Open | A Monthly Starstruck Mingle!!

[theroadwarrior]

Who: The SS Starstruck's crew and visitors...!
Broadcast: N/A
Action: Aboard the SS Starstruck
When: November 1st—31st!

Everyone get your mingle on for November! This is a quick post for the Starstruck, have at it.

Comments

[mucked]

As impressions go, this was an indelible one. [ peggy traces the curve of her mug's handle. trying to sort between the thoughts, the implications, and the memories. ] I feel in my gut that there's a connection between Leviathan''s capabilities, and what happened to Barnes.

[ it's a hunch, at worst. disparate strings of evidence at best. and that's why she brings these pieces to natasha, and no one else. it's not concrete enough to mention to steve, let alone barnes himself. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha sips her coffee thoughtfully.]

I can see why you'd draw that connection. Speaking Russian and using Soviet weaponry doesn't exactly point to HYDRA, does it?

At least not exclusively.

[mucked]

As it was told to me, HYDRA's involvement became painfully clear. Clear enough not to question, I imagine, and yet I can't help but stand from my own vantage point and question quite a lot. [ ... ] As if there's a puzzle piece -- a handshake, perhaps -- still missing from how the whole debacle has been understood.

[ cooperation, at the very least, between america's enemies throughout the years. ]

[outstandingbalance]

I can verify that he was definitely working for HYDRA in 2014. Probably in 1991 too.

[There's a lot that can happen between 1945 and 1991 though.]

Unfortunately, I don't think even he knows the whole story.

[That's been the problem all along, though.]

[mucked]

I suspect HYDRA had him the whole time -- [ the simplest solution is often the likeliest, after all. ] Only I suspect HYDRA had someone else, as well. Someone from Leviathan, likely. Someone who could jump-start their efforts.

[outstandingbalance]

Makes sense. SHIELD wasn't the only one interested in picking through HYDRA intelligence and personnel. If they'd infiltrated SHIELD and the US government no reason to think they didn't have people in the KGB too.

[Natasha's voice is flat. It's a thought that's occurred to her before.]

[mucked]

[ and here it comes -- the inconvenient truth. peggy's cheeks puff with a sigh and she mows forward. ]

I'm certain they did -- but it wouldn't have been necessary, in this instance. The man they would have needed could have been found in one of SSR's maximum security compounds. Which, I assume, was inherited by SHIELD.

[outstandingbalance]

You wonder if the two of them met on the inside.

[It would be an opportunity, certainly.]

[mucked]

It's conceivable they did. And depending on how early HYDRA infiltrated us--? [ a shake of her head. zola's existence lingers like a ghost in this conversation. it makes her uneasy. ] Their introduction might not even have been a coincidence.

[outstandingbalance]

There's a lot of ifs in there. And a lot of it that doesn't make a whole lot of difference at this point. It's already happened.

[mucked]

Not for me. Not yet. Not all of it.

[ as gentle as you like -- a careful reminder that she lags behind the rest of them, and therefore feels a very different kind of responsibility. what they call regret, she considers an opportunity. some nights, she thinks she's so close to fixing it all she can nearly taste it on the air. ]

[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha sighs. She knows it isn't that easy, but at the same time, she knows what's done.]

You and Steve.

[mucked]

...Me and Steve--?

[ peggy prompts more explanation. although, not far beneath the surface question, she can easily guess at the implication made. in some very hard-headed ways, peggy and steve outright deserve each other. difficult and unyielding. ]

[outstandingbalance]

Steve's reaction to hearing about the future was to say we could still change it two. You're both stubborn that way.

[Natasha can respect it, but it's also tiring.]

[mucked]

Yes, well. His deadline is a fair bit tighter than mine.

[outstandingbalance]

You're right about that.

[But Natasha's own experiences are proof that neither of them succeeded, aren't they?

It's not worth dwelling on though.]

[mucked]

[ it all begs the question, of course: why had these evil men been allowed to live? zola, fenhoff, and even reinhardt -- all of them ended up in ssr prisons, and all of them could have taken advantage of the subsequent agency from the inside out.

but peggy knows the reason. license to kill isn't something taken lightly. ]

For what it's worth, I'm not certain which of us is worse for it: him or me. [ ... ] Except I'm fairly certain we exacerbate that trait in each other.

[outstandingbalance]

I'd say you bring it out in each other, but it seems a little like you inspire it too.

[mucked]

It's hard not to be a bit inspired -- the man gives every last ounce of himself to any chosen endeavor. Even the USO shows, somehow.

[outstandingbalance]

Believe me, I know it. It's impressive. It takes a lot to inspire a Cold War holdover like me.

[mucked]

Cold War. What a name for it, [ she comments as though she's at very least researched it -- investigated it, at least, ever since arriving in the fleet. she's done what she can to educate herself on the broader strokes of history, if not the fleeting nature of popular culture. ]

[outstandingbalance]

You don't approve? [In some ways, it seems very fitting to Natasha. But her sense of irony might be suspect.]