driftfleet | did somebody say mingle

[ The absence of what she provided once, with her steady friendship and steadier shot. Now don't get him wrong, he's hardly one to dwell on what's been lost, but in the future... he can't trust the STRIKE team like he trusts the Commandos. Rumlow's all right — Jim holds himself apart from the others. Call it Natasha rubbing off on him, but there's better people to spend his time with than the ones who he has to see at work. But maybe — one of these days, he'll have the courage to take them up on the standing pool invitation. ]

Yeah, it [ he pauses, looking for the words ] whatever you said, it did him good.

[ Keep doing it; she will. ]

There's some kinda... programming. I don't know. Whoever did that number on him — they did a damn good job wiping everything away. I've told him about Steve; he likes listening, but [ gesturing ] nothing.

[ He scrubs a hand down his face. ]

There's a way, Pegs, we gotta find it.

[ there it is again: pegs. she lets her attention sink into her scotch -- but doesn't dare ask him not to call her that. it bears a familiarity long buried, and one he might have once had every right to claim. but now? now she feels so far away from pegs. a younger woman with younger dreams. what a difference a few years makes. ]

Hypnosis, perhaps. [ an unhappy look. she swallows another mouthful of drink. ] I've seen something like. Well, not quite like it. What I saw hadn't erased so much of a person.

[ but then she thought about dottie, as well. or whatever her true name might be. whatever had been done to those girls had erased their foundations so that any number of new ones might be applied on the surface. something in between that and leviathan's hypnosis. that's what the winter soldier made her think. ]

[ It speaks to his desperation for familiarity that he doesn't even notice that minute detail, where before he prided himself on picking up. ]

Like how?

[ His jaw sets with worry, and he leans forward, hanging on her every word. The only person he's been able to ask is Natasha and well, he hasn't, figuring he's pushed at her enough without asking for her history to be laid bare for some audience. ]

-- Does the name Leviathan mean anything to you, James?

[ she nearly chokes upon the familiarity -- but she feels she owes him something for his hospitality. ]

[ James. Not Barnes, which usually had a clip of irritation to it, or the insistence upon distance in the professional arena. And thank God, not Bucky. He doesn't think he can stand being called Bucky, after all these years. That man fell with Steve. ]

Sounds familiar — I think I read record of a prisoner transport; nothing more than that.

[ He hasn't finished catching up on everything that led to the Cold War; some records got lost. They know why now, of course, it's HYDRA's doing: obscuring the truth. ]

What've they got to do with this?

Only that they've proven themselves a thorn in my side for the last little while. [ pursed lips. her face reveals distaste -- and for a moment, the scotch is forgotten. but otherwise she meets barnes with utter honesty. ] I watched as a good man -- an SSR chief -- was compelled to ruination through Leviathan's tricks. Mind control. Hypnotism. The Leviathan snake nearly ended Howard Stark, too.

Nearly ended all of Manhattan.

[ He frowns; the full reaction will hit him in a moment, but for now, he quickly compartmentalises. ]

Is there any reason you'd want this highly classified? I didn't read it anywhere.

[ If she would, a yes is all he needs. He trusts her judgement. ]

[ highly classified. peggy quirks her head at the implication -- still living in the aftermath of dooley's death, it's hard to say what might someday prompt such a decision.

she sucks in her breath. ] It wasn't our finest hour. I'll grant that. But embarrassment isn't the best excuse for redaction. [ ... ] Though I don't see where my wants enter into the equation.

[ after all, she still sees herself as something of a desk-jockey. or, rather, the agency does. ]

[ That's — weird, even if SHIELD doesn't exist yet. ]

... Why not? You served same s'us.

[ It's terribly, unnecessarily blunt, naive in only the way he is: having a vague idea of her situation and assuming something changed after the war. She rose up to head SHIELD, didn't she? They had to have been listening to her. Someone did, at least. ]

I did, yes. God knows I did.

[ softly, she concedes. and she does not complain about that which she endured: the ignominy and marginalization at the ssr offices. perhaps if he thinks about it long enough, barnes will come to the conclusion all upon his own.

after all, she isn't the sort to make a grand to-do about her own burdens. instead, she takes another stiff drink of scotch. ]

But that report's security level wouldn't have been my call to make.

[ He's missing something. It's sitting on the tip of his tongue. ]

All right.

[ It'll niggle at him until he figures it out, but for now he's willing to accept that an agent involved might not have the same input. After all, this grows up to be something run by Nick Fury, and Peggy would've had a say in that matter. She might've been a soldier once, but she's a spy first. ]

[ But maybe in the end, HYDRA is what destroys it, and not anything she said or did. ]

So the hypnosis — it didn't erase his memory, did it?

Edited (html my nemesis) 2015-09-19 01:46 (UTC)

No. Not really. Nor did it have the opportunity, if I'm honest. [ ... ] Chief Dooley died as a direct result of the mental tampering. And as for Stark, well --

[ a mild shrug. she doesn't really want to talk about the painful process of talking him down from from the air. so, instead, she deflects: ] Bloody hell, did you know his son is here?

[ His expression turns sympathetic. You prepare for loss, on the battlefield, but it never gets simpler to lose someone. He appreciates bullets to the head: at least that's quick, and the only mercy some men get. ]

Tony? Yeah. I know him.

[ Guess Howard found his right partner. ]

Chip off the old block, isn't he?

Remarkable, really. The voice is different. And so are the words. But the damned tone remains the same.

[ she harbours a great many reasons to go frigid on the thought of howard stark, but it's hard not to feel some manner or shape of friendship. and an odd course of warmth had hit her bloodstream the moment she'd met tony -- the very inkling of a protective streak. as though she owes howard at least that much. ]

And if he's half as smart as his father? Well -- [ she doesn't finish the sentence, but instead merely marvels for what that might mean for the future of stark industries. ]

[ A crooked smile. ]

You don't gotta tell me. Have you met Vision?

Is -- is that a person? [ no, she hadn't. but 'vision' seems like an odd name. perhaps barnes is actually speaking of a ship. ]

[ that's actually a very good question. ]

Ah — I think so? He's an android of some kind. Tony and Dr. Banner built him. I haven't met him in my timeline yet, but he's around here.

[ his timeline. she hides her bare reaction behind a sip -- eyes bright and sharp, besides, and never leaving barnes's behind. ]

An android. [ she tastes the word in the aftermath of scotch and lime. it rings vaguely familiar: like old forays into literature and bizarre french fiction. a brief flirtation with works on simulacra. but nothing that should ever suggest the word as more than fancy.

more than fantasy. ]

What's he like?

[ For one of the very few times in his life, words fail. Jim opens his mouth, closes it. Opens it again, then closes it, and cants his head, trying to catch the words in the air between them. ]

I think you should meet him.

Should I? [ her glass tilts. she replaces all her hesitation with a sudden wryness. ] It's beginning to feel like all I do is meet people. And most of them have these truly bizarre names. [ like, come on, vision? is that a name? ]

One young woman was calling herself Rogue of all things.

[ peggy isn't naturally inclined to gossip. but it's been a while since she'd had a strong drink, and her constitution hasn't necessarily adjusted perfectly to space-habitation. the lime and liquor has loosened her tongue, and she shows a little spirit when she recalls this name -- if it can be called that. ]

Well, there's also staring at the walls, or the ceiling, if you want a little variety.

[ There's nothing to do on these ships and it's driving him to actually socialise. It's terrible, Peggy. ]

[ He does, however, immediately brighten at mention of Rogue. ]

She's a sweet gal, ain't she?

[ it's a brightness she notes -- catalogues, and commits to the archives of her mind. ]

She's certainly practical. I don't know about sweet. [ but the way peggy says it? well, it almost sounds like she's trying to pay the young woman a compliment. practicality trumps the saccharine any day.

although a great swathe of her doubts barnes had meant the word quite that way, regardless. ]

[ Hey, he's just happy she's found someone to think well of, and all the better that it's a friend of his, although he's still figuring that one out. ]

There's stranger names to have.

[ Captain America. ]

[ she knows, of course. and she can guess the name he has in mind. and if she had the heart to refute it, she'd tell him how that moniker had been different. given at the behest of propaganda, but never in a way that obfuscated who steve had been.

but in the end these are mere quibbles. semantics. and peggy has far more interesting things to learn. ] Friends with her, are you?

[ Ruefully, ] You know me, friends with everybody.

[ The words ring hollow the way they never did, years ago. ]

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