The sound of both his device and television starting up unexpectedly caused Bucky to wake up in an abrupt start. Instinctively, he grabbed the handgun that was holstered on the side of his nightstand and pointed it at his door. Old habits often died hard, and his paranoia and watchfulness often crept back into his system even after being away from home for so long. The triggers might have been gone, but the training wasn’t. As his breathing steadied, Bucky lowered the gun and picked up his device only to see what looked like group of people waking up on an island. At first he thought it was a normal Atlantis episode but then he caught the glimpse of a familiar form. Steve.
Still thinking this was Atlantis being Atlantis, and having absolutely no frame of reference for the original source material this had been inspired after, Bucky watched for a few minutes. It was then that he saw others he knew. So many people from home were there along with a few others he knew. It was the speech given followed by the horn that made him start to believe that this was different than the usual Atlantis happenings. For one, they didn’t generally see them broadcast live on their devices.
When the bears came and people were running and fighting, Bucky’s lips pressed into a firm line, and his eyes narrowed. It was then that he checked the network to find that others were seeing the same broadcast, and it involved something known as the Hunger Games. It only took a quick online search to discover exactly what that meant.
He was already on his way over to the base when the call came in that there would be meetings and assignments handed out later that morning. All the while, the coverage was being shown on every single television in Atlantis and continued to come through on his device no matter what else he was doing. It was impossible to turn off, and that meant it was impossible to not see what was happening. To Steve. To Wanda and Alicia. Barton and Natasha. Rhodes and Peggy. His mind was preoccupied and distracted throughout the entirety of his morning briefings.
Later that afternoon, he didn’t go home but decided to use his time sparring before preparing to head out in the morning. He didn’t ask anyone along. The one person he would have asked was in the arena. No matter how many powered individuals there were in Atlantis, he only trust himself with a very small number of people to spar with when he was in such a dangerous mood. Steve could take it if started to go too far. Bucky simply knew that in order to be an effective leader and make sure that he stayed focused while others no doubt were worried with emotions high, he was going to have to let out some of the anger and frustrations that had been building up since he realized what the broadcast really meant.
Instead of the training gym at the base, Bucky headed for the Danger Room instead. He had a simulation in mind that involved a replica - or as close as he could manage - to the island in the arena. He didn’t know all of the dangers they might encounter, but some of those he would create himself. He had to expel the emotion that was starting to build up in order to double down and compartmentalize like the good soldier he was. James Barnes was a far cry from the Winter Soldier that was trained to carry out his missions without hesitation, emotion, or remorse, but he still felt some of his old habits starting to leak into who’d he become over the last two and a half years. He might need that to make sure everyone on the list in his mind was brought back safely whether that was somehow managing to find them himself or interrogating any COS agents he encountered along the way.
Once the simulation was nearly loaded and ready to begin, Bucky flexed the fingers of his metal arm and prepared to get to work.
When Lauren figured out they were basically watching the romanticized version of hell, she tried to turn it off but found quickly that she couldn't. It took her a few minutes to go through looking at all the people in the arena. Maybe it was weird, but when she saw Clint was in there, it felt like watching a brother leave all over again. She knew it wasn't like he'd decided to wake up and go all hunger games for the fun of it, but it felt like a sibling was gone. The time they'd all spent being siblings, well, it made an impression.
She headed to the base thinking a good work out, and a good simulation would be the best idea, what she wasn't expecting was to open the door and find a really angry looking Bucky.
"Woah! Sorry, I just, I didn't see the," she pointed to the door, she hadn't seen the in use sign, but at this point, she might have just missed it. "I'll go," she added looking at the start of his simulation but blinking away. She wasn't going to ask if he was okay.
Bucky was verifying the weapons and tools he would have in the simulation when he heard footsteps enter the room. He looked up with a bit of surprise to see a young girl standing there. No doubt his expression remained cold and neutral, but at her surprise at finding him, he consciously shifted it to what was hopefully a little more welcoming.
“No, it’s alright,” he said. If she was here then she likely was looking for a way to unleash just as much as he was. The Danger Room was good for that. It was able to take a lot more damage than the normal facilities in the general training rooms.
“Do you want to stay?” He asked her. The simulation was finishing up, and he could tweak a couple of changes to take advantage of her abilities. Bucky didn’t know Lauren well, but he’d seen her during the Charlie training sessions. Her mutant abilities were impressive, and the amount of control she had was worth noting too. “I didn’t feel comfortable sparring with someone hand-to-hand, so I came here instead.”
Lauren waited a beat watching him, she knew that everyone was on edge, hell, his best friend and a lot of his other friends were in the stupid games, Lauren had people in there but she knew it wasn’t as many as other people had there, basically having their lives reduced to a death sentence for entertainment.
“If you don’t mind,” she finally said a little slowly. “But I can come back later, or,” she pointed back indicating she could just go or find something else to do. She smiled softly at his comment. “Yeah, I know what you mean.” She had finally figured out how to use her power to send flying discs that could pretty much cut things apart and it was dangerous.
“I don’t mind,” Bucky said with a shake of his head. There might have been some people he would have rather not seen since he didn’t want to do a lot of talking, but if she wanted to train and release some energy then he could help with that. He knew that she had a mutant ability, and they’d trained as a group with the rest of the Charlie teams, but he’d never interacted with Lauren one-on-one during any training sessions since she was assigned to Valkyrie instead of his teams.
At the press of a button, the scene appeared around them. Mirroring the arena, there was an island with trees just off the beach and beyond that an area of cliffs and caves. They didn’t have a lot of other information other than what they’d seen on their screens for the last day, so it was hard to know the specific threats those in the arena might be facing. He had no idea if he or any of the teams would ever step foot on the island, but it couldn’t hurt to be prepared.
They stood on the beach, and Bucky had minimal weapons with him - a couple knives and a handgun that was holstered at his side for the moment. Anything that Lauren normally worked with, if anything, she would have on her too. Once everything seemed to be fully loaded, he glanced over to her. “We could start down towards the caves since it looks like that’s where a lot of them were heading. I’ve set the threat specifics to random, so we could see a mix of obstacles as we go.”
Lauren wasn’t sure what to expect, the basic outline of the place people seemed to be stuck was not what she was expected and she turned her head to look over at Bucky with a raised eyebrow but went with it all the same.
Lauren simply had herself, she didn’t have any weapons, just comfortable shoes and clothing. A hair tie was on her wrist and she carefully pulled her hair back into a tight ponytail.
“Caves seem like a good start,” she agreed. She kept a few feet between herself and Bucky, not because she didn’t trust him but because she felt like it gave them a chance to see more. “Have you read The Hunger Games?” She asked softly.
“No, I’d never heard of it until this morning,” he replied. It wasn’t one of the books or movies he’d been exposed to during his time in playing catch up. “I researched a little after finding out what the arena was modeled after, but I think that was enough to get the gist.” He didn’t know the full story, of course, but he had a hard time imagining finding enjoyment in reading about children killing each other. It sounded more like something he would have been exposed to - or taken part in - with HYDRA. “Are you familiar with it?”
They began walking through the woods, and Bucky was on high alert. Sometimes he came to the Danger Room in order to fight against known assailants. Ones that he was familiar with or had previous experience fighting. This time he didn’t know what was coming. He had the feeling that something or someone might have been lurking in the shadows to their left, but so far he didn’t hear or see any movement. Instead, he kept his eyes peeled and continued walking.
“Katniss and her troubles, yeah.” Lauren wasn’t proud of it, it felt wrong now that it was real and not a distant dystopian look at the world. “I read them, saw the movies, hated the last book…” that didn’t help though and she knew it. “I think people were already looking for hope and brave people in a world that was growing smaller but I read them before anyone knew I was a mutant and hiding it was just the safe thing to do.” She didn’t add all the other stuff that came with it.
“I’m really glad no one from their world is here,” she muttered as she felt tension around them but she couldn’t exactly pinpoint what it was. “Hang on.” She stopped looking around. She wasn’t sure what it was but she felt a shift in the air. “Something doesn’t feel right.”
Bucky couldn’t remember which one was Katniss, but the specifics didn’t really matter in this situation. “I only read a brief synopsis of the general idea,” he said as they walked. “What type of--” He was about to ask what sort of threats the fighters had come across in their arenas since that might have given them an idea of what to expect, but he noticed the shift when she did and paused.
His good hand went to the gun holstered at his side, and Bucky’s eyes surveyed the area. Whatever he thought he might have noticed before had moved positions and instead of to the left, his instincts told him to check behind them. As he did, a two pairs of yellow eyes flashed in the sunlight and came running towards them. The creatures were dog-like but much larger and with teeth like a sabre-tooth.
The gun came out immediately and he began shooting. The creatures jumped up in the air and into the trees, somehow their large bodies managing not to fall straight back to the ground. Once they were right on top of them, the creatures leaped to the ground, and Bucky shot at them with one hand and reached out to grab Lauren out of the way with the other before it was too late.
Lauren’s hands were out and she sent one air saw knocking one creature down when it jumped into the tree.
This was insane, was all Lauren could think about, she had her hands up and was ready to use them as shield when Bucky grabbed her, it made her shield move a little awkwardly but she still managed to stop the creature from landing on her. She stumbled a little as she caught her footing and looked between the creatures, all down on the ground and Bucky.
Lauren understood that what she could do wasn’t something everyone knew about and just nodded her thanks to Bucky. “Those were pretty much straight out of the book,” Lauren frowned. “I think.” She really hadn’t read them in a while and they were never her favorite so she didn’t get all into them like a lot of her friends and others did.
He probably shouldn’t have been surprised as Lauren’s quick reflexes, but he made a note of how quickly she reacted and put up the shield. The beasts were blocked for the time being, but he could hear them growling and stalking them from the other side. They didn’t seem to be invulnerable from the bullets he’d fired at them, but he needed one good shot at both.
“On my count, I want you to lower the shield and let them run towards us,” he said and stepped forward. “After I fire two shots, if they’re still headed here, make sure it’s back up.” He was confident he could make the shots if he had the window, but there was always a possibility that the room would throw in another curve ball.
Lauren was focusing she blinked as she heard him speak. Nodding she glanced at him. “Okay,” she said keeping her focus on the shield. “And if the bullets don’t work I can try saw them down,” she wasn’t completely sure that would make sense but it made sense but she wasn’t focusing on his words.
She waited as heard him counting she lowered the shield she watched it carefully ready to put the shield back up but paused before that sending a saw at one that was coming from another side.
The shield lowered, and as soon as the creatures were in his line of sight, he fired a shot and hit his mark directly between its eyes. He was aware of Lauren next to him and the move she made to take out another that came from the side, but he shifted his gun just enough and fired off one more shot. He thought he’d hit his mark again, but she had the shield up quickly after the second shot was fired.
He lowered his weapon and looked at Lauren. “Do you hear anything?” He asked her, hoping to confirm that they were dead. After a few moments with still nothing, he gave her a nod. “Nice shot to the one coming in from the side.”
Lauren shook her head, she didn’t hear breathing sounds or anything that indicated any of them were going to come at them again. She really didn’t like the idea of those things and hoped the people in the arena weren’t facing them. Lowering the shield Lauren stayed ready just in case she needed to toss it back up again. “Thanks,” she smiled softly. “Good shooting.” She looked around.
“Keep exploring?” She asked, there was part of her that didn’t really want to see what else was out there but she also did want to see it all at the same time.
“Keep exploring,” he said with a nod and instead of holstering his gun, he kept it in his hand ready to shoot if someone or something else came their way quickly. Their teams worked jointly together, but since he wasn’t directly involved with her training, Bucky didn’t remember seeing her use her ability so offensively until now. He’d have to keep that in mind for the future whether inside the Danger Room or at a time when they were on a true mission.
“I think I hear running water down this way,” he said, motioning towards her left. “We may find something along there.” Even if the simulation wasn’t a true replica of the arena, he hoped it might give them a taste of what they’d find if and when the arena was found and teams were needed to find those that were missing. Because of so many familiar names on that list, Bucky’s name would be at the top of the list of those volunteering to go after them.
Nodding she reached back making sure her hair was pulled tight and would stay out of her way. As they headed towards the running water she kept herself focusing on what was around them. She didn’t know what to expect but she was hoping whatever they did here it would help those actually trapped.