6127/Falling Frost: The Dreaming Ends

Falling Frost: The Dreaming Ends
Date of Scene:	07 January 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	What's the worth of four promised favors? An awakening from a living nightmare.
Cast of Characters:	Winter Soldier, Captain America, Loki
Tinyplot:	Falling Frost

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Winter Soldier has posed:
It's one of the most secure parts of this level. After that almost-breakout, the Soldier's being handled like something virulently radioactive. A cell within layers of other cells - almost an airlock system. But the soldiers at the door don't need persuading or arguing with, for the prisoner they're guarding is in no state to go anywhere. It's something of a ludicrous sight, what the parting of that final set of doors reveals: a hospital bed, with Bucky in it, hooked up to monitors and IVs. The dark hair is spread over the pillow....indeed, the only thing that makes it clear he's not just any other patient is that he's still restrained in the bed, bound to the frame at wrist and ankle. As if he might wake suddenly and attack those who come to tend him.

Captain America has posed:
It shakes Steve to enter that room. It's disturbingly sterile, even more so than the floor itself. He lifts his shoulder to test for the slight weight of the small black bird who accompanied him in, unseen by both guardian human and electronic alike. It all seems like just another visit from one soldier to another. His hands curl around the metal girding of the hospital bed and squeeze just hard enough to test the metal's sturdiness.

A drop of his chin and he mutters to thin air, "This is him."

Loki has posed:
    "Wow. Do we need a bite-guard as well?" asks the illusion that suddenly flows forth like a genie from a lamp, from the vicinity of the bird. The bird is still there, and the illusion is only in the mind of those who are present in the room to witness it with their own eyes. Illusionary finesse is most favorite of 'Matthias Vega', above many other things, so there is a trivial, relaxed manner to it. The illusion is, indeed, of Loki, now. Suggesting he's someone else without any witness other than Steve is unnecessary.

Illusory Loki moves to the bed and peers down at the sleeping man, and slides his gaze to Steve. "Your brother? Mmm. Adopted?"

Captain America has posed:
"A good way to put it," replies Steve in an undertone after a soft snort. He swallows hard. "We might not be blood, but close enough. No...shouldn't need a bite-guard." The soldier reaches out to feel the bindings with practiced stress-testing. "These are sturdy enough."

His eyes slide from the sleeping man to the Asgardian magician, even if it's nothing more than an illusion. "What are you going to do? Precisely," he amends sternly, as if knowing the initial question was too open-ended and liable to be potentially exploited.

Loki has posed:
    "I'd bite back." With a little yawn, the illusion begins crafting magic in a ball, in his hands, like a growing, slowly orbiting translucent sphere. The bird disappears. The illusion was real: or was it? It may be hard to actually guess which thing is reality, which isn't. Loki splits the little sphere-bubble into three, and then gracefully lobs them at the monitoring equipment in the room. They stick, *pak* like little snowballs with scenes inside. They'll cover the cameras, and will take some of the heavy lifting illusion off of Loki's immediate attention.

    "That would ruin the surprise," Loki teases, with a showy weaving of fingers and cracking the knuckles. As if that was even necessary.

Captain America has posed:
The Captain glowers sharply at the replies he receives. They're delightfully vague, without the delight in Steve's opinion. At the appearance of the spheres, he does take a cautious step away from the gurney. A look between each fritzed-out camera and back to the magician, jaw still set.

"I don't mind surprises, but not when a brother's life is riding on it. Do me a favor, be a straight-talker for once, Loki," he says evenly.

Loki has posed:
    "Fine, suit yourself. Humans and their serious demands. So. You've heard of Miracle Elle, have you not?" Loki asks Steve aside, as a new spell is begun. It glows gold, with streamers of beautiful rainbows intertwined in the streamers of light it emits. No wonder he clogged up the visual equipment, this is bright.

    "She prays to her god, and is given the boon to heal. So, if you want to go ahead and pray to me, we can begin," Loki says, smiling serenely at Steve, and gesturing to Bucky expectantly. "You do know how to pray?"

Captain America has posed:
The regular beep of the machines takes over precendece of sound. Steve doesn't reply, not at first. He curls his fingers into fists at his waist and then forces them to relax with obvious willpower. He straightens in place until he regains that steadfast dignity he's so famous for.

"I've seen you work your magic without a single devotion offered in your name. I don't need to say a word to help you out." A slow shake of his head. "Don't overcomplicate it."

Loki has posed:
    Loki doesn't take offense, he just watches with a thoughtful expression. "Your pride is so much more important than your friend's life? Ooh. Did I find the sin of Captain America? It's all right, it's just between us," Loki answers manipulatively. He bends to stage-whisper to Bucky, "I'm sure he does care about you."

Captain America has posed:
"You - are - wasting - time." Steve bites out each word after he aborts himself in an impulsive half-step towards the Asgardian god. No punching the calm facade from the magician's face. That would go over poorly. He relaxes his fists yet again and blows a sigh through his nose, sounding like a winded bull. "Security's going to figure out something's wrong with those cameras any time now. You want prayers? Fine. I pray you stop the bullshit. Please. Help us."

Loki has posed:
    "Yes, they'd catch you here. Oh nooooo," Loki mocks in deadpan. "Fine, fine. Thor gets the same way," Loki snorts, finally bored. Which can swing his mood wildly either way, and Loki has become very dangerous. He turns his attention to Bucky with an imperious look down his nose.

There could be helping, there could be stabbing. 50-50 chance, maybe.

The gold orb, though, is batted out with one easy twist of hand, and it swirls into a disk, and then entirely envelopes Bucky's head, as if decapitating him!

To Bucky, it will appear as if dreaming, a world of colors in disarray in the huge magenta and black-streaked sky. An instant later the gold lifts away, leaving a Bucky freed of the Sleep.

Winter Soldier has posed:
The problem is....it's not Bucky who fell asleep and lay in the grip of Nightmare. And thus it isn't Bucky who awakens in that bed.

It's the Soldier.

The first signs are the altered cadences in the monitoring equipment, the beeps speeding up, the waveforms on the screens changing from the simple patterns of coma to the more complex shapes of active consciousness. The pale eyes open, fix first on the ceiling, then roll to look at those present. Loki's dismissed as an irrelevance, and that blue stare locks on to Steven. A burst of motion that should have him lunging out of the bed and at the Captain only wrenches him against the bonds holding him to it in a screech of metal.

Captain America has posed:
Steve watches with baited breath as the magic takes on its various useful formations. The metaphysical manipulations are beyond his understanding and while this is uncomfortable to acknowledge, he pushes aside that discomfort. His heart's in his throat.

He sees the machines react to rising consciousness. His cheeks gain color as he sees those eyes open. Loki might as well be invisible. "...Bucky?" he whispers, thoat tight.

And then comes the lunge at him and he stumbles back against the wall, aghast. Realizing what hopes have been dashed, he puts his hand over his mouth and his shoulders shake once. And then again. Glossy-eyed, he stares. This is not his brother.

Loki has posed:
    "Wow. Look at the love," Loki says, charmed. "He really wants to stab you. I recognize the look." Loki narrows his eyes, and gestures subtly at Bucky's head, attempting a mild probe with his mental magic to get a gist of what is going on there, to better mock about it.

"Cute. In a disgusting way. Humans, really; so inelegant at manipulation," Loki sighs, as if reading a book with poor grammar.

Winter Soldier has posed:
It's a mess, inelegant indeed. Humans don't generally have mental magic, and with the exception of a few so gifted....well, the Soldier's not so fortunate. The programming and the mindwipes were as crude as possible. A personality suppressed and eroded, memories scraped away, the architecture of a construct personality imposed and responsive to only a few code phrases.

The Soldier's watching Steve like a tiger watching an antelope. Not fighting the bonds in a mindless fury - no, he's focussed on Steven entirely, even as he tests each wrist and ankle in turn.

Captain America has posed:
Steve knows he can't turn his back on the Soldier, not right now, not even if he wants to look away from that predatory stare, as empty as it is.

"Help him." His voice barely rises above the sound of metal already stressing from the efforts of the Soldier's attempt to free himself and attempt to end him yet again. He drops his hand from his mouth and looks to Loki, for the first time appearing very much desperate.. "Please, help him."

Loki has posed:
Loki steps directly into Steve's path, and lifts two fingers in front of his face. He'll wait for Steve to take him in. "TWO favors, Rogers," Loki says, flat, smile as smooth and manipulatively full of teeth as ever. "Two. From /both/ of you. So, four." Loki flexes the two fingers, blurring them into an illusion of four (bringing his finger count on that hand to six plus a thumb), and then turns towards Bucky.

There's no big show this time, he leans in a little, lifts the fingers at Bucky's face, and snaps them.

Well, the illusion did the snap. Loki was actually casting, and is well out of harm's way of all of it, having moved back behind Bucky's head, and channeled into his cranium. Still, pushing a reset button on Bucky mentally, after examining in there, is not too difficult for the god of mind tricks. He's actually seen such conditioning before more than a few times. Humans and their torture.

The illusion, and Loki, draw away, with an arrogant adjustment of his sleek black and green long coat.

Winter Soldier has posed:
They can see it happen - something shifts behind the frost-blue eyes. The flick of a slide, nearly. The sense of the third presence in the room changes, that air of predatory intensity collapsing into a helpless confusion. That gaze still fixed on the Captain's face, but now it's pleading, bewildered.

"Steve?" he asks, in a voice rusty from days of disuse, even as he looks down at the cuffs holding him to the bed. Back to the Captain....then to Loki. He pauses then, freezing. Who's that?

Captain America has posed:
"Done," replies Steve tightly without a second's hesitation to that outrageous claim of boons owed. He ignores the rise of bile in his throat and remains where he stands, shoulders pressed to the white-washed wall, to watch what magic happens next. His heart's still slamming against his ribs like a trapped bird.

The Captain, hearing his name, can't help but nod at first. Silent, emphatic, his words locked behind gritted teeth. He pries his mouth open after another few seconds. "Hey Buck," he says quietly, lifting a placating hand as he walks towards the man again. "He's a friend -- look at me. It's gonna be okay."

Loki has posed:
    "Or more /respectfully/ known as Loki," Loki asserts when he's called a 'friend', crossing his arms over his chest. His demeanor has shifted back towards a bored one, but he's rejoined locations with his illusion. Not that anyone would know the difference.

"Great. Mmm. Have fun, then. I'll be saving humanity, since you're busy, I /suppose/," Loki says in a barbed tone, yawning, and starting to create a new portal to one side.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He smiles at the Captain, then. Utterly weary - unsurprising, considering the travails of the last while - but genuine. The old warmth in evidence. Then he looks to Loki again, that little stitch of confusion between his brows. "Odinson," he says, after a moment. "Prince of Asgard." Not everything forgotten, it seems. A bemused glance at Steve. "He's your friend?"

Captain America has posed:
"Good luck." At least Steve has the good grace to say that to Loki and his rapidly-appearing portal. He means well enough, given the return of the existential dread beneath the light-headed relief. No wonder he looks a bit discombobulated at Bucky's question, as if he'd forgotten what he just said.

A little flinch in realizing it. But he's not going to take it back. "For now," he confirms, now having reached the side of the gurney. "He woke you up." Credit is given where it's due. "You were in a coma we couldn't fix."

Loki has posed:
"I like him, he knows what's important," Loki says, giving a little bemused, but self-satisfied smirk to Bucky and Steve. And with that, Loki disappears through his portal.

Probably. He could still be there. Trickster god and all.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Buck can't manage a farewell, before Loki's at least apparently gone. But he knows enough of the trickster god to give Steve a dubious look. ".....why did he do that, Steve? T hat's not a guy who does stuff out of the kindness of his heart." By his expression, he knows he's not going to like the answer to his question. No attempts to fight the cuffs. He's so very tired.

Captain America has posed:
Steve, in his infinite wisdom, at least attempts to ascertain whether or not the Trickster god is present. He walks over to where the portal once existed and feels around in the empty air. Then, in a little show of pique, he swats through the immediate once -- for good measure. Anyone standing there will be cuffed and it'll be their own fault for lingering.

"I owe him a favor." The Captain catches himself and turns to face his oldest friend, his expression weary as well. "...four of them." He takes the two apparently owed from Bucky onto himself without second thought.

Winter Soldier has posed:
The look on Buck's face....not disappointment. For a moment, it looks as if he'd scold Steven. Then he thinks the better of it, and closes his eyes for a long moment. "Four favors. I see." He can guess, by the way he's bound, that he's not been behaving well. "Thanks, Steven," His voice is hoarse, but gentle.

Captain America has posed:
"I'm with you 'til the end of the line, Buck." How else to respond but in that old promise made back before all this madness of super-serum and decades of brain-washing. He reaches out and gives the man's shoulder a rough pat-shake. "I didn't like promising the favors either, but I bet I can find a way to twist it so it's...not as bad as it could be." He grimaces regardless.

Winter Soldier has posed:
Winter Soldier gives Steven a patient look. Steven Rogers, the supersoldier equivalent of a Golden Doodle, going to outwit Loki, old in malice and deception. Steve knows the look - he's been the subject of a variation on that theme since 1925. "We'll work it out."

Which is when security does show up in a rush - suddenly the cell's crowded with black armored figures. Buck goes still, flattening down in the bed, as if to offer a smaller target.

Captain America has posed:
The blond just shrugs. No take-backsies, not with an Asgardian magician. Some Golden-Doodles are more clever than appearances suggest. The comes the BANG of the intruding security, weapons cocked and readied, aimed at the bed. Steve's quick to hold up both hands and side-step to the end of the gurney, putting himself fearlessly between guns and Bucky.

"Hold! HOLD!" His bark is nothing to sneeze at, especially at that volume and with that ring like a drawn sword. "He's awake and he's fine. Er, he's normal," the man clarifies. "Quick, your name, your birthdate, your favorite candy, and the first place you kissed a girl." Steve glances over his shoulder to say this, flashing his oldest friend a quick grin. Winter doesn't waste time on romance, after all.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Barnes, James Buchanan. Sergeant. Serial number..".....and then he pauses, grins, rattles off his birthday, adds "Sky Bar, and the Alhambra Theater on 33rd. I was thirteen, and her name was Beatrice." It's amazing how much difference the animating personality can make. It's so clearly Bucky and not the Soldier behind those eyes.

Captain America has posed:
"It wasn't Penny?" The Captain blinks in brief confusion before shrugging and turning back towards security. "It's Barnes. Stand down." He lowers his own hands in return, knowing that social mimicry is indeed a thing to use in tactical negotiations. Lower the hands, sometimes the guns lower too, since no intent to harm is projected. "Stand...down," he emphasizes again, this time more sternly at the men in black.

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Penny was the first girl I got to first base with," Buck asides, quietly, still looking at the armored figures. But they do ease down - it's so visibly not Winter there. The Soldier is no actor, no dissembler.....he looks only exhausted.

Captain America has posed:
He replies over his shoulder, "Right, my mistake." Steve still continues to stand at the end of the bed, shield between the men and Bucky. His next words are for the squad leader.

"Someone go get a doctor. He needs to be looked over. God only knows what happened to him while he was under." A half-turn in place and he gives his friend a small smile. "Then he needs to rest."