6034/Changeling/Falling Frost: Busted!

Changeling/Falling Frost: Busted!
Date of Scene:	21 December 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Skye goes to Bucky's hospital room and gets caught out by May and Clint. Bucky, unsurprisingly, isn't co-operative.
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Quake, Melinda May, Hawkeye (Barton)
Tinyplot:	Changeling
Tinyplot2:	Falling Frost

---

Winter Soldier has posed:
The visit to Logan's little winter woodland hideaway didn't go well. Four went out, five came back....and four of those wounded in one way or another. And the only reason it wasn't five for five is that Logan shrugs off high caliber rounds like most people shrug off mosquito bites.

The unexpected prize of the little trip is currently bound to a bed in a room that was clearly more intended as a cell than a hospital ward. Some poor fool of a SHIELD medical tech actually had to wrestle Bucky into a hospital gown, even. He's looking surprisingly innocent in his (heavily sedated) sleep, the ruined leg tractioned a little off the bed. Even with a supersoldier's healing factor, fractured bone has to be set right to heal properly....and keeping him under just gives the higher-ups a little extra breathing room while they decide what to do with him. It helps, no doubt, that a badly wounded Rogers is also out like a light in another room, rather than there to argue over his friend's treatment.

It's all quiet in the room - the two guards at the door are silent, armored figures, and there's only the clicking and beeping of the monitoring gear, for the moment.

Quake has posed:
Rightly, Skye shouldn't be out of bed herself. She'd woken in the medical bay of the Triskelion with no clear memory of how she'd gotten there, or why. At least at first..

There were still foggy details of what had gone on in those last moment, but enough of it was there, complete with crystal clarity, that Skye had a really good idea of what had happened in those woods, and it had been her.

And someone else. Bucky, she'd guessed based on the whispers she'd overheard of those around medbay gossiping about the new cases:: Herself and Bucky. And yes, they'd 'brought them in by Quinjet, all of them hurt but for that handsome one goes by Logan'. Their whispers, and distance, weren't impediments to Skye's hearing.

Curious about her neighbour, as late afternoon shift switches to night, Skye takes advantage of the shift-change and finds herself at Bucky's room.

Melinda May has posed:
And, busted. Standing there in front of the doorway leading to Barnes' room and the two guards posted there is Agent May. She's even got her arms crossed. But, unlike the guards might have expected, she doesn't stop the injured hacker from going into the room. She merely follows.

Maybe it's because Skye 'owes' her a debrief? Maybe it's because she doesn't trust one or both of them in the same room together? Maybe she wants to be able to scold them both at the same time? Any of those are possible, really. And by May's typically Vulcanesque expression, she's not about to volunteer the answers.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Not that sedated. For when they enter, the pale eyes are fixed on them, mutely. No questions from Winter, no attempts to move, no prompting expression. Just that animal wariness in his regard. His calf is in a pressure cast....and by the indications on the IV set up, he's on a fairly heacy dose of painkillers. Someone must've calculated off Steve himself.

Quake has posed:
Skye visibly winces when May catches her. Which makes her wince even further as all her insides, beaten and bruised as they are, ripple in protest sending stabs of pain throughout her body. Her arms have been wrapped tightly, pending the results of some tests, and she drags an IV pole with her.

Yes, Skye is in hospital gear. She's petite enough that sucker wraps around enough that there isn't a back door peep show, even.
"May," Skye says with a startle. "This time it wasn't my fault."

Except it was. Well, the parts of it that weren't Bucky's fault were her fault, but in her defense, he'd started it.

She turns to frown at the man. "It was you, wasn't it?" Seeing as his eyes are open. "What the fuck was that anyway?"

Because BUCKY. You know, Cap's friend? First person Skye actually worked *with* at SHIELD - doing his intake papers, even. Skye can't fathom how that man turned into this man.

Melinda May has posed:
"Never said it was," May retorts back to Skye, then also looks at Barnes. She stays by the door, though, and keeps her hands visible at her sides. It's a silent gesture to the former Hydra assassin that she doesn't intend violence.

Not yet, anyway.

She refrains from sighing as Skye's first words to Barnes are angry-sounding. She has every intention of forcing the younger woman to sit in a chair if she gets too worked up. Because.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Who's driving here? Is he clever enough, capable enough to act, to feign something he isn't? Is the programming that good?

Apparently not. There's not an iota of recognition in his face when Skye appears....nor does he answer her question. Does he even remember English? There's that infuriating, perfect neutrality in his features. Not intending to answer, it appears.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Just like Skye, Clint shouldn't have been out of bed either, though like her, he'd made his escape (with the use of a wheelchair) and went in search of that most vital of hospital comodities: pants.

So when he reaches Bucky's room, he got a pair of scrubs on under his robe. The shouting gets him to turn his wheel chair and head inside.

"Hey, whoa, who threw the party without telling me?"

Quake has posed:
Bucky just stares off into space, which is likely a good thing. Less for Skye to react to, and right now, not reacting is important. In fact, it's likely an oversight that she's not being mildly sedated at this point.

Her heartrate doesn't elevate enough to do more than threaten to set off the alarm she's hooked up to.

"Fine. Some of it was me," Skye complains. "But it wasn't on purpose."

She winces when Clint arrives, his voice extra loud in her ears for its exuberance. "Oh. Ow. No party, please, no party."

Melinda May has posed:
May looks over as Clint joins the fun and... seriously? She rolls her eyes and silently mouths a Russian word she remembers Natasha using where likely neither Skye nor Clint can see -- but Barnes totally can -- and now she moves. But only to move a chair from against one wall to next to Skye.

"Sit down, Skye." And then she helps Clint get his own seating arrangement situated next to Skye. Once that's done she's back to standing beside the door in as neutral a stance as she can manage without making it seem intentional.

Winter Soldier has posed:
May's the obvious threat here...and that's who Winter's mostly focussing on. He glances between all of them, and the faintest stitch of puzzlement knits itself between his brows. The important one's still here....but no one's said anything about Steve. If he'd finally succeeded in assassinating the Captain, surely this would be a very different gathering.

May's comment only deepens the indent....but he's still not talking. And even with the painkillers in the drip, he's got that pale, strained look. What do they want from him?

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"Sorry, am I talking too loud?" Clint asks lowering his voice. He puts the palm of his hand against his ear and wiggles it some. "My hearing's sucked since we got back."

He rolls over beside her when May gets her seated, turning the chair skillfully to face May. This was not his first wheelchair rodeo, comes with being human while rolling with superhumans.

"What's up?" he asks, careful to keep the volume down.

Quake has posed:
May might have turned away so that and Skye don't see her mouthing the word, and she certainly might have intended it to be silent.. but from where Skye sits, and with her hearing on overdrive at the moment, with poor Skye struggling to shut down the extraneous noises, that 'upornyi' comes through loud and clear.

It's also one of the few Russian words Skye has picked up.

"Am not," Skye mutters under her breath, lips pursing into a very obviously stubborn line that totally belies her protest, and makes May's observation a truth. "And I wanted to see him for myself. See if it really was him who shot at us."

Adding, with a smirk, "Clint is way worse than I am."

Melinda May has posed:
May stares at Clint for a moment, then takes one step forward and turns the archer's wheelchair around so he's facing the same direction Skye is: toward the man in the bed. Then, looking at Barnes and recognizing the wary expression she takes a breath then makes a decision.

Moving slowly and deliberately, she telegraphs each move as she sheds the black leather-like jacket and lays it across Skye's lap. Dual purpose for doing so, and it's probably very obvious: It'll keep the younger woman in the seat, and it's somewhere to put a jacket whose lining is practically bristling with extra pockets. No doubt at least a few of them hold weapons. She then steps to the door and continues shedding weaponry -- the ICER in its shoulder holster that also supports the scabbard against her spine for the matched pair of butterfly swords, knives strapped to one forearm and a collapsible baton on the other. She hands the weapons to one of the now visibly gobsmacked guards outside and closes the door again.

Clearly, she's still not completely weaponless, but removing the weapons that aren't part of her body is a token offer of trust for the man in the bed.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He can't even roll over, honestly. Not with his leg held like that. Winter's looking between them again. So. They speak Russian. Good to know. At Skye's comment, his gaze darts back to her. He doesn't dignify it with a reply. Who else would've been shooting at them?

Clint gets a looking-over, but it's back to May, with the kind of wariness a caged wolf reserves for someone on the other side of the bars. Then she's handing off her weaponry, and he's tensing. Apparently this will be a hand-crafted and personal beating. There's the rasp of the cuffs moving along on the bedrails, the only sound out of him....but that's definitely a hint of a recoil.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint allows himself to be turned, giving Bucky a little wave when the man looks up to survey the growing peanut gallery around the Winter Soldier's hospital bed.

"Am not," Clint says casually in response to Skye, shooting her a smirk before he adds, "And what gives May? This some sort of Christmas special? The Winter Soldier learns the meaning of Christmas? Because if those rounds were his gifts, then shit, he needs to work on the whole 'season of giving' part of the deal."

Quake has posed:
Skye is more than a little surprised that May hands her her jacket. Even if she also suspects one of the reasons is to keep her butt in the chair she so kindly delivered Skye to. Not that Skye would admit it, but she was glad to have the seat, because she'd vastly miscalculated the amount of energy she had and her trip down the hall to Bucky's room had left her exhausted. And sore. All the things that she was supposed to be in bed healing.. weren't. In fact, this little trip may have jostled a few back into needing attention. However..

May's jacket in her lap is a surprise, if only because it was tangible proof of all the weaponry that the Senior Agent carried upon her person. Skye wasn't' sure if that was a load of trust being placed in her, or a warning. Possibly both. Skye had been rather a bit of a problem of late - though in her defense not all of it was under her control.

All well and good, other than the fact that May has now just handed Skye a lapful of weapons. Which.. may also be the point even if Clint is the better marksman. Of course, Bucky knows that. Skye is the unknown factor in this, and thus, safe. Maybe a not so bad choice other than now Skye has weapons.

Melinda May has posed:
After closing the door on her weapons May looks at Barnes and can tell that her gesture didn't really help at all. The urge to find every last person in Hydra and throat-punch them is getting stronger.

With a faint sigh, she steps over to where she's still well within Barnes' line of sight against the wall by the door.

Gambling on Hydra having programmed him to at least understand the most commonly spoken languages on the planet, she says in a calm voice, "Zhè shì w? néng tígong de zuìduo," and then sits cross-legged on the floor with her hands sandwiched between the small of her back and the wall.

Winter Soldier has posed:
The problem with him being perturbed is that someone's set the monitors to the chemical equivalent of a hair trigger....and the rise in his heart rate and that shifting in motion is enough to them off. For even as he's looking at May in mute puzzlement, as if gathering himself to speak, they're pumping more painkiller into his veins. In moments, there's a betraying flutter of his lashes as he momentarily struggle against it, and he's sinking back into the pillows with a limpness that can't be feigned. Out like a light.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Skye being given a lapful of weapons doesn't go unnoticed by Clint but he doesn't give them more than a passing glance. His attention mainly remains on Bucky and those cuffs latched around the railings on the side of the bed. He frowns, if the man got free he wouldn't be much more than a nuissance.

His eyes cast about for throwables, just in case.

The Chinese mostly goes over his head, all he learned of the language was a few key phrases on their trip to China. Stopping his search for weapons, Clint says to Skye: "Get any of that?" he asks. "All I know for sure is she's not asking for more ramen or where the bathroom is."

Then Bucky goes out like a light.

"Maybe it was goodnight," he says, glancing back to May. "So, seriously, what's going on?"

Quake has posed:
Skye shrugs at Clint over May's Chinese. "No clue. It's either you eat like a pig, or that's all I've got based on how she's sitting there." Because you didnt need to know Chinese to read the 'take it or leave it' of May's stance. Or sit, as it was.

Her fingers curl over the leather of May's jacket, feeling out what is hidden from obvious sight. Taking inventory, as it were. Though likely not for nefarious reasons. It's Skye, after all.

Melinda May has posed:
When Barnes is drugged back under she promptly pulls her hands free even as she's frowning faintly as if annoyed. "Did neither of you notice he was looking more and more like a cornered cat?" She promptly moves to stand again and moves to scoop her jacket out of Skye's lap before she can fondle the thing any further.

"So now that talking to him is off the docket for the moment, do either of you care to tell me why you're back here so soon?"

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint smiles at the response, making a show of sizing up Bucky. "Probably not the eatting thing with that stomach. Probably has an eight pack the bastard."

Then when it comes down to their little talk. Clint glances at Skye. "You want this one or should I handle it?" he looks back to May. "One moment."

Quake has posed:
Skye looks away, for a moment, pressing her lips together, and trying very, very hard not to snicker when Clint cracks the joke about eating. "Yeah. I didn't think she was telling him he ate like a pig, either."

Her response gives her just enough time to gather her composure back, her body already lamenting the heavy weight of May's jacket across her lap, the lack of the sensory input leaving her feeling vulnerable and edgy.

"Mmm, I'd say you can handle it," she nods at Clint, her own voice lowered to levels that don't hurt her own ears. It means she's speaking quietly. Perhaps too quietly. "But she's going to want the whole story."

May is regarded and given a helpless shrug. Skye doesn't know where to start.

Melinda May has posed:
May looks from Clint to Skye, the pair of them looking like something the murderkitty dragged around and played with.

"Yes, I am," she says aloud quietly but then signs at the same time. Her ASL is rusty and a bit hesitant, and she has to remind herself to NOT use international sign. "Though if you want to relocate somewhere more comfortable," she looks at Skye pointedly at that, "I can wait a few minutes longer."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
"You're not wrong," Clint agrees about May wanting the whole story.

His eyes travel from Skye, to May, to Bucky and back to May. "Yeah a different venue might be ideal," he says. "If we're covering all the details."

He gives a glance to Skye for confirmation, but his hands are already on his wheels to roll him out the door.

Quake has posed:
"Definitely another venue," Skye agrees. "Might need a little help here." The words are given with some embarrassment as she makes her wobbly way to standing, leaning heavily on her IV stand, grimacing at both the standing, but also the fast that she's jostling her wrists and arms with more pressure than they should currently be handling. "My room is just down the hall."

Because she's going to want her bed after this. "Just we need to be quieter. My head is splitting."

Melinda May has posed:
May steps forward as Skye shakily gets back to her feet and puts her jacket around the hacker's shoulders before directing them back toward Skye's room. She stops to get her weapons back from the guards, giving the pair time to get a bit of a head start, but catches up to them almost immediately.

Once they're all in Skye's room with the young woman settled back in her bed and Clint either parked nearby or other seating of his choice, she looks at the pair again before reaching into a pocket inside her jacket and offering Skye a pair of lurid orange squishy earplugs. And, said jacket is draped back over Skye's legs, as she seemed distressed at having it taken away earlier.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Frowning at the splitting headache thing, Clint signs ~Ears~ his expression making it into a question. He makes no effort to hide the signs, knowing everyone still awake could read them.

Then he wheels himself and his busted leg to Skye's room where he turns the chair and sets it against the wall.

~So what now~ he signs to the ladies before May produces the ear plugs. ~Ah, good idea~

Quake has posed:
~Yes,~ Skye signs at Clint. ~Too loud. Can't think..~ Skye winces as her wrists and forearms protest the signing. When they're in her room, and she's back in bed, it's a relief that's clearly written on her face, the young woman decidedly paler than when May first discovered her escaped from her bed. The earplugs are taken gratefully, and when May drapes the jacket on her legs again, it's a nod of thanks Skye gives, pulling the jacket up over her chest, letting the heavy weight of the thing hold her safe and close while her mind and body hurt and felt like they were flying apart.

"I can't sign," she says, low voiced. "But I can still read it. Just - my arms. I've hurt them." That she remembers. The sharp, sharding pain that had run up them, as well as the wrenching and straining sensations that had filled the rest of her body, too, before that great blast of energy had burst forth from her and levelled the woods around Logan's cabin into a clearing.

Melinda May has posed:
Seeing Skye settled, she then starts trying to act as interpreter for Skye's quiet words, and it's even more obvious how rusty her ASL has become. She's waiting for Clint to tell her to just stop butchering the language. Though Skye's last words get her attention.

"How did you hurt your arms, Skye? Di-- no." She looks to Clint. "Begin at the beginning, please."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint nods, ~Can keep signing if you want~ he says his hands moving rapidly through the signs expecting them both to keep up. ~Quieter~

There is a grimace about the arms though. ~It's okay. You talk I sign~

As for what happened. Clint just simply but his hands together then spereads them apart in 'boom' motion, mimicing and explosion. It was close.

~Short version. Bucky shot everybody but not Skye, then her powers went off. Trapped Bucky for Logan~

Quake has posed:
Skye is relieved at not having to sign, though she's not yet aware that she's speaking too quietly for the others to hear very well - especially with Clint's hearing damaged. She hasn't had time to dwell upon or think about that, or that it's very likely (read: entirely likely) that it's her fault he's in that state.

"We were getting firewood when I heard a shot. Logan's cabin is nearby where we were. I don't know why Cap' was there, but he was down and bleeding. Before we could figure anything out, Clint was shot too. Sniper rifle from a distance, and I was trying to figure out where, but everything just kept getting louder and louder, and then I think he shot at me, too, only it never hit."

She shakes her head to herself.

"Next thing I know, I felt like I was exploding outward, and everything inside wrenched and.." Her hands move under May's jacket in a futile gesture to demonstrate they'd felt like they'd splintered from the wrists up to nearly her elbows, and it might be then that its most truly clear how bloodshot the young woman's eyes are, or that there are purpled and bruising areas along her skin that don't look like hits or fingermarks, but more like burst blood vessels.

"It was just ringing in my ears and everything was a whoosh. Then I woke up here."

Melinda May has posed:
May nods to Clint, then listens as Skye quietly relates what happened, trying to keep up with the interpreting. Clint's own signing she has to guess part of with how fast he is at it. But then her eyebrows clearly indicate her surprise at the description of the events that landed them back here. She makes a mental note to put a priority request in with R&D to try and help Skye with her current and ongoing situation. Because really.

"Have the doctors given you a rundown of your injuries?" she asks (and signs), looking at Skye but then at Clint, including him in the questioning. The extent and types of injuries might help explain what exactly happened.

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Clint finds his mind drifting back to that moment when Skye tells the story. The feel of the shockwaves rushing over him, being lifted up and thrown like a rag doll in their wake to land hard on the snow.

He comes back from it in time to nod for May. ~That's how I saw it too~

Clint switches back to talking, keeping his voice pitched low to save Skye's ears. "Yeah, they told me. Cracked femur, bunch of other damage. It would have been worse if I hadn't taken cold weather gear from here, the snow pants I was wearing had a kevlar weave."

See, even Clint would have had a hard time signing that.

"Also, I think my ears are a bit messed up from the boom, should clear up." He hoped.

Quake has posed:
Skye lets Clint catalogue his injuries, and up until the point where he mentions both the hearing loss /and/ the boom in the same sentence, she's doing fine, but that mention has her frowning deeply. She'd not allowed herself to think about that yet, since he'd said that bit about his hearing back in Bucky's room. Now, though? Now it's out there in the open:

It was her fault.

Melinda May has posed:
May nods seemingly to herself at Clint's description of his side of things. It seems to make sense to her when taken into account alongside what Skye experienced. "Did either of you find out anything about why Barnes was out there?" She's going to have to have a serious sit down talk with Rogers to find out why HE was there.

Skye's quiet little guilt trip isn't missed. She looks at the younger woman, then frowns and signs 'no' at her. "Don't start blaming yourself for this."

Hawkeye (Barton) has posed:
Catching that frown Clint signs, ~What May said~ He signed, he didn't blame Skye at all and didn't want her to blame herself for it either.

~It was Bucky or the person who sent him. Not you.~

Clint frowns and answers May's question in sign. ~Not clear. Cap was there, might be after him, or-"

"Damn it, there need to be more spy signs," he says still keeping his voice low. "Either that our our cabin hideout was blown and Bucky was after us."

Quake has posed:
Skye's frown remains. "Easy for you to say," she spits out, voice at about normal speaking level, though it seems to her that she's yelling. "You're not the ones who did that. Did you see that clearing?" Because while she's passed out, Skye had seen enough of the effects of what she'd done before that had happened. "I didn't know I could do that. I didn't know how to stop it."

Her gaze falls to her arms folded over her chest, bound as they were. "I was told I've hairline fractures up and down my arms. Torn ligaments and burst blood vessels. Strain in other areas. Nobody knows why."

Which is why she'd been relegated to Fitzsimmons care yet again.

Melinda May has posed:
"I'm going to put priority on figuring out why and what we can do about it," she tells Skye. Because they can't deal with her getting injured like this on a regular basis. The damage could be cumulative.

"And if either of you see Captain Rogers before I do, tell him I need to speak with him as soon as possible." They chose that remote cabin for a reason, and having its location compromised so thoroughly is ... disturbing to say the least.