IC Inbox

[advanced]

This is the IC inbox for Bucky Barnes at Riverview.

Network name: user.name

This is the place to contact Bucky over the network. Contact by voice or text is perfectly acceptable, and there is no need to plot with me prior to posting in this inbox.

Note: As of the end of December 2017, Bucky has no phone, he has destroyed it. Consequently, this inbox can only be used for in person interaction. You are still more than welcome to post here without plotting with me first.

Comments

[krasnaya_vdova]

[She hadn't even gone back home to get her things, but she has enough things stashed out here, and she can manage. Even if part of her wishes she'd never stopped being paranoid enough to carry that duffle bag of guns and gear with her anywhere she went.

She quiets at that, and she nods her head slowly, and the look in her eyes says that she grasps the situation.]

I guessed-- Does he know?

[His triggers, she means. She doesn't even want to ask, to even address it. But she does anyway, as much for his sake as everyone else's. She knows about Pierce because they'd made her watch as they wiped him, after that mission. And she was a sharp girl, even at thirteen, watched, listened, picked up the pieces, even if she hadn't quite realized the scope of it all until too late.]

[advanced]

Yeah.

[Short, sharp.

Pierce was his handler, on and off, for a very long time. He knows the words, one of the few people that does since the book went missing, but he was supposed to be dead.]

He knows.

[krasnaya_vdova]

[She winces at that, and it's not pity. She doesn't say sorry, because she knows it's not good enough.]

I'll do anything I can to help.

[And she means it. She does not like having Pierce here, but her fear is more nebulous. Connections and things she can't entirely string together. She's afraid of what Pierce means; mostly because she thinks he'd have pushed harder if he could actually control her.]

[advanced]

There's nothing we can do.

[Not in the direct sort of action that he's itching to take. He doesn't want to let Pierce turn him into a murderer again, and he's not the sort of person to respond well to Bucky threatening him.]

We need to keep tabs, but keep out of sight. It's our word against his.

[krasnaya_vdova]

[He's not wrong. Even if her brain is still toying with the idea of cornering Pierce in one of the residential buildings with a gun, she knows that would probably not end well. He's too charming, and there's too much that could be turned against her.] You're right.

[She sighs softly, rolls her shoulders a little uncomfortably. It's a bit unnerving how much she wishes she could fix this clean and easy. A body in the dark. She asked herself once if she wanted to own all the blood she remembers, and while the answer then had been yes, even if Natasha had saved her from the necessity, for Pierce it's not even a question. But it would be messy, ugly, hurt people that have taken a chance on her.]

I might head back to the city here and there, see what I can do.

[She doesn't like the idea, but he's right about the fact that they need to. They need to know what Pierce is doing, and she'd rather be the one to do it. The fact that Pierce knows James' triggers is too dangerous. Not just for him, but for everyone either of them cares about. She's not sure she's comfortable living inside the city yet, though. Putting her friends at risk if Pierce makes the connection. Bucky- the other one- had talked her into a meeting, but even that feels risky.]

I haven't really been back since Pierce was on one of the teams helping get the fence up around the reactor.

[She tries to brush over the fact of just how much it affects her; having him insert himself- coincidentally or not- into the very thing she's been working on more or less since she got here. But the simple fact is that she's the safer option. Her triggers are far more theoretical than his. She doesn't know for sure if there are words and phrases beyond the OPUS tech that isn't here, even if she suspects. And she doesn't think Pierce knows them if there are, figures he'd have pressed her harder if he did.]

[advanced]

You should go back.

[That might seem like a stupid thing to say, after he just got done telling her to stay inconspicuous. He understands why she fled out here, it's for the same reasons that he's gone deep into hiding, but there are different levels of threat. From what she's told him, she doesn't seem to have trigger words that can force her into his service, and that makes her a little less vulnerable.]

Integrate yourself with as many people you trust as possible, make yourself a loud presence in the city. That way he can't use you, hurt you, or make you do anything uncharacteristic without a lot of people noticing.

[Visibility is safety, at least in this instance.]

[krasnaya_vdova]

Alright. I'll head back later.

[It doesn't seem stupid, because she understands the logic. Someone needs to keep tabs on Pierce, and he's right-- if Pierce gets to her out here, there wont be anyone to tell, who knows what's going on. Maybe that's a reason to actually talk to the other James, but she's not sure she can push quite that far this fast.

She sighs, nods softly. At the very least it'd probably be good if she was somewhat visible in the city, even if it feels dangerous. Part of her doesn't want to drag the people that she likes into this mess. Those that aren't already involved, anyway. It feels like putting them at risk. But she knows what she's capable of, and exactly how bad it would be if Pierce could get to her. She needs some sort of warning system.]

I changed my ID, and picked up a new phone with a second one. I'm not going to ask you to keep me updated or anything like that, but-- [There's a slight pause, and she manages to slip a small pad of paper from her pocket, and she scribbles a meaningless string of numbers, letters and symbols n5Xz#kzLR3Rs%C before handing it to him. She doesn't bother telling him to burn it after he's memorized it, trusts that he's sharp enough to know, even now.]

It's my new one. For emergencies. If you need anything.

[advanced]

[He takes the piece of paper and looks it over, reading it through carefully twice, before he deliberately takes out a lighter and sets fire to it in front of her. Just for peace of mind, so she knows that it's been destroyed.]

I don't have a new one.

[He's not even sure if he's planning on getting one.]

But I'll know if you need me, I'll be watching.

[That might be a bit creepy, but he doesn't intend it to be.]

[krasnaya_vdova]

[She'd trust him to do it anyway, but under the circumstances watching is a comfort. Knowing is good right now.]

Not a bad idea. I thought about it. But I need to test something with my old phone so I might as well keep one for people I actually trust.

[Even if that list was very short. The phone she picked up is a cheap burner, no gps or location services, doesn't even take pictures. It does text and voice and that's all she wants right now. It's the one she actually keeps on her, the other she only checks once a day. To be sure.]

Thanks.

[Maybe to someone else it would be creepy, but she understands watching people. Ava looks more at the fact that even in the midst of all this that he cares enough to bother, rather than the stalking.] I'll help if you need it.

[An echo, that however this goes she'll do what she can. Because she does care. Part of its a relic of what happened when she was younger, part of it is just that she is glad that she knows him. There's less of that sensation of trying to be who people expect her to be, and they have slightly different but no less jagged edges. He's the one person that allowed her the freedom to not tell him her story.]

[advanced]

[It's mercenary, and he's not entirely too proud of it, but getting other people in the middle of this is probably the best way to keep everyone safe. He knows Pierce, and he knows HYDRA, and the way they operate is under the surface. The more chances that there will be witnesses and repercussions that can't just be swept under the rug, the more likely it is that Pierce will think twice before doing anything too drastic.

Of course, that's a double edged sword.

If Bucky goes and integrates himself among people, then he's a ticking time bomb in the middle of them all, it's too dangerous. But for someone without trigger words, it's an acceptable sort of risk.]

Thanks.

[He might need it, but he won't ask for it.]

You should go. Look out Steve, Sam, and Stark.

[krasnaya_vdova]

[Maybe it's mercenary, but it's also the smart thing to do; it keeps everyone safe that way. The less vulnerable, the more obvious things are, the less likely things are to go sideways. And if they do, it'll be easier for someone to realize, stop it before it's too late. Before people get hurt and everything she's spent months building crumbles.

But she knows there's danger there too. Especially with her powers; knowing just what sort of damage she could cause if things went wrong. But she tries to believe, at least in the people she's chosen to trust. That he's right and it's the safer choice.

Someone needs to keep tabs on Pierce and someone has to keep an eye on Steve. Both of them, really, she thinks with a slightly exasperated frown.]

I'll do everything I can.

[She was still a little too off-balance to promise that she'd be able to keep them safe. But that at least she'd give him-- whatever she could do. For him too, though she'd already made that point.

She pauses before leaving, unable to help adding:]

Be careful.