IN FROM THE COLD

“Steve. Natalia. And much as it pains me to admit it, that little shit, Harley”  

Bucky grimaces, scratching his head. “I don’t know why anyone would miss me. They shouldn’t. Steve missed me once, though, so I guess he would again.”

He paused, as though wanting to say something else, but then shook his head.

     Steve couldn’t help but snicker. To be honest, he’d never fallen in love with this sort of stuff, though he enjoyed watching the occasional film when he could. It was great to see Bucky enjoying himself so much, though, and the joy and enthusiasm was contagious– which is why Steve bothered to go to the cinema with Bucky at all. He couldn’t quite imagine crushing on someone he’d never met though, it just wasn’t his style.

     “Yeah yeah, you say that, but I’ve seen some of the gals that you pull, Buck. They’re just as gorgeous and twice as humble. Proper dames, those.” And it’s true. Steve might not have a lot of experience with the ladies, and might not even really know how to talk to them, but Bucky’s always had a good eye, and most of the girls he’s gone out with have been good-hearted too.

     Steve scans the area, looking around for the next attraction. “Say, is that Mr. Howard Stark over there? I bet he’ll show us something phenomenal. Let’s go look, huh?”

“Nothin’ against any gal I’ve dated. Wouldn’t be with ‘em if I didn’t like ‘em. but there’s just somethin’ about a dangerous woman....” Bucky let out a laugh as he turned to look where Steve was pointing.

There was a crowd gathering. Stark always seemed to him like a cross between a business mogul kinda guy, a movie star, and a carnival huckster. You never really knew what you were getting, or how real it was ,but whatever it was, it was gonna be interesting.

He clapped Steve on the back. “You bet. Let’s go see what’s up.” He looked at Steve. “Hey, y’know what would be cool? Robots like in Amazing Stories. I wonder if Stark could make robots?”

     Oh for fuck’s sake. Clint looked at Bucky for a moment, then shook his head and turned back to the man who was tied up and struggling. “You know, the more you wiggle against those, the more they cut into you. You’re just putting yourself in unnecessary pain.” Not that I should care, but… Clint sighed, walking over and bending so that he was eye level with Pavlovich.

     “So… 53 years. Have you actually been alive all that time? Or did you recently decide that you didn’t enjoy being dead and come back somehow? Are there others like you, who are theoretically dead but… apparently not practically?”

     The man, of course, didn’t say a word, opting to spit at Clint’s face instead. The archer scowled, wiping it away. “Look, man, either you talk to me or I set that guy on you instead. Are you sure you’d rather be carved up? I’d rather you not be carved up. It’s disgusting. So much blood…” Clint grimaced at the thought. “Unless that’s what you want. Do you want to be killed again?”

     Something flickered in the other man’s expression, and Clint turned back to Bucky. “Do you think he’s trying to get himself killed? Maybe someone will come after him if he talks?”

“Who could come after him that’s worse than me?”

Bucky’s eye’s narrowed as he looked at their prisoner. “It’s not blackmail. He doesn’t give a shit about anyone or anything. He wouldn’t care if they killed any kids he’d left around and his birth family are long gone. Whatever they have on him, it’s all about him and it’s not because he fears pain or death.”

He turned to look at Clint. “Pavlovich knows exactly what the Winter Soldier has done when pain and death were the point. So what’s worse that me having him now?”

Sheathing the knife, Bucky punched Pavolich hard enough to knock him out. He’d never planned on killing the son of a bitch, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to, so he didn’t see any reason to be gentle. Pavlovich was getting off easy.

Bucky took a pen and paper out of a pocket and wrote ‘Deliver to Shield’ on it, then pinned it to Pavlovich’s jacket.

It was tempting to roll it up and shove it up his nose, but that was bleeding and it might impair legibility.

13. Bucky answered quickly without having to ponder his answer. “Doesn’t matter as long as it’s fast. People don’t realize that the guillotine was probably the fastest and cleanest way to kill people anyone ever came up with. The part that was wrong about that was the leadup, what with all the throwing of rotten vegetables and all. It was very efficient. Everything else has a possibility of error.”

17. Frowning to himself for a moment, Bucky said, “No one I liked or admired. Wouldn’t want to have to tell them that they were dead and just back for a chat.”

Ask My Muse About Death

Send my muse one or a few of these questions (all of them related to death, life after death, etc. so please read with that warning in mind)

Have you ever come close to dying?

What do you think is the worst possible way to die?

Do you think there’s life after death?

If you were reborn as someone/something new, who or what would you want to be?

If you do believe in the afterlife, what kind of afterlife do you think awaits you?

Have you ever taken someone’s life?

Are you afraid of dying?

Do you ever wish you were immortal?

If you are immortal, do you ever wish you were mortal instead?

Name one (or a few) people in your life whose death would ruin you.

Who do you think would miss you most if you were gone?

Name one person you’d protect even if it meant sacrificing yourself.

If you had to choose a way to die, what would you choose?

Have you ever seen someone die (but you didn’t cause it)?

Has someone ever tried to severely hurt you?

Could you kill someone if it meant protecting yourself or someone else?

If you could meet someone who has died, who would it be?

Do you believe the dead ever come back to walk the earth?

Have you ever seen a ghost/spirit?

If you’ve ever had a near-death experience, describe what happened and what you saw/experienced.

BONUS: FOR UNDEAD/SPOOKY MUSES

How did you die?

What’s the last thing you remember before death?

Is the afterlife/undeath exactly as you pictured it to be?

What do you consider yourself (ghost, zombie, spirit, etc.)?

Do you wish you were alive and mortal again?

Was death frightening to you?

What have you learned since your death?

When you meet living people, are they afraid of you?

If you could be brought back to life, would you accept?

     “Hey, hey, hey! Wait a second, if he can talk, he knows stuff! Don’t kill him yet!” It’s a panicked plea, spilling from Clint as he reaches out to put a hand on Bucky’s shoulder, trying to ease him away from murdering this man. Quickly, he grabs an arrow from his pack– his grappling arrow, actually, with high tensile strength wire designed to hold ten times his weight in an emergency– and uses the line to whirl their target into a tight little ball. There’s no way the guy can get out of there easily, and it’ll keep Bucky from having to keep the man pinned and potentially not-so-accidentally crush him in the process.

     Clint pulls Bucky aside, pitching his voice low, even though he’s fairly sure that their enemy probably could predict what he was going to say.

     “He might be able to tell us how he’s alive and who we need to stop to make sure other people who are supposed to be dead don’t end up alive again and chasing us. Like yeah, clearly he’s awful, and maybe he deserves to be punished, but what if there is someone worse he can lead us to? And if he’s alive even if he’s supposed to be dead, maybe Nat is too. Look, I’m not saying we let him off the hook, or even out of our sight. We just need to think about the fact that he might be more useful alive than dead, okay?”

Bucky let himself be led away, his expression no less aggressive as he listened to Clint. He didn’t bother to lower his voice when he replied. “Okay, but my patience is real limited.”

He turned back to glare at their prisoner. “He’s not smart, as you can see. The odds of anyone telling him anything useful are pretty fucking small.” 

Drawing the largest of his combat knives, Bucky flipped it into the air and caught it, a cold smile curving his lips. “ You can talk to him if ya want, but I’m not gonna hold off forever. He’s already had 53 more years more than he should have had, and he hasn’t aged a day.“