2547/Necessary

Necessary
Date of Scene:	21 September 2017
Location:	Bridge to the Triskelion, NYC
Synopsis:	The recovered Bucky Barnes has a brief but necessary conversation with Melinda May.
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Melinda May

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Winter Soldier has posed:
It's been some time since James Buchanan Barnes was recovered from his forced existence as the Winter Soldier. By request of Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanova both, he was not taken into custody immediately by those who might have the most interest in the particular knowledge he assuredly possessed. Perhaps also for their sake, he himself had not immediately disappeared off the radar and fled, though it was certainly within his capabilities to do so, and the thought and temptation did cross his mind.

But there eventually came a time when Bucky felt beholden to come to SHIELD, however... or at the least, beholden to come see someone, in particular, who had been there in the efforts to recover him. However the word is passed to Agent May, it comes to her -- the once Winter Soldier would like to talk.

For all his closeness to Steve and the man's staunch support of him, there's still more than enough tension surrounding the supposed 'unbrainwashed' Winter Soldier, mixed with the curiosity and the natural pragmatic questions: can he be made use of? The blood and adversarialism of decades is not easily forgotten, despite Bucky Barnes' origins in close friendship with SHIELD's very founders, and there are still some who fear that this is some elaborate trick -- that he is a mole of some kind. That he comes here today is, in its own way, an attempt to dispel some of that and provide a basis of trust. What spy would willingly place himself at the epicenter of his enemy's strength?

Nonetheless, it's not quite within the Triskelion that Bucky waits. It's on the Manhattan side of the great bridge leading towards the Triskelion where the erstwhile Winter Soldier stands, leaning against a rail and staring out across the harbour water.

Melinda May has posed:
It's just about the time that May said she would meet with Barnes, and one of the ubiquitous black SHIELD SUVs pulls up to the security gate just inside the entry of the bridge. May is driving, and there doesn't appear to be anyone with her. She stops the vehicle for a moment to speak with the guard there, then rolls slowly foward to stop next to the man waiting there.

The temptation is there to quip something but she refains. It's not enough of a temptation. Instead, the SUV's doors merely click to indicate they've been unlocked.

Winter Soldier has posed:
The Winter Soldier has, over the years, been a ghost walking the pages of history, the only prints he left behind corpses and wars and atrocities which-- most of them-- could only dubiously be attributed to him. Over the years, SHIELD has amassed a good deal of files all stating a certain 'maybe': maybe this was the Winter Soldier. It has built, over time, a picture of the so-called Soviet myth.

Not a single one of those dossiers or mission reports nor classified analyses ever mentioned anything about a sense of humor.

On the other hand, the history books had a lot to say about Bucky Barnes' sense of humor, which is why it may not be a complete surprise when -- if May's not going to make a quip -- Bucky makes one for her. The door opens, framing the tired but whole-looking form of the man.

"I seem to remember my father having something to say about getting in cars with strangers," he remarks as he gets in, though he seems rather resigned to the fact he will have to submit himself to certain situations that make him feel markedly uncomfortable. If anything, he probably feels he deserves it. His guilt is a powerful thing.

Melinda May has posed:
If there was ever any record of May having had a sense of humor at any point in time, she likely had it classified above level seven. Or at least that's what the junior and probie agents like to say. Rogers may well have heard it in passing, and may also have shared such bits of gossip with Bucky before this meeting. Or, maybe none of the above.

"I highly doubt that. Cars weren't common household commodities until the late nineteen forties and early fifties."

She waits for Barnes to close the door then turns the SUV as tightly as it can manage, heading right back to the security gate. The guard lets her through immediately as she never left his line of sight, but then she stops the vehicle again only about twenty feet onto the bridge proper and leaves the engine idling.

"So. You wanted to speak with me." Her expression is the same Vulcan-neutral she seems to always present unless a person has somehow either earned her trust or her protective inclinations. And, she's wearing her everpresent jacket though that's not so much a signal of mistrust as it is a habit, plain and simple.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Steve had mentioned a bit about May before this, but mostly stuck to the important things, like 'don't piss her off,' 'really don't piss her off,' 'related to the above two, don't mention Bahrain.' Bucky had not asked for context about any of this, much less the last one. He could smell old trauma when he heard it. He was deathly familiar with the idea of having entire cities ruined for him by the violence he had done while in them.

He just cracks half a smirk at her rejoinder. It's a fleeting expression. "Military brat," he makes excuse. "We got a lotta cool stuff earlier than it became common." He pulls the car door shut, a little more strongly than necessary: he's used to the heavy old solid metal doors they used to have. "'Course, I could be misremembering. There's more than enough to sift through." A shadow crosses his features.

A brief silence descends as May brings them past the checkpoint-- then stops the vehicle. Looking out the window, up at the sweep of the Triskelion, James doesn't seem terribly surprised at the stop.

He wanted to speak to her, she begins. "Yeah," he says. He scrubs his hand over his face, girds himself. "I... owed you apologies, and thanks. I figured you were more in it for the Sam kid, but still."

Melinda May has posed:
May watches Barnes as he quips, making note of the shadow crossing his features. She's pretty sure she knows what that one is about. And because of that, she doesn't so much as consider pointing it out. One trauma survivor to another.

"That's not the only reason I helped. Once Rogers and Natasha brought me up to speed, I would have gone in on it regardless." She turns to look at the Triskelion as well for a moment. "I don't know what it was like during the war, but it's not in me to leave anyone behind if I know that they're there." The qualifier she put on that statement might be missed by most people, but it's likely significant to Barnes. The moment she understood that the Winter Soldier was an American presumed KIA, she knew he needed to be brought home. Even if breaking his programming had ended up being impossible.

"It was the right thing to do."

Winter Soldier has posed:
May's silence is both noted and appreciated. The erstwhile Winter Soldier calls no attention to it himself, remaining still and staring out the window in a silence that would have been uncharacteristic for him when he was still just young Bucky Barnes.

He finally turns his gaze towards May as she begins to speak, however. Something about the tone in her voice demands he afford the courtesy of his eyes. "It was exactly like that, in the war," he says, his voice heavy with eighty year-old memory. "I'm here because of that philosophy."

But he assuredly doesn't miss her qualifier. Somehow that seems to reassure him more than anything else. He nods slowly, mostly to himself, his gaze falling to his own left arm. It's tellingly hidden, the metal veiled away beneath long sleeves and a glove despite the lingering warmth of summer. His expression tightens, and so must his hand, because the faint sound of grinding metal heralds that it is there, even if it is not obvious and cannot be seen.

"Yeah. I think... you would've done the other 'right thing to do.' If you had to. If you'd seen I wasn't there after all. You or Natasha." He shakes his head. "I... appreciated that there was someone who would. I needed that. Steve would never. Sam said he would, but I put enough on him without putting that too."

He is quiet, a few moments. "Steve mentioned SHIELD woke him up not too long ago. He... does okay?" It's got to be a shock for him -- more a shock than for Bucky. He didn't get woken up, not even periodically... didn't see things change.

Melinda May has posed:
May turns to look at Barnes again as he speaks, nodding at his assertion that she or Natasha would has done the right thing if his programming had not been reversible. She's inwardly very glad that it was -- both she and Nat have enough red in their ledgers and this would have been, while a mercy to Barnes, still VERY difficult.

"That's another reason I needed to be there. To make the difficult call and act on it. I know that Rogers or Winchester would have understood if it had been necessary, but..." she pauses before continuing, remembering that while he doesn't look it, Barnes will surely understand. "They're both still so young despite everything they've seen and done in their lives."

When the man asks about how Steve has been adjusting to waking up after so many decades, she can only shrug slightly. "Not as well as he lets on, I think. But better in some ways than I think even he realizes. He didn't exactly wake up to the best circumstances, and he was kind of tossed right back into the fray without any real time to acclimate."

She also can't help but think Rogers' very old school viewpoints on mental health might be working against him, and she is the LAST person who would be able to get away with pointing that out to anyone. "Having Carter here and now you can only help him in the long run."

Winter Soldier has posed:
There is an understanding, in his shadowed blue eyes, of the difficulty that it would have been to do the necessary thing. It's perhaps why he says, very quietly, "That's a debt I owe. Asking you or Natalia to take more blood on your hands for their sake, and for mine... even though you didn't wind up having to do it. I would've wanted to be put down if I could not be brought back, but it's not an easy thing to ask somebody. Not an unselfish thing, either."

He hesitates. "Might not be entirely a past tense thing, either. If I turn again... if they get me again -- "

He doesn't really have to finish the sentence. He just lapses into a sober sort of silence as May says that both Steve and Sam, despite all they've been through... still remain young, in many ways. "They are," he says, in a brief agreement that speaks volumes. "If there are things I can keep them from having to do, then I will." He's already damaged goods, his tone says loud and clear. His hands are so bloody a little more makes no matter.

He listens in silence as May answers his questions about Steve. Concern flickers under his lowered lashes, though it's a muted sentiment. Barnes was never one to wear emotion on his sleeve, and the Winter Soldier froze away most of what expressiveness was left to him. Her opinion that his and Peggy's presence could only help brings him to frown, though that expression passes too... quick as frost fading off a windowpane. "Maybe," he says. He looks briefly pained, as if he has severe doubts his presence could be any benefit to his best friend, but at the same time no spirit in him to deny Steve what he wants.

"I'll do what I have to," is all he ultimately says. "And whatever I need to in order to undo the damage I did. SHIELD will have everything I know."