Winter Sun •Soldiers Series• [Bucky Barnes/Avengers] *Sequel to Soldiers*

Chapter 13: Check ups

Tony:

My head is pounding. I may have drunk a bit too much last night. Pepper has given up trying to figure out what is wrong with me. We both know how stubborn I am. I'm only amused that she has held up for so long before giving in to my unusual silence.

The guys are hanging about in my workshop. Bruce is still fiddling with one of the latest models that I designed for a green energy source. "What was his name again?" Barnes mutters. He is knocking on one of my suits, as if he's testing the tenderness of the material. His metal finger clicks soundly with my metallic suit.

I want to tell him to shut up, and stop caressing my baby. But my headache is killing me, and I can only lean further into my sofa, hopefully at some point I can melt right into the furniture and disappear too.

"His name is Finn, Buck. He's a good kid," Steve sighs, a knowing smirk plays lightly at his lips. Clint, for some reasons, is called for this meeting too. He is currently sitting on one of my work tables, the archer's leg swings back and forth as he plays with one of my equipment.

They need to stop touching everything.

"Why are we here again?" Clint quizzes out of boredom. His eyes dart around to everybody lazily. Barnes, finally opts that my baby suit isn't as amusing as it was on the television anymore, moves away and joins Steve to lean against a table.

I can feel a vein pulsing in my temple. Groaning in frustration, I push myself up onto my elbows and frown at the archer. "Excuse me, correct me if I'm wrong, which I doubt I would be, but aren't you're supposed to be back at your farm, harvesting or tending to cows or whatever you do?"

Clint whistles and crosses his arms in dismay. "Chill, dude. Living on a farm is cool, okay? At least, I can make sure my family is safe."

His words feel like a slap to my face. I tense up immediately and avert his eyes. I cannot avoid revealing my thoughts now. But the rage burns in my throat like a slow shot of whiskey. Steve, in an attempt to lighten the atmosphere, chimes in, "Hydra's plan about the Winter Soldiers, remember? That's why we're here." Next to him, Bucky flexes his metal arm, making it creak and click. 

"Too bad Natasha is back on her mission," Barton murmurs loud enough just so Banner can hear him. The scientist pauses slightly before continuing with what he was doing without any frank hesitation.

"What do we know of Hydra's plan?" I ask tiredly, moving to my feet in defeat. I decide a drink now will do me some good. Though I try to concentrate on the important matters here, my mind keeps going back to the last conversation that I had with Pepper, one in which I tried persuading her to take a vacation in a country far away from the US, without me. 

"Natasha has only grazed the surface of the plan. She was in too much trouble to look into it properly. But from what we already know, Hydra has gotten test subjects ready." Steve's watches me gravely as I pour myself a glass of Brandy. When I offer one to Bruce, he shakes his head and takes off his glasses with a sigh.

"Are they as good as Bucky?" the scientist questions with ceased brows. Steve can only shrug in reply. Besides him, Barnes wears a dark frown and takes a keen interest in his shoes. 

"What are we going to do about this then?" Clint throws the obvious question onto the table. "We have no details, no facts or whatsoever. Natasha hasn't even told Fury about Hydra's plan."

"We better dig up some facts then," Steve remarks and gazes at the archer, before turning to me. "Stark, do you think you can pull that off?"

Without replying him, I point at the three dimensional projector and sure enough, Jarvis' voice rings through the room, "At your service, sir." 

"Give me anything about Hydra," I command before finishing the last sip of my drink. Suppressing a burp, I walk around Clint, who has just joined me at the bar for a drink too. Images and scenes flicker into life around the room at once, catching all eyes and ears. Clapping my hands together, I glance about the faces. "Guess we better start now."

A murderous scowl never leaves Barnes' face as he slowly paces the room, reading all the information he can on Hydra. Bruce, from across me, is marking all of Hydra's bases in the States. So far, I can only see three red dots on the map. It's going to take a long time to figure out this massive piece of puzzle. 

"How's Lottie's plan going?" I quiz quietly once I'm nearer to Bruce. He peers at me and knits his brows. 

"You look rather pale, Tony."

I roll my eyes at him and press on, "So are we going to retrieve her memory?"

Bruce resettles his attention on the map at leisure and remarks, "We're still waiting on Fury's approval." I glance behind us to see Bucky watching us gingerly. 

"Well," I lower my voice and join Bruce by the map, "we better give this project a nickname, and keep it off Barnes' radar before the bomb ticks off." Bruce nods without saying another word. "Project Black it is then," I offer and add a red dot on the map. 

"No." Comes the scientist's protest. "Can't we just have something that is less cheesy?" Just before I can reply him, Jarvis' voice comes through and announces a call from Pepper. I fish my phone out of my pocket and slip away, leaving the guys be in the workshop while I move silently upstairs to the main room.

"Hey babe," I start, trying my best to sound calm and indifferent. Little does Pepper know, just hearing her voice is making my chest ache. 

"Tony, what is this all about?" She sounds furious, and she definitely has all the reasons to. 

"A present for you," I grimace at my own excuse. "You've been working so hard for the company. You deserve some time off, Peps."

"Why aren't you coming with me then? I'm not going on a vacation alone." A hint of disappointment rings in her voice. It pains me gravely to lie to Pepper, but I cannot explain my reasoning to her neither. She will never understand. In fact, she will probably insist on staying in the US too.

"I'm working on something for Shield. But I promise next time around, you get to choose our destination, and we'll have the best holiday you can ever imagine." I drop myself onto the sofa and exhale quietly. The other end of the phone is silent momentarily. Then, a small sigh is heard.

"I'll talk to you tomorrow, Tony. Good night." 

With that, she hangs up on me. I pull back and blink at the phone in bewilderment. Sure she has every reason to be annoyed with me, but from the way I see it, I'm only trying to protect her. Ever since Natasha has told us of Hydra's plan, knowing Steve and Fury, I'm pretty sure we're on a ridiculous mission of riding all the Winter Soldiers. This is a dangerous deal I can tell. It will involve a lot of dirty tricks and such. I have almost lost Pepper on numerous occasions before. The alien incident at New York is my last straw. This time, I am determined to keep her safe. I'm going to send her away to somewhere I know is safe, under the name of a leisure holiday, and finish my business in New York before she returns. 

Harsh, I know. Unfair, perhaps. But I have to keep her safe. How can she not understand that? I love her.

A sharp jab of pain nags at my chest. Grunting, I glare down at my arch reactor. Damn, I need to do a check up again. Exhausted, I punch in Matron's number on my phone and wait for her to pick up. Now that Bruce is working on Lottie's plan, Matron has been assisting me whenever I'm revising the device in my chest. She's a good employee, and from what has happened weeks ago, I know she can be trusted too. If anything happens, I sincerely hope I can rely on that weird girl.

She's not picking up. So much for trusting and relying on her. I chuck the phone onto the seat next to me and lie across the furniture. The pain in my chest in numbing now. I guess the checkup can wait.