"Steve we have visitors!" Natasha hurried into the room startling him and Bucky from where they had been reading quietly.

"Visitors?" Steve frowned putting his book down, by Natasha's tone they weren't friendly.

"It is government agents!" Natasha hissed motioning over her shoulder before five men walked in followed by Sam, Vision and Clint.

"Why are you here?" Steve frowned, but his eyes flicked to where Bucky was sitting in the armchair in the corner reading, though his book had been lowered and he was sitting wound like a coil. "How did you get in?"

"I am sorry Captain Rogers, they had a warrant that overrode my system, I had to allow them in," FRIDAY said smoothly.

"Your computer kept us locked outside for the last half an hour!" The lead agent hissed. Steve had to hide his smile with difficulty, FRIDAY had had to let them in due to their warrant, but she had delayed them long enough for Tony to no doubt reach them, going by the sound of the Iron Man armour landing on the pad outside that his super-hearing picked up. She no doubt could have kept them locked out indefinitely, but Tony must have told her to let them in now he was here.

"She is an A.I not a computer," Steve shrugged. "Why are you here?"

"We have an arrest warrant," The lead agent smirked. The whole room stilled. Ever since they had brought Bucky in several agencies had been fighting them, pushing and demanding that Bucky be handed over, all wanting to have the Winter Soldier in their hands, all stating the fact that he was a wanted criminal.

Everyone was ramrod straight, the Avengers scanning their minds trying to think how they could refuse an arrest warrant without causing a war that they did not want to have to fight, but knowing that the moment they handed Bucky over, getting him back would be nigh on impossible, and not knowing what information the agencies would manage to get off of him in meantime.

Bucky was tensed in his seat, he had known that this moment was going to happen, and he cursed himself for being stupid enough to hope that it might not. The Agents were all tensed waiting to see how the Avengers would react, none of them wanted to have to pull a gun on Captain America and The Avengers, and none of them wanted to imagine the mess they would end up in if the Avengers chose to fight.

"Arrest warrant for who?" Tony asked breezing brightly into the room, cutting through the tension like a knife. He was looking bright, bubbly and in full PR mode.

"Sorry?" The lead agent blinked.

"I asked who you have an arrest warrant for...sorry what is your name?" Tony smiled winningly at the Agent as he came to a stop beside Steve.

"Agent Wainwright," The man blinked. "We're here to arrest Bucky Barnes,"

"Oh sorry for your wasted journey," Tony beamed.

"Wasted journey?" Agent 2 frowned confused.

"He's not here," Tony leant forward to say the words like it was a secret.

All five Agents blinked at him before turning pointedly to look at Bucky, where he was sitting in the armchair, the Avengers all turned to look at Tony bemusedly.

"He's not here?" Wainwright said slowly still looking at Bucky.

"Nope!" Tony nodded. "Sorry for your wasted journey,"

"He's sitting right there," Agent 3 actually pointed.

"What?" Tony frowned turning to look at Bucky. "Who? Where?"

"Right there!" Agent 5 pointed as well.

"What? No, that is Clint's cousin, Bob," Tony laughed.

Steve stared down at him, completely baffled as to where he was going with this.

"Sorry?" Agent 4 frowned.

"That is Cousin Bob, Bob Barton," Tony shrugged.

"That is Bucky Barnes!" Wainwright shouted pointing at Bucky, Steve had to fight down his laughter despite the situation considering three agents were now just standing there pointing at Bucky.

"That's my cousin Bob, we have just found each other and are working on our relationship, rediscovering the familial bond and spending time with each other," Clint said dryly. Thankfully he and Tony had pranked enough people over the years, mainly the other Avengers, for him to roll with whatever it was Tony was doing and back him up.

"He is Bucky Barnes!" Wainwright shouted, taking a threatening step forward.

"Dude, harsh, do you have no sense of decorum or sensitivity!" Tony snapped, startling everyone in the room, the three pointing Agents - still pointing - turned to look at him wide-eyed.

"Sorry?" Agent 3 asked.

"I mean really, your sensitivity is something else. I am disgusted and quite frankly from now on I will blame you five for every single sensitivity training that is created and I have to fend off suggestions to attend!" Tony shook his head as he reached up to pat Steve on the back, the Captain just staring down at him as it clicked what Tony was doing, and he quick rearranged his features into a pained one.

"I...what?!"

"I am really disgusted!" Tony shook his head.

"Tony, you don't have to," Steve said in the most choked up voice he could manage, arranging his features into an even more heartbroken expression. Bucky was staring at him, a little open-mouthed, and completely confused as Steve let out a loud sniff.

"It isn't ok for them to do this Steve," Tony said firmly gripping his shoulder. His eyes twinkled when they met Steve's when the blond reached up to grip his hand.

"What the hell are you going on about?!" Agent 2 spluttered.

"Look it might have been 71 years to the rest of the world, but Steve was frozen for most of it. To him, it has only been a few years since he watched his best friend falling off that train. I don't know what game you're playing, but this is one damn cruel joke," Tony shook his head.

The rest of the Avengers didn't change expression, but Steve knew they had clicked on when they all shifted their body language, making themselves express as much disgust and proactiveness as they could instead of defensiveness.

"What?" Agent 5 blinked repeatedly. "Huh?"

"My best friend died in 1945," Steve said in a trembling voice.

"No, he is sitting right there!" Agent 4 huffed.

"That's my cousin," Clint huffed.

"Bob," Sam nodded.

"Check your records, Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes died January 1945," Tony shrugged.

"Look, we have a warrant for his arrest!" Wainwright said clearly losing his temper and started towards Bucky.

"I'm sorry, but how can you have an arrest warrant for a dead man?" Tony stood in between them, all playfulness gone as he crossed his arms and tilted his head.

"What?" Wainwright halted.

"FRIDAY, access personal records, give me a status on Sergeant James Barnes please," Tony called.

"Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, status is deceased, January 1945," FRIDAY answered.

"There we go, so how can you have an arrest warrant for a dead man?" Tony asked.

"The arrest warrant is for the Winter Soldier!" Wainwright snarled.

"Oh, you know who the Winter Soldier is?" Tony asked enthusiastically.

"Yes! Bucky Barnes!" Wainwright was getting redder and redder by the second.

"How can the Winter Soldier be a dead man?" Tony snorted.

"He's not dead, he's sitting right there!" Wainwright spluttered pointing at Bucky.

"That's cousin Bob," Tony shook his head.

"No, he is Bucky Barnes!"

"Bucky Barnes is dead," Tony sighed shaking his head.

"No, he is the Winter Soldier!" Wainwright was steaming.

"Cousin Bob is the Winter Soldier?!" Tony gasped with so much mock shock Steve had to fight down his laughter.

"No Bucky Barnes is! And we are here with an arrest warrant to arrest the Winter Soldier!"

"So you're saying Cousin Bob isn't the Winter Soldier?" Tony frowned.

"Yes!" Wainwright roared.

"Well, good luck finding a dead man to arrest," Tony shrugged.

"We don't have to find him, he is sitting right there!"

"No, that is Cousin Bob, you just said Cousin Bob isn't the Winter Soldier," Tony sighed throwing his hands up. "Look, I am sure that you're just doing your job, but you seem to have been given some duff information,"

"He isn't Cousin Bob!" Wainwright snapped.

"Can you prove he isn't?" Tony smirked.

"Can you prove he is?" Agent 4 smirked right back.

No one was expecting Tony to shrug and stroll over to Bucky. He winked at Bucky who was staring at him as he reached down and pretended to reach into Bucky's hoodie pocket, Bucky watched instead as a small card wallet slipped into his hand from up his sleeve.

Tony turned and strolled back over to the agents, flicking through the wallet before withdrawing a driving license and passed it over.

"This is…"

"Bob Barton!" Tony nodded.

"But...run this now! Prove it is fake!" Wainwright hissed throwing the license at Agent 3.

Steve fought to keep his expression on what Tony called his Righteous Face number 4, as the Agent typed furiously away before looking at his boss fearfully.

"No! This is... This is fake!" Wainwright shook his head.

"How dare you accuse me of such a thing!" Tony gasped, clasping his chest dramatically. "You would dishonour me this way!"

"Dishonour on you, dishonour on your cow," Clint muttered in the background.

"He's Bucky Barnes!" Wainwright practically screamed.

"He's Cousin Bob," Tony, Clint, Steve and Natasha all said practically at the same time.

"He's Cousin Bob," Sam shrugged.

"I'm Cousin Bob," Bucky nodded.

"No!"

"Boss, maybe we should come back!" Agent 4 said quickly when it became clear that Wainwright was about to go nuclear.

"Could we get Bob's license back please?" Tony asked cheerfully.

"No!" Wainwright snapped, snatching the license and started storming away.

"No problem," Tony chirped. "FRIDAY charge Agent Winthrop's agency for a new license for Cousin Bob!"

Wainwright paused before he carried on his exit, the other Agents hurrying after them.

"They have left Boss," FRIDAY said a few moments later.

Steve started howling with laughter, the others not far behind.

"Oh my Thor! That was brilliant!" Clint said between snorting laughter.

"I forgot how funny it is watching you play with idiots," Natasha snickered.

"Oh, that was perfect," Steve chuckled. "You were so good!"

"Didn't do too bad yourself Captain Puppydog face," Tony snorted strolling over to the kitchen and started the coffee machine.

"They're just going to come back," Bucky sighed, good mood disappearing.

"Still stands that they can't arrest a dead man, and I have erased any of the footage from the Project Insight incident that had your face on display, there is nothing else that links your face to the Winter Soldier, we just need to keep this up until my lawyers are finished," Tony shrugged grabbing his cup in one hand and throwing a bundle to Bucky with the other.

"What are you planning?" Clint smirked.

"Oh my go….I hope Wainwright comes back!" Bucky snorted focusing on one of the cards.

"Just a little fun, we don't get enough of that anymore!" Tony smirked hopping up onto the counter and taking a loud slurp of his coffee.

"You mean you're fed up of sitting in meetings right now," Natasha laughed.

"I am very incredibly bored," Tony groaned.

"Why is that not a surprise, how fast did you throw yourself out the window at the SI when you heard they were here?" Steve laughed.

"Pepper is going to kill you!" Clint sang.

"Isn't she on holiday?" Sam frowned.

"And Tony promised to watch SI while she was away," Natasha smirked.

"Wait...why do you want that wanker to come back?" Clint frowned turning to Bucky as his words clicked.

"Because this identity is Sam's twin brother," Bucky grinned over his book while Sam spluttered.