Clint's stomach dropped like a stone in a rushing river, Fury had said those words to him before and that was how he became an Avenger. Now he had a feeling that those words would be how he becomes a dead man. All he wanted to do was reach up and choke the life out of the Director, Clint wanted to watch him twitch and spasm, make him suffer for what he had done. But he couldn't do that, because if he killed Fury all he would bring on his friends was suffering. If he killed Fury he would be dead within minutes, shot in the head by a guard and Bucky would be alone. He wouldn't get out if Fury died. So Clint clenched his fists to his sides and clicked on his good little agent mask.

"What do you want from us, Director?"

"Well since you asked so nicely, I guess I'll tell you." Fury sat down at the interrogation table and motioned for them to sit on the opposite side.

There was only one chair. Both boys stood up, but neither of the boys sat. Instead Clint stood shoulder to shoulder with Bucky and slipped his hand down to grip Bucky's, he could feel Bucky pulse flip- flopping underneath his skin. Clint shook his head slightly at Fury, he wouldn't let go of Bucky's hand and he also wouldn't let Fury see their hands intertwined. The director had a way of exploiting any weakness and he sure as hell wasn't going to give him anymore ammunition.

"Alright then, don't sit. Back to the point, a little while ago a.... friend of mine came by and made a deal with me. And now it is time to follow through on my side. You are free to go."

"What?" Bucky's voice was raspy and full a disbelief. "You wouldn't let us go that easy."

"Smarter than you look, huh, Winter Soldier?" Fury laughed emptily. "Fellas come on in." He said this to no one directly, but without a moments delay a group of lab coated men rushed in, each holding a terrifyingly long needle.

Before Bucky or Clint could protest the men grabbed their right arms, pulling Bucky away from Clint and inserting a needle into both boy's arms. Bucky knocked over the man who pushed down the needle plunger in his arm with a feral growl, but it was too late. Whatever was in the needle was flowing through his veins.

"What the hell?" Clint growled as he pulled the empty needle out.

"Has it really been so long agent Barton? That you have forgotten what a tracker feels like?"

A tracker. Clint wanted to scream. No, this can't be happening, not again.

"Clint? What is going on?" Bucky asked.

"Tell Barnes what is going on Clint." Fury almost taunted. "I'm sure you know by now."

"He's sending us on a mission." Clint's voice wavered. "A suicide mission, if we succeed we have our freedom."

"Exactly." Fury continued. "But we have some rules that go along with this. You get no help from SHIELD. You must retrieve the object and give it to us without protesting. You have a month to do it. Is it all clear?"

"Yes. But what is the mission?" Clint asked.

"You will be retrieving the Tesseract."

And with those words Clint felt his heart stop beating.

__________________________

Clint was moving on autopilot. His body was working on it's own, putting his hand out to take a flash drive Fury and a file with the finer details of their 'agreement'. Following him out of the interrogation cell with Bucky leaning heavily on his shoulder. He barely remembered Fury handing them some street clothes and opening a steel door to the outside then telling him to leave or he would stuff him back into a cell.

It wasn't till he found himself sitting on the concrete of an alley with Bucky speaking to him that he finally came back to the real world.

"Clint? What are we going to do?" Bucky asked, he had yet to change out of his bloodstained cell clothes, but he was eyeing the bag of street clothes.

"First we are going to lose these clothes and change into those ones." He motioned to the bag. "After that, I don't know. We can't run, with the trackers in our arms they'll find us in no time and if we don't bring them the Tesseract we won't see the light of day again."

"Clint." Bucky sighed. "We probably aren't going to see the light of day anyway, they are called suicide missions for a reason. We aren't getting out of this with a couple scuffs, most likely one or both of us will be dead within the month."

"Don't think about that right now." Clint chided half heartedly. He pulled a set of clothes out and chucked them to Bucky, who winced when they hit his chest. Clint decided to ignore it, Bucky would just clam up if he tried to check him over now. He would wait till later.

Changing into street clothes himself, Clint stashed their old clothes into a nearby dumpster and then put an arm over Bucky's shoulder. Half to support him and half to hide his metal hand which glinted in the sunlight thanks to the lack of gloves provided. But also because Clint needed some support himself, this wasn't going to be an easy task.

Steeling himself Clint led Bucky out of the alley and steered them in the direction of downtown.

"Where are we going?" Bucky questioned.

"To do something that is long overdo for both of us."

__________________________

Avengers Tower loomed in front of the two soldiers, it was glass and gleaming as always and suddenly made Bucky and Clint feel very dirty.

How long had it been since they had last showered?

Bucky watched the colour leave Clint's face as he craned his neck to look up all the stories.

"You gonna be alright?" Bucky sounded worried. "We don't have to do this right now, we could come back later."

"No." Clint said as he shrugged the collar up on his coat. "If I leave I don't know if I'll ever work up enough courage to come back."

"Okay, then let's go see our family."

And with that they stepped into the tower, Clint trying not to think that this was the first time in two years that he had came into the tower from the front door and Bucky trying not to think of the pain radiating through his body. Neither of them were doing a very good job.

When the reached the elevator Clint frowned at the passcode keypad.

"I wonder..." He murmured and tapped ten digits, then laughed. "Unbelievable."

"What?" Bucky coughed.

"Two years and no one has thought to change the passcode." Clint smiled as the elevator doors pinged open. "I can't believe this door was open while I was scaling the side of the tower and army crawling through vents."

Clint stepped into the elevator and motioned for Bucky.

"Come on, there's only one way to get into the living quarters."

"Yeah one second." Bucky seemed to be swaying on his feet slightly. He looked like he was in the top row of a choir under hot lights, sweaty and ready to pass out.

It was then that Clint really noticed how much colour Bucky had lost on the way here. For a lack off a better word Bucky looked rough. His burned and cut lips had started to dribble blood again, his skin was white and sweaty making his bruises stick out like sore thumbs, and his hair was matted with old blood from an old head wound that Clint hadn't even noticed.

Clint quickly got out of the elevator and wrapped an arm under Bucky's shoulders.

"Come on, we're almost there. You can't pass out now."

Inside the elevator Bucky could feel broken ribs scratching at his lungs and his head pounding, there was a hundred other things that were aching but he didn't feel like listing them. He had tried so hard to hide it from Clint, to put on a show so he wouldn't worry about him. But now he was regretting it, though he wasn't sure he was going to be conscious much longer to apologize. He leaned harder onto Clint, who tightened his grip on him.

"Come on Bucky, just a couple more floors. Don't pass out on me now, you are almost to Steve, don't leave me alone." Clint sounded worried. "You've went through worse, just stay awake."

He wished he could, but as the elevator doors pinged open black spots danced in front of his eyes and Bucky let go. He could feel himself crumble to the floor and hear Clint curse, but it felt like a dream, a dream to drift away from.

__________________________

A number of things happened at once for Clint.

As the doors opened he saw Natasha standing in front dressed in her running shorts and his windbreaker, he saw the utter surprise on her face, and then he saw Bucky crumple like a rag doll.

Shit.

Clint dropped down beside him.

"Clint?" It was Natasha.

Please have a pulse. Clint prayed, his finger shaking on Bucky's bruised neck. Please don't make me tell Steve you are dead.

A pulse fluttered under his fingertips and Clint almost cried, he wasn't dead yet.

Without looking away from Bucky, Clint instructed Natasha who was still standing in shock.

"Go get Banner and Rodgers, now!"

__________________________

Two years. That was all Natasha could think as she ran across the tower to the lab. Two years and the elevator just opens up and there he is. She wanted to scream, to cry, to hug Clint and to hit him, but that all had to wait. Right now there were more important things.

As she sprinted into the lab she screeched to a stop inches away from the work table Bruce was standing behind and the spinning chair Steve was sitting on.

"You need to come upstairs now."

Bruce's eyes widened. "Is it?"

"Yes."

Steve's chair hadn't even stopped spinning and he was gone.

A/N) I'm sorry for the wait, my exams have started and I'm a little preoccupied cramming. But I know you don't want to hear my excuses. So who went and saw Civil War? I saw it on the 6th (the day it came out in Canada) and it was amazing! Though I wish there was a bit more Hawkeye. What did you guys think? As always please vote if you liked it and comment if you have any suggestions or things I should improve on. Also, I'm thinking about editing the entire story to clean up some rather embarrassing grammar errors so if you find any errors please comment on them so I can find them.

Thank you all so much! You guys are the best!

-Brokenrook