дело №17.

Logan was … mostly here for the food. And also the chance to get a look at the Dick-tator in the flesh, see if he could run him through a few times.

So far, the food was good - though the portions were tiny - but the star of the show hadn’t turned up to his own party. 

Staking out the food table, he moved to grab one of the last cocktail sausages at the same time someone else reached for it. “Hey,” he said, “That one’s mine.”

“that so?” he said, pausing for a moment. “well, from the looks of it, it ain’t got your name on it,” bucky replied gruffly, his eyes narrowing over at logan as he reached over to grab the sausage in question before the shorter male could get to it and promptly plopped it in his mouth. “‘sides, ain’t you had enough?” he added, raising a brow. 

The boy shifts to stand closer to his father, hand is suddenly grabbing onto his arm from his position next to him, but hiding behind him SLIGHTLY. However, RJ peaks out from where he was to look at what Bucky is talking about. “We can’t wear the color red? DAD? I really don’t like this place. It scares me.” He says this when sure none of those guards were in earshot. 

“i’m with you, kid,” bucky replies with a sigh as his arm moves to pat rj’s shoulder reassuringly. “i don’t think anyone likes it here. except doom himself, of course. guess it’s better than dinosaurs, at least a little bit, but...” he trailed off, shaking his head. “we’ll be okay. just gotta be smart about what we do -- we won’t have to deal with this guy’s crap forever, we’ll figure something out. we always do, don’t we?”

“couldn’t they have at least let me have my prototype glider?” it was frustrating to be walking around and working around planet doom without his earlier projects back at oscorp. harry would much rather have his prototypes at hand and in his sight, especially if they were dealing with someone like doom. “the machete would’ve come in handy though.”

“considering he took away most if not all of our abilities, i’m not surprised he doesn’t want to give us weapons either. he wants the power to himself, both literally and metaphorically.” bucky replied, sighing softly before he shrugged his shoulders. “it would’ve been handy, yeah, but on second thought... don’t know that i’d want to be thrown into a ‘doomgeon’ for it. i don’t know what that entails, but i don’t think i want to find out.”

mj could say she was caught off guard by the man/thing holding the large gun. even though mj wasn’t affected by the power dampener, the effect it had on everyone else was bad. her heroes could no longer save everyone. the power this guy had over the town was crazy. “okay… do you know this guy? like…would he really shoot us, dad?” she looked away from the thing and followed him down the street towards the grocery store. “i guess this is better. no dinosaurs trying to eat us.”

“i don’t,” he replied, shaking his head as they walked away from it. “it’s probably one of his bots, i think. just... let’s just try to avoid those things. we don’t want any trouble from them,” he sighs. “i wouldn’t put anything past doom or his robots. i also don’t want to give them the idea that they need to shoot us, you know? i may work for the police force here, but i don’t carry a gun anymore. even though i’d like to sometimes.” he pauses. “yeah, maybe by a little bit. but at least we had freedom and our powers with the dinosaurs around. don’t worry-- we’ll figure this out, okay?”

“will it?” bucky replies with a sigh as he looked down at the suit he was to wear to work. it was odd to see himself in this, much less be in it in general, but he wasn’t about to argue. “a step up from what i’m used to, i guess. still, feels weird to be wearing a tie. does it look like my arms are about to hulk out of the sleeves of this thing?” he fidgeted with the cuffs of the dress shirt. “hopefully we won’t have to deal with more bloodstains. i’d be happy to put that in the past, honestly.”

“you mean being told to ‘hunt down’ the ‘doomicile’ who did some tasteful graffiti by the castle is a weird opportunity?” bucky asked, laughing softly before he shrugged. “yeah, i guess so. but it’s my job, so it’s not like i can refuse.” the tasks he was given were odd at times, but detective work was... at least somewhat familiar to him. not exactly the same as past ‘jobs’, but it was better than nothing. “what about you? what job have you got?”

bucky’s gaze flashes towards the person -- or was it a bot? he was getting too old for this --, and noticed that they did, indeed, have a large gun. just like mj had said.  he sighs, his hand running over his face. “somehow i’m not surprised. just stick by me, keep your head down. we don’t want to do anything to warrant being shot.” he said, moving his hand to rest on her shoulder and guide her away from the thing. “we just have to get a few groceries and then we can go home. or at least... what’s supposed to be our home now.”

reed immediately comes to, his arm stretched out as if ready to defend himself, before breathing out in relief as he noticed it was just bucky. “it’s inconclusive but i have a strong feeling we’re dealing with more than just a nightmare. we might actually be dealing with a person controlling them because there is no other way these nightmares are manifesting in this reality without someone in control of it.” he gives the soldier a once over, a little worried that his arm bore the red star again. “back to silver?,” he pointed out at the arm. “we have to find a way to get your vibranium arm back. and hopefully that means getting out of this reality already.” his fascination over the dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures has lost its charm, already tired of dealing with unknown elements that always seems to be thrown their way. “i’m getting a little tired of dealing with acid rain and nightmares. we need to get everyone to that tear,” he said as he pointed out to the a gap in the environment, “and hopefully get out of this hellhole already.”

“sounds above my pay grade,” bucky jokes in response as he listened to reed explain his theory on what was going on. he wasn’t about to doubt the other, much less deny giving help, even if he felt he might not be properly equipped to deal with the situation. “unfortunately.” he comments, glancing at his arm. “ but if this is all the stuff of our nightmares, it’s not real. an illusion, i guess. we get out, maybe things will go back to normal. truthfully, when it got destroyed years ago, i was kind of glad. ” he admitted. the red star was a dark symbol of his past, and even though he was still going by the moniker of the winter soldier, he didn’t want to be associated with that anymore. “whoever’s doing this, they’re trying to fuck with us,” he sighed before he laughed dryly, nodding his head in agreement. “i’m tired of this place in general. better question is, how are we going to get everyone there with all that stands in our way? and what lies for us on the other side?”

“you are full of metal, you realize?“ erik asked as he turned towards the man - feeling the man’s massive amount of metallic items he kept on him. he would be able to easily throw the man if he wished to - there wouldn’t be any doubt about it, and yet he waited and paused, attempting to figure out what this man wanted. “magneto; who the fuck are you?” he asked, a streak of anger surging through him as he stared the other down.

at the other man’s next set of words, erik gave him a look of confusion and annoyance. “i have no idea what you are talking about, but it sounds ridiculous.” he curled his fingers, edging himself closer to get a grasp at the metal on the man. “you are in a dangerous position friend, i would not want to continue to pester with me if i were you.” he spat, eyeing him more suspiciously.

magneto. while he’d never met the guy --  as far as he knew --, he at least knew that whoever this guy was -- however he was here -- he was much younger than the magneto that had gone to jail months ago. his head tilts to the side slightly, but he doesn’t question the other. “moreso than others, i’m aware,” he nods in response, before pausing for a moment. who was he? good question. he has to decide whether or not to give his full name or nickname, like he generally does, or the alias he’s known by. “the winter soldier.” he answers.

“it’s a character from a horror movie,” he said, pausing before he shrugged and shook his head. “doesn’t matter. don’t worry about it.” he was about to shrug his shoulders before his gaze snaps to his left arm, feeling a tug on it by the other. his gaze narrows. “let’s just calm down here,” he replied, raising his palms in an attempt to show he meant to harm. “i’m sorry for... pestering. won’t happen again.”

kate stared at the blood on her hand. something did happen. it wasn’t her imagination–it couldn’t be. “no, they were after me. i swear there was someone.” she didn’t take her eyes off the trees. she half expected them to reappear to finish what they started. her face and stomach ached from where they had hit her. this was nothing compared to what happened the first time. “bucky, i swear i’m not crazy. i know what i saw. i was attacked by these people and i don’t–i don’t know where they went.” she hung her head, pressing the palms of her hand against her forehead. “maybe i am losing it. they must’ve ran off when they saw you–i don’t know.”

“i don’t doubt that whatever happened to you, happened,” bucky replied, frowning as he looked over at her. “i just meant that-- whoever they are, wherever they are, they’re gone. for now. c’mon, let’s get inside. probably safer in there, and my gun’s there too. where’s your bow?” he asked, raising a brow. “you’re not losing it. something weird’s going on here... everyone’s having nightmares. but we’re gonna figure it out, yeah? and you’ll be okay. you’re not crazy. we should get that blood cleaned up too.”

reed richards would like to confess that volunteering to scout the area was so his wife and brother-in-law wouldn’t have to do it. the jungle was dangerous enough as it is with all the dinosaurs roaming about; he wasn’t about to let them go there to look for another way out of this place. besides, he needed to make sure that whatever it was that they find wouldn’t actually be harmful towards everyone and the tear in reality was probably their best bet right now.

except everything was dark right now and reed was alone. one minute, he was with his companions; the next, he was completely alone. “hello?,” he called out into the darkness. of course he’d get stuck in some other dimension while looking for a way to get out of their current dimension. “reed.” it was then that reed’s blood ran cold. he knew that voice. turning, he had never wished for his assumption to be wrong until now because there in front of him was victor von doom. then his body was suddenly out of control, someone taking over him. “get away from me!” reed richards then sank onto his knees, his head in his hands as he closed his eyes and attempted to flush out doom, ignoring everything else around him.

what the hell was going on? 

he felt as if his head was spinning. the weird thing, being, he couldn’t place why he felt like this. there were so many questions running around in his head, and no answers. and as if that wasn’t bad enough, he quickly realized some things were... different. his arm -- it was silver. his blood runs cold as he notices he’s in his old uniform, and all he can hear are the voices of his victims. cries of fear, people pleaing for their lives, and the unmistakable sound of gunshot after gunshot. getting to his feet, he tries to run from it, before he hears another voice -- one unfamiliar to his nightmares --, and he goes after it. “is anyone there?” he calls out, until he spots someone else. “hey,” he says, putting his hand on their shoulder. “doctor richards? what’s going on, where are we?” he asks, crouching down to face the doctor as he rips off and discards the all too familiar mask that had been covering his face. 

Sooraya couldn’t help deflating slightly. “Oh. It was worth a guess. There have been many Americans in Afghanistan. Many Russians, too.” She refrains from commenting any further either way, on borders and lines and interventions. What mattered the most was finding a way home, and they could only do that by bringing everyone’s skills together. “There weren’t good records back home even before all this…but we must keep trying anyway.”

“ah, i see. i’m american, technically speaking, but i’ve been fluent in russian and a few other languages for... years.” he replied. “heh, yeah. sort of hard to keep records when no humans were around at that time. but i think we’ve done our best to try to figure out at least some of it. but i’m also sure no one ever thought we’d end up in dinosaur-land again. we’ll do what we can, i’m sure. what else can we do?” he says, shrugging his shoulders.

she was running through the trees, the sound of what was chasing after her was right on her heels. whatever it was was light on its feet–too light to be a dinosaur. she tripped, falling onto shoulder. “shit.” before she could crawl back to her feet, a foot came into contact with her stomach. she grunted and doubled over in pain. when she finally looked up to see her attackers, her heart nearly stopped. the faces were all too familiar of the men that attacked her in central park. she reached for her weapon but couldn’t find it. somehow, kate managed to crawl to her feet. this can’t be real, she kept repeating over and over in her head. her attacker hit her again–this time across the cheek. she could taste blood as she fell back. she managed to kick her attackers away before crawling to her feet and running. still, she heard them behind her. she was heading back for the compound–the first safe place she could think of. she hoped she could find someone out here to help her–to stop them from hurting her again. she spotted a familiar figure ahead. “help!” she shouted, hoping it caught their attention. “get me out of here! please.” she glanced over her shoulder to see if they were still after her, but they were gone. she stopped running and wiped the blood from her mouth. “there were–they were chasing me. where did they go?”

bucky always had trouble sleeping. and tonight, the one night he manages to get a few hours of sleep, of course he has a nightmare. restless, he gets out of bed. it’s become habit now to grab his rifle whenever he ventures out, just in case of dinosaurs or other possible threats. he knew to be ready for and to expect anything, but when he sees kate bolting from something -- or someone --, he frowns and grows concerned. “kate?” he asks, his head tilting to the side slightly as he moved to her side. “i don’t--,” he looked around, shaking his head. he saw nothing. what was she running from. “there’s nobody here except you and i,” he said. “i can’t see anyone, kate. what happened? who were you running from?” 

scott grinned his classic smile seeing that the other guy had remembered him. he reached out and shook bucky’s hand, still smiling at him. “james barnes, bucky. pleasure.” he eventually pulled his hand away after learning from the first meeting he had with steve. “uh more of an indoors engineering kinda guy. but i have had some experiences…” he tilted his head, referring to his criminal past. “i know my way around a gun though so yeah i wouldn’t mind a lesson.”

“it’s good to see you again, scott. glad to know you’re still in one piece.” he gives him a small smile before he nods his head, pulling his handgun out of it’s holster to begin demonstrating the basics as a refresher course. “gonna guess you probably know how to hold it. safety’s here -- keep it on til you need to shoot.” he explained to start, and then continued to go over other basics before he holds the gun out to scott. “a handgun isn’t usually ideal for hunting, as far as i know, but it’s all i’ve got and it’s easier than the rifle.”

One thing about Bucky Barnes - he was quick as hell. Clearly, farming goats in Wakanda hadn’t dulled his reflexes. Or maybe farming goats would sharpen them – goats could be mean as hell when they wanted to be. 

“I’m good, really really good,” Tony replied, staring at the dinosaur in some fascination. No matter how dangerous they were, he really liked the damn things. Plus, he was seeing dinosaurs! Actual dinosaurs! In the flesh! 

“I haven’t seen you in a while,” he said, glancing over at Bucky. “You know, I never really said sorry about the shit in Siberia.” 

Was this the right place to be talking about that? Probably not. But was there ever a right place?

“So, sorry about that. Oh and, if you ever need help with maintenance…” he nodded at the arm, “I’ve been told I’m pretty handy with a wrench.”

“you don’t need to,” bucky replied, shaking his head. “you were grieving. i can’t fault you for that,” not to mention he still felt guilt for actions he’d had no choice but to make. “i’m sorry for what happened.” he added, his gaze shifting to the ground for a second. at the mention of the arm, he laughs and shakes his head. “again, don’t be. and i needed an upgrade anyway. i’m trying to distance myself from them, so having a big red star on my shoulder never really worked in my favor. but i’ll keep it in mind,” he nodded, giving the other a small smile. “you sure you’re good?” he raised a brow. “we should try to head for one of the shelters, if you are. but let me know if you need a minute,” 

“Do you speak Dari? Pashto?” Sooraya looked the closest she’d been to excited since she arrived in these lands. Perhaps there was nobody else truly like her around, but she had thought she might never hear her home country’s languages again. “Oh! Yes. I saw that at the museum. We went with English lessons. So we could listen to and read things. I was a member of the X-Men, before. I remember helping fight him, but I don’t know why this happened either. Or why I’m here and others aren’t.”

bucky shook his head. “no, i’m sorry. excluding english, i’m best at russian. i speak some other languages as well, but not those.” he gave her a sympathetic smile. the idea that his name and picture were in a museum wasn’t the easiest things to wrap his head around, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. “yeah, the exhibit on steve.” he chuckled. it doesn’t mention his past as the winter soldier -- that having been unknown at the time -- and he’s glad of that. “it’s hard to say, really. i think we’d all love to know why and how we’re here, and what state our homes are in, but...” he trailed off, shaking his head and shrugging his shoulders.