A/N - I keep writing like a paragraph of this and then forgetting I didn't actually write a whole chapter. Lol. My bad.

The archer looked like shit.

It shouldn't have bothered Bucky - he was in the middle of a mission, in full "infiltration mode," concentrating completely on not getting caught.

It bothered him anyway.

The fact of the matter was, Bucky hadn't gotten the chance to know any of Steve's "team" very well, back when they were all trying to escape Ross… well, and Tony. Mostly Tony. After that, he had gone immediately into cryostasis, and from there had been taken by Hydra. So he didn't really know any of them, except of course Steve.

In the short time he had spent with them, though, he'd felt something different about all of them. It took until a few weeks after they were separated for him to realize what it was: he genuinely liked them, and Clint was one of the best. The archer had been settling into a normal life, then Steve had called, and suddenly he was right back in the thick of it. The few times he complained about deciding to follow Steve, it had been with a smile. Not to mention the fact that apparently Clint had no reservations about Bucky besides the obvious "is this guy going to kill me?" and had fully accepted Steve's decision to defend him.

Natasha had mentioned something similar happening between her and Clint, a "long time ago." That only raised his estimation of the archer. Sure, Steve was an idiot for throwing his life on the line to defend Bucky, but hey, he still appreciated it. No wonder Clint and Natasha were close.

And now, Clint looked like absolute shit. Even in the dim lighting, Bucky could see the dark bruises marring every inch of exposed skin, and the blood matted in light brown hair. And damn it, it affected him, not enough to make him make a mistake, but certainly enough to distract him.

Finally he realized not two seconds had gone by since he relayed the surprise to Tony, and the inventor was finally responding. "Feathers is here? Like, right where you are? Why?"

Bucky snorted. "Well, I wouldn't know, but I would hazard a guess that he was trying to find me and Hydra set a trap for him." He bit his lip. If Clint had been captured, chances were good that everyone else was in trouble as well. His eyes automatically scanned the room again. "Natasha isn't here." Even if she had dyed her unmistakable hair, there were no catlike assassins occupying the few spaces that Natasha would prefer to sit.

"This certainly puts a wrench in things." Tony's brain was obviously working at top speed, because he had that little hitch in his breath that only manifested itself when he felt challenged by a problem.

"What's the plan?" He already had an idea of what the genius was going to say, and while he didn't like it, at all, it was probably the right decision.

Sure enough, the quiet words that came back were, "We can't stay. If we do, Hydra will kill me and capture you. We'll have to come back for him," he asserted, and the little hitch in his breath was back. "Get any information you can without them knowing you did, and get the hell out of there before someone hears you in the vents."

"Got it." Bucky hesitated, though, because he was only a few feet from Clint's head. "I can probably make contact without anyone else hearing me," he muttered, knowing already that his suggestion would be shot down.

And then it wasn't. "Go ahead," Tony replied. "If there's one thing I've learned about assassins, it's that they can do a hell of a lot with only a little information."

It was risky, but Tony appeared not to care. Or maybe he didn't think it was risky at all, knowing both assassins well, maybe he just trusted that they could avoid being discovered.

"Fifteen minutes, remember?" A clang of metal as a bullet struck the armor. "Then they'll realize I'm a distraction if I don't get out of here."

Instead of answering, Bucky leaned close to the grate, waited for a moment of relative quiet, and hissed words through his teeth. "Hawkeye, don't look now."

"Hawkeye, don't look now." The words were so quiet that for a second Clint thought he might have imagined them. They also explained the feeling of being watched, the feeling that had been making the hairs on his neck stand up.

Slowly, he tilted his head to the side and waiting for another whisper.

"I've got to get out of here, but we'll be coming back soon. Are the others here?" He gave his head the tiniest of shakes. "Are they safe?" Another shake of the head. Well, Natasha wasn't safe, he couldn't be sure about the others, but there was no real way to relay that message with subtle head gestures.

Apparently, that was all the information necessary, because he faintly heard the scrape of metal on the metal vent and knew the man was already gone.

Barnes. It had to be, though his Brooklyn accent was stronger than any time Clint had heard him speak before. It just figured. Clint and Natasha had chased this guy halfway around the globe, and then when they had been captured, he finally showed up. Of course.

Then again, Natasha had once told him that the only way to find an assassin was to sit still for a few days and wait for him or her to find you. Apparently that really was the best way to go about it.

When they were walked back to their cells, he heard someone talking about an attack on the front of the building, but they shut up quickly when they realized the prisoners were returning. Clint guessed that meant Steve or Wanda or one of the others had provided a distraction so that Barnes could get into the building. At least he had backup.

The only question was the plan. Did they even have a plan, or were they making this up as they went along? From the lack of information and time Barnes had had, it sure seemed like he was just winging it, but that wasn't the assassin's way, was it? Maybe it was Steve's doing.

Something was strange about the whole situation. Clint shrugged it off. He'd find out in due time, assuming rescue really was coming, and by that time hopefully Barnes and the rest would know where Natasha was.

Still, he resolved to be on guard. Just in case, as always. He was an Avenger, after all.

Tony felt like he'd been put through a meat grinder, but he was miraculously free of bullet holes. He'd pulled away the second Bucky was clear of the building, rocketing into the treeline and making absolutely sure he'd shaken all pursuit before he headed back to the helicopter.

"Are you hurt?" were the first words out of Bucky's mouth. The assassin himself looked completely unscathed, though he had dust in his black hair and dirt smudged across his face and clothing from the vents.

"Bruises. Maybe a cracked rib." Tony shrugged painfully and emerged from the armor. "None of their armor-piercing rounds made it, so today was a good day. What's the status on Clint and the prison list?"

Bucky gestured calmly to the table, where his black thumb drive was resting. "I copied all the transport files and covered my tracks like you told me. I just got back myself, so I haven't had a chance to look and see what's in there. Clint said that the others weren't with him, but that they weren't safe either. What's the plan?"

Tony pulled out his StarkPad, which he still couldn't believe Bucky had called a phone tablet computer-y thing, and plugged in the thumb drive. "We find out just how many of our people Hydra has, find out where they are, and then I call in the heavy hitters to bust them out."

Bucky frowned in confusion. "I thought we were the heavy hitters."

"Oh, we are, we are… but there are some people out there who hit even harder than us. One is in Namibia and probably wouldn't appreciate me intruding on his self-imposed exile, so I think I'll go with the other." He smirked. "So, let's see who we can find, yeah?"

The files were encrypted, of course. Hydra encrypted their information well, but hadn't exactly counted on Tony Stark himself trying to get at it. It only took half an hour.

"I'm not sure whether I should even be surprised that Steve managed to get himself into trouble again," grumbled Bucky when he realized Hydra had his best friend. "At least he and Natasha are together… but I don't recognize that location. Can't even pronounce it."

Tony chuckled and pulled out his tablet, searching for the town online. "It's actually in Canada, if you can believe that."

"So do you have a plan?" He was affronted that Barnes had even asked. He was Tony Stark, of course he had a plan.

A vibrant grin spread over the genius's face. "Like I said, the heavy hitters." He hit the third number on speed dial and listened to it ring. "I'm going to call in Vision."

"Hello." Vizh picked up on the second ring.

"Vizh, it's Tony," he said, but before he could continue he heard a gasp in the background. "...and not only did you answer on speakerphone, apparently, but you aren't alone. I would say 'my bad,' but I'm willing to bet that was Wanda..."

Bucky let out a snort and took the phone away from Tony. "Hi, Vision. Can I talk to Wanda please? We're in a tight spot and we sort of need backup."

"Barnes? Is that you? What the hell are you doing with Stark?"

Tony grabbed the phone back as soon as he heard that, and practically yelled, "What the hell are you doing with Vizh?"

"Probably not the same thing," Wanda replied, and Bucky dissolved into laughter. "Have you seen the others? Nobody was there the last time I went back to see them."

"Yeah… um…" Bucky stopped laughing immediately. "That's the bad news…"

As dire as their situation was, Tony spared exactly seven seconds to fume that Vizh had a secret love life before he explained the situation.

A/N - Much as I would rather have Tony and Bucky doing everything together, I figured a Hydra prison camp designed to hold even superheroes would probably need more than 2 superheroes to stage a prison break.

It's unfortunate, because I can tell I'm going to miss just having the two of them chilling together, but the plot demands backup and so backup they will have.

Meanwhile, Vizh has a lot of explaining to do XD