milliways_bar | (no subject)

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"Go. Go! Take this journal and write down everything you can remember. It will help, I promise you."

"Princess--"

"Do not argue. Find somewhere quiet, where you won't be bothered."

"The kids aren't a bother."

"They are also not quiet."

* * * * * * *

It's been a long time since he's been here, enough that if pressed he couldn't actually say how long. He hadn't exactly meant to come, either, but he'd been thinking about finding somewhere out of the way when he walked out of Shuri's lab, and there's no question that Milliways fits that description better than anywhere else.

About ten minutes later, Bucky Barnes is settled in at one of the quieter booths in the back, the journal open in front of him. (A close observer might notice that each page is subtly embossed with the logo of the Wakandan Design Group.)

He's holding a pen in his right hand and tapping it against the blank page. From time to time he sets down the pen and picks up the cup of coffee waiting beside him instead. A swallow or two later, he repeats the process, swapping cup for pen.

His left hand is immaterial to the whole process, as it's entirely absent. A series of gauze bandages are barely visible under the collar of his shirt, and his left sleeve is neatly pinned shut over where his arm used to be.

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"I wasn't trying to get into war. I just wanna help people. And the Avengers have way more resources." He can't be like Iron Man all by himself.

One corner of his mouth pulls up in a smile.

"Steve was right. You've got heart."

"He told me that after he dropped a jetway on me before he ran away - presumably to help you. Did you know jetways are heavy?"

"Sure."

He likes this kid.

"That was the point. To keep you busy."

He makes a face, sort of a smirk. "Yeah, I figured that part out." He's pretty smart. "Of course, I'm still not entirely sure what the whole thing was about."

The smile fades.

"Do you want to know?"

It's a serious question.

"Yeah, I actually do. I only got the few points Mr. Stark told me."

It takes a conscious effort not to roll his left shoulder, looking for the weight that's no longer there.

"What'd he tell you?"

"Not much. Just that Captain America was wrong, and he needed my help." Mr. Stark needed his help, not Steve.

Bucky lets out a long, long sigh.

"Sounds like him." He takes a big swallow of coffee while he thinks about how to say what he needs to say.

"Steve wasn't wrong." Might as well start there. "But Tony thought he was."

He narrows his eyes a little. "This was about the Sokovia Accords, right?" Or partly. They study that in school now when they get to 'recent' history.

"Part of it. They're both right about one thing - it's not okay for innocent people to be collateral damage. Where they disagree is about what to do about it."

He keeps his tone steady.

"If you haven't figured it out already, I agree with Steve. People aren't weapons. Treating them that way isn't a good idea. But I get where Stark was coming from."

Obviously Peter wasn't given all of the information - partly because there wasn't time, and partly because Mr. Stark wanted him on his side.

"I need way more information before I can even think about choosing a side or giving any sort of opinion on the whole situation." If he could get his hands on Avengers documents, he would go to town.

"That's fair," he agrees. "That's smart."

"But for the record, for the rest of it - it wasn't me in Vienna. I didn't do it. Stark didn't know that at the time, but it wasn't me."

Whether or not the kid believes him is another story.

He's quiet a moment, thinking back on things. "Oh! The bombing at the UN meeting? Yeah - it made the news that it was some guy wearing your face. That's messed up."

"Yes," he agrees, taking another sip of coffee. "It was."

"We were on our way to try to stop him, at the airport. That's why we had to go."

He shrugs.

"This all sounds really super complicated. Why did someone bomb the UN meeting anyway?"

"Aside from being a murderous, vengeful asshole, you mean?"

It should sound more bitter than it does, but he only sounds weary.

"To find me."

He nods. Yeah, he's seen that one before - in movies, if not in life.

"What makes you so important to this guy?"

"I'm the Winter Soldier."

Bucky slants a look at him.

"Do -- er. How much do you know about me, anyway?"

"Not much, honestly," he says. "Bucky, metal arm, super soldier, thought dead for about as long as Cap..." That's pretty much it.

He really, really likes this kid.

"Well, you're not wrong," he drawls. There's something very wry about his tone. "That's all true."

"But you left out brainwashed, mind-wiped HYDRA assassin. And human weapon."

Edited 2021-02-23 02:47 (UTC)

"Can't leave out what I don't know, man," he says. "But - damn. That - that really sucks." He doesn't really know what HYDRA is, but he knows what words mean and how to fit them all together and draw conclusions.

"Guess that's true," he concedes, with a wry smile.

"And yeah. It sucked. Still does, sometimes. Like when a vengeful asshole like Helmut Zemo decided to set the entire world hunting me so he could set me running like a deadly wind-up toy."

"So, this guy was gonna set you off to go, what, kill Captain America and all the Avengers? That's a shit plan." In so many ways. That would never work.