Well, this is.. horrible.

[reconstitution]

Who: SS Caprine & visitors
Broadcast: ???
Action: All aboard
When: 8/3


[Dread is probably not a good feeling to have in the face of actually having something resembling a 'team' now. Unfortunately, the way this place seems to love uprooting and depositing people out of nowhere into unfamiliar territory, and it sets him on edge.

His eyes narrow as he looks around yet another place he's unaccustomed, being bombarded by-- colorful shreds of paper and overly-cheerful music. And even more people. Once again, he longs for the familiar weight of a weapon in his hand, but this fleet just loves to suck the comfort out.

At least this is a more permanent residence? Time would tell on that one.]

Comments

[tothefly]

[She knows this dance just as well as he does. Better, maybe, since she's seen how it ends--but even then, she ended up with a bullet through her shoulder, and that was without a broken arm and the confinement of these ship walls.

She can sense the change, the hesitation and the movement, and her skin crawls as her heart beat accelerates, adrenaline steadying her hands. There's a taller stack of crates just over there, more obstacles to put between them, and she moves faster, sacrificing some silence for speed, hoping to get ahead of him--and as she moves, draws the gun from its holster, ready to fire.]

[reconstitution]

[ He follows the noise, no use making a direct move until whoever the hell it was stopped moving. In this space, it made it harder. Fighting in closed quarters like this made things..different. The playing field changed, as well as the fighting style.

He looks around for anything to use as a weapon; unfortunately nothing handheld. However, there is another crate nearby which he picks up. It's sturdy enough to land at least one solid hit. Switching it over to his left hand, he reels back, the mechanical arm emitting a whine as it revved up. He slings it toward the location of whomever is hiding, wanting to draw them out.

Obstacles were of minor concern. ]

[tothefly]

[She can feel her heart stop for the briefest of seconds at the sound of that arm. She knows something is coming, but the stack of crates in front of her is as much curse as blessing--blocking her view while shielding her--but it quickly becomes entirely curse as the column shatters. She dives, rolls, comes up behind the next crate with her gun out and aimed at him, leaving the two of them facing each other with half a dozen yards and several months between them. A cut on her cheek oozes a thin line of blood, but she doesn't blink.]

Don't.

[Words instead of bullets, in her mother tongue. Two months ago, even, she would have shot him first, but two months ago she hadn't known anything about James Barnes. And as much as she insists on telling the Captain that he's nothing like the Soldier, that the same person from two different worlds isn't the same person at all--she still doesn't shoot. Because...well. Because she'd started this. He could try and end it, but she can't be sure anymore what he will and won't do. All she can do is be ready.]

[reconstitution]

[ In the time that it took her to move positions, Winter already prepared himself with another stray crate, though he hadn't anticipated the appearance of the gun. His eyes narrow, his chin tipping so he can stare her down properly. Any other time, he would run toward a shooter and try to dodge. That's what instinct and protocol says he should do, anyway..

Now, though? After being thrown to this place and now assigned a post-- not to mention the large influx of people talking to him and being kind.. He's reluctant to.

She means business, but he can survive a simple gunshot wound. He lowers the crate, although he still keeps it in hand, metal arm creaking as he grips it a little tighter. Jim told him not to get himself in trouble, and he doesn't...really want to see what he's like when angered. Winter takes a few moments to weigh the options thoroughly before offering a shake of his head. ]

You are the one with the gun..

[tothefly]

[He's holding another crate, but he doesn't throw it. Not at her, not to the side. And he doesn't move, another thing that confuses her. He was one of the people who taught her most of all never to hesitate. He always reacted. And here he was, waiting. She frowns, not moving. Finger still on the trigger, but not pulling it. The blood trickles down her cheek, makes its way over her jaw.]

You'll notice I'm not using it. Yet.

[More of a frown, as he lowers the crate slightly. He doesn't back off, either. He doesn't do anything but kill, at this point. Follows orders. Does not having orders really affect him this much? Is the implant playing havoc with the conditioning? There are too many variables in play here, and she feels grossly underprepared.]

You've tried to kill me more than once. Are you here to try again?

[reconstitution]

[ Winter inclines his head minutely in invitation for her to go ahead and just try to shoot him. Something about her is familiar- and it's not the dossier that he'd been made to read before his current mission. Her technique is too similar and it grates along his nerves like nails upon a chalkboard.

Part of him is pleased that he managed to get a hit on her so easily- then again, his skill has never been anything but lethal and efficient. ]

If you intend to use it, try me..

[ His brow furrows as he recollects his mission, and he's positive he's never seen her before. Unless she was a part of a mission he's long forgotten about. ]

I must not have been trying enough. You are still alive.

[ Way to potentially exacerbate a problem, Winter. ]

[tothefly]

[It's hard to resist the dual impulses of instinct and challenge. She should just shoot him and be done with it. But one, she's not so sure the powers keeping them here would let a little thing like death stop them, and two, Barnes would never forgive her. And then there was Steve--even if he never knew, she'd never be able to look at him the same way again. She's done a lot of things in her life out of necessity, never blinked an eye at them. This might be one thing too many. So she waits, even as a muscle clenches in her jaw, only the slightest twitch betraying her general mood.]

[He doesn't look at her like he knows her, and she knows he knows her. This isn't the first time they've met, or even the second, but every time, he looks at her like he has no idea who she is. Like she's just one face among many, and while that's how she's supposed to be--to blend in, to fade away--it still irks her. Memory wipes. She knows what they've done to him, at least a little. She just doesn't know what remains below the blank-slate surface.]

Maybe I'm just better than you.

[She's not helping much here, either.]

[reconstitution]

You would have pulled the trigger already.

[ Were she smarter, she would shoot him and get it over with, given her advantage at the moment. If their positions were switched, he would do the same.

He drops the crate a few feet away, clenching that metal fist instead. He would be much faster this way, his makeshift weapon was cumbersome. Winter doesn't like the way she's looking at him- it sets his nerves on edge, a chill at the back of his neck. They've apparently met before, but he has no memory of that... He does try to pull it up again. She has a pretty face, and that red hair should be something he would remember, but there's nothing. Not even an inkling of the feeling, although he tries. ]

Scared? [ He knows what he's capable of. She should be. ]

[tothefly]

In another time and place, I did.

[Knowledge of a future he doesn't know, and wouldn't think about even if he did. All she has in return are the sharp sensations of remembered pain. Two bullets, she owes him. One through the stomach, one through the shoulder. His words have her looking at him sharply, the slightest motion of her head as she watches him. A tensing of her finger on the trigger.]

почему паука боятся зимой?

[Why should a spider fear the winter? Words carefully chosen, deliberately spoken in their shared tongue. Poking at the wiped slates of his mind, to see if anything remains below the surface. Does he remember her at all? Can she make him remember? Dangerous, maybe, but she's not afraid of a little risk.]

[reconstitution]

[ Another time and place, was it? He wonders what kind of woman she is, exactly. Someone that can not only stand up to what he is, but best him? She's dangerous. He knows that much, at least. Granted, it wasn't news to him with how she knew to take position before he entered the cargo bay..

His posture tenses, muscle in his jaw twitching. He mulls over the question, though his eyes never leave her. Unwise to take your eye off the weapon at hand. ]

Зимы беспощаден.

[ A lesson they both know- both of the training as well as their leaders. Nothing from Russia obliterated quite so efficiently as winter did. It did not discriminate and it did not relent. It is something he's not likely to forget anytime soon. It's how he was trained..

Although...

What did it matter right now? ]

[tothefly]

[She is a weapon, make no mistake about it. Whether or not there's a gun in her hand, she is dangerous. Born to it and bred to it just as much as he's been, if not more.

But if Winter is merciless, the Spider is patient. She can wait him out. Wait this out. And so she lowers her gun, taking a risk, trusting to bravado and a single name.]

Then remember that I wasn't, this once. And remember that the only reason I don't shoot you here and now is because I don't want to have to explain to Captain Barnes why I did it.

[reconstitution]

[ She lowers the gun, and for the briefest moment, he thinks he's being played. He's not really prepared for her to drop Jim's name, either, but it makes him start. Part of him accepts that, but the other? The fight was taken away from him and that adrenaline is still pumping.

Winter nods his head a fraction of an inch, though the whole situation still feels wrong. ]

Does that mean you answer to him?

[tothefly]

I don't answer to anyone here.

[The words are sharp enough to cut. She's no one's lackey, no one's second, not really. But him...well, she owes him this much, at least. Her fingers itch, nerves screaming at her that she's made a mistake. They want this fight over with.]

But I respect him enough to let him try his way, first.

[Much as she might not like it.]

[reconstitution]

[ He doesn't miss the way her words were edged like a sword- daring him to suggest otherwise. He believes her when she says she answers to no one- a woman like that would be hard to reign in.

His fist clenches a bit tighter, but he doesn't move otherwise. ]

That is your decision.

[tothefly]

It is.

I have friends on this ship. Friends I come to see fairly often. I don't plan on changing that.

[A way of telling him this isn't going to be the last time she's here. Maybe a way of establishing a level playing field between them here? She isn't sure. Just that she doesn't need to worry about the Winter Soldier coming at her back.]



[[I know this is way late, feel free to ignore it if you want!]]