Clocks//Stucky✔

Fifteen

"We have a lead."

For a moment Bucky thought he was dreaming. He sat up, the photo still clamped tightly in his grip. He decided to put in back in the frame. Steve would want it when he got back. 

"Get dressed and meet us up there," Natasha commented. Only then did Bucky realize that he was still wearing sweatpants and the t-shirt. Bucky nodded, a bit embarrassed. 

Natasha left the room and Bucky assumed he could just borrow the clothes Steve had in this room. He switched out the sweatpants for a pair of black jeans, and simply pulled a sweatshirt over the t-shirt. The jeans fit a little weird, but they weren't too uncomfortable. 

 Bucky was about to leave the room when he heard Natasha's voice again. "Are you drunk?" She asked- well, Tony, Bucky presumed. Natasha sounded a bit upset. "You should have been resting, but you finished this whole bottle instead?"

Bucky cracked open the door, debating on whether or not to just walk past them, intervene, or stay and listen. He when with the latter. 

"Tony, I know this is hard for you, but doing this... you're acting like you don't care. Being drunk doesn't help anyone, let alone Steve." Natasha lectured.

"You have no idea how much I care!" Tony suddenly spoke up, his voice a slur.

"If you cared, you wouldn't be drunk right now. You would have gotten some rest like requested." She spat. "You're hurting yourself."

"You wouldn't understand how this feels! To be stripped of the one thing you love most in life! I'm in love with Steve. But now he's gone." Tony was breathing heavily. "And even if we get him back... it won't matter." His voice broke.

"Because I'm only a second choice, now that James is back. Steve will always pick him over me in a heartbeat." Tony continued. Bucky barely heard the last sentence above the overwhelming guilt replacing his blood and flooding his veins.

"Fine then. Come talk to me when you're sober. We need to discuss some things." Natasha lowered her voice. "Come on, James."

Bucky became embarrassed once more, the guilt still prominent. But Bucky hadn't done anything wrong.

But then Bucky thought about what Tony said.

Did that mean Steve liked Bucky?

☆

"We're tracking them now. Nat, Sam, and Clint, I'd hurry up and get ready." Bruce advised. Bucky didn't take him as the leader type, but drastic times call for drastic measures.

"I want to go with you." Bucky requested.

"No." They spoke in unison.

"It's too dangerous. Someone could recognize the Winter Soldier and that wouldn't be good. Also, Hydra would be expecting you to show your face." Clint reasoned.

"You can torture the shit out if the Hydra agent when we get them back though." Sam agreed.

"But find out where Steve is first." Natasha put in. Bucky frowned in response but nodded anyway.

"It's gonna be long and tricky trying to get them back here," Clint grumbled, checking the tracking device in his hand.

"Just take the quinjet." A voice interjected. Pairs of eyes gazed upon Tony.

"Tony, you're drunk. You don't get an opinion." Natasha pointed out.

"No... it's risky. But it could work. Quickly extract the target and quickly fly back. Easy." Bruce reasoned.

"You'll be out of there before anyone could stop you." Thor grinned.

"Yeah. It leaves less room for error." Bucky wanted to feel part of the conversation.

"But if we do get noticed- which we will- then we'll have the government crawling up our asses. Which could possibly lead to  someone finding out we have James, and we don't exactly have the convincing powers of Steve." Natasha countered. "But if getting Steve as soon as possible is a higher priority, then fine. We'll take the jet." 

"Take it." Bucky and Tony pleaded in unison. They simply glanced at each other, tension growing. Bucky felt weird around Tony now, feeling responsible for the man's distress, and that he felt as if he could never be with Steve.

But Bucky didn't want Tony to be with Steve.

☆

"About sixty seconds to target. Get ready." Bruce spoke into the earpiece. They had all eventually settled on the jet, it having a better chance of success that outweighed the risk. In the end, they figured that getting Steve as soon as possible was better.

Everyone was waiting, watching. But this was only step one. Step two was getting information on where Steve even was, then making a solid rescue plan, then actually attempting a rescue.

Since the first alert from Jarvis, there were two more tags which were being closely monitored by the AI and their locations recorded.

"You're right above the target. Get ready, try not to be spotted." Bruce commanded. To actually take down the target, they decided to use an anesthetic dart gun to knock the target out, then Natasha was to collect the target and then everyone would come back to the base for interrogation.

"Wait a moment, they're heading towards a house. Tag the location?" Clint recommended, lining up his shot. 

"Got it. Fire at will." Bruce sighed. Everyone held their breath, waiting for a signal. There were a few moments of suffocating silence before a voice crackled over the speakers. 

"On our way back with the target." 

 ☆

"We're just waiting for them to wake up. It's a woman, looks to be  in her early twenties." Natasha reported. "And we checked her fingerprint and everything else, but there was nothing. Not even a name."

Step one was successful, and that gave them hope. They were just a few steps away from Steve. Natasha, Clint, and Sam were all down in the holding cell with the girl, still communicating through an earpiece. 

"I'm bored." Sam groaned. "I'm gonna try and wake her up, this is just wasting time." Sam was heard taking a few steps before a small slap sounded, followed by another before a groan. "There we are. Good morning, sunshine." Sam snarked. 

"I was fine with waiting." Natasha sighed. "Bring James down here now I guess." Bucky was anxious. He didn't want to snap and kill the girl. Even after they get information. Bucky was done with killing if he could help it. Tony gave Bucky the elevator password and he slowly made his way down.

It felt like hours until the doors slid open. The basement of the tower was like a prison, although it was only meant to house threats for a short period of time. He spotted Natasha standing right outside the cell, leaning against the wall, waiting for him. 

"Clint and Sam are in the cell. They haven't gotten anything out of her and we're hoping you could get something." Natasha opened the door. Clint was leaning against the wall while Sam was sitting on the floor in front of the girl. Her head was down and her hair covering her face.

Sam stood up. "Good luck." He spoke and left the cell, waiting outside with Natasha. Clint decided to stay and watch from the corner. 

Bucky took a deep breath before speaking. "а ты говоришь по русски? (Do you speak Russian?)" He asked her. She nodded a little, pointing at Clint. 

"Из. (Out.)" She demanded. Bucky turned to Clint. 

"She um... she wants you out. Just stand outside the door. Ill come right out if anything goes wrong. Or come in if anything is too quiet." Bucky spoke. Clint shrugged and left, closing the door behind him. 

"Как тебя зовут? (What is your name?)" He asked her. He couldn't see her face, but it twisted up into a sadistic smile at his words. 

"Вы знаете мое имя. Kuidas läheb, Bucky? (You know my name. How are you, Bucky?)" She lifted her head.