Hawkeye's Revenge

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Phil frowned thoughtfully as he continued to listen to the comms, his eyes cut to Bucky who was frowning darkly in the corner of the van his eyes closed off and guarded. The man had been keeping himself together pretty well but had started to retreat into the emotionaless mask of the Winter Soldier once they had heard Steve being told about the child being shot. Phil could tell Bucky was wondering if he had traded one bad group for another by the way his breathing was slightly elevated and the way he kept clenching and unclenching his jaw but at the same time his eyes kept wandering to the bag containing Steve's shield meaning that he didn't feel that he could leave unless Steve came with him.

"Bucky," Phil said calmly after ten minutes of the shifting silence and immediately Bucky's eyes were on him. Phil met him stare for stare taking in the too wide pupils of his eyes and the way fine tremors were running along his frame but waited to say anything until he was absolutely sure that he had Bucky's attention.

"Bucky, I swear to you that none of this was authorized by SHIELD. We do not condone the attempted murder of children nor the slaughter of civilians," Phil told him firmly his conviction firm as he added "If I thought for even a second that SHIELD had authorized this I would tear them apart myself."

Bucky continued to stare at him for several more minutes before the fine tremors wracking his frame eased and he nodded to Phil. Phil didn't fool himself into thinking everything was alright now but he did hope that he had convinced Bucky that he could be trusted at least a little.

Pulling out his phone he quickly dialed Director Fury's number, the man needed to know that Barton's attack was provoked and they needed to find out who had had access to the mission besides the strike team. They needed to find out how far this corruption went so they could stop it in its tracks and the best way to do that was to interrogate the last remaining member of the strike team, Rumlow.

"Please tell me you have something," Fury snapped in lue of a greeting as he answered his phone on the second ring.

"Nothing you are going to like, sir," Coulson answered grimly and waited as Fury cursed quietly on the other end of the line. Coulson could guess from the frustration in Fury's voice that the WSC had found out about the attack and been hounding Fury to put an end to the threat.

"Out with it, Cheese," Fury growled finally and Phil knew it must be bad if he was resorting to the comfort of their old call signs.

"We believe that Barton attacked due to an attack launched by the strike team. The team located Barton almost 58 hours ago while he was attending a civilian party at his apartment complex where they proceeded to ambush Barton and during the ambush they killed three civilians and injured several more. The death toll likely would have been much higher except Barton defended and got most of the civilians to safety. While he was evacuating the civilians Barton's son, Matthew, was shot point blank by SHIELD Agent Alice Gortin when he attempted to protect a group of children from her. We have yet to learn if Matthew Barton survived his injuries, sir," Phil summerized quickly keeping his tone even and professional with an effort.

There is silence on the other end of the line then Fury snapped "I want a preliminary report of everything you have on my desk ten minutes ago. I will call you back after I have sorted this out."

The connection cut off and Phil sighed before bringing up the report he had been working on while listening to Steve and Natasha as they interviewed Mrs. Memilli. After making a few changes he quickly sent the rough draft to Fury over a secure connection.

"As soon as Steve and Natasha have finished examining the scene we will head to where Barton took Matthew to see what we can find there," Phil told Bucky, determined to keep the man in the loop, and was about to ask the man if he would like to search the scene with them when his phone buzzed. Phil glanced down at the caller id and resisted the urge to frown in confusion as he saw that it was the Director calling him not five minutes after their first call.

"Coulson," he answered simply while meeting Bucky's evaluating eyes, obviously the man had caught his pause in answering his phone.

"Call back the team, Coulson, now. Rumlow has escaped from medical and we don't know where he is," Fury ordered and Phil felt a shot of adrenalin shoot through him.

"Do we know who helped him," Phil asked.

"No," Fury growled and Phil read a wealth of information in that one word. Fury would have immediately pulled the video feeds from the medical wing so if he couldn't identify Rumlow's accomplices then they were outside infiltrators or the video feeds had been tampered with. All SHIELD video feeds were controlled from in house only and would require Stark's level of hacking skill to reach or a person on the inside to help with the wipe. No matter how it had gone down this was turning into a major problem, one that could endanger their best team if they didn't get them to safety fast.

"Understood," Phil said simply then hung up without a word of farewell.

Immediately, Phil activated the comms saying clearly "That is enough for today. We should break for lunch at that Sicilian place Stark recommended."

Silence reined over the comms as everyone took in the code they had worked out for situations such as this. The first part allowed the team to know that something major was wrong and that they needed to abandon the op immediately while him saying they needed to 'break for' meant they needed to cut any information going over the comms. On the quinjet they had worked out that if he were ever to tell them they were going out to lunch they would be evac'ing and the Sicilian place refered to the quinjet. Telling them that Stark had recommended the place was for Banner to tell him to get the billionaire and head for the safety of the quinjet.

"Tony and I can head that way now. I know he was looking forward to the pasta," Bruce said and Phil translated the statement in his head easily to Tony and Bruce were together and going forward with the evac plan.

There was a moment of silence from Steve and Natasha's end before Steve said cautiously which carried over to make his delivery wooden and halting "I was really hoping to find out more about the pizza place we heard about."

Phil translated the sentence to Steve wanted to stay and finish the investigation. He mentally sighed to himself. He would be the first to admit that he still had a big case of hero worship for Steve but even he had to admit that the man couldn't act. Anyone listening into their comms would hear the stilted way that Steve spoke and know that he was trying to convey a message. From the way Bucky was grimacing he also agreed that Steve was never going to be a master of undercover work.

"The pizza place is well off the beaten path and we can always visit it when we are back in Italy but the Sicilian place is only open during certain meal times. Besides I have heard that the person responsible for the pizza place is the reason for the Sicilian resturant," Phil said easily as he moved passed Bucky to climb into the drivers seat and start the car. A quickly cut off gasp confirmed for him that Steve had understood at least the part about something to do with Rumlow was why they were retreating but whether he understood that Phil was reassuring him that the witnesses would be alright was still in the air.

"I guess we will head over then," Steve finally said over the comms reluctance still in his voice.

Phil pulled the van up in front of Hawkeye's apartment building to find Steve looking earnestly at a woman in her late seventies who was patting his hand fondly as she thanked him for all he was doing.

"I promise, ma'am, I will do everything I can to keep them safe for you," Steve told the woman in farewell and Phil waited patiently as first Natasha then Steve, carrying a laundry basket of stuff, got in the back of the van.

"What is going on, Phil," Steve asked immediately as they pulled away into traffic. The man gazed at him obviously unhappy to be leaving but clearly trusting Phil to make the decision and Phil felt his heart beat faster at the idea that Steve trusted him so completely. The more clinical part of his mind reminded him that this was the man who had just promised to defend a man he had only seen once while said man was trying to kill him just because the man had been avenging his son. He had also taken in a brain washed Hydra assassin who had been sent to kill him and even if Bucky had been his best friend that had still been extremely naive.

'But he was right with Bucky,' another part of him whispered, the part that he had always liked to believe made him a better agent and a better person and it was that part which had him explaining soflty "I just received word that Rumlow has escaped from medical but we are unsure who helped him. Until we know how far the corruption goes we need to get the Avengers back to the Tower."

"Why not take us back to SHIELD's New York office. We can help find out who did this," Steve asked his desire to help fight who ever was responsible for this injustice clear.

"We cannot guarentee the Avengers safety at any SHIELD facility until we know exactly how far this corruption goes," Phil answered simply the admission burning like gall. Phil had given his life to the principals that SHIELD represented and to learn that some agency was using SHIELD to further its own agenda made him feel violated. Steve pulled back at his admission studing him before finally saying softly "We will find out what happened and we will make it right, Phil."

Phil glanced at Steve out of the corner of his eye taking in his determination then swept his eyes around to the others. Bucky looked toward Steve then turned back to him nodding solemnly while Natasha met his stare firmly her decision to fight evident and all at once Phil felt something inside him unwind. SHIELD might be compromised but he couldn't imagine having better people beside him to help him set it to rights.

"It took you long enough," Tony groused from the door of the quinjet as they exited the van. The man might have sounded put out but Bucky could see the way that his eyes looked them over for injuries before his stance relaxed at finding them unharmed.

Tony seemed to not expect an answer for as soon as they were all on board the quinjet he was shutting the bay doors and ushering them all impatiently to their seats. Natasha gave him a side long stare but apparently decided to humor the billionaire as she simply moved to the controls and readied them for take off, Agent Gladstock was being left to take a later transport.

"So what is going on? Why are we evac'ing so suddenly," Tony asked while he distractedly tried to belt himself in for take off. Thankfully Bruce took pity on him after the fourth time he tried to fit the buckle in place and missed because he was only half paying attention to what he was doing and buckled the man in from his seat beside him. For his part Tony didn't seem to really notice Bruce's actions as he continued to look around at all of them while he waited for the answers to his questions. Bucky wondered how long it had been since Tony had slept. If Bucky remembered correctly Tony had come directly from his lab in the Tower to the meeting with SHIELD and had been sequestered in the lab for at least twenty hours before that so likely the man was closing in on 48 hours without sleep. The lack of sleep would explain why Tony was so maniac and distracted. Bucky gave him an hour tops before exhaustion and his injuries forced Tony to sleep.

"I received word that Rumlow has escaped from SHIELD medical and that we don't have any idea who helped him escape," Coulson said calmly as he was strapping himself in. Coulson's eyes snapped with determination as he relayed this news and Bucky could tell that the man intended to route out every last person who was involved in this corruption.

"Video feeds," Tony asked suddenly all business his Starkpad already out as he was speaking.

"Deleted," Coulson told him briefly as Natasha smoothly got the quinjet airbourne and headed back for New York.

"Did they take the hard drive that the data had been on," Tony asked in a preoccupied manner then added before Coulson could even speak "Never mind, JARVIS says that none of the SHIELD hard drives have been removed. I should be able to recontruct most of the video feed in a moment with the residual electrical impressions left from the wipe. An hour tops."

"I know I should really ask you why JARVIS is so far in SHIELD systems that he would know when a hard drive has been removed but at this point I think I will just let you have your head," Coulson murmured with a put upon sigh but Bucky noticed the fond, barely there curl of the man's mouth as he glanced at the genius.

"Probably for the best, Agent Agent," said genius muttered distracted as he pulled a second Starkpad from his bag before proceeding to switch his attention between the two simultanously.

Bucky turned to share a confused look with Steve. He understood more about technology than Steve did but even he didn't know what in the world Tony was doing. Bruce might have understood it, even if his main focus was the biological sciences, the man was still a genius who was more than capable of keeping up with Tony on a tear, but honestly it was a fifty/fifty chance that if Bruce understood that he would be able to explain it in words the rest of them would understand so Bucky decided to simply remain in ignorance for now.

For the next hour the rest of them discussed what Steve and Natasha had discovered while they were searching Barton's apartment. Bucky's chest twinged painfully when he noted the blanket sticking out of the clothes hamper Steve had brought, reminding him that the eleven year old owner of the blanket might not even be alive at this moment.

"Got it," Stark crowed breaking Bucky out of his maudlin thoughts. Tony faced them with a board grin and a flourish before transfering the file he had retrieved to the ship's computer where Coulson was able to bring it up on the large monitor embedded in one part of the bulk head. They all turned to watch the video. At first all that was shown was an empty corridor outside a hospital room before a group of people came out with a gurney that they could see contained Rumlow.

Bucky felt his pulse race and couldn't name why his fingers were suddenly tingling and his skin felt too tight then one of the people surrounding the gurney looked up allowing the camera to capture her face........

and then he was standing with his back pressed against the bulk head at military attention while panic sang through his body and his mind screamed.

'The chair, the chair. I can't. I. I can't. I just got myself back, they will take it away,' his mind screamed so loudly but his muscles refused to move from attention. He needed to run but his body refused and they were coming for him. His vision had tunneled with his panic but he could still see the shapes coming to strap him into the chair and he couldn't but his training demanded he not fight.

'I can't,' he screamed internally.

'Please not again. I can't loose Steve again,' his mind screamed at the approaching shadows and abruptly it was like his muscles unlocked at the idea that they would take Steve. Steve was his! He protected him and they would change that which could not be allowed.

The shadow closest to him went down with a well aimed kick to the chest (not dead his inner voice noted even as it also noted how solid the man's chest had been) just as the second shadow lunged at him. Bucky ducked out of the shadow's way but not fast enough and with an enraged scream he tried to buck the person off of him. The person held on fiercely while whispering softly in his ear, whispers that didn't stop even as Bucky punched the person hard in the stomach. The person's soft, pained gasp made Bucky tremble in sympathy but he couldn't let them strap him in could he? The person's arms were warm and his smell so familiar and then Bucky froze realizing that the man smelt like Stevie.

"Bucky, it is ok. I swear you are safe. I won't allow them to get you," Steve whispered desperately in his ear and Bucky sagged in despair as he realized that he had hit Steve.

Steve let them sink down onto the floor as Bucky's knees gave out from under him and slowly the confines of the quinjet swam back into focus.

"Natasha, we won't be needing the tranquilizers," Coulson said calmly but with a firm look at Natasha who was alternately watching him and Bruce as though wondering who to sedate first while still keeping the quinjet in the air. For his part Bruce was gently helping Tony up from where he was resting on his back with his shattered brief case lying beside him and Bucky noted with relief that Tony had thought to put the armor on before confronting him.

"Damn, Robocop, you have a mean kick. So glad I put on the armor before trying to talk you down," the man gasped as he massaged the armor over his chest.

"I kicked you," Bucky asked horrified. He knew what his kicks could do to unaltered humans, Hydra had made him cave in a man's chest while his family watched for one of his assignments and he still heard the man's children screaming as the man had collapsed coughing up blood.

"Chill, Terminator, you just broke my brief case," Tony told him with a shaky grin as he held up the shattered metal case. He could tell that the man was shaken but was trying to reassure him despite the obvious injuries he had just given him.

Turning his head he realized Steve was still hugging him tightly. As gently as he could Bucky moved his flesh hand, never the metal weapon that Hydra had made his left arm into, to touch Steve's stomach. Steve tried to hide his gasp of pain from Bucky as his hand ghosted over the area he remembered having struck his phantom attacker but Bucky noted it and realized with a sinking feeling that he had hit not only Tony but Steve during his flash back.

"I'm sorry," Bucky gasped clutching at his own head as he rocked in place. Strong hands gently pried his hands away from his head where he had been pulling hard at his hair and Steve gently rested his cheek against Bucky's head as he held his hands between them.

"Bucky, it is ok. It isn't your fault. We know not to approach you during a flash back. Remember what the therapist said. Try to breathe and list where you are and who you are with," Steve told him gently as he absently started to massage his flesh hand with one of his own.

Bucky stayed rigid his back bowed away from Steve's warmth as though he could keep himself away from him and therefore keep from hurting him again. Steve's words made little sense to his clouded mind, all he knew was that he needed to get away, stay away so that he didn't hurt Steve again but gradually Steve's voice broke through his paniced thoughts.

"Bucky, do you remember where you are," Steve asked desperation clear in his voice and Bucky focused on his tear streaked face hating that tone in Steve's voice.

"Bucky, please," Steve begged and that was wrong, Steve should never beg. Bucky tried to think back on what Steve needed and remembered the question. Where was he? He was where the Chair was, they were going to strap him in, Steve was......no, Steve was never around the Chair, Steve couldn't be around the Chair, they would hurt him.....but Steve was here and he said everything was fine, Steve didn't lie, and....and the others, Tony....kicked him but smiled and said it was fine.....

"Bucky, do you know where you are," Steve asked again tears in his voice and running down his face as he cupped Bucky's face in his large hands. Steve didn't try to turn his face, Bucky's muscles were too rigid to respond to anything but brute force at the moment and Steve wouldn't hurt him, but he did smooth his thumb over his cheek soothingly.

Bucky knew he needed to answer, his answer was important to Steve, but the muscles in his chest and jaw refused to unclench. He whined as he tried to force his voice out through clenched teeth and faintly he realized he was trembling with his fists clenched tightly beside him.

'I have to answer. Steve asked a question. He NEEDS the answer,' Bucky thought desperately the trembling shaking his frame repeatedly but through it all Steve never dropped his hands, they continued to cradle Bucky's head gently and stroke soothingly over his too tight muscles.

"Q.....quin....quinjet," Bucky finally managed to force out through his aching jaws.

"Yeah, we are on the quinjet," Steve told him a sigh of relief in his voice.

"Chair," Bucky forced out the question and saw Steve stiffen again as anger and sorrow flooded his face. Bucky cursed himself for putting that look back on Stevie's face but....he had been sure the Chair was here?

"No, Bucky, we destroyed that ..... that thing," Steve spat the word out with such revulsion that Bucky blinked surprised at his normally mild mannered friend and Steve seeing his surprise continued in a gentler voice "We destroyed it when we rescued you from Hydra. I will never let that thing near you again."

Bucky blinked his muscles still tense and trembling as tried to process what had happened. He could have sworn that the Chair had been here but Steve said it hadn't and Steve would never lie to him so the Chair wasn't here but then why?

Examining his memories he remembered that they had been leaving Venice and Tony had been trying to retreive the surveillence video so they could figure out who Rumlow's accomplices were. Tony had been really happy that he had been able to retrieve the video and then they were watching the video and then.....then....

Bucky's eyes widened in realization as he remembered the familiar face becoming clear on the video and he leaned forward to bury himself in Steve's warm embrace as he remembered the dispassionate face looking at him as the person turned the Chair on and listened to his screams.

"Buck," Steve said soothingly as he hugged him tightly seemly trying to curl around his shivering frame as though to shield him from the world.

"Steve, that woman......that woman," Bucky whispered quietly into Steve's neck having to pause to swallow hard around his painfully dry throat "Steve, she was one of the techs....in....in the Chair room."

Steve froze under his hands and Bucky had a split second of panic that Steve was about to leave him before the man was pulling him into his arms in a hug that would have crushed the bones of anyone else but felt like just enough for Bucky. They clutched desperately at each other as Bucky heard Steve growl in rage to someone "It is Hydra. Bucky recognized that woman in the video as one of the techs who hurt him. I want to know who she is and who those others are. They will pay for this."

"We will find them, I promise you Steve we will find them and root out any others that might be behind this," Coulson's deep soothing voice spoke beside them but Bucky ignored the man in favor of curling up tighter against Steve.

Coulson felt pinned by the rightous fury in Steve Roger's blue eyes and a part of him wanted to cringe that the organization he had spent most of his adult life serving had been infiltrated by Hydra but he held his ground. Cringing away from the situation would help no one but he could make this better by doing what he did best as a handler; consider the situation and come up with the best plan of attack.

Meeting Natasha's eyes he motioned for her to continue on course while he made his way to the back room of the plane. He knew Natasha was still nervous around Bruce and Bucky, the latter more because of what he reminded her of than what he was capable of, but he also knew he could trust her to handle almost any situation that came up and get him if he were needed.

He paused beside where Bruce was kneeling beside a sitting Tony and trying to talk the stubborn man into taking off the armor.

"Tony," he asked as he knelt down to look closer at the man noting the pale cast to his skin and the dilation of his eyes. The man looked up at him with a mulish expression and Phil switched tacts easily.

"Bruce, what is the situation," he asked calmly as the scientist kept glaring at Tony.

"I need to make sure that Tony doesn't have any impact fractures in his sternum or any subcutanous bleeding but he won't take off the armor," Bruce told him obviously frustrated with Tony if the pointed glares aimed at him were any indication.

"And I told him I am fine. The armor can take the hit," Tony broke in glaring right back at Bruce unperturbed that if the man actually got angry that the billionaire could end up as a smear on the bulkhead.

"Tony," Phil spoke firmly then kept silent as he waited for Tony to turn fully to him. He had learned early that when dealing with Tony silence could work like nothing else to fluster the man. He had seen the man smirk in amusement as people were shouting and hurling insults at him but meet the man with silence and he was fidgeting within moments, Phil didn't like to think what that said about Tony's past.

"What," the man finally snapped defensive after barely a minute of silence and Phil wasn't cruel enough to let the man fret anymore.

"Why do you not want to take off the armor," Phil asked calmly as he studied the man as he tapped the fingers of his gauntlet on his metal thigh.

Finally the man sighed heavily before admitting "If I take the armor off I won't be able to get it back on. The control mechanism for the remote assembly was in the case which is....," he gestured at the clearly destroyed case "yeah.....so I need to keep it on till we get back to New York in case anything happens but no worries," the man added with a showman's smile "this suit is all purpose. Can go to the bathroom and everything in it."

The man's expression wilted a bit as Phil looked the man over calmly and Phil quickly surpressed the sympathy thrumming through his system, he knew what it was like not to want to be left defenseless.

"And besides if I take off the suit I will be no good in a fight. Best not to sideline one of our best fighters for no reason," Tony added hurriedly as though his only worth to the team was the suit and that was all they cared about.

Phil looked at the man's defiant expression then gently clapped him on his armored shoulder, ordering gently "Tony, take off the suit. Let Bruce examine you and make sure you are alright. Trust us to keep you safe while you can't get to the armor. We won't let anything happen to you."

Tony opened his mouth as though to reply but Phil could tell he was too surprised and confused by the concern for his well-being to say anything.

Phil smoothly got back to his feet while descretely flicking his pant legs back into place before starting for the back of the plane again but just before he was about to close the door into the back room he pinned Tony with a hard look "And Tony if you ever avoid medical care again for such a stupid reason I will have you side-lined for a week. We need you far more than we need Ironman."

He was satisfied when he saw Tony's eyes widen in surprise at being needed for something other than the suit before he nodded tentatively back at him. Silently he shut the door to the back room and pulled out his cell phone. Hitting speed dial he didn't even blink when a brusque voice barked over the line "What?"

"Hydra, has infiltrated SHIELD. Sgt. Barnes positively identified a SHIELD employee that helped Rumlow escape. Stark and Banner are working on ID'ing the others in the video. The IDs and the video will be sent to you within the hour to the secure network," Coulson reported calmly. A moment of silence was his only answer before Fury said calmly but with an undercurrent to his voice that had Coulson straightening a fraction more as he started mentally preparing himself for a fight "Bring the whole team to D.C.. I will meet you there."

"And Cheese, if anything happens to me before I get to talk to you go to the cabin in the Ozarks," Fury added in lue of a good-bye before hanging up. Phil allowed himself a small frown down at the phone in his hand before he pocketed the thing again. The cabin in the Ozarks was a code that told him that Fury thought they might be being watched and that anything he knew about the situation was stashed in the safe area they had preplanned for years ago. Phil sparred a thought to wonder how bad this was actually going to get if Fury thought that Hydra had a strong enough position to attack the head of SHIELD directly but quickly filed the thought away as he moved back into the main part of the plane.

He had to fill Natasha in on their change in course and prepare the team for the fight to come.

"Ouch, damn it Bruce. Don't poke so hard," Tony groused wincing as Bruce gently felt around Tony's chest for fractures. Bruce struggled not to roll his eyes as he set back enough to fix his friend with an exasperated expression. Really the man could almost die and be as stoic as you please about it but give him a bit of bruising and he would whine about it for days.

"As far as I can tell you don't have any fractures but we should do an x-ray once we are back at the tower just to be sure," Bruce told him allowing a small, fond smile to flit across his face as Tony waved a limp hand at him in a clear dismissive gesture. For years he had conditioned himself to expect fear and revulsion when people found out about the other guy and to have someone's attitude be so completely different to what he was expecting still threw him but he had to admit it was nice. In fact the whole team's attitude toward him was surprisingly accepting. Steve from the start had treated him like anyone else he was meeting for the first time and while he had scolded Tony for deliberately provoking him in the lab it hadn't been because of fear but out of respect for the power the other guy represented. Bruce had also realized later that Steve had also disapproved of Tony's manners and attitude in general. That disapproval had thankfully not survived long once Steve actually began to get to know Tony. Steve still rebuked Tony when he did something particularly outrageous but his tone now was more of the fond, exasperation that an older sibling held for a younger sibling than the disapproval of a superior officer and accordingly Tony had responded better to Steve's rebukes. Tony had more issues with authority than anyone else he knew.

Bucky had been completely wary of him but he had been wary of everyone at first and the other guy had seemed to have nothing to do with it. Bruce thought that if he had had to go through what Bucky had been through he likely would never have trusted anyone again. Things had thankfully improved over the last several months until Bucky could be around the majority of the team without tensing up for a fight. He had even started leaving coffee thermoes in the stairwell outside Tony's lab when the man was running low, though how Bucky knew when the man was running low Bruce never knew, and Tony had seemed touched by the gesture given Bucky's fear of coming any where near the lab after his first disasterous visit.

For his part, Bruce had quickly learned not to wear his lab coat outside the labs after it triggered a flashback for Bucky that had had him almost catatonic for hours and that even Steve had been unable to bring him back from. Bucky had seemed hesitant around him after that but had gradually warmed up to him until he was treating Bruce much like Tony but instead of coffee Bucky was leaving vegetarian dishes and tea outside his lab door and having JARVIS inform him of their presence. The two of them had even made it a habit of eating together outside his lab and Bruce had been happy to find out that Bucky loved curry, something which the other man had been surprised about.

Bruce knew that Natasha was still wary of him and what the other guy could do but despite her anxiety she had gone out of her way to interact with him and the rest of the team. As for Coulson Bruce was fairly sure that nothing rattled the man but more than that Bruce could honestly say that he trusted Phil and even counted him as a friend. The man had a wicked, sarcastic sense of humor which had left him suppressing laughter more than once in the past year.

And Tony was just Tony. From the beginning, Tony had never acted any differently around him than he did around anyone else and that had meant a lot to him. It helped that he could understand Tony and his mannerisms. While he might not be as oblivious to social cues as Tony it didn't mean that he still didn't wonder at some of the strange things people did that were considered 'normal.'

Bruce's eyes crossed as he tried to focus on the tablet that had been abruptly shoved under his nose. He considered the device for a moment before following the hand holding it to see Tony typing one handed on his own tablet while still sitting on the floor.

"Is there a reason you are trying to shove that tablet up my nose," Bruce asked patiently.

Tony glanced away from his tablet to look at him with a slight puzzled frown on his face before he glanced at the tablet then at him as though to ask why he hadn't taken the tablet already. Bruce rolled his eyes before snatching the tablet from the man.

"Need your help going over these files. JARVIS is running a facial recognition software trying to match the faces of the people on the video with pictures from SHIELD's employee files but I set the search filter low with an 80% match requirement to make sure we didn't miss any of these bastards so we will have to be going through some files by hand. So I need your help," Tony explained gesturing at Bruce's tablet.

Bruce nodded his face turning down in a frown as he was reminded once more exactly why they were here. Anger burned low and deep in his chest at the idea of what these people had done to Bucky and helped do to an innocent child. The other guy shifted in the back of his mind and carefully he placed the tablet down on the floor as he took a calming breathe. Tony glanced at him but seemed unconcerned as Bruce calmed himself even though he would likely be the first to feel the other guy's rage if Bruce lost control. Steve just gave him an understanding nod as he continued to comfort Bucky and somehow Steve's and Tony's acceptance helped him to regain his balance.

Calmer he picked up the tablet once more but before he could start in on the first file Phil was back in the room and moving to stand beside Natasha.

"We are going to need to divert our flight to Washington D.C. Avoid the Washington SHIELD landing strip," Phil told Natasha who glanced at him out of the side of her eye but other than that just nodded wordlessly as her hands danced over the controls.

"Phil, why the abrupt detour," Steve asked with a worried frown.

"I am unsure but the Director felt that the Avengers might be neccesary in Washington once he heard about who helped Rumlow escape and who those people were working for," Phil answered with a grim set to his mouth then turned to face Tony "Tony, would it be possible for us to store the quinjet in your private hanger?"

"Of course," Tony agreed easily adding "Everyone can stay at the mansion in Washington. It is within ten miles of SHIELD HQ so we can be their quickly if we are needed."

"Thank you," Phil said humor in his eyes as Tony waved away his gratitude with a distracted air, eyes never leaving his tablet.

Phil's expression sobered, however, as he took in how Bucky was still sitting pressed against Steve with Steve holding him in a fierce embrace. Bruce watched out of the corner of his eye as Phil moved quietly to sit against the wall near the two supersoldiers but far enough away to not make Bucky tense. Steve glanced up to share a speaking look with Phil before turning his attention back to Bucky as he stroked the man's long hair out of his face.

"Buck, Phil needs to talk to you. Do you feel well enough or do you want to wait a while," Steve asked quietly then waited patiently as Bucky remained curled against Steve's chest unmoving. Finally after long minutes of silence where Bruce managed to flick through several SHIELD personnal folders Bucky pulled back from Steve's embrace and turned to face Phil who had remained sitting patiently beside the other two men. Bruce noted how Bucky kept his side pressed against Steve as though seeking comfort and cursed Hydra again. A dark rumble in the back of his head answered his anger and for a moment he felt the Other Guy looking out of his eyes at the other Avengers. Bruce started to jerk him back but stopped abruptly as he felt an emotion he had never felt from the Other Guy before: protectiveness. The air rushed out of Bruce's mouth in surprise and the Other Guy took his moment of distraction to turn their attention to the photo still up on Bruce's tablet which he had been using to compare Rumlow's accomplices to the SHIELD personnal photos that might have been a match for the people they were hunting.

The protective feeling vanished to be replaced by a wave of anger and dark thoughts of blood but instead of shutting the Other Guy away as he usually would Bruce allowed his eyes to stay trained on the photo as the Other Guy memorized each of the Hydra agents faces, especially the face of the woman who had personally tortured Bucky.

'Them....They deserve our rage,' Bruce thought darkly as he kept staring hard at the picture on the tablet and he actually felt the Other Guy turning his surprised focus on him. Blinking Bruce realized that this was the first time he had ever tried to communicate with the Other Guy except for trying to keep him from coming forth. They regarded each other silently before the Other Guy seemed to turn away from him with a snort and move off willingly into the back of Bruce's mind but Bruce could have sworn that he felt a hint of amusement and maybe even fondness from his retreating presence.

He took a deep breath in before becoming aware of the silence around him. Tony met his eyes with a quirked eyebrow and a hint of a smile playing around his mouth as Bruce finally looked up from the tablet sheepishly.

Steve merely gave him a quizical look from where he was rubbing gentle circles with his thumb into Bucky's flesh hand but he didn't seem overly alarmed while Bucky just pressed further into Steve's side unconcerned with any of the rest of them. Glancing back at him Natasha gave him a brief nod but Bruce could see the way she gripped the flight controls so hard that her knuckles had turned white and with a feeling of guilt he realized he had scared her again. He absolutely hated that his mere presence set her on edge but he really couldn't figure out how to set her at ease besides leaving all together. He gave her a tight smile back as a way of apology but he could tell it did little to put her at ease.

Turning his attention to Coulson he was struck by just how unruffled the other man was as he continued to type on his phone. The man looked like he had not even noticed that the Hulk had been so close to the surface and maybe it was that demeanor that made it so jarring to him when Coulson asked him calmly as though talking about the weather "That was new. You have never seemed to communicate with the Hulk like that."

Bruce startled slightly at the man's comment staring at the agent before smiling ruefully, he was uncertain why he was surprised at the man's preceptiveness.

"We are rarely in agreement," Bruce told him with a shrug then added darkly, a hint of a growl coming unbidden into his voice "But we both agree these people deserve to pay for what they have done."

Phil glanced up briefly from his phone to study him then a smile stretched his lips in a way that was more a baring of teeth than a true smile.

"Agreed," Phil said simply before he turned his attention back to his phone. Bruce turned back to his tablet but his attention was caught by Natasha who stared hard at him before she seemed to relax, a small smile playing at the edge of her lips as she nodded slightly to him. The exchange was brief but Bruce couldn't help but feel that they maybe understood each other better now.

Sorry, this chapter is such a big one but I am starting a new job and unsure when the next chapter will be.