It turned out that no one had a plan that didn't include mass chaos, harming a good deal of SHIELD agents, a bomb, threatening Fury or breaking in SHIELD headquarters.

After Tony's third plan containing the use of hairspray and a lighter to make a flamethrower, Natasha intervened. And by intervened I mean she gave Tony a withering glare and pranced off toward the garage. Halfway out of the room she spun on her heel and glanced at the other avengers.

"Are you guys coming or what?"

Natasha had hardly ever seen those boys move so fast.

__________________________

Clint was bored. Scratch that, he was more than bored, he was, he was a feeling that lacked words to describe. His cell, which he had not so lovingly nicknamed the Tundra was named thanks to the hospital white walls that mirrored a snowstorm and vents that seemed to blow only frigid air so cold that you swear that you could see your breath.

Anyway,Clint swore he was going to go insane. At least he was sure he was going to lose his sanity if he didn't freeze to death first. He also had a sneaking suspicion he may die of starvation too, not because they weren't feeding him, no Clint got three perfectly portioned rations each day, the thing was what was in the rations. Now Clint had eaten some particularly horrible foods like dog treats, sour milk and Kate's ill fated attempts at scrambled eggs, but nothing prepared him for the devil spawn that was SHIELD prisoner rations.

He had eaten regular SHIELD rations before and they weren't that bad, so Clint naturally figured that the stuff made for prisoners couldn't be that different.

Naturally, Clint was wrong.

At what Clint guessed was around six in the morning (he couldn't be sure since the guards had confiscated his watch), a slat in the door opened and a tray with a dull green packet, a spoon and a mug of hot water slid in.

Clint knew the second he picked up the packet what was inside and his stomach began to roll,it was SHIELD's patented brand of oatmeal. Though he had never personally eaten the ration, he knew the stories all too well.The oatmeal in question had been developed by some brains to have all the nutritional value you need and could be eaten as a replacement for any meal. It was also had no expire date or odour, making it ideal for long stake outs or when you were on the run because without the smell it was harder for dogs to track you.

Even though the brains had assured agents that the oatmeal was completely safe and tasted like normal oatmeal, they were still leery of it and had good reason to be. Some agents had come back to SHIELD after a week in the wilderness slightly malnourished with a food carton still stocked of what they had nicknamed Satin's sand.

But Clint was hungry so he tore open the packet with his teeth and poured in the mug of hot water then gave it a quick stir, silently thanked the brains for making it odourless and took a bite. It was like eating cardboard mixed with saw dust and mud that tasted like someone had waved a handful of oats over top of it. He forced down three spoonfuls before he dropped the packet back on the tray and flopped down onto his cot. It creaked underneath him.

Well, He thought with a grim smirk. At least they can't feed me oatmeal for every meal.

__________________________

Steve couldn't say being an Avenger didn't have it's perks. They just basically strutted in SHIELD and told the man at the desk that they needed to speak with director Fury. It took the pencil pusher under a minute to give them access cards and point them toward the correct elevator.

But getting into Fury's office to speak (yell at) with was a different story. The Madame at the secretary desk was less than helpful, telling them to sit down and wait until Fury was finished his meeting. Tony look torched, but he sat down on one of the waiting room chairs with a huff anyway.

At took ten minutes of silence before Fury's office door swung open and his voice echoed out.

"This better be important."

The avengers filed in with Natasha in the lead, a look of pure murder across her face.

"Where is he?"

"Where's who?" The Director barely looked up from where he was lounged behind his desk.

"Don't you dare try to play dumb." Steve said, his a low growl. "You know who we mean."

Fury slowly looked up and leaned back into his chair. " You mean Agent Barton and The Winter Soldier? Yah I know where they are."

Tony leaned across the desk, his face inches from Fury's. "Then enlighten us before Dr.Banner over here gets angry."

Fury almost seemed to smirk. "Threatening the head of SHIELD, seems like a good plan huh? Alright then, I'll play your game. The fugitives are seven stories underground."

"What?" Steve didn't understand, but he understood that smirk and knew whatever SHIELD was hiding seven stories underneath New York wasn't good.

"Ask your spider, she knows very well what is down there." Fury wasn't even trying to hide his malicious smile anymore.

"Natasha?"

"Solitary Confinement." She said in an almost whisper, looking at the floor. "He put Clint and Bucky in Solitary Confinement that I helped design and test. People go insane inside there in about two weeks."

Natasha looked up and stared dead straight at Director Fury, her face was expressionless, but her eyes were burning with a pure hatred. "I'm going to kill you." Those were Natasha's last words before she launched herself over the desk at Fury.

Fury was immensely lucky that Steve stepped in and pulled the massively pissed off Russian off him before she had enough time to do any damage.

"That's enough Natasha." Steve said into her ear as he tugged her off. "We can't get information out of him if he is dead."

Natasha still looked ready to knock someone into next week, but she nodded anyway.

Now it was Tony's turn to take a chunk out of Fury, thankfully he was much more civilized.

"You can't hold civilians for over 48 hours, so you have to release Clint and Bucky eventually." Tony started.

Fury sighed. "Barton is my agent and The Winter Soldier is a hydra weapon who has killed over a dozen people in the last decade alone. And if none of that was true, last time I checked Barton commuted suicide two years ago and Barnes fell off a train over seventy years ago. So technically I can keep them for as long as I want because they aren't even alive anymore."

"Bullshit." Steve called. "Bucky isn't the Winter Soldier anymore, he never was! He's a hero!"

"So is Clint! He gave up his entire life to SHIELD! He doesn't deserve to be put in a cage!" Natasha added.

It was beginning to look like Tony may have to hold back both Natasha and Steve or they were going to tear Fury to shreds.

"It doesn't matter who Barnes is now or who Barton was in the past. Barton went rouge and faked his own death. And Barnes killed people, good people who didn't deserve to die. Don't you agree with me Stark?" Fury raised his eyebrows.

"You leave my parents out of this or so help me-"

Bruce cut him off.

"Can we see them?"

"Huh?" Was the collective response.

"If you aren't going to let Clint or Bucky go, at least let us see them. It's been two years since any of us have seen Clint and seventy since Steve has seen Bucky. Just let us see them, we don't even have to talk to them, just let us see in person that our friends are alright and we'll leave."

The other avengers stared at him with a collective "What the hell?!!" look, but Bruce ignored them. He had been brewing a plan and now he had a way to fulfill it.

Fury smiled. "At least one of you is reasonable. You know what, I'll take you all down myself to see Barton and Barnes. Just because I'm nice like that."

The elevator ride to negative seven, the level where Bucky and Clint were being kept was awkward to say the least. Fury stood at the centre of the elevator with Natasha and Tony on his left and Steve and Bruce on his right. When the elevator finally reached its destination it was hard to tell who was more relieved, Fury or the Avengers.

The hallway they stepped into sent shivers down Natasha's usually steel still spine. It was painted white, the kind of white that looked way too clean and at the same time nauseatingly dirty. The walls also seemed to be closing in on the already narrow hallway, the lights were long yellowish beams that cast strange shades on everything they touched. Natasha resisted the urge to close her eyes.

It only looks like the red room Natasha told herself. It is only here to scared you, to make you feel unprotected. You aren't afraid of the red room anymore

Pushing her more doubtful thoughts aside she pushed herself along the hallway, following Fury past closed cell doors and trying not to think about how many of these cells were full and how many could be empty, just waiting for her or any of the other avengers to step out of line.

Exactly thirty steps down the hall they came to a crossroads. The hallway seemed to continue endlessly both to the left and to the right. Fury turned to face the Avengers, his good eye sparkling.

"Who will it be first? Hydra's experiment or Loki's little friend?"

Anger bubbled in all of the Avengers' minds but they didn't give Fury the satisfaction of a retort. Instead, Natasha answered without a hint of emotion.

"Sergeant Barnes first, seventy years without your comrade beats two without your partner."

Fury didn't say a word, but instead just turned and headed down the hallway to the right.

He stopped three doors down and set his hand on the centre, for a second nothing happened, then the sensors picked up body heat and the automated voice chimed in.

"Director Fury, Nicholas J. Please choose a function."

"Viewing room, cell 4931."

"Door opening."

Like the voice said the door slid open, and Fury ushered them in.

But the room was empty, there was no bed, no video cameras and most importantly no Bucky.

"Where the hell is he? You said we could see him." Steve's voice was reaching a tone that wasn't so patriotic or polite.

"Language Captain. You only said you wanted to see him, so turn around and look. Computer, open mirror viewing." Fury was smiling like a jackal. "I'm going to be out in the hall, call me when you're finished.

The four avengers spun around only to come face to face with a large window, that was looking straight into Bucky's cell.

There was silence between the avengers. No one mentioned the way Bucky sat on the shredded remains of a cot with his eyes downcast. Or how his cell looked like he had tore it apart with his bare hands. Or how bruises dotted what parts of his body they could see, as if the bruises were dabs of paint and Bucky was the finished canvas of a Jackson Pollock painting.

Natasha looked at the man trapped inside the cell with a cool stare. Though on the inside it was a different story, her heart was overflowing with pity, but she didn't show it. Because she had a feeling the man on the other side of the glass didn't want her pity, whether he deserved it or not.

Instead of focusing on pity Natasha focused on Bucky's face. Though now it was obscured by shadows, bruises and deep circles showing sleepless nights it wasn't hard to see that Bucky was at one time very handsome. At the edges of his eyes and mouth Natasha could see little laugh lines, and could only imagine what Bucky's smile could've been like.

It would've been brighter than fresh snow on a cold sunny day. She decided. And it would light up any room he would happen to walk into.

His laugh would be like that too. A clear pure sound that made other people smile too. Just like Clint's perfectly loud laugh. It wouldn't be an obnoxious sound, no, it would be a happy sound that you could deny was a sound of pure joy. And his eyes-

A shallow, wheezing breath to her left made Natasha tear her eyes away from Barnes and turn her gaze to Steve. Tears dripping down his face like rain on a car window. His forehead pressed against the glass and his fists placed on either side, like he was trying to block out anything that would distract him from his best friend.

"Bucky I'm sorry, I'm so sorry." His lips stumbled over the words and trembled because he knew those words would never be enough.

"Steve...." Natasha put a light hand on Steve's bicep. "He can't hear you, and you have nothing to apologize for."

Steve stared at her with bloodshot eyes. "You don't understand, Bucky is alive, he didn't die when he fell off the train."

Natasha wasn't sure she understood. "That's a good thing Steve, your friend is alive."

"No, Bucky survived the fall. That meant I c-could've too. I could've jumped after him and saved him and he would've never went through all this pain." Steve looked eighty years older than he was. "B-Bucky would've went back home to Brooklyn, found a beautiful girl and m-married her. He would've had a family, a real f-family. He would've grown old and passed away in some hospital surrounded by people how loved him just as much as I did. He would've been so happy."

Natasha didn't know what to say other than "You would've been so happy too." So she just pulled Steve down to her level and enveloped him in a bone crushing hug that he returned whole heartedly. Neither of them notice how Bruce had situated him as far away from Bucky or how Tony had slipped out of the room and into the hall.

Tony couldn't stand it in there anymore, he knew that he should be comforting Steve right along with Natasha, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't comfort Steve as he cried over the lost life of the man who murdered his only family.

For most of his childhood Tony had imagined the monster of a man who had killed his mother and father. He had imagined how cold and soulless the man's eyes would be, how tall and how strong and how terrifying he would be. But all his imagining had not prepared him for this. No, nothing in the world could've prepared him to see his family's murderer folded in on himself and almost cowering on a destroyed cot. Nothing could've prepared him for the maps of blues, blacks, purples and yellows that covered the murderer like a sheet or how his eyes were a foaming sea of sorrow, regret and agony. Nothing could've prepared Tony for how human the killer looked.

His entire childhood he had cultivated a burning hatred for the man with the metal arm and the red star, but now no matter how hard he tried to imagine the soulless killing machine that was the Winter Soldier he couldn't do it without seeing Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes staring at him with that look of hopelessness.