Awareness returned slowly to Tony Stark.

The first feeling that came back to Tony was pain. Throbbing, constant pain in many different places. The second thing that flowed back was his memories. Yes, he remembered why he was in pain.. Rogers and Barnes had kept his parents' reason for death a secret, they had fought, broken his suit, and left him to die in Siberia.

The next thing he felt was his emotions, flooding back through the dam that had shattered after watching that bastard kill his mother. He felt anger, he felt rage.. He felt fear, and sadness.. How could they?! They left me! How could they leave me here to freeze to death?! He angrily thought, as feeling came back to him. That's when he realized some

He had been left in Siberia.. In a snow covered HYDRA base..thing..

Then.. Why wasn't he cold?

Tony's eyes snapped open, only to hiss at the bright light that invaded his vision. He tried to bring his hands up to cover the brown orbs, but his hand was jerked back down. He froze, trying to lift his other hand, same reaction. His hands were tied down? Why?

Tony opened his eyes again, beginning to struggle with a vengeance. But his legs were bound too, on the ankles and knees. There was a something around his neck, it seemed to tighten as he tried to break free. Why!? Why was he bound!?

Suddenly, a painful shock ran through his body, causing a hoarse cry to escape him as his body jerked slightly before going limp. He panted, it felt as if all of his strength had suddenly faded away.

Then, there was shuffling, and noises. Tony tensed up instantly, eyes flickering around in an attempt see who it was.. There were voices around him.. But he couldn't hear what they were saying.. Was he at the hospital?

But then, the light was moved away from his eyes, and the spots in his vision faded. Blinking a couple times, his brown eyes turned towards a figure that was near him. As he finally got a full view of them.. He realized what was going on.

They were wearing HYDRA symbols.

Suddenly the fear was returning in full force. Tony jerked his head back, and struggled again."You bastards!" He exclaimed,"Let me go!"

Another jolting, painful shock jerked through his body, causing Tony to stop fighting once more. "It's awake,"A deep voice with a german accent grumbled,"Finally, we've been waiting long enough."

Tony frowned, chocolate eyes examining the men around him. They had the HYDRA uniforms, and black gloves on them. One, however, was wearing a white lab coat with the symbol on the back. He had a surgical mask on, and thin black hair that covered some of his forehead. He must have been the one that spoke.

"Who-" Tony began, only to let out a strangled croak as another shock ran through his body, his body thrashing slightly again.

"You're awake. Good," The man in the lab coat began,"Captain America and the Winter Soldier did a number on you before they brought you in, I was beginning to believe that you wouldn't make it. It would be a shame to lose our newest Asset."

Tony frowned. "Asset?" He questioned. "What are you- AGH!"

The doctor held up a small controller with a red button, thumb poised over it. "Assets are possessions, possessions don't speak. You will listen and obey," He declared.

"Fuck you!" Tony snapped, this time he was expecting the shock, but it didn't make it less painful.

The soldiers chuckled, and one said,"I'm surprised that the Asset still has fight in him after Siberia. Don't worry, Dr. Muller, that fight will leave him soon."

The doctor slowly lowered the controller. "Yes, I suppose you're right," He said,"Although I'm beginning to see why the Captain and the Winter Soldier were eager to hand him over. Such a weak individual."

Tony's mind finally registered those words, confusion filling him, and a frown marring his lips. "What?" He asked aloud,"They would never-"

The doctor whipped out the controller again, pressing it once more. Tony cried out again, as the doctor nodded. "Yes, they did. After all, who would want to be near a worthless thing like you?" He sneered,"But don't worry, HYDRA will turn you into something better. You'll be our new weapon, you will be our Asset."

Tony's blood ran cold, his fists clenching so hard that they turned paler than they already were. No.. No they can't be serious! He thought in horror.

Dr. Muller smirked, walking over to a side table. Tony turned his head the best he could to watch, and saw several different tools on it. All of the were sharp, and deadly looking. There was also a closed, silver briefcase. Tony's heart began to stutter in terror.

The doctor ran his pale hands over the tools, waving his fingers in a morbidly excited way. "Of course, we will be using different methods than we did with the Winter Solider," He said with a chuckle,"Don't wanna make the same mistakes twice."

Tony didn't find it very funny, especially when Muller picked up a large syringe, and flicked the air bubbles from the red liquid. Instead of staying still, Tony began to thrash again. In the back of his mind, he knew it was hopeless, but the rest of his brain was panicking.

"You bastards! You're all monsters! I'll get out of here, I'll let the whole world know HYDRA is alive!" He yelled,"You won't get away with this! The Avengers will.. They'll.." But he stopped himself…

Muller smirked at him, green eyes filled with sadistic amusement. "They'll what, Asset?" He asked,"You have nobody who cares for you anymore, Captain America and the Winter Soldier left you for us, the Avengers hate you. You have no one.. You deserve no one."

Before Tony could react, Muller took the syringe, plunging it into his neck. "He won't remain awake for the procedure anyways, putting him to sleep now will save us a lot of trouble," He explained,"Now, let's begin phase one."

Tony tried to fight whatever they injected him with, but soon the voices around him sounded like they were underwater, and then his vision faded to black once more.

This was the beginning of Tony's life in hell.

Three Years Later

Many things had changed in the past few years. With Tony Stark- one of the main backers of the accords -missing, people began to notice its flaws. Then, as the flaws appeared, so did criminals who realized how much easier crimes were when nobody could stop you. The sudden influx of crime, combined with the questions that Secretary Ross wouldn't answer, sent the public into a rage.

Ross tried to defend himself by claiming that the Avengers would cause more damage than anything else, but the state of the world around him proved otherwise. Many countries kept their opinions firm, they wanted to Accords to to stay. Many other countries, however, were starting to realize how unhelpful that stack of papers really was.

Those countries tried to call a UN meeting, but to no avail. So, many countries simply started to disregard the accords, the first country to do so being Wakanda. King T'Challa's reasoning being 'My father was killed by a villain, I just want heroes to be able to protect us. I thought the accords would help with that but they are just making the situation worse.'

Several countries followed in Wakanda's footsteps. It wasn't long before superheroes started to pop up in this countries once more, and the crime rate dropped quickly.

As soon as other officials realized the effectiveness of disregarding the accords, they followed in suit. One by one, countries stopped following the accords, to the point that trying to use it for anything was seen as a joke.

But still, the UN refused to meet, because Ross refuse to lose the control he so desperately desired, using the Winter Soldier's attack on Wakanda as an example. For a while, it worked, and people backed down.

But then the leaks happened..

Someone anonymously dropped videos onto the internet, showing Helmut Zemo's confession to T'Challa and the video of Zemo planting the bombs. Now the world knew that Ross had been a liar.

Things moved fast after that. Ross was fired and arrested, the UN meeting was finally called, the Accords were nullified, and the Avengers who were once fugitives were able to return with SHIELD, Thor, and Bruce eventually returning along with them. All in the span of a year and a half..

It was strange for Steve to think about, how long and painful the Accords seemed to last but how quickly they vanished. All of that was what led him to where he was now, staring at the blank page of his sketchbook in the Avenger compound.

It was hard to move back in, along with everyone else. Coming back was difficult too, especially for Bucky, who was just getting over the trigger words with the help of Bruce and SHIELD. Clint and Laura were divorced now, and he didn't see her or the kids often, Scott was usually with his daughter when he wasn't at the compound, Natasha was around too, but was often quiet, Sam too. Wanda was depressed as well, but that mainly had to do with the fact Vision was completely avoiding her. Obviously he was not happy with them, and he wasn't the only one.

Pepper, Peter, and Rhodey were very angry towards them as well, especially toward him and Bucky. All the friendliness was gone, but Steve understood why.. Even though he didn't find out about Tony being missing until he came back, it was his fault. What surprised him was the hostility from Bruce and Thor towards the topic, both deciding Steve and the rest of his team were also in the wrong.

He wished he could fix it, he really did, but it was too late. There was no hint to Tony's whereabouts, so all they could do was wait for a sign. It hurt, but there was some good in his life at least. He and Bucky were together now, and his best friend was finally recovering. He would probably never get over what happened, but Steve was just thankful to have him. Thanks to the sudden drop of crime as they returned, he hoped they would have time to mend everything around them and themselves..

As if his thoughts were heard, there was a sudden loud blaring. Steve was jerked out of his thoughts, and turned to look at the ceiling. "FRIDAY?" He asked,"Is something wrong?"

"Obviously," The annoyed AI replied, not very happy about him being around either. "It's a call from Director Fury."

"Answer it please.." He awkwardly asked, placing his sketchbook down on the dark oak table, his blue eyes continuing to stare at the ceiling.

After a small ping, he heard Fury's voice loud and clear. "Captain Rogers, I need you to gather the team in the meeting room, something needs our attention," He declared instantly.

It was unlike Fury to sound this… Worried, and Steve couldn't help but question,"What's going on?" There was silence on the other end for what felt like forever, until Fury finally responded.

"HYDRA has returned."

The Avengers all gathered to the meeting room extremely fast, mainly because most of them knew the threat that HYDRA caused for them. The only people who didn't really understand, Sam and Scott, watched the others curiously. They had heard stories, but nothing more.

Director Fury's one eye stared at them from his seat near the front of the table, Agent Hill right next to him. Once everyone was paying attention, Natasha was the first to speak up. "What happened?"

Steve frowned at the open question, but he was wondering the same thing. He looked over at Bucky, noticing the dark, bubbling mix of fear and anger in his eyes. They all had that question, what happened, how did HYDRA return, and why?

"It happened last night, at the RAFT" Fury began, moving to look at the screen, which showed security footage of several cameras. One minute, it was SHIELD agents patrolling the halls, but then the cameras all somehow glitched at once, turning into snow. Then the screen came back, most showing all the agents unconscious, doors broken, and.. Zemo's cell was shattered open.

Steve and Bucky tensed, as the blonde asked,"So Zemo escaped? No offense, sir, but isn't that more important than a rumor about HYDRA?"

"Captain, I would not say HYDRA had returned without proof, let me finish" He angrily snapped,"HYDRA freed Zemo, and purposefully left video evidence behind."

The tense atmosphere in the room grew, as the lights darkened turning most of the attention to the screen. Steve couldn't really tell where it was, but he saw four people on screen. One was a disheveled looking Zemo, whose was unbound and standing happily in a prison suit. The other three were painfully familiar, and made several members of the room tense.

They were wearing all black outfits, with under armour and weapons attached to them, with the HYDRA symbol displayed. The first two were tall, and had slimmer suits, but the third was shorter, and wearing clothing that looked eerily similar to the Winter Soldier's clothing. He looked rather young as well.

"Well," Zemo suddenly said,"I must say, out of all the people I expected to free me, HYDRA soldiers weren't one of them."

The taller two chuckled, while the shorter remained eerily silent. This reaction sent a frown of confusion up Zemo's face, as he asked,"I don't understand.. What's so funny?"

"We merely find it funny that you think we would waste any efforts to help you, you are not worthy of joining HYDRA, but you are worthy of being our example for what happens when you cross us, kill our members, and steal our files…" One of the taller men declared, causing Zemo's face to fill with fear.

"Asset," The tall one suddenly said, and instantly, the third one reacted. He pulled a gun out of his belt, pulling the trigger, and shooting Zemo in the head. The man instantly crashed to the ground, blood pooling underneath him.

The taller one then said,"Good, very good." His hand went to the shorters hair, running a hand through it, as the shorter put his gun back in the holster. Then, without a word, the three turned and left. They didn't have to say anything, because they knew their message was clear, HYDRA was back.

The screens returned to snow once more, and Fury turned back towards them. His face was grim, as he declared,"Now do you see why this is a problem? They're back, and all we know is that they killed Zemo. We have nothing else, no information, nothing to go on. But they're planning something, they have to be, they had no reason to reveal themselves and yet they did. HYDRA's return is now one of our main priorities, understood?"

Most of them nodded, understanding instantly. Steve's blue eyes, however, saw his best friend shuddering out of the corner of his eye. "Buck..?" He asked worriedly,"What's the matter?"

All eyes in the room were suddenly on Bucky, as he chewed on his lips. "The short one.. They called him Asset.." He muttered quietly.

"Yeah, so?" Clint asked in confusion, his cheek resting in his hand. Natasha's eyes flicked towards him for a moment, narrowing her eyes at his attitude.

"That's what they called me.. Before I was 'The Winter Soldier' they called me Asset," He explained fearfully,"And the other experimental soldiers.. That was what they were called too.."

Instantly, the gears in Steve's head started turning. "They made another Winter Soldier, is that what you're saying?" He asked, his heart freezing over in fear.

Bucky nodded shakily, and replied,"It has to be, didn't you see the way he was acting? He didn't move or speak until they ordered him, they took another person and brainwashed them! They were probably just an innocent kid, and then forced them to be a weapon, why do they do this?!"

His metal hand slammed onto the table, before he turned and stormed out of the room. Steve stood up to follow after him, but Natasha grabbed his hand. Her steel eyes firmly said 'Leave him be'. So, Steve sighed, and sat back down.

"If what he says is true.." Thor began,"Then we must find a way to save this 'Asset' as well as stop HYDRA."

Fury nodded. "I agree, but until we have more information, all we can do is wait," He explained in shame, before standing up. "You're all dismissed, I'll call if anything comes up, but I'd like you all to keep an eye out by yourselves as well, understood?"

He didn't wait for a reply, instead he and Agent Hill left. Soon, everyone got up and left, their own thoughts on the issue distracting them from the others around them. Steve got up quickly as well, as he asked,"FRIDAY, where's Bucky?"

"Barnes is on the balcony," Friday tersely replied, not even using the formalities she used to. He thaked her, and took the trip to the upstairs balcony.

When he got to the top, he could see Bucky standing there, his brown hair flowing in the wind. There was no noise in the green, luscious trees surrounding them. Steve was almost afraid to break the silence, but he was more afraid of leaving Bucky with whatever horrible thoughts were running through his brain.

"Buck," He awkwardly began, surprised when the other man jumped slightly. Bucky usually could tell when people were sneaking around, he must really be troubled, and Steve wasn't sure how to fix that.

Before he could think of anything, Bucky spoke. "Why? Why do they have to drag innocent people into this? They're powerful enough without a Winter Soldier, or an Asset, or whatever the fuck they want to call us.. I hate this, why do they keep coming back?!" He angrily demanded.

Bucky's eyes grew wet, as they filled with tears. Steve's heart broke, seeing that his friend as holding in all this pain. He quickly made his way over to his friend, wrapping his arms around him.

Bucky tensed up for a moment, before releasing a huge breath and burying his face in Steve's shoulder. "It just hurts so much.." He whispered,"I want them to stop, I want it to be over.. But now they've come back, they've taken someone else.. They're going to kill more innocent people, I just want it to end!"

"Bucky, it's okay, we'll stop them, I promise. They won't get away with it this time, I promise," Steve declared, running a hand through his hair. "We'll stop HYDRA, just as we have before, we'll help the person they took if they weren't there willingly, and everything will be alright, I promise."

Looking at Steve's blue eyes, and that familiar smile, Bucky found himself nodding, as he whispered,"Yeah.. Yeah okay.."

Steve smiled wider, and nodded. "Okay, come on, I'll make us some food, you really need to eat more," He said, patting Bucky's shoulder as he turned back into the compound. Bucky watched him for a long moment, before following after him. He knew Steve was trying to make him feel better, to look for the good in a bad situation. Bucky wanted to have the same optimism as his best friend, but he just couldn't.. Not with all the knowledge he had and things he had gone through.

But maybe Steve was right.. After all they had fought HYDRA before, and now they were all together. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he feared.. But then again..

Something told Bucky that there was much more going on than they thought..