7299/Black Bread

Black Bread
Date of Scene:	22 April 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Crimson Dynamo, Winter Soldier

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Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    It's out on the docks over in Gotham, not too far from where she got her skull cracked open. It's a dump outwardly, like any good SHIELD safe house. Inside though, well there are aisles crammed full of everything a girl could want. Dynamo parts, ammo, rifles, grenades, it's the full affair. Past all the gear, past the suits (Crimson's still pulled mostly apart). Well theres a simple little garden in here, though it's still pretty early the shoots have already begun to break ground.

    Beyond all that, is a collection of scavenged connex boxes stacked along the back wall. 8x8, she's welded them together in a neat little box. The interior space has been largely gutted, turned into far more comfortable digs than she ever had in Russia. Inside theres bread baking in the oven, and some distant eighties russkie pop on the speakers.

    So where is the Dynamo in all this? Well she's in the workshop, up to her elbow in the big Dynamo's lifting jet. Cigarette dangling from her lips as she fiddles, chasing an errant ball bearing with her one good hand. Not that she's at ease, mind. She may be in mechanics overalls, but theres still an AK slung over her shoulder. This is America afterall, right?

Winter Soldier has posed:
There's the Soldier....well, there's Barnes, anyway. His dog is trotting at his side, and he's got a little daypack over his back, a plastic sack of groceries in his ordinary hand. The long hair is tucked up under a Cyclones cap, and he's got that olive canvas parka on, over a henley and jeans.

There's a rapping at the doorframe with the gloved metal hand. "Privyet," he says, pitcing his voice to carry. No surprising the lady that well armed - even an alloy arm can't save you from everything, right? The dog wags her tail, hopefully.

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    Galina leans back, peering after Bucky for a few silent moments. "Well fucking get in here, you damned fool. It's not like you need an invitation, though you could have called ahead."Finally plucking her hand from the turbine, before eying the grit on her hand dubiously. "I'd have put on something worth eating with a guest, cleaned the place up a little."

    She lifts her chin, indicating for Bucky to follow before heading for those connex boxes "Let me wash my hands, but please do come in. Make yourself at home, this may not be a house but I try to be a good host when able."Pausing as she elbows the door open to hold it for Bucky to follow. "Whos your friend, good to see you're dating again."And there she goes, sees she's not angry. She wouldn't be dishing out shit if she was angry.

Winter Soldier has posed:
He grins at that, a bright flash of teeth. "Don't worry about it. I hardly qualify as a guest. I'm your semi-official liaison, I come with offerings," He lifts the sack of groceries. "Though it smells like you manage to make proper bread in here." He approves, by his tone.

There's laughter for the gibe. "That's Lili," She's got her service dog vest on, and wags her tail at the sound of her name. "A gift from a friend, you could say." Three guesses which friend. "She's way too good for me, but she sticks with me anyhow." A big gold and black Shepherd, who looks curiously around the connexes set up as rooms to dwell in. "Victory Day's soon, we should celebrate." Says the man who didn't live to see it.

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    Inside it's a little low but not too bad really. Walls covered mostly with bookshelves stuffed with second hand titles, and what little open space there is? Well she was able to get some photographs out it seems, theres a few of the old Winter Guard in decidedly more casual settings. Photos of the Dynamo posing with kids, old folks, front page spreads in cyrillic featuring the Dynamo doing what it did best. Theres even a young Galina, bright and smiling alongside a balding bear of a man (presumably her father) the day of her army academy graduation.

    There are a pair of comfortable second hand couches at least, which she motions to. "Well I'm a Russian, so bribes are always welcome."Slipping into the kitchen to get washed up. "I'm afraid I don't have any dogfood, I imagine she wouldn't object to Venison and a bowl of water?"And so yeah, she's already making connections. You don't just buy Venison in New York, and she doesn't even own a car much less have a license. She's not medically cleared to drive, which is funny right?

Winter Soldier has posed:
"She's good," he says. "Though the bowl of water might be nice, eh, girl?" A glance shared between Soldier and Shepherd, as if he were just any other wounded veteran with his service dog.

He does follow her into the kitchen, to set the bag of bribes down on the counter. Russian tea, strong as it comes. Raspberry jam for sweetening. Irish butter. Cube sugar. Packets of crystallized lemon. And in a little cardboard box, Russian-style teaglasses - glass with the metal base. This particular set has the smiling face of Gagarin embossed on them, with rockets rising in the background. Where did he find those?

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    "Oh-ho, bribes indeed."She offers, giving those glasses a careful study in particular before setting them atop her little tea tray along with well, all the fixins really. "Now I'm getting suspicious, did comrade commisar send you down here to tell ask favors on Uncle Joe's behalf?"Though the wry smirk, belies the sarcasm no matter how flat her delivery is. Sourcing a bowl, filling it with water and offering it over to Bucky.

    "Now sit your ass down and get out of my kitchen, how does fresh black bread and vodka from the old country find you?"Gently tugging her little oven open to peer suspiciously inside, before well metal arms have advantages Bucky has no doubt discovered. Plucking bread pans from the hot oven, thats one of them. "I heard confirmation by the way, from a guy I know who knows a guy. The Titanium man is confirmed dead, they're apparently having a panic attack trying to find a replacement. Army is claiming I deleted all the blueprints when I left, destroyed the old suits. So the Army is sabotaging their own armor program, for the time being anyway."

Winter Soldier has posed:
A question meant as a joke....but it gets a very odd look. He's momentarily unmoored in memory, the blue eyes going blank. And when they come back into focus, he says, softly, as if even now there might be ears to hear, ".....I met him once. Well, not met him. Was shown to him." There's only one possible 'him'....and even the memory seems to have unnerved him. The dog nudges at his leg with her nose, jars him out of a bit of it. "Nah. Figured what you might be missing."

He does sit down, obediently. A whistle for that. "Covering their own asses like a rabbit trying to dig its way away from the fox," he says, on a sigh. "They demanding your extradition yet?"

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    "Publically yes, privately the Army seems happy I'm out of the game as far as they're concerned. The FSB wants me in the worst way, but remember those guys are all mafia these days. They're fixated on their "street cred", and the fact that I got away and tipped their plan over? Killing the Titanium man with a thirty year old suit that was supposedly inferior when new, doesn't make it any easier for them to tolerate."and well she's not too long in coming. Black bread, sweet pickles, a white onion and tumblers full of ice for that milkjug full of cheap vodka. It's hardly high class, but hey it's got it's own comfort food charm.

    Old Joe, reall- well, yeah I guess I shouldn't be surprised really. My Grandfather was an orderly for the doctor that was working on his wife when she died, sent him to a penal battalion. No accident I'm from Norilsk, got hard labor down in the mines after the war. My Grandfather on my mother's side too, threw him into the Georgian campaign for having a degree in economics. Ended up the camp accountant, He was in some artillery battalion during the great war though. Anywho, grandpa said many very unkind things about old Joe."Theres a pause there, as she pours out the vodka and lights up a cigarette finally. Shoulders slumping as she settles down "My instructors at the academy weren't very kind either, though I'm surprised to find Zhukov is thought a Butcher over here in America."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"There's that line about 'we have infantry for that'," he says, as he lets her serve him, as hostess. Someone taught the Soldier drinking etiquette, long ago. "I remember it back when. More the differing approach - remember, we lost a lot fewer guys than you did." He sighs, then lifts the glass to her. "Za vas," he says, simply, and then knocks it back. Not even a flinch. "Yeah, it was the once, happily. Glad I never came to his further attention. Kindof a dim memory as it was." Lili's settled contentedly at his feet.

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    "I met Putin a few times."She counters with the great evil of this age "Like a snake in a human suit, made me very uncomfortable. Beady little ratfuck eyes, went on and on about how I was the model Russian."And a little smirk as she knocks her own back, before refreshing those glasses. "He did not need to know I was banging this Ukrainian chick at the time, but it felt like about the most rebellion I could get away with at the time. This was back when the Winter Guard were all still alive, and all I had to worry about was how much of an asshole the Red Guardian was. Mikhail got a huge kick out of it."

    Her gaze flits up to the photo on the wall for a moment, before she clears her throat and sips her vodka. "You'd have liked him, before they got in his head. Man was like my older brother, now though?"And a huff. "I was thinking about seeing if Magneto wanted to do something about it, but I figure he'd kill me before I get a word out anyway. Won't understand what it was like over there, the maze of mindfuckery."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Maybe it's the vodka. Maybe it's embarrassment. But whatever the cause, color floods into his face...and while he's a hair darker than Steve's Irish fairness, he's still pale enough that it stands out like a banner on a snowfield.

Some of which he can hide in the process of lighting his own cigarette - she's lit up, so he can, too. A grunt at that. "I dunno what he's been through. But considering how much metal I have in me, yeah, I won't get near him until I gotta." He leans back, exhales meditatively. Does it do him any good, beyond the psychological? That metabolism spurns nicotine like any other drug. "Putin looks like he's a little bitch, compared to Josef."

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    "They're both bitches, unfortunately I wasn't consulted."Theres a smirk there as she reclines "Hey before I got all chewed up in Chechnya, I was a pretty girl in the most famous hero team in Russia. I made the most of it, I mean I went Academy to Army direct. It's not like I'd had plenty of opportunities, hell I remember realizing I didn't own any civilian clothes."Theres a little shrug there at that.

    "But then Syria and Chechnya, you get shot in the head and suddenly you're not such a hot item. Not like I needed the distraction, I was without a budget by then. So my paychecks were keeping the Dynamo up, was living on charity bread and stolen tap water."

Winter Soldier has posed:
He nods at that, quietly, a faint smile curling the corner of his lip. A parallel story - Sergeant Barnes the lady-killer become an empty-eyed piece of equipment in a Soviet storage closet. The dog settles her head on his leg, sighs contentedly as he ruffles her ears. "I was on ice for a few years, then. Lost in the shuffle as the Union fell apart."

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    "Well the Red Room was always screwy, secrets about secrets. I was under relatively strict orders not to ask about it, or go anywhere near it. I -think- Thats the program the Darkstar clone came out of, but I never asked her."Theres another shrug there as she snags a pickle for noshing. "I know there were other programs though, I'd heard about the Black and the Blue Room by the time I was in the VDV. Black Room churned out Sputnik apparently, Blue room is supposedly where they talked to the Duchess but who knows."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"Any number of rival programs. Lots of infighting and wrangling and backstabbing," he says, stroking the dog's silky fur with that absented air. "I know very little beyond my corner of the Red Room - no one talked to me directly save to give me orders. I overheard some, but not much. I wasn't revived again until about five years after the Union collapsed." Pickle and bread for him, savored more for the taste than a ward against alcohol.

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    "There were plenty of freak programs for sure, I mean I had to fight the Unicorn for fuck's sake. Man looked like he had a dick growing out of his forehead that shot lazer beams, no joke there either go pull the file if you think I'm teasin. You should have seen half the shit they were doing in the Dynamo program in the eighties, mass produced units for lab grown pilot brains embedded in the chest? I mean you name it, was even a project to make Venko derived explosives. Like little nuclear weapons, to carried by special Dynamos and thats just the tip of that iceberg."And another pull of Vodka. "Not that America is innocent of playing fast and loose with wild ideas, goodness knows Stark has no shortage he was involved in once upon a time."

Winter Soldier has posed:
Winter Soldier laughs at that. "You make me glad I don't remember a lot of it." He shakes his head. "Yeah. Stark's crazy as a sack of weasels.....if he'd designed the arm, I don't know what I'd be able to do with it."

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    "Stark made anti-tank missile took my arm, killed the three men I was with. Got dragged out of my armor, this eye of mine? That was an execution attempt, real friendly. Yet Stark says he's quitting the arms industry, so he's just innocent now and all that shit his company has been up to for -years-? Yeah he's innocent. I mean Russia never played nice, but that was for national interests. He was selling in conflict zones for a buck, as if he needed more."And well, theres the beef out in the open. "I have serious problems with people who think they can just do whatever they want, just because they're rich. Now he has a suit and everyone acts like he is -so- special, first Dynamo was operational in the fifties. Titanium man in the 60s, The Chinese had one under Mao. Tony Stark does it though, oooh everyone is so amazed."

    Theres a pause there, as she chains up her smoke. "His super ability is not bravery, it is not suit. It's money, he uses suit like fancy car. Think of all that money in some place like gotham, where police do not make enough money to pay rent and grocieries at same time."

Winter Soldier has posed:
"That's America," he says, simply. "I won't even try to defend that, because it's our national flaw. Capitalism ends up being about money, whatever its benefits. It is. There are idealists here, like my buddy Steve, but as we say....money talks. Stark is trying to outrun his past and his guilty conscience. That's all. No, he's not a hero the way you are or Steve is."

Crimson Dynamo has posed:
    "Bullshit, you're a hero Bucky. Not a soul on this earth could have said a word if you'd retired to someplace quiet and lived easy, you've had it way worse than I have. You're in this for ideals, same as Steve just on a different frequency. Me though, I'm in it for the violence."And a puff of that cigarette as she rolls foreward. "I like it, alot. I'm in it for the violence, thats all I've got. I got no other marketable skills, and I'm too ugly to settle down these days. I'm in this to get a good warrior's death, and a few more battle stars for the mantle. Keep it going long enough for there to be somone to replace me, take the watch."

    Theres a wry little smirk there as she sips her vodka. "I spent too long in the thick of it, too many fights I was kept on my feet with anger and pain killers. I can't let those ratfucks the FSB take the mantle, so now I gotta sell the whole thing all over in America."Another pull, before she finally goes in for that black bread. "You fucks are gonna have to pull my corpse from the wreckage, because I will die in no bed. Thats not heroism, thats just stubborn vanity. Don't you dare dress it up as anything but."