Video/Action- First Pirate Transmission

[hollowvictor]

Who: Panem!Bucky
Broadcast: Yes
Action: The Bridge of the Wonderduck
When: Now

[The video opens with a view of Bucky's face, hair short, face scruffy and a steel determination in his expression as though challenging the very fleet to suddenly do something and prove all his paranoid assumptions correct.]

The last time I was on a show for other's entertainment, we were made to fight and kill each other until only one person was left. Supposedly that's not the case here. Yet.

I assume some of you have been making attempts to learn more about this place and the people behind it.

[A pause. 'What do you know' was on the tip of his tongue, but he was the offworlder now. He didn't hold a single damn card in his hand he knew it too well. He hated it. He'd have to change that.]

What do we know?

[Anyone on the ship itself for any reason will find Bucky at the comms station, waiting for responses and seeing exactly how far the system would allow him to hack until the firewalls caught him. Sometimes you had to test the strength of the bars when you were in a cage.]

Comments

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[mucked]

Barnes. [ she spares them both the more familiar buck for the time being -- not least of all because she's worried about the fellow, mistaking him for the man who captains the heron. ] Good God, man, what are you talking about?

[ has his augment malfunctioned? has he lost his memories? her eyes narrow as she picks up her device -- red lipstick and sharp gaze and all. ]

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[hollowvictor]

[Maybe it was her voice, or that look in her eyes. Maybe it was the red of her lips. Something caught his eye and stopped his heart before he could even fully process any of her words. It had been months.

"Looking for a small town girl from District 10 with eyes as pretty as marble and a tongue sharp as a knife."

"And who punches like a brick? Good thing she's looking for a small town boy who knows how to pay a lady a compliment."]

Peg?

[In that split second, it wasn't the district 13 soldier who answered her, it was the district 10 boy, looking for his small-town girl.

But another second passed and her words caught up to him and he could feel that ridiculous shard of hope that had sprung up shatter. Stupid. He knew it was likely there'd be familiar faces, how many version of him had passed through Panem in the time the Offworlders had been there? Other Peggys weren't outside the realm of possibility. In fact, this could be the very Peggy from any of those other Bucky's worlds and yet he'd slipped and let himself hope anyway.

Because it was her.

He looked away to gather himself and When he looked back, that business-clipped expression was back.]

Ms. Carter. Sorry for the confusion, but I don't think I'm who you're thinking of. I find that's a common problem when people get taken from their homes by power-hungry entities.

[video]

[passingthrough]

Bucky? [A pause.] James? [The one who had looked more like this before had gone by James. But this man remembers being somewhere, but not here, so he's neither of them. Not exactly at least.]

Sounds like your last place officially wins the award for worst multidimensional prison I've heard of. [The one Erik and Hank had been in was pretty bad, but it sounded like there were fewer deaths per round. Makes coming from a place previously that had fruit punch rain seem like a real picnic.]

[video]

[hollowvictor]

[He can't help but give a dry laugh that nearly comes out as a bark. He couldn't even address the name thing in comparison to that.]

Yeah? I guess it was a multidimensional prison, in a way. But not for me. I'm afraid I call that place home, I was born there. Other people got lucky enough to be pulled there.

[If Panem was one of the worst places out there, he wouldn't be surprised. It also bode at least a little well for the rest of the option out there.]

I'm sorry, I don't know you, but you clearly know me. Or a version of me.

action;

[sylphid]

[Bucky might hear some quiet shuffling off to the side before a silver haired teenager pops up beside him, peering around his shoulder to look at the screen.]

So are you actually on this ship, or are you just messing with Lumiere's station for the hell of it?

[Not that she particularly minds one way or the other.]

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[hollowvictor]

[He doesn't jump when she pops up, he's been on high alert since he got here and with that fun serum the Capitol pumped him with, hearing things got a lot easier. Including shuffling.

He does glance her way though, trying to asses if she seems like an immediate threat or not. Teenager or not. He'd grown up watching kids butcher other kids, he knew exactly what they could be capable of.]

I'm on this ship, as far as I have any reason to believe.

And no one was using it when I got here. [So he used it.]

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[outstandingbalance]

[Natasha is hardly unprepared for this. After meeting another version of Hawkeye, and the stories she's heard—the memories she's seen—from a timeline where Barnes picked up the shield rather than Steve, she's prepared for a lot of things.

It's still strange seeing Barnes' face on someone else, someone who's not exactly not him, but isn't him either, but Natasha has an easy enough time compartmentalizing that reaction for later. Her expression and tone when she answers the video are entirely professional.]

Some. Not as much as we'd like. Some things you probably won't find people in a hurry to talk about over the network.

[It's safe to assume anything broadcast is monitored at this point.]

Anyone tell you yet you look a lot like someone else?

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[hollowvictor]

[He recognized her. She'd been part of James and Steve's group, though he didn't think she'd been around long. Not the one he'd seen them with, the none who looked like the woman on the line. The other one had been around longer, though he wasn't a hundred percent sure the differences except which Bucky they knew. She'd been with her universe's Bucky. He remembered that little tidbit. Nothing showed in his expression.]

Good. That's smart. They're obviously watching us and monitering us. We're an investment and they wouldn't want us to break their system.

Back home, there were places people could go to talk, though, when sharing things that shouldn't be overheard.

[He wouldn't just out and say blind spots because that was the fastest way to make blind-spots seen and heard, but he trusted she'd understand enough.

That last part, though...he gives a wry grin.]

I've heard it more times than you can probably guess. There were four different versions of me back home at one point.

[He's still maybe a little salty about that whole 'original' Bucky thing. He was the original Bucky back home, he;d actually been born there. Not that it mattered here.]

[Video]

[actually112]

It's you.

[He recognizes the voice, the face, but he knows that it doesn't belong to his Bucky, but District 13 Bucky. But he doesn't dare reveal out loud that he knows that. There are cameras on them, after all. Better to let the Capitol assume that Aang recognizes him from the exposes they did on the original Victors.]

You really think this isn't just some really weird arena?

[Video]

[hollowvictor]

[His surprise escapes like breath knocked out of him, not because his face was recognizable, he was too used to that, but because he was recognized. Someone knew him. They weren't close, but a sandbar could be an island when you were drowning.]

Aang.

No, I don't, the Capitol's too fond of it's drama. Even if we'd been captured and thrown into an arena as punishment, they would have made a spectacle out of us and our 'crimes.'

[He tried to offer a small smile.]

Besides...I'd like to see Snow try and do anything from six feet under.

Action!

[humene]

[Eleanor is in her room when she sees the broadcast, but it's not hard for her to recognize the bridge of the Wonderduck.]

[She proceeds to the bridge and approaches the newcomer cautiously. Even if she could have just responded to the broadcast, it wouldn't feel right. She's captain now, and it's best for her to meet with the new arrivals in person.]

Excuse me?

Action

[hollowvictor]

[He appreciated her caution, even as he heard her come in. It was the smart thing to do, be cautious of the new person you run across; better to assume they had a knife in their pocket than a hand to offer.

He turned and nodded to greet her.]

Hello.

Can I help you?

[All too easily he slipped back into Liaison to The Offworlders, a friendly expression and a helpful word even if his mind was a million other places. Too bad she could probably help him a lot more than the other way around, all things considered.

God. Every single time he remembered how out of his element he was, the more he hated this.]

Action

[chicandsporting]

[Sorry the comms station is a mess, Bucky- Lumière lives in a state of perpetual organised chaos. He leans on the door leading to the bridge, arms folded, watching. ]

Well, non, in the time I've been here, we've never been pitted against one another in a death battle. So at least there's that!

Action

[hollowvictor]

[Oh no...this isn't going to work. They're going to have to talk about this cause organization hell Bucky Barnes didn't do messy work places.

He's not even really thinking about it right now, though.]

Not since you've been here. And maybe not yet. It just depends on how long it takes them to decide we're too boring like this and need to kick it up a notch.

[Yes, that's his hello to his new crewmate: paranoid predictions.]

action

[samahl]

[Cyril acts as the ship's pilot and so it makes sense for him to be on the bridge of the Wonderduck. Now, though, he wants to be there to talk to their newest member.

So the one-handed elf enters the bridge and offers Bucky a small smile if he happens to look up.]

Have you found out anything interesting since you reached out to the network?

[His tone is conversational, and the question probably should have been the second thing he said to Bucky after an introduction.

action

[hollowvictor]

[Random people walking in was becoming a habit, it seemed. At least none of them were trying to sneak up on him.]

A little. Mostly that people are still cautious even in a supposedly safe place. [He glances up.] It's a good thing.

I assume you already know me since I'm the second Barnes here.

[This shouldn't be normal to him, but it sadly was.]

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[takingkarabusiness]

[ Kara hops into the video, a look of recognition. she seems to talk before taking in what he's saying ]

When did you cut your hair?

video

[hollowvictor]

[And here we go again.]

I haven't. Not recently. You're probably talking about the other Bucky Barnes.

I'm the new one.

[Can you hear how over this he already is? Because he is.]

text;;

[reconstitution]

[ For one brief, fleeting moment, the familiar voice makes his heart skip a beat. It's one he hasn't heard in a long time, but one he would recognize anywhere. His own, in another lifetime, another universe where things panned out a little better or worse, depending on who you asked.

Bucky watches the feed impassively after he realizes that it's not who he thinks. Jim hadn't come back. It still doesn't negate that there's another version of himself out there in a different, equally shitty scenario. The look on this other-him is one he knows he wore when he first got to the fleet. Paranoid, challenging, and waiting. Instead of replying to video like his gut reaction tells him, he switches the communication over to text. ]

There is a file on the network dedicated to what we know of the Atroma, the fleet, and the planets so far.
Another document exists in the library on the Iskaulit about the Atroma that was liberated from a previous planet.

text;;

[hollowvictor]

[It doesn't take long to figure out who sent the message. As soon as he saw the name, he felt both a thrill and sinking dread. What if it was James? ..his...James. He wouldn't have even thought it before, but it was the only way to separate Some other Bucky from the one he'd gotten to know. But the likelihood of it being the same version, when so many had come through Panem in the time of the Quarter Quell already, was abysmally low.

They hadn't necessarily gotten along, they'd circled each other for a long time before finally being able to talk to each other. But once they had...well, Bucky had run plenty of missions with plenty of partners but none of them were so smooth as the ones where he acted as James' handler. They were efficient together. He missed that.]

I'll look for those.
Thank you, James.

[Maybe not his James, but he still certainly couldn't call him Bucky.]

Video

[whatisright]

They say that we are on a reality show. I still do not quite know what that means, but I am told it requires cameras. Yet when a man with unusually sharp hearing was here, he said that he heard no cameras anywhere in the fleet.

[Justice feels like that's particularly pertinent information. But now he has questions of his own.]

That other show sounds barbaric. Who was behind it? [It is unjust to force people to kill each other for no good reason like that. Justice wants to know names, just in case he ever has the opportunity to meet the people who committed such things.]

Video

[hollowvictor]

There weren't any cameras? Hmm...

[That was something to consider. It could be they were lying, only saying they were being broadcast to an audience, but weren't really. But why? He didn't have enough information for that thought to hold much weight. It could also be that the cameras were small enough and quiet enough to not make any noise. The cameras in the arena were often subtle and small enough that you couldn't see them unless you happened to have your ear right by one.

Still, not enough info for anything to be more than guesswork.

He breaks his contemplative silence with an answer to the question.]

Technically, there were plenty complicit enough to be 'behind' it, but the main force was President Coriolanus Snow.

audio;

[straightouttacarbonite]

You've been somewhere like this before?

[ The rest of it..... sounds... really a lot worse. One thing at a time. ]

audio;

[hollowvictor]

I grew up there. My home played host to what was called The Hunger Games. Children between the ages of twelve and eighteen are chosen from each of the twelve districts and forced to compete in a survival setting where the environment and other kids will try to kill them until one person wins. The people who were charming, attractive, had a good 'story' to their lives, however it was spun, they often gained favor from the Capitolite audience and received favors and gifts. It could also affect their 'rating' which would also dictate how popular they were with the upper crust.

It was a fun little system. [Dry and bitter sarcasm bites into his tone.] It was how the rich stayed rich and the poor stayed scared.

[Who even knew how much this place was like The Games...so far, only in basic function, but time would tell.]

text » private;

[uprightness]

[ well, this is all shades of weird ]

you okay?

text » private;

[hollowvictor]

[And here it came, the good old feeling of having old wounds reopened. Again. How come every time there was a Bucky or a Peggy, there was Steve Rogers? It should have been a comfort, knowing they were so closely tied to show up in the same place over and over again.

And yet all it reminded him of was how he and Peg had failed their Steve Rogers. They'd never be a 'three' again.]

I'm fine Steve. I promise your Bucky hasn't had a slip of the mind. Places like this just like to play games with people.

[At least it was just text. It was easier with text.]

voice.

[astrobleme]

[...] That's... [It's a younger voice, a gentler voice, but the disgust in this voice is obvious.] That's pretty sick. Entertainment that that. Really, really sick.

voice.

[hollowvictor]

It is. They kept it up for almost eighty years. [It's fact, but he delivers i a touch more gently than he might someone who was obviously an adult. Just a guess, but it sounded like a kid and he wasn't looking to hand out any nightmares if he didn't have to.]

We dismantled it, though. A couple months ago.

action

[warpandweft]

[Alucard doesn't have many reasons to be on the bridge. His augment has consigned him to the rear of the ship, which is...somewhere he's not had to be for many years.

He's more used to the helm. Which means that despite his uselessness on the bridge, he's ended up wandering there a fair amount during his first couple weeks on the ship.

(Bucky will be able to hear him coming long before he passes through the hatch. Alucard does not try to walk softly in the least.)

Stepping onto the bridge, he looks curious and faintly surprised.]

Hello. New crew member?

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[hollowvictor]

[He does appreciate the obvious sounds of movement. If not for the fact he wouldn't be startled, then for the fact it meant he'd learn who made what sound when walking around that much faster.

He turns to greet this new person with a faint smile.]

It seems that way. I'm Bucky, nice to meet you.

[He might not trust any of this an inch, but he wasn't without pleasantries.]

[edwinjarvis]

Good lord, no, we're certainly not killing each other here.

[How alarming. He's trying not to think about the last time Bucky Barnes had been glitched into killer mode; he wasn't there for it, but he'd seen plenty in dreamworlds. So to speak. But — ah, judging from the responses, there's something off about all this, more than just a glitch to their usual Mr. Barnes. Right?]

Where on earth where you, before?

[hollowvictor]

[Every time he gets that reaction, it both makes him feel better and worse all at once. He's glad everyone else can see how horrific Panem was because only Panem held that evil. But all that evil over all that time and it took people like this being dragged into the pit to fix it. His own people wouldn't lift a finger until then.]

It's called Panem, it's my home.

The last three years, the government was pulling people like you into Panem to participate in The Games. They were broadcast across the country as prime-time entertainment.