Bucky's POV

"And where are you off to?" Tony asks as I walk by the kitchen.

"To get tools and fix my table that you broke." I lie.

Tony looks down sheepishly and turns around.

"Hey why don't we all head out. The lake is frozen over so we could go skating." Steve suggests.

"What's with you and ice?" Nat teases.

"I've never been ice skating." Wanda says.

"What?! It's so fun! Well.. as long as you don't fall on your ass." Sam chuckles.

"Alright then. Everyone meet downstairs in five minutes." Tony says.

They all run to get dressed as Steve and I go downstairs. Ally disabled Friday and the security cameras for the time being, making it a lot easier for Steve to sneak me into the lab.

Once we reach the glass doors, we see the air duct hanging open and Ally typing away on a computer. I chuckle and shake my head as I watch her work.

Steve scans his handprint and the door unlocks. "Thanks man." I say as I push the door open.

"Hey." He stops me and I look at him. "Make sure she gets that thing out of her head."

I nod and close the door behind me as he runs upstairs to meet the others.

"What took you so long?" Ally asks, not looking up from the computer.

I playfully roll my eyes and stand beside her. "How close are you?"

"Considering that I don't have the remote connected to the chip, not close at all." She sighs. "I can't find the signal for it."

"So what does that mean?" I furrow my eyebrows.

She stops typing and looks up at me. "If I can't find the signal, I won't be able to shut it down." She explains.

My eyes widen. "You'll find it." I assure her. "Just keep trying."

Ally returns her focus to the multiple screens in front of her. I'm not sure how much time passes before she frustratedly slams her fists on the table, but it snaps me out of my overthinking.

"I almost had it." She clenches her jaw. "It's like someone has it on a string and keeps pulling it away every time I get close."

"It's alright, just try again." I try to be supportive in any way that I can.

"You don't understand!" She turns to face me. "Someone's messing with it."

She walks past me and to another part of the lab. I watch as a machine does a full circle around her head and then shows her what looks like an X-ray. She grabs something off of a table and walks back over to me before handing me the scalpel.

I look at her with wide eyes and she pulls up the holographic picture. "The chip is in the back of my head. If you make an incision just below my skull you should be able to-"

"I can't." I cut her off.

She furrows her eyebrows and looks up at me. "You can't?" She asks. "If we don't get this out of my head right now, whoever's messing with the program could flip the switch at any second."

"I-I can't." I clench my jaw to keep myself from crying.

"You're not killing me, you're doing me a favor." She places a hand on mine. "It's okay, James."

I look down at her and take a deep breath. I don't see what choice I have in the matter. She smiles softly at me and turns around before putting her hair up so that it's out of the way.

I do my best to keep my hand steady, holding the scalpel in my right hand since I have more control over it. Just as I'm about to touch the blade to her skin, the lab doors swing open, causing me to step away from her.

"I'm sorry! I tried to keep them away!" Steve speaks quickly.

Tony appears behind Steve with an angry look on his face. Once he sees Ally, he furrows his eyebrows a bit as his mouth opens in shock.

Tony's POV

"Why are you keeping us away from the compound?" Bruce asks. "I'm freezing and want to relax on the warm couch."

"But we're having so much fun!" Steve says, gesturing to everyone on the ice.

"I'm going back." I say, not in the mood for any winter festivities.

"No!" Steve stops me.

I furrow my eyebrows. "Where's Barnes?" I ask the man in front of me.

His face turns red and I push passed him. Steve follows and tries to get me to turn back but I ignore him. Once I get to the compound I search Bucky's room and then the living room/kitchen.

"Friday, where's Sergeant Barnes?" I ask. When I don't get a response, I furrow my eyebrows. "Friday?"

I look at Steve, who looks guilty, and march down to the lab. He runs in front of me and starts saying something again but I've blocked him out. I push him out of my way and look up to see Bucky and.. "Alex?"

I feel my heart drop to my stomach as I look at her in the flesh.

"Hey Tony.." She speaks carefully.

Confusion washes over me as I walk towards her. "H-How are you here?"

"It's a long story, and I promise to tell you all of it, but right now there's something I need to take care of." She says before turning to Bucky. "It's now or never." She speaks quietly to him and he nods wearily.

She turns to face Steve and I again as Bucky holds a scalpel up to the back of her head.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?!" I shout, jumping towards him. Steve catches me and holds me back. What the hell is going on? Is this some sort of nightmare?

I watch Alex's face, her expression unchanging as Bucky makes an incision in the back of her neck.

"Now what?" He asks, setting the scalpel down.

"Now you need to use the long, bent tweezers to pull it out." She speaks calmly.

He shakily picks the tweezers up and I push Steve off of me. I grab the tweezers from Bucky and shove him out of the way.

"What am I pulling out?" I ask. She sighs and pulls up an X-ray of what I assume to be her head before pointing to the small mass. "Should be easy enough." I say to myself.

Bucky's incision actually isn't that bad. It's right beneath where the mass is so I'm able to pull it out without going too deep. I drop the thing in a metal tray along with the tweezers before carefully stitching up the back of her head.

She lets out a deep breath and gently touches the stitched area as she winces. "Thanks.." She glances up at me.