riverviewlogs | exorcising the ghost

who: Bucky and TOTALLY OPEN
what: Some spying, some clothes shopping, some rescuing
when: Throughout August
where: Quarantine
warnings: None. If any crop up, they'll go in the subject lines

[A: Open; sneaking around]

[Pierce might be gone, but that doesn't mean that Bucky feels like it's safe to relax. The man could easily have recruited, could have left planted spies and operatives behind, or files that could be very damaging in the wrong hands. He needs to make sure for himself that any of these people, or any of this information, is weeded out and dealt with appropriately.

Which is why if anyone is working in, or happens to be at, the hospital, any of the laboratories in the city, any buildings that deal with high level technology, or the perimeter guard; there's a late night visitor who definitely isn't authorised to be there. Sneaking through the hallways in black combat gear, obviously armed, and hacking into computer systems.]

[B: Open; shopping and rescuing]

[He's really trying to make an effort to get involved in life again, not just surviving. And part of that means coming into the city itself even if he hates it, making the skin between his shoulder blades itch as if a knife is coming right for him.

He's decided his first self appointed mission will be to get some new clothes, because the ones he has are falling off him from the weight he's lost hiding out for months, and have got threadbare besides. But he's also keeping an eye out for any trouble, and so if he notices anyone in danger from anything - speeding car, mugger, oddly strong breeze - he'll drop all his bags to intervene.]

[C: Closed to Tony Stark; memories]

[He's not sure whether Stark will still be willing to help him, after he blew up at him the last time and then literally disappeared for weeks on end to hide from Pierce. He's also not sure why he feels guilty, and it annoys him that he does. He's even got an apology gift tucked awkwardly under one arm, because he can vaguely remember his Ma telling him that this was the polite way to do things, and he already deeply regrets getting anything in the first place.

Too late now.

He forgoes knocking and slips into the lab, as long as he finds it open, and will take a perch on any of the nearby tables to wait for Stark to show up.]

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[She remembers him, too, and it makes her pause long enough to not pull out her gun and shoot him on sight. It doesn't make her any less wary, though. Bucky had managed to leave a good impression of his fighting and shooting ability, last time, but he wasn't especially trustworthy then, and this situation she finds him in is going a long way to convince her that he hasn't improved any since then.

So she walks slowly closer, stopping out of arm's reach.]

I don't suppose you're any more authorized this time, Bucky Barnes.

[That makes the ghost of a smile pass over his face, it's a clever way to remind him that they've met in case he'd forgotten and still to challenge his right to be in this building.

She's good. He hadn't forgotten that either.]

No.

[No point lying about it.]

I'm not here to do any harm.

[She doesn't waver, or look any less suspicious than before. In fact, her attention is even more pointed now. That's a very specific non-answer, and it's not giving her any reason to trust him.]

What are you here to do?

Sorry, I can't tell you that.

[He really hopes this doesn't have to lead to a fight between them, he doesn't want to hurt anyone that he's fought alongside, but he has no way of knowing if she's trustworthy enough to tell.]

Breaking in and sneaking around? I'm sure you can't tell me why.

[But she doesn't charge at him. She's not especially looking forward to a fight either. This is the guard barracks, after all. No matter what they might do to each other in a fight, a new addition to it could make things worse for the both of them.]

Are you going to stop, now?

No.

[He does at least sound a little apologetic about that, considering he's asking her to essentially look the other way and not do her job.]

But I'm not here to hurt anyone, or damage anything.

Will someone be hurt if you don't?

[It might be an unusual question. It might be betraying the principles she announced herself as standing for when she began to confront him. But a fight, she imagines, would prevent her from getting the entirety of this information. And she trusts her abilities, but she also knows that this fight would cause just as much damage to her and their surroundings as it would if she fought Bucky.

He is not, she thinks, entirely without some kind of principles, even if they're the kind of principles that lead him to entering a place with the intention of stealing from it.]

[She's good; intuitive.

He appreciates that sort of question more than a demand to know exactly what he's doing, or to try and throw him out. It still might come to that, he's not stupid enough to relax, but at least she's trying to meet him halfway and so he can be as honest as he dares to be in return.]

I don't know, but maybe. That's what I'm trying to avoid.

You said you don't mean to hurt anyone here.

[There's a 'but' hanging off her words, as she changes her stance, relaxing the slightest bit. It's a preemptive answer, perhaps, unless Bucky is looking for a feint in the movement.]

If you get what you're looking for, will the end result be someone hurt?

Possibly.

[He's watching her very carefully. He takes her stance relaxing as a good sign, but he doesn't relax in return, still ready for an attack.]

But if they did, I swear it wouldn't be good people getting hurt.

Good is entirely subjective.

[This, of all hings, is what makes her begin to tense up again, and even start to take a step toward him, her face set as blankly as she's kept it this entire conversation.]

Not this time. There's nothing subjective about this.

[He understands that argument, but his voice here is firm and hard. If he finds HYDRA hiding amongst the normal citizens, they're not good people, they don't deserve consideration.]

You're being very convincing, going about it as above the board as you are.

[Resolved now, she nods.]

I'm not leaving.

[Which isn't the same thing as 'I won't stop you,' of course-- but then again, she can't say if the distinction will matter to him.]

[He knows the distinction even if she doesn't voice it, but it doesn't stop him from nodding. She's been an assist before, and she's not exactly stopping him yet, perhaps this can be resolved peacefully.

Perhaps.]

Sometimes you have to move in the shadows to do what needs to be done.

[He's not going to apologise for sneaking around.]

Hm.

[Not quite agreement or disagreement, just an acknowledgement. Breq doesn't cross her arms, but she steps forward again, gesturing for Bucky to continue on his self-assigned mission.]

[He shifts a step back and then starts heading towards the archive rooms again, making sure to keep her in his peripheral vision.]

You always here at night?

exorcising the ghost

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