Clint had hardly taken down the first firewall on Tony's main computer when he heard a sound he knew too well. He heard it on the floor below them and the floor above them. It was the distinct tapping noise of agents in combat boots trying to stay silent. Clint closed his eyes and focused for a second, judging by the taps there were about six coming from each direction. The footfalls were also considerably heavier than they should be for your average agent, they were all armed to the teeth that meant, weighed down by some serious equipment. These men weren't from some cheap gang, no these were trained agents. Clint's eyes flew open his face a mask of pure horror.

"SHIELD." He said simply and instantly began looking for an exit, it took him less than ten seconds to realize there was no way out of this.

"What?" Bucky asked, his voice holding an edge.

Clint put his hand on his head. "I think we must of tripped a silent alarm. Listen."

Bucky stopped for a moment. "About twelve men, all wearing combat boots. Agents from SHIELD?"

"Yep."

"By the sound of their footfalls some heavy hardware too."

"Those boys are definitely packing some serious fire power." Clint confirmed with a gulp.

"And we've got under a minute till they're on us?" Bucky ventured.

"That or less." Clint closed his eyes again.

"What's the plan? How are we getting out of here?"

Clint looked dead. "We aren't, there is no way out that doesn't end in our capture or a bullet turning out brains to pudding."

Bucky knew Clint's expression and he knew he wasn't joking. They had maybe forty seconds before they were either killed or captured. He didn't want that.

"Clint?"

"Yah?"

"I need to cash in that promise now."

"What! No!" Clint's eyes flew open again. "Those are SHIELD agents, not hydra! They aren't that bad, I was one of them!"

"Hydra, SHIELD there is no difference. Either way I end up in a cage with prodding eyes." Bucky had that look on his face again, the same one he had when he passed out on the way to the docks in Russia.

"Buck, I won't that that happen. You have to believe me." Clint pleaded. He could hear the footfalls getting closer to the doors, they would be on them in less than twenty seconds.

"I know you won't let that happen, so do the only thing to be sure it doesn't." Bucky reached to his side and pulled out his hand gun, holding it out to Clint handle first. "Please Clint, I want to die like a soldier, quick and clean.

Clint took the gun with shaking fingers. They had maybe ten seconds before SHIELD found him standing over the dead body of Hydra's ghost story of an assassin.

He rose the gun up like he had done a thousand times throughout his life and clicked off the safety, it echoed in the metal lab and made Clint want to cry hot, huge tears. He was going to shoot have to shoot his friend, the person who saved him from hydra and brought him back to America. And now he was going to watch him die. He brought the gun up so it aligned centimetres away from Bucky's temple.

Oh God. His mind was going into over drive. I can't do this, not today. I can't lose another friend, I don't need another ghost haunting me.

Clint was dimly aware that the footsteps had stopped, that SHIELD was milliseconds from crashing through the door, but at the moment he couldn't care less. All he could focus on was the way his arm shook as he centred the gun for a second time.

In the back of Clint's mind a plan formed and he looked at Bucky through tear filled eyes. "I'm sorry." he mouthed and then it all began.

It had begun and ended in a matter of seconds. As the door swung open and SHIELD poured in, Clint pulled the gun back and slammed the handle into Bucky's temple. He crumbled to the ground, not dead, but unconscious, but to anyone who didn't know he was a dead as a door nail.

Clint saw the first SHIELD agent's eyes go from Bucky to the gun in Clint's fist and connected the dots. It wasn't Bucky who was getting a bullet in the brain tonight.

The agent took aim and fired, but the shot was too low. Clint felt a twinge of pain in his neck.

Wait, a twinge? Clint's thoughts started to race.

It wasn't a bullet, it was a dart. Clint could feel the mystery drug pumping into his veins and his body becoming heavy. All he knew before his vision blacked out was that he was back where he started over two years ago, in SHIELD's grimy clutches.

__________________________

The agent lowed his gun and looked to another agent who had already run over to check both men for pulses.

"They alive?" He asked curtly.

The agent looked up at him, his face was a white as a sheet. "You better call director Fury, like now."

"What? Are they dead because if they are that isn't something to call director Fury about, maybe-"

The second agent cut him off. "Just look."

The first agent sighed but crouched down next to the other agent, at first he didn't quite understand. But then he saw the arm, and then he saw a face he never thought he would see again. He saw the face of one of SHIELD's best and brightest agents, an agent who committed suicide two years ago.

"Holy mother Mary," He breathed. "I'll make the call."