6064/Falling Frost: Is There Anybody in There

Falling Frost: Is There Anybody in There
Date of Scene:	29 December 2018
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Skye visits Bucky in security and opens up to him about.. everything.
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Quake
Tinyplot:	Falling Frost

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Winter Soldier has posed:
They've moved him to the security level, after his attempt to crush Steve's trachea by main force. He's well enough that the leg is only in a pressure cast - no need for traction. There's a little mattress on the floor of his cell; the only other furnishings are sink and toilet made of some alloy strong enough to hold up even to him. No blanket, no sheets. Winter himself is dressed only in a plain t-shirt and pj pants. He's clean enough, but he's got a week's growth of beard. No one wants to get in arms' reach of the Soldier, after all.

At the moment, he's lying on the mattress, human arm draped over his eyes to shield them from the light. By the steady rise and fall of his chest, he might be sleeping.

Quake has posed:
Skye has been released from medical, and pending some final tests and some equipment that research and development (read: Fitzsimmons) are working on, she's really good to go. And it's not like she can't come back for the items (or have them delivered), so she's not really sure what the holdup is on heading back to the wilds of Canada to carry on with her.. well, it's not quite training at this point. Though she does have a much better idea of what she can do.

So does everyone else who was there.

Long and short of it, Skye still wants to see him. To see Bucky. To figure out why he'd shot at them all, and how he could have fallen so far from the man she thought she knew, even if she hadn't known him all that well, and the obvious answer was 'Hydra' was what had happened.

Still, there must be some of the old Bucky left inside the man, right? Right? She'd been there in their mind controlling machines. She'd broken it. He had to be reachable..

At the very least, she wanted to see him for herself. So she headed on down to his cell in security hoping nobody would ask too many questions about why she was there, or try and stop her.

Winter Soldier has posed:
No one does. He's off down an empty block himself, in a corner - as far from the main entrance as they can get him. The cell walls are all glass-clear, no privacy opacity in place.

It's silent, relatively speaking. No patrol audible anywhere near, only the thrum of the air circulation system working. The cell door indicators are all green: secure-secure-secure, with the notes scrolling below them noting that his vitals are good, he's eating and sleeping, etc. As if he were more a lab rat than a prisoner.

Quake has posed:
Security really isn't Skye's forte. Unless you count the time she was in one of the cells - one with less security than Bucky's - or breaking into things. She was really good at breaking into things. (Hacker. D'uh.)

Still, she figures they know what they're doing, and assumes everything is monitored.

Standing outside his cell, she watches him for a bit before speaking up. "I hear you tried to kill Steve again," she says lamely. It's kind of the SHIELD equivalent of how's the weather, or what about them Red Sox.

Winter Soldier has posed:
For a wonder, he does not ignore her. Instead, slowly, he lets his arm fall, and turns his head to look at her. Expression empty, neutral, though there's something gauging in the pale eyes. He doesn't seem disposed to get up from his mattress, or even sit up. If she wants to make it a formal interrogation, she can summon some goons. If not.....he's going to lie there like a cat on a rug. Patiently, he says, "Yes."

Quake has posed:
Enh, if Skye were going to do a formal interrogation, she'd have come with goons. It doesn't mean she won't ask him things, or interrogate him - just she's likely not been sent in any official capacity to do so.

"So. Yeah. I noticed." She, of course, is hovering outside the cell, looking awkward, which isn't her usual sort of look. Then again, she's had a lot going on in the last little while and it's left the young woman a slight bit off kilter in many respects. That, and her usual sass probably isn't what's needed here. At least not as an open salvo.

"What I don't get is why. You guys are friends. Like the kind of friends people talk about the way they talk about Hallmark movies and Harlequin romances. I get the Hydra thing, I mean, I was there, I get it. It's deep, man. They know how to push your buttons and offer you the world.. but wasn't there anything of you left in there?"

She frowns and her earnestness comes to the forefront. "I had my badge. And an arrow. It was like they were the only real things left in the world. All the shit they were showing me. All the reasons they were giving me to just reach out and take his hand.. and they kept me sane. Don't you have anything like that? Dammit, you came back from this shit. You remembered you. We worked together. People trusted you. They wanted to trust you. What the hell happened?"

Winter Soldier has posed:
There's a frown, the familiar little line engraving itself between his brows, like she's asked him something puzzling, but not unworthy of consideration. Then it tips over into something more, a horrible, vague confusion. She can see his gaze go unfocussed, blank - the purblind stare of someone with advancing dementia. The dart and flicker of his gaze, as if he looked at fleeting memories.....and then slowly, it clears again. By his expression, it's utterly obvious, the question rendered silly. "I've always served HYDRA."

Quake has posed:
Skye shakes her head. "That's a line of bullshit if I ever heard one. You forget, I know you. I mean, okay, I don't know you like Steve knows you, but you and me, we have a past." A little one. A tiny little one - but it was enough. It was the spark that set her down the path to believing in SHIELD. That if this man could come back from all he had, and stand with the rest of them against Hydra, that maybe there was a place for her to fit in as well.

"You don't remember, do you? You were getting your security clearance. They were making me do everyone's that day. A sort of slap on the wrist like I'd get to be trusted with bigger things when I figured out we weren't the enemy, and I don't know what. I mean, you don't send a hacker of my talent to do simple security checks. We have people who that's their day job. And you were there. You were there when Hydra hit. You and me, stuck together in that room. And you kept them out so I could do my thing while everyone else tried to stop them."

She shakes her head. "You weren't Hydra, Bucky. They had what they wanted. You could have stopped me and they'd have won. I know you weren't Hydra. I know you /aren't/ Hydra."

Winter Soldier has posed:
It's got to be infuriating, that blank opacity a millimeter behind the blue eyes. They must've gone in there with the psychic equivalent of steel wool and scoured him clean. Not even a flicker of recognition. He absorbs the story without protest, letting it soak in. Then he shakes his head, and turns his gaze to the ceiling again, before draping his arm over his eyes. As if he simply intended to ignore her, until she stops spouting nonsense and goes away. A deeper breath is the only sign of possible disturbance behind that cold facade.

Quake has posed:
Skye nods to herself.

"Wow. Never thought I'd be the poster child for SHIELD recruitment. And fine, maybe it's not where you want to end up anyway. Must have been weird coming back after all that time, trying to fit in, everyone not trusting you, and yet you were this hero. And Steve all like he'd found his best friend or his lost dog.. I guess you really were his childhood best friend, huh?"

She gives a small, crooked little grin. "The dog bit isn't meant as bad as I mean it. I just meant Steve lit up. He was in the same place you were. Only maybe with more of the trusting him. But he still didn't fit in. Not really. I kinda got that. It sucked when I got here. The whole you can be part of the team, or you can sit in a 6 by 4 and think about your life choices kind of deal. I spent my whole first year here resenting everyone and everything. You changed that, you know?"

She sighs. "And you don't care about that either."

Skye frowns. "Nobody really knows what they did to me there. Clint knows a bit. Just how do you tell someone you were tormented with your childhood memories, all of them twisting about from as bad as they were into the nightmares that being a little kid made them out to be? He thinks saying he loves me and things will be okay make it alright. But those things happened. He promised me he could make them all go away - Karl did, that is. Said I could be so much more. All I had to do was accept it. I think if he hadn't wanted me for something else, he'd have kept on trying. Only he didn't care so much about whether or not I joined and put my skills to use. He wanted a guinea pig. And he got one."

Her frown deepens. "I destroyed a base. I still dont know how many people died there. I don't want to know. He did that to me. He made me into this.. thing. You were our friend. I can't believe that's just gone in there."

Winter Soldier has posed:
That's apparently enough. Wounded leg aside, he rolls smoothly up to his feet, and then he's immediately on the other side of the 'glass', without even a wobble. Close enough that his breath fogs it, as he looks her in the eye through it - a week's dark scruff, the sunken eyes of someone still fighting pain and weariness, all the more obvious.

He's all coiled menace, even though his expression is still that empty neutrality. There's a thump of the alloy fist on the crystal, as if to startle her or call attention to his statement. "I. Serve. HYDRA. Stop talking."

Quake has posed:
Surprisingly, she smiles.

"Of course you do," Skye says simply. "Because that reaction? Gotta tell you, pretty strong for someone who actuallly believes himself. You were doing better convincing me lying back there on that bed of yours."

There's a small nod from the woman. "Yeah. I've been there, too. Sucks, huh? Brain tells you one thing, and your insides are all making confused noises. Figure if you say it loud enough or scary enough you'll believe it. Or we will."

Her grin remains that twisted wryness. "Wanna know what I learned? Doesn't matter what lies you tell yourself. The folks here? They'll just keep believing what they know until you do to. I guess it's kinda crazy in the same way Hydra shit is. Only we don't stick you in some machine and bombard your brain with lightwaves and false memories, reprogramming you with deprivation until you accept it out of just wanting it all to end. They kinda believe in the we got you until you believe it enough to believe it for yourself thing going on here."

That wryness twists into a knowing smile - because she's not so far out of those woods herself, and her recent transformation has left her almost as uncertain as she was when she arrived at SHIELD. It's really debatable if she's trying to convince Bucky, or herself of all this. "Know what I think? I think Steve is too much the truth. And you hate what he is making you feel. You want that confusion to stop. You think if you destroy him, you can make all of this go away. All the hurt and all the anger and all the bombardment of everything that isn't letting you think. Sure, they probably want you to do it too, but it's perfect, right? Because that's it. If you can kill him, then you're really gone, aren't you? You're really what they're trying to make you."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Rogers is my mission," he says, more slowly. He turns away, pads awkwardly to the sink, and drinks a few palmfuls of water. Then he goes to the mattress and lowers himself down. This is more awkward, needing hands braced into the concrete corner to accomplish without an ungraceful faceplant.

Back down, he's clearly tempted to roll over, present her with that gleaming shoulder like a kid sulking in a classroom corner. But the bandaged leg is apparently a damper on that thought. "You talk too much," he says, but now his voice is weary, rather than tight with anger.

Quake has posed:
A snort from Skye. "D'uh, of course he's your mission. Didn't we just cover that? Kill the man most likely to snap you out of this while simultaneously making whatever there is in there that's left of the real you hate yourself enough that you'll never come back."

Skye is utterly unrepentant.

"We understand, you know. I understand. Been trying to make sense of what happened to me, too. I guess this all explains why you shot at us. I'm really sorry you got hurt. That was my fault. Even if it does give us a change to try and help you."

Winter Soldier has posed:
She can see the tension come back into him. Curiosity killed the partially-metal cat, too, it seems. He looks back at her again, lifting his arm to see her better. ".....how was it your fault?" he asks, voice lower, expression puzzled. "That doesn't make any sense. A tree fell on me during the earthquake."

Quake has posed:
Skye shrugs and makes an apologetic face. "Hi. Me. I'm the earthquake."

Not that BC isnt home to earthquakes or anything, but this one she can totally place the blame squarely on herself.

"I kinda lost my shit. You.. ah, it doesn't matter why. But yeah, that was me. Turns out I'm not quite human. That's what Hydra wanted me for. Turn me into whatever this is I am."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Hydra didn't deign to inform him, by the look on his face. It's the blankness of confusion, not that deliberate, guarded look. ".....you're a mutant?" he asks, bluntly. Well, so much for tact. Puzzlement writ large again. Why wasn't he told about this asset? Hell, why wasn't he tasked with re-taking her?

Quake has posed:
"Enh.." Skye says with a deep sigh. "Not so much a mutant as an inhuman. They're not really sure what I am. First human 0-8-4. Object of Unknown Origin. Whole level 10 file and coverup dedicated to me."

She gives him a self-depricating wave.

"There are these crystals. They pretty much rewrote me. Fixed the bits that were missing in my DNA. Once they were fixed, I became.. whatever it is I am now. I'm not really sure what it all means, other than so far I've destroyed a Hydra base and flattened a decent portion of Canadian woods."

She grins. "Not as much fun as you might think. I kind of fractured my arms a bit in the process."

She's not unaware of what she's telling him. It's her case to do with as she sees fit. And it's not like Hydra isn't aware of her - they're the ones who did this to her. Well, Karl did. It was debatable how far his loyalty to Hydra actually went.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Far be it from him to be too skeptical, considering the engineering attached to him. "So you dropped the tree on me, and you didn't even mean to." More a statement than a question. His lips thin out at the idea. Did Hydra send him to get killed? It's not beyond possibility.....or there's just general ignorance to blame. "Did....everyone survive this incident?" He's seen Steve. 0 for 2, there.

Quake has posed:
Skye nods, pursing her lips together. "Yeah. Trees fell. Everyone got blown back. Well, the ones you hadn't shot did. I passed out so I don't actually know what happened after that."

Oh, she'd read the reports. Logan had brough Bucky in, along with Clint's help. And all of them but Logan had ended up in medical. Some longer than others.

"You tried to kill us all," she says quietly. Nearly blandly.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He looks at her levelly for a good little while, silent. Then, finally, ".....I failed." He sounds disappointed. With that, he does roll over, carefully - into what's kind of honestly kind of an uncomfortable looking heap. He can't properly stack his lower legs with the cast still on the one. But it's enough to give her that broad back and fall of dark hair. The interview is over, it seems.

Quake has posed:
"I like to think of it as they failed. You're not what they told you, James. You'll remember that someday. And when you do, we're here for you."

And with that, sigh heaves another sigh, waves to the overhead surveillance, and takes her leave.