12399/What A Mess

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What A Mess
Date of Scene: 30 October 2020
Location: Wade Shaw's Condo, Claridge's, Midtown Manhattan
Synopsis: Bucky comes by the condo to assess the damage. Nick has to make an important decision
Cast of Characters: Phantasm (Drago), Winter Soldier
Tinyplot: Digging Up The Past


Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
What a mess.

That's really all that can be said of the condo that Wade and Nick share at the moment. While most of the hallway appears intact, maybe a few dents here and there, the peppering of bullet holes around the condo's door frame and the door that's not quite setting into frame is very indicative of the focus of the events of that night.

The inside of the condo is a bit worse off. Bullet holes in the floor, the bathroom door splintered by some. The tub itself with some markings indicative of a few being pulled from there as well.

On the other side of the bathroom wall where the loft beds are, it's a flurry of instruments and cases toppled. Some covered in pieces of the wall that used to be behind the beds. and desk.

Used to be. The wall was blown. Now it's a lovely view of the unit next door.

It's a miracle the kitchen remained mostly intact. Minus the bullet holes.

And where are the residents of this humble pigsty? Well, Nick is currently sitting next to a small pile of notebooks and sketchpads that have been tossed on the sofa. To the other side of him a sizable duffel bag currently containing what little clothes he owns.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    There is a knocking without.

    Without what? Without door, mostly, because Bucky has an energetic knock and that door doesn't look very sturdy. It wouldn't be the height of comedy were it to part way with the frame, it would be a coda to what is most certainly a concerto of destruction. And why exactly is the Winter Soldier knocking on the door of a shot up condo in Claridge's? Well, he isn't exactly overburdened with friends, and tends to be protective of even his acquaintances, given that these are also part of a very short list. True, he used to meet many interesting people, but usually very briefly in what can best be described as 'excitable circumstances' and few if any of them would be happy to see him again, if they were even still capable of doing so.

    And he absolutely wants to know why Homeland Security turned the home of one of his more enigmatic acquaintances into an uneven colander.

    "Anyone home?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
The door is slightly better off than that in that there's no dramatic drop to the floor But, it does swing open giving Bucky a view of the inside of the condo without much obstruction. Except for the bathroom wall obscuring the view of the sleeping area from his position. It's a blind corner. The sofa and rocker, however, is in plain view.

The banging sound that comes with the knock does get Nick on to his feet pretty quickly, positioning a bit defensive as he looks to the incoming person who... knocked. But hey.

Even Punisher knocked.

There's an alert expression but upon seeing who it is, the posture relaxes. Ok good. This one's not here to cause problems. "You have a loud knock." Nick states, giving a slight chuckle. "Come in. Watch your step. It's a mess around the corner."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "I've been accused of making an entrance before." Bucky quips as he steps through the door and immediately surveys the battle damage, running the ballistics through his mind with just a casual inspection. Hmm. Some holes where he wasn't expecting any for a simple room clearance, and not enough for a wild shoot-out. Odd.

    At length, with measured steps, he comes around the corner and whistles, seeing the hole clear into the next condo. "I see someone knocked louder and made themselves a new door while they were at it. Either that or you have a serious termite problem you might want to bring up with the owner."

    For now he seems to be keeping his tone light, laced with plenty of jokes, but his expression is growing more serious. It probably doesn't help that he has his jacket opened, revealing just the glimpse of the concealed pistol in the small of his back. "You okay?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick watches as Bucky steps in, taking in his surroundings and its... tells. His glance becomes a bit distant as he recalls what parts he did see oce the hole to the next conto is assessed. "Well, until we get the doors fixed at least, looks like we're depending on the kindness of neighbors for a place to crash. Good news is Wade might get the neighboring unit for a good price. So...that's a plus I guess. Condo turned to swiss, get a bedroom plan."

He brings a hand up, rubbing the back of his head. "I'm still processing some things but physically ok. Wade's fine. He wasn't here when it happened fortunately."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "Could combine the units. I mean, you're more than halfway there already." And Bucky motions to the demolished wall with what is, under the circumstances, almost certainly an inappropriate smile. It's the kind of smile and banter that he usually reserves for his battle buddies, the kind of talk you get on the way back from a mission, or over a drink of something strong with a few suspiciously empty chairs at the table.

    "So, I'm going to assume that knocking some value off the real estate wasn't the goal of this, and maybe you can start telling me things that aren't in the police records? Dull read, let me tell you." The smile is still there, it still lingers. But now it has the feeling of being there because it's under orders to be there.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"Yes..." Nick replies blandly, looking to the wall "How nice that DHS did all the demolition work for free." He turns his head to look to the taller man, "Your tax dollars at work there."

He turns back to the sofa, grabbing a couple sketchbooks and a notebook, tossing them into the bag with the clothes. The smile fades. "Well, that's the part I'm getting my head around. Seems, Punisher decided to dig into my mom's cold case and pissed off DHS in the process. Although, he seemed convinced it was going to be DEA. So.. maybe they'll work on the kitchen demo next."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "Frank Castle? Here?" Now someone has the Winter Soldier's attention. An interrogatory eyebrow raises for a moment and then lowers again, as Bucky starts to walk around the condo, just looking around, seeing what he can see. "You had the Punisher look into something for you? Strange they'd track him here, he's usually more careful than that."

    Very careful. Bucky hadn't forgotten.

    "Why was he expecting the DEA, do you know? Why would he expect them over any other agency? In his case, there's enough alphabet soup after him to feed a small nation, seems awfully specific to expect the DEA, unless he's gone into the drug trade recently. Doesn't seem his style somehow."

    From the kitchen counter, Bucky crouches down and sights along the holes in the bathroom door, frowning.

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick glances over to Bucky and walks over, creaking the remnants of the condo door shut. "It was less 'for you' and more 'I have a grenade in my hand in a crowded residential building at night and think you should talk to me.'"

He moves back to the sofa to grab more notepads. "Seems they were waiting for him to come here. And he just. Couldn't resist." He tosses a couple more notepads in. "Seems I have a complicated family."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "Must do..." Bucky agrees, although he doesn't actually look at Nick when he says it, squinting at that bathroom door. Then he stands, extends his hand towards it and looks over his shoulder at the wall behind him. Slowly, very slowly, he walks left and right, back and forth, keeping his hand extended towards that door, and look around him as he does.

    "Well that's strange..."

    Without invitation, James walks towards the bathroom, opens the door and looks around, raising that eyebrow again.

    Seemingly satisfied, he goes back into the kitchen and leans against the counter, watching Nick toss notepads into the duffel bag. "Are you sure they were here for him? Because that door..." and he points at the bathroom "... tells me a different story."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick's expression darkens. It seems very different when someone actually voices a concern you've been holding down. "It crossed my mind." He admits, "They took a long time asking their questions and trying to get me to believe the whole hostage situation bullshit... I may have misrepresented how much was said before they came barging in."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "See, there's something that doesn't add up here..." and Bucky actually takes a firing stance, using his right hand to mimic a pistol. "Because someone shot through that door when it was closed. There's no impacts behind me, and the shots were fired from this angle... so the shots came from this side. Outward in, not inside shooting out. And let's say for a moment that I'm shooting at a valid target..."

    He walks around again, in the area, the rough area, the shooter must have stood in to line up the shots with the grouping evident. "Frank is a big guy. Six foot five, six foot seven, thereabouts?" he looks over to Nick for a moment for confirmation, that eyebrow up again. Then he aims his hand up, above the bullet holes. "Makes center of mass right around here, five foot eight, roughly. Or, well over a foot above that grouping there. So what, let's say that the Punisher was crouching down, lining up a shot at me, and I fire back in a blind panic. Somehow, I miss a crouched target at a range of six feet... but you don't crouch just for the sake of it, makes you an easier target. You crouch to take a better shot. And again..." his uses his gloved left hand to motion behind him "... no impacts behind me. So Frank isn't shooting at me, hell I doubt he's anywhere near by the time someone makes those new ventilation holes through that door."

    Lowering his hand, now Bucky looks hard at Nick. "So I'm standing here, and the Punisher is around. Big guy, hard to miss, carries enough weaponry to level a moderate city, and he's my main target. I can see him, or I shouldn't be firing my weapon. But he's not here, because I'm not being shot at. He's not in that bathroom, because nothing is shooting at me from there, and that means I suspect someone else is there. Someone, not to put too fine a point on it, who /isn't/ Frank Castle. And with the Punisher around, why the hell would I shoot at any other target? Frank works alone, he's the literal definition of a lone wolf. So I know he doesn't have accomplices waiting to ambush me behind that door. I have no reason, none whatsoever, to fire through that door."

    Beat.

    "Unless I'm not here for Frank Castle, and he's just the excuse. I have no reason to fire through that door unless my actual target is behind that door, and I'm trying to disguise the murder through the shoot-out."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"He left." Nick confirms. "But came back in after the bathroom shots. I kind of dropped into the basement after that." He gives a sigh, "They might have been concerned about what Castle may have said to me before they got here. ...Kind of a damage control situation."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "Which, if you'll excuse me for saying, isn't something DHS is in the business of doing." So, having concluded his point, Bucky ambles over to the couch and finds himself a seat nearby. The destruction, the debris, none of it seems to bother him, but then he used to have drinks in pubs that had been bombed half flat and thought nothing of it.

    "So... anything you want to tell me about yourself, or your family, about why someone in a government agency, or with the clout to direct a government agency, absolutely wanted to make sure you wouldn't talk about something they were worried you knew? Now's really the time to mention it, Nick. You have my promise we're entirely off the record."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
"I'm still getting my head around it." Nick repeats, grabbing another stack, "All my life I've been raised to believe my father was a wife beating asshole who may be tied to drugs and possibly the sole cause for why we got moved to Gotham in the first place. Only to find out he may have been DEA who got seriously screwed over by 9/11 in having a short term undercover assignment get extended by close to three decades with no exit strategy. And the guy who killed my mom was caught but allowed to walk in exchange for information on someone else."

He tosses the stuff into the bag. "Even saying that out loud doesn't make it seem any less weird."

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "And somehow Frank Castle is getting involved in this? What was he looking into, did he say?" It does occur to Bucky that he's probably asking the same questions DHS has been asking, but is banking on his sincerity and, let's face it, his innocent boyish charm to carry the day where they'd failed. Except perhaps for the boyish charm. That had always been more of a Steve thing.

    "Because someone is afraid of you, Nick. Afraid enough to organise this. They could have gotten Frank any time if they really knew he was coming here. They wouldn't have waited until he was in the room with you, until he, in their own words, had a hostage. It's bullshit. And I think you know that too."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Mom dead. Coverup. Killed Killer. Found Dad. Pissed off Letters." Nick summarizes. "That's all I got. I stopped at the 'killed killer' part and left out the coverup portion when they asked though."

Yes Bucky. FEEL special.

"As far as this topic's concerned, that's all I got. If you're wanting a listing of all my enemies, well that's going to be kind of hard. Just being in the music industry alone gains me a few. And by now you should know I'm not nor-." He pauses, seemingly considering something.

Winter Soldier has posed:
    Once the information starts, Bucky sits almost ramrod straight, with his hands clasped in his lap. It's the classic 'secret agent listening' pose, and he lets Nick finish before he even thinks of saying anything in return.

    "Normal's kind of a sliding scale, I've been told. Most people exist somewhere in the middle, we're both pretty much out on the edge." Because let's face it, who has ever seen someone be thrown through a wall by the actual Hulk and just dust himself off afterwards? Not to mention the arm, the being on first term basis with Tony Stark, and the odd tendency to make very accurate shots in the middle of an intergalactic war zone. "I'm going to ask you one question, and I want you to think carefully about the answer before you give it."

    "Do you want me to look into this?"

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick frowns. "Honestly, I don't know. Last time someone dug into anything THIS happened. What if it happens again and Wade's home?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
    "It's unlikely they'll stage a full raid again." But, Bucky is standing up, dusting off his knees in the process. It seems to be a reflex. "It's a bit of a one shot trick. People get suspicious when you raid the same person twice with a full team, it attracts attention. But I get your point."

    Once fully unfolded, he looks over to Nick again, hands clasped behind his back. "Unfortunately it doesn't sound like what happened to you is within my remit to investigate without you asking me for help directly. So I can keep an eye on things, but that's all I can do. Just keep in mind... they've gone this far. You're still alive. You think they're going to stop now? Maybe if they think you've been scared off, but if Frank Castle keeps poking at it, they might decide they need to send a stronger message. You're already in it, ignoring it won't help you. Not for long anyway."

    With that, he gives a nod and starts to walk away, towards what is still, technically, the front door.

    "I'll call you next week. If you change your mind, Mister Drago, answer the call and tell me. If you want me to let it be, just let it ring, or hang up on me. I can take a hint."

Phantasm (Drago) has posed:
Nick nods. Looking to the duffelbag, the mess of instruments, and the lack of wall. This was a lot. Do or Do not... He's going to get hurt either way.

Might as well take others down with him.

"The call won't be necessary." He replies. Looking over towards Bucky, "...You can look into it. Just, give me a bit of time to find a new place first."