Bucky Barnes (soldierofwinter) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2014-09-17 00:13:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, bucky barnes / winter soldier (616), rikki barnes / nomad (616) |
Who: Bucky (616) & Rikki Barnes
When: 9/17, night!
Where: Brooklyn
What: Rikki gets caught being somewhere she was told not to be. Bucky kinda does a dad thing.
Rating: Bucky probably had sailor mouth, sky still blue, bears still poop in the woods, etc.
After Anya had followed her out Rikki had been more mindful of slipping out of the apartment. Worrying Anya meant questions, questions that Rikki wasn’t necessarily ready to answer or even fully admit to herself. They were answers Anya wouldn’t want and Rikki would have no choice but to tell them to her. The longer she could push that off the longer Rikki could at least pretend that everything was all right, that the one problems they had were what to do with the information they were slowly getting back from their questionably successful trip to the Chemist and what that could all mean in the grand scheme of strange drugs showing up on the streets of New York. But almost as soon as Rikki had closed her eyes if felt like the nightmares sunk in tonight. That buzz of light as Onslaught took over everything, the bodies of the people she cared for her to watch and not able to do anything about. You fought me off once. I know you can’t do it again. I’m waiting for it. he whispered through her mind as Rikki was helpless to strike out, helpless to contain the power that had no place in this world, or any world. This was worse than the nightmares of dying. This was trapped in place, watching as her body transformed and the world was devastated. This is your destiny. You’re nothing but what I’ve created. There is no Rebecca Barnes, there is only us, only me. Onslaught. The cold chill ran over her as she woke up and took stock. She needed to get out and so Rikki went through the ritual of it all, with the added note to check and see if Anya was peacefully sleeping. Anya’s door carefully closed after the peek inside, Rikki’s feet took her where they always did. It was a dangerous habit, even with them back in the city. Rikki swore the neighboring roof tops should have little grooves from where she would perch to get her vantage over the empty home. Even knowing they were in the city, it had stayed silent. Bucky and Natasha weren’t here. Of course they wouldn’t come back, Rikki knew that and tonight was no different. Still, she went through the motions of looking for any changes. Even if they weren't going to come back, she could at least take note of anyone who thought they would. Ever since the new memories, Bucky had been on edge. More on edge. The chat with Fury had gone about as well as those things ever did. Natasha was ever-present and helpful as she could be, but it didn’t quell his nerves. The future had pieces in place right now. They were all sitting on a damn timebomb with events back home, and the only way he could think to handle it was to not. Essentially. If he didn’t say anything, there wouldn’t be anything to deal with for as long as they could buy that extra time. It didn’t change anything short of keeping thing quiet in the interim. He scaled the fire escape on the building two down from the abandoned shell of an apartment he and Natasha had once lived. Every so often, he would steal down to make sure no one was poking around. Usually it was uneventful, but tonight seemed to come with company. The crouched, small figure just ahead on the rooftop seemed to be peering down at the apartment in question, but he didn’t draw any weapon as he walked towards her. He stopped, several steps back, waiting for her to turn. Even with his quiet steps, Rikki had the skill to know she was being watched. He was counting on that right now. Paranoia was one of Rikki’s defining character traits. Honing the skill of knowing when she was followed was one of the first tricks she had really learned under Steve as his Bucky. Part of it had come from before, knowing where people were on the stage outside of just her own role. But nowadays it was for an entirely different purpose. It usually hit her as a small lurch in her stomach, just the unsettled feeling of knowing someone was there when they shouldn’t be. Unless there were super powers involved Rikki knew better than to go against her gut. In one smooth movement she straighted up, turned around, and had a disc in hand ready to throw and almost about to leave her hand when she locked on who it was and processed what that meant. Rikki froze for a second, just staring at him before letting some of the tension bleed out of her shoulders. Sure she knew he was back, him and Natasha had both come to help with the aftermath of what had gone down with the Chemist. But even then she hadn’t seen either of them since, hadn’t been in contact, didn’t even know if they had left yet again for some other reason. If he was back though that meant there was a reason. The disc stayed in hand as she watched Bucky carefully. “There isn’t anyone here. No one I’ve seen.” she said as she motioned slightly behind her. “Should there be?” His arms were folded across this chest, less defensively, more thoughtfully. There were people he could expect to find out here, but Rikki wasn’t one of them. “Shouldn’t be anyone trying for a fight if they’re smart. But…” Bucky walked in closer. “Shouldn’t be anyone up here keeping watch, either,” he finished, eyes narrowed behind the upgraded red lenses of his domino mask. A glance down towards the street was taken. No movement was enough to convince him he could spare a chat, but he nodded for her to crouch back down. It wouldn’t help his former neighbors to spot two silhouettes breaking the slopes and angles of what should be barren rooftops. Bucky himself snagged a seat on an interior ledge, facing street-side. “What’re you doing up here, Rikki?” They had told her to keep away. That was one of the only things they had told her before they had dropped off the grid for months. Watch your back, don’t go back. That was really all there had been. And logically Rikki should have followed that rule. But instead she didn’t and when Bucky called her out on it she met him back, not breaking eye contact but the slight twitch in her jaw as she knew that she had done something she wasn’t supposed to. Whatever they had left for, it had been big and she had put herself at more of a risk by coming here again and again. Maybe Natasha had been a little right, but maybe they could have told her more too. But instead of fighting it, going immediately into a lecture which would do neither of them any good and likely just draw attention they didn’t want Bucky just dropped down to sit. He wasn’t rushing her off, instead he just flat out asked why she was here. It didn’t sound like an accusation, though he probably was annoyed that she was here. The same way Steve would get when she rushed into something he had told her not to do. Rikki stowed the disc away, taking a seat next to him automatically. She was quiet for a long moment, just looking out at the street and enjoying that he was here again before she spoke. “I don’t know.” she finally said, softly as if talking was almost an afterthought. “I just... It’s where I go.” It often surprised Bucky how easy it was to know where someone was coming from. Or maybe he just kept a habit of sticking by the people he understood. Either way, his mouth twitched downward into a semi-frown at Rikki’s response. “This place. Of all places,” Bucky expanded. It wasn’t posed as a question or for Rikki to concede to any higher brand of logic -- he wasn’t exactly possessed of such a thing himself half the time. It was just a statement of fact. She came to an empty house that she’d been told to stay away from. Because if you revisited somewhere enough, maybe it would eventually cough up something worthwhile. Bucky remembered wandering back to camp Lehigh for similar reasons. It didn’t have any answers, but hope was a funny thing like that. “If you needed to talk, you got my number,” he added, after a pause. It sounded lame outloud. Truth was that he’d never really had anyone who tied him to a place in the same way Rikki did. He had to up and go for missions, and that meant leaving everyone in NY behind. In another world, that wasn’t a problem. Here, though… someone was always waiting back. And he was crap at calling to check in. He knew that much. “I didn-You were busy.” she stumbled quickly into other words. Because it was hard to say that she didn’t need him around when she was coming to stalk their house while they were gone. But they had more important things to do, Rikki knew that better than most. And she was not going to bother them because of bad dreams keeping her up at night. That’s all they were, just dreams. They had to be. On top of all their other problems, problems the Young Allies had created for themselves sure, this just didn’t measure up to much. Not enough to bother them. Gripping onto the ledge, Rikki looked up towards the stars that were mostly blinded out by lights. “And you were there when it mattered anyway.” she breathed out, the strange blend of gratefulness and anger over that night melting slightly at the omission. Natasha was pissed at her, there was no denying that. She probably thought like Steve did now, that Rikki should hang up her shield and just be a normal kid. But she couldn’t, it wasn’t in Rikki to give this life up. Her head dropped to look back at Bucky for a moment and she moved before she even really thought about it. If she had maybe wrapping her arms round the Winter Soldier tight unexpectedly wasn’t the smartest course of action. But she did it anyway, holding tight as her eyes squeezed shut. “Thank you.” The knee-jerk reaction was to raise his arms at the unexpected lunge towards him, until Bucky realized that Rikki wasn’t blocking some unseen attack. His expression softened, and before too much time lapsed, he lowered his human arm around her. Whatever was going on, he’d have to be completely inhuman to up and run now. And, really, he’d been doing plenty running, even if it hadn’t been from her specifically. “You’re killing me tonight. Not sure popping up every third month’s enough to earn that thanks, but --” He didn’t push her back. It was just the strangest feeling to have known he’d accepted a life alone on the ‘wall’ where Fury’s death had left it unmonitored -- and that was really only days ago. Now, here, he was someone’s anchor. Feet tacked firmly to solid ground. Most days he was furthest thing from alone. “I’m not busy right now. How many times have you been back here?” While Rikki had not exactly expected him to just push her away, the acceptance of it was sort of a shock. Maybe she should have known better. They had been watching over her in their own way since she had gotten here and even Rikki was not so stubborn that she wouldn’t admit that. Still when his arm rested on her shoulders she could feel her muscles unknit, relaxing as she held on. Bucky was solid, real, and a safe harbour that she could look to even if he had never meant to be that. Rikki liked to tell herself that she was fine on her own. People were held at a distance, even those she cared about dearly she rarely told the whole truth to. Being on her own for so long, she tried to be strong, to be the leader she wanted to be but knew that she would never actually have the chance to be because she was destined to die young. But there were moments when it just felt nice to have someone who could protect her, if it came to that. It was nice to feel that little bit of home, even if Bucky’s face was far less weathered than the one that had tucked her in at night as a little girl. There were moments where even with all that was different about them it was hard for Rikki to tell the difference between her grandfather and this man right here. “At least once a week.” she admitted, resting her cheek against the rough texture of his uniform. “There hasn’t been anyone regularly watching it in a few weeks now.” Bucky blew out a sigh, taking a side glance at Rikki and realizing she’d settled in. If there was a picture of irony, he could swear it was the Winter Soldier decked out in his full uniform -- concealed weapons and all -- sitting on a rooftop and one-armed hugging a teenager. It wasn’t like anyone had ever really done this for him decades ago when he was Rikki’s age, but Steve usually talked him down. Steve always had that gentler nature. People knew the soldier he was, but friends could vouch that he was a moral compass and readily-given support whenever you stumbled. Truth was, their Steve -- the one who’d guided Rikki and Bucky himself -- wasn’t here. It was just the two of them looking out on the Brooklyn skyline. “Could’ve told me sooner. Save me from making the trip down here,” Bucky replied. He managed a smirk. “Listen, I’m not mad at you. But I’m pretty sure saying to keep away from here was part of a conversation we had, and coming here every week’s about as opposite as it gets.” The seconds ticked by and Bucky didn’t move to pull away. Her arms relaxed down and Rikki settled into just leaning against him. In another life, another world, they’d be on the couch and watching some stupid movie or her listening to old stories as grandma corrected him on what actually happened. But instead they were here, on a roof and talking about how she had no ability to follow orders. “Because you always do what people tell you to do.” Rikki snorted slightly as she watched the lights glitter. It wasn’t really all that funny and there was still that bit of anger that burned in the pit of her stomach. But stronger than that was the loneliness that tugged at the back of her mind, worrying that they were gone and she was going to be alone again. “You wouldn’t tell me anything.” the humor left her voice and a small frown found its way in its place. “Not even what I was supposed to be looking out for. I had to at least try and figure out what you had put me up against. I couldn’t just not know.” “I’m 89. I’m allowed to do stupid crap and get yelled at for it after.” Bucky shrugged, favoring his bionic arm so that Rikki wouldn’t end up with a facefull of bulletproof jacket. “And Natasha makes sure I do. Like I said: not mad. Nothing happened to you, so no use dragging it through the mud.” He stared ahead at a dimly-lit window. Someone inside was watching TV, but only the variations in light and color gave it away. “We didn’t have an answer for who and where when we left. Just knew that the Russian mob was pissed off and someone with a lot more pull was gunning for us. Turns out just about everyone’s tied into Hydra. We left, took the fight with us. Anyone poking around in there?” He nodded at the vacated building. Rikki wanted answers, and he couldn’t find a good reason to not give some right now. “They weren’t gonna find anything anyway.” Rikki made a soft noise at Natasha’s name. It was more an acknowledgement of her place than anything. When it came to the Black Widow Rikki was pretty certain that she had destroyed all the good will she had somehow built up before. The fact that Bucky was actually talking to her was promising, but Bucky wasn’t Natasha. She had left as soon as there was nothing else to do, no times for thanks or hellos. And maybe Rikki had been too stubborn to reach out with them before she had. “Yeah, well, I know what I’m doing.” she muttered under her breath. Not that he wouldn’t hear her, that wasn’t the point. If, well, Rikki Barnes never seemed to live all that long when it came down to it. There was no 89 in her future. Eighteen was unfathomable enough and somehow she had made it there. She tilted her head up, enough to look up at him from the corner of her eye. “So... how long are you back for then?” Rikki’s retort earned an arched brow, but Bucky figured it was about right. You couldn’t tell a Barnes to sit down, shut up, and don’t wander. Those commands never worked, and half the time the fetched exactly the opposite reaction. If there was a dollar for every time Steve told him to stay put, and he didn’t… “Should be around until we hear noise from a few Hydra pals we made. Way things’re going, who knows when that’ll be. So… guess the short answer is that I don’t know, but no time sooner. Probably not, anyway,” Bucky answered. Besides, there was another Winter Soldier living local now, and there was obligation there. New York was really the only place to be until he was sure the other Bucky was making some progress. “Why? Got plans?” Shrugging slightly, Rikki pondered over what to tell him. There wasn’t much he didn’t already know at this point. And so far at least Bucky had gone out of his way not to order her off too much, the issues with HYDRA being the exception. Still Natasha hadn’t been happy, and seemed that she wanted them to back off and hand over their work to adults that weren’t invested in this problem anyway. The Avengers were busy with big problems like people with new powers. Some strange drug on the streets didn’t really factor in. “Not ones Widow would like.” Rikki said simply, frowning at the thought. She had, really Rikki wasn’t even sure what she thought anymore. Natasha had been the one to give her the Nomad uniform, had been the one always looking out for her. The fact that she might have disappointed her stung. But it wasn’t enough to stop Rikki from what she was doing. “She’ll ease up. Give it time.” After all, if Natasha could forgive him for all the stupid crap he’d pulled over the years, a little tough love for Rikki wouldn’t go on forever. Few realized that Natasha was just as much heart as she was business. It was just hidden under layers, not that anyone thought they could take advantage of her. “If you’re not plannin’ on watching this place all night, might as well come with me. There’s a place down by the docks that usually has something going on. ‘Sides, sitting still around here for long isn’t the best idea for either of us.” “Really?” Rikki almost immediately perked up, the excitement at being invited along impossible to mask in her voice before her cheeks went red and she looked away immediately as she scrambled up to her feet. It was late but she had already gone through patrol and it was not like she was going to be getting any sleep tonight. “I mean. I don’t have anything else tonight. So I could.” Rikki reached out her hand to him, not that he needed it but the feeling was the same. “Maybe I’ll even let you know what we’re up to.” |