Avengers Compound.
"Still no sign of James Barnes?" the Secretary of State asked impatiently.
"Border Team Nine is guarding the border, and reconnaissance planes are searching around the clock.
The moment they find anything, we'll handle it."
"This is no longer your concern, Stark," Ross said in a deep voice. "You clearly can't be objective about this. I'm putting special forces in charge."
"What if they open fire? Are you going to kill him?" Natasha asked.
"If he doesn't surrender obediently." Ross said expressionlessly, then turned and left the room.
Tony wearily rubbed his brow and turned to Natasha. "We're running out of time. We need to prove he was framed before the special forces find him, or things will get ugly.
If anything happens to Barnes, Steve will lose it. Falcon will get dragged into this too."
"But we're trapped in this base, and we're severely short-handed."
"Yeah! If only Hulk were here. Any leads on him?"
Natasha asked with an amused smile, "Do you really think he'd be on our side?"
"No."
"We need outside help—help that won't attract attention even if they show up." Natasha spoke pointedly. "You should have someone suitable in mind, right?"
Tony seemed to think of someone, and the corner of his mouth lifted. "I have one."
"Maybe that won't be enough." Natasha took out her phone and dialed Steve's number. "Captain, we can send one person from our side.
What about you?"
"Sam knows a friend too. He's already gone to ask for help," Steve said.
"You told Steve too?"
"Did you think convincing him to stay put would be easy?" Natasha said righteously. "Besides, it's not necessarily a bad thing. At least we have another outside helper, and that means less trouble for us."
"But two outside helpers still aren't enough,"