riverviewlogs | exorcising the ghost

Entry tags:

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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[Damn it, there's a child involved.

For just a moment his mind goes to a dark place, remembering how to extract information so quietly that a kid sleeping in the next room would never wake up. The shock of how quickly he's slipping due to his fear is what jolts him out of it, fingers trembling on his gun.]

You gave me confirmation that he was recruiting.

[That's what changed. But it shouldn't have changed so much. This guy is trying to help him, his partner apparently refused the offer, they're on his side. Sort of. Why the hell is he behaving this way?]

--sorry, I'm sorry. But I need more information .

[ The child isn't involved, actually, that's the whole point. Jim intends to keep it that way. ]

He was. And no, I can't tell you how successful he was, or if he managed to recruit anyone else. But he didn't get Victor working for him.

[ Jim's still frowning, his every muscle tense. He can see the man's resolve waver but that still doesn't do much to put him at ease. He feels threatened even when the man's hold on the gun weakens, and his posture changes slightly. ]

And I've offered to give you more information. I told you Victor will gladly answer your questions. But you're not getting those answers tonight, and the chances that I'll encourage him to talk to you are getting slimmer the longer you keep trying to threaten me.

[It's not enough, just a possibility that this man's husband, a total stranger, might contact him if he feels like it in the future. His instinct is to get the information tonight no matter what it takes, but he doesn't want to be that man any more.

The only way he's ever going to make it as a better man is by forcing himself to take the slower route, the riskier route, even if it terrifies him. He slowly, reluctantly, holsters his gun.]

He's from my world.

[He needs to impress how important this is, if he's going to have to trust.]

It's really important that I get that information, do you understand?

[ Jim's expression opens slightly, shoulders dropping barely an inch. That actually makes things a whole lot clearer, and the man's attitude makes much more sense now. Jim's only guessing here, but it seems likely that whatever Pierce wanted to do here, in the Quarantine, he's done before— to this man, specifically. ]

I understand.

[ He props an arm on the table, sighing quietly. ]

I take it he's done this kind of thing before— in your world. So, he was trying to replicate it here. [ He pauses a moment. ] I can show you the information we've gathered on him so far, but admittedly, it's not much. Maybe some of it will make more sense to you.

[He nods, he definitely needs that information. Especially because if he failed to recruit one, he's likely succeeded in recruiting others.]

Do you-- have you heard of the Nazis?

[If he's getting some information then he should give some in return, something to prove just how dangerous Pierce is and why it's so important that they find out if he recruited or not.]

Of course. [ Well, not that the man's wrong to ask, considering Jim could be from just about anywhere, and not necessarily Earth. ]

It's been over three hundred years since their party was dissolved, and the second World War came to an end. Where I'm from, anyway.

[Him having heard of the Nazis makes this easier in some ways, he doesn't have to impress on him the severity of what they're dealing with. But it also makes it harder in others, more personal.]

HYDRA were the deep science division of the Nazi Party, human experimentation, weapons, that sort of thing. When the war ended they pretended to die out, but they just went underground, spread, grew. Pierce was the head of HYDRA where we come from.

[ Jim hums. It does help in his opinion, knowing the background. It spares Bucky the trouble of having to explain something very complex and likely quite not doing it justice. As it is, Jim fully understands the gravity of an organization like HYDRA surviving the end of WWII, and thriving decades or possibly even centuries later. ]

And what year is it, where you’re from? [ AKA how long has HYDRA been around still. ]

2015.

[Though Pierce has been dead for over a year in his timeline at this point, and HYDRA has been shattered into fragments. He doesn't give over that information, though, he doesn't want to give the impression that they're any less dangerous for it.]

...Pierce was a very dangerous man, if he managed to recruit then I need to know about it.

[ Honestly, if anything the fact that HYDRA was over by the time Pierce got here would only worry him more. A man with no life, no future in his own world, would be all the likelier to want to build all his work from the ground up all over again, while he'd be more focused in going back if he had something to go back to. ]

We all need to know about it. [ Pierce has been here long enough. Jim dreads to think how deep the roots have gotten, how far his tentacles have reached. ] I think— we might find more information with the Prometheus Labs, I think that was his main base of operations. Around the guard, not so much.

[ A pause, ] I'd like to help, if you don't mind.

[There's a big difference between a tentative exchange of vital information, and accepting this guy as potential backup for what he's doing. He still has no way of knowing if he can be trusted, if he's a plant. He only has his own instincts, and he doesn't always trust those these days.]

Let me see your file. Then you walk away, let me do what I need to.

[He's asking for trust first, to be allowed to read private files and break in where he's not allowed.]

You don't follow me, I'll come back another time and we can talk about it.

[ Jim nods. Sounds like a pretty acceptable compromise to him, and given the circumstances, it's not like he's in a place to demand much more. At least he's not threatening him so he'll take him to Victor anymore. ]

I had no intentions of following you to begin with. [ He gets to his feet— the file's at his desk after all, so they'll have to head there. ] But be careful. If not me, then— talk to someone else. Someone you trust. I'm sure they'd be willing to help you too.

[He very nearly smiles at that instruction, but it's twisted and a little bitter. He doesn't really have people he trusts here. Steve, maybe, and Tony - though that's still weird - but he doesn't want to drag them into this fight.]

This is my fight.

[Nobody else has the claim to HYDRA that he does.]

I can handle it.

[ Jim's first instinct is to argue that, but he fights the urge and just nods mutely. He knows there's no point, particularly when this man doesn't even know him. Instead he gestures ahead, then leads the way to his desk, where he can get the guy a copy of his file. ]

How do I tell Victor to contact you?

[ He didn't give Jim his name, after all. And he's guessing he won't want to either, not if he can help it. ]

Do either of you know Tony Stark?

[It's an odd thing, that the person he sees the most frequently is the person who has the most right to hate him.]

He can pass a message along.

We both do, actually.

[ Jim spends more time with him, around the guard mainly, but it's easy enough even for Victor to send him a message himself.

He sits down in front of his computer, turning on the screen and pulling up the files. ] I'll get you copies. You got a drive on you or something?

Yeah.

[He figured that most of it might be on digital files and this isn't the first time in his life that he's infiltrated somewhere for information, so he's come prepared. He pulls out a genetic USB drive and holds it out towards Jim.]

If you tell Stark it's about Pierce, he'll know it's me you need.

[ Jim figured as much. It’d be pretty inconsistent to go to all these lengths to break into the guard and not have some way to take the information with him.

He takes the drive with a nod, connecting it with his computer and uploading a copy of the file he has on Pierce. ]

We’ll do that. [ Because no way in hell he’s letting Victor meet this guy alone. ]

[It's about all there is to say for now.

He can't say more until he's read through this file and decided if Jim is trustworthy or not, and so he just waits until the drive is handed back to him before turning to leave without another word.

But he'll be back someday soon.]

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exorcising the ghost

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