milliways_bar | (no subject)

"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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Fives shrugs - he doesn't mind at all.

"I'm ten years old, Galactic standard years."

He makes a mental note to check with the Bar about how long that is compared to an Earth year, and nods.

In his mind's eye, he sees the facility in Siberia, the softly glowing cryo capsules, the still, frozen bodies. What would have happened if HYDRA had figured out how to clone him? Any of them?

He can feel his throat trying to close, and reaches for the coffee to wash it clear again.

He doubts that Fives would be receptive at all to the comparison. He's loyal to his Republic, as loyal as Bucky had been to Russia, once.

Once.

"So." Another long swallow, as he tries to think of something else to say; he's going to need a refill soon. "How'd you find this place, anyway?"

"Same as anyone, opened a door on the outpost, discovered it led here."

He chuckles for a moment. "Spent days trying to get my brothers in here too. Turns out it doesn't work like that."

"No?"

Bucky gives him a quizzical look, surprised at that.

"My best friend was the one who showed me how to get here."

"Really?" Fives starts in surprise, and gives a slight guffaw. "Well that's unfair.

"My... Echo," he decides against saying 'my brother' three times in one conversation " - we grew up together in the training facility, he's the only one left of our training squad..."

He pauses, to check Bucky gets the implication.

"Really. He opened the door to show me his 'new local' and bam, here we were."

He nods for Fives to continue - and as he does so, it's clear he hasn't missed the point, or what's likely to have happened to the rest of them.

Echo is more than a brother, in the same way that a brother is more than a friend. If you could call people 'twins' where there's already genetic identicality, you'd still not be close.

This isn't difficult at all to pick up on.

"...we've been on the same deployments ever since. Tried to physically pull him through a bunch of times but the door was a fucker for that. I'd easily give my access to him, the guy could do with the time off."

Edited 2021-03-01 20:14 (UTC)

"Hell."

He gives the door a long, level look before turning back to Fives.

"I've got no idea how to change that, man, I'm sorry. I'd tell you how we did it if I could."

"Magic," says Fives with some feigned distaste. "There's no understanding it, is there?"

"Know a few people who claim to," Bucky admits, "but I'm not one of them."

"Well, yes, Jedi," Fives says, "or whatever they're called in your world. No understanding them, either."

This time he catches the word more clearly, and frowns a little - it's not what he thought Fives had said before.

(And Jedha was a planet, anyway, not a person, as he recalls.)

"No, I was more thinking about a couple of people here. Mages. What's a Jedi?"

Fives gives a brief look of askance at the idea Bucky recognises aurebesh and is learning basic but has never heard of Jedi.

"Force users with magic powers and glowing swords," he explains anyway. "They're the highest leaders of the Republic Army, and trust me, you'd rather have one at the front of your ranks than not."

"If they're anything like a woman named Ysalwen Surana," Bucky tells him, "I'd have to agree with that. I've seen her in action. Impressive."

"Can she stop blaster bolts with her sword?" Fives asks. It's not completely a challenge, but he hasn't met her and he does like to get a hang of what various magic people can do.

"That's the most useful in a firefight."

"She's pretty good with a sword," he says, thoughtfully. "When I sparred with her she was, anyway. I've never seen her try."

He shrugs, very slightly.

"I have seen her take out an entire mercenary camp with a hailstorm and lightning."

"Never seen a Jedi do that," Fives admits. The camp, sure, but not the lightning.

"You been fighting a lot with people around here?"

"It wasn't here," he clarifies. "I went with her back to her world to help with something."

Still, he looks very sour about something for a moment.

"But sometimes a fight turns up here too. Rules or not. At least that's pretty rare."

"Yeah, I got that," Fives nods. "Just thinking - someone asked if I'd invite him back to my world to fight in one of my battles. Thought it odd."

Not that he wouldn't follow Sunshine or SecUnit or Wen Qing to their worlds to help, but popping into a war for tourism feels wrong.

He frowns at that.

"Did you need the help?"

"I wasn't even currently on deployment," Fives says. "It was just a hypothetical favour I'd do him."

Which - he doesn't mind it in theory, but it seems odd.

"Wondered if that was normal, I guess."

Edited 2021-03-02 21:54 (UTC)

"... did he say why?"

"Just an old dead soldier missing the action," Fives offers. He sort of gets it, maybe. He was literally made for action, and can't realistically imagine retirement.

"Huh."

He shakes his head.

"No, that's a new one on me."

"Going out somehwere there isn't a war, though," Fives muses almost wistfully "That'd be good."

He is not, it should be said, angling at this point. On the contrary he's thinking of how nice it might be take Teja up on one of his offers in return - something he hasn't got around to yet.

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