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For Tony Stark

[He's been on the run for what feels like decades, but is really only a few months. He knows he's doing a good job at being hidden because ever since the helicarriers fell out of the air there hasn't been a single confirmed sighting of him, and he knows that Steve is looking. Not just Steve, either. He's just not ready to be found yet.

The easiest way to move between countries, he's found, is by stowing away on private chartered flights. They're usually less attended than commercial flights, and if he can get on board then it's fairly easy to avoid the one or two passengers and crew. He has no idea that the flight he's stowed away on is Tony Stark's private jet, and that it's only Tony himself on board.

At least not until he hears a disembodied voice speaking throughout the plane once they're in the air. It's JARVIS, not that he has any idea who that is.]

Sir, scans of the plane show that there's a man crouching in your cargo hold. I wasn't aware you were transporting any men today.

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If it's that high tech, then who could steal it without you knowing? Leave it, it'll draw too much attention.

[Come on, Stark, he's trying to help.

But not so much that he's willing to give away the location of his safe house before they get there.]

[ Purposeful obnoxiousness or not, Tony does not actually want to leave the armor behind. Not so much because of Barnes -- he had his chances already and hadn't taken them, and this whole thing is way too complicated to scream setup. But he has already been threatened with death once today, and that's enough to make him want a little backup.

Tony stands there for a moment, sighs, and glances at the armor again. ]

Go back and wait.

[ The eyes flash once, and acknowledgement, before the armor suddenly takes off. It knows to go back to the jet, and it's the safest place Tony can think of right now.

There is, however, still one of the gauntlets wrapped firmly around his hand. He's not giving up all of his advantages. ]

[Tony Stark is a much more dangerous man than he appears on the surface, and Bucky needs to remember that. He can't let his guard down just because Stark seems carefree and obnoxious, he has to keep in mind his gadgets and his intelligence, both dangerous weapons in their own right.

He eyes the gauntlet, but he doesn't make any verbal objection to it, he just leads the way around the outside of the warehouse to where a car is waiting. It's nothing special, just the first easy to break into car that he'd found. There's a child seat in the back and crumpled up sweet wrappers littering the floor.]

Get in.

[ The car gets a dubious look, but Tony slides in anyway. Better than the one with blood still all over it. ]

Do I even bother to ask where exactly we're supposed to be going?

[ It's pretty clear that he's not expecting much of an answer. But there's no reason not to try. ]

[He raises an eyebrow infinitesimally at Stark, that's a really dumb question.]

How about you just tell me if there's someone expecting you now that's gonna report you missing shortly?

Uh. You mean besides that whole meeting with the UN I was supposed to be having?

[ He is here for a reason, after all. And he doesn't think one person could have faked that whole thing, though in retrospect he's heard weirder. Experienced weirder, even. ]

I can contact my people, tell them to stand down.

[He sighs half to himself, a sound that might be called petulantly grumpy in anyone else.]

How important is this meeting?

[Does he really have to attend it, will it ruin everything if he doesn't?]

[ That, at least, gets a look that's more thoughtful than outright sarcastic. Barnes has a point, and he knows it, even if Tony chafes a little at being told what to do by a man who looks like he hasn't had a shower in a week. ]

I can probably reschedule.

[ It's not like he isn't known for being unreliable, anyway. Nobody is going to be surprised. ]

But I have to get in touch with someone, at least.

Who?

[There's nobody that's not on the suspect list, and somehow he's gained a personal mission (Tony Stark: mission objective: protect) and he's always done everything he can to fulfil his missions.]

I can carry a message to them, it's safer than a phone. Phone could be tapped.

[ Tony doesn't bother to try and smother the urge to eyeroll. ]

Who do you think is going to be hacking anything? This was one lone nutjob, and you might have noticed but you already took care of that.

You don't know that, and you have a lot of enemies. You're kind of a jackass.

[He says it in the same sort of way as if he's observing Tony's eyes are brown.]

I asked who?

People in glass houses, Barnes.

[ Which, he should probably be nicer to the guy that literally saved his life, but case in point. Tony's never claimed to not be a jackass. ]

JARVIS, my AI. Happy?

That's not a person. Besides, you don't have to go anywhere to do that, do you? Can't you just talk and it'll hear?

[It seems like that's what happened before on the plane.]

Says you.

[ But as much as he'd like to hold on to that miffed tone, Tony's a bit busy giving him a searching look. ]

As much as I'd like to have JARVIS take over the world, it doesn't quite work that way, no. [ There's the slightest hesitation and then: ] But I can call him.

Can you do it from a payphone?

[Because while it's not out of the realms of possibility a payphone would be bugged - he would have done it to cover all the bases if this had been his mission - it's less likely.]

Or does it have to be yours?

[ There's a pause while Tony eyes him, like he's trying to figure out if it's worth fucking with him or not. In the end, it just seems like too much effort. ]

It doesn't have to be mine, no. Anything will do.

Fine, then you give me the number and I'll do it from a payphone.

[His jaw sets as if he's preparing for an argument on that.]

You're my mission. [It slips out without him really noticing.] That means you listen to what I say.

[ Both of Tony's eyebrows shoot straight upwards. ]

Okay first, I'm pretty sure that's not how it works, and second, when exactly did we agree on that?

[ Not even going to get into the idea of Barnes chatting with JARVIS. The very idea is weird enough. ]

[His brow furrows as he catches up to what he's said and tries to sort through the implications.]

We didn't, I decided. So give me the number to call.

Oh my god. Fine.

[ Much as Tony enjoys a good argument, this is not the hill he want to die on. At the moment, anyway. And he also doesn't want JARVIS to accidentally call the cavalry and really put Barnes on edge.

So he gives him a number, a direct line through, and just has to hope he won't realize exactly what it is. ]

Tell him Lazarus Protocol not required. He'll know what it means.

Fine.

[He drives them about two miles into the city until he sees a payphone and pulls up at the side of the road, giving Stark a glare that says 'stay here until I get back or I'll break one of your feet to keep you from running away again', and disappears to call the provided number.

It's weird, talking to an AI, but he gives the message as directed and heads back to the car. Stark better still be there.]

[ Tony is in fact still there, feet up on the dashboard while he messes with his phone like he's just been waiting for Barnes to get back from a bathroom break or something. He shoots the man a sardonic look as he climbs back behind the wheel. ]

Satisfied? Or do we need to be on the lookout for aliens too?

[ Okay it, might be a joke about the paranoia, but the sad thing about Tony's life lately is that it could genuinely be a concern. ]

I don't know, have you pissed off some aliens recently too?

[It's only half serious for him, but it's not like they don't know aliens exist at this point. He might have been in cold storage during the Chitauri invasion, but he's heard about it since.]

You can be an annoying guy.

You've known me for like an hour, you don't get to have opinions on my character.

[ Which isn't a denial, notably. And even if he was feeling like actually being offended, Tony is much more interested in teasing out those little moments of actual personality from the guy. They're fleeting, but they make an interesting picture when they do show up. ]

I've been researching you longer than that.

[It's on the tip of his tongue to say that Howard had been just as bad, but he recoils from the thought almost physically. There's something there that he doesn't want to touch right now, a bad road for both of them.]

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