Tony was six the first time he played at being a spy. Howard had kicked him out of the lab again and Aunt Peggy had been over having tea with Ana and Jarvis. They saw his tear-tracked face and humored him with a game to see how many cookies he could steal from the table without them catching him. In hindsight, he had no doubt they noticed every time he returned to the room, but it had given him a bit of some praise and Ana’s snicker-doodles for his efforts.
The sense of purpose he found never really left either.
Howard wasn’t very happy with his decision to follow in his Aunt’s footsteps, but Tony refused to build weapons. Instead, he built smaller and smaller cameras, better microphones, and other tech to help his colleagues at SHIELD. Having been trained in espionage, he quickly climbed the ranks. His fame made him less than ideal for undercover operations, but his face wasn’t so familiar that he couldn’t go out in the field. In fact, his fame had helped SHIELD infiltrate higher society meetings more than once, a fact which he used to his advantage to climb the ranks.
When Howard passed quietly in his sleep, Tony found himself comforting Peggy more than he needed any words of condolences. He’d stopped trying to earn his father’s pride a long time ago.
Ten years later, Tony was one of the highest ranked agents at SHIELD, and the highest ranked agent still regularly doing field work. As much as he loved his time in the lab, he wasn’t able to rest knowing that he could be doing more in the field.
That was what brought him to Zurich. It took a high security clearance to get to read the Winter Solider dossier, let alone the non-redacted version. Tony would have been more impressed if he wasn’t so horrified. The man behind the mask was responsible for more than two dozen assassinations in the last fifteen years. That would make him formidable enough, but the fact that the assassinations were for Hydra was bone-chilling, even to Tony.
Tony casually checked his watch as he sat in the cafe, a black coffee steaming on the table in front of him. James Barnes still had three minutes until he was late. No point in Tony getting nervous now. He sipped his coffee and waited.
***
James Barnes was tired. He was tired of fighting, he was tired of running, and he was tired of looking over his shoulder while he waited for the bullet that would kill him.
Leaving Hydra had been one of the hardest things he’d ever done. He thought he could do it on his own. Maybe there was a reason he’d just been the gun of the operation, because he’d been wrong.
Well, not just the gun. He’d trained an entire generation of Hydra recruits how to shoot and in hand-to-hand combat. He’d practically written the book on infiltration and hiding in plain sight. He’d done it all because it was what had been asked of him. Because he was the fist of Hydra and they would rid the world of the tyranny of chaos that the West had created.
It wasn’t until he’d gained further clearance that he realized how wrong he had been. Hydra wanted to create order, sure, but the chaos has been of their own creation so that the world would accept their rule. His kills had been to destabilize regions, not to end corrupt regimes.
This wasn’t what Bucky had wanted when he’d started down this path, and now he was going to set fire to the trail behind him. He’d sent word to the United States with a proposal. Immunity for all the information he had and his help with dismantling Hydra. It was a lot to ask for and he knew they didn’t have much reason to believe him, but he’d be dead in the water unless they agreed to take him.
***
“You’re late,” Tony said, looking up through his sunglasses at the man taking a seat across from him. Barnes was more… normal looking that Tony had expected, though a man with scars all over his face would hardly have made an effective assassin.
“I wanted to make sure we wouldn’t be disrupted,” James answered, his voice low and clear. He wasn’t followed then.
“You should have left earlier then. You’re supposed to be impressing me,” Tony pointed out, taking a sip of his coffee. It was rare that he got to present the full force of his personality in a professional setting, so he was going to have fun with this. The cocked eyebrow and smirk he got in return told him he was going to get as good as he gave. That was good. Tony loved a challenge.
“I don’t need to impress you with my timeliness when I have this.” Barnes passed over a phone, which Tony picked up carefully. It was unlocked, not that Tony would have been stopped by something as simple as a pin code, no apps except for the ones that came on the phone. Only the file reader was on the home page, so Tony clicked it.
Swiping through, it was easy to see where Barnes got his confidence. This was a lot of information he’d managed to smuggle out. The files were organized into two different folders. One contained information on personnel and missions. The other was full of documents on medical experimentation and chemical formulas that he recognized as attempts to replicate a super-soldier serum. Even SHIELD scientists had been relatively unsuccessful with their attempts. The only person who had gotten anywhere close was Bruce Banner and that couldn’t exactly be considered a favourable outcome. Still, it could be useful to have him consult on the notes. Tony hadn’t had a chance to catch up with him since taking on more field work.
“Why should we believe any of this is legitimate?” he asked as he kept scanning. This much information seemed too good to be true. Some of it might be verifiable, but even that could be a plant SHIELD would believe the rest of it and take Barnes in.
“Because I’m subject #325775 and your doctors can check my blood for the proof.”
Tony raised an eyebrow at that, slowly lifting his head to look Barnes in the eyes. That was quite a claim, though it certainly explained James’ physique.
“Assuming you are telling the truth, what’s to stop me from taking this,” he waved the phone, “and leaving you to figure out the rest of your life without our help?” Although if it was true, Barnes could probably overpower him in hand to hand despite his blaster tech.
Barnes sighed but met his gaze. “Because you can’t take Hydra out without me. And because even if you don’t, I’ll still be working to dismantle them, but I can do it a lot more effectively with SHIELD’s help.”
Tony nodded, reaching over to take Barnes’ hand. It was warm when it met his grasp.
“Welcome to SHIELD.”
***
From the coffee shop, James followed Stark to a private airstrip where SHIELD had a jet waiting. The problem was that Rumlow and Rollins were waiting too. He noticed them just in time to pull Tony back behind the corner they were rounding as two bullets whizzed past.
“You’re never going to get anywhere in life with such sloppy shooting,” he called out, readying his own gun and clicking off the safety. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Stark pulling out some kind of metal glove which he assumed was a weapon as it glowed blue.
“Well you’re not leaving Zurich with such shit life decisions, Barnes!” he shouted. “What happened to ‘Order through pain’? Or was that all bullshit to you?” James wondered if Stark could hear the pain in his voice of if it was only recognizable because he had trained Rumlow for the last four years. He’d been the one to break him and Rumlow together and remold them in Hydra’s image.
James took a deep breath and focused, listening for sounds of footsteps across the tarmac. He was grateful for his enhanced senses, maneuvering to try to take the gun out of Rumlow’s hand as the man rounded the corner.
Brock got a shot off, but James’ left hand was already closed over the muzzle. The barrel cracked, and James ripped it out of his hand and hit him across the head with it. He aimed his gun as a low, mechanical whine next to him started, followed moments later by a blast of blue light that landed both Rumlow and Rollins on their asses, unconscious.
James turned to see Stark with him hand raised in front of him, the light in his palm lowering to a small glow. He was impressed. With tech like that, SHIELD might even stand a chance.
He turned back to the men he had trained and stepped forward, ready to put a bullet in each of their foreheads. Stark stopped him before he had the chance.
“We’re not authorized to kill here. The EU would throw a fit and I don’t want Fury up my ass again,” he warned.
James nodded, putting the safety back on and returning his weapon to its holster. “They’ll be back,” he warned, following Stark to the waiting jet.
Stark smiled. “Then they’ll fall with the rest of Hydra.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” he said with a wolfish smile as the jet took off.
“We’re headed to the New York office. ETA six hours,” Tony said as he moved about the cabin, typing into different interfaces. James assumed he was bringing up the flight plan and updating SHIELD. He took a seat, beginning to tune into the sniper mindset as he prepared to sit without entertainment for six hours. However, a moment later, Stark was sitting down next to him with a box of tools at his feet.
“Can I take a look at the arm?”
With the adrenaline of the fight wearing off, James didn’t feel like arguing and shrugged, holding it out for the other man to take a look at. Sitting so close, the interest in Stark’s eyes was almost amusing.
It made something in James’ chest warm, and he wondered what his new life would bring.