Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The Winter Soldier stood over the body of his target, but he hadn't been the one to deliver the fatal blow. He bent low over the corpse at his feet to examine the wounds and gather all the information he needed to take back to his handlers. This wasn't part of the mission. Adjustments had to be made. There were signs of a struggle, on the body as well as throughout the hotel room. The work was sloppy, that of an amateur at best, but the Soldier was more focused on his target's face than the mess.

The left side of it was peppered with staples, some partially torn out and leaving gruesome rips in the skin and others pushed so deep they left indentions. A photograph was stapled to the man's face, one that had been in the Soldier's file for the mission. He was double dealing arms, shaking hands with the leader of a group HYDRA didn't want him dealing with. The body was still warm, only minutes old by his estimation, so it was possible that the actual killer was still nearby.

The Winter Soldier rose to check the exits before spotting a needle that had rolled partially under an over-turned side table. He picked it up and ran the end over his tongue before dropping it again. Drugs, a hallucinogenic, not poison. If it had gotten into whoever had killed his target, it was possible they were still nearby. He swept the room once more quickly before heading out into the hall. Nothing seemed disturbed at first, but then the Soldier noticed a small smear of blood on one of the walls a few feet away and another one a few feet past that. He could see it in his mind's eye, the other operative injured and unsteady, doing his best to get away from the scene in the hotel room.

He followed the trail, the blood getting less frequent, but the path of choice becoming clearer. He found the enemy agent collapsed in the stairwell just one floor down, mumbling to himself and huddled in a corner. He was shivering badly and wide, honey colored eyes snapped up to stare at the Soldier with pupils blown-wide as he approached. The Soldier froze for a moment when he saw the other's face. He was young, no more than 16 at the most, and he looked almost familiar. The Winter Soldier crouched down beside him, hands reaching out to snap his neck, when the boy smiled at him.

"Wow, you're really hot. I guess if I'm gonna get dosed and die in a stairwell then this kinda makes up for it. I think Aunt Peggy might still be pretty pissed though."

The boy frowned suddenly as if in thought and his gaze drifted off to the side, eyes losing focus as they looked upon things that weren't really there. It would be easy to kill him, the Soldier knew, child's play, but he found that something held him back from doing so. Something in the boy's features. Perhaps it was the familiarity there, or the lack of fear. Very few people looked at the Soldier without any fear, even his own handlers.

"You killed the man upstairs."

The boy startled as if he'd forgotten the Soldier was there, head whipping around to look at him again. He leaned in closer, his breath ghosting across the exposed portion of the Soldier's face as the boy squinted at him like a particularly interesting puzzle.

"I was just here to gather information. He wasn't supposed to be back so soon." His shivering picked up again. "He was going to kill me."

The Winter Soldier shrugged and glanced over his shoulder. They had been in the stairwell for too long already. He needed to move before someone spotted them and the mission was compromised.

"He was my target."

"Oh." The boy didn't seem overly bothered by that idea, but his face was flushed and his eyes were taking on more and more of a glossed-over quality. "I don't feel so great. Did you know there are ducklings following you?"

The Winter Soldier frowned behind his mask.

"There are no ducklings. You've been given a shot of a high-powered hallucinogenic. Return to your handlers."

The Soldier paused, not quite sure why he'd added that last part, but then let it pass. It was not his place to question, just his place to do.

"My-? Right. Yes. In a van. Outside." He made grabby hands in the Soldier's direction but actually waited so the Soldier could initiate contact. "Help me up, Duck Commander."

It must have been because the boy phrased it as a command and his mission was already out of whack, but the Soldier did exactly as he was told. He slid his flesh arm around the boy's back and heaved him up to a standing position, taking most of his weight and placing the palm of his metal arm against the boy's chest to keep him from toppling over. The boy's gaze riveted on the limb instantly.

"Well, hello, beautiful. And where have you been all my life?"

The Soldier decided it was probably best to ignore him and instead focused on hauling him down the stairs. It was a good thing they were in America and all of the guests were lazy enough to stick to the elevators. They made it into the back alley without incident. The Soldier peered around the brick wall of the building to scan the street, quickly spotting the van that held the boy's handlers and pulling back.

"Go," he said. "The Soldier was never here."

The boy just grinned up at him.

"Soldier, huh? Well, I always did like a man in uniform. Come see me again, Soldier." He threw the assassin a sloppy salute as he stumbled a bit and made his way toward the van, calling, "That's an order!" over his shoulder and giggling madly. The Soldier waited until he was inside the van before turning away and returning to his own handlers.

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It was almost a year and a half before the Soldier spotted the boy again and it wasn't even in person. His handlers liked watching the news during the long waiting periods during his missions, but it was never something the Soldier paid much attention to. He sat quietly to the side, cleaning his weapons as needed, and awaited his orders. He would only glance at the TV on occasion if there seemed to be something on that caught his handler's particular interest. At the moment it appeared to be a story about some orphaned kid who was finally old enough to take over his father's company. The Soldier still didn't pay much attention to it until they showed a picture of the kid in the corner of the screen.

Huge, honey-colored eyes gazed out at him from beneath messy brown hair and a smug grin sent a shot of something straight through his chest. The boy looked oddly familiar, he thought, and the shadow of something echoed through his mind. A mission. An order. The Winter Soldier was out of his chair and through the door before his handlers had even realized he'd moved. The TV had said the boy was in Washington, D.C., only a few states away from the Soldier's current position. It wouldn't take him long to get there.

He stole a battered old pick-up truck from a gas station next to the hotel and drove in the opposite direction of where he needed to go until he was a few towns over before ditching it and stealing another car. That, at least, would throw them off his scent. He wasn't entirely sure why he was so set on throwing off his handlers, but he knew they would interfere with the mission. Nothing could interfere with the mission. He drove straight through the night, siphoning gas from parked cars whenever he was getting low, and arrived in Washington, D.C. in the early hours of the morning.

The Soldier found a chop shop to leave the car at so it wouldn't be found abandoned and its location traced and then he headed into the city on foot. He was in the right city now, he just had to find the boy. He'd done more with less information before. By comparison, this was just easy. The news report had even told him which company to turn his attention toward, Stark Industries. It was a simple thing to find the right building and even simpler to slip past security and into the building. He made it up to the top floor without being opposed in the slightest and he was struck by the stray thought that the company really needed better security.

He found the boy in an office, 'Tony Stark' emblazoned on the door and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the city on the opposite side. The boy had completely abandoned his desk for drawing something on blue paper that was stuck to a light table over to the side. He didn't even look up with the Soldier entered, just waved at the desk behind him vaguely.

"Whatever you've got, just leave it on the desk. I'll look at it once I'm done with this. Thanks, Pepper."

The Soldier glanced at the desk, at the piles of paperwork already on it and its general complete disarray, and marveled at the thought that the boy would even be able to find anything on it.

"I'm not Pepper."

The boy stiffened, turned his swivel chair around slowly to face him. There was no fear in his eyes, something that the Soldier was a bit surprised by, but there was certainly caution. He remained still as the boy slowly got to his feet.

"Who are you then? Why are you here?"

"The asset is here to complete the mission."

All of the wariness vanished from the boy's face, replaced by hard lines and determination. He stood and moved the couple steps it took him to stand next to his desk.

"So you're here to kill me, then. I suppose I should warn you, it won't be easy."

Then he was grabbing a fist full of papers and threw them in the air, a distraction as he took hold of the bulky phone-base and charged forward. He swung it hard, the plastic cracking and shattering over the Soldier's head. The Soldier reacted instinctively, grabbing the boy's arm and throwing him into a wall. He followed close behind him and pressed him up against the surface with his arm across the boy's throat, his body being used to keep the other in place. The boy's eyes were wide, a bit wild, as they darted around for something else to defend himself with.

"I'm not here to kill you," the Soldier bit out, oddly irritated by the assumption. "That is not the mission."

The boy's eyes were glued to the gleaming metal of the arm pressed to his throat.

"Oh," he said dumbly. "Kidnapping, then?"

The Winter Soldier shook his head, struggling to recall what exactly his orders had been.

"I just came…to see you."

The boy looked confused.

"For real? What the Hell kind of mission is that?" He paused, giving the Soldier a shrewd look. "Did that asshole Clemmings put you up to this?"

The Soldier shook his head again. He didn't know who Clemmings was, didn't know a lot of things. His head hurt.

"No, no. I-" He cut himself off, confused by the blankness in his mind. "I don't know."

The boy's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean you don't know? What don't you know?"

The Soldier backed away, his mind becoming more and more scattered.

"I don't know." He turned toward the door. He needed to return to the handlers. The asset was malfunctioning. "I have to go."

The boy caught his wrist, his flesh one, and the Soldier looked back at him.

"Will I see you again?"

"I…"

"Let me guess, you don't know."

The Soldier remained silent. Honeyed eyes watching him with concern from above a small frown.

"Alright, so you deal in orders and missions, right?"

The Soldier nodded.

"Then come back and see me the next time you're in D.C. or if you're ever in trouble." The boy smirked. "Doctor's orders. PhD, not MD."

The Soldier wasn't sure he understood what that meant, but he did understand orders.

"I will."

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The Soldier didn't see him again for a while after that. He didn't even remember the boy in order to miss him. He'd been wiped as soon as the handlers had gotten him back to base and his programing had been refreshed. The handlers thought it was a glitch, as far as he was concerned, the Soldier didn't really care. Three years passed before the Soldier was in D.C. again and felt that strange pull in the back of his mind of a mission not yet fulfilled.

His target was already down and extraction wouldn't take place until the day after, so there was no reason for the Soldier not to follow the pull. He set off, his feet taking him to a building he'd never set eyes on before and carrying him right up to the roof. He still had his sniper rifle with him and he settled down by one of the walls, peering through the lense idly to watch what was happening in the building opposite. It seemed like the entire side of the building was made of glass. Something inside of him grumbled at the lack of safety.

In an office on the top floor, a young man was lounging in his desk chair, clearly pissing off the redheaded woman in a skirt-suit who stood waving a file of papers at him. He didn't seem too concerned, laughing as she slapped the file onto his over-flowing desk and left in a huff. The Soldier kept an eye on the man as he finally took the folder and stood while reading it, moving over to stand next to the window.

He wasn't that tall, but his suit was sharp and cut all clean lines. His facial hair seemed pretty distinctive, too, and it stirred a sense of familiarity in the back of the Soldier's mind. Had this man been involved in one of his previous missions? Had he seen him somewhere before? The Soldier couldn't remember. He decided to watch the man for a while, to see if he could figure it out.

The man drifted back and forth between his two desks, the one covered in paperwork and the one off to the side that lit up under his drawings. The Soldier liked seeing him draw. After a while, the man looked up as a knock came at the door. An older man with a shaved head and a trimmed beard entered, smiling jovially. The young man stood to greet him with a hug before they settled down to talk, the young man showing some of the things he had drawn to the other.

The Soldier didn't like the older man, didn't like the feeling of him. Every time the young man turned away, he got a predatory look on his face before smiling as soon at the young man turned back. It made a dark emotion curl in the pit of the Soldier's stomach. It made him want to cross over to the other building and pull the young man away, hide him and keep him safe. But that wasn't part of the mission. Was it?

Maybe it was. Maybe the mission, the one he couldn't quite remember, was about keeping the young man safe. That would explain his compulsion to do so. The Soldier didn't feel compulsions, after all. He had no wants, no desires. He was only the asset and the mission dictated everything. So his mission must be to keep the young man safe. But he was also waiting for extraction. He wasn't supposed to bring attention to himself. He would wait, the Soldier decided. If the older man made a threatening move, then the Soldier would act.

The older man never made a move, though, instead just finishing up their conversation and leaving the office. The Soldier felt some of the tension leave his frame as he continued to watch the young man work. By the time he was packing up his things, the Soldier had already made the decision to follow him home. It was a bit difficult, considering the Soldier had no transportation of his own, but he managed it.

The young man lived in a rather modest, two-story brick house, considering that he seemed to have a rather important job at a large company. He parked his sporty car at the curb and all but bounded through the white picket fence and up the brick path to let himself in the front door. The Soldier watched as he greeted an older, brunette woman with a hug and kisses on both cheeks before heading downstairs into the basement. The Soldier frowned. It would be hard to get in without alerting the woman to his presence. Not impossible, but hard.

He scouted around the side of the building, relieved to find that the yard sloped steadily downward and that there were windows set along the ground, long, thin ones that would be a tight fit for someone the Soldier's size. The mission took priority, though, and they offered a better way to get in unnoticed that going through the upper level. He punched out one of the windows with his metal arm and cleared away the shards of glass before levering himself through it and dropping down the seven or so feet into what appeared to be a workshop of some sort. The Soldier's feet had barely managed to hit the ground before a wrench was flying at his head.

"Stranger danger! Security breach!"

The Soldier ducked, letting the wrench hit the wall with a clang as he sped across the workshop to seize the young man by the face. His metal fingers squeezed tightly over the bones of his jaw to keep him quiet. The man blinked at him, then blinked again before all of the tension flew out of him. Slowly, the Soldier eased his grip until the young man could talk again.

"You know, you could have just knocked. Aunt Peggy's gonna kill me for breaking that window. I blow them all out at least once a month as it is. I mean, that's why she soundproofed the basement." He gave the Soldier an absolutely baffling conspiratorial look. "I think I could die down here and she wouldn't know until SI called to know why I'd missed a week's worth of meetings." His brow furrowed. "Wait, no. They probably wouldn't notice, either."

The Soldier stared at him.

"You are not afraid?"

The young man snorted, squirreling out of the assassin's grip and hopping up to sit on a work table.

"Why would I be afraid? You already said you weren't going to kill me." The Soldier didn't understand. He didn't remember saying that. "Oh! Do you want to meet DUM-E? I think he'll like you. He likes everybody, though, so I guess that's not saying much. I think he'll particularly like you. See? Much better. And Pepper says I'm terrible with people."

He scoffs as he shoos the Soldier to the side and beckons across the lab. The Soldier has one hand on his gun at the first sign of movement before quickly realizing it wasn't another person, but a robot. The mechanism whirred as it rolled forward, its single metallic arm reaching forward to look the Soldier up and down before beeping and holding its claw forward. The Soldier stared at it.

"He wants you to shake! He only just figured out how to do it a few days ago and he's still super excited. DUM-E, be nice. This is…" The young man trailed off, brows furrowing. "I just realized I don't know your name."

"The asset is only the asset."

The younger's nose wrinkled in distaste.

"What the Hell is that even supposed to mean? What's your name? Or do you want me to just call you 'the asset'," he said it in a horrible imitation of the Soldier's own deep voice, "all the time?"

Something inside of the Soldier rebelled at the thought, strangely enough. He'd never had a problem being called the asset before, even by himself. He hesitated for a moment before naming the only other title he could think of.

"I am…Winter."

The younger man rolled his eyes and made a noise of exasperation as he hopped back off the table and held out his own hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you then, Winter. I'm Tony, not that you didn't already know that, what with me being your mission and all."

The Soldier actually hadn't known his name, but filed it away none the less. He gripped Tony's hand gingerly and was somewhat pleased by the way the young man beamed in response. Off to the side, DUM-E gave another series of beeps, drawing the man's attention away.

"Don't be a brat! You're just jealous the hot guy in my lab likes me better!" He stuck his tongue out at the robot before turning back to the Soldier. "So, it's been a while. What brings you to D.C. this time around? Bothering any more new CEO's in their offices?"

He winked at the Soldier, but his words made little sense. The Soldier decided to focus on the ones that did.

"Brent Walden."

Tony winced.

"Oooh, bad luck. I hope whatever business you had with him was taken care of before the accident. Wait. You know about the accident, right?"

The Soldier nodded. He'd been the one to cause the accident.

"The mission was completed."

"Ugh! Again with the missions!" He flopped inelegantly into a chair. "You're worse than a robot! And I would know!" He huffed again before leaning forward. "What is your mission with me, anyway? You figure it out this time?"

The Soldier paused, thinking back on his suspicions from earlier that day.

"I am to keep you safe."

Tony snorted in laughter.

"Well, you're gonna have your hands full with that one."

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The next time they met, it was only eight months later, and it wasn't the Soldier saving Tony. He was in Greece and the target had managed to get off three shots from his pistol before the Soldier could smother him. All three bullets passed straight through the Soldier's abdomen, luckily, so he didn't have to worry about trying to dig them out. Unfortunately, he was bleeding out quicker than he was making new cells. He'd been collapsed in an alley for about twenty minutes by the time Tony found him.

"Jesus, Winter! Oh, man, this looks bad!"

The young businessman crouched beside the assassin and quickly shed his jacket to press it against the Soldier's wounds. His eyes were wide with panic a hint of fear, which kind of surprised the Soldier. Tony hadn't been afraid when they had met before. He raised a metal hand to cover the ones pressing on his stomach.

"You are afraid."

"No fucking duh, I'm afraid! You've got fucking bullet wounds in your stomach! Do you have any idea what the statistics say about your chances in this situation? I get that I'm just some mission to you, but my pool of important people is pretty small so you better not fucking die before I get a chance to find out if you're one of them!"

Oh. He wasn't afraid of the Soldier. He was afraid for the Soldier.

"I will be fine. What are you doing here?"

"I stuck a tracker on your uniform when you were in my lab. Wanted to keep up with you. What do you mean you'll be fine?! People bleeding this much out of their midsection aren't usually fine!"

Somehow, the fact that Tony had been tracking him didn't bother the Soldier as much as it probably should have.

"A full recovery can be made in one week with a day's bed rest and light activity."

Tony stared at him for a long, silent moment.

"Holy shit. You're a super, aren't you?"

"I don't know what that means."

A corner of Tony's mouth quirked upwards.

"Yeah. We've covered that. Supers are metahumans, people with special abilities or powers. No way are you going to heal that fast without some kind of powers."

The Soldier considered it.

"The asset has been enhanced."

Tony glowered at him.

"You know, every time you pull that 'asset' crap, I find it incredibly creepy." The Soldier didn't know what to say to that so he just stayed quiet. After a long moment, Tony sighed and slid an arm around his back. "Alright, forget it. Let's just get you back to my place, well, my uncle's, but it's not like Dum Dum is using it and I gave it to him in the first place, so whatever. You're fucking lucky I decided to take a vacation once I saw you come here. You are officially my guest for the next week till you're all healed up."

The Soldier shook his head vigorously, but couldn't quite bring himself to pull away.

"The handlers will be suspicious if the asse-I do not show up for extraction."

"Yeah, well 'the handlers' are going to have to extract my foot from their asses if they think you're getting away from me in the next week. You're staying."

Tony didn't say it was an order, but it sounded like an order. The Soldier supposed he could stay. As long as he avoided being seen then the handlers would never know where he was. For some reason, he really didn't like the thought of them running into Tony. He didn't like it at all.

They somehow made it through the streets of Greece without drawing too much attention, except for that one woman the Soldier was pretty sure they gave a heart attack to. It probably helped that it was the middle of the night. By the time they'd made it to where Tony was staying, a huge house with all the latest gadgets and five spare rooms, the Soldier was barely still on his feet. He didn't complain in the slightest when Tony slowly eased him out of his clothes to clean and dress his wounds before putting him in the bed. In truth, he barely even registered it when Tony crawled in after him. He did, however, notice it when they woke up tangled around each other. And when Tony kissed him goodbye at the end of the week. The Soldier definitely noticed that.

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Five years passed. After the first wipe, the Soldier thought nothing of the empty feeling inside of him. He did not mention it to the technicians, did not even think it was odd. The Soldier simply assumed that was the way things were meant to be. He'd never known anything different, just as he'd never known anything different from the blankness in his head, the lack of a name or identity. He was simply the asset, nothing more.

He was in Serbia when the two handlers who'd been sent with him were killed. They were in a mid-sized town that covered up an extensive black market and the handlers had pissed off the wrong people. The Soldier hadn't been with them at the time, instead on the opposite side of town completing his mission. The higher ups probably wouldn't notice anything wrong for at least twelve hours but new handlers would be sent after that. The Soldier would wait for them in town.

He wandered the streets, not really paying attention to anything in particular. An old woman waved cheerfully at him from a bakery, but he didn't react to her. He wasn't used to being so exposed to people and it felt odd. A hoodie and gloves kept his arm hidden from view and it just felt unnatural not to be wearing his mask. He was trying to blend in, though, and both of those things would only draw attention to himself.

The Soldier turned down a side street, hoping to reach an area with less people. With the mission completed and nothing left but to wait for an indeterminable amount of time, he felt restless. A feeling inside of him was urging him toward something, but he had no idea what that thing might be. It was incredibly frustrating and was starting to make him more than just a little bit fidgety.

"Winter?"

The Soldier's head jerked up in surprise, a stir in the back of his mind telling him that the call was meant for him. He turned slowly to spot a man who was probably in his late twenties, a bit on the shorter side in stature with wide, honey-brown eyes and a stunned expression. He seemed almost…familiar. The Soldier frowned at him in thought. That was surprisingly fast.

"Are you my new handler?"

The man frowned right back, eyes searching for something in the Soldier's face. He took a few tentative steps forward, one arm reaching out to gently brush the Soldier's metal one.

"Don't you remember me? It's Tony."

The Soldier's brows furrowed. The man's words stirred things up within him, things that he could not understand or explain. It felt weird. He didn't like it. He wanted it to stop.

"I have completed the mission, but the handlers were compromised. Are you my new handler?"

There was a long silence as the man continued to search his features. The Soldier just felt more and more jumpy the longer it went on. Why was this man not giving the Soldier any orders? He needed orders. It was only through orders that he knew what to do.

"No," the man finally said. "I'm not your new handler. I'm your mission. You're supposed to keep me safe, remember?"

The Soldier didn't remember, not really, but the mission felt right, familiar, and it was a blessing to have an objective again. His world realigned.

"We should get off the streets. It is not safe to stay in the open here."

The man scoffed.

"No kidding. It seems like everybody and their mother is double dealing something in this town. Let's go back to my place."

The Soldier followed him obediently, eyes now sweeping for threats and keeping himself close to the one he was supposed to protect. The Soldier always completed his missions. This one would be no different. They ended up in a rather quaint little inn, simplistic and small. It was not unlike the one where the Soldier had been staying with his handlers and he wasted little time in checking the room for bugs or traps of any kind. The man watched him closely from his perch on the bed.

"So your handlers are dead? What happens now?"

"New ones will be sent."

The man frowned.

"What if you didn't go with them? What if you stayed with me?" He paused for a moment before continuing, almost as if he felt like he had to justify it. "I mean, it'd be a lot easier to keep me safe if you were actually with me, right?"

He looked hopeful, but the Soldier shook his head.

"It would not be safe. The handlers cannot know of your existence."

The Soldier wasn't sure why that was the case, but he knew it was true. He had to keep Tony safe and the handlers were not safe.

"Would they hurt me?" he asked. "Like they've hurt you?"

The Soldier froze. Did the handlers hurt him? The technicians certainly did whenever they did maintenance on his arm. Tony didn't have an arm made of metal, though. They wouldn't hurt him, right? They wouldn't have a reason to…would they?

"I…don't know."

Tony was off the bed and approaching him instantly, clearly seeing his inner turmoil. Tan hands wrapped around the Soldier's biceps and squeezed reassuringly.

"You don't have to go back to them, Winter. I know people. The people I work with, work for, can keep you safe from them. They'll never be able to hurt you again."

The Soldier shook his head fervently. He couldn't even think like that. How could Tony say such things? The Soldier had to go back. He had to.

"The handlers must be obeyed. The asset's only purpose is to complete the mission."

"Bullshit!" the man half-yelled and half-growled. "You are your own person, Winter! If you don't want to obey them, you can make that choice!"

The Soldier was shaking, trembling in a way he had never experienced before.

"The asset-" he choked on the words. "The asset has no choices. The asset only has orders."

He ripped himself out of the man's grip, heading for the door. He couldn't be here, couldn't stay with all of these things being said. He was so confused. The man called after him desperately.

"Winter! I'm going to come for you! I won't let them do this to you again!"

The Soldier was already moving out of the room, picking up speed until he was running through the streets. He needed to find a place to lay low, a place to hide until the new handlers came for him. He needed to get himself under control.

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HYDRA didn't wipe him when the new handlers got him back to base. They were able to figure out that the old handlers had died by their own idiocy quickly enough and the Soldier told them nothing of his interaction with Tony. As for as they knew, there was no error in the programming and it was only a couple months past his return that someone seemed to take up a vendetta against the organization.

Bases were being attacked, raided by an organization known as SHIELD, from what the Soldier understood. No one ever bothered to tell him what was going on, but it was clear that whoever was hunting them was single-minded in their focus and ruthlessly efficient. It started with the base nearest to Greece and spread from there. The handlers seemed to alternate between pissed off and actually frightened. The Soldier just continued with his missions and moved from base to base as four more were compromised and taken down. Two years after the attacks started, they finally managed to get their hands on the person who was apparently supplying SHIELD with the locations and information.

The Soldier wasn't sure why he was in the room, honestly. He wasn't usually a part of interrogations and it wasn't like he couldn't be left alone. His handlers left him to his own devices more often than not. He could function, they didn't need to babysit him. Perhaps they were simply excited, though, and wanted to add one more person to the list of those able to see such an enemy brought low. The Soldier felt sick to his stomach the moment they dragged Tony into the room.

His hair was matted with blood and he was bleeding profusely from his torso, despite being wrapped in bandages. The man was obviously out of it enough that he was barely conscious, not at all aware of his surroundings. He almost looked drugged and it stirred something inside of the Soldier, something about information and staples. The Soldier wanted to jump forward, to grab the man and run off with him, but he held himself back. He was not allowed to move against the handlers and it was obvious the handlers wanted Tony here and hurt. He didn't understand what he was supposed to do. Which mission was he supposed to follow?

The handlers dragged another prisoner forward, a doctor from the Middle East who had done some work on the Soldier's arm, and demanded that he save 'Stark's' life. The Soldier watched the procedure anxiously, paid close attention as the doctor pulled tiny metal pieces out of Tony's chest before imbedding a magnet beneath the skin and hooked it up to a car battery. It was the most terrifying thing he'd ever witnessed. The handlers weren't paying him any attention, luckily enough, but the doctor made eye contact several times during the operation. The Soldier wasn't sure how he felt about that.

It was nearly a week before the Soldier had an opportunity to sneak in to see Tony, before the guards lost interest enough not to be watching every second of every day. The doctor was there, in the same cell, which had been turned into something like a smithy, and they both looked up immediately when the door opened. The doctor stiffened at the sight of him, but Tony only seemed to relax. He abandoned the missile he was messing with and grabbed his car battery on his way to greet the new arrival. The Soldier gave in to the temptation that had been crawling through him since the man had shown up and pulled Tony into his arms, an unfamiliar gesture but one that felt right. Tony leaned into it so the Soldier figured it couldn't be too bad.

"You shouldn't be here," he said huskily.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't exactly part of the plan. I said I'd come for you though, didn't I?"

"You did."

The Soldier didn't want to let him go, but the man was pulling away so he let him.

"Anyway, I'm glad you're here. I honestly was starting to think I was never going to find the right base. And now is especially good. You can totally help with the escape plan."

The doctor looked startled by their interaction and Tony's easy acceptance of the Soldier. He grabbed Tony by the elbow, something that made the Soldier distinctly displeased.

"Stark! How do you know we can trust this man? He works for HYDRA!"

Tony just shot a grin in the Soldier's direction.

"Hey, Winter, what's your mission?"

"You are to be kept safe, at all costs."

Tony turned his pointed look back on the doctor.

"See? Don't worry about it, Yinsen. Winter's awesome. HYDRA's just been wiping his memory and doing some sort of crazy brainwashing thing while experimenting on him."

He was glad to see the doctor looked just as confused as the Soldier felt.

"What?"

Tony's gaze flickered to him.

"Well, you know, I figured there was something wrong pretty quick, but I didn't actually figure out what was wrong until the last time we met. Admittedly, I was maybe a little pissed off after Greece and not hearing from you for so long and that might have influenced me not figuring it out sooner. I'm told I can hold a grudge pretty well."

The Soldier didn't remember a mission in Greece.

"I met you in Serbia."

Tony shook his head as he settled back into his work on the missile.

"We've met before that. Multiple times, actually. First time we met was in D.C., actually, in my office at Stark Industries. As I said, they've been wiping your memory. For whatever reason, your mission to protect me keeps surviving. As for the experimentation thing, that's really just a guess. All I really know is that you look the same as you did when I was eighteen."

The Soldier still didn't really understand, but he decided to accept it none the less. There were plenty of missions he'd had to do that with anyway. Yinsen was looking at them like they'd lost their minds. Tony didn't seem to pay any attention, instead pulling the missile apart and setting aside very specific pieces of it.

"So, Winter, any chances they're going to wipe you again soon? I mean, if you remember Serbia then they haven't done it for over two years. That's a good sign, right?"

The Soldier thought about it, thought about the strategic advantages and what plots he knew about that were currently in the works.

"At current, you are the top priority. My missions, not as important."

"So we can hope for a lack of wiping in the near future then. Hopefully it holds long enough for me to get this finished and all three of us can get out of here. Do you think you could get us some schematics for the building layout?"

"I am required to know them by heart."

Yinsen was giving Tony an odd look.

"You are not building them weapons, are you?"

Tony's answering grin was brilliant.

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The Soldier had never really understood how smart Tony was before the genius had been captured by HYDRA. Even if he'd connected his Tony with Tony Stark, he probably wouldn't have realized it. Now, though, he'd watched Tony build himself a brand new heart in a matter of days and plug it in to replace the car battery. The Soldier decided he rather liked the glow. It was a good way to measure that the man was still alive with barely a glance.

The Soldier visited the cell-come-workshop whenever he could, which was actually more frequent than he would have expected. The longer he went without a mission, the less his handlers paid attention to him and outside of a daily check-up Yinsen and Tony were pretty much left on their own to work. This was especially fortunate when Tony started to send him off to get extra materials for the suit he was building, materials he couldn't talk the guards into giving him without them getting suspicious. They already didn't like the fact that Tony had taken the time to build the arc reactor before getting started on their project. He'd spent a few hours being water boarded for that one.

The weeks slipped by and eventually Yinsen began to relax around the Soldier. They talked a bit, not much since they both seemed to lean toward the more tacit end of the spectrum, but a bit. Yinsen was better at helping Tony with his work, but there was still plenty that went over even his head, especially on the programming side of things. It was during these times, when Tony was hunched over a computer and oblivious to the world, that Yinsen and the Soldier sat off to the side and had their little conversations.

"This is not the first time I have met Stark, either, you know." The Soldier inclined his head in Yinsen's direction to indicate he was listening, but didn't take his eyes off of the genius at work. He liked watching the way Tony's hands flew across the keys. "It was a number of years ago. I think I was more impressed that he was able to give a lecture while that drunk than I was by the actual lecture. I doubt he remembers much of it."

"I only remember meeting him once."

Yinsen hummed fondly.

"And yet he clearly left quite the impression on you."

"He told me I was not a thing to be owned, that I was a person who could make my own choices."

"You would not think it to meet him in passing, but he is a very kind man, very caring. Have you followed his advice? Are you making your own choices now?"

There was a shrewdness in Yinsen's gaze, a question of the Soldier's motives. He was a smart man.

"I think I am."

"And what are you choosing?"

"Him." There was no doubt in the Soldier's voice. "I'm choosing him."

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Tony had been at the HYDRA base for nearly three months when everything went to Hell. A guard, not one of his handlers, came to collect the Soldier from the gym and led him to the cell where Tony and Yinsen were being kept. He was drunk, the Soldier could smell the alcohol all over him, and babbled the entire way there about how great it was to have the Tony Stark at the mercy of HYDRA. Both Tony and Yinsen stood, with their hands above their heads, as the guard led the Soldier into the cell.

"Well, well, well, look at how far the mighty have fallen! It's nice to see you still groveling like you should."

The Soldier could see the way the words got Tony's hackles up, but the genius stayed silent. The guard didn't seem to like that too much, though, and rammed the butt of his rifle into Tony's stomach. It took every ounce of self-control the Soldier had not to jump in and intervene. He had to protect Tony, but if they could just get through this then they could make the escape plan work and Tony would be free. The Soldier wouldn't be able to help anyone if he got wiped again.

"You little piece of shit! You think you're better just because you make weapons? Because you're rich? Your money means nothing here! You mean nothing! It's about damn time you figured that out!" The guard turned his head just a bit to direct his next words at the Soldier. "Break his arm, the left one first. We'll see if he's so high and mighty then."

The Soldier froze, every muscle of lock-down. He'd been given an order, but that order went against his mission. There was no way he could follow it. He didn't want to follow it. This wasn't just standing by to keep his cover intact, this was actually hurting Tony himself. He couldn't hurt Tony. This man couldn't make him hurt Tony. But if he didn't, he'd be wiped again. In a near-panic, the Soldier looked at Tony, the only person in the world he actually trusted to tell him what to do. At the other man's nod, the Soldier broke the guard's neck.

"Oh, holy shit!" Tony's eyes were wide as he stared at the body crumpled on the floor. "I feel like I should clarify that was a 'Go ahead and break my arm, I can take it' nod and not a 'Go ahead and kill that guy' nod. Jesus! I think we need to work on communication!"

The Soldier scowled, stepping over the body to wrap Tony up in his arms just as he had that first day. He liked it, liked how it felt. He wanted to do it more often, to feel the way Tony slotted so well against his own body.

"I will not hurt you. It is not an option."

Tony nodded absently, visually collecting himself and kicking his brain into high gear.

"Okay, okay, new plan time. If they find out you killed him, they're definitely wiping you again and security is going to go up like a mother fucker." His eyes brightened with an idea. "Oh, my God! I'm brilliant! Mother fucker! Of course! Why didn't I think of that sooner? Does he have a phone on him?"

Yinsen checked and passed it over. Tony immediately started typing away.

"What are you thinking, Stark?"

"I'm thinking that you two need to get the Hell out of here while I create a distraction. Go to the coordinates in that message."

The Soldier scowled and crossed his arms as Yinsen took the phone back.

"I'm not leaving you."

Tony looked like the very embodiment of stubborn.

"Yes, you are. Look, they can't kill me if they want their weapons, but they can sure as Hell kill Yinsen. If they catch you here, they'll wipe you, which means you've gotta go, too, and neither of you is going to make it out without a distraction. Listen to me, Winter, I sent that text to my boss over at SHIELD. He'll be waiting for you at the coordinates. Get Yinsen there, get him to safety, and bring SHIELD back to get me, okay?" He seemed to melt a bit, and suddenly he looked desperate. "I can't lose you again. I promised you that I wouldn't let them do something like wipe you again and I plan to keep that promise. Please, Winter."

For a moment, the Soldier paused. Despite everything, that was the first time he'd ever heard Tony sound actually desperate. He was pretty sure that Tony could ask for anything in that tone of voice and the Soldier would happily kill himself just to make it happen.

"Do not dare get hurt while I am gone."

Tony smiled blindingly. He gently pulled away the Soldier's mask before kissing him fiercely, lips pressed hard enough together to feel the teeth on the other side. It was quick, not nearly as long as the Soldier would have liked, but there was a promise in it.

"I'll do my best," Tony said as he bent down to retrieve the guard's gun. "Now, go."

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Tony's text had read, "How long am I supposed to wait for this rescue op of yours? Seriously, Nicky, this is just embarrassing. I'm sending back up to the following coordinates." Nicky, as it turned out, was Nicholas J. Fury and it took the Soldier less than a single conversation to understand why 'mother fucker' had made Tony think of him.

"I don't give a shit if you're Stark's version of backup or the God damned Pope! The two of you are being taken into SHIELD custody until we can figure out what the fuck is going on. We can handle Stark's retrieval without you."

The Soldier glared at him, metal hand flexing. He wasn't used to fighting back against authority figures, had never had the occasion to learn, but now he wished he had just a tiny bit of Tony's gift for sass and getting what he wanted. Yinsen lay his hand on the Soldier's shoulder.

"Sir, we understand your position on this matter, but I might caution you to reconsider. I'll go into custody, no problem, but my companion knows that base like nobody else. He can get you to it and he can get you in with minimal casualties. If you know Stark as well as I suspect you do then you'll understand why that is important."

"And does your companion have a name?"

The Soldier could have told him Winter, but he didn't want to. That name was Tony's. This man did not deserve it.

"No." he said instead, from behind his mask. "I have no name."

It said something about the type of people Fury was used to dealing with that he didn't question that.

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The Soldier decided that Tony was, without a doubt, the most infuriating person he'd ever met-and that included all of the people he couldn't remember meeting. The idiot had apparently decided to stage his own escape while they were gone, so that the rescue team arrived to find a HYDRA base burned nearly to the ground and Tony stumbling around in the remains of his suit. There were burns on both of his arms and he was bleeding from his forehead, but overall he seemed unharmed. The Soldier refused to speak to him until they were back in medical and Tony was laying on one of the crisp, white beds.

"You said you wouldn't get hurt."

"I said I would try."

"And is this what you call trying? Blowing a building sky high?"

"Yeah, well, they pissed me off." Tony's sulk turned into something a bit darker, and the Soldier decided he didn't like that look on Tony's face. "Someone in my company sold me out, Winter. Do you know how many people outside of SHIELD agents know that I work for them? I can count the number on one hand and still have fingers free."

The Soldier growled. He'd assumed HYDRA had managed to get their hands on Tony through their own machinations. He knew well how deep their information gathering skills ran from what they'd been able to get him on various targets. He hadn't even thought that someone had betrayed Tony.

"What are their names?"

It was more of a demand than a question and Tony's hand shot out to grab hold of the Soldier's wrist.

"I trust them, Winter. They're the closest thing I have to family outside of Aunt Peggy and my uncles."

"I won't hurt them," the Soldier soothed. "Not unless they betrayed you. Where shall I find you when I have gathered the information?"

Tony seemed to find that acceptable, at least. He reached for a pen and paper on the bedside table.

"I'll be in D.C., restructuring the company. HYDRA had my weapons, weapons that were meant to help people. I can't risk that happening again. I'm pulling the plug on weapons. The future's in clean energy anyway. Here's the address of my mansion."

He passed the paper over, an address neatly printed at the top and a list of three names beneath it. Pepper Potts, James Rhodes, Obadiah Stane.

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It was ridiculously easy to rule out Pepper as a suspect, the Soldier decided. He hadn't even bothered talking to the woman in question, just watched her for a couple days. She was powerful, efficient, ruthless in her own way, the Soldier supposed, but also impossibly soft. She was tender and caring in a way the Soldier had never seen before, but then again, he'd never really been in a situation that bred such feelings. Besides, he could tell by the way she greeted Tony on the airstrip that she genuinely cared for him, even as he watched the proceedings from atop a nearby roof. He felt a flash of jealousy, of possessiveness, but brushed it aside. There were more important things to worry about at the moment.

James Rhodes, as it turned out, was a Colonel in the Air Force and currently worked as a liaison for their weapons contracts. He was living on base, as many military men did, but that didn't keep the Soldier from tracking him down. There was no way to tell how he felt about Tony, not really, but there was also nothing to tie him to HYDRA, not even when the Soldier had broken into his room and gone through his computer. It didn't rule him out completely, but it did prompt the Soldier to move on to the final individual on Tony's short list.

The Soldier disliked Obadiah Stane from the moment he set eyes on him. He was an older man, with a bald head and a trimmed beard. His eyes were hard, though, and the Soldier knew that look well. This was far from the first time he had seen it. Predator, his mind supplied. He didn't even have to watch Stane for a full day before he implicated himself while yelling at a scientist. It lit the Soldier's veins on fire with rage. He wanted little more than to shoot the man dead right then and there, but he resisted. It was not his choice to make, he decided.

He continued to watch Stane as he went about his day at Stark Industries, fooling everyone he spoke to with the slickness of a used car salesman. When he finally left and headed home, Bucky followed. Stane lived in the penthouse of a high-rise complex, overlooking the city. It took barely any effort at all for the Soldier to get inside. He hovered around the various rooms, always staying just barely out of the businessman's sight. When Stane finally went to bed, the Soldier continued to watch him for another hour.

"If you wake up in the morning, it is because Tony Stark let you live," were his parting words before he headed to the address Tony had given him.

The mansion was large, with a pristinely kept lawn and huge windows. The garage was large enough to hold way more cars than any one person could ever need. With the building's sleek lines and modern design, though, the Soldier thought it suited the man who owned it. He entered through a second story window in the back and found Tony already climbing the stairs when the Soldier set out to look for him.

"Hey! JARVIS let me know that you had let yourself in. You could always just use the door, you know. It's not like I'd turn you away."

The Soldier was confused. He was sure no one had seen him enter.

"Jarvis?"

"Just Another Rather Very Intelligent System. He's my AI that runs the place. JARV? You wanna say hi?"

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Winter. Sir has told me much about you. If there is ever anything you are in need of, I will do my best to provide it for you."

Tony beamed, even as the Soldier glanced around with wide eyes.

"JARVIS doesn't have a physical body, not like the two of us. He's in the walls and everything. C'mon, I was just working on some stuff in the lab. I can introduce you to the other bots." He paused for a moment. "Well, re-introduce you in the case of DUM-E. Does it count as a reintroduction if you don't remember?"

The Soldier shrugged and followed him down. After everything he'd seen in the cell at HYDRA, he was interested to find out what Tony could do in an environment of his choosing. The Soldier bet it would be pretty amazing.

"Nick's furious that you up and vanished, by the way," Tony snickered as they crossed a living room with a white couch and started down another staircase. "Apparently he can't believe you managed to get out past SHIELD security. I thought that vein in his forehead was gonna pop for sure! I got, like, a two hour lecture about how I needed to tell him where you were."

"You didn't?"

"Of course not! Despite what Fury may think, he's not the King of the Universe. He doesn't have the right to know what everyone's up to at every moment of the day. Besides," the inventor's voice dropped, sounding much more sincere, "I would never betray you like that."

The Soldier blinked, wanting nothing more in that moment that to drag Tony towards him and kiss him. He wasn't sure that was allowed, though, and didn't want to over-step his bounds. Better to stick to what he already knew he was allowed to do. He sent the man a small smile as Tony pushed open the glass door to his workshop. Immediately, three bots zoomed over, distracting the Soldier from the cars lining two walls and the equipment laid out all over the place.

One of the bots beeped excitedly and prodded at the Soldier's metal hand, making him jerk away slightly. The next beep was more inquisitive and a bit disappointed.

"Winter, meet the bots!" Tony beamed and spread his arms out to indicate his creations. "Sorry about DUM-E, he gets attached to people a little too easily." He turned to the bot. "Winter had some bad things done to him, buddy. He doesn't remember everything too well. You're gonna have to get him to warm up to you all over again, okay? So try not to be yourself." His eyes danced with humor as he sent the Soldier a wink. "These other two are BUTTERFINGERS and U. They're helper bots with learning AI's."

The Soldier held out his hands tentatively, almost like someone meeting a strange dog for the first time. The bots each reached out with their claws to investigate before beeping in approval. They seemed especially interested in his metal hand and arm and, even though it made his skin crawl just a bit, the Soldier stood still and let them poke and prod at it. When he glanced over to where Tony was standing off to the side, he caught the man looking on with an expression that pretty closely resembled that of a fiercely proud parent.

"They like you," he said softly, with the same tone he'd used earlier.

"They're…nice," the Soldier settled on. "I've never seen anything like them."

He could practically see the way Tony puffed up his chest.

"Yeah, well, try and keep the praise to a minimum, yeah? We can't have it going to their heads now, can we?" He turned away and headed toward the chair at his computer terminal. Blue screens of light flickered into life as he sat down. The Soldier gently extricated himself from the bots in order to follow. "Now, let's get down to business. I take it you've found something or you wouldn't have come back yet."

"Obadiah Stane."

The Soldier immediately regretted not mincing his works when Tony's expression turned distinctly distraught. The man's jaw clenched as unclenched as though he were struggling to get out words and his eyes just looked pained.

"Obie?"

His voice was pleading, begging the Soldier to tell him it wasn't true.

"I overheard him talking to a scientist about your escape with the suit and stealing the technology. He mentioned finding a better way to get rid of you this time. He is interested in the reactor as well."

"Oh." Tony seemed a bit shocked, not quite absorbing the information. "Did you…?"

"No. He will live or die by your word. If he tries to hurt you again, though, I will not hesitate to kill him."

Tony flinched.

"No, no. Don't kill him. We'll, uh, we'll find evidence of what happened and turn him in. SHIELD can help." Tony scowled. "Unless Aunt Peggy kills him. She might just do it when she finds out."

The Soldier nodded along, not quite following everything Tony said but content to go with it. He would have to remember with Peggy person. If she was dangerous, he would make sure she was not allowed to harm Tony.

"You plan to tell her?"

That drew a laugh out of the man, but it sounded more broken than anything else. The Soldier hated it.

"That was part of our deal. I could become a SHIELD agent, but there couldn't be any secrets between us. It's kinda funny, you know? I don't think she trusted the organization that she helped found."

The Soldier felt the urge to hug Tony again, but resisted. That was not his place. Instead, he guided the man over to where a couch was placed near a small kitchenette and sat down with him. One of the bots, he thought maybe BUTTERFINGERS, hovered nearby and made some concerned-sounding beeps. Like this, sitting so close together, the Soldier could feel the other man trembling slightly. Tentatively, not quite sure what he was doing but going on instinct, the Soldier raised his metal hand to curl around the back of Tony's neck. His thumb stroked soothingly against the skin there.

"You are safe now. I will not allow anyone to hurt you."

Suddenly, Tony's weight and warmth were pressed against this side, the other man leaning on him as if the inventor had lost the strength to hold himself up. The Soldier released his hold on the other's neck to slide his arm around the man's shoulders.

"I shouldn't trust you as much as I do," Tony practically mumbled. "I mean, ever since my parents died, I've grown up around spies and assassins. Aunt Peggy tried to keep me out of it at first but," he shrugged, "I was never exactly the kinda kid you could keep out of things. Point is, I've always known that you can't really trust people. That's what gets you killed. But I trust you." His voice sounded so stricken. "I trusted Obie like another father."

The Soldier wasn't sure what to say, what he could say. Despite his drive to keep Tony safe, the man had never seemed exactly helpless. He was strong and confident, even in that cell HYDRA kept him in. There was nothing the world could throw at him that he couldn't handle. Now, though, he seemed almost like a scared little kid, begging to be comforted and the Soldier had no idea how to do that.

"I trust you," he finally said. "Even when I did not know you, I felt that you were familiar and that I wanted to keep you safe."

Tony hummed a bit, but didn't say anything. They were quiet for a long time after that.

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"I'm going to go see Aunt Peggy," Tony announced at around 11am the next morning. He shifted a bit uncertainly. "Would you, uh, would you like to go with me?"

The Soldier immediately grabbed his mask from off the man's desk and strapped it back on.

"I can follow behind."

That got the man to crack a grin. He still hadn't quite bounced back from the news of Obadiah's betrayal, but he was getting better. The Soldier was glad. He didn't like the devastation that had been all over Tony's face.

"Or, you know, you could just jump in the passenger seat. I'm just sayin'. You're going to have to meet her, either way."

The Soldier blinked in surprise. He'd been expecting to watch the affair from a covert position, keeping an eye on this woman for suspicious behavior and making sure she did not harm Tony. Accompanying Tony would blow his cover, certainly, but it would also put him in a better position to protect the man. He nodded once, sharply.

"Very well."

Tony looked like he'd won the lottery. Well, like a not-already-insanely-rich person would look if they won the lottery.

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The house Tony parked in front of was two-stories tall and made of brick with all-white shutters. The lawn was well-kept and covered in flowers, surrounded by a white picket fence. It was very modest, near the outskirts of the city, and the Soldier decided he rather liked it. Tony glanced over his shoulder at him as the genius rang the doorbell.

"Now, remember, don't you dare break any windows this time around."

Before the Soldier even had a chance to question that statement, hurried footsteps could be heard from inside before the door was all but flung open. A woman with all-white, shoulder length hair and a floral dress stood in the entrance. She looked frail, but in the way that spoke of natural aging and not illness. Her eyes were fierce as she glared at the Soldier.

"Is this the man Director Fury called to tell me about?"

The Soldier was a bit surprised to note she had a British accent.

"Wow," Tony drawled, "not even a 'hello'. No, it's cool. I only just got home from being held captive for three months by the biggest enemy you ever faced and had a rather questionable surgery to implant a magnet in my chest. It's not like you've demanded I make daily visits so you can fuss over me and make sure I'm not still dying or called the Commandos to come back and keep an eye on me. Don't think I don't know about that. No, no. Let's just focus on my friend here. Sounds great. You know what else sounds great? Letting all the neighbors see you have a guy in skin-tight leather and a face mask on your front doorstep. C'mon, Aunt Pegs! At least let us come in first!"

She glared for a moment more before stepping aside and holding the door open a bit wider.

"You're uncles are in the kitchen, hun. Morita and Jacques got in last night and Dum Dum arrived this morning. Gabe and Falsworth won't be in till tomorrow at least." She shot Tony a stern look before turning back to glare at the Soldier again. "Don't think you'll get out of telling them about you're new 'friend' any more than you'll be getting out of telling me."

Tony flashed her a shit-eating grin.

"Why do you think I'm here and not holed up in my lab until you send Pepper to come drag me out?" He looped his arm through the Soldier's metal one and dragged him further into the house, toward the sound of several men chatting. "C'mon, dear, it's time to meet the family."

The kitchen fell silent as soon as they entered the room. The three men around the table eyed the Soldier like they were sizing him up to do battle. The Soldier couldn't say he felt all that different. Tony squeezed his arm a bit in what might have been intended as comfort. Peggy crossed the kitchen to take a seat at the table as well, crossing her arms and looking at Tony expectantly.

"Right." Tony actually looked nervous for the first time since they'd arrived. He turned to the Soldier first, pointing out each person as he introduced them. "This is Aunt Peggy, she's raised me since my parents died, and these are most of the Howling Commandos. Jim Morita," he pointed to an Asian man who was the only person without grey in their hair, "Jacques Dernier," a man who was clearly French, complete with twirled mustache, "and Dum Dum Dugan. They're my family. Guys, this is Winter."

The air in the room instantly changed. The man all but wrapped in muscles, Dum Dum, leaned forward across the table as if it would change his view.

"Wait. Winter as in the guy who's been showing up at random intervals since you were eighteen? The one who's blood you got all over my couch?"

"He worked for HYDRA?"

Tony released the Soldier's arm to hold his hands up placatingly in the face for his aunt's horrified expression.

"He was brainwashed and being held captive by HYDRA. I feel like that's a big difference."

The woman was on her feet all over again, striding toward them.

"And how do you know that brainwashing won't make him turn on you? This is HYDRA, Tony!"

She all but growled the organizations name, looking feral, and the Soldier acted immediately to the threat. He shoved Tony behind him and faced the woman down. His hand slid to the knife strapped to his thigh, but he didn't draw it. The woman looked surprised by his action and the Soldier could feel Tony's hands on his shoulders, using them as leverage to push himself up and peek over.

"That's how I know. Winter would never let anything happen to me. I'm safer with him than when I'm in the bowels of SHIELD! At least he wants to protect me, unlike Clint's stray KGB agent."

Peggy scowled, still eyeing the Soldier speculatively. That was okay, he thought, since he was eyeing her right back.

"Agent Romanov was a very special case. You know that."

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure Winter is a special case, too!" Tony was getting mad, shoving his way back around the Soldier. "Besides, if we're going to talk about betrayal, we should focus on who's already betrayed me instead of whether or not Winter is going to in the future!"

The air in the kitchen changed all over again. Everyone was suddenly at attention and the Soldier shuffled a bit closer to Tony. Peggy looked as if she'd been slapped, but covered it up quickly.

"What are you talking about?"

"I was sold out, to HYDRA. That's how they knew where I'd be for the weapons demonstration, where to hit me and the fact that I worked for SHIELD."

Jacques swore colorfully in French and the Soldier was actually slightly surprised he could follow it. He'd never needed French for a mission, at least not one he could remember.

"Who?" Morita spoke for the first time, without showing a hint of an accent.

Tony's shoulder's hunched and he leaned into the Soldier, prompting the assassin to wrap an arm around his shoulders despite their company.

"Obie," he finally said. "It was Obie, and he's going to try again."

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Peggy sent Tony's uncles, who the Soldier had learned weren't actually his uncles, home to stay with him. She'd dropped the issue of the Soldier, at least for the time being, but she wasn't about to trust him with Tony's safety. By the time they'd left, the Soldier had decided that he rather liked the woman. As soon as they'd gotten back to the mansion, the men following behind in another car that Tony had called, Tony had left them to JARVIS and headed down to his lab. The Soldier, of course, headed down right after him. He found Tony wrapping what looked like a metal exoskeleton around one arm.

"What are you doing?"

"The suit I made at HYDRA's base was just a prototype. Now I have access to all of my tools, my workshop, JARVIS." He had an almost manic gleam in his eye. "I can make it so much better."

"I thought you weren't making weapons anymore."

Tony adjusted something, turning his hand over to reveal a glow in the palm not unlike his arc reactor. He shifted a bit and aimed it across the room.

"I'm not. This is repulsor technology for flight stabilization, completely harmless."

The kickback from firing the thing threw Tony into a wall. He'd have to replace the desk that the repulsor actually hit. In all honesty, the Soldier was beginning to think his biggest obstacle to keeping Tony safe would be Tony himself. Still, when he saw the way Tony popped right back up to his feet with a huge grin plastered across his face, the Soldier couldn't bring himself to even consider trying to make the inventor stop. They were still in the lab four hours later when Morita came down.

"Obadiah is here." He didn't sound happy about it. "Dum Dum and Jacques are waiting with him upstairs. He brought pizza."

They had all agreed not to let Stane know that they were on to his plot. His aunt and uncles seemed to agree with Tony that it would be better to get evidence and turn him in rather than to just outright kill him. While the Soldier respected their choice, or at least Tony's, he'd have felt much more satisfied just putting a bullet in the man's head. He definitely didn't like the fact that Stane could apparently just walk right into Tony's house.

Tony headed upstairs with his uncle, leaving the Soldier to watch the proceedings via a video that JARVIS brought up for him. He'd rather be up there with Tony, but with the genius's floorplan there would be absolutely nowhere for him to hide. He couldn't risk being spotted by Obadiah. If he was in contact with HYDRA then it would be a simple thing for him to pass on word of the Soldier's location to them. They would come for him and that would put Tony in danger all over again. It was unacceptable.

"Hey, Obie," Tony said as he sauntered in. The Soldier had to be a bit impressed by his ability to fake it. "How was the meeting in New York?"

"It would have gone better if you were there. It was a Board of Directors meeting." Stane sent Tony a look that was probably supposed to express fond exasperation and the Soldier kind of wanted to rip out his throat for it. "They're claiming PTSD. They want to freeze you out."

The Soldier saw the way Tony's face froze for a fraction of a second.

"They can't do that! I have the controlling interest in the company!"

"The Board has rights, too, Tony. They're freaking out because of the stock drop."

"Forty points. We knew that was going to happen."

"Fifty-six." Stane gave Tony a disapproving look, but the Soldier was very approving of the way Dum Dum's hands twitched like he wanted to curl them into fists. "They just aren't sure that this new direction is for the good of the company, in its best interest."

"Yeah, well," Tony sounded a bit bitter, "I think we need to think about what good the company is doing. It's about more than just best interest, Obie. I know that now. I know a lot of things."

Stane sighed, standing up to clap Tony on both shoulders.

"They just need some reassurance is all. Why don't you show me the specs on the miniaturized arc reactor?"

Tony pulled away, heading back toward the stairs down to his workshop, back toward the Soldier.

"No, Obie."

"At least show me what you're working on!"

"Goodnight, Obie!"

The Soldier didn't turn away from the screens until Tony was back at his side and Dum Dum had shown Stane out of the door.

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Two more men showed up the next day, Gabe Jones and James Falsworth. Apparently they were the last of Tony's uncles and arrived with Peggy in the early afternoon. The Soldier still felt wary with so many people around, but it was a bit easier once he was able to see how they genuinely cared for Tony. Unlike Stane, who's every action was part of a performance, these people truly wanted what was best for the genius. The Soldier rarely talked around them, and never removed his mask, but he found that he didn't really mind their company. It certainly seemed to improve Tony's mood.

Tony and the Soldier spent most of their time down in Tony's lab, working on and testing the new suit. The Soldier watched for the most part, giving one of his small, rare smiles when DUM-E doused Tony with the fire extinguisher for the third time. When the bots weren't busy 'helping', he kept them busy with little games of fetch. He liked watching Tony work, liked being in his space. It was peaceful. Peggy or the Howling Commandos would come down at regular intervals, usually to drag Tony out to eat, but they were mostly left to their own devices. They spent nearly a week like that before Tony popped his question.

"So, uh, I was thinking. Can I take a look at your arm?" The Soldier was so surprised the ball he was throwing for U went wide and nearly took out the blender in the kitchenette. Tony immediately launched into rambling. "I mean, I know that the last time I asked, you said only the handlers could work with it but there aren't really any handlers to work on it now. And I'd never do anything to it without your permission! I was just thinking that some scans could maybe help with the design for my suit and I know you haven't exactly been in any major fights lately, but it would probably be better for me to know how it works before it gets damaged. Not that it's going to! I don't want to jinx it! It's just, better safe than sorry, right?"

His eyes were pleading and the Soldier reached out for him, something he was becoming more and more comfortable doing as time passed and Tony didn't seem to mind it. He wrapped he man up in his arms, taking the pause to think about the request. He didn't like it when people touched his metal arm, even the bots made him uncomfortable, but this was Tony. If there were anyone he could trust it was this man.

"If it is what you wish."

Tony looked like a kid in a candy shop, suddenly abuzz with energy and practically bouncing with his excitement. He grinned triumphantly as the Soldier released him, spinning away and listing things off to JARVIS with enthusiastic hand gestures. The Soldier eyed him for a moment, an image of a frail, blonde boy inexplicably floating to mind. He shook his head to clear it and ignored the headache that was just barely beginning to show up. He focused on Tony instead.

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Tony's first flight out in the suit was rather nerve wracking for the Soldier. It was only supposed to be some light tests in the workshop now that the suit was fully assembled, but Tony couldn't just leave it there. As he said, "Sometimes you have to run before you can walk." The Soldier nearly ran to get Peggy when Tony took off out of the garage, just so there was someone of authority to yell at him when he got back, but he couldn't bring himself to step away from JARVIS's screens.

Tony's joy was evident as he swooped across the sky, hollering his approval to the open air. One of the screens showed an image of his face and the Soldier couldn't help but smile at the pure joy there. It almost made up for him giving the Soldier a heart attack. Almost.

Then, of course, Tony had decided he needed to break a few records and fly straight up into the sky. The Soldier, by that point, was caught up in the excitement of the moment, enjoying the sheer fact that Tony enjoyed it so much. His worry had passed once it became clear that Tony knew what he was doing with the suit and could weave through the city with ease. He didn't think anything of the fact that Tony would be flying so high. Tony was a brilliant engineer. Of course his suit would be able to break any record set before.

JARVIS was only able to give a brief, panicked warning about the ice forming on the exterior of the suit before they lost the connection with Tony. The Soldier felt, for a moment that felt like an eternity, that he had been the one covered in ice. The image of the skinny, blonde haired boy was back in his head, bony chest heaving as he struggled to breath. The Soldier had never felt so helpless. It was almost like being right back in the HYDRA base and watching Tony undergoing surgery except then he'd at least known that someone was trying to save his life.

Suddenly, the screens were back up, Tony's voice filtering through the set up as he exalted in his brush with death. The Soldier felt like his knees were going to give out under him. He squeezed his eyes shut, just listening to Tony's voice and the proof that he was alive and well, not plummeting to his death while the Soldier could do nothing to prevent it. He remained silent as the man finished his flight and returned to the mansion, setting down on the roof only to crash through every floor before landing on, and crushing, one of his cars.

Needless to say, Tony's aunt and uncles were storming down the stairs to the lab before he'd even managed to get his suit off. They immediately arrested his attention, Tony working hard to casually wave aside Peggy's rant about safety. He was setting down the helmet and brushing off a question about how many brain cells he actually had in that big head of his when he turned and finally spotted the Soldier. The ex-HYDRA assassin was trembling faintly, flesh hand gripping the edge of the desk he stood beside just to keep himself upright. His mask was still in place, but his goggles were off and the pain and fear were clear in his eyes. Tony had him wrapped up in his arms in less than a heartbeat, the Soldier holding him desperately in return.

"You were falling," he rasped as he buried his face in the crook between Tony's neck and his shoulder. "You would have died and there was nothing I could do. I would have lost you."

Tony's arms tightened around him.

"I'm sorry." The Soldier got the feeling this might have been the first time he'd ever apologized for doing something stupid. "I didn't mean to scare you. I'm here. I'm alright."

The Soldier didn't let him go for a long time, not until Tony's family had quietly slipped from the room and only then because Tony started to pull away. The genius slid his hands down the Soldier's arms to join their hands together.

"C'mon," he said with a small smile. "I think that's enough tinkering for one night. Let's go to bed. You're sleeping with me tonight."

The Soldier found it exceedingly comforting to be able to drift off with his nose in Tony's hair and his arms wrapped around the inventor's torso. This, he decided, was definitely something he wanted to do more often.

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The Soldier was just about to follow Tony down to the workshop after a rowdy breakfast with his aunt and uncles when Peggy called him back. (The Soldier would eat later, in the safety and security of Tony's lab.)

"Winter? Would you mind staying behind a moment?" Tony looked panic-stricken for a slip second, but the older woman waved him off. "Go on, Tony-dear. This shouldn't take long."

Tony's eyes darted back and forth between them.

"You know JARVIS will tell me if you try to kill him, right?"

"Kill him?" Gabe laughed. "Kid, that should be the least of your worries."

The Soldier tensed, immediately on the lookout for potential threats, but Peggy just smiled at both him and Tony.

"You've got nothing to worry about, dear. We're just going to talk."

Tony grumbled something that sounded suspiciously like, "Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of," but turned to leave none the less. He paused just before he walked out and turned back to the Soldier. "I'll keep an eye on you via JARVIS, okay?"

The Soldier nodded sharply, not really sure how that was supposed to affect things but knowing it would make Tony feel better. He turned back to the room at large as soon as Tony left. Peggy was watching him over the rim of her tea mug with a small smile.

"You know, this is normally the part where I tell you about all the various ways I know how to kill a man with either this tea cup or my pinky if you so much as think about hurting Tony, but I'm starting to see that won't be necessary."

The Soldier wasn't sure what to say to that, wasn't even really sure where this was coming from, so he just remained silent. Morita, at least, seemed to pick up on his confusion.

"Look, we all care about Tony. He's practically our baby boy. No matter how many kinds of martial arts he learns or what weapon he's equipped with, we're always going to worry about him. We want him to be safe."

Jacques snorted before adding, with an extremely heavy accent, "Jou cannot even imajine how hard it vas for us to let him enter SHIELD."

Falsworth groaned at the thought.

"The point is," Peggy inserted to get them back on track, "that Tony is very important to us. We want to make sure that he is being well taken care of."

"What we want to know," Dum Dum leaned forward, "is whether or not you're up to the task. Tony's intense. He isn't an easy guy to get along with, even live with, though, admittedly, he is way better now than he was as a teenager. You've only seen him off and on every few years up until a few months ago. Do you really think you've got what it takes to stick it out for the long haul? In a year, five years, ten? Are you still gonna be here?"

The Soldier felt a flash of anger at the insinuation that he would leave, that he would give up his mission for any reason.

"Tony must be protected. He will be kept safe."

Peggy gave him a look that was almost pitying.

"Tony's a reckless, idiotic inventor who specializes in weapons and moonlights as a secret agent for the world's foremost intelligence agency. He's never going to be safe and he would hate being kept that way. It's what makes him Tony. He'll throw himself into any and every firefight he comes across if he thinks it's the right thing to do. We all saw your reaction last night. Not everyone is cut out to stand on the sidelines and watch."

"I don't plan to stand on the sidelines."

The Soldier turned on his heel and left the room.

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Tony had just sent his new suit off to fabrication when something on the TV seemed to catch his attention. Some reporter woman was standing in front of a crowd and speaking to the camera.

"…Tonight's red hot red carpet is here at the Concert Hall, where Tony Stark's third annual benefit for the Firefighters' Family Fund has become the go-to charity gala on L.A.'s high-society calendar. But this great cause…"

The Soldier tuned it out again as he focused back on Tony. He was staring at the screen with a frown on his face, brow wrinkled just a bit.

"I don't remember receiving an invitation to that. JARV? Invitation?"

"I do not seem to have one on record, Sir."

He was silent for a long moment as he looked over the specs for the suit one last time.

"I like it. Fabricate it." He picked up his watch from the desk as he stood. "Don't wait up for me, hun."

The Soldier followed after him as he left the lab.

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The medical mask felt weird on the Soldier's face. It covered everything, but it also felt so ridiculously light. The thin, elastic bands that held it in place seemed flimsy at best, but it was the only way he could come with Tony and still keep his face covered. The genius had absolutely refused to let him attend the gala with his usual ski mask in place.

"Look, you just can't show up in that. The cover of you being my new bodyguard or not, that'll make people think you're about to rob the place. You'll draw even more attention. Just make sure to fake a couple coughs here and there and it'll be fine."

The Soldier thought Tony might have a bit too much faith in his own plan. Still, he'd been thrust into a suit, had his hair pulled back, and wore white gloves to hide his metal hand. He'd felt like he was looking at a total stranger when he'd looked in the mirror. He also wasn't sure he wanted to think too hard on the fact that Tony had a suit in his size just lying around.

As soon as they arrived, the Soldier came to the conclusion that the people bothered him a lot more than the medical mask did. It wasn't just people, either. There were flashing lights and shouted questions and the Solider felt ready to choke the first person who brushed up against him. In stark contrast, Tony seemed to be entirely in his element. He greeted the other stars and executives on the red carpet, smiled for the cameras, and brushed off the questions of nosy reporters. The Soldier stayed at his elbow the entire time, his glare warning everyone to keep back.

Obadiah was talking to a reporter further along the carpet and Tony made a beeline for him. The Soldier wanted to drag him in the opposite direction. At least, outside of his usual leather and with no obvious ties to HYDRA, the chances of Stane figuring out who the Soldier really was were low. Tony clapped the older man on the shoulder as he came up beside him.

"Obie! Honestly, what's the world coming to that I have to crash my own party?"

He laughed, and it sounded fake to the Soldier's ears. It was awful. Stane chuckled right along with him, a malicious glint in his eye.

"What are you doing here, Tony? I wasn't expecting to see you."

"Just got a little stir crazy," the genius brushed him off, "a little bit of cabin fever."

Stane's eyes flickered over to the Soldier, looking him up and down.

"And who's your friend?"

"New bodyguard. Not important," Tony waved off. "I'll see you inside, yeah?"

"Sure, sure," Stane agreed, good naturedly. "Just don't cause too much of a scene. I think I've got the board right where I want them."

Tony scowled once he'd turned fully away, muttering a, "I bet you do," under his breath. The Soldier was amazed, once again, by his ability to act like nothing bothered him. They headed for the bar as soon as they were through the doors and into the event. Tony ordered a scotch on the rocks and turned to speak to the man next to him, an unassuming gentleman with a mind expression, as soon as the bartender placed the glass in front of him.

"Where's Happy? Fury knows I'll only accept Happy as my handler. If he's got a new mission, he can pick up a phone and call."

The man didn't seem offended by Tony's brusque tone.

"No mission, Mr. Stark. We just need to debrief your friend here and you haven't exactly been forthcoming about allowing us into your residence. Agent Carter has informed us that's where he's been staying."

Tony took a swig of his scotch.

"Not an agent anymore, remember? She's retired now. And he's not an agent either, so you can piss off, Coulson."

The man smiled blandly.

"You know that's not how things work, Mr. Stark."

"And you know that I don't pay much attention to the way things work when I don't agree with them, particularly not when those things deal with people who have saved my life. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've just spotted my PA and there's something I urgently need to discuss with her."

He set his scotch back down on the counter and swanned away, the Soldier glancing once more at this Coulson fellow before heading after him. He felt a bit like a toy on a string, being dragged along behind a child. Not that he regretted coming. He would rather this any day than leaving Tony to interact with Stane on his own.

"Pepper!" Tony greeted happily, pulling her away from the people she was talking to as she hurriedly made apologies.

She looked much different that she had when the Soldier had been watching her, her hair down and curled as it fell around her shoulders. Her dress was a gorgeous silk number with an open back that still managed to leave something to the imagination. It was far more tasteful than several of the other dresses the Soldier had seen so far.

"Tony!" she hissed. "You can't just yank me away like that! It's rude! What are you doing here, anyway?"

He grinned like he wasn't on the receiving end of a thorough berating.

"I need to talk to you. It's important."

Pepper looked entirely unamused, rolling her eyes even as she followed Tony out onto one of the stone balconies.

"Oh, now you need to talk to me. I see. And what's so urgent that you have to discuss it in the middle of a charity gala but not important enough for you to return any of my calls for the past week? If it weren't for your aunt, I'd have thought you were dead!"

Tony let out a noise that sounded half like a sigh and half like a dying animal.

"Does she just go around telling everyone what I'm doing? That's it. She's officially not allowed to stay over anymore. See how much she enjoys ratting me out then."

"Maybe there are just those of us who are worried about you, Tony, and she's trying to help. So, are you going to tell me what's going on or not? Maybe start with why you're being followed around by a guy in a medical mask?"

"Right. Introductions. I always manage to forget about those. Pepper, Winter. Winter, Pepper. You probably recognize her from all that stalking you did."

"Stalki-"

"Anyway, Winter's my new bodyguard. Sorta. That's the story we're giving the press anyway. You'll totally back me up, right?"

Pepper stared at him, wide eyed, for a long moment before her shoulders hunched.

"Of course, I will. You know I will. I suppose I should at least thank you for the heads up this time."

Tony beamed, clearly thinking he'd done a good job.

"Awesome. Now, I need you to do something for me."

"Like that's anything new."

Her words were harsh, but she spoke them fondly and the Soldier was once again reminded of why he hadn't suspected her of selling Tony out to the enemy.

"Obie's dirty," Tony cut straight to the point, not bothering to pause for Pepper's shocked expression. "I just don't know how dirty yet. At the very least, he sold me out and tried to get me killed. I need you to dig up as much as you can at SI."

She grabbed onto Tony's wrist and the Soldier had to fight down the reflex to pull her away. She was not a threat. She would not hurt Tony. She was only concerned.

"Are you in danger? Peggy mentioned your uncles were in town. Are they staying with you, too?"

"Relax," he calmed her with a smile. "Nothing's going to happen to me. Winter'll keep me safe."

Pepper cast a questioning look in the Soldier's direction.

"Is this the same Winter I accused of being your imaginary friend?"

Tony's smile broadened into a grin and the Soldier theorized he probably had similar gossiping habits as his aunt.

"The one and only. I told you he was real."

Pepper eyed the Soldier assessingly.

"Do you really have a metal arm?"

He glanced at Tony briefly before nodding. Tony pressed their shoulders briefly together.

"Pep, as much as I'd like to spend all night gloating about the fact that I was right and you were wrong, don't we have some things to focus on that are a little more important?"

"Right, you're right. Sorry. This is all just…a little overwhelming. Why do you need me to do it? Can't you come into the office and do it yourself? I mean, I'm happy to, of course, but wouldn't you be better for it?"

"I'd draw too much attention. Obie's been trying to get me to keep a low profile, no doubt so he can get his ducks in a row." The Soldier felt something stir in the back of his mind, a memory that he couldn't quite recall. He brushed it off. Now was not the time. "He'd be watching me like a hawk if I showed up at SI. You have all my access codes. You can get into any file on the servers."

"I'll see what I can dig up." She leaned in to press a quick kiss to his cheek. "Take care of yourself, okay? You know how much I hate job hunting."

Tony smiled softly, a hint of pain shining through his expression as he hugged her.

"You're great, Pep. Buy yourself something nice. On me."

Pepper's lips quirked upward.

"Well, I can always use new shoes. But you're gonna owe me a martini, too. Dry. With lots of olives. Like, at least three olives."

Tony snorted and gave her a mock bow.

"Your wish is my command."

Coulson was nowhere to be seen when they made it back to the bar. Tony placed an order for himself and Pepper before glancing in the Soldier's direction.

"I'm just going to go ahead and assume you don't want anything."

The Soldier shook his head. Even without counting the mask as a factor, he had no desire to drink. It would serve no function at present to improve his effectiveness.

"Wow, you almost had me fooled."

The voice came from behind the Soldier and he turned to glare darkly at the woman approaching them. She was a blonde in a red dress and she didn't look pleased. The Soldier immediately shifted his weight for an easier defense.

"Ah!" Tony spoke from behind him. "Uuuh, Karen!"

"Christine. Is this what you call accountability?"

She went to shove a handful of pictures into Tony's chest, but the Soldier intercepted them easily. He flicked through them momentarily before passing them over. They looked like they'd been taken somewhere in the Middle East, and there were a whole lot of Stark Industries weapons. Tony's face tightened at the sight of them.

"Where is this? When were these taken?"

The woman seemed taken aback by his intensity and the Solider felt a smug sense of satisfaction. She knew nothing about Tony. Let her realize how badly she had managed to misjudge him.

"In a small town in Afghanistan called Gulmira, yesterday. That guy?" She pointed at one of the photos that showed a tall, bulky guy with a beard. "He's been linked to a terrorist organization known as the Ten Rings that's been extremely active in the area for months."

Tony flicked through the pictures as though they might magically change.

"I didn't approve any shipments."

"Well your company did."

Tony was already turning away, heading for the door. The Soldier followed after him, noting as they went that the woman did as well. Tony made a beeline for Stane, who apparently was more interested in talking to various reporters than in actually attending the event. Tension crept up the Soldier's spine as Tony thrust the pictures at his business partner.

"What's going on, Obie? Is SI dirty? Are we dealing under the table?"

His voice was low, not letting the questions carry to any of the surrounding reporters, but Stane still wrapped one arm around the man's shoulders and drew him a bit further up the steps.

"Don't be naïve, Tony."

"This is not me being naïve. I was naïve before. Obie, if we're double dealing then I need to know."

The older man sighed and leaned close, lowering his voice even further. The Soldier was pretty certain he was the only one other than Tony who was able to pick up on the words that followed.

"Who do you think locked you out of the company? C'mon. Let's take a picture."

The fact that there were dozens of cameras and Tony had already asked him not to was the only reason the Soldier did not kill Obadiah Stane on the steps of the Concert Hall.

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Tony seemed to be in a daze as he had the valet bring the car around. By the time they got back to the house, though, he was absolutely livid. He didn't even greet Peggy when she met them at the door.

"JARVIS," he barked as he ripped off his tie, his suit jacket following close behind, "get Barton on the phone."

Peggy sent the Soldier a questioning look, but he only shook his head in response. He didn't have any idea what Tony was planning, or even who this Barton person was.

"Stark? Why the hell are you calling me?"

Tony all but jogged down the stairs to the workshop as JARVIS filtered the call through the house's speakers. The man sounded like he'd just been woken up.

"I need a Quinjet and a pilot and I don't have a lot of time. Think you can help me out?"

There was a groan from the other end of the line and the sound of someone rolling across fabric. This Clint guy was probably in bed.

"Dude. I just got back from Cambodia yesterday. This is supposed to be my time off! And I know you, Stark. No way is this sanctioned if you're calling me yourself."

Tony's lips thinned.

"Yeah, well, you know those putty arrows that R&D keeps refusing to make for you?"

There was a long pause.

"When did you say you needed that Quinjet again? I'll need at least an hour."

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Apparently Tony owned an airstrip not far outside of the city. The Soldier almost wished he could be more surprised than he was. The plane that met them there wasn't like any that the Soldier had seen before and he stared as it touched down in front the hanger where he and Tony stood, the man already suited up in red and gold armor with the faceplate popped open. The back opened and a man with sandy-blonde hair, just a bit taller than Tony, appeared in the entrance.

"Nice suit, Stark! Those gonna be SHIELD issue anytime soon?"

Tony grinned as they boarded.

"Not if I can help it."

"So selfish, Stark. Keeping all the best toys to yourself. It's enough to make a guy feel left out."

"If you boys are quite finished," a female voice spoke up from the cockpit, "I'd like to get this flight started sooner rather than later. We've only got so much time before Fury figures out we stole this thing."

"Tasha!" Tony grinned enthusiastically at the red-headed woman who was scowling over her shoulder at them. "I didn't know you were coming!"

She shrugged, her gaze moving on to fixate on the Soldier.

"Clint called."

This didn't seem to bother Tony in the slightest as he stationed himself in the middle of the craft for weight distribution and gestured for the Soldier to take one of the seats along the wall.

"Oh, good. The more ex-assassins, the merrier!"

The woman's gaze stayed fixed on the Soldier as Clint slipped past her and into the pilot's chair, flicking a switch to close the door and initiating lift off.

"I had wondered about that. You know, I honestly wasn't expecting your mystery man to be the Winter Soldier."

Tony's eyes bugged and he did a double take.

"Wait, what?"

Her eyebrow rose.

"You didn't know?"

Clint was glancing over his shoulder between the three of them, which the Soldier was pretty sure was not something he should be doing while flying.

"Nat, the Winter Soldier has been credited with kills over the last fifty years. This guy barely looks like he could be out of his twenties."

"Huh." Tony was looking at him thoughtfully. "I guess that's why you still look the same as you did when I was eighteen."

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Gulmira was not a pretty sight. It was mountainous terrain, absolute heaven for someone who wanted to hide, but it was also pockmarked by the signs of war. Craters dotted the earth, towns lay half-destroyed and abandoned. Even from the screens within the quinjet, the destruction looked awful. Tony's jaw was clenched so hard his muscle was ticking.

"Find me these sons of bitches, Barton. This ends now."

"There's activity about two towns over," the archer replied, looking over some scans. "It won't take more than a few minutes to get there."

Tony turned away, stomping toward the hatch and pressing a button to open it.

"It'll take me less."

The Soldier grabbed his arm before he could fling himself out of the plane.

"I'm going with you."

Tony blinked at him.

"You can't exactly fly."

He held out his hand, the metal one.

"No, but I can hang on."

Tony seemed to deliberate for a moment before nodding jerkily and grabbing the Soldier's hand, turning with it so the Soldier's arm was actually wrapped around the suit's neck and shoulders.

"Hang on tight, then," he warned. "I'm going to need the hand repulsors to stabilize the flight."

The Soldier brought his other arm up to wrap around the suit as well, clasping each of his wrists and braced himself. The wind hit him like a wall as Tony launched himself out of the plane. Despite the heat, the Soldier felt suddenly cold and a shiver ran down his spine. He blinked his eyes and was suddenly somewhere completely different, somewhere he didn't recognize. His arms were above his head, hanging onto a zipline instead of clasped in front of him. Tony was nowhere in sight and instead of heading toward the desert sand, the Soldier was headed toward a train.

He blinked again and his vision snapped back to normal. What had that been? A malfunction in the program? It wasn't like he had a handler to report it to anymore, and it had been so long since he'd last been wiped. Had this happened before? Was it common? Would it get worse? The Soldier hated not knowing, and resolved to bring it up with Tony once they were both safely back in his lab. Now was not the time. Now they had other things to think about.

Tony set down in the middle of a tiny village, terrorists and civilians alike scattered all around. The Soldier leapt from his back during the decent and landed with a roll on a nearby rooftop. He swung his rifle around as he came to his feet and shot the three terrorists already occupying the roof in the head without pause. Then he took up a position overlooking the street so he could watch Tony's back. The suit fired off two repulsor rounds immediately, sending a couple terrorists through a wall before fluidly turning on a group now using several civilians as hostages.

They were shouting in a language that the Soldier couldn't recognize, but their meaning was clear. Tony slowly lowered his arms, taking in the moment with a long stretch of silence. Then a compartment on each shoulder opened and darts hit each of the terrorists between the eyes. The Soldier had to admit it was…stunning, to say the least. He wasn't exactly sure how to describe the emotion as Tony literally punched through a wall to throw the final terrorist, the one who had been in charge, at the feet of the villagers.

"He's all yours," the inventor said as he took off again, moving to hover in front of the Soldier. "Ready to go, Buttercup?"

The Soldier didn't even hesitate for a moment, pressing his body flush to the suit's back and wrapping his arms around it again. It was strange, he thought, though not necessarily in a bad way, that his fit so well against the frame of the suit just like Tony fit so well against his own frame. He liked it. Being carried around put a bit of strain on his shoulder where the metal arm was connected, but it wasn't anything his accelerated healing wouldn't be able to handle within a few hours.

They had the Quinjet in sight when an explosion knocked them out of the sky. The Soldier felt the skin of his flesh arm sear and was pretty sure something was broken. He barely had time to register the tank that had fired the projectile before they were crashing to the ground, the suit landing on top of him. Pain flared through his entire body. The Soldier could tell right off the bat that he had broken at least four ribs and one of his hips. His legs weren't in much better shape. He dimly noted the action as Tony destroyed the tank with a tiny missile before the genius was turned back to him, face plate lifted up and worry shining across his face.

"Winter! Winter, stay with me! Shit!" His hands hovered above the Soldier's prone body. "Barton, I need an evac!"

Tony kept talking, but the Soldier couldn't really hear him anymore as his eyes drifted up toward the sky. It was starting to get really cold, actually. How had he not noticed that before? His head lolled to the side and he realized he was lying in snow. Huh. No wonder it was cold. He wasn't in his usual leather, either, but some thick clothe that kind of itched. He noticed that a good bit of red was staining the snow around him. Was that blood? Had someone been hurt? Was it Tony?

What had been Tony's voice faded into someone else's, but the Soldier still couldn't understand what they were saying. It wasn't English, certainly, and it took him a moment to recognize the German. By that time, someone had grabbed hold of the fabric on one of his shoulders and was dragging him through the snow. His vision was fading in and out, but he could see the trail in the snow behind them. His head rolled to the side again and he realized for the first time that his arm was nothing more than a bloody stump. At least he knew where the red had come from.

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The Soldier wasn't really conscious but he was sort of…floating. He was lying of something soft, which was nice. He'd never been afforded luxuries when he was with HYDRA yet it seemed like that was all Tony owned. Tony was great. The Soldier kind of wanted to hug him again. That was his own version of luxury, Tony hugs. They felt really good. The Soldier liked Tony hugs. He also really liked Tony's face, and his hands, and his voice. His voice was really nice, always warm. Except right now apparently, the Soldier noted as he became aware that Tony was speaking softly from somewhere nearby. He was probably only a couple of feet away.

"Good, then I need you to run an errand for me. I need you to go to Stark Industries and hack into the main frame. Here, this'll get you in. Bring me all of the recent shipping manifests."

There was a long silence and the Soldier began to think that perhaps Tony was on the phone.

"What are you going to do with them?"

Who was that? Oh, right, Pepper. The Soldier had met her. Stalked her, too. She liked Tony, cared about him. She was safe. She was allowed to be around him. The Soldier was glad his mask was still on, though, he really didn't feel comfortable around others without it. Except Tony, of course.

"Find the dirty ones. Clean up the mess."

"You're going back out in the suit," came Pepper's flat voice, and the Solder honestly couldn't tell if that was a question or a statement.

"Yes."

The Soldier wanted to open his eyes, to see what was going on, but his eyelids were just so heavy.

"Tony," Pepper's voice was cautious, "you know I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again."

"There is nothing but this!" Tony sounded angry, his voice rising just a bit. "There is no art opening, no galas, no signing anything! There is only the mission."

No, that wasn't right. Those words shouldn't come out of Tony's mouth. They shouldn't be in Tony's head. The Soldier had to stop it. The Soldier knew about missions, knew they would only hurt Tony, and Tony had to be kept safe.

"Then I quit."

Her voice was steel, unforgiving.

"What?" Tony's voice was soft again, confused and disbelieving. "I'm trying to do something good here, Pepper. I'm trying to make things right."

"And you're going to get yourself killed in the process! Look at Winter, Tony! Look at him! I won't be a part of this!"

"I am looking at him!" Tony thundered. "I have done little else since we got back from that damned desert! You think I don't know I'm the reason why he's hurt? Why he's lying in the fucking bed and doped up on horse tranquilizers because they were the only thing he responded to?" All of his anger had bled away, leaving a kind of desperation behind. "Obie isn't going to stop unless I stop him, Pepper, and the people he's selling these weapons to aren't going to stop either. I can't keep letting this happen, can't stand by while people get slaughtered by the weapons I made. And I know in my heart," a warm hand covered the Soldier's own where it lay on top of the covers, "that it's right."

"I'm sorry, Tony. I can't. I just can't." Strain coated every syllable. "I will do this one last thing for you, but that's it. After that, I'm gone."

As he listened to the sound of Pepper Potts walking away, the Soldier realized he'd been wrong. She wasn't safe. Not at all.

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The Soldier awoke suddenly, the pain of his body jolting him to consciousness. Unlike the last time he'd been awake, there was no floating sensation. His mind felt groggy, but it was clear enough for him to recall what had happened. He must have passed out from his injuries and Tony had gotten him back to the mansion. An empty chair sat next to the bed, but no one occupied it.

"My apologies," came JARVIS's voice from above. "I'm afraid I've cut off your pain medication. There is a situation in the living room that requires your attention and, if I may, please hurry."

JARVIS had never asked the Soldier for anything before and the AI had been created by Tony. If he said there was something that he needed to do, the Soldier was inclined to believe him. He began the excruciating task of pulling himself out of the bed. His chest felt like it was on fire and every gasped breath caused the pain to flare up even more. He had to pause for a moment as he considered pushing himself to his feet.

"Where's Tony? And the others?"

The Soldier didn't really care about the others, but it would be strategic folly not to know where they were.

"Miss Carter and the Howling Commandos left just under an hour ago to assist Miss Potts. I have already alerted them but they won't make it back in time. Sir is currently in the living room with Obadiah Stane. The situation appears most sinister."

There were undertones of worry in the AI's voice, but the Soldier was no longer listening. Tony was alone. With Stane. The Soldier had to reach him, had to keep him safe. He nearly toppled over as he levered himself to his feet. Something was wrong with his hip, right along with every other inch of his body. It struck him that one of his legs might be broken. It didn't matter. He had to get to Tony.

He used the wall to support himself as he half-limped and half-shuffled down the hall. His chest ached, like he had a car sitting on top of it. The Soldier grit his teeth and pushed through, each step a monumental effort as he strove toward his goal. He'd barely made it down three steps of the stairs before his foot slipped and he went tumbling down the rest, landing sprawled across the floor at the bottom. The Soldier struggled to push himself back up, all the while staring at the scene before him in absolute horror.

Tony lay propped against the back of the couch, chalk white and unmoving. The arc reactor that should have been in his chest, keeping him alive, glowed from its place in Stane's hand. The older man was looking at the Soldier with raised eyebrows and surprised interest. He tucked the reactor away into a small, black case and pat Tony's head once as he stood to approach the prone assassin. Dammit, why wouldn't his body work?

"Well, this is unexpected," Obadiah said conversationally, stopping just out of arm's reach. The Soldier glared up at him hatefully. "A metal arm, huh? I guess that means you're little pet over here can only be one person, isn't that right, Tony?"

"Stay away from him," the Soldier growled.

Stane only chuckled and gave him a look like one might a tiny dog yapping at a mail man.

"So protective, not that it mattered in the end. Not for Tony…How did that happen, I wonder? Did Tony figure out how to reprogram you, too? HYDRA was rather upset that you managed to get away, you know. How much do you think they would pay to have you back?" He chuckled again, like he'd made some joke at a dinner party. "Or maybe I should keep you. I'm sure that arm of yours could really give my engineers some new ideas for the suits. And, of course, it never hurts to have a mindless assassin willing to do your bidding." He pulled out his phone and sent off a quick message. "Just a bit of brainwashing, maybe some electrical currents pulsed into your head. Don't worry, it'll be totally painless. For me at least."

Footsteps approached from the direction of the front door, two men in all black appearing in the Soldier's line of site. Stane gestured down at him dismissively as he stepped around the Soldier and headed for the door.

"Get him loaded in the car. Restrain him as needed."

The two men approached, rifles aimed, but the Soldier paid the guns no mind. Tony was still on the couch, still hadn't moved. His chest was moving jerkily and it didn't take someone with the Soldier's experience to realize that he was dying. What wasn't he moving? Someone needed to get to him!

His metal arm shot out to wrap a hand around one of the men's ankles, squeezing it until he felt the bones shatter. The man cried out loudly, driving the butt of his rifle into the side of the Soldier's head repeatedly. The other one was shouting something, pulling a needle out of his vest and jabbing it into the Soldier's leg. Whatever was in it didn't have any effect. The Soldier spat blood out of his mouth as he dragged the first man down, hand moving to grasp his neck instead. The Soldier would kill these men, wipe them out of existence, and then he would get to Tony. Tony had to be kept safe, had to be protected.

He registered the sound of gunshots and pain erupted through his abdomen. Black was clawing at the edges of his vision, but the Soldier refused to give into it. He snarled through blood-coated teeth and twisted his arm, breaking the man's neck. The other one was still there though, still a threat, and the Soldier turned onto his back to try and get a look at him. Something slammed into his stomach and the Soldier curled in on himself, unable to fight the pain. His eyes sought out Tony, still crumpled on the couch, and his arm reached out to the genius as everything faded to black.

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The Soldier was rather tired of waking up in pain. It'd only happened once when he was with HYDRA and then it hadn't been nearly this severe. It felt like there wasn't a single piece of his body that wasn't just in absolutely horrific pain. His healing abilities could only do so much, so fast, after all, and he was pretty sure he had at least three bullet holes in his abdomen. His handlers would have been pitching an absolute fit if he'd ever turned up in such a state.

He shook his head to try and clear it when the scenery suddenly changed. He'd been in some kind of warehouse, maybe a lab, with his arms chained to a pole behind his back. He wasn't sure how he'd gotten from there to some cobblestoned alley so quickly. And then suddenly Tony was there, too, looking younger but only by a few years. He was rambling on about something or other, but the Soldier couldn't really focus on it.

Then he was back in the lab again, staring at Stane's back as the man did something on a control panel. A few guards lingered about, but they didn't seem to be participating in whatever it was Stane was up to. The Soldier immediately began trying to figure out how to kill each and every one of them. Unfortunately, they were staying pretty well out of range. They barely even glanced in his direction as he shifted around.

Dried blood caked the side of his face and head, matting his hair. Combining that with the blood covering his torso and he was sure he must look something hellish. Not as bad as Tony, though, he thought with a tightening sensation in his chest. Whatever Stane had done to him, he'd already looked like a corpse. If the Soldier hadn't been able to see his chest moving, he would have thought the man was dead. Had he managed to survive? Had someone gotten to Tony in time? Either way, the Soldier had failed in his mission.

The Soldier had always been efficient when carrying out his missions. He'd never hesitated or second-guessed himself, but he'd never been particularly violent before, never felt the drive to cause damage so strongly. He did now, though, with the memory of Tony collapsed on that couch in his mind. He wanted to rip their spines from their backs, wanted to hold Stane down and carve into him. And, if Tony were dead, which the Soldier admitted was more likely than not, then that was exactly what he was going to do. He settled down to glare at the man's back, biding his time as his body healed and he imagined all of the things he could do to the man. He'd learned quite a lot with HYDRA, after all.

He'd only been awake about twenty minutes when there was a small explosion from the front of the lab, followed by the sound of a door opening. Obadiah cursed and made a waving motion at his men before heading out of sight. The armed men faded into the background and the Soldier flexed his arms, testing the chains that held him. They didn't give.

"It looks like you were right," a voice floated over from the front of the lab, the Soldier knew it. It was the mild-looking man from the Gala, the one Tony had known. "He is building a suit."

"I thought it'd be bigger."

That was Pepper, the Soldier realized. What was she doing here? Hadn't she quit? She'd hurt Tony by doing it, just one more of the many people who'd hurt him lately. He could hear the click of her heels on the floor as she came closer and considered his options. Tony had been hurt by her, but he also cared about her. If she were to die or be hurt, it would only hurt him more…if he was still even alive. The Soldier had already failed enough.

"Get out!" It felt odd, raising his voice, but he had to make sure he got his message across. "He's hidden with six armed guards! You need to leave!"

The heels only picked up their pace and suddenly Pepper was coming into view, horror flooding her features as she caught sight of him and the Agent followed right behind her. Oh, right, the blood.

"Winter! Oh, my God!"

He was pretty sure she ruined that pencil skirt when he knelt in front of him and it irritated him more than it probably should. This was exactly the opposite of what he'd told her to do. At least Coulson seemed to be intelligent enough to have his gun out and at the ready. He eyed the Soldier for a long moment, lingering on his maskless face, before speaking into a com until.

"Check the room. We have confirmation of the target and at least six hostiles. Be advised that hostiles are armed." He moved closer, eyes still glancing around the room before leaning around the pole to get a look at the chains. "They've got you secured pretty well, Sergeant. I'm afraid this'll take a moment to get you out of."

The Soldier was confused. Sergeant? Why had Coulson called him that? He'd have to think more on it later, because an angry shout rose up from the other side of the lab, followed by the sounds of gunfire and things being smashed. The Soldier all but glared at Pepper, leaning forward as far as his chains would allow.

"Leave. Now."

She shook her head fervently, eyes wide and terrified but still determined.

"I'm not leaving you! Tony would kill me!"

"Tony's dead!"

The Soldier had shouted it and the words shattered something inside of him. He'd been trying to convince himself that there was a way Tony had survived, but that wasn't really true. JARVIS had already said that Peggy and the Commandos wouldn't make it back in time. Pepper's hands flew up to cover her mouth.

"What?"

She sounded just as devastated as the Soldier felt. He couldn't look at her.

"Stane took the arc reactor."

There was a clatter of chains against the floor as the pressure on the Soldier's arms was suddenly released. Coulson stepped back around, his expression as mild as ever.

"I wouldn't count him out just yet. Stark has a way of surviving impossible situations. Remind me to tell you about Budapest sometime. For now, I'm getting the both of you out of here."

The agent slipped an arm around the Soldier's shoulders, helping him to his feet and taking some of his weight as they made their way toward the door. They stepped over the body of one guard and two more were shot down by Coulson along their way, the other agents keeping Obadiah at bay. The Soldier could already tell they weren't going to last long. Stane was just toying with them.

They barely made it out of the building when a car whipped into the parking lot and skidded to a stop. Peggy climbed out of the driver's side and rushed toward them as Dum Dum followed close behind.

"The others have headed back to the mansion. What's going on? Where's Tony?" She stuttered to a halt in front of them, her eyed fixed on the Soldier's face even more intently than Coulson's had been. "Oh, my God! Is that-"

"Not now," Coulson cut her off. "We have agents inside that need help. Stane's created an armor to match Stark's and he's not being shy about using it."

Peggy visibly struggled to pull herself back into the moment, but nodded decisively, though her eyes kept flickering repeatedly back to the Soldier's face. It was really starting to make him uncomfortable.

"What do you need us to do?"

Coulson opened his mouth to reply but was cut off as the concrete of the parking lot bulged upward, cracking before giving way and allowing Stane to climb forth. This suit was huge, a bulky monstrosity that easily dwarfed Tony's. It was inelegant, though, and its movements weren't nearly as smooth or quick. It reminded the Soldier more of what Tony had made at the HYDRA base than his current suits. Had Stane somehow managed to get ahold of those schematics?

"Well, well, well," Stane boomed. "It looks like my night just keeps getting better and better! I didn't think I'd be able to get rid of so many of my irritations at once!"

His arms rose and the Soldier pushed himself forward, dragging both Peggy and Pepper to the ground with him as Dum Dum and Coulson dropped beside them. A spray of bullets flew overhead, shattering the glass plate windows and sending shards crashing down around them. The Soldier could make out Obadiah's laughter along with a familiar whirl that only got louder before there was the sound of metal crashing into metal and the gunfire was cut off.

The Soldier's head popped up like something in a carnival game as he struggled to get himself to his feet. His entire world was narrowed to the fight in front of him, to the red and gold suit now facing off against Obadiah's. There was a glowing blue circle of light in its chest.

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"Did you know?"

Peggy looked furious, now that she had finished smothering Tony with hugs and kisses. She was pointing an accusing finger at the Soldier as she yelled at her adoptive son. The Soldier didn't really know what was going on, he was just glad to have Tony home and safe and to have his mask back on so people would stop staring at him every time they saw him. Tony, though, looked guilty enough at the accusation that he clearly knew something.

"Yeah, I, uh, I kinda figured it out. But I didn't know the whole time!" he defended. "I only figured it out while I was with HYDRA."

Yinsen shared a look with the Soldier from where he was tending to Tony's injuries. Apparently the genius had decided to make Yinsen his personal doctor.

"And you didn't think to tell me? I thought we agreed no secrets! And to hide something like this!"

"What difference would it have made? He doesn't remember anything!" He glanced toward the Soldier, apparently noting his confused expression. "Sorry. I guess you don't really get what's happening right now. Aunt Peggy knew you before you were the Winter Soldier. I figured out who you used to be and didn't tell her."

The Soldier blinked in surprise.

"I wasn't anyone before I was the Winter Soldier."

Peggy actually looked like she might cry, which unnerved him greatly. Tony just rolled his eyes.

"Alright, Jack Frost. We were all someone before we were chosen, and all that." He poked the Soldier's flesh arm. "You were James Buchanan Barnes, but everyone called you Bucky."

The Soldier frowned.

"Who the Hell is Bucky?"

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"Are you kidding me? I can't read this!"

Rhodes kinda looked like he wanted to smack the genius upside the back of his head.

"Just stick to the cards."

Tony turned to Coulson instead, much to the Soldier's amusement.

"No, seriously. If I claim there was a bodyguard in that suit then everybody's going to assume it was Winter since he's the one that I took to that gala! It would get us literally nowhere!"

"As Colonel Rhodes suggested, just stick to the cards, Mr. Stark. This isn't my first rodeo."

The Soldier was pretty sure Tony was just waiting for the agent to turn his back before he stuck his tongue out at him. The ex-assassin was still recovering from his injuries and sat in a chair so he pulled on Tony's suit sleeve to get his attention. As soon as the inventor was down on his level, he smirked.

"So what are you planning to tell them?"

Tony glanced around to make sure the others were distracted before smirking right back and pressing a quick kiss to the Soldier's forehead.

"The truth," he murmured. "I am Iron Man."

Chapter Text

"So then, of course, I had no choice but to chuck my stiletto at him and run," Clint finished irritably.

Natasha sent him a disapproving look over her hand of cards as she daintily rearranged them.

"I'm ashamed of you, Clint. You really couldn't think of a better extraction plan than that?"

"I had an extraction plan! It's just that Stark over there ruined it!"

Tony mock gasped, sending Winter a wink and a smirk that totally ruined the whole façade.

"I am insulted, Barton! I didn't ruin it! I simply identified a few choice, strategical errors."

"Yeah, mid-mission! Was there a particular reason you couldn't point any of them out before we were in the middle of a firefight?"

Tony played with a few of his chips before throwing them into the pile at the center of the table.

"I call. And I was busy. It's hardly my fault Fury decided to give us different mission objectives."

Natasha hummed in agreement, adding her own chips to the pile once Winter had thrown his in. Their weekly poker games had become a regular thing once Tony figured out how much his newest companion enjoyed it.

"That can be a problem," the Russian agreed. "I don't so much mind having different objectives, but it would be nice to know what the people I'm working with are trying to accomplish."

Clint snorted.

"Right. Because you work with other people so well."

"Hey! Manners, birdbrain! What about that time we all went on a mission in Mandripor? She was killin' it! Quite literally, too, I might add."

Clint tilted his chair back onto two legs as he tossed his chips into the center of the table.

"You're tellin' me! Dead serious, that remains my second favorite assassination of all time. The beauty! The art!" He raised an imaginary glass in Natasha's direction even though one was sitting right in front of him. "Cheers to you for a job well done!"

"Second favorite?" Natasha sounded offended.

Tony glanced around the table before tossing his cards down.

"Fuck it. I fold. But, c'mon, man, don't hold out on us. Who the Hell managed to beat Natasha?"

Barton let his chair fall back to the floor with a 'thunk.' He looked like a cat that had eaten the canary.

"Three letters, my friends. J. F. K."

Both Natasha and Tony groaned, but Winter wasn't really sure what he was referring to.

"Explain."

It stood as an example of how well the three had gotten to know the Soldier that they didn't take offense to his terse demand. Winter had figured out pretty quick that there were a lot of people who didn't respond well to orders, or at least what they perceived to be orders.

"The assassination of JFK, president of the United States," Clint said with just a little bit too much glee, taking on the air of a grand storyteller. "It was November 22, 1963, a sunny day in Dallas. President Kennedy, Governor Connelly, and their wives were in an open-top car as they drove a route that was changed at the last minute. The crowd cheered as they passed until, suddenly, joy turned to panic as bullets flew."

Tony rolled his eyes and leant over to press against Winter's side, eyeing the Soldier's cards speculatively before throwing his chips into the pile without asking.

"Don't pay him any attention. Birdbrain over there is a Grade A conspiracy theorist."

Clint, the epitome of maturity, stuck his tongue out at the inventor.

"I am not! Even you have to admit that whole thing was really weird. I mean, come on! That investigation by the Warren Commission was totally bogus."

"This coming from the man who once claimed that McDonalds didn't actually exist."

Clint opened his mouth to give a sharp retort only for Natasha to raise an eyebrow as she moved her chips very deliberately into the pot. Just to spite her, Clint added double the amount.

"I raise. Also, admittedly, that one might not have been totally thought through, but the JFK conspiracy is legit, guys. The facts just don't add up."

Tony burrowed further into Winter's side, not so subtly dragging his chair over until their legs brushed together. Winter just wrapped an arm around his shoulders. He liked how much Tony touched him. Pretty much everyone else was extremely cautious about physical contact with the ex-HYDRA asset, even Peggy and the Commandos. They fussed over him plenty and always greeted him with hugs, but it wasn't the same.

"Great," Tony grouched. "Now that he's gotten started he'll never shut up."

Clint shot him a glare before turning back to Winter, the only one present who hadn't immediately tuned out.

"So basically President Kennedy and the governor of Texas got killed, right? The official report says that there were three shots fired by Lee Harvey Oswald who was found and taken into custody pretty quickly. Okay, sure, nothing too suspicious there. Only the rifle he owned and claimed to have used for the shooting wasn't the same one found at the scene. Plus Oswald got gunned down by a club owner named Jack Ruby."

"Maybe he was upset over someone killing his president," Natasha stated in a monotone voice, eying her cards as though they had personally offended her.

"Seems reasonable, right?" Clint nodded along easily. "That's certainly what the Warren Commission, the original investigators, thought. Of course, that's completely discounting the testimony of Rose Cheramie."

Tony heaved himself back upright, not leaving Winter's space, and gave the archer a baleful look.

"I hate you."

Clint grinned.

"You know you can't resist. Just ask."

"No."

Tony sounded sullen and Clint's grin only grew larger.

"Fine, then. Let the curiosity consume your soul."

Tony sat in silence for a long moment, his face growing steadily darker before finally throwing his hands up and scoffing in disgust.

"Fine, you complete asshole, who the Hell is Rose Cheramie?"

It was like Clint's Christmas had come early.

"Ms. Cheramie was none other than one of Jack Ruby's employees. She was admitted to the hospital after being hit by a car about a week before the assassination and told her doctor that the president was going to be killed. The story probably would have gotten more credence except that she got hit by another car shortly after being released and died."

"Right, okay. Do you have any idea how many people claim that the president is going to die every day? It was bound to happen that one of them got in a lucky guess."

Natasha heaved a sigh.

"You really shouldn't encourage him."

"Hush, Nat," Clint scolded. "I still haven't forgiven you for refusing to share whatever information the KGB has on the whole thing."

"That's because I don't know. As far as I'm aware, the KGB had nothing to do with it."

"Oh, yeah, sure. But I bet they know something at the very least. No way an American president dies, no way Kennedy dies, and they don't get interested."

Natasha shrugged, clearly not caring to continue the conversation. She nudged Bucky's leg with her foot.

"Play or fold, lover boy."

Winter tossed his chips into the pot absentmindedly and she was quick to copy the movement. Clint frowned.

"Why do you hate me? This is serious, Nat!"

She gave him the same flat look she so often gave interrogation suspects who were obviously lying.

"Being caught in the middle of a shootout between two drug cartels who both want you dead while being armed with absolutely nothing, injured, and with no extraction coming for you is serious. Your little obsession with the second shooter theory? Not serious."

Clint grumbled, but then Tony shot up with excitement and started describing some new gadget he'd just thought of and the game was soon resumed, the previous conversation disregarded.

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"Hey, boss."

"Happy!" Tony all but bounded up to the slightly pudgy man who strolled into the workshop. "Where have you been? I thought you'd left me and I was going to have to drown my sorrows with Coulson as my handler!"

The SHIELD agent just laughed.

"Mission in Belgravia. You know how it is. Besides, a week isn't that long."

Winter watched the two banter back and forth from his spot across the workshop where he was 'communing' with Dum-E, as Tony liked to call it. Really he just sat and thought about whatever came to mind while the robot made little chirps and beeps from time to time, occasionally nudging the soldier with his claw. He liked Happy, the few times he'd met the man. For the most part, he only came around whenever SHIELD had a new mission for Tony or wanted him to come in to consult on some project or another. The ex-HYDRA agent didn't know all of the background there, but he did know that Tony had been the one to find the man and demanded that Fury hire him.

"Are you shitting me?"

Winter snapped to attention at the shift in Tony's tone. He acted annoyed almost all the time, but he was hardly ever truly upset. Battle-hardened eyes swept the room for any threat as he stood and crossed the room to protect Tony's flank. The brunette threw him an exasperated look that was tinged with true rage.

"I'm so done with this shit. I mean, seriously. I know they've got that whole 'cut off one head and two more shall grow in its place' bull but this is just too much. Fury said SHIELD was going to wipe them out."

Ah, HYDRA, then. Tony had been continuing to help locate bases around the world, but the progress was much slower than it had been before. Apparently Tony had been keeping track of Bucky's movements and figuring out where the bases were that way, but with Bucky no longer in the clutches of the organization there was no way to track them down as efficiently.

"I know, Boss, and he's trying. Every base we raid gives us more information about another one. We're gonna get them, it's just gonna take a little time. Fury really thinks this could help speed up the process."

The glare Tony sent him could curdle milk.

"The answer is no."

Happy somehow managed to pull off looking both sympathetic and determined.

"With all due respect, I don't really think it's your decision to make."

They both turned to look at Winter and he found himself wishing he'd been paying attention to their conversation. They would always get a briefing packet with any of the missions so the Soldier didn't usually feel like he had to pay attention. Still, there was only one factor that he was really concerned about.

"Would I have to leave Tony?"

Happy raised an eyebrow.

"You'd be trying to lure out stray agents to come after you. Unless you want to put Tony in that situation…"

"No. I don't leave Tony."

The inventor looked like a cat that had eaten the canary and gotten a bowl of milk as a reward.

"Should've listened to me the first time, Happy. No means no."

The resignation on Happy's face said this was clearly the outcome he had been expecting.

"Yeah. And I'm still the one who has to tell Fury. You owe me, Boss."

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"You're late."

Tony smiled apologetically as he crossed the threshold into the house.

"Sorry, Aunt Pegs, got caught up with work and lost track of time."

"JARVIS informed him three times that it was time to go."

The genius gasped in mock horror before elbowing him in the side.

"You traitor! I'm gonna stop bringing you to Sunday dinner if this is what it gets. It's the pot roast, isn't it? You're betraying me for the pot roast."

Peggy just tutted at them and pressed kisses to their cheeks. Apparently Winter had been accepted into the family the moment it was discovered that he was actually Bucky Barnes, no more worries about brainwashing or anything.

"Don't be ridiculous, dear. He used to do the same exact thing to Steve all the time, thought it was hilarious. It's how he shows his love."

Winter frowned a bit. He didn't recognize that name, but that wasn't exactly uncommon. He was starting to get back bits and pieces of his memory as HYDRA's brainwashing wore off but it was nothing complete or comprehensive. He would just get flashes from time to time. He'd blink and be in a different time and place. Sometimes he would remember some of his previous missions. Other times the memories seemed to be from before that, before HYDRA. Either way, the name felt familiar to him, even if he couldn't bring up a face to go with it.

He let his gaze wander to the pictures that decorated Peggy's home. He always enjoyed looking at them, had ever since the first time they'd come over after the Commandos had discovered who he really was. They'd been so excited, telling Winter countless stories about their time during the war and generally making him feel truly welcome. It was unlike anything he'd experienced before. He liked being around them, even if most of them had returned to their own lives in the weeks following the incident with Stane and Tony coming out as Iron Man. Every so often, he was even able to remember something. The first time he'd managed to contribute a detail to one of the stories, Dum Dum had nearly burst into tears.

The pictures gave him a similar feeling to the stories. He didn't really recognize them, but they gave off a pleasant feeling. He'd tried describing it to Tony once and the genius had just smiled at him and summed it up with, "Home." Whatever it was, Winter liked it. He reached out with one hand to stroke the frame of a picture where Peggy was standing with Tony, a man and a woman crowded in, too. Tony had told him those were his parents, Howard and Maria Stark. Peggy had always treated him like her own child even before they'd died, so the transition hadn't been so hard. Well, at least not in that aspect.

"Winter! Come on!" Tony's head was poking out from the entrance to the kitchen, the two having apparently left him behind. "I'm starving and if I don't get some of this pot roast right this second I may literally die."

The ex-assassin rolled his eyes, something he'd started doing more and more lately. It seemed that his body still remembered many of its past habits, even if his brain was still a bit confused. He turned away from the pictures and headed in to join the others. Morita and Dum Dum both sat at the table, having moved into the area after everything that had happened. They greeted him joyfully. Winter decided he liked that, too.

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The first time Winter noticed that there might be something wrong with Tony, they were in the middle of a mission. The genius didn't have his suit and they were both crouched behind a cement wall as bullets flew all around them. Winter was so focused on popping out and shooting down the other gunmen at every opportunity that he barely even registered the beeping coming from Tony's pocket. What he did register was Tony pulling out a device he'd never seen before and cursing at whatever was on the screen.

"Dammit, J! Now is so not the time for this!"

Winter's brows furrowed. It wasn't uncommon for JARVIS to update them on information during a mission, but he usually didn't do it during a firefight unless it was urgent.

"What is it?"

Tony shoved the device back in his pocket before grabbing his rifle up off the ground.

"Nothing. Let's just kill these fuckers and go home, yeah?"

Winter wasn't sure how to handle that. Tony had never lied to him before.

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Pepper kissed him on both cheeks when she arrived, before moving on to Tony. She'd seemed to take quite a liking to the Soldier since finding him tied to a pole at the Stark Industries lab. Tony described it as being the same way that a baby duck imprinted on another animal as its mother, just in reverse. Winter wasn't totally sure he understood what that meant, but he was willing to accept it. What he wasn't so readily willing to accept was Pepper herself. He couldn't. No after she'd threatened to quit and hurt Tony like that. He didn't care that she decided to stay in the end. But Tony cared about her, so he kept his mouth shut and just made sure he was nearby whenever she came over to talk to him.

Tony had her working on a huge project at the moment, the Stark Expo. The first time Tony had talked to him about it, Winter had gotten flashes of a huge crowd, a young woman hanging off of his arm, and a skinny fella standing next to him. The more Tony showed him and talked about the ones his father used to put on, the more Winter thought he might have been at one of them. He couldn't be quite sure, though. The memory wasn't very clear.

"The city isn't convinced about approving all the building permits, Tony. They're talking about traffic flow and noise levels. I just don't think they're ready to jump on board with construction on this scale for something that's only going to host an event once a year."

Tony snorted, turning back to his welding. Sparks danced around him in a blinding light show. Winter kind of thought it made him look ethereal.

"What morons! Clearly, they haven't been reading the proposed plans. Yeah, the event's only going to be held one week out of the year, but the labs and facilities on site will be utilized by grant recipients year round! This place is gonna churn out the most amazing innovations the world has ever seen!"

"Which is why I have a luncheon scheduled for you to attend tomorrow at noon with Chairman Kalowitz and that young woman you found who's developing the water filtration system. If you want them to approve of this plan, you're going to have to show them that there's something coming out of it that's worth the effort."

Tony groaned, but didn't argue. For all of his posturing, he did know what it took to run a business and get what he wanted. Winter was pretty sure it came from being brought up in an environment surrounded by people who cared about little else. According to Tony, his father had been grooming him to take over the business since before he could talk and Stane took over that education once Howard passed away. It was only because of Peggy that he'd been given any sort of childhood at all.

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Winter didn't accompany Tony to the luncheon. Apparently it was bad form to bring an ex-assassin with a permanent death glare to a meeting where one was trying to make a good impression. (Pepper's words and Tony's translation) Normally, that would mean Winter hunkering down across the street with a sniper rifle to keep an eye on the situation, but he'd decided to take a slightly different path. He'd asked JARVIS to call Natasha and Clint to watch over the most important person in his life and then headed over to Peggy's. Peggy had taken one look at him and sat him down on her sofa while she went to make tea. Neither of them spoke until they each had a steaming cuppa and a pot was set out between them.

"Now," Peggy said from her armchair, "why don't you tell me what's on your mind? Because I know there's not a chance of you leaving Tony without supervision unless it's something important."

Winter could feel the edges of his mouth curve upward. He did like Peggy. There was just something about her, something that understood the softness of having raised Tony into the amazing man he was and the hardness of a woman who created an agency like SHIELD. She was exceedingly competent in the field yet still understood the emotions that went along with being a human being. It was something Winter certainly struggled with.

"Tony won't tell me what's happening."

Peggy's brows furrowed and she frowned into her teacup as she took a sip.

"With the Expo? That's unlike him."

Winter shook his head. He wasn't used to having to verbalize much. When it was just the two of them Tony seemed near-able to read his mind and when there were other people around the genius was more than capable of talking for the both of them. The Commandos had assured him that he'd been quite a charmer back in his day, but Winter didn't feel much like that same guy anymore.

"There's something going on with him. JARVIS knows. I don't know what it is."

"A SHIELD mission, perhaps?"

"He'd tell me that's what it was. He has before." He looked down at his teacup. "This is the first time he's lied."

Peggy hummed and stood for a moment, crossing the room to grab one of her many framed pictures and bring it back.

"Tony is a lot like his father, you know." The change of subject startled the ex-HYRDA assassin, but he didn't say anything. "Impossible to contain, brilliant beyond anything anyone else could imagine, and irritating to an extreme that is frankly disturbing. Those Stark men, though, they are very, very good at hiding the things they don't want other people to know. I think Howard came up with more than half of SHIELD's security measures. The man was more paranoid than any spy I've ever known."

"But Tony doesn't lie to you."

Peggy smiled softly. Winter was pretty sure it could be described as a motherly expression.

"No. Total honesty, that was our deal." She sighed and set the picture down on the coffee table, still gazing at it wistfully. "When I first met Howard, I'll be honest, I wasn't sure whether I wanted to punch him or just shoot him and get it over with. I never imagined he would grow to be one of my closest friends. I felt so honored the day he asked me to be the godmother of his and Maria's child. I'm not Catholic, but they made an exception…Tony was only eight years old when they died and had seen more of the world than any child ever should."

Winter was largely out of his element, but something tugged at him to forge forward. It was the same something that pushed him to wrap his arms around Tony whenever one of them had nearly been hurt or press his lips to the genius's hairline after a particularly brilliant breakthrough in the lab.

"He speaks of you fondly."

There. That was good. That couldn't possibly be construed in a negative way, right? Judging by the smile on Peggy's face, he'd made the right choice.

"I tried to keep him away from this life, you know? I never wanted him to live the kind of life when an organization like SHIELD would be necessary. He was far too clever, though. Figured out I wasn't really a secretary in no time."

Winter couldn't see how anyone would believe she was a secretary. He hadn't met many himself, beside the ones who worked for Tony, but he didn't imagine it was a job suited for her.

"I'm not surprised."

"Yes, well, once he found out I was a spy there wasn't much I could keep him out of. He would have run off and joined SHIELD right that very minute if I'd let him and Howard would have risen from the grave just to wring my neck."

"He joined when he was sixteen."

"There wasn't much I could do to stop him at that point. He'd already gotten his first college degree by that point and had been accepted into an accelerated doctorate program. I spoke to Fury, who would have happily brought Tony on board from the very beginning, and he agreed to something of a part-time situation. Tony was skating through his classes with ease, testing out of just about everything, but this was still MIT. I didn't want to interfere with his schooling. Tony agreed not to lie to me about anything that happened and Fury agreed that he would only be sent on lower-level missions until he was ready for it." Her face darkened. "Of course, that didn't always work out so well."

There was a story there and Winter cocked his head to the side questioningly. He'd spent enough time with Peggy for her to understand the gesture. She took a long sip from her tea before answering.

"It was his first solo mission, in Wisconsin of all places. SHIELD intel said the guy would be in meetings all day so they sent Tony in to search his hotel room for evidence of some black market deals he'd been suspected of. Apparently the team out front didn't even notice the guy come back and he found Tony in his room." She scowled at her tea, clearly still angry about the whole situation. "We're lucky he even managed to make it back to the van with the amount of hallucinogenic pumped into his system. He never even should have been able to overpower the man. He was, though, even with all those drugs pumping through his system. The first person he ever killed and he did it with a stapler."

That sent a familiar tugging through the back of Winter's skull. He instantly sat up straighter, mind reaching for the phantom sensation. Peggy set her cup down, suddenly on alert.

"Winter?"

"Tell me about it." His voice sounded rough. "Give me the details."

He could see on every line of her face that she knew what this meant, but it didn't matter. None of it mattered except finding out what had happened.

"We don't know for sure, of course. Tony's memory was muddled at best. There was a fight in the room and the target managed to stick Tony with a needle full of tetridoglucentron. At some point after that Tony was able to grab the stapler off of the room's desk and used it to defend himself. I'm told that he would have already been hallucinating pretty badly by that time. He might not even have been aware that what he was fighting was human. He, um," she hesitated, seeming just a touch uncomfortable, "he stapled the man's face. Repeatedly. Cause of death was the man hitting his head on the corner of a piece of furniture as he fell backwards."

Images flashed behind Winter's eyelids each time he blinked. Entering a hotel room only to find it completely trashed, a body spayed across the floor. His target dead with a downright gruesome amount of staples decorating his face, a photograph covering the worst of it. A needle mostly concealed by an overturned bedside table. A smear of blood telling the Soldier which direction to go in.

"Tony escaped into the hall."

Peggy froze for a moment before continuing.

"And into the stairwell. There was a blood trail that was able to tell us that much, but that's all we know for sure other than that he showed up at the van utterly delirious."

"He collapsed," Winter said. "I found him one floor down in the stairwell…" He suddenly felt sick to his stomach. "I was going to kill him."

Every muscle in Peggy's body was tense.

"Why didn't you?"

"I-I don't know." He looked up at her, his eyes desperate. He did not want this memory, did not want to be able to so clearly picture his own hands reaching for Tony's neck. "He wasn't afraid of me."

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Tony was back in his lab by the time Winter returned to the house. JARVIS would surely tell him of the Soldier's presence, but he didn't feel up to facing the man. He trudged upstairs, instead, to the bedroom they shared. Pausing only long enough to shuck off his combat boots, Winter crawled across the bed's surface, settling down to pull Tony's pillow into his chest and bury his nose in it. He'd remembered some terrible things. He had memories of murdering whole families in their homes at HYDRA's command, but nothing compared to knowing that he'd once intended to kill Tony. It didn't seem fathomable.

And, really, what had stopped him from doing it? The fact that Tony had been too drugged out of his mind to be afraid as he very logically should have been? What if the target hadn't returned to the hotel room and Winter had found Tony there instead? What if Tony had shown even the slightest hint of fear in that stairwell? Winter would have lost the most important person in his life without ever knowing it. And Tony would be dead.

That was the thought that sickened him more than anything else. He couldn't imagine a world where Tony was dead. He couldn't even stand the thought of it. He didn't want to think about how very real the possibility was and that it would have happened by his very hands. Of all the atrocities he had committed for HYDRA that surely would have been the worst. He wasn't sure how long he lay there before he heard soft footsteps shuffling down the hallway toward him. He contemplated moving, but couldn't quite bring himself to. The footsteps paused in the doorway before moving around to his side of the bed and crawling in after him. A warm body pressed up behind him and an arm wrapped around his waist.

"What's wrong? I got worried when JARVIS said you'd gotten back but you didn't come down to the lab. He said you were here instead. Where did you go?"

There were two questions in there. Winter wasn't sure if he could manage to answer both of them. He knew which one he'd rather answer, but it certainly wasn't the one that Tony needed answered.

"I remembered something bad."

And, really, that was just the understatement of the century, wasn't it? Tony just pressed him closer, his nose skimming the side of Winter's neck and his mouth pressing a few kisses to the leather that covered his shoulders. The little signs of affection were familiar and comforting, reminding Winter that Tony was alive and well and that the Soldier hadn't killed him. He was quite aware that the relationship he and Tony had couldn't be described as completely platonic, but he wasn't sure exactly what it would be labeled as, either. All he really knew was that he needed Tony alive. Needed.

"HYDRA?"

Winter had never reacted like this to a memory before, but it wasn't like someone needed a genius level intellect like Tony's to figure out that his worst memories would come from his time under the thumb of an evil organization.

"Yes."

Because it was true. It had been a memory from with days with HYRDA. Tony's arm retreated a bit so that he could stroke up and down the Soldier's side.

"Want to talk about it?"

Winter buried his face a little bit deeper into Tony's pillow, inhaling the scent there and letting it settle something deep inside of him. The answer was no, he absolutely did not want to talk about it. But Tony needed to know, deserved to know. Winter would accept whatever Tony's reaction was without complaint.

"We met before."

"Yeah, when I was eightee-"

"When you were sixteen."

The hand stroking his side froze, the body behind him stiffening slightly.

"What?"

"You were on a mission. Drugged. I found you in a stairwell."

"Wisconsin."

His voice was tight and Winter wasn't sure if it was because the genius suspected what was to come or if it was because he hated to think back on the first time he'd killed with his own hands. Either way, it would be better just to get it over with.

"I was going to kill you. I remember reaching for your neck with every intention of snapping it."

The hand that was resting just above the Soldier's hip tightened to a point that would have been painful to anyone and he could hear Tony taking deliberate, calming breathes that puffed against the back of his neck. Winter didn't dare move.

"What stopped you?"

Winter's lips pulled into a thin line. The answer he'd given Peggy was that Tony hadn't been afraid of him, but the more he thought about it, the clearer the image became, he realized that was only what made him pause. It wasn't what made him abandon that line of thinking or ensure Tony's survival.

"You. I think. I don't really know. You just started talking, spewing all kinds of nonsense. Something about ducks and Peggy killing you for dying in a stairwell. It didn't make much sense, but killing you didn't even cross my mind once you'd opened your mouth."

Tony snorted into his back, but it didn't hold even half of his usual amount of mirth.

"Usually my mouth is the reason most people want to kill me."

Winter couldn't really argue with that. He'd witnessed Tony winding up the people he didn't like too many times to think for even a second that it wasn't true. The Soldier was actually pretty sure he was the only reason Tony had survived the last three charity galas. The silence stretched between them before Tony finally spoke up again.

"Was that when you decided it was your mission to protect me?"

"I don't know." He turned over to finally face the younger man, searching his face for any sign of fear and not finding any. "It's very muddled. But I will. Protect you. I could never hurt you."

Tony's smile was a bit weak and he actually moved a little closer to rest his head against Winter's chest. After a moment's hesitation, the Soldier lifted his flesh arm to stroke his fingers through Tony's hair.

"I know. I trust you."

"I wish I hadn't remembered. I don't want to have this memory."

Tony pushed himself up on his elbows, leaning over to press a soft kiss to Winter's mouth.

"I know. I wouldn't want it, either. But it's okay. It doesn't change anything. I'm not worried about you killing me."

There was something about that statement that bothered Winter, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

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It was like everything started to go downhill after that, despite Tony's reassurances. Winter would have been tempted to think it was because of his confession, but HYDRA hadn't programmed him with an ego and he'd become far too used to just observing situations objectively over the years. He also knew Tony, had been watching him for far too long not to have learned how to read him. What he was reading at the moment told him something was very, very wrong. He just didn't know what.

With the plans for the Stark Expo finally approved, Tony had been throwing himself into his work with a gusto that was exceptional even for him. There were many nights that neither of them even made it to the bed upstairs. This was fine for the Soldier. The enhancements HYDRA had given him meant that he didn't need as much sleep as the average person, but he could tell it was wearing Tony down. Peggy seemed to share his concerns, but there wasn't much they could do about it. It seemed like Tony was Hell bent on getting every last invention wrung out of himself before the Expo arrived.

Winter didn't like it and he could tell that he wasn't the only one who had noticed. Peggy's worried frown seemed to get deeper and deeper with every week that passed. Pepper seemed antsy, too, though she was never outspoken about it. Even Happy kept shooting inquisitive looks in Winter's direction every time he came over as if to ask what was going on. The Soldier wished he had an answer.

There were some nights when the Soldier would go to bed, or at least catch some sleep in the workshop. He didn't like leaving Tony alone down there. On these nights, he would often wake to a presence crouched beside and fingers running through his hair. He would always keep his eyes closed and his breathing regular, and sometimes Tony would whisper over and over again how sorry he was. It did nothing to belay Winter's fears.

He'd tried to talk to the genius about it, but had been shut down immediately. It wasn't even the usual way Tony brushed off things he didn't want to focus on. His face had gone hard and stony the moment Winter had tried to express his concerns. He'd snapped, snarling in his defensiveness and Winter had dropped the subject quickly. Tony had refused to even acknowledge his presence for the rest of the day. It hurt. Winter didn't bring it up again.

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The Opening Ceremony of the Stark Expo was all the media has talked about for weeks and its execution went off without a hitch. Winter wondered for a bit, perusing the exhibits that have already been set up, even before the gates have been opened. Tony was dealing with all the last minute adjustments of the Expo as well as getting ready to swoop in from above for his dramatic entrance upon the stage. Winter was left to his own devices until after the show and he'd already run through every inch of the security. He hated to think of how exposed Tony would be during the show, once he was out of his suit, but Winter would be on the top of a nearby building with a sniper rifle to keep an eye on the crowd. Clint would be on the roof opposite and Happy would be backstage, just in case. As much as the Soldier liked Happy, he would have preferred it to be Natasha. Too bad she was on a mission in South America.

"Hey, there you are, man. How you feelin'?"

Winter nodded to Clint as he approached.

"I will be better once this is over."

The archer hummed in acknowledgment. There was no need to expand on that thought. They both knew the stress of a protection gig in a situation like this one. There would be no certainties until everything was finished and Tony was still alive and unhurt.

"The waiting's always the worst part. I've never had the patience for it."

Winter's lip twitched upward a bit in amusement. Clint liked to talk about how he preferred the high-action ops, but there was no one Winter would rather have at his back in a situation where they had to lay low and bide their time. Clint knew stealth like nobody the Soldier had ever met, including Natasha. He'd get into places no one else could and hunker down for days if he had to. It was nothing less than impressive.

The two of them stuck together until it was time for the general public to be let inside. They split up, each heading for their respective locations. Clint was headed straight up to his roof while Winter patrolled the stage area where Tony would give his speech. He wasn't willing to take the risk of someone possibly planting a bomb before the show. He headed up to his own roof-top spot as the Ironettes took the stage. The crowd was huge, people pressed together like cattle at a slaughterhouse. It made Winter uncomfortable just to look at them.

Tony was beaming as the suit unwrapped itself from around his body. It was an effect Winter had always enjoyed watching, but just made him antsy about how vulnerable it left the most important person in his life. As much as he would have liked to keep his eyes on the charismatic man on stage, he forced himself to focus on the crowd instead. For the most part everyone seemed excited and happy, but he kept scanning for anyone who might show the slightest hint of ill-intent. He tuned out Tony's speech about phoenix metaphors and needing to look to the future. Both Happy and Clint were in his ear via a com unit, ready to alert the others to any possible threat. Winter didn't relax until Tony was off stage and away from the crowd. Only then did he glance at the video on the screen, at the old video of Howard Stark only a few years before his death.

"Everything is achievable through technology."

Winter had seen Howard before; at Peggy's house, in the albums the other Commandos shared, even from a few pictures in Tony's house. He'd never heard him before, never seen a video of him. It was like his legs had been taken out from under him and he could hear himself making a whining kind of noise as if it were coming from a great distance. Images and sounds flashed through his head, jumbling with what was going on around him. He'd regained memories before, but never this violently.

"Better living, robust health, and for the fir-Maria? Oh, God…Maria! Maria, answer me!"

Winter squeezed his eyes shut, his fingers knotting in his hair and trying to block the images out. He focused on breathing, on staying calm, but it was like he was drifting back and forth between two realities and completely unable to even differentiate which was which. He could feel himself standing, looking down with cold eyes at the wreckage of a car where Howard was desperately calling for his wife despite the blood flowing freely from the gash on his forehead. At the same time, he could feel the rough gravel of the rooftop all along the side of his body where he lay curled into himself. Clint's voice was in his ear, telling Winter he was on his way, telling him to just hang in there.

"I need to know if you're okay, Maria. Come on, just let me know you're alright. Talk to me, hun, talk to m-Who are you?" His voice was suddenly suspicious, defensive, then angry. "What did you do? What did you do? She's dead! You fucking bastard! –personally introduce you to the City of the Future. Technology holds infinite possibilities for mankind. You won't get away with this. You can kill me but you won't get away with it. SHIELD will find you, you son of a bitch, and they will make you pay. "

He could see it all play out before his eyes. The car was speeding along the dark road, going faster than was strictly safe. It careened out of control the moment his bullet impacted the tire and it flipped off of the road, flipping over itself several times as it tumbled down the small embankment. The Soldier followed after it calmly to ensure that his targets were dead. The man was still alive but it appeared the woman had died on impact. She was irrelevant anyway. It was the man that his handlers really wanted dead.

The Soldier strolled around the front of the car and pulled the driver's side door open, alerting the man to his presence. He ignored the insults being hurled his way as he popped the hood and walked back around to he could rig it to blow. It was essential that he leave no trace of foul play. It would be easier to just put a bullet in the man's head, but the asset's handlers didn't want any questions to come up about cause of death. The Soldier would spark a fire and let him burn to death. There would be no sign it was anything but an accident.

"Winter! Winter, I'm here. I've got you. You're safe."

The Soldier blinked back to himself to find Clint scanning the area as if to spot an attacker. He patted the archer's leg awkwardly to get his attention back.

"M'fine. Memory."

Clint nodded, face tight, and turned his head just a bit as he contacted Happy to give him the update.

"You went down so hard I thought someone had managed to put a bullet between your eyes. If it weren't for the noises you kept making, I would have been convinced you were dead."

"Tony?"

It was a struggle to talk, his voice rough, but Winter wanted to know the genius had been taken care of even if there wasn't actually any threat.

"Backstage with Happy. I'm sure he's been kept posted but Happy won't let him come storming out here."

Winter nodded. That was good. That was how it should be. He struggled to his feet, ignoring Clint's extended hand. He didn't deserve the help. He didn't deserve kindness.

"I need to see him."

The worry was clear in Clint's eyes even if he didn't say anything. That was the life of a spy, though. At least he was pretty understanding about the fact that others weren't prone to sharing. Instead, the archer just nodded and followed Winter on the way down and to the stage. Thankfully, the video of Howard was already gone and a representative from the Expo itself had taken the microphone, announcing the next presentation in the line-up. Winter was glad. He didn't want that face in front of him anymore. He didn't want that voice in his head. It was bad enough that Winter had almost killed Tony all those years ago. Now it turned out he'd killed the genius's parents.

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Winter didn't tell Tony what he'd remembered. He confirmed it was HYDRA and said he didn't want to talk about it. It wasn't the first time he'd declined to talk about a memory and Tony accepted it with ease. It wasn't that Winter didn't plan to tell him. He knew he would, but he wanted to talk to someone else first, someone he could count on to give him another perspective on the situation. He needed to know how to tell Tony that he'd done this.

Telling Tony that Winter had nearly killed him was one thing. Tony was notorious for his lack of self-preservation instinct. He was also notorious for being extremely protective of those he cared about. Case in point: launching a full-scale assault against HYDRA after figuring out what they had done to Winter. The Soldier had little doubt that Tony would take the killing of his parents much more seriously than any threat to his own life. It was something that needed to be handled delicately.

His first choice would have been Natasha, truth be told. They'd managed to form a bond over the fact that they'd both been used by organizations with nefarious goals, had both gone through programming and survived. He knew without a doubt that she wouldn't judge him for anything that he had done during his time with HYDRA. For all of her skills, though, Natasha didn't understand people, not the way he needed for this. No, at the risk of causing even more trouble, he would need to turn to Peggy. She even had the added bonus of knowing Tony better than possibly anyone else on the planet. She was exactly who he needed. Unfortunately, the talk would have to wait.

There was a woman waiting at Tony's car when the two went to leave and Winter's hand immediately flew to the pistol at his waist. Besides him, Tony smirked and made a glib comment about hoping she came with the car but Winter could feel the way the genius tensed beside him. The woman's eyes darted down to his weapon before raising her hands as if in surrender. Her placating smile did little to make them relax. They worked with Natasha, after all.

"Not here to cause trouble boys, just to make a delivery."

Winter frowned and edged in front of Tony just a bit. The woman raised an eyebrow at his behavior, but said nothing.

"What kind of delivery?"

She held up an envelope and extended it towards them.

"A summons for Mr. Stark. Mandatory. From the World Security Council."

Winter reached to take the envelope but she snatched it away.

"It's for Mr. Stark, sir, not for you. Mr. Pierce said to give it directly to him."

Tony's usual response would have been a snort and a smart comment, but instead his mouth turned down in a scowl.

"Look, lady, it's been a long day and I'm not really in the mood to deal with your bullshit neurosis. I don't like being handed things. Let him take it."

She still looked unsure, but Winter just snatched the envelope out of her hand and ushered Tony into the car, allowing the genius to take the wheel as he got into the passenger side. The World Security Council was nothing to scoff at, but it wasn't something Tony needed to worry about on top of everything else that was going on. They sped off without a backward glance.

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There wasn't a chance for Winter to talk to Peggy before the meeting with the council. He didn't like lying to Tony for so long, even if it was only by omission. He owed Tony everything, cared more about him than anyone else in the world. But he also knew that he couldn't act without a plan and that just launching into the conversation blind would be all the worse because of Tony's distraction by the Expo and now the WSC's summons. For all that Tony acted unbothered, Winter could tell that it was getting to him.

Winter had heard of the council and Alexander Pierce, their representative, but he'd never had cause to interact with any of them. The council was never even on location with SHIELD but were scattered throughout the world. As far as Winter knew, they mostly stayed out of the way, too. He'd really only ever heard them mentioned here or there. The fact that Tony had been called to meet with them was a big deal and could be a very bad thing. There were really only two things it could be about.

Winter's appearance had been extremely controversial within SHIELD. He'd become something of a familiar face around headquarters when he accompanied Tony there around missions, but he refused to become an agent. His only concern was Tony, an affection that seemed only to grow the more time he spent with the man. He had absolutely no interest in joining an organization that would take him away from the man on a regular basis. It was entirely possible that had finally become a problem. Peggy's reputation could only protect them for so long now that she was retired.

The other option was, of course, the Iron Man armor. Fury had been expressing an interest in it since Tony's escape from HYDRA but also seemed to acknowledge that it was something that couldn't just be distributed to anyone. For all his gruff demeanor, Winter was beginning to figure out that the leader of SHIELD was a lot more human than most people thought. Of course, it was doubtful that the WSC shared his softness. They were notorious for trying to get every advantage they could. Winter certainly didn't trust them but that had very little bearing on the face that their summons still had to be answered.

There was no down time. Apparently the WSC had taken into account Tony's history of finding inventive ways to make himself 'unavailable' and had only delivered the summons the night before he was demanded to make an appearance. He and Winter were at SHIELD headquarters by 10am the next day, strolling in a good five minutes past when they were actually supposed to be there. It was a power play, Winter knew. Tony was showing the council that they couldn't intimidate him. Winter just wasn't so sure it was a good idea to play their hand like that.

Alexander Pierce, the man who ran the entire political side of SHIELD and dealt directly with the WSC more than anyone else, was waiting with them inside of his office along with two members of the strike team in full gear. Winter felt his muscles tensing at the sight of them but Tony remained relaxed beside him. Pierce sent them a smile as they entered.

"I was beginning to worry you might have been kidnapped again, Agent Stark."

Tony laughed a bit, but it wasn't his usual one.

"Is that what the Good Squad is about?"

Pierce had the grace to at least look a bit sheepish, rubbing the back of his neck as his eyes darted to the two Spec Ops in the room.

"Actually, Agents Simmons and Cartwell are here at the request of the council to…ensure privacy during the meeting."

Tony's eyes narrowed and Winter didn't blame him. His own hand drifted toward the gun at his belt, wishing desperately, and not for the first time, that he could just hide Tony away in his mansion and never have to interact with others.

"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?"

SHIELD's Secretary signed as he leant against the corner of his desk, looking resigned and tired.

"The WSC has some concerns about classified information being fed to a former enemy. They've been willing to overlook the Winter Soldier's presence on many of your missions due to his extreme effectiveness, but they are of the opinion that he shouldn't be allowed any more information than is absolutely necessary."

Tony's fists tightened as his lip curled into a snarl. Across the room, the strike team members shifted nervously.

"So it's fine to send him out to fight, but not to invite him in for a conversation? Fine way to treat a decorated war hero."

One of the armed guards scoffed, earning himself a sharp look from Pierce. Tony remained silent, but Winter could see the way his jaw clenched.

"His experiences at the hands of HYDRA can't just be ignored. You know that, agent. The WSC is comprised of some of the most powerful individuals in the world. They cannot take risks with this sort of thing."

Tony's shoulders were squared, defiance rolling off of him in waves.

"I trust Winter with my life. I trust him with the lives of the people I care about. There's no one I'd rather have my back. Period."

They were profound words, and ones that sent a spike of guilt through the Soldier. Would Tony feel such conviction if he knew what Winter had done? If he knew that Winter was responsible for the death of his parents?

"Tony-"

"No," the genius cut him off. "They don't get to fucking judge you for some shit that wasn't even your fault. No. Just no. Fuck that." He turned back to Pierce with a snarl. "And fuck the council, too. They don't want to talk with Winter there? Fine. I don't mind going home and getting some more work done."

Pierce's face hardened, his smile dropping.

"You can't just ignore the council, Agent Stark."

Tony smirked nastily.

"Oh, watch me."

"You're on thin ice as it is. Don't push your luck. You are an agent. You answer to the council."

Winter knew what Tony was going to say next, but there was nothing he could do to stop it as Tony pulled his badge out of his pocket and threw it at Pierce.

"Not anymore."

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"You did what?!"

Peggy had called Dum Dum and Morita the moment Winter and Tony had shown up at her house and she heard what happened at SHIELD. They were all gathered in the kitchen now, the site of just about every 'family discussion' that Winter had born witness to. Peggy and Dum Dum were exchanging worried looks while Morita was staring at Tony like he was out of his mind.

"You can't just pull that kind of shit on the council, Tony! Do you have any idea what could happen now?"

Tony was sitting sullenly in one of the chairs at the table, arms crossed and a scowl fixed firmly in place.

"Doesn't matter. They can't touch me."

Morita gaped at him.

"Of course they can touch you! They're the WSC! Just because you're the CEO of a fortune 500 company and your dad and your aunt were both founding members of SHIELD doesn't mean you can just mouth off and everything will turn out roses! They could make your life Hell without even blinking, kid!"

Tony twitched at the last bit, and scowled all the harder.

"Not really concerned about it. I turned in my resignation. My contract with them clearly stated I can do that at any time of my choosing without consequences." He nodded his head toward Peggy a bit. "I suppose I have you to thank for thinking ahead back when I first joined."

Peggy's mouth was pinched into a thin line.

"We're not saying you didn't do the right thing, dear, or that we don't support your decision, it's just that the WSC can be extremely dangerous and there's no telling what they might decide to do in retaliation for this. And SHIELD has been what's been standing between the government and your suits. Without them at your back, the military could easily classify Iron Man as a threat and demand you turn the technology over."

"I'm not turning my suits over so they can become weapons for some asshole with a political agenda."

"Of course not, hun, and we're not asking you to."

"Look," Dum Dum cut in gruffly, "they come after you, they'll be facing down all of us and don't nobody mess with the Howling Commandos. But we've gotta be smart about this."

"Don't worry about it. I've got it covered."

"C'mon, kid, we're not just gonna let you face this all alone. Let us help you."

"I don't need help."

With a huff of irritation, Tony stormed out of the room, slamming the door that led down to the basement lab loudly behind him. Even Winter knew he would need some time alone, though he wasn't sure exactly why Tony was so upset by the thought of his family helping him. He'd always been the one to say that family had to stick together, especially if it was the family you chose. Instead, the Soldier turned to Peggy.

"There's something I need to talk to you about."

Her white eyebrows rose in question.

"Always." She gestured for him to take a seat with them at the kitchen table. "I can only assume it has to do with Tony."

He nodded, letting the silence draw out for a bit before he began talking. He didn't want to talk about this, but it also wasn't something that should be put off.

"He played a video clip of Howard at the Expo. It was the first time I'd ever actually seen a video of him."

Dum Dum grinned a bit.

"Ah, yeah. He used the one from one of the earlier Expos, right? If there's anything other than genius Howard passed onto that kid, it was his charisma. The man was born to be in front of people, even if he was a total ass most of the time."

Peggy shot him a stern look before patting Winter's knee.

"Go on."

"It triggered a memory. From HYDRA. You said his parents' deaths were an accident, but that's not true." There was silence in the kitchen as the other three tried to absorb the implications of that information. Winter decided to just get it over with and help them along. "I remember shooting out the tire of the car before setting it on fire…Howard was still alive when the flames reached him."

"Oh, God-" Peggy choked out as her hands flew to her mouth and she stumbled away from the table. She gripped onto the countertop and took several deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself. "You killed Howard?"

Winter couldn't answer, only hang his head in shame. He didn't know Howard, even if he had before. He had no emotional attachment to the man, but he was Tony's father, someone this entire mishmashed family cared about. He felt shame for that if nothing else. He couldn't even bare to glance around the room to see the reactions of Morita and Dum Dum. He could feel their eyes on him, reassessing, seeing how vile he was.

"Have you told Tony?"

Dum Dum's voice was subdued, but not accusatory as Winter had been expecting.

"Not yet. I don't know how."

"You have to tell him. You can't keep something like this from him. He'd want to know."

Winter finally looked up, sending Morita a pleading look in response to his words.

"I know. I don't want to hide it. I just-How do you tell someone you murdered their parents?"

They didn't have an answer for that.

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"Tony?"

Winter entered the lab beneath Peggy's home cautiously. Tony hadn't reemerged for over an hour and Winter couldn't be sure of his mood. It was foolish to hope that he would be in a good one, considering everything that had happened, but the Soldier couldn't help him. Perhaps if he started off in a positive mood it would soften the blow of what was to come.

"'m over here."

The words were alarmingly slurred together and Winter stepped around one of the many work tables to find the genius huddled on the floor, back against the table leg to prop himself up. A partially empty bottle of whiskey sat beside him. Winter's eyebrows rose. He'd never seen Tony drink to excess like this before.

"Are you drunk?"

Tony grinned up at him, making grabby hands to pull the Soldier down beside him. Winter went willingly.

"Jus' a li'le bit. Jus' enough to forget."

Winter frowned at him and wrapped the man up in his arms, pulling him over so that he was in the Soldier's lap. Tony just snuggled closer.

"What are you trying to forget?"

Tony hummed and went silent for a long moment before responding.

"Life sucks. E'ry time I think I got somethin' good goin', somethin' else jus' gotta come along an' ruin it." His nose was wrinkled in distaste. Winter could feel it pressed against the side of his neck. "Bu', you know, I can' help bu' wan' more o' it."

Panic flared in the Soldier's chest. He could read between the lines. He wasn't an idiot.

"What's going on, Tony? You need to tell me what's wrong."

His arms tightened around the smaller man's frame wand Tony pressed closer in response. The genius shuffled a bit until his knees were on either side of the Soldier's waist and he could lift himself up to look into Winter's face.

"I wasted a lotta time, di'n' I?"

Winter let his metal hand trail up and down Tony's back soothingly. He couldn't let his fear cloud his judgement. He had to approach this like any other mission. There was too much at stake if he lost his focus.

"Tell me what's wrong, Tony."

"I never tol' you how much I love you."

Tony pressed forward, bringing their lips together, and Winter only paused for a moment before kissing him back. The younger man's lips were soft against him, even though they were chapped from constant biting. The taste of alcohol was still heavy on his tongue as he swept it into Winter's mouth, just a few brief moments of contact before retreating back into its own cavern. Winter's hands slid down to settle on either side of Tony's waist as their lips moved together.

The genius had to break away first, gasping for breath and with a bright red flush across his cheeks from the lack of oxygen. He was gorgeous. Possibly the most gorgeous thing Winter had ever seen. He never wanted to let the other man go. He wanted to keep Tony in his arms forever. But he couldn't do that. He couldn't do that because-"I killed your parents."

It felt like every muscle in Tony's body went on high alert. The sweet contentment that had been radiating from his face evaporated.

"What?"

"Howard and Maria. Your parents. I didn't remember before but now I do and-HYDRA wanted them dead. They sent me to do it."

Tony was gaping at him, trembling slightly. His mouth worked as if he wanted to say something but couldn't quite seem to get the words out. He finally jerked his head to look away from Winter and scrambled into a standing position. Winter reached out to steady him only for the genius to flinch violently away. The Soldier drew his hands back.

"I, uh, I need to go."

Without a glance backward, Tony dashed for the door and Winter was left alone.

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Tony left for Monaco shortly after he'd run off, not even bothering to tell Winter that he'd left. The Soldier had heard about it from Pepper, who called as soon as she had a moment of privacy. Apparently it was deeply concerning to her that Tony had up and decided it was a good idea to run off without him. Winter declined her offer of using the spare jet to follow after them. It was obvious Tony didn't want to be near him, quite understandably. He called Happy and asked the man to go instead. He and Tony were friends. Natasha sent him a text just minutes later asking him what the fuck was going on. Winter didn't quite know what to tell her.

He didn't feel like he could return to Tony's mansion, not with the way things were, but he also didn't want to be a burden on Peggy. He was a killer. She shouldn't have to put up with having him around. After a few placating words Winter instead headed into the city, figuring he'd spend the night among the homeless population. It was the least he deserved. He was wedged in the V of two tree branches when Natasha found him.

"You never replied to my text."

Winter just shrugged and looked away.

"Tony's not answering any of my texts either. Or Clint's." There was a short pause. "We don't like being left out of the loop."

Still nothing from Winter, so she began hoisting herself up into the tree. She settled herself on a branch just a few feet away from him and gave him a hard look.

"Word around SHIELD is that Tony quit."

"That's true."

"They're saying he did it 'cause the council wouldn't trust you. There are a lot a people upset about that, most because they think he was in the right." She waited as if to let him contribute something but continued once it became clear that he would be staying quiet. "Yet only a day later he's running off to another country without you and you're pouting in a tree. Seems like there's a story there."

Winter finally rolled his head over to look at her, taking in her carefully neutral expression that was underlain with just a hint of concern. He thought about her history with the KGB, everything he had heard about her since joining SHIELD and figured she would probably understand better than anyone else.

"He figured out that he'd made a mistake."

Her eyebrows arched, relaying skepticism without revealing too much.

"By standing up for you? That doesn't sound like Tony."

Winter just shrugged again. It was an expression he'd picked up from Tony.

"He got new information."

Natasha's eyes narrowed at him.

"What kind of information?"

It was a pointed question, and Winter was growing tired of avoiding the subject.

"I killed his parents."

Natasha'a eyebrows shot upward again, this time actual surprise slipping through her mask.

"That was an accident."

He shook his head.

"My orders were to make it look like an accident." He circled one finger in the air bitterly. "Success. Hooray for me."

Natasha gave a little sideways nod, looking contemplative.

"They didn't want anyone looking too closely…I have to admit, you did well."

Winter scowled.

"I did what I was programmed to do," he spat bitterly. "It would have been better if they had just left me at the bottom of that damn gorge."

His metal hand flexed and clenched. Tony had replaced so many parts that it was practically a whole new arm by this point, but he still hated it. It marked him as theirs, marked him as the monster they had turned him into. They would always be a part of him.

"I doubt Tony would feel the same way." Winter made a noncommittal noise and Natasha responded with a dry glare. "You don't think so?"

"I killed his parents."

"HYDRA killed Tony's parents. You saved his life. Multiple times. Tony's campaigned harder than anyone else for the fact that you weren't responsible for what HYDRA made you do. You really think this will change that? Sure, it might take him some time to adjust, but he's not going to dump you on the side of the road because of it."

"He left his job for me, Nat. Gave up SHIELD just because they didn't want me in a single meeting. He put himself in danger because of me, stood up for me and put his faith in me…He told me he loved me."

Natasha leant precariously across the open space between them to lay a hand on the wrist on his metal arm. Her thumb stroked the back of his hand until he allowed it to relax.

"He does, you know. I've known it since the first time I saw the two of you together, though I'll admit I'd suspected it even before then. He'd been going after HYDRA like a man possessed trying to find you. This? It's not going to make all of that just go away."

"Tony's not just going to let this go."

"Of course not. He's going to use it to fuel himself even more fervently toward bringing HYRDA down and he's going to take it as a personal insult that they dared to use you to do it."

Winter let his head thunk back against the trunk of the tree.

"How can you be so sure?"

She nailed him with a condescending look.

"It's what I do. Now come on. I'm not exactly enthusiastic about spending the rest of the day with twigs poking me in all sorts of uncomfortable places. I get enough of that on missions."

"Where are we going?"

"Isn't it obvious? We're taking you home so you can be there to greet Tony once he gets his head out of his ass and comes back." She shrugged. "Shouldn't take long."

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Winter was pacing the living room of Tony's mansion like a caged animal. His skin felt tight, like all the tension underneath was ready to burst through it. Natasha was perched on the couch, watching him stonily. News had come in of Tony's attack and, even though he was alive and on his way back home, Winter wouldn't feel better until he was able to check the man over himself. It didn't help at all that the attack had occurred over a day earlier and Tony still hadn't contacted him. Both Pepper and Happy had made calls, but it seemed that Tony was maintaining radio silence.

JARVIS was keeping them updated of any new developments with the case as well as Tony's progress in coming home. Winter looked through all the information, digging into this Ivan Vanko's background. He combed through every scrap of evidence from his childhood, every report and trace of who this man was and what he could do. It didn't paint a pretty picture. Ivan's hatred of Howard Stark was as intense as it was long-lasting. With Howard dead, he'd simply transferred that hatred right on over to Tony. By the time JARVIS announced Tony's arrival in the driveway, Winter was little more than a bundle of nerves. He really wasn't good at this whole 'sit on the sidelines and watch' thing.

"Hey."

Winter got half-way across the room, reaching for Tony, when he pulled up short. The genius was closed off, shoulders tense and hands in his pockets. He hadn't made a single motion to even accept Winter's advance. He looked tired, too, and it made the Soldier want to just wrap him up in his arms.

"Have you slept?"

Tony's gaze swept over him.

"Have you?"

"No." There was only about four feet of space between them, but Winter felt as if it were an entire ocean. "I was worried about you."

"Unnecessary. I'm trained for this kind of thing, been taking care of myself since long before you came along."

Winter flinched at his tone.

"Tony, I-"

"Doesn't matter. I've got bigger things I need to concentrate on."

He swept past the Soldier to head down to his lab, leaving Winter alone once again.

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Natasha didn't leave the house, which was probably a good thing. Winter honestly didn't know how much he would have lost his mind if she hadn't been there with him. He knew he couldn't go after Tony. That wasn't what the genius wanted, no matter how much it was what Winter wanted. His mental state hadn't improved any by the time Pepper showed up just a few short hours later.

"What is going on?"

Winter had no answer for her and Natasha only narrowed her eyes.

"Something's going on with Tony, something serious. He isn't acting like himself."

Pepper made an exasperated, slightly hysterical, noise.

"Tony's always been reckless. No one in the world is going to deny that, but this is just extreme! I don't even know what to do with this!"

Natasha squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.

"Just be there for him. That's all you can do."

They watched Pepper head down the stairs to Tony's lab before Natasha groaned and collapsed back onto the couch.

"Clint needs to get back from New Mexico to talk some sense into this idiot before he does something we'll all regret."

Winter scowled and said nothing, but couldn't help agreeing with her. He just wanted Tony to be okay.

"I think he's dying."

Natasha wouldn't have looked more shocked if Winter had punched her.

"Are you sure?"

"I-"

"Master Winter is correct, I'm afraid," JARVIS cut in. "Sir has forbidden me from informing anyone of the situation, but seeing as the two of you have already figured it out I have no restrictions from speaking of it to you."

If it weren't for the fact that the AI had just confirmed Tony's mortality, Winter would have grinned. The genius certainly had designed a particularly sneaky system.

"So you can tell us exactly what's going on."

"It would be my pleasure, Agent Romanov. The issue appears to be with the arc reactor Sir acquired during his captivity last year. The palladium that makes up the core of the reactor has begun to poison his blood stream. At the current moment, Sir's blood toxicity level is now over fifty percent. At the current rate, Sir only has two months left to live by conservative estimates."

Winter felt like he was falling off of that train all over again, like he was back at HYDRA watching Tony being operated on, like he had lost contact with Tony as he tumbled out of the sky covered in ice, like he was laying on the floor as Obie pulled Tony's heart from his chest. He stumbled a bit, back slamming into the wall behind him. He hated the sensation of something happening to Tony that he couldn't stop.

"What-What can we do? Does Yinsen know?"

He knew nothing about science, only knew how to change one out for another because Tony had shown him. He was only vaguely aware that palladium was a kind of metal. (He was pretty sure, at least.) Yinsen would be someone actually able to do something about it. Maybe. He'd at least have a better shot. He was Tony's primary care doctor now and already had experience working with the reactor. He'd helped Tony build the first one.

"Dr. Yinsen was the one to catch the palladium poisoning in its initial stages. He and Sir have been working tirelessly to identify an appropriate element to substitute the core with and Sir has just recently brought on board another scientist to assist in the project."

That stung, just a bit. Of course Winter wanted someone to be working on the problem, but it still hurt that Tony hadn't even mentioned it to him. Yinsen he could understand, even Peggy or the Commandos, but now Tony was apparently bringing other people in on it?

"Who is the new scientist?"

"I'm afraid I am not at liberty to reveal his identity, Agent Romanov. What I can say is that his credentials ensure that he is uniquely suited for assisting in this area."

Natasha and Winter exchanged a look. It was pretty much never a good thing when Tony hid information. They were even more disquieted by the fact that JARVIS's tone was clearly disapproving. Definitely not a good sign. For all that JARVIS would listen to any order Tony gave him, he certainly wasn't shy about making his opinions of those orders known. Once he'd managed to accept the presence of the AI, Winter had come to see him as being invaluable when it came to ensuring Tony's wellbeing and happiness.

"And what exactly is this area? What's the problem with finding a substitute core? Are there other options?"

Natasha had clearly switched over to the mode of gathering all the information she could. Winter was glad to have her here for this conversation. The way his blood was rushing behind his ears, he could hardly think over the roar.

"Without being too specific with the scientific details," JARVIS's way of saying he would dumb it down for them, "the core of the reactor works as a conductor for the energy flow throughout the device. It powers the electromagnet behind it as well as the Iron Man armor while it is in use. Because of the concentration of energy the reactor produces, this puts a great amount of stress upon the core. The palladium is, in the simplest terms, being burnt out. It is during this process that it leaks into Sir's bloodstream. Dr. Yensin has managed to delay the poisoning by helping Sir create additional cores that he is able to switch out as needed but it is a temporary solution at best. The palladium element must be substituted, but no currently existing metals or metal combinations exist that are both conductive and durable enough to withstand the treatment of the arc reactor."

Natasha frowned.

"Not even vibranium? Or adamatium?"

"While both pass the durability tests with flying colors, I am afraid neither are very good conductors."

"Not good enough," Winter ground out. "Something…There has to be something."

"An opinion Sir shares quite adamantly."

Natasha sidled over and ran a hand down Winter's arm from his shoulder to elbow, squeezing a bit as a show of solidarity.

"I'll go talk to Fury about. Tony may not be an agent anymore, but he's still a valuable asset. Besides, Fury has a soft spot for him. If there's anything SHIELD can do to help, I'll make sure it happens." She leaned just a tiny bit closer. "Will you be alright?"

Winter met her gaze with pleading eyes.

"I can't lose him."

"You won't. I swear to you, zima, you won't."

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Pepper looked shell-shocked when she came back up out of the workshop. She crossed to the couch in a daze and sank onto it, staring blankly at the wall. Winter, who had stood when she entered, hovered awkwardly nearby.

"He gave me the company." It came out hushed, as though she couldn't really believe it, and Winter could hardly blame her. "He made me CEO."

Winter cursed and turned away, unable to face her. It wasn't hard to figure out what this meant. There was no one Tony would trust more with his company than Pepper. Giving it to her meant that it would be in good hands but it also meant that Tony didn't think he was going to find a solution to the palladium poisoning in time. It was all but a neon sign saying that the genius had given up.

"Did you take it?" Pepper made a noise of confusion and Winter turned back toward her, meeting her gaze. "Did you take the company?"

"Well, yeah," she said, a hint of defensiveness creeping into her still-shocked tone. "You know what he's like when he has his mind on something. He'd already made the decision. Saying no wasn't an option."

"Good." Winter turned away and headed toward the upstairs. There were a few things he needed to grab before leaving. "You'll take good care of it."

If Tony had decided to square his affairs away, then Winter wouldn't stand in his way. He hadn't been programmed to let emotions rule him. He'd been programmed to evaluate the mission and adapt as needed. The mission to keep Tony safe was no longer a possibility, so Winter would make sure that the things Tony cared about were taken care of in his place. It was the least he could do. Even if it weren't for the mission he'd somehow gotten or the affection he now held for the man, he owed Tony for the murder of his parents and would spend the rest of his life paying that debt.

"JARVIS," he addressed the AI as he entered the bedroom and headed immediately for his stash of weapons, "can you compile a list of the individuals most likely to cause a problem for Stark Industries and the retention of both you and the Iron Man suits once Tony is…no longer here?"

There was a brief pause as JARVIS processed the request, the equivalent of a person pausing to think it over. Winter had little doubt that the AI would be able to figure out his motivation. Unlike with Tony, though, he had no obligation to obey Winter. His cooperation would depend entirely on how worthy he deemed the Soldier's new mission.

"I shall begin compiling a list at one. However, I do feel obligated to request that you not make any hasty decisions or take rash action. Sir has dictated in his Will that myself and the Iron Man suits be left in your care and incarceration for murder would provide a foothold for those who might wish to remove us from your ownership."

Winter froze.

"He left you to me?"

"It is my understanding that there is no one Sir would rather trust my continued existence to."

Winter looked down at the rifle clasped in one hand. It wasn't the same one he'd used to take out Howard and Maria's car all those years ago, but it certainly was the same model.

"When did he make that decision?"

"Three weeks ago." Ah, before he'd heard the news then. "However, Sir is never out of contact with me. If his wishes on the matter had changed, it could take mere moments for him to inform me of such."

Winter wasn't so sure. He hefted the strap of the rifle over his shoulder and began packing boxes of bullets into a bag along with an assortment of other weaponry.

"I guess it's good I have experience making this sort of thing look like an accident."

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Winter knew a thing or two about getting around without raising any alarms. It was easier for him to disappear than a shadow in full sunlight. It was everything he'd been trained for and he embraced it with a relish he'd never felt while working for HYDRA. In a way, it felt good to have such a clearly defined mission once again. He'd gone on plenty of missions with SHIELD but there'd always been an undercurrent that Tony's safety was more important. This was so simple in comparison.

JARVIS forwarded the list to the phone Tony had insisted he carry but that Winter hardly ever used. The list was prioritized based on threat and accessibility, which was more than the Soldier could have asked for. It never ceased to amaze him just how efficient the AI could be. It wasn't like dealing with a person, as he'd heard some other people say. JARVIS was more than that. Winter firmly believed that no person could ever live up to Tony's creation. Several of the individuals on the list lived in Washington, D.C. but their security and visibility were much higher. On JARVIS's recommendation, Winter would start with a woman named Sunset Bain.

She was the CEO of a company called Baintronics, which operated along the same lines as Stark Industries but on a much smaller scale. JARVIS had made a note that her income didn't quite match up with the sales numbers of the company. Winter didn't really care about that. What he did care about was the fact that Bain and Tony had a history. They'd met in college, Bain buddying up to the young genius with her own knowledge of electronics. With his training from SHIELD and Peggy, Tony should have been more cautious but it was also the first time he'd interacted with someone his own age who could actually keep up with his science talk. They'd barely known each other for a few months before Bain had stolen a number of SI secrets and made a run for it.

She and Justin Hammer of Hammer Industries posed the largest industrial threat to Stark Industries. Without Tony to lay absolute claim, they would be the most likely to attempt to steal the Iron Man armor and other technology from the company. They would likely lose to governmental pulls, but Bain had proved herself wily and dangerous before. It wouldn't do to leave any threat un-neutralized.

Winter bought a bus ticket to get where he wanted to go, paying cash to ensure the transaction couldn't be traced. It was uncomfortable being so close to strangers in such an enclosed space, particularly the man in the row in front of him who smelled like he'd taken a shower in booze and piss, but the pros outweighed the cons. He disembarked at a stop half a state away from Bain's location and hiked the rest of the way. It took him the better part of three days, and that long only because he was able to cover a lot more ground than a normal human being. He was less than a couple miles from Bain's place when he heard a familiar whine from overhead and the Iron Man armor landed in front of him.

It wasn't the usual, smooth landing that Tony had executed time and time again. The suit stumbled a few steps before catching itself on a thick pine tree to remain upright. The faceplate retracted first, revealing a sallow-faced Tony with dark bags under his eyes, and the rest of the suit followed. The genius wore the undersuit he always donned under the armor but it was sweat soaked and the stink of booze rolled off of him about as heavy as it had off of the stranger on the bus. A nasty-looking bruise was spread across one cheekbone and the sight of it alone was enough to make Winter jump forward with arms outstretched to steady the man.

"Tony! What happened?"

A multitude of possible scenarios flew through Winter's mind, different ways that Tony could have ended up hurt like this. Was it the palladium poisoning? Had SHIELD deemed Tony a threat and decided to take him out? Had yet another enemy crawled out of the woodwork to attempt to do him harm? The genius just stared at him with huge, sad eyes. It was obvious that the alcohol was still in his system, just enough to put him off his game.

"You didn't come to my birthday party."

It sounded more like a child had said it than a grown man, and that was startling. For all that Winter saw himself as Tony's protector, he'd never thought of Tony as being particularly young. Only in the memory of when Tony was just sixteen had the thought even crossed the Soldier's mind and then it was only as an observation. It was clear that he was even more rattled than he looked.

"I-" Winter wasn't quite sure how to respond. "I didn't know about it."

Tony dragged a distracted hand through greasy, disheveled hair and nodded absently.

"I know. I didn't, at first, but JARVIS reminded me." He paused for a moment. "I got really drunk."

Winter inclined his head in acknowledgment. This was not at all how he'd envisioned his day going.

"I can tell. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Tony shrugged, his eyes gliding off to the side in a sure sign of guilt.

"Rhodey came by. We got in a bit of a fight."

Winter's eyebrows shot upward in disbelief and he would have reached for a weapon just on principle if he hadn't been ensuring that Tony stayed upright.

"He hit you?"

Tony swayed suddenly toward him, tucking his face into the juncture of Winter's shoulder and neck. After a moment of hesitation, the Soldier wrapped his arms around the other man. He'd never expected to get such an opportunity again. He'd take what he could get.

"I deserved it," Tony muttered. "I've been an ass lately."

Winter felt rage well up inside of him.

"No. No one is ever allowed to hit you. There is nothing you could do to deserve that."

He'd gotten more than one memory back of his handlers beating him for making a mistake on a mission or even just because they felt like it. HYDRA wasn't the type of organization to coddle its assets and his advanced healing meant the injuries never stood in the way. At the time, he hadn't been affected by the treatment. He'd just accepted it as the way things were. Now, though, he'd have liked to put a bullet in each of their heads. He wouldn't mind doing the same thing to Rhodes.

"I did. I goaded him into it." Tony sounded so defeated. It made his chest ache with sympathy. "I needed him to get in a fight with me so he could make off with one of the suits and it wouldn't be suspicious. The army has been making a fuss ever since I lost SHIELD's backing and it was only a matter of time before things escalated. The suit is calibrated specifically to Rhodey. He's the only one who can pilot it. This way the army gets enough to stay off my back and I know Rhodey will be kept safe."

From a strategic standpoint, Winter understood what he was saying, but still.

"No one is allowed to hit you."

Tony chuckled weakly.

"Nice to see that you're still as protective as ever, even if you did run away."

Winter could have spotted the abandonment issues in Tony's tone even if he'd been a mile away, blindfolded.

"I didn't-" On second thought, it probably was for the best that Tony didn't know what he was actually doing. "There were some things I needed to take care of."

Tony pulled back just a bit, giving him a skeptical look before it morphed into one of resignation.

"Look, I know you found out about the whole palladium thing. I don't blame you if between that and…everything else it just got to be a bit too much."

Winter shook his head adamantly.

"Never. I just thought you might like it better if I weren't there. All things considered."

He didn't particularly want to remind Tony of the last actual conversation they'd had, but it seemed unavoidable. He'd prefer anything to Tony thinking that he'd abandoned him. Tony didn't need anyone else in his life betraying him. He needed to know without a shadow of a doubt that Winter would always be in his corner, no matter what.

"Yeah, I, uh, I didn't exactly handle that one well. I just-I wasn't expecting it."

A scowl made its way onto Winter's face.

"I wasn't either, but I knew I had to tell you. I probably could have found a better way to do it, though."

Tony hummed back, his expression a strange mixture of pain and amusement.

"I think we both could have had a bit better timing."

Winter thought back on what Tony had said before his untimely confession, the words that had triggered his guilt so completely. Anxiety pooled in his stomach, but he'd never been much of a coward.

"I love you, too, you know. I think I have for a very long time, I just didn't know what it was."

If anything, Tony looked even more depressed which hadn't at all been Winter's intention.

"Don't-Don't say that unless you mean it…" His eyes were pleading. "And I kinda hope you don't."

Winter flinched, taking a step back. Of course. He should have known. Obviously, Tony wouldn't feel the same way after everything that had happened recently. Lord, he was such an idiot. Tony was reaching for him, though, concern coloring the genius's expression.

"Sorry, sorry. My mouth is spewing a lot of shit right now. I'm not really thinking straight. I didn't mean it like that." He took a few deep, shuddering breaths before starting again. "I'm just the selfish bastard who kept you all to myself until you got attached and fell in love and now I'm gonna go and fucking die on you." He swayed for a moment before closing the gap between them and throwing his arms around Winter's neck. "And I'd do it all over again."

Winter wrapped the genius up in his arms again, holding him tight.

"We'll fix it. We'll find a way. We will."
He felt Tony's deflation more than he saw it.

"I've tried everything I could think of, everything Yinsen could think of. We've got nothing."

"What about that specialist? JARVIS said you'd just hired someone."

Tony shifted a bit in his arms but didn't turn away.

"Yeah, um, that's, uh, it's complicated."

Winter was pretty sure someone who'd never met Tony in their life would still be able to pick up on his signs of guilt. Because things weren't messed up enough already.

"Complicated how?"

"Just don't freak out, okay?"

Well, if there was ever a sign that shit was about to hit the fan…

"That's not comforting."

"Yeah, okay, that's fair enough. How about, 'Don't freak out till I've explained everything'?"

"Tony."

"It's Ivan. Vanko. Ivan Vanko. He's who I hired."

Winter ripped himself away from Tony, if only so that he could give him a disbelieving stare.

"The man who tried to kill you?!"

He at least had the decency to look chagrined.

"To be fair, that describes quite a large number of people."

"Is that supposed to make it better?"

"I think the point we should be focusing on is that he's not trying to kill me now. We kinda bonded."

"You bonded."

"Yeah. I've kinda got a talent for that sort of thing. You were gonna kill me once, too."

He flinched as soon as he said it, which lessened the blow somewhat.

"I was on a mission. He sought you out personally."

"I feel that it should be mentioned that his issue was technically with Howard. I just became a…surrogate." Winter just stared at him. "We've worked through our issues, okay?"

"You've…You can't be serious."

"I think it helped a bit that I broke him out of jail first. I don't think he was expecting that. Also, I promised to get him his bird back. Good thing I've still got those contacts in Russia, huh?"

Winter struggled to wrap his mind around this information. He couldn't even think of something to say in response. His jaw worked up and down with no words making it out. Tony apparently took that as his cue to keep talking.

"I really don't think he's a bad guy, Winter. He's just been through Hell and needs somebody to blame. Sure, he might turn around and betray me, but he deserves a chance. Just like you did. Just like Natasha and Clint did. Besides, if he does betray me, I'm dying anyway."

Winter let a pitiful whine escape him.

"Stop, please. Just stop saying that."

"What?" Suddenly, Tony's tone had turned bitter and angry. "That I'm dying? I am, Winter! And you need to understand that! I know you say we're gonna find some mysterious cure but the fact of the matter is that I've tried everything! I haven't given up and maybe, maybe, we'll figure something out in the last few weeks I have to live but you need to prepare yourself for if that doesn't happen. You can't just lie to yourself!"

The Soldier thought it was pretty rich that Tony should be the one saying he couldn't lie to himself but he knew better than to say it aloud. That wouldn't end well for anyone. Instead he forced himself to push back down the renewed panic in his chest.
"I do understand that. It's why I'm out here in the first place."

Tony's brow furrowed.

"JARVIS mentioned you'd given yourself a new mission." There was no disguising the hurt in his voice. "He didn't mention what. I figured it was just an excuse to get away from me. Can't exactly blame you for that. I've been kinda an ass lately."

"No. It wasn't an excuse to get away from you. I would never want that. I just thought that with…everything that had come to light you would prefer me not to be there."

Guilt flitted across Tony's face.

"I didn't handle the news well. I mean, I knew it wasn't your fault. I didn't blame you. It was just…I've spent my entire life thinking it was an accident." He ran his hands through his hair again. "It wasn't even like they were that great of parents. I don't even remember them that well. I spent most of my time at boarding school. I've got some vague memories of being home for the summer and a few holidays, but that's it. And I was so young. The memories I do have aren't even all that clear. Most of what I know about my parents is from the stories I've been told."

"I'm sorry. I deprived you of that."

"You're wrong," Tony said with complete conviction. "HYDRA deprived me of that, not you. It was just me being an idiot and needing some time. Which was stupid. I should be getting as much time with you as possible while I still can."

Winter felt a piece of himself melt at that statement. It was sappy and cheesy, but clearly sincere. He lay a hand on Tony's chin to draw him in for a kiss.

"Anything you need. Anything. As much time as you want," he promised against the genius's lips.

He felt like crying, like breaking down right there in the woods and clinging to Tony as if that were all it would take to keep him there. He didn't want to lose this, to lose him. Life would be so much less without Tony in it. It would be the first time Winter lost someone that he could remember and he wished with all his being that it could be anyone other than Tony. It was selfish and wrong, but he cared more about Tony than anyone else in the world. It would be impossible to find anyone who could compare, not that he would even want to. A long time passed in silence between them, each wrapped around the other and wallowing in their sorrow at the situation.

"So," Tony finally broke the silence, "tell me about this new mission of yours."

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In the end, Tony didn't let Winter kill Sunset Bain. In fact, he specifically forbid Winter from killing anyone on the list just because they might become a threat. He even managed to maintain his moral high ground all the way up until they got back to the mansion to find that SHIELD, specifically Agent Coulson, was waiting for them. Apparently Tony had slipped his watch when he ran off to find Winter.

"I told you I was authorized to tase you if you left the premises. The WSC has deemed you and your partner a possible threat and you are to be kept under surveillance."

Winter bristled instantly, but Tony just put a hand on his arm to keep him calm.

"What can I say? I had things to do. Places to be, people to see, you know how it is."

Coulson just gave them a bland, disapproving look.

"No, I really don't. But seeing as you brought Sergeant Barnes back with you and saved me the trouble of having to send a team to track him down I'll give you a pass. The crates Director Fury sent over have arrived as well."

Tony looked irritated by the news.

"Oh, goody," he said with a complete lack of enthusiasm. "Let's go see what Santa brought."

Fury had sent over three 4x4 crates full of Howard's old things. Apparently he thought they might be able to help Tony out with his current predicament. Despite his constant grumbling, Winter could tell that Tony appreciated the gesture. It was probably the clearest sign the Director could give that he still valued the genius while not crossing the lines the WSC had set forth. Coulson settled in on the living room couch to watch Super Nanny while the other two headed down to the workshop with the crates. Yinsen was waiting for them there.

"Winter," the man smiled gently, "it is good to see you again."

The Soldier gave him a nod in return.

"It's been a while."

"I was afraid I could not keep up pretenses that everything was alright after I discovered Stark's worsening condition. My apologies."

"None are necessary. While I certainly would have liked to have known, I appreciate the display of loyalty."

It was true. The loyalty Yinsen had displayed to Tony was invaluable. Winter wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. The genius had known betrayal far too many times in his life. He needed as many true friends as he could get to balance that out.

"Yeah, yeah," Tony cut in. "Help me sort through this junk, would you?"

He had one of the crates pried open already and was pulling things out to examine them with a befuddled expression. There was a card taped to the top of one of the other crates and Winter pulled it off, passing it over to Tony.

"Pretty sure this is for you."

"Ooo, I hope it's a candy-gram."

His face morphed into a more and more disbelieving expression as he read the note before he finally let both hands drop into his lap. Winter shared a glance with Yinsen.

"Tony?"

"Dad discovered a new element." He looked utterly shell-shocked. "He told Fury the technology to create it didn't exist yet, said I was the key to making it a reality." His gaze flickered up to grab hold of Winter's. "Fury said it could be a viable substitute for the palladium core."

The Soldier's heart sored.

"And it's here? The instructions for how to make it are here?"

"The clues are." Tony laughed with a mixture of hysteria and bitterness. Winter could relate. He didn't know whether to be relieved are frustrated. "Apparently dad was seriously paranoid, didn't want anyone stealing his ideas."

"That sounds very familiar," Yinsen spoke from off to the side. He had a small grin on his face. "Which makes you perfectly suited to solve this mystery, doesn't it? It looks like you are having another very important week, Mr. Stark."

They turned back to their search, putting on a few old videos they came across as they sorted through the rest of the material. Most of it seemed to be junk, including a broken down model of Howard's original plans for the Stark Expo. Winter took it off to the side and began reassembling it for a lack of anything else to do. He didn't exactly have the knowledge to notice anything that mattered anyway. A short length away Yinsen was going through another box while Tony sat to the side reading one of Howard's notebooks.

"Tony, what are you doing there? What is that?" All three heads snapped up at the sound of Tony's name, focusing on the video that now featured Howard and a young boy who couldn't be more than five years old. "Put it back where you found it! Where's your mother? Maria!"

He shooed at the boy until what appeared to be a video assistant pulled him away. The video cut out after that, shifting through a variety of clips that featured Howard getting more and more drunk. None of them said a word, but Winter could see the way the corners of Tony's mouth were steadily tugging downward. It was obvious that this version of his father clashed with the stories he had always been told. The Soldier was about ready to get up and turn the video off when a new clip started.

"Tony." Howard seemed far steadier than he had in the clip previously. "You're too young to understand this yet, but I made this for you. It represents my life's work." He gestured the Stark Expo model behind him, the very one that Winter was setting back up. "This is the key to the future. I am limited by the technology of my time, but someday you'll figure this out and when you do you'll change the world. What is and always will be my greatest creation is you."

Winter winced. No matter how Howard had meant it, he knew how those words would affect Tony, and it wasn't in a positive manner. Coupled with the way Howard had acted earlier in the video, the genius was sure to only notice the objectification of his father's statement. It was clear that Yinsen knew how it would come across, too.

"You know," Tony sounded melancholy, "I don't remember my father ever telling me he loved me. I don't even remember him saying he liked me."

Winter moved in close, kneeling down next to Tony's chair and taking hold of one of his hands.

"I'm sure he cared about you, Tony. You were his son. He clearly believed in you enough to think that you would be able continue his work. Even I can tell how highly he valued that. He wouldn't have trusted his work to just anyone."

"Oh, yeah," Tony spat. "He trusted me as an asset, as a thing that could be made useful to him."

Winter winced again, but held his ground. He knew Tony had chosen to use that word on purpose. It wouldn't do to lend the term any more power than it already had.

"Who gives a fuck?" Tony's surprised gaze shot up to meet his. "If that's what he thought then he's not worth a moment of your time. So what if your goals align with his? You're not doing this for him. You're doing it for you. No one's going to remember that he figured this out. They're going to remember that you made it a reality. He doesn't own you any more than HYDRA owns me. End of story."

Guilt inched its way into Tony's expression.

"I think…I think I may have been better off. With how things ended up."

Winter pulled him down to press a kiss to his forehead.

"Let's not concentrate on that right now. Let's just focus on fixing that heart of yours."

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Winter wasn't quite sure how Tony had even made the connection. He'd been out of the room restocking on coffee for the genius and had returned to find him in the middle of a scan JARVIS must have taken of the Stark Expo model. The blue light tinted his skin and made Tony look absolutely ethereal, the effect augmented even further by the excitement in his eyes.

"JARVIS, lose the landscaping and the shrubbery, the trees. Get rid of the footpaths."

The AI did as asked without comment, the glow lessening as item after item was swept to the side.

"Entrances and exits."

They vanished. There was little left of the expo model anymore, but the center remained all but untouched.

"Stretch the neutrons and electrons, bud."

Winter's brow furrowed, utterly confused, but JARVIS at least seemed to know what his creator was talking about. The continents of the giant globe that had been the center of Howard's model disappeared and were replaced by an intricate grid with what looked like tiny balls at all the connections. Winter couldn't make heads or tails of it, but both Yinsen and Tony looked blown away.

"Incredible," the doctor murmured, barely audible.

"Dead for nearly thirty years and he'd still takin' me to school…"

Hope bloomed in Winter's chest but he refused to give in to it until he had confirmation.

"What does it mean, exactly?"

JARVIS chimed in before either of the others could explain.

"Analysis complete, Sir." He gave a short pause, leaving them in suspense. "May I say it brings me great pleasure to confirm the new element meets all the requirements to replace the palladium core."

Winter swallowed Tony's laugh with a kiss as he spun the other around in his arms.

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Winter took care of most of the demolition and heavy lifting for the prismatic accelerator. With all the adrenalin pumping through his veins, he was pretty sure he would have been able to do all of it even without his enhanced strength. Happiness wasn't a feeling the Soldier generally associated with himself, but he was certainly feeling it as they went through the building process. Tony was practically glowing as he flittered around the room, abuzz with energy. Even Yinsen couldn't seem to keep the perpetual smile off of his face. Coulson showed up again about three-fourths of the way through the remodel.

"I heard you made a breakthrough."

Tony grinned at him.

"I make a lot of breakthroughs. They're kind of what I'm known for."

"I'm glad to hear it," the agent said blandly. "We need you, Mr. Stark, more than you know."

Tony's eyebrow arched, but he said nothing on the subject. He had enough experience to know it would do him no good.

"That almost sounds like a goodbye, Coulson."

"It is. For now. The Director wants me in New Mexico."

"With Clint?"

"We've had him monitoring a scientist in the area who the Director was considering bringing in for a particular project." Winter got the distinct impression that they weren't supposed to know that part. "It seems the situation has escalated."

Tony tilted his head a bit to one side in order to study the agent and then gave a half-shrug.

"Land of Enchantment."

"So I hear."

Winter and the two scientists returned to their work as soon as Coulson was gone. They leveled out the last of the pipe connections and Tony slid the triangular prism of crystal into place.

"So, uh, yeah. Just as a warning, things are about to get a little dangerous."

"When aren't things, around you?"

The genius grinned.

"Fair enough point. Alright, everybody out of the way of the awesome laser! JARVIS, power it up!"

There was a faint mechanical whir before energy started flowing through the accelerator. It looked as though light were being concentrated through the prism and directed outward in an intense beam, cracking through the plaster of the workshop's walls. Tony grabbed hold of the wheel they had installed and strained to turn it and direct the beam toward the new core. After a moment of struggle, Winter joined him.

One metal hand and one flesh wrapped around the wheel, Tony's body framed by the Soldier's. Together, they managed to steer the laser across the wall, a blackened line left in its wake. The beam cut through shelving units and power lines, sparks flying and flames jumping. They strained to push it the last little bit until the beam lined up perfectly with the small triangle of metal meant to synthesize with it. They held the position as long as possible with the entire mansion shaking around them before the accelerator finally gave out. Tony scrambled through the mess, desperate to find out if they'd had enough time.

"Congratulations," JARVIS's voice rang out from above, "you've created a new element."

There was more hysterical laughter and hugging, followed by Tony ever-so-carefully placing the new core into a modified reactor and leaving it for JARVIS to scan. It would take a few hours to complete the tests and make sure it would be safe, but all signs were pointing toward a happy ending. Yinsen took off not long after that, making excuses that Winter couldn't even be bothered to listen to. He was much too preoccupied with the thought that Tony was going to live, was going to be okay and that he didn't hate the Soldier.

As soon as the door to the house was closed, the genius rounded on him, pushing him into a wall and pressing their mouths together. Winter responded in kind, wrapping his hands around the back of Tony's thighs and hauling him upward until the brunette was above him. He could feel the other's erection pressed hotly against his abdomen and could only respond by rolling his hips to press his own against that perfect ass. Tony moaned obscenely.

"Bedroom. Now," Tony said between pants, voice rough. "I need you. I know we haven't-I need you so much. I need you in me. Give me all of you, Winter."

Well, Winter had always been good at following orders.

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The Soldier drifted back to consciousness slowly, lulled out by hushed voices. One he immediately recognized as Tony's, but the other was a complete mystery to him. Cracking one eye open, he caught the glow of a tablet reflecting itself off Tony's face as he sat up against the headboard. The new reactor sat in his chest, the glow a bit whiter than the previous reactor had been. It looked good. Tony looked better, all the more so because of how his hair was still mussed from sleep and sex. Winter could see the hickeys he'd left on the genius's neck and across his torso already turning into rather spectacular bruises. He grinned with self-satisfaction.

"Wh'time is it?"

Tony's eyes darted to him and immediately softened.

"3:37. Seems I really wore you out."

Winter hummed in agreement and rolled over to press a kiss to Tony's side, just by his lowest rib. The genius squirmed a bit, but didn't protest.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty, why don't you come up here and say hello?"

The Soldier's muscles weren't really feeling like cooperating, but he pushed himself up anyway, worming his way under one of Tony's arms and twisting before flopping back down with his head against the other's chest. He could feel the arc reactor pressed against the flesh of his own shoulder and fought back the urge to smile dopily. Instead, he focused on the tablet which was showing what looked like a tattooed, Russian serial killer. Well, there went his good mood.

"Vanko."

The Russian smiled nastily.

"Zo, I hear you killed Howard Stark," he said in a heavy accent.

Winter scowled and he could feel Tony tense up behind him.

"It was a mission. And if you ever so much as attempt to harm Tony again, you will be my next one."

Ivan just laughed, rolling the toothpick he'd been chewing on around with his tongue.

"Yes. He said you vere protective."

"Ivan's been acting as a double agent for Hammer. He apparently wants to crash the Expo with an army of Iron Man suit of his own. He at least has the brains enough to realize he wouldn't be able to do it on his own."

Ivan laughed again. It was grating and Winter had to fight back the urge to break the tablet just to make him stop.

"I built him drones. Zought he might actually cry. He is not pleased, of course, but zere is not much he can do."

"Good," Tony nodded. "The unveiling is at eight, right?"

Vanko shrugged.

"If he stops messing wiz my code. I've had to reprogram ze drones zree times already. I have never met a more incompetent fool."

Tony looked far too pleased by that statement.

"I told you." Tony chuckled. "Anyway, we'll see you after Hammer's press conference tomorrow. I'm looking forward to seeing the look on his face!"

He and Vanko exchanged a few more words before each hanging up. Tony set the tablet to the side before curling up around Winter again, reversing their positions as they shifted down the bed to lay flat.

"I don't trust him."

"Of course you don't, babe. I don't expect you to."

"But you do."

Tony frowned, absentmindedly twirling some of Winter's long hair around one of his fingers.

"I want to, definitely, but I'm not taking any unnecessary chances. Natasha will be watching him. If anything happens, he won't get away with it."

Winter just pulled Tony closer against his side.

"For his sake, nothing had better happen."

Tony grinned and pressed a kiss to the Soldier's lips.

"You always say the sweetest things."

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"So explain to me exactly how Justin Hammer managed to get the authorization to host a press conference on site at the Stark Expo?"

"Pepper, darling! Light of my life!"

Winter slid his eyes over to glance sideways at Tony, his enhanced hearing the only way he was able to pick up the woman's voice on the other end of the phone. He and Tony had just passed through the front gates and into the expo, the genius disguised in a hat, sunglasses, and fake beard. It was possibly the worst disguise Winter had ever seen. At least he was carrying the Iron Man suit in briefcase format.

"Don't you give me that, Tony! What the Hell is going on?"

"I gave it the go ahead. C'mon, Pep! The expo is supposed to be all about sharing knowledge and information for the good of the world!"

"Hammer Advanced Weapons Solutions is a weapons company, Tony! I don't think they're very concerned with the good of the world."

"Ouch, Pep. Double standards, much? Stark Industries used to be a weapons company, too, you know."

"Yeah, but I haven't heard anything about Hammer finding the love of his life and wanting to make the world a better place for them."

Winter blushed, but Tony just winked at him.

"Well, what can I say? Maybe I'm just feeling particularly generous."

Pepper's tone softened.

"You've been acting strange lately, Tony. I'm worried about you. You don't have to talk to me about it but talk to someone, okay? Winter's been worried, too. I can tell. We all have been."

The Soldier could just barely make out Tony's soppy smile under his atrocious beard.

"Thanks. I appreciate it. There's nothing to worry about, though. Now that the whole dying thing has been taken care of everything is a-okay, I swear!"

"What? What dying thing? Tony-"

"Oops! Gotta go, Pep! Show's about to start!"

Tony hung up the phone and gave Winter a sheepish look.

"So, yeah…That probably wasn't the best way for me to tell her, huh?"

Winter just gave him a flat look and turned to keep walking toward the main stage where Hammer would be making his announcement. Camera crews from various news stations were mostly finished setting up as the crowd was starting to form and take their seats. Hammer had promised big, big things to come with this announcement so there were plenty of eyes on him. Tony and Winter made their way to a private booth so they wouldn't have to worry about the crowd. Tony pulled his disguise off as soon as they were inside.

"Jesus, that thing itched like Hell!"

"You're the one who chose to wear it. This is your expo. It's not like anyone would try to stop you from coming."

Tony snorted with derision.

"Oh, please. It would cause too much of a commotion. Besides, I wouldn't be caught dead attending one of Hammer's demonstrations."

"I see." Winter waited a beat. "So you aren't planning to interrupt him in the middle and turn the entire thing into a fiasco."

The genius's lips pursed into a pout.

"I'll have you know that it's going to be a fiasco all on its own, thank you very much. I'll just be stepping in to remind viewers what competence really looks like."

"You're terrible."

"No, if I was terrible I would suggest using this private booth for a continuation of last night before the show starts and then neglect to inform you that it wasn't sound proof. As it is, I've totally just told you."

He beamed like he thought Winter was supposed to be proud of him or something.

"You're the worst."

The pout returned.

"So that's a no?"

Winter just pulled the genius into his lap.

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If Winter hadn't already known Hammer was a douche, the opening of his presentation certainly would have set him straight. The CEO did some weird little dance routine all the way up to the podium, grinning at the crowd like he was the king of the world. He probably felt like it, too. Of course, he had no idea that Vanko had programmed the drones to just start falling all over each other during the demonstration.

"Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about! Thanks for comin'." He stood behind the podium and grasped both sides. "Ladies and gentlemen, for far too long this country has had to place its men and women in harm's way. But then the Iron Man arrived and we thought the days of losing lives were behind us."

Tony's phone went off and he grunted in irritation, pulling out of his pocket to check the caller ID. Whoever it was, he flipped it open and held it to his ear immediately.

"Talk to me."

Winter's gaze darted back and forth between him and the man on the stage.

"Sadly that technology was kept out of reach."

"Yeah, no, I assumed that when you called me. What kind of problem?"

"That's not fair. It's not right. It's just too bad."

"What?!" Tony whipped around, wide, panicked eyes meeting Winter's. "We've got to stop that demonstration! Hammer figured out something was going down and put Ivan on lockdown. Natasha only just got to him. Hammer's reprogrammed the suits. There's no telling what they could do!"

Winter cursed and tore out of the booth, leaving Tony to continue his conversation. Tony would be safe with the Iron Man armor, safer than Winter would be able to keep him. The ones who wouldn't be safe were all the people crowded around to watch the presentation. He launched himself at the first fire alarm he came across. There was no way he was going to let something happen to these people so Tony could blame himself for it.

Shrill sirens filled the air instantly, accompanied by flashing lights. Hammer stuttered in his speech. Both he and the crowd started looking around as if to spot the fire, but no one moved toward the exit. Winter left like punching something. He growled in irritation and pulled out the handgun he'd kept tucked in the waistband of his pants. Three shots into the air were all it took to get people moving. Fucking finally.

He began wading his way back through the crowd, heading in the opposite direction and toward where he'd left Tony. After the first group had fled, none of them even realized he was the source of the commotion. On stage, Hammer was still trying to make the best of the situation. Unfortunately, that meant he was bringing the corrupted drones up on stage.

"Not to worry, everyone! Please remain calm. Whatever problem has come up, the Hammer Drones will be more than capable of handling it! No need to panic!"

About as many people paid attention to that as had paid attention to his initial speech. At least there was good news to be found in there. Winter darted around a few more people and ripped open the door to the private booth where he'd left Tony. In hindsight, he really shouldn't have been surprised to find the genius gone. At least the Iron Man armor had gone with him.

An explosion shook the building, throwing Winter to the floor. He cursed bitterly before hauling himself back up and looking out toward the stage. The smoke made it hard to see but he could still make out the remnants of at least three Hammer Drones. Well, wasn't that just dandy? He vaulted over the railing and landed on the floor below in a crouch. Pretty much everyone who'd been in the area was already evacuated. He spotted the Iron Man armor flying above him, wrestling with two drones in the air. One started twitching erratically and Tony was barely able to blast it away before it exploded, too.

Winter wished he'd brought more weapons with him. Security at the expo was tight, though, and they hadn't wanted to cause a ruckus since Tony was trying to keep a low profile. It wasn't a mistake Winter would be making again. His handgun wasn't going to even dent these metal monstrosities. Luckily, he had planned ahead enough to bring along some of the less conspicuous toys that Tony had made him in the past year. The miniature grenade he threw at the first drone he came across blew off enough of the casing for him to reach inside and start ripping out any and all wiring he could reach. Hammer was shouting at him to stop the entire time, the idiot.

He rolled with the momentum as the drone fell, tackling Hammer out of the way as a piece of the stage's cover gave out and crashed down around them. Then he pulled the rival CEO back to his feet and began shoving him across the stage. All of the drones had been activated, most homing in on Iron Man but willing to attack anything that moved around them. As much as Winter would have liked to just leave Hammer to his fate, it wasn't what Tony would want.

"Get the fuck out of here. We'll clean up your mess."

"Those are Hammer Solutions property! I hope you're prepared to spend the rest of your existence swimming in debt! I can guarantee you have never even seen a lawsuit like the one that's gonna be headed your way."

Winter gave him another shove.

"Yeah, somehow, I think you're lawyer's gonna have bigger things to worry about."

Hammer sputtered with indignation, but didn't struggle too much as Winter continued to march him out of the building. Overhead, the Soldier noticed that Rhodey had apparently arrived at the scene and was giving Tony additional support. His suit had been tricked out with a downright gaudy amount of weapons, but Winter supposed that was pretty typical of America's armed forces.

"What? How dare he! I gave him those upgrades and now he's going to use them against me?"

With a growl, Winter wrapped his metal hand over Hammer's mouth and squeezed.

"Silence."

Hammer didn't say another word.

"Better."

Happy was waiting for them outside and took custody of the CEO.

"Justin Hammer, you are under arrest for aiding and abetting a known criminal, attempting to corrupt government equipment, and a whole list of things so classified I'm not allowed to say them outside of a high-security facility."

"You can't do this! I have rights! This is America!"

Happy just grinned, a dangerous look that turned him from a curious puppy into a Rottweiler.

"Actually, just the aiding and abetting of an international criminal of Ivan Vanko's scale is enough for you to qualify for treason. You'll be dealt with outside of the usual justice system, I'm afraid. Winter," he turned his attention to the Soldier, ignoring both Hammer's protests and struggles, "we need to get out of the area. This place could go down at any minute."

Winter just shook his head and turned back toward the presentation hall.

"I will ensure there are no civilians left inside."

Happy looked like he wanted to protest but couldn't quite figure out a way to justify it. Winter took advantage of his hesitation to dash back the way he had come. Stampeding crowds had a way of causing an obscene amount of destruction along their path and it wasn't uncommon for an unlucky few to get trampled in their wake. It would be the Soldier's job to locate those few and get them to safety.

The first couple individuals he found were unconscious but woke up easily enough and didn't protest when he sent them toward the exit. There was even one woman who'd thought it was a good idea to hide in a utility closet and was all but unharmed. He did have to carry someone from the building who had broken their leg, but was able to pass them off to someone else shortly after getting them outside. He'd cleared most of the area when the Iron Man armor all but crashed down beside him.

"Hey, there, Hot Stuff. Need a ride?"

"I still need to check the rest of the area for civilians."

Tony popped the faceplate up so he could press a quick kiss to the Soldier's cheek.

"See? And that's why you're so utterly amazing. No worries. The suit scanned for heat signatures and we're good to go. Unfortunately, Hammer's pieces of shit managed to fuck up some important stuff so this place is gonna go up like the fourth of July at any moment. We need to get our asses out of here, like, yesterday."

Winter didn't protest as Tony wrapped the suit's arms around him, just held on tight.

"Happy has him in custody."

"Who, Hammer? Good. Douchebag deserves it."

Then the repulsors were lifting them into the air and there was no time to talk. Winter took note of the fact that there were a number of dents and scorch marks scattered across the suit's surface but it didn't look like the damage was too intense. Other that a few spots of exposed wires most of it looked cosmetic which was definitely good. The suit curled around him as they crashed through what was left of the glass ceiling. Ever since Afghanistan, Tony had been extremely cautious of making sure Winter was safe any time they flew. Below them, fire roared. Winter could feel the scorching wind rush past them and then fall back behind as Tony set them down on a rooftop at the other end of the expo. He immediately retracted the faceplate and began checking the Soldier over for injuries.

"You're okay? Any damage from the glass?"

"I'm fine. You are an excellent protector."

Tony gave him a look that was half-glare and half-pout.

"Was that sass? When did you start using sass? Where did you even learn that? It's like JARVIS all over again."

Winter just shrugged and gave Tony a grin.

"We have the same bad influence in our lives. Good thing we like him a lot."

He pulled himself up against the suit to press a kiss to the genius's lips. He could feel Tony's expression curve into a smile.

"You always say the sweetest things…"

"Good God, are you two always like this? I mean, Pep's always talking about how disgustingly adorable you act but damn."

Just because Winter recognized that it was Rhodey on the other side of the roof, faceplate up and lounging casually, didn't mean that he was any more inclined to lower his handgun. He kept it pointed squarely at the other man's face.

"Um, Winter?"

He could feel the metal-clad hand grasp his shoulder, cautious but not restraining. Rhodey's eyes darted back and forth between them, apparently realizing that something was going on.

"Should I be worried?"

"You hit Tony."

"Are you kidding me? That's what this is about? I was drunk and being a total ass. I hit him a few times, too!"

Winter shrugged the hand off of his shoulder and marched across the rooftop.

"It won't happen again."

Behind him Tony groaned, dropping his face into his hands.

"You have got to stop threatening everyone who hurts me! Did we not just have this conversation when you were going to kill Bain?"

"Wait, as in Sunset Bain?"

"Not now, Rhodey!"

"You were going to kill Sunset Bain?"

"It was likely she would cause problems for SI after Tony's death. If I could not protect him, I would protect his interests."

"Dude. That's intense." He turned to Tony. "I'd ask if he was a robot you designed for yourself, but that seems insensitive all things considered."

Winter shifted, drawing Rhodey's attention back to him. He would not allow for the conversation to be derailed.

"You will not hurt Tony again."

"No threatening my friends!"

Rhodey just laughed and thrust a gauntleted hand forward.

"You got yourself a deal, bud. But know the same thing applies to you. You ever hurt Tones, I rip you apart."

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"I could skin you alive!"

Winter lounged back against the cushions of the couch as Tony squeaked and cowered away from his raging god mother. Peggy Carter's face looked like a storm cloud of fury.

"Does it make it any better that I didn't tell anyone else either?"

"How would that make it better? Then at least someone would know!"

"Well, I mean, technically Yinsen knew. And JARVIS. And Vanko. And Winter and Natasha figured it out."

"Oh, well then, I guess that makes it all okay."

"Really?"

"No! I can't believe you didn't tell me you were dying, Tony! Whatever happened to 'no secrets'?"

Tony had the decency to at least look guilty.

"There was just so much going on already and I just…I couldn't figure out how to tell you and then it just got harder the longer I waited. I am sorry."

Peggy sighed heavily and ran a hand through her thick, white hair. Eventually, she gave Tony a tired smile.

"No, you're not. And you'd do exactly the same thing if it happened again." She held her arms out for a hug that Tony happily gave. "I appreciate you saying it, though, and I'm glad you're alright."

"I'm gonna be making up for this for years to come, aren't I?" he mumbled into her shoulder.

"Oh, absolutely. Speaking of which, there's this vintage necklace I found the other day. Emerald and diamond. Truly stunning. I'll let the dealer know how to get in touch with you."

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Fury was standing in the lab when they got back to the mansion, examining some of the destruction caused by the building the accelerator. He turned as they entered and tossed a file folder onto one of Tony's desks. It had an 'A' stamped on the front of it.

"Looks like you've been busy since the last time I saw you."

Tony shrugged and flipped open the file, thumbing through its contents.

"What canI say? I thought a renovation would be a nice change of pace. You like it?"

"The WSC has started making noise about declaring both you and your boy over there national, and possibly global, threats."

Well, Winter guessed that meant they were through with the pleasantries. Tony scowled.

"Are you here to bring us in or just give us the warning?"

Fury turned his back on them, hand clasped over his leather coat and looking purposefully relaxed.

"You've caused me a lot of trouble over the years, Stark, and I have very few handlers left who are willing to work with you. Even if it were possible for me to bring you back as an agent of SHIELD, I can't say I'd be too inclined to do so. Without the backing of SHIELD, though, not even your celebrity status could stand in the way of the WSC bringing you down. That puts you in a pretty sticky situation."

Tony's face was hard.

"Why are you here, Fury?"

"Because, despite everything, you're a damn valuable asset and I'm not going to lose you because of some bureaucrats who can't handle a little back talk. SHIELD could use a consultant with your particular skill set and I'd be able to set your boy up with the same status. Official backing without all the hassle. I've already offered the same to Vanko."

The genius didn't look convinced.

"I'm a businessman, Director, so don't give me the run around. That isn't the kind of offer than comes for free."

"It wouldn't be the only thing I'd be asking you to do."

"Of course not." He was hiding it well, but Winter could tell Tony was bracing himself for the worst. "Exactly how much of my soul is this gonna cost me?"

Fury arched an eyebrow at him and seemed to consider it for a moment before ignoring the comment.

"There's a project I've been interested in for a while, an initiative if you will."

"The Avengers."

Fury scowled.

"That's classified information."

"You just gave me a file about it. Pretty sure that means I've got the security clearance."

"And I'm pretty sure that wasn't the first time you saw the information in that file."

Tony just grinned.

"Innocent until proven guilty, dear."

Fury looked like he might actually be regretting his decision already.

"I want you to be part of the team. Iron Man would be a great asset."

"What have Clint and Natasha said? Wait, no, nevermind. I know the answer to that already. I'm in."

He glanced at Winter, who gave a nod. Anything Tony wanted to do was fine by him.

"Excellent. You've been through a lot lately but I expect you in my office the morning after tomorrow. Nine AM sharp. I'd like you to help a scientist by the name of Dr. Selvig with something called the Tesseract. I'll have a briefing packet ready for you when you arrive."

Chapter Text

Winter wasn't sure what to think when SHIELD said they found Steve Rogers. Everyone acted like that was supposed to mean something but he couldn't get anyone to stop long enough to tell him what. Even Tony seemed too wrapped up in the excitement for Winter to even ask. Peggy had just shown up at their door and breathed the name and it had been constant motion ever since. Less than an hour later they were hustling through SHIELD headquarters, Dum Dum and Happy sliding out of nowhere to join them.

"They found him in the ice?"

"Apparently SHIELD's had him for a few months already," Happy informed them. "They were defrosting him at first and then catching him up on everything he's missed. This is the first time they're letting anyone outside of the small initial team meet with him. Fury thinks he's ready to handle it."

Peggy's face did some interesting acrobatic work in the expression department. Her eyes darted toward Winter.

"And have they told him about…"

"Not that I know of, but I wasn't a part of this project. Fury only brought me in once it became apparent that you'd told Tony."

"You know," the man in question cut in, "I'm really not sure if I should be insulted or proud of that."

"Not now," Peggy rebuked, but there wasn't much feeling behind it. She seemed so dazed. "It's really him?"

"Far as I know, ma'am."

Happy led them to an area of the base with highly restricted access. The entire group hesitated outside of the door. Peggy looked like she both wanted to throw the door open and run in the opposite direction. Tony sidled up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist. Her hands fluttered.

"What if he doesn't-What if he's not-?"

"He's Steve, Pegs."

Tony kept his place at her side as they entered the room. Fury was waiting for them on the other side of the door, Hill and her ever-present StarkPad beside him. Across the room, which seemed like an old-fashioned gym with none of the sleek improvements Tony's offered, a blonde man was punching his way through a heavy-weight bag. His back was to them but Winter could tell he was built like a fighter, broad shoulders and defined muscles. Peggy gasped, hands flying to cover her mouth.

"Captain," Fury called across the room, though not unkindly, "there are some people here to see you."

The man paused before turning, but there was irritation on his face when he did. Then his eyes locked on their little group and his jaw dropped. He took a single step forward and Winter tensed because he knew that face. He'd seen it in his dreams, in his nightmares. He'd seen it hovering over him while he was strapped to one of HYDRA's tables. He'd seen it crouching on a train as Winter fell. That face wasn't safe and now it was here. In SHIELD. With the ones Tony cared about. With Tony.

"Peggy? Dum Dum?"

The man sounded almost lost, but Winter could hardly hear it over the alarm bells going off in his head. He broke through his shock to grab Tony's arm, holding him in place, and he was suddenly glad for the decision to keep wearing his mask whenever he was at SHIELD. The movement brought him to the man's attention and the blond narrowed his eyes a bit, as if confused. It made Winter uncomfortable and he tugged on Tony's arm a bit, trying to draw him further back, behind Winter, away from the man. Peggy hadn't seemed to notice the exchange, attention too riveted on the blonde, but Fury was eyeing the whole thing with decided interest.

"Oh, Steve," Peggy all but whispered, "you haven't changed a bit."

The man, Steve, switched his gaze back to her and smiled. Winter's heart was pounding in his chest and the familiar pain of a headache was starting to set in. That smile was tugging at his brain, trying to bring something back to him that he just couldn't quite put together.

"Sorry. Guess I'm a bit late for our dance, huh?"

Peggy was suddenly blinking away tears and that alarmed Winter more than anything else could. Peggy wasn't a crier. Steve was walking toward them then, and it was too much, too damn much. Winter yanked on Tony's arm, rough in a way he'd never been before but terrified for reasons he couldn't identify, and pulled the genius behind himself. A knife appeared in his hand like magic as he stepped forward, putting himself in front of the group.

"Don't come any closer."

The man blinked at him, startled. Tony was at his elbow in an instant.

"Winter? What are you doing?"

There was a cautious note to his voice, but Winter couldn't let that distract him. He never let his gaze waver from the man in front of him.

"He was there when I fell."

"Of course he was there when you fell," Dum Dum cut in. "He was trying to save you, Buck…"

The blond man's eyes widened, suddenly sweeping over Bucky's form again. He stumbled forward a few more steps, reaching out.

"Bucky?"

Winter panicked. His brain was screaming at him that something wasn't right and he could feel Tony's heat behind him. He couldn't let his man get to Tony, he couldn't. So he attacked instead. His knife tore through the man's shirt with ease, only barely nicking his side as the blond threw himself out of the way. He landed in a roll, but Winter followed him closely. They traded blows at lightning speed, though the man kept dancing backward.

He could hear Tony crying out behind him, but couldn't spare the attention. Whoever this man was, he was good. And strong. Winter had never encountered someone who could actually stand against him in a straight fight. His enhanced strength and speed made it impossible. Yet here this man was doing just that. Winter growled as the man pivoted, grabbing the brunette by his mask and attempting to pull him off balance. The mask skittered across the floor as it pulled free.

"Oh, God," the man sounded shocked and almost sick. "It really is you."

Then Tony was suddenly between them, one hand pressed to Winter's chest and the other outstretched toward the familiar stranger. Winter immediately reached out to pull him close. He all but squashed Tony's body into his own as he began backing away.

"Winter! Winter, stop! Steve is not your enemy!"

"Why are you calling him that? Who the Hell is Winter?"

Peggy stepped in front of the advancing Steve, both palms held up to stop him.

"Steve, calm down. We can explain."

The look he gave her could only be described as wounded and betrayed.

"How is he here? What's going on?"

"It's a long story," she soothed. "Maybe we could all sit down somewhere and we'll explain?"

Winter's arm curled tighter around Tony. He glared at the blond.

"Tony must be kept safe."

"Oh, for the love of-I am safe," Tony sounded exasperated. "He's Captain America. Just take a deep breath, babe. Everything's okay."

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That man, Steve, was not Winter's best friend. He didn't care what the others had to say. He had some flashes of early memories, remembered what the streets were like back in the day, knew he'd had three sisters he'd practically raised though he could only remember Rebecca's name. He also remembered the five foot nothin' kid who wasn't afraid to take on a whole group of punks, who hated bullies and never backed down from standing up for what was right. He remembered a little twig who was sick all the time and made up for his height with the size of his heart. This Steve person didn't look like he'd ever been sick a day in his life.

Winter refused to leave Tony's side the entire time they were in the same room as that man, stuck to him like glue. Tony let him, having grown used to Winter's particular brand of protectiveness, but it seemed to make the tension with Steve worse. His gaze kept flickering between them and he kept trying to reach out for Winter and calling him Bucky, which only the Commandos did. It made Winter extremely uncomfortable. He kept shifting further and further away, disregarding the fact that the man looked like a kicked puppy each and every time.

"Okay, okay," Tony said, pulling out a tablet. "Let's try using some picture references. Picture references always make everything better."

When he passed the tablet over to Winter, the screen was dominated by the pictures of two men. One was the blond who sat with them and the other was of the skinny kid from Winter's memory. He immediately pointed at the smaller man.

"I know him."

Tony beamed at him.

"Yeah. That's Stevie. Little spitfire, wasn't he?" Winter nodded, a small smile tugging at his lips. "He worked with this scientist named Erskine and my dad who were trying to develop super soldiers for the military. Stevie was the first test of Erskine's formula for the US. It turned him from that little guy into the Dorito-shaped buffalo you see in front of you today. You knew him at both times."

Winter's smile dropped and he gave the blonde across the table a distrustful look.

"I remember him at HYDRA."

The blond looked kind of like he was trying to pass a kidney stone.

"Yeah," Tony nodded easily. "You got captured by HYDRA at one point while you were deployed. You remember just being in the regular army, right?"

Winter cocked his head to the side before eventually nodding. Those memories were sporadic and fuzzy at best, but they were there.

"Well Steve found out about it and broke into the facility where you were being held, got you and a whole bunch of other guys out of there. It was only after that the Howling Commandos became a thing."

Winter's brow furrowed. He didn't understand. Tony's words made sense, he knew what the other was trying to say, but it just felt strange mingled with the memories he'd been able to recover.

"God, what did they do to him?"

His attention snapped over to the blond.

"Brainwashing, human experimentation, literal decades of torture, mind wiping, firing electro-pulses into his brain, etc. You know the drill, Cap."

Tony, finally having regained his usual flippancy, pushed his chair back far enough to throw his feet up on the table. Steve didn't seem quite sure what to make of that but finally settled for something on the edge of irritation.

"No. No, I really don't."

Winter felt tension crawling its way up his spine. He bared his teeth threateningly but Peggy was already laying a hand on Steve's elbow. Tony didn't seem phased.

"Tony got caught by HYDRA a few years ago. Bucky helped get him out."

Tony snorted.

"You say that like that's how we met." The infuriating brunette sent a wink Steve's way. "My love affair with Winter has been going on since I was sixteen."

The blond looked startled.

"Love affair?"

"Enough," Fury cut in gruffly from where he was lurking off to the side. "Hogan, get your boy out of my facility before he disrupts things any more than he already has."

"Sir."

Happy didn't even bother trying to talk to Tony about it, just grabbed the back of his rolling chair and dragged him toward the door. Tony didn't fight it, grinning and waving goodbye as he was removed from the room. Winter followed wordlessly, not glancing backward on the way out.

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Winter kinda hated Steve. The guy just couldn't learn to leave well enough alone. Even despite the absolute atrocity that was their first encounter, he still seemed dead-set on seeing Winter any chance he got. If Winter and Tony were at SHIELD for one of Tony's consultant jobs, Steve showed up. If there was something SHIELD needed sent to them, Steve'd be the one to deliver it. Hell, the blond menace even got himself invited to Sunday roast at Peggy's. Winter felt like strangling him.

Except that he fit easily into their group. Peggy clearly adored him. That had been obvious since the very beginning. Dum Dum's affection, though, was a bit more startling. The gruff man was friendly enough, but he accepted Steve like a long-lost brother. It was unnerving. There had even been talk about calling the other Howling Commandos in before Fury had shut that line of thinking down. Apparently they'd already reached the limit of how many people could know that Steve was unthawed and running around.

Winter was glad that Tony, at least, hadn't been taken in by Steve's charms. Well, that wasn't completely accurate. Tony was as taken by Steve as any of the others at first, but there was a tension that hung in the air when they were together that didn't exist between the blond man and the others. Steve hadn't made any threats or attempted anything, but there was still the general feeling of disapproval that seemed to pour off of him whenever he looked at Tony. It didn't matter if he was still polite, the difference was obvious.

Tony'd picked up on it right away and it was only because of how well Winter knew the man that he was about to see the hurt that flashed across the genius's face before he covered it up. Tony had been raised on stories about the Howling Commando's and Captain America. This blond man was practically his hero but couldn't look at him without a hint of a glare. It made Bucky curl his hands into fists to keep himself from punching the bastard. No way was this the Stevie that Winter caught glimpses of in his mind.

Of course, that didn't stop the dreams Winter was having. Every time they saw Steve, a new dream would play, sometimes an extension of a memory he'd seen slivers of before and sometimes all new material. They seemed to center around his time with the Commandos and the man, Steve, damn him, was always in them. He was always there, at Winter's side. It was infuriating. All the other ones were from even earlier that that, featuring himself and Stevie, the Stevie he knew.

It infuriated him even further as it became more and more clear that while his Stevie and the Steve that was there with them might physically be the same person, they certainly weren't the same. Even the beefed-up Steve in his dreams didn't feel the same as this stranger who wore his face. His Stevie would have loved Tony. Winter was sure of it.

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"I should have checked on her sooner! I should have put JARVIS in that damn house! Why wouldn't she let me put JARVIS in her house? This never would have happened if he were there!"

Winter cradled the small brunette in his arms, letting him bury his face in Winter's chest and hold on for dear life. His metal hand ran soothing fingers through Tony's hair, but he knew it wouldn't do any good. There was no soothing this.

"This is not your fault. There's nothing you could have done."

In truth, there was nothing that could be said to convince Tony that was the case. Tony would always blame himself. It was his nature. He'd been the one to find Peggy after her stroke, too, though Winter had been right there with him. The ex-assassin was sure that the image of his Aunt on the floor would stay with Tony for the rest of his life.

"We should take her to England," the genius was saying. "That's where her real family is, her brother and his kids. She only stayed over here for me, you know. She totally could have gone back once she retired."

Winter looked over Tony's head at the woman lying in the hospital bed, pale and sleeping. She'd been awake earlier, chatting with them happily but referring to Tony as Howard the entire time. The verdict that she'd only go downhill from here had already been delivered. Winter pulled Tony just a little bit closer.

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They were in London less than a week later, getting Peggy settled into the finest assisted living center the city had to offer. She was in the memory ward with specialized personnel, but Tony still paid to have a nurse sit with her 24/7. He wasn't willing to take any more chances. The woman's brother met them there with one of his own kids manning his wheelchair. Tony didn't stick around for long, despite the open invitation for him to.

Tony had a flat in London that also doubled as a SHIELD safe house. They stayed there while the tower, which was Tony's excuse for being here, was built. It would run on arc reactor energy and would be able to sustain itself for an entire year. Winter didn't understand all of the science, but he understood enough to be impressed. He just wished Tony could be happier. He wished the tower wouldn't forever stand as a reminder to Tony of what had happened to his Aunt.

Winter hated that Tony was throwing everything he had into his work with a single-minded focus he hadn't even shown when building the Iron Man armor. It was a fight to get him to take a break for rest, even when he was practically swaying on his feet. Getting him to eat was even harder. Winter had started slipping nutritional supplements into the man's coffee for a lack of any other alternative. It frayed terribly at what little was left of Winter's nerves.

Clint and Natasha stopped by whenever they were in the area on missions, but it wasn't very often. Happy had transferred to the closest SHIELD branch but even then he was busy more often than not. With Pepper running the company from DC, the only time either of them saw her was over teleconference and Dum Dum had stayed to take care of Peggy's house and things that couldn't come with her. Rhodey hardly ever saw Tony when they were both in America so Winter didn't have high hopes there. It was like they were isolated on their own little island with no one around them.

The only saving grace came in the form of Gabe and Jacques. Both Howling Commandos seemed to know without it being said that Tony needed someone. They both lived in Europe already, Gabe in Germany and Jacques in France. They traded off weeks, each taking a day to visit and pull Tony out of his shell. On those days, Tony actually ate and would inevitably fall asleep on the couch or in an armchair before the men left. Winter was eternally grateful for their help.

"You being here is the only reason Jac and I can get away with coming once a week," Gabe assured him when he voiced his thanks. "Without you," he heaved a heavy sigh, "I don't know where he'd be. You take good care of him."

Three months into the move, Yinsen showed up on their doorstep. His expression leaned toward the bland side of unamused as he gave Tony an assessing look.

"Are you trying to do HYDRA's job for them, Stark?"

The genius had been gobsmacked, but Yinsen wouldn't hear a word of his protests as the doctor took up residence with them as well. Apparently his particular brand of casually ordering Tony about was more effective than Winter's cajoling had been. As long as Tony ate and slept, Winter didn't really care how it happened. When the upper floors of the tower were finally complete, around month five, the three of them moved on over to find Ivan already sitting on the couch in the living room. His toothpick was in his mouth and his bird was perched on his shoulder. Tony didn't even bother resisting.

Support system in place, Tony actually started getting better. He smiled more, laughed on rare occasions. He even reached out to Peggy's brother again, exchanging communications over the phone even though he still hadn't managed to get up the courage to face the man in person again. As far as Winter was concerned, he could take as long as he wanted for that. They'd been in the tower an additional four months before Coulson showed up, Happy in tow.

"There's been a situation."

"I have office hours." Tony glared at him. "This is neither a Tuesday nor a Thursday. SHIELD can't get its hands in my cookie jar."

"Phil," Yinsen greeted with a nod.

Tony looked betrayed.

"Phil? What do you mean 'Phil'? His first name is Agent."

"Agent Barton's been compromised."

Winter stiffened, but didn't say a word. He would let Tony handle this conversation.

"Compromised how?"

He sounded suspicious. Coulson's face didn't change.

"As I said, there's been a situation. Fury is activating the Initiative."

"The Avengers Initiative?" Ivan sounded surprised and then covered it up as soon as Coulson turned to look his way. "Vhich I know nothing about."

"We've prepared a briefing packet. We want you and Winter both in on this."

Tony's eyebrows rose.

"It's that bad? What exactly are we dealing with here? HYDRA?"

Coulson looked pained.

"Nothing good."

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Natasha picked Winter up in the quinjet on her way to Stuttgart. Tony flew alongside in his suit, the maneuverability advantage outweighing Winter's slight anxiety about having him out of his sight. They'd done this enough times that it was just standard procedure. What wasn't standard procedure was the fact that Steve was in the quinjet as well, all suited up in full Captain America regalia. Winter could tell even with the cowl on that the blond was surprised to see him.

"Bucky?"

The brunette scowled at him.

"My name is Winter."

"That's not your name! That's the name HYDRA gave you!"

He looked angry, but Winter was angry, too. What gave this man the right?

"No." His tone brokered no argument. "HYDRA gave me no name. They called me their asset. They called me the Winter Soldier, but I chose the name Winter for myself. I am Winter. The sooner you figure out that the man you knew is gone, the better it will be. I may remember it all eventually, but I remember enough now to tell you I will never be that man again."

"That's not true."

He sounded a bit desperate, but Winter didn't care.

"You're not the same Stevie I knew. Do you expect that you will go back?"

He didn't wait for an answer, just headed for the cockpit and kicked the SHIELD agent in the copilot's seat out so he could settle in next to Natasha, scowling. She spared him a glance, but that was all she'd need anyway.

"Lover's quarrel?"

Winter shot her a glare. He spent enough time with Tony to know she wasn't referring to his actual lover.

"I don't know how to get him to stop."

She just shrugged in response.

"You probably can't."

They spent the rest of the flight in silence. It wasn't a very long one, anyway. Natasha called to the back as they neared the airspace drop point.

"You're going to want to get back there, too."

Winter grumbled but did as he was told, sliding out of the cockpit and into the back. The SHIELD agent from earlier headed in to reclaim his seat. Winter was more focused on staying as far away from Steve as possible. The other man's frustration was clear but he seemed to set it aside for now. That was good. They had a mission to focus on. Bucky reached up to thumb the com device in his ear.

"You see anything interesting?"

"Oh, not much," Tony's voice said in his ear. "Just this crazy-looking alien dude striding out of a building and rounding people up with a glowing staff. You wanna hit first, or shall I?"

The first wave always took the surprise hits. If he was given the choice, Winter sure as Hell wasn't putting Tony in that position.

"The Captain and I will take lead," he said instead, making the blond look up in surprise. "Hang back unless needed."

He heard Tony chuckle and had no doubts that the genius knew the exact reasons behind his decision.

"Will do. I always enjoy getting to ride in and save the day at the last second anyway. Consider your asses covered."

Winter moved to the hatch in the back of the plane, only scowling slightly when Steve moved to join him.

"You okay to jump from here?"

The blonde's concern was obvious, but it just served to irritate the other super soldier more.

"I've survived worse. Beats falling off a train."

He didn't wait for a response and he took off running out of the back of the quinjet and into open air. He knew without having to look that Steve was just seconds behind him, held up only by his reaction to Winter's words. With the wind rushing past them there was no chance to talk and an alien was waiting for them on the ground. Winter was almost looking forward to it. He hit the ground with a roll, using his metal arm to take most of the impact and coming up on his feet. Steve's shield flew past him moments later, striking their adversary in the chest and knocking him backwards.

His skin was black, as in jet black, across half of his face and long white hair was pulled back into a tight braid. Some sort of metal spanned his brow, though it seemed neither a helmet nor any sort of armor Winter could fathom. The plates that covered his chest were as pale as the non-blackened portions of his face and there was an eight-pointed star emblazoned in the center of the chest piece. He sneered at them as he staggered back to his feet, scepter clutched firmly in hand.

"You know," Steve said conversationally, "the last time I was in Germany and saw a man standing above everybody else we ended up disagreeing."

"The soldier. A man out of time."

"I'm not the one who's out of time."

The quinjet swooped in to hover behind them, machine gun deploying.

"Malekith," Natasha's voice rang out over the speakers, "drop the weapon and stand down."

They were standing in a crowd of civilians. If Natasha actually used that gun it would be a blood bath and Winter wasn't the only one who knew it. Malekith sent some sort of energy burst at Steve, though he blocked it with his shield before charging forward. The people around them scattered like ants. Winter paused only briefly to help an elderly man to his feet before turning back and entering the fray.

Malekith was strong, easily keeping up with both Steve and Winter at the same time. It irked the soldier how well he and the blond fought side by side. They're movements were fluid, flowing around one another with ease. Yet still their alien foe danced away from them. He hooked one arm around Winter's neck and threw him an a spiral, sending him sprawling a good ten feet away. Steve he struck in the stomach hard enough to bring the blond to his knees before pressing the end of his scepter to the back of Steve's skull to keep him there.

For one terrifying moment, Winter thought Malekith was going to blast the other man's head off. He didn't even know why the thought scared him so much, just that it did. Then the Ironman suit was sweeping in from above as 'Shoot to Thrill' blared from the quinjet's PA system and Tony blasted Malekith clear across the courtyard. The genius landed with the cracking of bricks underfoot and armed just about every weapon along his arms and shoulders to aim in Malekith's direction.

"Your move, Harvey Dent." Malekith stared at the armor for a long, silent moment before raising his hands in surrender. "Good move."

Steve, still panting, managed to climb to his feet at Tony's side.

"Mr. Stark."

"Captain."

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"I don't like it," Steve grumbled.

He, Winter, and Tony, still in the armor but with the faceplate raised, stood off to one side of the quinjet, eyeing the cuffed but docile Malekith on the other side. The alien's eyes hadn't moved away from Tony since they'd boarded the plane. Winter didn't like it.

"What? Two Face over there giving up so easily?"

"I don't remember it ever being that easy. This guy packs a wallop."

Winter doesn't miss the way Tony's eyes dart toward him in worry.

"Still," he directed at the Captain, "you're pretty spry, for an older fellow. Not as flexible as Winter, of course, but who could be? What's your thing? Pilates?"

"What?"

"It's like calisthenics. You might have missed a couple things, you know, doing time as a Capsicle."

Steve's face pinched.

"Fury didn't tell me he was calling you in."

"Yeah," Tony scowled, "there's a lot of things Fury doesn't tell you."

The quinjet shook violently out of nowhere, making all three of them stumble.

"Where is this coming from?" Winter heard Natasha growl from the cockpit.

Malekith has finally moved his gaze from Tony to stare intently out the window.

"What's the matter? Scared of a little lightning?"

Malekith turned only slightly in acknowledgement of Steve's question.

"It is a portent, as are all things."

Whatever Tony opened his mouth to respond with was cut off as something slammed into the side of the jet, throwing the entire thing off course as Natasha wrestled with the controls. Then the door of the side was suddenly being ripped off of its hinges by a hulking mass of blond hair and red fabric. The new-comer grabbed Malekith by the front of his shirt and was gone before any of them could even react.

"Now there's that guy," Tony glowered as his faceplate slid back into place.

"Asgardian?" Natasha queried from the cockpit.

"Think the guy's a friendly?"

Tony's expressionless mask swiveled to look at Steve.

"Doesn't matter. If he frees Malekith or kills him, the Tesseract's lost."

He punched the button to open the ramp in the back of the jet.

"Stark, we need a plan of attack!"

Winter knew what his response would be before Tony even gave it.

"I have a plan. Attack."

His metal arm snaked around the armor's torso to grab hold of his flesh hand and they were off. The wind whipped past them, icy cold as it clawed at the soldier's skin. The blond man in the cape had set down on a mountain range and appeared to be hoisting Malekith in the air, dangerously close to the edge. Tony shot him with a repulsor blast before he could drop him over the side and the blond went tumbling down the rocky side of the mountain and toward the forest beneath. Winter leapt from the armor when they still got about twenty feet till the ground and landed in a crouch, eyes wary.

"Do not touch me again!" the man in the red cape roared.

"Then don't take my stuff."

"You have no idea what you're dealing with."

"Shakespeare in the park?" Tony teased. "Doth mother know you weareth her drapes?"

Winter really wished Tony would break this nasty habit of his of taunting whoever he was in battle with.

"This is beyond you, metal man. Malekith will face Asgardian justice!"

"He gives up the Cube, he's all yours," Tony allowed easily. "Until then, stay out of my way…tourist."

He turned to walk away but Winter saw the anger in the other man's eyes as he reared back and let his hammer loose. Tony went flying into a crop of trees, bringing them tumbling down on top of him. Winter charged forward, meeting the alien just as the blonde's hammer flew back into his hand. He didn't waste any time, going straight for the heavy blows with his metal arm. If this guy could stand up to a repulsor blast, hand-to-hand fighting wouldn't keep him distracted for long. Hopefully just long enough for Tony to get his feet back under him.

Winter watched the hammer more closely than anything else, dodging it with each swing. He was under absolutely no illusions that getting hit by that would spell anything but bad news. A blow to Winter's ribs by the blonde's fist sent him tumbling backwards, gasping for air. While he was down, red-caped man raised his hammer toward the sky, lightning shooting down to strike it. He leveled the hammer at Winter, glowering and energy crackling all around him.

"You shall learn the consequences of assaulting the mighty Thor, mortal."

As Thor let loose the torrent of energy, a red and gold suit shot between the bolt and its goal. Winter could only watch in horror as Tony was struck full-force and thrown backward but then hand repulsors were flying and Tony was meeting Thor head-on, both of them shooting up into the sky. They were gone barely thirty seconds before they crashed back into the ground again. They wrestled, occasionally throwing the other off for just a moment before the met again. Winter felt useless off to the side, watching it all happen and unable to help. Then Steve's shield flew out of nowhere, knocking each of the combatants back before returning to its owner.

Captain America caught the shield with ease before dropping down from on top of the fallen tree where he'd been perched. He strode toward them with purpose, disapproving scowl firmly in place.

"Hey! That's enough." He focused in on Thor. "Now, I don't know what you plan on doing here-"

"I've come here to put an end to Malekith's schemes!"

"Then prove it! Put the hammer down."

"Um, yeah, no," Tony apparently couldn't help throwing in. "He loves his hammer."

Thor raised the hammer in question threateningly.

"You want me to put the hammer down?"

"Oh, by the Norns! Could you not be a complete imbecile for one minute!"

All four of them swivel around to stare at the newest arrival, a tall, thin man dressed in green and gold over black leather. Malekith was secured in his grip as he glared daggers at Thor.

"Brother! You have retrieved our prisoner!"

Their foe had somehow turned from a roaring lion into an eager puppy in the blink of an eye, all but prancing up to the other man.

"After you so thoughtlessly left a highly-capable enemy abandoned on a ledge, yes."

You would have had to be deaf to miss the venom in his words.

"I was attacked!" Thor attempted to defend. "The man in the metal suit-"

"I saw what happened," he snapped. "You stole a prisoner and then expected that to just be fine? How dense are you? This is exactly why you are ill-suited for the throne." Thor looked like he might start whimpering at any second but his companion just thrust Malekith at him and strode toward Winter and the others. "My apologies for the oaf's behavior. I am Loki and this is Thor. We are princes of Asgard. Malekith and his people have been our enemies for many a generation. We will be of any assistance we can in ridding your world of him."

It seemed that none of them really quite knew how to react to that.

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SHIELD, apparently, knew exactly who Loki and Thor were. After a quick call in to the helicarrier, the Asgardians boarded the quinjet along with the others and they were off. Malekith settled back into his previous seat without a fight, seeming content to return to just staring at Tony. The genius rubbed the bridge of his nose carefully, mindful, no doubt, of the armor's strength.

"Are you alright?"

The question, surprisingly enough, came from Loki as the god stepped easily into the path of Malekith's gaze. Winter couldn't help but feel relieved.

"Just a headache," Tony brushed the concern off with a smile, hand instantly dropping back to his side. "Nothing to worry about, Reindeer Games."

Winter didn't believe him for a second and while he doubted Loki did either the god let it go. He did not, however, leave Tony's side. As long as his body blocked Tony from Malekith's view, Winter was happy to let him stay there.

"Your armor is quite impressive, by Midgardian standards. Did you forge it yourself?"

One of Tony's eyebrows rose, indicating he'd picked up on something about the conversation that Winter had missed.

"Designed it, yeah. JARVIS did the fabricating, though."

"Impressive…" Loki gestured toward the suit's gauntlets. "May I?"

Tony held one hand out, palm up. He grinned salaciously at Loki's enamored fascination.

"See something you like?"

Thor grumbled from across the quinjet.

"My brother has always found the various forms of sorcery of interest."

It was only because of their angle that Winter and Tony were able to see the irritation on Loki's face.

"And Thor has no talent for the art, much less the patience to earn that talent. Tell me, how do you contain the siedr in these gauntlets of yours? I see no runes or inscriptions to keep them from spilling over."

"Uh, yeah, no. Not magic. Science."

Loki seemed unbothered by the correction.

"Where we hail from, it is one in the same. How do you trigger them to fire?"

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"In case it's unclear," Fury said as he hovered near the control panel just outside of Malekith's glass and steel cell, "you try to escape, you so much as scratch that glass," he pressed a button and a hatch beneath the cell opened up revealing nothing but howling wind, "thirty thousand feet, straight down in a steel trap. You get how this works?"

The entire Avengers team, minus Tony and Clint were gathered in the main room of the helicarrier, watching the screens that displayed Fury's interrogation. It made Winter antsy to have Tony out of his sight, but the suit needed to be removed and it would be better for Winter to be here if only to gather information the genius might need later on.

"It is an impressive cage," Malekith purred, "but not, I think, built for one such as myself."

"Built for something a lot stronger than you."

Dr. Banner shifted uncomfortably in his seat, but said nothing. Winter honestly wasn't sure how he felt about having the man on the same vessel as Tony.

"Oh, I've heard. The mindless beast making play that he is still a man. My people have warriors such as that, too, but they wear their fate like a badge of honor. It is not something to hide from like a child behind their mother's skirts. How desperate are you, that you call upon those who cannot even trust themselves?"

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war. You steal a force you can't hope to control. You talk about peace and you kill cause it's fun. You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad you did."

Malekith chuckled.

"Ooh. It burns you to have come so close, doesn't it? To have the Tesseract, to have power, unlimited power. And for what? A warm light for all mankind to share? And then to be reminded what real power is. Light will always be replaced by the darkness. It always has a way of coming back, of finding its way home."

Fury just smiled at him.

"Well, you let me know if Real Power wants a magazine or something."

There was a long silence as Fury strode off screen, blanketing the room until Dr. Banner finally spoke.

"He really grows on you, doesn't he?"

"Malekith's gonna drag this out," Steve said, and Winter couldn't help but agree. The weasel had some kind of scheme working. "So, Thor, Loki, what's his play?"

"The problem," Loki began hesitantly, "is that Malekith and his people have not even been seen since the time of Odin All-Father's father. That would be over ten thousand years by your realm's terms. Much of the history from that time has been lost. We are working with only partial information ourselves."

Thor nodded gravely.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract."

"An army? From outer space?"

Winter felt about the same way Steve sounded.

"So he's building another portal." Dr. Banner removed his glasses to clean them on his shirt. "That must be what he needs Erik Selvig for."

"Selvig?" Thor asked, head popping up.

"He's an astrophysicist."

"He's a friend."

"Malekith has him under some kind of spell, along with one of ours." Natasha grimaced. "Selvig has remained the same appearance wise but Agent Barton was…changed after he was taken."

She tapped away at her tablet before handing it over to the Asgardians, Loki taking it before Thor could. Winter glanced at the image but came up short. The man in the photograph was clearly Clint but Natasha was right. His appearance had changed drastically. His bones looked sharper under his skin, more delicate, and his ears had taken on a more pointed quality, though not so severely as Malekith's were. He looked younger, too, by ten years at the very least. Loki did not look pleased.

"Well, at least now we know why Malekith chose to come to Midgard, of all places."

"What do you mean?"

Loki glanced in Winter's direction before handing Natasha her tablet back and answering his question.

"For as long as Asgard's memory goes back, there have been stories of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim taking children. Originally it was told by parents to keep children in line but it eventually was picked up by the children themselves and used to taunt one another." The twist of him mouth told Winter he had likely been on the receiving end of this particular taunt more than once. "The stories say that if a child is unwanted by their parents, by their family, they are taken by the Dark Elves to be released in the caves of Svartalfheim and hunted for sport."

"And a fake child will be left in their place?" Dr. Banner asked. "We have a similar legend here, about the Fae."

Loki smiled ruefully.

"If only it should be so pleasant in our own concoctions. No, if a child manages to survive the hunt, or if a member of the royal family took favor with it, the child would be returned but they would never be able to fully cut ties with their time among the Dark Elves. A piece of them would always hear the calling of that distant world and the darkness that dwells there."

"What do these stories have to do with Hawkeye?" Natasha demanded, not allowing for them to become sidetracked.

"The Dark Elves have been keeping themselves hidden for over ten thousand years. I would imagine they grew bored somewhere along the line."

Winter saw exactly where he was going with this.

"So they started taking children from here."

"You would be the only realm that hadn't yet heard of them and your contact with the other realms consisted of those of us from Asgard popping down on the rare occasion it tickled our fancy to be worshipped as gods and the attack by Jotunheim. There would be no reason for them to fear discovery."

"Statistically speaking," Dr. Banner's face was drawn, "anywhere from four hundred thousand to over eight hundred thousand kids go missing every year in the United States alone. Even in this day and age it would incredibly easy for them to pull something like that off."

Loki turned to look at Natasha again.

"What do you know of this Agent's Barton's childhood?"

Natasha's scowl became even more pronounced, but Winter knew enough to provide the information instead.

"He and his brother ran away to join the circus. He doesn't talk about it much."

Loki nodded, Thor looking grim right alongside him.

"Then it is likely that he was taken at some point or another, though I doubt he has any memory of the experience. Malekith will be using that foothold to make him more like one of them, one of the Dark Elves. He lost many of his people when he fought against King Bor. Their race was thought to be wiped out completely. This could be his attempt at 'filling the ranks,' if you will. The scepter is what grants him the ability to control others' minds but it would also provide him a way into their psyche from which to twist their appearance as well."

"Can it be broken?"

Clint was Winter's friend, and he didn't have many of those. He wanted the archer back.

"There are numerous ways to break one's hold on another's mind, but I will need to examine the scepter more closely to be able to understand which of those methods would be best put into place here. It could be as simple as cognitive recalibration or it might require something more complicated."

"I wanna know why Malekith let us take him," Steve threw in, brow furrowed. "He's not leading an army from here and he won't be able to get messages out to Agent Barton or anyone else."

Dr. Banner examined something on his tablet.

"Iridium, that's what they took in Stuttgart. What did they need the Iridium for?"

"It's a stabilizing agent." Winter immediately turned to watch Tony stride confidently into the room, continuing his previous conversation with Coulson. "I'll fly you there. Keep the love alive." He threw a wink Winter's way before starting to talk to Dr. Banner again. "Means the portal won't collapse on itself, like it did at SHIELD. Also, it means the portal can open as wide, and stay open as long, as Malekith wants." He stepped up to the pedestal from which Fury ran the ship, ignoring Hill's glare. Winter could almost see the glee painted across his face even with his back turned. "Uh, raise the mid-mast, ship to top sails. That man is playing GALAGA! Though we wouldn't notice, but we did." He covered his left eye with one hand and looked around. "How does Fury do this?"

"He turns," Hill said in a clipped voice.

The fact that she was unamused by his antics only seemed to amuse Tony even more.

"Well, that sounds exhausting." A pause. "The rest of the raw materials Hawkass can get his hands on pretty easily. Only major component he still needs is a power source. A high energy density, something to kick start the cube."

Hill scowled.

"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?"

"Last night. The packet, Selvig's notes, the Extraction Theory papers. Am I the only one who did the reading? I already know Winter didn't."

It was true. As long as it was science-related Winter just let Tony handle it. He'd focused on getting to know the information regarding their soon-to-be teammates and enemy.

"Does Malekith need any particular kind of power source?" Steve asked.

It was Dr. Banner who answered him, taking off his glasses to clean them again. Clearly a nervous habit.

"He's got to heat the cube to a hundred and twenty million Kelvin just to break through the Coulomb barrier."

Tony jumped on that like a twenty-two year old on a bouncy house they were actually allowed to enter.

"Unless Selvig figured out how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect."

"Well, if he could do that he could achieve Heavy Ion Fusion at any reactor on the planet."

"Finally," Tony beamed, "someone who speaks English."

"Is that what that was?"

Steve seemed non-plussed and it was just so Stevie, the Stevie that Winter had known, that he had to hide a smile behind one of his hands. He didn't want the other soldier going and getting ideas, after all. Tony ignored all of them in favor of going over and shaking hands with his fellow scientist.

"It's good to meet you, Dr. Banner. Your work on anti-electron collisions is unparalleled." He leaned in just a tad bit closer. "And I'm a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into an enormous, green rage monster."

Dr. Banner looked torn between being taken aback and being highly uncomfortable. It was a look Tony got a lot.

"Thanks," was all he said.

"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube," Fury said as he strode through the doors and into the room. "I was hoping you might join him."

"Let's start with that stick of his," Steve suggested. "It may be magical, but it worked an awful lot like a HYDRA weapon. Right…Winter?"

Winter blinked in surprise before nodding once. Steve grinned.

"I don't know about that, but it is powered by the cube. And I'd like to know how Malekith used it to turn two of the sharpest men I know into his personal flying monkeys."

"Monkeys?" Thor rumbled. "I do not understand."

Steve perked up like a cat hearing the sound of a can opening.

"I do! I understood that reference."

He looked so proud of himself that Winter couldn't even blame Tony for rolling his eyes. He decided to keep it to himself that he was in the same boat as Thor on this one. Tony turned back to his new scientist buddy.

"Shall we play, doctor? I know from personal experience that Winter makes a fantastic nurse."

Dr. Banner didn't seem quite sure what to make of that, but he was saved from having to respond by Loki stepping forward.

"If I may, I'd like to join you. The sooner I get a look at that scepter the sooner I can figure out how to counter-effect its magic."

"Which reminds me," Fury turned to Thor, "what is he doing on my ship? As I remember, he was the one who destroyed a small town in New Mexico as he attempted to kill you."

Winter, right around with the rest of the room, swiveled around to stare at Loki. He was inspecting his fingernails in a decidedly bored fashion.

"In my defense, he entirely deserved it and it wasn't like anyone died."

"My brother was responsible for that attack, yes, but he was experiencing some…emotional difficulties at the time."

"Like finding out my entire life was a lie right after my brother got banished for starting an inter-realm war and then having the throne thrust upon me at a moment's notice because the All-Father fell into the Odin Sleep. You're welcome, by the way, for me stopping that war you started and saving countless lives in the process."

"You attempted to destroy an entire planet!"

"As if that were any worse that your attempted genocide! Or Odin's during the Great War! Or Bor supposedly wiping out the Dark Elves! At least when I did it I didn't endanger a single Asgardian life!"

Loki looked livid, his handsome face contorting into something that screamed of bitterness. Tony was laying a hand on his arm in an instant and Winter wanted nothing more than to snatch him away.

"Hey, now. Let's all stay calm, okay? I designed this ship we're flying in and even I'm not sure how well it'd handle it if Sparky over there gets too excited. I assume, since you're here and not locked up in some space jail that whatever happened with all that got sorted out somehow?"

"My brother must pay for his crimes by assisting the Nine Realms as much as possible. Bringing Malekith to justice is a part of that."

"Okay, cool. Kinda a bounty-hunter-come-community-service thing. I can dig it. I've just got one question, Green Eyes." Loki didn't answer, but inclined his head a bit toward Tony in acknowledgement. "Why? Why did you try to destroy that planet?"

Loki's scowl deepened and it was a long moment before he finally answered.

"The Frost Giants are a primitive species, but they are mighty warriors. Many Asgardians fell when we fought them during the Great War but we have had peace for a long time. Our armies are not what they once were."

"Pah! As if those beasts could stand against us! Asgard would stand victorious in the end! Just as she always has!"

Several eyebrows went up around the room at Thor's words and Loki bristled all over again, though not as intensely as before.

"You are as much a fool as ever, no matter what you claim to have learned. How many of our warriors would be lost in the process, Thor? And what of Odin? He is not so young as he once was. No war can be without carnage, and Laufey was set on there being war, but let that carnage be on their side, not ours."

"You were trying to protect your own." Tony gave Loki an assessing look and then nodded sharply. "Okay."

Loki looked confused, but Winter knew exactly what this meant.

"Okay?"

"Yeah. You were keeping the people you cared about safe. I can't say I agree with your methods, but I get them. Hey, I used to be called the Merchant of Death, so who am I to judge, really? Whatever. Point is, you're cool with me. Long as you don't try and blow up any more planets. How were you planning to do that again?"

Loki still looked pretty bewildered. Winter suspected he answered entirely on autopilot.

"The Bifrost, our usual form of transportation across the realms, is a beam of incredibly concentrated energy. Leaving it open for too long tears apart whatever it is in contact with, sending it into the Void. That is what I turned on Jotunheim, though Thor destroyed it before the process could be completed."

Tony gaped.

"Holy shit. Space Viking Death Star." He turned to Winter, suddenly full of giddy excitement. "Space Viking Death Star!"

Winter ruffled his hair and sent Loki a sympathetic look.

"When all of this is taken care of, I'm sure Tony will be happy to introduce you to Star Wars."

.

..

…

..

.

Winter re-entered the lab with three coffees in hand. He set one at Tony's elbow before delivering the other two cups to Dr. Banner, who at some point along the way had become Bruce, and Loki. The god and the gamma specialist were both focused on the scepter while Tony ran through algorithm after algorithm on one of his holographic screens.

"Thank you," Bruce acknowledged upon receiving his cup before turning partially toward Tony. "The gamma readings are definitely consistent with Selvig's reports on the Tesseract. But it's gonna take weeks to process."

Tony frowned and make a few sweeping motions across his screen.

"If we bypass their mainframe and direct a reroute to the Homer cluster, we can clock this around six hundred terraflops."

Bruce looked impressed.

"And all I brought was a toothbrush."

Tony smiled.

"You know, you should come by STARK Tower sometime. Top ten floors, all R&D. You'd love it, it's candy land for guys like us. You, too, Rock of Ages. If you dig my gauntlets I've got to show you the arc reactor powering the tower."

"Thanks," Bruce sent a shy smile back, "but the last time I was in a major city I kind of broke…Harlem."

"Well, I can promise a stress free environment. No tension. No surprises. Only one supposedly-dead former felon. Wait, no, two, technically, but who cares about all those pesky details?"

He jabbed Bruce in the side in a miniature electrical prod just as Steve walked through the door.

"Ow!"

Tony got right up in the other man's face, looking for signs of green.

"Nothing?"

"Hey! Are you nuts?"

Winter had to side with Steve on this one. His heart was pounding in this chest.

"Jury's out. You really have a lid on it, don't you? What's your secret? Mellow jazz? Bongo drums? Huge bag of weed?"

"Is everything a joke to you?" Steve growled.

Winter took a step closer, bristling. Loki glanced quickly between the two soldiers and moved to stand just behind Tony's shoulder.

"Funny things are."

The genius grabbed a bag of freeze-dried blueberries off the table and popped them into his mouth. Steve looked unamused.

"Threatening the safety of everyone on this ship isn't funny. No offense, doctor."

"No, it's alright," Bruce begged off bashfully. "I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things."

"You're tiptoeing, big man. You need to strut!"

Steve opened his mouth to go at Tony again, but Winter slid into the way.

"You need to back off."

If anything, that only seemed to piss Steve off more.

"He could have been killed," the captain snapped. "You may not care about our friendship, but I'd expect you to at least care about that considering how attached you are to his hip!"

"Captain," Loki cut in to prevent any further arguments, "if I may, no one was ever in any danger. Anthony and I discussed the situation beforehand. All outcomes were accounted for."

Winter knew for a fact they'd done no such thing.

"Oh, my God! You have to stop calling me that! It's Tony. I told you. To. Ny. Come on. It's not that hard."

"And I told you. I shall quit calling you Anthony when you quit using these ridiculous nicknames of yours."

"Wait." Bruce looked confused. "What were you planning to do if the Other Guy showed up?"

Loki blinked.

"Isn't it obvious? Transport you to a pocket dimension where your alter ego could wreak havoc to his heart's content and you changed back."

The entire room stared at him.

"You can do that?"

Tony looked fascinated. Loki gave a sideways head nod that Winter took as the Asgardian prince equivalent of a shrug.

"It is but a simple feat."

"What else can you do? Can you show me? Can I scan you while you do it?"

"Enough." Steve still sounded more aggressive than Winter would have liked, but he let it go. "You need to focus on the problem, Stark."

"You think I'm not?" Tony's entire body seemed to shift moods as he turned back toward Steve. "Why did Fury call us and why now? Why not before? What isn't he telling us? I can't do the equation unless I have all the variables."

That, at least, seemed to change Steve's tone.

"You think Fury's hiding something?"

"He's a spy, Captain. He's the spy. His secrets have secrets. I would know. I used to work for him. He'd send you out on a mission and every single member of the team had a different objective. It's bugging him too, isn't it?"

He pointed at Bruce who hesitated before speaking.

"Uh…I just want to finish my work here and…"

"Doctor?"

There was a beat of silence after Steve's inquiry before Bruce sighed heavily and gave in.

"A warm light for all mankind, Malekith's jab at Fury about the cube."

"I hear it," Steve acknowledged.

"Well, I think that was meant for you," Bruce indicated Tony. "Even if Barton didn't mention it, it's been all over the news."

"The Stark Tower? That thing you ran away to London to build?"

Winter bristled all over again, but Bruce was already continuing.

"It's powered by Stark Reactors, self-sustaining energy source. That building will run itself for what, a year?"

"That's just the prototype. I'm kind of the only name in clean energy right now."

"So why didn't SHIELD bring him in on the Tesseract project? He was already a consultant here in the first place. I mean, what are they doing in the energy business in the first place?"

"You believe they are hiding something…" Loki looked thoughtful. "They would not be the first with power to say one thing and do another."

Tony just held up his phone to look at something.

"Actually, he did. A little while ago. But the project he gave me to work on for it? It had nothing to do with clean energy. As soon as my decryption software is done tearing apart SHIELD's files, we'll know more."

Steve startled.

"I'm sorry, did you say…?"

"JARVIS has been running it since I hit the bridge. In a few hours we'll know every dirty secret SHIELD has ever tried to hide." He extended his bag of snacks in Steve's direction. "Blueberry?"

Steve ignored them.

"Yet you're confused about why they didn't want you around?"

Tony rolled with it, offering the bag to Loki instead, who partook of them easily.

"An intelligence organization that fears intelligence? Historically, not awesome. I know Fury, Captain. Something's going on."

"I think Malekith's trying to wind us up. This is a man who means to start a war, and if we don't stay focused, he'll succeed. We have orders, we should follow them."

"Following isn't really my style."

Steve's smile wasn't in the least bit kind.

"And you're all about style, aren't you?"

Winter was pretty sure he was the only one who caught the way Tony flinched.

"Of the people in this room, which one is; A. wearing a spangly outfit, and B. not of use?"

"Steve," Bruce spoke in what was obviously an attempt to break the tension, "tell me none of this smells a little funky to you?"

Winter can see the way Steve hesitated before steeling his resolve.

"Just find the cube."

Steve left the room and, after a brief glance at Tony to make sure he was in good hands, Winter followed. The captain stopped quickly enough, turning to give Winter a baleful look.

"What do you want? Didn't get to defend your new best friend enough in there?"

Winter had to fight down his scowl.

"This isn't like the SSR." Steve's brow furrowed, but Winter plowed on before he had the chance to speak. "I know you want to believe the best in people, but the world is different now. Just like me. Just like you. Orders…They can't just be blindly obeyed anymore."

Steve's face went through an odd set of emotional aerobics and he turned away before Winter could see what he finally settled on.

"It was against orders to go get you out of that HYDRA facility when you first got captured. But there was a goal then, a clear right thing to do." Steve's shoulders seemed to deflate a little. "It's so damn hard to find the right thing to do anymore, Buck."

Winter stepped forward just a bit, placing one hand, his flesh hand, on Steve's shoulder and giving it a bit of a squeeze.

"Well the Stevie I grew up with always managed to figure it out. If he's still in there, I'm sure he can manage it again."

And then Winter turned around and headed back into the lab, just in time for Tony's rousing pep talk about the Hulk.

.

..

…

..

.

They tuned in for Natasha's interrogation of Malekith, bringing it up on one of the screens in the lab. Malekith was striding casually back and forth in his cell before coming to a stop and turning.

"There's not many people that can sneak up on me."

"But you figured I'd come."

"After," Malekith conceded. "After whatever torture Fury can concoct, you would appear as a friend, as a balm. And I would cooperate."

He chuckled, as though even the mere thought of his cooperation was amusing.

"I want to know what you've done to Agent Barton."

"I'd say I have returned him to what he was always meant to be."

"And once you've won, once you're king of the mountain, what happens to him?"

Malekith looked her over with a new appreciation. It made Winter's skin crawl just to see it. He couldn't imagine how it must have felt for Natasha.

"Is this love, Agent Romanoff?"

"Love is for children. I owe him a debt."

Malekith appraised her so a long moment before settling down on the little bench that took up the far wall.

"Tell me."

Winter grit his teeth. He knew this was all part of Natasha's game, knew this was how she operated, but that didn't make it any easier to watch this utter bastard toy with her. Beside him, Tony was tense as well, scowling at the screen as Natasha pulled up a chair and sat as well.

"Before I worked for SHIELD," she began, "I, uh…well, I made a name for myself. I have a very specific skillset. I didn't care who I used it for, or on. I got on SHIELD's radar in a bad way. Agent Barton was sent to kill me, he made a different call."

"He spared your life. I've seen his skills and I know of yours. If would have been easy for him to kill you then."

"But he didn't. He brought me in, gave me a home."

Malekith chuckled at that.

"It is the nature off all of my people to take those who do not belong."

"Agent Barton is not one of your people."

"Isn't he, though? No one else wanted him, so we claimed him. Clever boy, that one. I remembered him the moment I set eyes on him. Where do you think he learned to use that bow of his?"

Natasha flinched and, for all that he knew her, Winter could not tell if it was faked or real.

"He grew up in the circus. One of the other performers taught him how."

"Well, there always has to be an explanation somewhere, doesn't there?" He gazed around his cell in only mock interest. "There always has to be a story. That's one of the first things we learned, long before your species was even a thought to the Old Gods. You hide behind them for protection but they are nothing but lies. Everything you are is made up of lies!" He stood suddenly, face twisted in anger. "You lie and kill in the service of liars and killers. You pretend to be separate, to have your own code, something that makes up for the horrors, but they are a part of you, and they will never go away!" He slammed a fist into the glass of his cage, making every person in the lab jump. "Just like us. I won't touch Barton, he is one of my own, but I will make him kill you! Slowly. Intimately. In every way he knows you fear! And there will be nothing you can do to stop it, no way to even pray for salvation."

Natasha turned away, unable to continue looking at him. Winter couldn't blame her. He wrapped metal fingers around Tony's wrist.

"You're a monster," Natasha rasped. "You can't just take him like that."

Malekith laughed, the sound filling the room like nauseous gas.

"Oh, but I already have. And I will do it again."

Natasha turned back then, perfectly poised. All traces of her previous emotion were wiped off her face.

"So, Banner…that's your play."

"What?"

Natasha whirled away, already speaking into her earpiece without waiting for his reaction. Winter swiveled his head to look at Bruce, who'd gone pale.

"He can't-He can't let the Hulk loose here."

Loki's hand immediately went to the scientist's shoulder.

"Calm, friend. That is not what he means to take you for I believe, but we shall not let any harm come to you nor allow you to do harm to others. You have my word."

"What do you mean? What else could he want me for?"

Tony was scowling.

"He said he would take you, in the same sentence that he talked about having taken Clint. That means he intends to do the same thing to you."

"No!" Bruce shook his head in vehement denial. "My father may have been a royal ass but my mother loved me. That's one of your factors, right?" He turned to Loki, looking a bit desperate. "He couldn't have done that if my mom loved me, right?"

Loki's face looked pained.

"That is correct, but there's no telling what new abilities he has gained from the scepter."

There was no time to say anything further before Fury was striding into the labs, all purpose and displeasure.

"What are you doing?"

Tony turned on him, looking angry.

"Kind of been wondering the same thing about you."

"You're supposed to be locating the Tesseract."

"We are." Bruce seemed to have regained at least some small bit of his composure. "The model's locked and we're sweeping for the signature now. When we get a hit, we'll have the location within half a mile."

"And you'll get your cube back, no muss, no fuss." Tony swiveled a screen around to face Fury. "What is Phase Two?"

Steve strode into the room before Fury had the chance to respond, tossing a HYDRA weapon from WWII down on one of the lab tables. He looked furious.

"Phase Two is SHIELD uses the cube to make weapons." He dipped his head in Tony's direction. "Sorry, the computer was moving a little slow for me."

Winter felt an unexpected little burst of pride.

"Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract. This does not mean we're-"

"I'm sorry, Nick," Tony cut him off, tapping away at the screen and bringing up schematics. "What were you lying?"

Steve turned to Winter.

"You were right. I did know what I needed to do."

Natasha and Thor suddenly arrived as well, Bruce turning on the red-headed woman with anger in his eyes.

"Did you know about this?"

"You wanna think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?"

"I was in Calcutta, I was pretty well removed."

"Malekith's manipulating you."

"And you've been doing what exactly?"

"You didn't come here because I bat my eyelashes at you."

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction."

"Because of them."

Fury gestured to the two gods in the room, both of whom blinked in surprise.

"Us?" Thor asked.

"Last year Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned."

"My people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor protested. "My brother's actions were wrong, but I can assure you it will not happen again."

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? Look at Malekith. And you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, that can't be controlled."

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve growled.

"Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Malekith to it, and his allies," Loki threw is. "It is a signal to all the realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war."

"A higher form?"

But Steve's question went ignored.

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something."

"Nuclear deterrent," Tony sneered. "Cause that always calms everything right down."

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?"

Winter growled, but Steve was jumping in right behind the director.

"I'm sure if he still made weapons Stark would be neck deep in this by now."

"Wait! Wait! Hold on! How is this suddenly about me?"

"I'm sorry." Steve didn't look sorry, least of all sound it. "Isn't everything?"

"No," Winter bit out through his teeth, crossing his arms as he stepped between them. "That would be you, apparently."

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor rumbled.

"Excuse me," Fury rounded on him, "did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?"

"Did you always give your champions such mistrust?"

"What?" Steve was glaring at Winter now, squaring off with him. "Can't let poor little Stark stand up for himself? You used to let me do it all the time."

"Are you saying it was my fault you couldn't stay out of a fight to save your life?"

"I'm saying you're pretty damn protective of someone who-"

"You better be careful how you finish that sentence, Rogers."

"Is that a threat? Are you threatening me right now?"

"Back off. This is the last time I tell you."

"Oh, I'm starting to want you to make me."

Steve shoved Winter then, sending him stumbling backwards and knocking Tony backwards in turn. The genius flailed on the way down, arms flying out to catch himself. One of them found the scepter, knocking it from its cradle. Tony's cry of pain was like a dagger to Winters heart, but seeing him writhe on the floor practically stopped it. His back was arched, his hands groping across the tile surface. Winter was on his knees beside him in an instant.

"Tony? Tony, you're gonna be okay! C'mon, Tony, don't you do this to me. Don't you dare."

Hands were suddenly on him, dragging him backwards, and he fought against them. He vaguely recognized his captor as Thor but didn't care. He growled viciously at the god even as Loki rushed forward, shouting over his shoulder at him.

"Enough! If you want to help Anthony then stand down. I had prepared this for our next encounter with Agent Barton, but-"

He never got the chance to finish as an explosion rocked the helicarrier. The floor buckled and Winter's arm shot out just in time to catch Tony before he could fall through it. Loki, Bruce, and Natasha weren't so lucky. They disappeared through the hole as the others were thrown across the room. Winter pulled Tony in close to his chest, trying to protect the man from the worst of the impact. His metal hand cradled the back of the genius's head as he pressed Tony's face into his chest.

"Hill!"

Fury was calling into his com unit as Steve scrambled across the room toward them.

"Winter! Tony! Are you alright? Oh, my God, I'm so sorry!"

Winter felt like all the air had been knocked out of him as a knee made impact with his abdomen. Tony was pulling away from him sharply and the ex-assassin could see the glowing blue of his eyes even through the water in his own.

"No."

But denying it would do no good. Tony kicked out swiftly, taking Steve's legs right out from under him. The genius's face was calm, impassive, and looked almost as young as it did the first time Winter had broken into Peggy's house. The pointed ears made his face look more angular than it had before. As soon as Steve was down he made a run for the door, pausing only long enough to snatch the scepter off of the floor and take it with him.

"Coulson! Initiate official lockdown in the detection section then get to the armory! Move out!" Fury struggle to his feet, switching over from his coms to talk to the rest of them. "And for the love of all that is holy, someone go after Stark. I don't even want to think about the amount of damage he could do on this ship."

Winter was on his feet and taking off after the genius in a heartbeat, Steve right behind him. They spotted Tony rounding the corner at the end of the hall as soon as they left the room and sprinted after him. They should have been able to catch up easily but the brunette stayed solidly in the lead, dashing through corridors and past confused agents at a speed he never would have been able to match before. Winter hated it.

They caught up with him in the room where Malekith was being kept, just as he typed in the command to open the cage. The glass door slid open easily and the Dark Elf strode forward, coming to a stop beside the genius he had corrupted. One hand reached out to caress the side of Tony's face as the other relieved him of the scepter. Malekith grinned.

"Excellently done, my dear. I must confess, I hadn't been expecting you…Such a pleasant surprise to greet me in Stuttgart."

"Don't touch him!"

Tony didn't even blink at Winter's shout, didn't even turn to look at him. The hand on the genius's face stayed in place.

"Or what? You attempt to lay claim to him? He has been mine since the day he was born."

Steve grabbed the shield off of his back.

"Release him, Malekith, or we will take him back by force."

The Dark Elf practically cackled.

"Oh, please. Do try."

Then Tony was turning to face them, falling into a stance Winter recognized easily from watching him spar time and time again. It made him sick to his stomach.

"Tony, you don't have to do this…"

"If you stand in our way," Tony spoke in nearly-dead tones, "then you will be taken down."

Winter couldn't fight Tony. He knew he couldn't. Tony was everything to him, fighting him would be like going back to HYDRA of his own free will. He'd sworn to keep Tony safe, to have his back no matter what. But none of this was what Tony would have wanted. Winter knew that. Tony would be standing there telling Winter not to hesitate, to do whatever it took to bring Malekith down. It didn't make things any easier.

"Keep Tony distracted," Steve murmured beside him. "I'll handle Malekith. If we can take him down, maybe we'll be able to reverse this."

Distracted. Yeah. Winter could do that.

He darted forward, throwing an easy combination of blows Tony's way and pulling his punches at the last second. Just treat it like a sparring match. That's all he had to do. He didn't have to really fight Tony. HYDRA had augmented him enough that Tony would never be able to keep up in a straight bout of hand-to-hand anyway. Unless, apparently, the genius had been enhanced by some elven alien bent on world domination.

Tony ducked his attack with all the precision he usually showed but coupled with a speed Winter's eyes had trouble keeping up with. He threw a punch at the ex-assassins face, putting all the extra momentum of standing back up behind it. Winter's face snapped to the side. It felt like being hit in the jaw by a freight train. This distraction thing might be a bit harder than he'd thought. He could hear the sounds of Steve engaging Malekith behind him. He sincerely hoped the other super soldier would be able to take him down quickly.

"Tony," he tried, "you don't have to do this. This is just the scepter getting into your head. You can fight it. I know you. You hate doing what other people tell you to."

The genius didn't listen, just threw the next combination of hits. It was the same mixed martial arts style he'd been using since Winter had first met him, adopted over years of extensive training from each of the Howling Commandos as well as the top combatants within SHIELD. Tony had once told him he'd spent two months training exclusively with The Cavalry, a true legend in the halls of SHIELD. The man hadn't been sure at the time that his joints would ever recover.

"Everything's so clear, Winter," Tony said instead, voice full of wonder even as they twisted around each other in a delicate and deadly dance. Well, deadly for Winter at least. It was clear Tony didn't have the same adversity to hurting the ex-assassin. "Nothing's ever been this clear before."

Winter felt sick to his stomach.

"It's not real, Tony. You know that. Somewhere in that big brain of yours you know this is wron-"

He cut off abruptly as Tony managed to land a punch to his gut, knocking the air right out of him. He coughed and grimaced. Whatever changes Malekith had made to Tony's body, he packed a Hell of a punch.

"It's too bad your parents wanted you, Winter," and, Jesus, Tony actually sounded like he meant it. "It would have been amazing to share this with you."

Winter dropped low and swept his leg out across the floor, taking Tony's feet out from under him. The genius hit the ground hard but Winter didn't pause. He pounced on the younger man, attempting to pin him down. He was rewarded with a head-butt to the face. A crunching noise accompanied by pain told him that his nose was probably broken. Using the momentary pause to his advantage Tony flipped them over so that he was on top, straddling Winter's hips. It wasn't an unfamiliar position and Winter's heart ached at the reminder of what Malekith had taken from him. Tony's hands were going for his throat, though, and Winter grabbed his wrists to hold him back.

"You promised me, Tony. You promised me you would never let something like that happen to me again. That's why you rescued me from HYDRA." Fingers grazed his neck. "That's why I'm going to rescue you from this."

Tony continued to force his hands further down. Winter knew he could force the other off if he broke one of Tony's wrists. All it would take was just squeezing his metal arm a little bit tighter. If it were any other opponent he wouldn't even hesitate, but this was Tony. Even with glowing blue eyes staring down at him, the face was still the same, the heart was still the same.

"You don't have to fight me, Winter. Malekith's not out to wipe human beings off the face of the Earth. He wants to revive his people. You could stand with us, with me. Just like always."

"No," and it pained Winter to say it, even though he knew it was what Tony would want, "I couldn't."

Tony's face wilted.

"Then I guess I don't have a choice."

He bore down with his arms, overpowering the last of Winter's resistance to wrap his hands around his lover's throat. The ex-assassin fought for a moment more before releasing the man's wrists. The struggle was useless, he already knew. Instead he drew one leg up to plant his foot firmly on the ground, pressed the palm of his metal hand against the side of Tony's skull, and rolled them over. Tony's head hit the floor with a sickening sound, his eyes widening only briefly before they slipped shut. Winter coughed and gasped for air as limp fingers slid from around his neck.

After a few seconds to pull himself back together Winter turned his attention toward where Steve was still fighting Malekith…just in time to see Coulson blast the Dark Elf across the room with the massive gun he held with both hands. Malekith hissed and grabbed at the scorch marks now decorating the shoulder of his armor.

"You'll regret that, mortal."

"Really?" Coulson didn't look fazed in the slightest. "Because I'm feeling pretty good about it at the moment."

Their enemy sneered.

"You think you have the upper hand, do you?"

"You're the one at gun point, and Natasha already called in saying she's recovered Agent Barton. As soon as Loki is able to see to him and Mr. Stark here they'll both be out from under your thumb. Definitely seems like the upper hand to me."

Malekith laughed and it was a sound Winter was getting damn tired of hearing.

"Do you even know the ones with whom you side? You rely on Loki Lie-smith, Loki Silvertongue, to bring your allies back to you. Foolishness. He's even stored away that monster you adore so much in one of his pocket realms. The fates of three of your team lie in the hands of one whom is known to many as The Betrayer."

"Loki isn't on trial here," Winter growled.

He'd seen the look in Loki's eyes when Tony went down, in the split second before the floor collapsed. He'd seen the way the god moved to have the genius's back when Steve had been so antagonistic. Loki had become attached to Tony, if not the others. He wouldn't betray them. Winter believed that. He had to believe that.

"It is only a matter of time, I assure you. Do give him a message for me when you see him, won't you?"

"You can tell him yourself." Steve was scowling. "I'm sure he'd be happy to have a chat with you once you're back in your cell."

"I'm afraid, dear Captain, that isn't on the agenda." Another explosion rocked the helecarrier. "Your heroes are scattered, your floating fortress falls from the sky…where is my disadvantage?"

The doors burst inward, accompanied by a flurry of bullets from Malekith's hired mercenaries, and Winter dove to cover Tony. It didn't really matter what changes Malekith had made to his physiology, bullets would still do damage. Steve was there just a heartbeat later, shield up and providing them cover.

"Get Tony out of here," he shouted over his shoulder. "Coulson and I can handle these guys."

Winter gave him a nod of thanks before scooping Tony up into his arms and making a run for it. Malekith and a small group of guards were also making an escape but Winter didn't even entertain the thought of trying to stop them. Tony was a higher priority. Tony would always be a higher priority.

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"Agent Coulson is down."

Fury's announcement came over the open coms. Hill's followed only moments later.

"Paramedics are on their way."

"They're here. They called it."

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Steve and Thor had gone to talk to Fury about the attack on the helicarrier. Apparently one of the engines had been blown and Thor had been the one to get in started again, jumping in the turbine himself to give it a jump start while several agents gave him cover. Winter wasn't interested in joining them. His place was at Tony's side as Loki examined his two patients. Natasha hovered nervously nearby.

"If you are going to do nothing but bore holes into my back with your glare than I would kindly ask you to leave, Agent Romanov."

If anything, Natasha's glare intensified.

"Director Fury has left strict instructions that you are to be watched at all times."

Loki rolled his eyes.

"His faith is heartening, truly."

Winter frowned at his tone and nudged Natasha with the toe of his boot, redirecting his frown at her. Natasha's eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you taking his side?"

Winter noticed the way Loki stilled and glanced over his shoulder, but paid it no mind. He wasn't saying this for Loki.

"I trust him."

He really didn't need to say anything more than that. He was placing Tony is this man's, god's, hands. There was no greater risk he could take. Winter wouldn't do that unless he was sure of Loki's intentions. Natasha knew that. While Winter didn't know the reasons behind many of Loki's actions or statements, he felt comfortable that Tony would be safe in his care.

"Do what you have to do."

Natasha didn't sound happy about it, but there would be time for her to come around later. Winter was much more concerned with their current issue.

"Oh, good," Loki practically drawled. "I'd hate for you to attempt to stab me once I got started. It's not going to be a painless process, I'm afraid."

"What needs to be done?"

Because, yes, Winter trusted him but that didn't mean he wanted to be completely oblivious to what was happening. Loki gave him a measured look before casting his hands over Tony and Clint's heads. What looked like dagger hilts were suddenly visible, the blades impaled into their skills. They glowed a nauseous green color with flecks of blue throughout. It was the same blue as their eyes.

"These," he gestured toward the daggers, "are geases, enchantments upon the mind. These were violent ones, placed upon your comrades without their consent. Thus, they have materialized in this form. A Holy Vow, taken of one's own free will, for example, would not appear as such." His expression softened, becoming almost pitying. "They are painful going in, but they are more so coming out."

"What do you have to do? Just pull them out?"

Loki snorted.

"If only it were that simple, then any fool could do it. I suppose it will appear as such to you, though. A geas meant to control will have hooks dug into their minds, pulling them about like puppets on a string. If I were to simply grasp the daggers and pull, their minds would be shredded in the process. Magic must be applied to ease each of the hooks from its anchor."

Winter shuddered at the thought. Yes, he could see how that could be a painful experience.

"How long will it take?"

Loki scowled at his patients, eyeing Tony and Clint each in turn.

"It is hard to say, though I shall begin with Anthony. He has been under the geas's influence for the shortest amount of time. This should ease the passage of removing it. It will take less time and less magic. Once I have done that, I shall have a better idea of how the process will go with Agent Barton."

Winter didn't really like the thought of Tony being used as a learning experience, but it wasn't like Loki would do it if he wasn't sure. Hopefully.

"When can you start?"

Loki grin was all teeth and he wrapped one hand around the dagger imbedded in Tony's skull, the other palm pressed flat against the genius's temple.

"Now."

Winter couldn't even stomach a full minute of Tony's shrieks before he was forced to leave the room.

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An unconscious Tony had been deposited in Winter's arms about an hour later with instructions to take him somewhere to rest. He'd found an unused room in the medical bay to settle them in but couldn't bear to let the genius go. Instead he just climbed into the bed himself with his back against the wall and continued holding the other curled up against his chest. It didn't take long for Steve to find them there.

"Hey."

He kept his voice soft so as not to wake Tony as he closed the door behind him and settled into one of the chairs beside the bed. Winter appreciated the consideration.

"Hey, back."

The corner of Steve's mouth twitched upward just a bit.

"You used to hold me like that when I was really sick, you know? Back when we were younger?"

Winter nodded.

"I remember. You were always getting sick but your momma had to damn near tie you to the bed just to keep you in it."

Steve flashed a quick smile before it vanished, replaced by an almost haunted look.

"Sometimes, a lot of the time, I miss those days. Even with everything that was going on, life was a lot simpler back then."

Winter watched him for a long moment.

"Life was a lot simpler when I was working for HYDRA, too." Steve jolted and stared at him, all wide-eyed. "I'd get de-frosted, told what my mission would be, wiped as needed. I never questioned a thing, never thought for myself. Simpler doesn't always mean better." He looked down at Tony, his new, angular features softened a bit in sleep. "This future is complicated, Stevie, and, yeah, we've lost a lot, but there are a lot of possibilities out there for us, too."

"He makes you happy."

"Yeah," Winter nodded, a little smile crossing his face. "He does. You want to know why? Because he's good, good for me, a good man, just good. And I'm not constantly trying to compare him to a past I'm never gonna get back. That's you're problem, Stevie. You're still trying to go back to something that's not ever gonna come back. You've gotta move forward. Looking over your shoulder the whole time ain't never gonna get you anywhere."

Steve heaved a sigh, slumping down in his chair. He looked exhausted.

"I know. It's just…I know it was seventy years ago but it doesn't feel that way. God, I watched you fall off that train and piloted the plane into the oceans and then they're waking me up and telling me I'm in the future. Well, guess what? It may have been seventy years for the rest of the world but it's only been a week for me since I watched my best friend die! And then I'm awake for barely a month, not allowed contact with hardly anyone, and then they throw you and Peggy and Dum Dum in my face. And you think I'm some kind of enemy!" He let his face fall into his hands. "It was like I lost you all over again."

Winter nodded in understanding.

"Sometimes I get a memory back, from HYDRA or from before, and it's like it just happened. It doesn't feel like all that time has passed. There's been no time to process."

"Exactly. And then there was Tony."

Winter immediately scowled.

"You've acted better."

"I was an ass." Steve's smile was full of self-reprimand. "It was just, he was Howard's son and he got to grow up with Peggy and the Commandos and then he got you. Everything I lost, he had. I knew it wasn't fair, but I was just so jealous. It wasn't his fault, and it wasn't like I blamed him for me going down in the ice, I just…Every time I saw him it made me think of what I could have had and I would just get so angry. And then you'd come to his defense and all I could think about was how you used to do that for me and I knew I was turning into all those bullies I always hated but I couldn't stop. It's no excuse, I know that, but I wanted you to know. I'm sorry, Winter. You deserve better than how I treated you, and how I treated Tony. I'll apologize to him, too, once all this is over and we've got the time for me to start making up for everything I did. Or at least trying to."

"I'd rather you didn't, actually. If it's all the same to you."

They both jumped at the genius's voice.

"Tony?"

"I'm just sayin'. That sounded like there were a lot of feels involved and I'd rather not go through it twice. Besides, I got the gist of it. Should be good enough."

"I really am sorry. If I hadn't been so blinded by my anger this never would have happ-"

"Oh, my God! Please tell me you are not about to pull that completely cliché everything-is-my-fault bullshit."

The chagrined expression Steve wore told them both everything they needed to know.

"You're an idiot, Stevie."

"Yeah," Tony sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed, "but he can join the club. Now, you wanna know how you can start making things up to me?"

Steve perked up instantly, clearly eager to please.

"Just tell me what you need."

"Get outa the room so I can make-out with my boyfriend before we have to go off and save the world. Again. Or don't. I have absolutely no problems making out with him while you're here but I'm not so sure that's a two-way street."

Steve beat a hasty retreat, face beat red. As soon as they were alone, though, it became blatantly obvious that making out was just about the farthest thing from Tony's mind. His eyes were wide with fear as he turned them on Winter, his hands shaking as he let down his walls.

"I tried to kill you."

His voice wobbled and Winter immediately wrapped him up in his arms again, pulling him in close.

"You didn't."

"I would have." He pressed himself closer as if to reassure himself that Winter was there. "If you hadn't stopped me, I would have."

"I guess that makes us even then."

He pressed a kiss to Tony's forehead and didn't need to be able to see his face to know he was wearing his adorably confused expression where his nose wrinkled and his eyebrows drew together.

"What?"

"Well, I'm just saying. I did try to strangle you the first time we met, too. You stopped me then. I stopped you now. Seems like a pretty fair trade to me."

Tony pulled back, gaping at him.

"You can't be serious! That's nowhere even near the same thing!"

"How is it not? I was brainwashed. So were you. Neither of us succeeded. Look," he nailed Tony with the most serious expression he could manage, "I love you. And what happened back there changes absolutely nothing except that now I want to kill Malekith even more than I used to for putting you through that."

Tony didn't seem to have an answer for that, so Winter decided that kissing him was probably the best way to fill the silence.

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To say that Tony was displeased to find out that his own tower was going to be Ground Zero of Malekith's invasion would be an understatement. He was livid, hustling the rest of them onto a quinjet as quickly as possible, including the re-appeared Bruce, and taking off ahead of them. Yinsen and Ivan were still at the tower, not to mention Tony's own employees. Even with a call-ahead to start evacuations he wouldn't be willing to waste a second. Thor followed him in the air.

By the time the quinjet arrived, the city of London was already in chaos. Malekith's army, the Chitauri, was streaming out of a hole in the sky, directly about Stark Tower. Tony was zipping between buildings, leading a trail of invaders behind him while Thor battled it out with Malekith on the top of the Stark Tower. It took less than five minutes for the quinjet to be grounded and the Avengers scattered to their respective positions.

The world narrowed down to combat at its purest. There was nothing past the current opponent except for the next one. Anything outside of battle could be considered later. All that mattered was getting through the fight and getting up to keep on going. Winter and Steve mostly stuck together, working together with a seamless efficiency they'd perfected over years of fighting side-by-side. Winter's speed and acrobatics paired easily with Steve's strength and head-on approach.

Still, their opponents came in an endless stream, foot soldiers swarming around Leviathans. Even with Winter glancing up at one point to spot Ivan with his electrified whips tearing through his fair share of the combatants, there was only so much they could do. Earth's Mightiest Heroes or no, they were starting to wear down. Winter could see it, in the tension of Steve's shoulders, in the way the Chitauri swarmed the Hulk, in the set of Thor's face as he blew past. If this kept up, they wouldn't win.

"I can close it," Natasha's voice came over the coms. "Can anybody hear me? I can shut the portal down!"

Winter and Steve both turned to look, just barely able to make out Stark Tower against the sky, the Tesseract glowing on top.

"Do it!"

"No, wait!"

Winter's head turned as if he could see Loki talking. He didn't even know the god had been given a com unit.

"Loki, these things are still coming!"

"I have one of your nuclear weapons coming in, courtesy of the World Security Council. Your Director Fury tells me it's going to blow in less than a minute and I know just where to put it."

There was a moment of silence over the coms.

"Loki, you know that's a one-way trip?"

"I am a god, Captain. I have made my choice."

He was in view within moments, crouched on top of the missile with magic curled around it. He dragged his burden upward, aiming the nose at the portal and riding it through. Winter watched every moment of the trip. The least he could do was bear witness to Loki's courage. He hadn't been gone a full five seconds before the Chitauri started dropping. Like puppets with their strings cut, the aliens just started keeling over. The elation of knowing they had won was tempered by the entire team keeping their eyes on the sky, searching for their last member.

"Come on, Loki…" Natasha murmured.

The seconds passed by, stretching longer until Steve had no choice.

"Close it."

The mass of energy began to shrink, drawing in on itself. The Tesseract's beam withdrew, the light vanishing. The entire portal was nearly gone when something passed back through it once more, a figure, falling fast. Winter knew what it was instantly, and so did Steve.

"Son of a gun!"

Loki was falling, though, with no sign of even making an attempt to slow down. Dread curled in Winter's gut.

"He's not slowing down."

Thor's worry was clear in his voice as he swung Mjolnir around to take off. His feet had barely left the ground before the Hulk leapt out of nowhere, snagging Loki out of the air and carried him down amid an impressive array of property damage. Both soldiers took off in their direction at a run, Tony swooping down out of the sky.

Hulk threw Loki to the ground, but the god didn't even flinch. His face was still, his skin taking on a grey pallor. The Hulk roared. Winter knelt swiftly next to Loki, feeling for a pulse. He couldn't find one. Behind him, Thor let out a cry not unlike the Hulk's just moments before. Winter could hear Steve going to him to offer comfort, but he turned his own eyes to Tony. His faceplate was up, revealing the pain in his eyes, and his shoulders were slumped.

"He was a damn good man."

"He'd hate that," Tony grimaced. "He was a damn good god."

Winter nodded once.

"And we'll make sure people know."

Tony was silent for a long moment.

"Yeah…yeah, that sounds like a plan. I'll take him back to the tower. He shouldn't be left here." He bent to lift Loki in his arms. "You coming?"

Winter sent a glance over his shoulder at Thor and Steve, but the situation seemed to be in good hands. He nodded and followed after the genius, neither speaking a word. They were only a few streets over when Tony glanced over his shoulder and ducked into a parking garage. Winter's brow furrowed but he followed none the less.

"What are you doing?"

Tony just sent him a wry grin before setting Loki's body down against the wall.

"Hey, drama queen, we're all clear."

There was a beat as Winter honestly worried about Tony's mental health before Loki's eyes blinked open. His skin brightened almost instantly back to its usual color as he stood and brushed himself off with an air of decided disinterest.

"Thor and the others bought it well enough?"

"Oh, yeah. Hell, I even bought it for a minute there and I was in on it."

"It was all an act?"

Tony grinned at him, swooping in to press a kiss to Winter's cheek.

"We needed to get Loki out from under Asgard's thumb. If they think he's dead, they won't exactly be looking for him."

Loki hummed in acknowledgment, a golden light shimmering across his frame. His black hair shortened and curled, ending up a dirty blonde, and his eyes lightened, changing colors. His clothes, too, shifted to those of a civilian, slightly dirty and rumpled.

"You have my thanks, again, for your assistance in my deception."

Tony just waved him off.

"I used to be a spy, you know. I was raised by the woman who helped found SHIELD along with the man you who was my father. Let's just say that I get desperate times call for desperate measures. What do you want me to tell them happened to your body?"

"Inform Thor that it burst into green flames. It's an old sorcerer's trick to protect their secrets. He won't question it and neither will others when he carries the news back to Asgard."

"What will you do now?" Winter wanted to know.

Loki gave him a measured look, clearly weighing the options of revealing his plans.

"I'll disappear," he finally settled on. "But I'll be in touch again. Eventually."

He sent them one last smile before disappearing, leaving nothing but scorch marks behind.

"So," Tony gave Winter a sideways glance. "Shawarma?"

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Malekith was still lying on the ground in the penthouse where the Hulk had left him. He groaned as he shifted, lifting his head just enough to glare at them. Winter took a vindictive kind of pleasure in watching as Steve slapped the cuff on him.

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Seeing Thor leave was a bit of a relief, to be honest. Winter liked him well enough. He seemed like a real put-together fella. He was just a lot to handle. He took Malekith with him, muzzled and cuffed, by the power of the Tesseract. Winter was pretty glad to see that go, too. It didn't need to be on Earth.

"So what now?"

Clint swept his gaze over each of them, looking for answers.

"Kinda hard to just go back to life as it was after an alien invasion."

Winter snorted and wrapped an arm around Tony's shoulders.

"After everything we've already been through? I can't even say this really fazes me."

Tony glared.

"Nothing fazes you."

Winter swooped in for a kiss.

"You do."

He chose to ignore the retching sounds Clint was making, turning to Steve instead.

"What are you planning to do?"

The man grinned, more Stevie than Winter had seen him since he was ninety pounds soaking wet.

"I was, uh, I was hoping I could start over. With both of you."

Tony, who was still plastered against Winter's side, grinned right back.

"I think that could be arranged. What about you, Brucie-bear? You wanna stick around and play with me?"

The other scientist blushed a bit and ducked his head under dark curls.

"You're trying to make everything as much of an innuendo as possible, aren't you?"

Tony beamed.

"You're the one who thought it. So are you staying or not?"

Bruce sighed.

"Against every scrap of better judgement…Yes. I want to keep an eye on you and Clint. I know SHIELD medical cleared you both, but…"

"But we both have enhanced strength and abilities we haven't even had time to explore yet? Oh, Brucie, I can't wait for you to 'examine' me."

He winked saucily.

"You're hopeless."

"You love it. Anyway, looks like you get to stick around now, too, Legolas."

"Only if 'Tasha gets to come with me."

Tony snorted.

"Are you kidding me? I'm pretty sure Ivan would murder me in my sleep if I tried to keep a sexy, red-headed Russian out of the tower."

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"Do you think she'll recognize me?"

Tony's eyes were huge in the way they only got when he was worried and letting down his walls. He worried his bottom lip between his teeth and Winter pressed a kiss to his forehead soothingly. On Tony's other side, Steve politely pretended he couldn't hear their conversation.

"The nurse said she was having a good day."

Tony nodded, clearly trying to make himself believe the best through sheer force of will. His attempt as a smirk was wobbly at best.

"At least she won't keep thinking I'm Howard with all this."

He gestured at his face. Steve, apparently having decided that feigning ignorance wouldn't be the best tactic after all, clapped Tony on the shoulder.

"Whatever happens, we're here for you. We've got your back."

Winter smiled at Steve over Tony's head.

"Yeah. Till the end of the line."

Six months later, they found the paperwork confirming Tony's adoption into the Stark family.

Chapter Text

“I don’t really want to talk about it, Tash,” Tony said as he set about making his eighth cup of coffee of the day.

Apparently one of the effects of Malekith’s manipulations was that Clint and Tony were no longer affected quite as much by things like caffeine or alcohol. Bruce was running tests to see just what all might have happened with their systems, but so far it seemed to be only slightly weaker than the effects of the super soldier serum that both Winter and Steve had. It was just one more thing to add to the long list of others that seemed to cause Tony endless frustration.

“I just think it’s something you should consider. It would be better to have as much information as possible. I’m not saying you have to go talk to them.”

Winter watched silently as Tony sent her a baleful glare. It certainly seemed like he’d gotten a lot better at those since the invasion. There was a new sharpness to his eyes that hadn’t been there before. Ivan was very enthusiastic about the whole thing. His new favorite activity was apparently sparring with Tony or Clint.

“Look, if I wanted to know who my birth parents were I wouldn’t have any trouble finding out. As it stands, though, I don’t want to know. I’ve got plenty enough parents already, thank you very much.”

Natasha’s lips pinched.

“You’re not the only one with the ability to find out, Tony. We need to get on top of this.”

Tony slammed his mug down onto the counter, shattering the porcelain and sending coffee everywhere.

“Dammit!”

Winter moved immediately to grab a kitchen towel and start cleaning up the mess. He motioned for Tony to continue his conversation while he did.

“I’ve got this.”

Tony took a deep breath to calm himself before turning to Natasha again.

“Look, if you want to look into it then do it. Do whatever you want but I want no part of it, okay? Keep me out of it.”

Her face softened a bit and she reached for him, taking his wrist in one hand and giving it a squeeze. It was about as close to a hug as anyone got from Natasha.

“You are wanted. Never doubt it.”

Tony’s silence was telling enough on how he felt about that particular subject. Winter dumped the broken mug in the trash and chucked the soaked towel into the sink on his way to wrap his arms around his lover. He pressed a kiss to the tip of Tony’s now-pointed ears. Tony shivered.

“I do enjoy,” Winter purred as Natasha slipped out of the room, “how sensitive those ears of yours are now.”

Tony pulled away so he could face Winter, pouting.

“As if I could forget that with all your constant teasing.”

Winter grinned at him, pulling him back in by his waist.

“It’s not teasing if I intend to follow through with it, you know.”

Tony just rolled his eyes.

“Great. Now you’re throwing my own lines back at me.”

“Is that a ‘no’?”

“That’s a ‘get me up to our bedroom and fuck me, stat’ actually.”

“Mmm…” Winter kissed Tony greedily, slipping his tongue into the other’s mouth to taste him. “Now there’s a plan I can really get behind.”

“Keep stalling and that’ll be the only thing you’re getting behind.”

Tony’s grin took the sting out of his words, though, and Winter counted that as a win. He was pretty sure he’d find a way to keep Tony distracted from his enhanced abilities. It wasn’t that Tony didn’t have a handle on things. Most of the time he was as well-adjusted as anyone could be and compensated easily. It was just when he was frustrated or distracted that things happened and he forgot himself. He tore himself apart over it each and every time.

“Well, then, I do believe I have a bedroom to get to.”

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“It’s just,” Steve sighed through the phone as his story came to an end, “I still find it so amazing how different everything is. It always manages to catch me by surprise.”

Winter couldn’t help the little smile that broke out across his face. He and Steve had been doing better, lately, since Steve had accepted that the Bucky he knew was never coming back. Steve wasn’t even that bad of a guy. Winter kind of enjoyed their calls as Steve made his way around the United States. Steve’s relationship with Tony could still stand for some improvement, but they were making progress, too.

“It’s been a Hell of a long time since we were just two kids from Brooklyn, Steve. The world’s done some changing.”

“No, I know,” Steve placated. Winter was pretty sure he was grinning from ear to ear. He was somewhere in the mountains, watching the sunset. “It’s just that I’ll feel like I’ve adjusted, like I’ve finally got a handle on how things are these days and then bam! Out of nowhere something will happen or someone will say something and I’m just blown away.”

Winter wedged the phone between his shoulder and his ear, freeing up both hands to better clean his weaponry.

“I guess I can see that. The memories are kind of like that, too. I’m sure I’ve seen it all up until something unimaginably new crops up.” He paused, considering, and then decided to tell Steve anyway. “I’m getting less and less of the memories from when I worked for HYRDA, though. I think I may have remembered just about all of them now.”

“Really?” Steve didn’t sound quite excited, but certainly hopeful. “That’s great. The earlier ones are still coming though, right?”

“Off and on. I still have some pretty big gaps there. Tony thinks that they’re going to take longer since those are the memories that suffered the most from the wiping.”

“Oh. I, uh, I see.” Steve paused. “And how is he? Tony?”

The relationship between Tony and Steve was still a bit stressed, despite their efforts. Steve still had moments of jealousy when it came to Tony and Winter’s relationship, but he was doing better. Tony, too, was trying not to antagonize the national icon quite as much as he had been before. It was hopeful. Winter had to admit that he kind of wanted them to get along.

“He’s doing well. Caught up in his work, as always. He just secured a huge contract with the German government. Apparently clean energy is a big deal over there. They actually pay the citizens to put up solar panels.”

“That’s…That’s the one that looks kind of like a mirror and stores energy from the sun, right?”

“Yeah. But not all of them can store the energy.”

“Right. Well, that’s good for him, then.” A pause. “Hey, Winter?”

“Yeah?”

“What do you do while Tony’s working? I mean, I know you check over all of his security measures and train and all that, but is there anything you do for the long run? Any projects of your own? It never really seemed like it, when I was there.”

Winter abandoned his maintenance, sensing it was time to really tune back into the conversation.

“Tony’s got enough money I don’t need a job and I like being here for him.”

“No, no, of course. But, Winter, is this how you want to spend the rest of your life? Ten years from now? Twenty? Don’t you ever think you might get bored?”

Winter bristled, his expression twisting into a snarl even though Steve had no way of seeing it.

“What exactly are you saying?”

“I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, for me,” Steve backpedaled, clearly hearing his misstep. “I mean, I’m all set money wise and this road trip is great, but…What am I supposed to do with my life? Go back into the Army? Become a spokesman again? Do the whole dancing monkey shtick? The war’s over. The one they’re fighting now is about politics, not doing what’s right. I don’t have a purpose.”

Winter’s irritation cooled and he thought over Steve’s words.

“I think I understand. I found my purpose. You haven’t.”

“You have?”

Steve sounded surprised.

“Of course.” Winter grinned. “It’s Tony.”

Steve groaned.

“You know, I don’t remember you being this much of a sap before.”

Winter enjoyed the familiar ribbing, but made himself resist teasing back.

“Listen, lemme talk to Tony about something real quick and I’ll call you back, okay?”

He was already up and heading for the door, plans formulating in his mind.

“What? Oh, okay. Something going on?”

The concern was clear in Steve’s voice.

“Nah. Just got to run something by him. I’ll talk to you soon, Steve, okay?”

“Yeah. Sure. Talk to you later, Winter.”

Winter ended the call as he stepped into the elevator, pressing the button to send him down to Tony’s lab. Unsurprisingly, the inventor was hard at work, flicking things around on his holographic screens and talking nearly non-stop with JARVIS.

“Hey, babe,” he greeted Winter with a grin.

Winter swooping in to press a kiss to his cheek.

“How are things going down here?”

“Oh, you know, I’m being brilliant as always.” Tony’s smile was radiant and Winter took the opportunity to kiss his lips. “How are you?”

“Just got off the phone with Steve.”

“Oh, yeah? Where is he now?”

Tony started gesturing for his various projections to start shutting themselves down, giving Winter his full attention. It was rather flattering, actually, especially since Winter knew how hard it could be sometimes for Tony to stop a project when he was in the middle of it.

“In the mountains somewhere, God knows why. He says it’s gorgeous, but it’s too cold.”

Tony snorted.

“Of course it’s cold. It’s December. At least I fixed that trash heap of a bike of his before he went. That old thing would have never survived a trip into the mountains in the middle of winter.”

Winter chuckled.

“Well, I was thinking, actually, that I might go join him.”

Tony froze.

“What?”

“Just for a little while. He’s stressing over the meaning of his life so I thought I might be able to help him.”

“Oh, yeah?” Tony’s smile was a bit forced, but Winter knew how to fix that. “You some kind of expert or something?”

“Well, I did already find mine.”

He leaned in to kiss Tony again, just to make his point perfectly clear. The genius melted against him.

“Such a smooth talker.” Tony gave him another peck on the lips before pulling away. “You know what? That actually sounds like a great idea. Dum Dum’s been asking me to come by D.C. anyway. Apparently there’s something he wants to talk to me about that absolutely cannot be said over the phone. I’m pretty sure it’s just a ploy to get us to come spend Christmas there.”

Winter chuckled. That sounded like Dum Dum.

“Well, it’d be a shame to disappoint him, wouldn’t it?”

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Originally, Winter and Tony had planned to stay at Tony’s mansion in D.C. until Steve arrived to meet up with Winter. They’d all spend Christmas with Dum Dum in the house where Peggy had lived (or if Tony got his way, in the mansion to avoid all the memories that came with the house). Dum Dum, however, was having absolutely none of it. It didn’t matter to him that the mansion’s lab was way more up to date than the one in Peggy’s basement. This was the decision he had made and he was sticking to it. They’d be staying there with him. It was useless to argue. He also refused to tell them why he’d called them there.

“It’s waited this long! It can wait a few more days until Christmas is over.” He wrapped a meaty arm around each of them, drawing them in close. “I’ve missed you both. London is a long way away.”

The look Tony shot Winter from under Dum Dum’s arm was clearly saying ‘I told you so.’ Steve arrived the next day with a loaded backpack, his bike, and not a scrap else. He smiled self-deprecatingly in the face of Tony’s disbelieving comments.

“I just don’t need much else. Pretty much everywhere I go has a laundry of some sort so it’s not like I need a lot of clothes. Besides, I’m pretty sure this is still more than I had in my entire apartment back in Brooklyn.”

Winter scoffed. He remembered that apartment, even if only vaguely. It was the one Steve had lived in with his mother up until her death. Winter had managed to talk him into getting a new apartment between the two of them less than two months later. Winter had needed to second job to afford it, but it was better than watching Steve waste away in a place where he saw his mother at every turn.

“Even on that bike of yours I bet it’s less drafty, too.”

Steve stared at him in stunned silence for a moment just like he always did whenever Winter brought up something unexpected from their shared past. Then he burst into a huge grin.

“You’re right. I’m surprised that place was even still standing.”

“Of course it was still standing, it was propped up on the next building over.”

Steve pulled him into a tight hug.

“It’s good to see you again, Winter.”

The ball of tension in Winter’s chest relaxed a little. He’d almost been expecting Steve to call him Bucky again. It wouldn’t have been the first time since the invasion. Off to the side, Tony and Dum Dum were watching them fondly.

“You know,” Dum Dum mentioned casually, “looking at the two of you like this is almost enough to make a man jealous. How come that serum got wasted on the two of you while I have to sit around here getting old?”

Tony laughed.

“Don’t worry, gramps. You’re as good looking as you ever were.”

He had to dance away to avoid Dum Dum’s swatting hands and quickly ducked behind Winter for protection. The ex-assassin rolled his eyes.

“You know, if you’re so worried about your safety, maybe you shouldn’t have given your body guard the week off?”

Tony scoffed good-naturedly.

“Be real, Winter. You know as well as I do that Ivan always disappears for Christmas. If I hadn’t given him the week off, he would have just gone off anyway.”

Dum Dum looked alarmed.

“You hired the man who tried to kill you to be your bodyguard? Tony-“

“Hey! I’m a superhero now. I need someone who can keep up with me and I’m an adult, in case you hadn’t noticed. I can make my own decisions.”

“Still, Ivan Vanko-“

“Has been living with me for the past couple of years without a problem,” Tony cut his uncle off. “If he was going to do something to me, he could have done it by now. Him being my bodyguard doesn’t give him any more chances to off me than he already gets. I don’t understand why everyone gets so hung up on the ‘he tried to kill you’ part, anyway. Ivan’s hilarious.”

Winter had to raise a hand to cover his smile at Steve’s scandalized expression.

“Wait. Are we talking about Ivan Vanko as in the Russian guy at your tower?”

“Yeah?”

“He tried to kill you?”

Tony actually looked pretty surprised.

“Didn’t anyone tell you how we met? I thought for sure I would have mentioned it…” He gave Steve a shrewd once-over. “You know I met Yinsen in HYDRA, right?”

Steve still looked flabbergasted.

“But Ivan always seemed so nice!”

Winter couldn’t hold back his snickers.

“Ivan is great, but he’s also an ex-con Soviet who dedicated his entire life to getting revenge on the Stark family because of what Howard did to his father. Luckily, Tony had an ace up his sleeve when it came to negotiating Ivan over to his side.”

Dum Dum huffed out an amused breath.

“Of course he did. He’s Tony.”

“What did he say?”

Winter exchanged a look with Tony before the genius spoke. Steve already knew what Winter had done, of course, but they hadn’t talked about it again since.

“I told him that I hated my father as much as anyone else in the world,” Tony hedged, apparently deciding not to remind the soldier of how Winter had been the one to kill Howard. “Luckily, I had enough to back up my statement. Now,” he clapped his hands together loudly, “I’m sure you’re hungry. Let’s go raid the kitchen, shall we? I know where all the good stuff is stashed.”

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Christmas passed peacefully, without much of a fuss. Dum Dum, as it turned out, was a rather ambitious cook. He hadn’t been back in the war, as far as Winter could remember, but apparently it was a hobby he’d taken up since retiring. The table practically groaned under the weight of all the food and it was due only to the presence of two super soldier with their increased appetites and Tony’s new physical needs that the group was even able to make a dent. Gifts had been exchanged and good times were had. It occurred to Winter that Dum Dum might actually be lonely here, as the last one left in D.C. It wasn’t until the day after Christmas that Dum Dum seemed to decide that it was finally time to tell Tony and Winter what the big secret was. One look at his face was all it took for both men to know the situation was more serious than they’d thought.

“I know that…certain things regarding your birth came to light during the invasion and that they’ve raised a few questions. Your friend Agent Romanov has been around asking questions.”

Tony’s expression shuttered, his face going carefully blank.

“I told her I didn’t want to know about any of that.”

“And I would be more than happy to let you make that choice, kiddo, I really would. You’ve more than earned that right but…Tony, there are some things about where you came from that you need to know. Howard swore everyone who was involved to absolute secrecy, but it could get out sooner or later. You need to be prepared.”

Tony shot angrily to his feet and began pacing the living room. Winter was suddenly glad that Dum Dum had come up with an errand to send Steve on. His presence wouldn’t have been appreciated, even if he was trying to be comforting. Especially if he was trying to be comforting.

“Why? Are my real parents fucking supervillains or something? Was I stolen from HYDRA? What could possibly be so bad that I absolutely have to know?”

Dum Dum squared his shoulders like he was facing up against a belligerent general.

“You have to understand that I don’t know all the details. My role in all of this extended to nothing more than being a hired gun. What I do know is that Howard and Maria had been told by damn near every doctor on the planet that they couldn’t have kids. Then, out of blue, Howard calls me up and tells me to meet him and some other guys in Vegas. To rob a casino.”

Tony didn’t let him continue.

“He what? What does that even have to do with anything? What would dad even be doing robbing a casino?”

Dum Dum gave him a stern look to shut him up.

“I couldn’t imagine what he was thinking. Half the reason I went along with it was just to find the Hell out. Turns out, we were stealing something real specific. A robot. It was supposed to be just a part of the damn display, but it turned out the thing was alive. It was just being kept in some sort of stasis or shut down mode. Howard called it a Rigellian Recorder, Recorder 451. Apparently it came from outer space somewhere. I have no idea how Howard found out about it, but he did and was dead set on getting it for himself. The Recorder, once he woke it up, seemed downright pleased with the idea. Howard wouldn’t tell me why he wanted the thing so bad.”

Tony was staring at his uncle with wide eyes.

“What happened?”

Dum Dum heaved his shoulders up and down in a helpless shrug.

“He disappeared with it. I never saw the bot again. But less than a few weeks later, Howard made the announcement that Maria was pregnant.” He leaned forward until his elbows were on his knees. “I saw Maria more than once during her pregnancy and Peggy was actually present at the birth. Even if she might have trouble confirming it now, she saw a baby come out of your mom.”

Winter had to dart forward off the couch to keep Tony from falling when the genius’s knees buckled. Tony’s eyes were wide, disbelieving.

“What…What are you saying?”

Tony’s feet dragged and stumbled as Winter guided him to the couch where he all but collapsed. Dum Dum looked like he carried the weight of the world on his broad shoulders.

“I doubt there’s anyone on Earth who could tell you what went on in those few weeks, Tony, but there’s not a doubt in my mind that robot had something to do with all this.”

“Where’s the robot now?” Winter asked. It was pretty obvious that Tony wasn’t in any shape to be continuing this conversation on his own.

“No idea.” Dum Dum shook his head. “But it came from space so it stands to reason it would go back there after Howard freed it, right?”

Winter sure as Hell didn’t know.

“We can deal with that later,” he said instead. He pulled Tony closer to him, until the man’s head was resting on his shoulder. He sank his fingers into Tony’s hair and stroked his thumb soothingly along the ridge of Tony’s ear. “I think we’ve dealt with enough for right now.”

Dum Dum nodded sharply, pushing himself laboriously to his feet.

“I’ll leave you two alone, then. I-“ he paused as he seemed to consider his words, “For what it’s worth, I didn’t tell Agent Romanov any of this. It’s not my place to make that decision and I’m sorry I had to tell you at all.”

Winter nodded his gratitude since Tony didn’t seem to be in much of a place to. Dum Dum cast them one last lingering look before nodding back and leaving the room. As soon as the man was gone, Winter pulled Tony impossibly closer until the man was practically in his lap.

“What’re you thinking about, doll?”

He kept his voice quiet, gentle. He’d gotten a lot better at comforting people since Tony had rescued him from HYDRA. It was a long time before Tony spoke, but Winter waited.

“Do you remember all that SHIELD stuff we went through when we were trying to work out that whole thing with the palladium? Do you remember what my dad said in that video? At the end?”

Winter did remember. He wished he didn’t. It had hurt Tony then. Doubtlessly it hurt him even more now.

“He called you his greatest creation.”

Tony’s bark of laughter was a bitter, fragile thing.

“I guess he meant that literally.”

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“Where’s Tony?”

Winter glanced up from the kitchen table, where he was searching for answers in the wood grain. He hadn’t noticed Steve coming back.

“In the workshop. He’ll probably be down there for a while. Best to leave him alone for now, if you’re looking for him.”

Steve gave him an odd look, clearly sensing that something wasn’t quite right, but ignored it. Winter was betting he had something specific on his mind.

“No, uh, actually I wanted to talk to you. Privately. So that works for me.”

Winter really hoped this wasn’t going to be another emotional conversation like the one they’d had with Dum Dum earlier. He really didn’t think he could handle that twice in one day.

“Sure. You wanna talk in the back yard?”

It would be more private there, even if the yard wasn’t that big. Steve gave him a grateful smile.

“That’d be great.”

They headed out back, the neighbor’s dog barking the instant they set foot outside despite the fact that it couldn’t see them over the fence.

“So what is it you wanted to talk about?”

“Remember the conversation we had on the phone? About how I don’t really know where my life is going right now?” Winter nodded to indicate he did. “Well, it was prompted by a conversation I had a few weeks before that. With Director Fury.”

“You’ve been in contact with Fury? I didn’t know that.”

“Not regularly, by any means. We’ve talked a couple times, is all. He wants me to join SHIELD. He thinks I could do a lot with them.”

Winter scowled. He liked Fury alright, he supposed, but he certainly didn’t trust the guy. He definitely didn’t trust the WSC.

“And what do you think?” he asked instead.

This was Steve’s decision. Winter would tell him what he thought if Steve asked, but it wasn’t up to Winter in the end.

“I’m not sure,” Steve admitted. “I mean, he makes it sound good but…I’m not cut out for any kind of spy work. That’s not me.”

“It’s a shame,” Winter teased. “Face like yours and you could charm just about anybody.”

Steve rolled his eyes.

“It’s tempting, though. He’s talking about aiming me more toward black ops kind of missions. It’d be a lot like what we did with the Commandos.”

Winter supposed he could see the appeal of that, the desire for the familiar. In Steve’s shoes, he might be strongly drawn to the same.

“So is that what you want to do, then?”

Steve gave him a sheepish grin.

“A little? I don’t know. I want more information about what I would be getting into first. After some of the stories Clint, Nat, and Tony have told me about SHIELD…”

Winter snorted.

“Yeah. I don’t see Fury handing out too much information about his black ops missions before he’s got you signed on. He might make an exception for you, though. You never know.”

“Right. Well, I actually have a meeting with him tomorrow. Outside of SHIELD. I was hoping you might join us.”

Winter’s eyebrows rose is disbelief.

“You do realize that’s going to make him far less likely to tell you anything, right?”

“But you know him better than I do. He can’t play you. I just,” Steve heaved a sigh, “I’d feel a lot better about it if you were there with me.”

“Yeah, of course.” Winter bumped their shoulders together. “You know I’m with you, Stevie. Till the end of the line.”

The blonde’s return smile was damn near blinding as he threw his arms around Winter.

“Thanks,” his voice was muffled by his face being buried in Winters neck but the soldier just hugged him right back.

“No problem. Now, you wanna go back inside? I think we’re gonna give that poor dog a heart attack.”

Steve’s answering laugh was weak at best.

“Yeah. He seems a little anxious.”

They turned to head in.

“I’m just glad he wasn’t here the first time I followed Tony here. I had to break in one of the basement windows so Peggy wouldn’t see me. I never would have managed it with that beast on patrol.”

This time, Steve’s laugh was stronger.

“You never told me about that. What happened?”

“I didn’t? You’ll love it. Tony threw a wrench at my head.”

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“Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

Tony rolled his eyes in the face of Winter’s concern. His own face was haggard, though, and he had bags under his eyes from not sleeping a wink the night before. It wasn’t the worst Winter had seen him, but it wasn’t great either.

“I’ll be fine, mom,” the man quipped. “It’s okay for you to make a run to the grocery store.”

Winter resisted the urge to sigh. He knew all about Tony’s tendency to lash out when he was hurting, but he just wished the man could be straight with him.

“I’m just worried about you. I want to be here for you if you need me. You know I wouldn’t be able to stand it if I weren’t.”

Tony finally turned away from his computer to face Winter, standing up to press in close and lean his head against Winter’s shoulder. The ex-assassin wrapped his arms around Tony tightly, holding him as close as he could.

“I know,” the genius said. “But what I need right now more than anything else are answers.”

Winter frowned.

“I thought you didn’t want to know.”

“I don’t,” Tony spat bitterly. “But Dum Dum was right. I do need to know. Finding out about that Recorder changes a lot of things. I’m seeing what I can do about it.”

Winter glanced at the screens Tony had been working with, but couldn’t make heads or tails of anything there. He hadn’t really expected to.

“What are you working on?”

Tony lifted his head off of Winter’s shoulder as if it were a great weight, turning back to his screens and plopping down in his chair.

“Loki didn’t exactly leave behind a way to get in contact when he left, but he’s the only person out there I trust with a capability of travel between planets or realms or whatever you want to call them. I’m seeing if I can find him, or at least let him know that I’m looking for him so that he can find me.”

Winter couldn’t even imagine how complicated all of that must be.

“What about Thor?”

Tony snorted.

“Despite him being on Asgard and therefor also out of contact, I don’t exactly feel keen on trusting him with something like this. The guy’s great for a party, I’m sure, but I doubt he knows much about how to fix any problem he can’t just swing his hammer at.”

Winter couldn’t say he much disagreed.

“Do you think he’ll help? Loki, I mean? He went pretty far to make sure people thought he was dead. Seems to me he wouldn’t be keen on doing anything that might reveal his living status.”

“Maybe.” Tony shrugged. “But I don’t exactly have a lot of options. We’ll see what happens. You’re going out with Steve, right?”

“Yeah, to see Fury.”

Tony’s nose wrinkled, and Winter was glad to see even that much animation back on his face.

“Well that’s going to be an exciting get together.”

Winter’s lips quirked upward.

“I’ll give you the play by play when I get back.”

He leaned down to give Tony a quick peck on the lips.

“Don’t be gone too long.”

Tony’s eyes were wide and pleading. Winter’s heart melted just a little bit. Tony was so strong all the time, it was hard to see him be anything less.

“Never,” he promised. “I’ll always come back to you as soon as I can manage. You should know that by now.”

Tony turned back to his computers, this time sporting a bit of a smile.

“Of course I do. Doesn’t make it any less nice to hear you say it.”

Winter dropped a kiss to the top of Tony’s head before heading back upstairs.

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“He’s late. Is he usually this late?”

Winter leaned back in his seat with a huff of air. Steve was practically vibrating in his chair across the table. He’d always been like that, though, even back in the day when he was waiting on an appointment with his doctor.

“Usually. Fury likes to make people wait. It puts him in control of the situation. Never really worked with Tony, though.”

Steve quirked a smile.

“I would imagine not. Tony’s never really seemed like the kind of guy to let someone else be in control.”

“Not like that. Tony just always managed to be later than Fury.”

That earned him a chuckle.

“I guess I can see that, too. Is he…okay?”

They apparently had reached the point where Steve could no longer pretend that something wasn’t going on. Bucky grimaced and took another sip of his coffee to buy himself time. Tony wouldn’t want word getting out about his newly discovered background, even if it was to a member of the team.

“It’s tough on him being in that house again, especially for the holidays. He’s missing Peggy a lot.”

It wasn’t a total lie. Tony was feeling the loss of his aunt pretty keenly. It just wasn’t what was driving him to isolation at the moment. A pained look crossed Steve’s face.

“Yeah, I…I can see that. I guess I just don’t associate that house with her quite as much.”

“Of course not, Stevie. You didn’t grow up with her there. You don’t have the emotional attachment that Tony does. This is his first major holiday back there without her, though. That’d be hard on anybody.”

Steve nodded solemnly.

“You’re right. Do you think it would help if he called her? I called for Christmas but she wasn’t having one of her good days. Maybe she’s doing a bit better now.”

Winter shrugged with only one shoulder. Conversations with Peggy were tricky, especially over the phone. Her memory was deteriorating nearly as quickly as her body was. The times when she could remember who Tony was were heartbreaking, the times where she couldn’t were even more so.

“I don’t know. We’ll see, I guess. Maybe if I give her a call first.” Winter glanced out the window to see a sleek, black SUV with tented widows pull into the spot closest to the door. “We’ll have to continue this later. Looks like Fury’s here.”

Steve’s head popped up and swiveled toward the window, too, watching as Fury stepped out of the SUV and headed toward the door. A panhandler who was sitting outside with a little cardboard sign asking for money grabbed the edge of his leather coat as he passed. Fury tugged it sharply from the man’s grip as he sent a glare his way. They exchanged a few words before Fury turned away again. The panhandler shot forward to grab Fury’s ankle and both Winter and Steve were instantly on their feet. They didn’t even make it to the door before the explosion shook the building.

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Winter coughed violently, which may or may not have been what brought him back to awareness. Dust was heavy in the air, so heavy he was nearly choking on it. His ears rang, all the noise around him muffled behind it. He could hear shouting, though, and tried to roll over onto his back. His side hurt and when he lifted his hand away from it, his hand was covered in blood. How had that happened?

He and Steve had been talking in the café, waiting for Fury to arrive. They hadn’t even been there that long, only about fifteen minutes. Fury had pulled up and there’d been a man talking to him. What kind of guy decided it was good idea to just strike up a conversation with Fury of all people? Something had been off about the whole thing. Winter and Steve had gotten up to help and then…something must have happened.

Winter tried to look around him. Steve had to be somewhere close by. He’d been right behind Winter. There was no way he could be far off. God, had he been hurt? Winter needed to find him. He needed to call Tony, too, or the genius would worry. But he needed to find Steve first. Where had Steve gone?

Winter was just trying to push himself up to go find his friend when someone slammed down next to him in a kneeling position, arms wrapping around his shoulders to help him sit up. The change in elevation made his head throb and he had to squeeze his eyes shut. He pressed both of his hands against in skull to try and keep it from bursting open. It definitely felt like it was about to burst open.

Someone was talking to him, calling his name. It was still muddled, like Winter was hearing it from underwater, but he tried to find the source of it. He squinted his eyes open just the barest hint and then suddenly Steve was there, an arm wrapped around Winter and looking at him with more than a bit of fear in those blue eyes.

“I’m fine,” Winter tried to say, but it must not have come out quite right because Steve was suddenly looking that much more worried.

There was dirt and grime smeared across Steve’s face and Winter spotted blood on the side of his head when Steve turned to look behind him. Then Steve was pulling Winter to his feet, manhandling him out of the remains of the café and toward the car they’d come in, Tony’s car. He leant Winter against the side of it and made a hand motion for him to stay where he was before running back into the building. Winter managed to stay upright for a few seconds before sliding down the side of the car until his ass met concrete.

He could see Steve rushing in and out of the building, either carrying out the injured or helping them walk out on their own. It seemed, at least, that no one was too terribly hurt. Well, except for whoever that poor bastard was who was splattered all over the sidewalk. A vibrating in Winter’s pocket distracted him and he fumbled for his phone, pulling it out with clumsy fingers. Tony’s smiling face lit up the screen. It took about three tries for Winter to manage to unlock it.

Winter still couldn’t hear very well over the ringing, but he pressed the phone as close to his ear as possible, reveling in even just the distant sound of Tony’s voice. There was a frantic edge to it, which Winter couldn’t quite puzzle out, but at least it was there. Winter let his eyes slip shut as he listened to that voice.

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Winter woke up again what had to be hours later. His head and his side hurt by equal measure and his mouth felt like something had curled up in it and died. It took a few blinks to clear his vision but once he could see again, he realized he was in the bedroom of Tony’s D.C. mansion. How had he gotten here?

“Good evening,” JARVIS’s soothing voice came from above. Winter hadn’t realized how much he’d missed it. “Sir has already been alerted that you are awake and is heading to your location now. How are you feeling?”

Winter groaned as he painstakingly pushed himself up to lean against the bed’s army of pillows.

“Like I got hit by a truck.”

The sound of pounding footsteps on the stairs and down the hallway heralded Tony’s approach better than a chorus of trumpets ever could. The genius burst through the door just moments later, pulling up short next to bed and panting heavily.

“JARVIS said you were awake. Are you okay? How do you feel? Are you still in pain?”

Winter smiled up at him softly before reaching out and pulling Tony down onto the bed with him, the younger man nestling up to Winter’s uninjured side.

“My head and my side hurt like a bitch and my memory of what happened is a bit fuzzy but other than that, I’m fine. Why are we back at the mansion?”

“Better security. The news is calling it at possible terrorist attack. There was some kind of bombing at the café you and Steve were at. There was nothing between you and the window when the blast hit so a bunch of glass cut up your side pretty good.” A shadow passed over Tony’s face. “I got there in time to get you so Steve rode to the hospital with Fury. He didn’t make it. My theory is that he was the intended target all along.”

Images suddenly flashed behind Winter’s eyes of Fury stepping out of his SUV, of the bum grabbing hold of Fury’s jacket. Suddenly, he felt sick.

“Oh, God. We were right there. We were so close. We should have been able to stop it. They were targeting him. There was this guy out front. He looked homeless. Steve gave him a twenty on the way inside.”

Tony wiggled impossibly closer.

“It’s not your fault. There was no way you could have stopped what happened. I’ve got some evidence from the scene. I haven’t been able to identify what kind of explosives they used yet, but it was powerful stuff. They would have set it off either way. If you’d gotten close enough, you could have died, too.” Tony sounded upset. “That serum doesn’t make you indestructible, you know. Even with your accelerated healing, you’re still gonna be in bed for another day at least.”

Winter pressed a kiss to Tony’s hair.

“I hope I can at least negotiate being able to move down to the couch in your lab.”

It was a weak joke at best, and his attempt at humor fell well short of its mark all around. However, it was also a coping mechanism they were both quite familiar with.

“I suppose so, but not until tomorrow at least. You need your rest. I can, however, compromise on helping you to the living room.”

Winter hummed, not wanting to argue the point and figuring Tony wasn’t going anywhere anyway.

“Is Dum Dum here, too?” he asked instead.

“Yeah. I’ve got him set up in his usual guestroom. And I’ve spoken to Natasha. She’ll be coming over. You know she and Fury were close.”

Winter nodded. Clint and Fury were the two who had really pulled Natasha out of the KGB all those years ago, though it had taken a long time before Winter was trusted enough to hear any of those stories. Losing the Director would be hard on her.

“And Clint?”

“Not sure. He’s been radio silent for the past couple of weeks. I assume it’s for a mission. There’s no way to even know if he’s heard about the bombing yet. I left a message on his phone, though. He’s free to show up if he cares to. Everyone else is staying in England, as far as I can tell.”

Everyone else being Bruce, Yinsen, and Ivan, Winter presumed.

“Any idea who’s behind it yet?”

Tony’s expression pinched.

“Not yet, but I’m working on it. The trace evidence I’ve found so far is like nothing I’ve ever seen. These people aren’t amateurs, whoever they are. And if they went through all of this effort, I also doubt they’re anywhere near done.”

Winter grimaced.

“We’ll find them, whatever it takes. Can we expect SHIELD to cooperate?”

“I’ve already reached out to them, but it’s too soon to tell. It all depends on how the power struggle leans. If Hill winds up in charge, she’ll work with us no problem. If Pierce comes out on top, though…He’ll either refuse or try to strong arm us into doing it on his terms. He never was a fan of Fury keeping me on as a consultant.”

Winter hummed and nodded.

“Let’s hope for Maria, then.”

“Yeah,” Tony sent him a little smile. “For now, though, sleep. You need your rest and it’s been too long since the last time I slept. JARVIS will let us know when Natasha and Cap get here.”

Winter, amazingly enough, still felt tired. He settled in a little more without argument.

“Did you manage to get in touch with Loki?”

He felt more than saw the way Tony shrugged in response.

“I’ve put a few things out there. Nothing much to do now but wait.”

Winter let a beat of silence pass between them, then, “I love you.”

Chapped lips pressed a kiss to his jaw.

“Yeah. I love you, too.”

It didn’t take Winter long to drift back off after that.

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Natasha arrived first, with a lightly packed bag and harrowed eyes. Clint was hovering behind her. Dum Dum had already let them in by the time Tony and Winter managed to drag themselves downstairs, Winter leaning heavily on Tony in order to make it.

“Hey,” Clint greeted. “I got your message.”

Tony gave him a hint of a smile.

“Glad you could make it.”

There wasn’t discussion as they all headed for the living room. Winter needed to sit down, his side making itself known in the most unpleasant of ways. Dum Dum headed into the kitchen on the pretense of grabbing them some food. Natasha, the most, looked like she needed it. Probably a stiff drink, too. Tony fetched her one of those from the bar in the corner, straight vodka.

“Any news?” Winter asked them, hoping they might have more up to date information.

“SHIELD doesn’t have a damn thing,” Clint growled. “The techs are going over everything, but if they haven’t found anything by now…”

“Whoever did this was smart,” Tony said as he flopped back down at Winter’s side. “They’d have to be to pull something like this off, but it’s more than that. Have they at least found the device that set off the explosion? I didn’t have time to look for it while I was there.”

Natasha made an ugly, wounded kind of noise.

“They found nothing,” she hissed. “They’ve cordoned off the scene for a more detailed search, but it’s a formality at best.”

Tony frowned.

“That’s not possible. Every explosive, no matter how weak or powerful, is going to leave fragments behind.”

And SHIELD had gotten there before Tony had. There was no way anyone could have gotten in and cleaned up before they had a chance to secure the area. Natasha took a huge gulp of vodka and glared.

“The only fragments left were of that ublyudok who killed Nick.”

Tony froze beside him and Winter knew he’d caught onto something.

“Do you…” he trailed off, biting his lip.

Winter shifted closer to him while Clint and Natasha looked on speculatively.

“What did you just think of?” he asked quietly.

Tony’s brow furrowed and he fidgeted.

“It could be nothing,” he made a little non-committal gesture with his shoulders, “could be something. I don’t know.”

Natasha leaned forward, the glass of vodka finding its way back onto the coffee table as she propped her elbows on her knees.

“What do you need?”

Tony hesitated, then straightened as he steeled his resolve.

“I need all the body parts of the guy who blew himself up.”

Natasha’s eyebrows rose while Clint’s nose wrinkled.

“What?” the archer asked. “Do you think the fragments are going to be in him or something?”

“Could be,” Tony hedged. “I don’t know. But if there were no traces of the device at the scene then they have to be somewhere. At the very least, the body could give us a clue.” He dragged a hand over his face. “God, I hate dealing with bodies.”

Natasha was already on her feet and heading for the door.

“I’ll get you what you need, see if I can bring Steve back with me, too. They were still asking him questions by the time I left.”

Tony grimaced.

“Right. Yeah. Back to work. J? Did you manage to dig up any security footage while we were sleeping?”

“As requested, Sir, I collected all available footage from cameras in the area. However, there is a store diagonally across the street that my research indicates has analog cameras. I was unable to gain access to these files.”

Clint stood, this time.

“I’ll handle it. You concentrate on whatever you need to do here.”

He headed out of the room just as Dum Dum reappeared, a plate piled with sandwiches in hand.

“Everybody cleared out already?”

Tony smiled tiredly.

“Sorry. They’ll be back soon enough.”

Dum Dum sighed.

“I assume you’re headed down to the lab then.”

Winter looped an arm around Tony’s shoulders as the genius helped him stand.

“And I doubt we’ll be coming back up for a while.”

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Hours later, Clint had returned with stolen video tapes from the store across from the café, but Natasha and Steve had yet to check in. Winter, Tony, and Clint were biding their time all holed up in the lab, scanning the footage for any hint of something being off.

“You know,” Tony commented off handedly, “this kind of reminds me of that time I was dying and SHIELD sent over all that stuff for us to go through.”

Clint let out a grumble of discontent.

“Yeah. I’m still pissed off about that, I’ll have you know. I mean, seriously, dude! How could you not tell me you were dying? Does the Bro Code mean nothing to you?”

“Sorry, you weren’t exactly my priority at the time.”

Clint pouted.

“Yeah, well, the next time you’re dying, I’d appreciate a heads up.”

“If it’s all the same to everyone, I’d just prefer Tony didn’t do any dying at all,” Winter cut in.

“Fair enough,” the genius tilted his head in Winter’s direction. “Not dying sounds like a great idea.”

“Hey, I didn’t say I wanted you to kick the bucket. I was just kind of banking on the inevitability. I mean, come on, with your track record, can you really blame me?”

Winter scowled.

“I can.”

Tony snorted.

“I will have you know that my track record is for getting myself out of impossible situations, thank you very much.”

Winter could practically hear how hard Clint was rolling his eyes.

“I’m pretty sure if you ask around at SHIELD, that’s not what people are gonn-“

“There!” Tony shot forward, pointing at something on the screen, which JARVIS had dutifully paused. “Did either of you see that?”

The frame currently showed the beginnings of the explosion, the man’s clothing bulging and beginning to tear. Winter squinted.

“What exactly are we supposed to be seeing?”

“JARVIS, rewind…three seconds. Replay in slow motion.”

The video restarted at the moment the homeless man latched on to Fury’s ankle. It played for barely a second before Tony was calling for it to pause.

“Zoom in on his wrist.”

As soon as he knew where he was supposed to be looking, Winter spotted it.

“His hand is…glowing?”

Clint was scowling at the screen like it’d personally insulted him.

“Look, I know we’ve seen a lot of crazy things, especially lately, but really? What exactly are you saying this means, Tony?”

The genius was looking just as unhappy as Clint was.

“It means that this guy didn’t just have the bomb wrapped around him under his jacket. Hell, he didn’t even have it implanted inside of him.” A shadow passed across his face. “He is the bomb.”

Winter stiffened, the implications of that kind of technology swirling around in his head.

“They could get a bomb in wherever they wanted.”

“Unless it’s somehow detectable.” Tony was off across the lab, already working on several things at once. “I really need that body. J, check on Natasha and Captain Boy Scout, would you? I need to call Brucie. And Yinsen. They’re better at this squishy science thing. Go ahead and prep the jet, too, J. I want them here as soon as possible.”

“At once, Sir. It appears that neither Agent Romanov nor Captain Rogers have their phones turned on. Shall I continue to attempt contact along these lines or would you like me to hack into SHIELD to obtain their whereabouts?”

“Is that even a question? You’re the best, J.”

“As always, Sir, I am simply what my creator made me to be.”

“What can we do?” Clint asked, even as Tony pressed his cell phone to his ear.

“See if you can’t get some of your contacts over at SHIELD to shuffle files your way. Anything that could be related to this. JARVIS can go through them and narrow down the ones for us to focus on. Winter,” he gave the man a firm glare, “you rest. No back talk.”

A grin tugged at Winter’s lips.

“Aye, aye, Captain.”

“Good. Let’s get to-Brucie! Hey! How are you? Listen, I’ve got something I need you to take a look at.”

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“Excuse me, Sir, but there appears to have been some sort of altercation on the SHIELD premises. Their systems are indicating that both Agent Romanov and Captain Rogers have been added to the top of SHIELD’s wanted list.”

Winter’s head jerked up from where he’d been dozing as Tony cursed.

“Where’s Clint? Is he anywhere near SHIELD?”

“Not even close,” Clint cut in as he strolled into the workshop. “One of the techs I was talking to gave me a heads up on the way over so I turned back around. Apparently Pierce is calling for a manhunt. He’s claiming Natasha and Steve are withholding information regarding Fury’s death.” He growled viciously. “He all but came out and said he thinks Natasha was involved.”

“Are you fucking serious? Natasha would never do anything against Fury! That’s like saying she’d take a hit out on you!”

“And most of SHIELD knows that, but Pierce is bowling his way right on in there and taking charge.”

Tony was starting to look seriously pissed off.

“What’s Maria doing? Standing around with her thumb up her ass? She should be putting a stop to this.”

“Look, I don’t know!” Clint snapped. “I don’t have all the answers, okay? But we need to find Steve and Natasha before it’s too late. We’ve gotta get to them before SHIELD does.”

“Steve’s got an apartment in the city,” Winter supplied, “but I’d doubt he’d go there. Even with a fake name, SHIELD would be able to find it without much trouble.”

“And they’re not gonna come here,” Tony sighed. “Neither of them would risk getting us pulled into this. Do you think they really have something? They might be following a lead at the same time as they run.”

Clint groaned.

“If they are, it’ll be next to impossible for us to track them down.”

“At least the same can be said for SHIELD. Bruce and Yinsen will be here tomorrow but if I can’t get an actual body for them to look at, the best we can do is come up with theories. That’s not going to get us very far.”

“Is there a way for you to get in touch with Nat without SHIELD knowing about it?” Winter asked Clint.

“I’ve left some messages for her in our private channels. I don’t know if she’ll take the risk of responding, though.”

Tony let out an irritated-sounding growl.

“This whole thing stinks to me. Something’s not right here. If Steve and Natasha do have information on Fury’s killer and they’re not telling SHIELD, then they’ve got a damn good reason for it and it’s more than just me wanting to take a look at the body.”

“Whoever had Fury killed must be manipulating the situation somehow.”

Winter stared at the both of them.

“You think they’ve got someone inside SHIELD?”

Clint shrugged.

“It’d be difficult as all Hell, but not impossible. It could be just as easily they’re manipulating it from the outside as well, making it look like SHIELD needs to focus on Steve and Natasha so they’re less likely to see the real threat.”

“It sounds like everybody could use a bit of a distraction,” Tony said thoughtfully.

Winter knew that tone of voice.

“Tony, no. Don’t you dare.”

“Steve and Natasha need our help, Winter, and I am not letting the fucker who got Fury killed get away with this. I’m just not.”

Winter struggled to sit up further. His side was feeling better, but that didn’t mean everything was roses. At least his head had stopped hurting.

“That doesn’t mean you have to paint a target on your own back! I can’t do much to protect you right now, Tony, and I know you don’t need to protection, but these people got to Fury.” He knew he sounded desperate. “Fury, Tony. What makes you think they can’t get to you, too?”

The genius’s jaw clenched.

“Maybe they can, maybe they can’t. All I know is that I can’t let them get to Steve or Natasha.”

“And I can’t let them get to you!” Winter cried. “How long do we have to know each other before you get that through your thick skull? I love you, Tony, and if they take you out I will die in the flames I use to burn them to the ground.”

His voice was like rough gravel by the end of it, but Tony’s shoulder’s had sagged. The genius dragged himself over to the couch, dropping down beside it to lay his head against Winter’s stomach.

“I’m sorry. We’ll think of something else.”

Winter sank one hand into brunette locks and made no comment as Clint slipped quietly out of the room.

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Bruce and Yinsen still hadn’t arrived yet when JARVIS alerted them to something on the news they had to see. He brought up a screen to reveal a grainy, dark video. It looked more like a cheesy Hollywood set than anything else, especially when a man swept regally in to take his place atop a grand chair he clearly thought of as a throne. ‘The Mandarin’ he called himself. He took credit for the bombing that had killed Fury.

“Nowhere is safe,” he told the camera. “Even a tiny little neighborhood café. Where are your heroes now, America?”

It hadn’t gotten out to the media that Captain America had been in that little café and that was the way it should be. That would only excite the situation more. Tony scowled at the screen.

“Who the Hell is this jerk off? I’ve never even heard of him and I had Level 7 clearance before I left SHIELD. That wasn’t just some random attack. They targeted Fury. They knew he was going to be there and they waited for him. No way somebody just pops out of the woodwork and can pull off something like that.”

“I haven’t heard of him either,” Clint stated. His gaze slid over to Winter. “Did HYDRA have anything on him? If he was deep underground, really deep, it’s theoretically possible SHIELD could have missed him.”

Winter shrugged.

“I was never told more than I needed to know for the mission. There wasn’t much of a point to telling me any more when they were just going to wipe me again anyway. I don’t remember anyone by that moniker, though. Could it be someone who’s been around a while just taking on a new name? Or partnering with someone? There’s even the possibility he had nothing to do with it and is just taking the credit for the name recognition.”

Tony let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a snarl as he turned away from them. He made a few gestures for JARVIS to bring up additional screens as he started inputting information at a rapid pace.

“Whoever he is, I’m going to find that son of a bitch. Even if he’s not responsible for Fury’s death, he’s making me pretty pissed off just taking credit for it.” His face was hard. “We’ll keep him around for Nat. She’ll want him, in the end.”

Even with everything he had done, Winter still felt a bit sorry for the man. The Black Widow wouldn’t rush and certainly wouldn’t let him off with anything less than what she felt he deserved. Poor bastard would know exactly what was coming for him, too. She’d make sure of it.

“Keep your tracks neat on this one,” Clint warned. “You can bet your ass that SHIELD will be looking for this guy, too, and they’ll have no problems coming after you if they think you might have answers.”

Tony’s gaze darted over toward Winter, no doubt remembering his earlier promise. His lips thinned in thought.

“We need to get in touch with Coulson or Maria.”

“Maria, maybe. But Coulson’s not going to happen. He’s off in a deep cover assignment in Tahiti.”

Tony’s expression only soured more.

“Of course he is. Are we talking Tahiti or are we talking ‘Tahiti’?” The difference in emphasis was clear in his voice. Clint just gave him a sideways look that gave all the answers either of them needed. “Dammit. Perfect fucking timing, Coulson.”

“We’re just playing catch up right now,” Winter cut in. “We need to get ahead of this thing if we want any hope of helping Natasha and Steve or coming out on top.”

Tony let out a huff of air, seeming to deflate as his shoulders sagged.

“Right. You’re right. Sorry.” Hands rubbed roughly over Tony’s face. “Maria it is, then. I’ll give her a call.”

He walked away with his phone to his ear, leaving Clint and Bucky alone.  Clint snagged a sandwich off the platter Dum Dum had brought down earlier.

“So how’re you feeling? You’re moving better.”

Winter shuffled over from his sprawling lounge to give Clint room to sit with him on the couch. The archer offered him a sandwich as thanks.

“The stitches in my side came out this morning,” Winter accepted the sandwich and lifted his shirt to show the healing wounds off to Clint. “I should be all healed up by tomorrow. I’m only still on this couch because of Tony.”

Clint smirked.

“He really cares about you.”

Winter’s gaze followed Tony as he passed back and forth on the other end of the lab, apparently redialing after Maria didn’t pick up the first time.

“He cares about all of us. Trust me. He’d be just as bad if it were any of the rest of the team that got hurt. We’re his family and there’s nothing more important to Tony than family.”

The hard angles of Clint’s face softened just a bit, his pointed ears twitching.

“It’s good to have a family.”

Winter smiled.

“Yeah. Yeah, it is…so let’s make sure ours is taken care of.”

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They still hadn’t managed to get in touch with Maria by the time Bruce and Yinsen arrived, both looking harried and bewildered.

“I’m not even sure I want to know how you managed to get us cleared to fly, Tony,” Bruce said as he set his bag down. He had a box tucked under one arm that looked just a bit too big for him to be able to comfortably carry. Winter relieved him of it quickly. “That was on your doorstep, by the way. Figured I’d bring it in for you.”

The box was on the floor in milliseconds, scooted as far away from the group as possible.

“J, get me some scans!”

“Already in progress, Sir.”

Dum Dum appeared in the entry to the living room as they all waited in tense silence for the results of JARVIS’s scans.

“I am unable to detect any possible dangers inside of the box, Sir. It appears to contain organic materials.”

With what little they knew about the bomb that’d killed Fury, that wasn’t very comforting. Tony scowled.

“Suit, J.”

Tony’s armor was clunking up the stairs less than a minute later, peeling itself open so that Tony could slip inside. Winter felt like every muscle in his body was tense.

“You don’t have to do this.”

“The suit gives me more protection than anybody else here has besides Bruce. Now get back. All of you.”

Dum Dum grunted and gestured to them.

“Into the living room. All of these walls are reinforced. If something does happen, it’ll be safer in there.”

Winter ground his teeth together.

“I’m not going.”

Yinsen’s hand settled on his arm.

“Come, Winter. Do not make this more difficult. He is worried enough as it is.”

Even as every fiber of his being screamed for him not to, Winter gave in and followed the others into the living room. He still took up a post at the door to keep an eye on Tony, though. The genius approached the box slowly, kneeling down beside it in a way that blocked Winter’s view. He listened carefully to the sounds of tape being cut and the flaps of the box being lifted. There was a beat of silence and then, “Natasha, you saint!”

Tony was skipping into the living room moments later, armor removed and box held in his arms like a trophy.

“Guess what Natasha sent me,” he sing-songed gleefully.

One of Bruce’s eyebrows rose.

“I’m guessing not a bomb?”

“Well, technically…”

Clint clapped his hands together like an excited child.

“Body parts! She got you the body parts!”

Bruce’s eyes were huge.

“Natasha sent you body parts?”

“Huh,” Dum Dum said as he rubbed his chin. “I thought it was illegal to send human remains through the mail.”

Tony grinned as he flounced across the room to plunk the box down on the coffee table.

“It is. This was sent through a private courier service. Now, there’s not much. The box is mostly packaging, but I think there’s enough here for us to work with.”

Bruce seemed to be struggling either with his shock or the Hulk so it was Yinsen who took on the job of asking the pertinent questions.

“What exactly is going on here, Tony? You didn’t give us many details before we got on the plane. What have you discovered about the attack?”

“Okay, so, short version. The security footage of the bombing showed me some interesting details of the event. There was no residue or bomb fragments left behind at the scene, which should be impossible. So Clint, Winter, and I are watching all the security tapes we can get our hands on and it turns out that the guy outside was the origin of the bomb. Like, he was the bomb. His skin started glowing and everything before he went kaboom. I’ve got everything set up in the lab.”

“You believe the bomb was somehow a part of him? Like a virus carried through the bloodstream?”

Tony grinned.

“You see why I needed you two here. This is really not my area of expertise.”

“You know,” Bruce sighed, having apparently finally collected himself, “I never used to have to deal with this kind of thing back before I met any of you.”

“Maybe,” Tony allowed. “But life sure is a lot more interesting these days, isn’t it?”

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Tony, Bruce, and Yinsen stayed down in the lab for hours studying the remains of the body Natasha had sent. How she’d managed to get it out of SHIELD in the first place with everything going on, Winter would never know. He was glad she had, though, because it gave them that much more of an advantage towards figuring out what was going on. Clint was gone, too. He’d heard from one of the lab techs in SHIELD that they had information to pass on to him so he’d gone to meet up. Winter had offered to go with him but there would’ve been nothing for him to do. Instead, he found himself patrolling the grounds of Tony’s mansion.

It wasn’t that he thought anyone would actually try to get in. Even if they did, JARVIS had every inch of the place covered with surveillance. No one would be able to get in unnoticed. Still, it was almost relaxing for Winter to go through the familiar process of checking out each vantage point and ensuring that all the security measures were still working. It gave him a sense of purpose, like he was actually contributing to the team. It killed him that he couldn’t be more actively useful at the moment. It was just that there wasn’t anything for him to do. He was no good with the science aspect and he didn’t exactly have any contacts he could reach out to.

He was just rounding the second corner of the mansion’s exterior when his phone vibrated in his pocket. The caller ID said ‘Unknown’ and considering that Winter could count the numbers in his phone on his fingers, he was immediately on edge. He swiped his thumb across the screen to answer as he held the phone up to his ear.

“…Hello?”

“Winter? It’s Hill. I need you to listen to me carefully.”

Winter felt his spine straighten. Maria sounded strained and she was keeping her voice low, almost as if she didn’t want to be overheard.

“Tell me what’s going on. Do you need an extraction?”

He might not know Maria very well, but that didn’t mean he was just going to leave her to whatever mess she’d found herself in. With everything that’d been happening, he was sure it wouldn’t be good.

“I’m exactly where I need to be. SHIELD is going after Steve and Natasha and I need to be able to get them out. Listen, Winter, the bomb that took out Director Fury? It wasn’t a bomb. There’s a group called AIM, Advanced Idea Mechanics, that was developing a technology to create a new batch of super soldiers. They’re led by a man named Aldrich Killien. He tried to get into SHIELD a few years ago. I was in the meeting. The stuff he showed us? It could be weaponized to do exactly what just happened. They were having trouble with test subjects overheating,” she said with clear disgust. “They’d literally explode.”

“I’ll make sure Tony knows. If you need anything, you know how to contact me.”

“It was risky enough contacting you the once. You, at least, I might be able to get away with. If I called Tony I’d have the world falling down around my ears. If I call you again, it’s either because shit has already hit the fan or because we may actually have a way to stop this shit storm.”

“Is there a way for me to contact you? In case we figure something out on our end?”

Winter doubted it, but it never hurt to ask.

“Not without blowing my cover wide open. Just do what you have to do. I’ll worry about me.” She paused. “If you absolutely have to get in touch, call me and I’ll try to call you back when I can.”

Winter thought about telling her something like, “Good luck,” but couldn’t quite seem to make himself.

“We’ll do what we can,” he said instead. He hated how it sounded like he thought he’d never see her again.

Maria hung up without a goodbye of her own. Winter wondered whether or not she thought she’d be getting out of there alive. That more than anything else convinced him that the situation was even worse then they’d already thought. Which, considering how bad they already thought it was, was pretty damn fucked. He turned on his heel to head back into the mansion. The perimeter would have to wait. Clint was still out, of course, but the others were all in the basement. Winter nodded to Dum Dum on the way down.

“He’s trying to stay out of the way,” Tony said as soon as his uncle was out of sight, and earshot. “As much as he’s willing to help, this kind of thing just isn’t for him anymore.” He frowned. “He’s feeling his age.”

Winter nodded.

“It’s hard to imagine.” But he had news, and couldn’t put off sharing it. “I just spoke to Maria.”

Three sets of eyes were on him in an instant.

“What? When?”

“Just a few minutes ago while I was outside. She said it was safer for her to call me than to call you and she had information that had to be passed on. She said the attack was by a group called Advanced Idea Mechanics and that the leader was-“

“Aldrich Killien.”

Winter froze at Tony’s growled words.

“You know him?”

“Unfortunately. He’s not as bad as Hammer, but he used to follow me from convention to convention. Anywhere I was scheduled to speak or give a presentation, he’d find some way to get in. AIM was his baby, some sort of think tank. He wanted me to join. It’s been years since I’ve seen him, though…God, six, maybe? Seven? Last time I saw him was in Switzerland, I think. I can’t be sure.”

Yinsen looked thoughtful.

“I believe I remember meeting him once as well. He had a very bad limp, yes? A birth defect?”

Tony nodded.

“He had a twisted spine, I think.”

“Yes…It was the same convention where I met you, actually. No doubt he was there to see you as well, if he followed you so fervently. I was speaking to another scientist when he approached us…what was her name? Ah! Maya Hansen!”

Tony froze, then cursed loudly.

“Fuck! Fucking fuck, fuck, fuck!”

“What is it?”

Tony was already flying at one of the holo-screens, typing in commands frantically.

“I should have realized sooner. Dammit, how could I miss this?”

“Tony!” Winter barked, finally catching his attention. “What’s happening?”

“Extremis,” Tony growled. “It was Maya’s main focus, her life’s work if you will. She was working with plants, though. But if the formula were given to humans…”

Tanned fingers manipulated the holo-screens with expert skill.

“So you think this Maya Hansen has something to do with all this?”

“Not willingly, but she was always a bit more trusting that she should have been. Maya…” Tony’s tone turned almost wistful, “She saw the world as a better place than you or I could ever believe it to be. She wanted to develop Extremis as a way to help the environment. I remember how she used to go on and on about the destruction of the rainforest and how much was being lost every single day. She had a lot of passion.”

Winter tamped down on what might have been a hint of jealousy. There was no question of Tony’s devotion, but that still didn’t mean he had to enjoy hearing him talk so fondly about someone else. He wasn’t the only one who noticed how much Tony seemed to know about this particular scientist, either.

“You must have known her well,” Yinsen stated.

“She was a brilliant scientist. SHIELD had an interest. One of my jobs while I was still working for them was to analyze different potential SHIELD assets in the scientific community. My position as Tony Stark meant that I could get close without making anyone suspicious. I was the CEO of a tech company. Of course I would be constantly interested in the world’s best and brightest. I didn’t recommend Maya to SHIELD, though. Her temperament would have been a terrible match. She never would have been able to stand half of what they would have wanted her to do.”

“So, if she wouldn’t have been okay working for SHIELD,” Bruce mused, “then how did she end up working with AIM?”

Tony scowled.

“That’s the question, isn’t it? Because I can’t be all too sure that she’s working for them willingly. This application with people wasn’t at all what she was working on when I knew her and with side effects like making people explode? Maya never would have stood for letting her work do something like that. She wasn’t exact spineless, either. Somebody couldn’t just bully her into agreeing to do something she didn’t want to do.”

“So she might be in danger.”

“Or worse,” Tony scowled. “JARVIS, do we have any contact information for Maya anymore? Can we find her?”

“I will do my best, Sir.”

Winter rolled his shoulders to release some of the tension. It was going to be a long day.

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Despite being a long day, it was also apparently a very productive one. Bruce and Yinsen had taken charge of examining the body and looking further into the chemicals within it to see if they could find a way to reverse the effects before an individual exploded, or at least a way to detect them. JARVIS was working on tracking down Maya while Tony was concentrating on using backchannels to get into SHIELD again, with Happy helping from all the way in Europe. Clint came barging back into the lab late that evening, grinning like a maniac.

“What were you able to find out?” Tony cut to the chase.

Clint’s grin only widened until it looked too large for his face.

“So, what my contact wanted to show me? It was Nat. She stole a couple cellphones and managed to get in contact.”

Winter threw him a bottle of water which the archer caught easily.

“Do she and Steve know about AIM? Do they need help?”

“Oh, trust me. They know. Something more is going on, though. Something involving Pierce and the Strike Team. They’re looking into it.”

Tony scowled.

“And let me guess, she didn’t bother to tell you what exactly this ‘something else’ is.”

“Of course not.” Clint rolled his eyes. “It’s Natasha. She said it wasn’t safe to pass it over an insecure line. But I do know where they’re headed, a decommissioned military base in New Jersey.”

“Where’d they even get this information?” Bruce queried. “I mean, it all just seems rather convenient, doesn’t it? We’re split up now. Could this AIM be trying to force us apart so that it’d be easier to get rid of us?”

“Could be, sure. But they didn’t just stumble across the information. Apparently they got it from Fury before he…”

Clint trailed off and no one pushed him to continue.

“Is there anything we can do to help them, at least?”

Winter moved to stand beside Tony in response to the genius’s question, wrapping his fingers around the back of the man’s neck and rubbing gently. Tony always felt responsible for those around him. If something happened to Natasha and Steve where Tony couldn’t reach them, he would only blame himself.

“Nothing she said, at least,” Clint replied, clearly glad to keep the topic away from Fury. “Right now, I think they’re still just trying to figure out exactly what we’re dealing with.”

“Well, at the very least I can find whatever base they’re going to and keep it monitored. If something happens, we’ll know.”

It was late that night when the news came in about the base being attacked by an airstrike. The entire thing was destroyed. The only way anyone could have survived would be if they were under the building. Winter wrapped Tony in his arms and rocked him as the genius crumbled, holding back tears of his own.

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“HYDRA.” Tony’s tone was listless, his eyes harrowed, but no one made any comment. He’d lost a lot lately. “HYDRA has infested SHIELD. That’s what Fury found out, what Natasha and Steve were investigating.”

He threw up some holoscreens so the rest of their group could see what he’d been looking at, files for something called Project INSIGHT. Dum Dum rested a large hand on Tony’s shoulder and squeezed tightly. His expression was pinched, but he was clearly more focused on Tony than on his own grief. Winter hovered nearby but let the older man handle this one. Winter would take all the help he could get if it meant Tony might feel even just a tiny bit better. They lived dangerous lives, but losing so many people so close together would tear apart anyone. Clint himself was crammed into a corner of Tony’s workshop couch, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees as he curled in on himself. Bruce sat next to the archer, trying to lend some comfort of his own.

“HYDRA won’t stop, kiddo. You know that.”

Tony’s eyes fluttered shut, showing a rare moment of true vulnerability in front of so many people. Winter’s heart ached for him, but it was a feeling that fit with how much aching his heart was already doing. Stevie. God, he’d lost Stevie. And Natasha, that gorgeous, dangerous woman who’d given him a chance and accepted him without prejudice, though not without due caution.

“I know,” Tony rasped, “and they need to be taken care of. But…you guys thought you wiped them out back during the war. How can we hope to do so now? We don’t exactly have an army behind us.”

Winter smiled ruefully.

“We have a Hulk,” he said, trying for humor.

Dum Dum shot him a grateful look.

“We didn’t wipe HYDRA out before, we disassembled them. That was our mistake and I’m sorry that now you’ve had to pay the price for it.”

Tony nodded, taking a deep breath and visibly steeling himself. When he opened his eyes again, there was a hard glint of determination there and cold fury that promised pain.

“This time, we burn them to the ground.”

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Project INSIGHT was a rather ambitious plan, Winter thought. It certainly wasn’t his style of approach, but he could see the logic of it. If one ignored the huge amount of time it would take for preparations as well as the complexity of the plan and the technology needed, it was actually pretty logical. This wouldn’t be a silent take-over, by any means. It might not be immediately clear exactly what was going on or who was behind it, but no one would be able to miss the effects of the plan initiating. HYDRA would be able to just waltz in and do whatever they wanted because everyone who would have even thought to stand in their way would be dead. The sheer amount of instantaneous carnage was unimaginable, and Winter meant that literally. Each of HYDRA’s airships would be loaded with enough weaponry to wipe targets out a few million at a time. Millions of people dropping dead every second. The only images he could call to mind were from zombie or apocalypse movies he’d watched with Tony where the bodies were just piled in the streets. It was sick, macabre in the worst sort of ways.

Winter knew that Tony was sickened by it even more than he was. Tony had helped build the ships that would be used in this horrible plot. They flew on repulsor technology, not to mention countless other systems that were Tony’s by design. Whether or not he’d known about Project INSIGHT when providing those systems was entirely irrelevant. He had helped. Winter actually growled when Tony made the comment that at least if they weren’t able to stop the plot, that Tony himself would be on the list of targets. Winter didn’t find that very funny.

Nat’s death hit Clint hard, even without being compounded by the loss of both Steve and Fury, but he was doing better at handling it with a goal in mind. He was going through his weapon stock, getting JARVIS to fabricate new arrows, and rousing every contact he had to join in the fight against HYDRA. Mercenary leaders, retired agents, people he’d met on various missions; he spared no one a phone call. Winter couldn’t blame him. They were going to need all the help they could get. Happy and the remaining Howling Commandoes were doing the exact same thing. There wasn’t a lot of time before Project INSIGHT was set to be initiated, just a little more than twenty-four hours, but anyone who could make it to DC before then was heading their way. Others were attacking HYDRA bases as JARVIS tracked them down through SHIELD’s systems.

Tony and Yinsen were focusing on trying to develop something that would stop the carnage before it even started. Trying to shut the carriers down completely would be incredibly complicated, but that hadn’t even made Tony pause. He knew everything about the chips the carriers ran on, having made a number of them himself. His plan was to replace the targeting chips with ones of his own design so that the carriers would turn against each other instead of people on the ground.

“I used to design weapons for a living,” he joked when he told them the plan, “making things go boom is kind of a specialty of mine.”

Winter, though he knew it might be a very bad idea indeed, called Maria as soon as the chips were finished. She didn’t answer, but she did call back less than an hour later.

“This had better be damn important,” was her greeting.

“We have a way to stop the helecarriers, but we’ll need to actually get them on board for them to do us any good.”

There was a moment of silence and then the sound of the line going dead. Seconds later, Winter received a text message with coordinates to an old dam just outside of the city limits. Tony ran the chips through the fabricator while everyone suited up, though Tony just grabbed his suitcase suit. They split into two groups and headed out, though Yinsen and Dum Dum chose to stay behind since they wouldn’t be any good in a fight. The group could always call them if they needed them, but no one argued with the decision.

At the dam, they were greeted by a doctor that Winter recognized from SHIELD. They’d never interacted, but he knew the face. There were no introductions as the doctor ushered them inside and closed the door behind them. It didn’t look like anyone had used this place in years, but the electricity, at least, was still operational. Once the door was secure, the doctor led them through the hallways to where another doctor was standing just outside a curtained off area. The curtain slid aside to reveal a bandaged but very much alive Nicholas Fury. He glared at the new arrivals.

“Well, it’s about damn time you got here. I was starting to think you’d never make it.”

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The discovery, hours later, that Steve and Natasha were also alive came as both a shock and a relief. Winter thought it might have messed Tony up more than losing them in the first place, though. He’d withdrawn from the group as soon as possible and fled to a dark corner of the dam, holing himself up in a room where the door didn’t quite close all the way. Judging by the shelving units and left over equipment, Winter thought it may have been a janitorial closet at one point.

“Hey,” he called softly.

Tony didn’t answer him, just continued to stand with his arms crossed, head down, shaking like a leaf. Winter could see his teeth biting viciously into his lower lip. Chances were good that it would start bleeding soon. He approached cautiously, not wanting to spook Tony and upset him further. His arms wrapped slowly around the genius and pulled him close, tucking him up under Winter’s chin.

“It’s okay. They’re alive. They’re all alive. It’s alright.”

He kept up his muttered mantra as Tony shook in his arm, all but falling apart. When he finally started sobbing, they were silent, the hitching of his breath the only indication of the tears. Winter only held onto him tighter, determined not to let him go.

“I couldn’t protect them,” Tony gasped, chocking on the words as he tried to force them out. “There was nothing I could do. They were here and then they were just gone.”

Winter lifted his metal hand to run fingers soothingly through Tony’s hair as the genius clung to him. Tan fingers were tangled around the straps of Winter’s holsters like Tony was afraid he might slip away and disappear without a moment’s notice.

“They’re alright,” he said again. “They’re right back in that room. Fury and Natasha and Steve are all just fine. A bit banged up, but that’s the worst of it. You didn’t lose them.”

“But I could have. I still could. I could lose any one of you going after HYDRA, or with any of the other things we do. It’d be easy. We don’t even know what happened to Maya yet. She’s just vanished. Poof. That’s the kind of world we live in.”

Winter pressed a kiss to the top of Tony’s head to buy himself time. He didn’t know what to do with this. He wasn’t equipped to handle with kind of situation.

“We’ll find Maya. As soon as we take down the helecarriers, we’ll focus on her and we will find her. There’s no one better at this sort of thing than we are.”

“I…” Tony trailed off and Winter let him. He knew the genius would pick it up again when he was ready. “I don’t know how much longer I can keep doing this, Winter. I know I was raised by spies and I’ve lived my entire life in the world of espionage but…There has to be something more out there.” Water eyes rose to meet Winter’s. “There’s this saying the Roman’s used to have, ‘a die mortis, sine.’ It means, ‘a day without death.’ It’s peace and that’s-that’s all I want right now, Winter. I want a day where I don’t have to worry about any of my friends, my family, dying or having something terrible happen to them. Why is that so much to ask?”

“We all live dangerous lives,” Winter said carefully, “especially Natasha and Clint with them constantly going out on missions. I don’t think that’s exactly going to stop.”

Tony was not a child. He did not need things sugarcoated. Winter just wasn’t sure how much blunt forwardness was good and how much would be too much and tip him right over the edge.

“No, I know,” Tony sighed as he let Winter take the majority of his weight. “I could never ask them to give up the life they have. It’s all they know. They wouldn’t feel comfortable doing anything else. But…” he bit his lip again, already red from its earlier abuse and surely tender, “I don’t have to. I don’t have to keep doing this.”

Winter was confused. He couldn’t be quite sure where Tony was going with this.

“So…what do you plan to do?”

“This mission. This one, last mission to defeat HYDRA. Then I walk away. No more SHIELD, no more consultations, no more Iron Man.”

Winter tried to keep his shock off his face and out of his voice.

“You would stop being Iron Man? What would you do?”

“Run Stark Industries, invent, whatever I want. Just not…this. Would you…come with me?”

He sounded worried, like he really expected Winter to turn away from him. Winter couldn’t help but smile as he tilted Tony’s head up to kiss him softly on the lips.

“I would go with you anywhere. I never needed any of this. I only ever needed you.”

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They told no one of their plan. It wasn’t the right time. There was too much else that needed to be done for them to distract the others with something that was already set in stone. Winter knew this wasn’t a decision that Tony would just change his mind on in a couple days. The genius had known too much devastation. He was done.

No one mentioned their disappearance or Tony’s red rimmed eyes when they returned to the group. Instead introductions were made with the newest member of their team, so guy named Sam who Natasha and Steve had met while hiding out from HYDRA. Apparently Steve had seen him around before and thought he was a good guy. It didn’t hurt that he had a pair of mechanical wings that allowed him to fly. It didn’t escape Winter’s notice that, while he was plenty enthusiastic about the tech on the wings, Tony never once offered to take a look at them or upgrade them.

Fury remained adamant that the WSC hadn’t been infiltrated by HYDRA and that they should be kept safe. He and Natasha went to intercept one of the members so that Natasha could get into the building without suspicion or detection. The others, meanwhile, split into teams to attack the building head-on as a distraction and allow Tony and Falcon, as the fliers, to get the chips to the helecarriers. Security would be too heavy on the ground, but once the ships were flying, it would be much easier to break inside. Winter and Tony shared a long kiss before going their separate ways and Winter swore to himself that he would not allow Tony to lose anyone else that day. He would not allow it.

Steve broadcast a rousing call over the SHIELD speakers, bringing them even more help from the SHIELD agents inside. They would good men and women. A lot of them died. Winter saved the ones he could, but that didn’t mean there weren’t a lot of corpses scattered across the ground. Agents died in the hallways, in the hangers, and on the flight deck. They fought back against HYDRA bravely, but it was nearly impossible to tell friend from foe and HYDRA had been preparing for this for a long time. It didn’t help matters that a number of them had clearly been exposed to Extremis and could breathe fire along with their other enhancements. Winter thought he could understand where Tony was coming from now, looking at all of this bloodshed. He didn’t want to see it. He didn’t want to have the memories of so many dead face. He had already seen enough.

Overhead, another battle raged in the sky. The helecarriers weren’t going down without a fight. Artillery fire shot in just about every direction as Tony and Sam weaved throughout it in a deadly dance. Twice, Winter saw Tony shoot down a projectile what would have taken Sam out. Winter wondered who would be there to watch the team’s backs with Winter and Tony gone. Maybe Tony could convince Rhodey to join, or Ivan could take over.

Tony and Sam stuck together as they darted from one ship to the next, making sure the other didn’t get shot down and that no openings were left for the enemy to exploit. They worked well together. Sam would be a good addition to the team, with a bit of training. Winter lost track of them off and on, though, as he faced his own opponents on the ground. He caught a grenade one of the agents threw at him and chucked it right back, just in time for the thing to explode in the agent’s face. It brought him a grim sense of satisfaction. It seemed like both the blink of an eye and an eternity when Tony’s call came across the coms that the chips were all switched out. Winter disposed of his opponent and turned to watch as the helecarriers turned against one another and destroyed themselves. It looked kind of like fireworks.

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Fury vanished, not even Clint or Natasha knowing where he’d gone. Everyone else came back to Tony’s place, where Yinsen was waiting. No one was seriously injured, though Maria had a mild concussion and Clint had twisted his ankle. Steve and Bruce took over the kitchen and went all out in making everything they could think of and find the ingredients for with Dum Dum hovering nearby and providing commentary. Winter thought it was a lot better than ordering in. Winter himself lay sprawled across the couch of the living room with Tony resting against his chest. The genius was dozing on and off, exhausted from having gotten practically no sleep before even the attack at the café.

They told the team they were getting out of the game the next morning over breakfast. Clint protested loudly, but he also pulled Tony in for a hug and told him this better not mean Clint was losing his guest room privileges. All in all, it went over pretty well. Those who were going back to London all rode together on Tony’s jet a week later. The others scattered in the wind, heading off to wherever they felt they needed to go. Ivan was waiting for them back at the tower, upset that he had missed all the action.

Tony locked away about a dozen Iron Man armors in the tower’s vault, in case of emergency. The rest he systematically dismantled and destroyed. Ivan complained the entire time about how this was going to make his job as Tony’s body guard that much harder, but also resolutely refused to take the offer of a position with the Avengers.

“You zink your boy’s pretty face is going to be all it takes to keep you safe?”

Tony had laughed and eventually given in. Winter was grateful. Ivan was good company and a good person to have Tony’s back. Winter still walked around armed and the security at Stark Industries was still second to none, but they were more or less civilians for the first time in Tony’s life. It was only an added bonus that Tony now had a lot more time on his hands, even counting his ‘special project.’ Winter was finding that the slower pace quite suited him, and he liked that his conversations with Tony were more likely to include the mechanics of classic cars now than new armor or weaponry.

It was six months after bringing down SHIELD when Winter and Tony went to Fiji for a weeklong vacation. They were sitting on a private beach when the space ship showed up. Loki had gotten Tony’s message after all.