with this," he admitted, pushing his hair back behind his ear. "I mean, I've read a lot since I've been here, picked up some things from you guys, obviously, but the whole AI thing, not to mention the space-related stuff..." he trailed off, eyes moving around the screens and lab equipment with hardly any less wonder than the first time he had walked into such a place many months ago now. "I mean, don't get me wrong, JARVIS is great."

"Thank you, sir," came the polite reply.

Bucky smiled, before continuing. "But beyond that, making something that can think for itself using some mind-altering stick from outer-space? That's a little too much for a simple kid from Brooklyn," he said honestly.

"It's a little much for anybody," said Bruce, casting a look Tony's way. "I'm not denying, it could work, maybe, but if we ever lost control of something like that? Our ultimate protection could end up being the world's downfall. That kind of power is only good when it's within your command and on your side. Trust me, I know."

The way he said it and moreover the look on his face when he did put a cold shiver through Bucky. He well understood what Bruce really meant, having seen the destructive power of the Hulk several times now. On the side of the Avengers, he was an asset, but the rest of the team would have a real fight on their hands if they ever had to go up against the green rage monster that hid itself inside of mild-mannered Banner.

"I should probably leave you guys to..." he trailed off, sensing that if Bruce and Tony weren't going to come to blows, they were at least going to have a very serious conversation that he wanted no part of.

Chances were good he wouldn't understand most of it anyway, not when talk turned to neurons and quarks and hadrons and such. Besides, if neither of those guys had any intel on Natasha, he knew somebody else he could ask.

It was a good couple of days since Clint headed out on a mission with Steve. Something about a ship, as far as Bucky knew, but no more than that. It was most often safer not to share, at least until the job was complete. One of them must have heard something about Natasha by now, especially Barton. Those two had the kind of partnership Bucky might have been jealous of if he didn't know better. As it was, she had assured him time and again that what was between her and Clint was more like the connection between Bucky and Steve than anything else. He believed her. He never really felt as if he had any reason to doubt her, about that or anything else, not even now.

Wherever Natasha was, whatever her reasons for staying away, Bucky never once considered she had disappeared to hurt him or that she was doing anything other than what she thought was best. He just wished he understood why she pulled such a disappearing act. This was over-and-above the usual levels of secrecy employed by SHIELD, he was sure. Something that he soon had confirmed when he got back to the apartment and made his call to Steve.

"I'm sorry, Buck," he said, sounding as genuinely apologetic as his friend had ever heard him, even over a really bad connection. "I wish I had some good news for you. I wish I had any. The truth is, even Clint is at a loss. I think he might be starting to get as worried about her as you are."

That was the very last thing Bucky wanted to hear, not because he had anything to fear when it came to Barton, but of all the people Natasha might have called, contacted, given any intel too, Clint was the most likely candidate. If he didn't know anything, that couldn't be good.

There was another conversation going on in the background of the call then. Bucky was about to ask Steve if something was wrong, when suddenly his buddy came back onto the line.

"Buck? Clint's right here, I'm handing you over."

There was a crackle and then Barton's voice came through loud and clear.

"Hey, Barnes. All I can tell you is what I know and that's not much. Nat's gone off grid before, gone deep undercover and on some pretty serious missions that even I wasn't supposed to know about. This time is different. I've contacted every source I have, gone as high in SHIELD as Fury, used every trick in the book. I can't find her. It's as if she vanished into thin air. Now, obviously, I don't really think that's what happened, in spite of all the weirdness we've encountered in the past couple of years, but I just don't know where to go next."

A new cold shiver ran through Bucky at the sound of Barton's speech. It was bad enough to think that those usually in the know had no idea where to find Natasha. For all their best efforts, neither Steve nor Stark had any leads at all, not to mention Barton or even Fury, the latter of which could have been lying for some reason of his own, but not the others. Now, on top of everything else, Clint was actually starting to sound a little lost and a lot worried.

"You sure Fury really doesn't know anything?"

The scoffing sound from the other end of the line wasn't at all reassuring.

"He's the director of SHIELD. His secrets have secrets," he said with a sigh, "but I don't see why he'd have a reason to keep anything from us, from me anyway. I have the same level of clearance as Nat. Besides, she wouldn't... I don't mean to be dramatic, but the last time she was gone this long, when nobody knew where or why, I suddenly got a signal. When I found her, it wasn't pretty."

Bucky swallowed hard, knowing more of that story than perhaps even Clint realised. It was one of a handful of tales Natasha had told him, whispered in the dark when they were sharing secrets nobody else would likely want to hear. She got herself into a really tight spot with the enemy, one of those rare occasions when her only option was to call for back-up. Barton had gone in to rescue her then. She was quick to point out she had repaid the debt at a later date, when he was the one in a fix, laughing about it as if they were exchanging friendly favours, not getting each other out of life and death situations. There was certainly nothing funny to Bucky as he thought about it now.

"Buck?"

He hadn't heard anybody say the phone was getting handed back, but it was definitely Steve's voice in his ear when he started paying attention again.

"You heard what he said," he replied coolly. "Steve, this is not good."

"I know," he said, with a sad kind of a sigh. "And if I had any ideas on what we could do about it, you know I would tell you, but I just don't. Barton is best placed to know what's happening and he doesn't. I don't think Stark would lie either, not about this."

"Me either," Bucky confirmed. "I wouldn't exactly say we're bonded like brothers, but we're all part of the same team. If he knew anything, he would tell us."

"I think so too," Steve agreed. "Which brings us back to Fury. Something tells me he's not going to share anything he doesn't want to."

"Probably not."

With those facts confirmed, it wasn't long before Bucky ended his call with Steve, wishing him a safe trip home and saying he would be glad to see him soon. There was nothing else to be said, especially not where Natasha was concerned. Nobody could find her, not through their own knowledge or technological advances, nothing seemed to work. Turning the phone around and around in his hand, Bucky desperately searched his mind for any idea, any clue, anything at all that might help.

Suddenly, he found himself on his knees by the coffee table, his hands clasped together as he closed his eyes and focused in a way that he hadn't in quite some time.

"I know it's been a while, but right now, I could really use your help. I'd say I'm not asking for me, that it's all for somebody else, but that wouldn't be entirely true. I don't know exactly how it happened, but I ended up way out of time from where I started, and if anybody has a plan or knows how and why it happened, then it's you. I have to think I was supposed to meet her, to meet Natasha. The way I feel about her... Just, if she's in trouble, if she needs help, then please God, send it to her, or tell me what to do so that I can help her. Anything, just please, give me a sign? I don't know what else to do."

Looking Heavenward, Bucky drew the sign of the cross over his chest, and waited, unsure what he was expecting to happen next. It seemed like an actual miracle had occurred when, not two minutes later, there was a knock on his door.

Scrambling to his feet, he ran to see who was there, not caring to ask JARVIS who it might be, not really expecting anyone but her. He got a real shock when, on pulling the door open, he saw Tony on the other side, his expression serious and face pale.

"What happened?" asked Bucky, feeling sick at the very idea it might be bad news about Natasha.

"A call just came through from Maria Hill. Apparently, there was a serious incident in downtown Washington, right out of the blue, no warning that anybody could've detected. I'm pretty sure they waited until Steve was out of range before they... Well, the upshot is as bad as it gets. SHIELD's without a leader. Nicky Fury's dead."

To Be Continued...