Bring Me Home // Bucky Barnes

Chapter LI - It's Done

Steve had been pacing the length of the office for at least half an hour as Tony combed through the files that had lead them to today's mission. Peeking up over his glasses for the fifth time he watched his friend's back as he rolled his shoulders and ran his hand over the back of his neck. He was tense, and understandably so, but Tony needed his focus and he needed it now.

"Cap, I need you. Come on." He tried to soften his voice, but even he could hear the edges of frustration cutting through.

"Something doesn't sit right with this." Steve turned to face the genius hunched over a paper file and multiple glowing screens and sighed. "He's been gone for hours Tony. I'm worried.

"That much was obvious." Tony smirked. When Steve didn't so much as roll his eyes Tony took his glasses off, sat back and crossed his arms. He took a deep breath, frowning, and shook his head.

"He's probably just cooling off Cap." Getting to his feet Tony shook off the ache of hours of scanning documents for information he couldn't find, and made his way to the coffee machine in the corner of the room. "His girl saw a completely different side to him tonight, a side he has been working hard to shove down and move on from. He's just upset."

He held a mug out to Steve and sighed when he shook his head.

"Sorry Gramps. Forgot you don't drink coffee after 4pm."

A small chuckle rumbled in Steve's chest as he flopped into the open chair and turned to face the information Stark had been obsessing over for hours.

Steve sat silently, thinking about the first time he lost Bucky, all the way back in 43. He remembered feeling like a part of himself was missing. He remembered the ache in his gut that told him Bucky wasn't dead; Bucky was missing and alone and afraid and he needed him. He needed Steve to find him. He remembered following that feeling into the dingy, decrepit room in the heart of HYDRA facilities and finding his best friend bound to a table, desperately trying to cling to consciousness. Despite Starks words, and the fact that Steve knew Buck could look after himself, he couldn't shake that feeling again; that gut instinct that told him his friend needed him.

"Fine," he huffed, his eyes scanning the six screens running in the background. "What did this guy take anyway?"

Tony sat beside him and pressed some buttons, sending the image of the torn and battered red book onto the large screen in front of them.

"Honestly," he sighed as he took a sip of his coffee, "it doesn't even seem important."

Again, that gut feeling flared as Steve leant in, taking a closer look at the little book with a scratched out black star in the centre.

"They took it Tony," he murmured. "It's important. It's our job to find out why."

Tony's arm flew out to the side and his hand gripped Steve's shoulder tightly as the ground shook beneath them and the lights flickered into darkness.

"What the hell was that?" He tapped his watch, pulling up holographic controls for the compound as Steve got to his feet wordlessly and the ground shook again. "Shit. I can't access anything."

The sound of the compound alarm screeched through the room and tore through the silence that encompassed them and Steve turned to Tony with a grave look on his face.

"FRIDAY?" Steve shouted. "What was that?"

"An explosive device has been detonated in the lobby Captain Rogers." The voice that filled the room was glitchy and hard to understand and Steve felt his heart drop to his stomach at the next words she spoke. "All communications and systems are down. Mr Barnes does not appear to be himself at present."