imfollowinghim | fourteen ✪ video

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fourteen ✪ video

[The video clicks on seemingly of its own accord, and for a moment, it sort of looks like the only thing anyone will be seeing right now is the ceiling of one of the suites on the second floor. The lights are off, so apart from the glow of the screen, there isn't a hell of a lot illuminating anything in the room, and so it sort of seems like that might be that. The communicator fell over and clicked on by accident, or something.

If you're listening closely though, there's a thready, almost disassociated drone coming from somewhere to the left of the microphone. It's Bucky, and if anyone happened to be paying attention or walking around on the second floor, they might have heard screaming, earlier.

He's quiet now, voice hoarse, and he's just repeating his name, rank and serial number. The same thing over and over and over again, almost mechanically.

He doesn't move to get up to turn off the camera, but about three minutes after it started, the connection fizzles out in a burst of static and goes dark.]

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Christ. [Do your duty, soldier. Find him, save him, like you couldn't during the war. You failed him. Find him NOW. The little voice in his head sounds eerily like the Red Skull, mocking, taunting, shoving all his failures in his face, and forgive him if he sounds more than a little panicky. Because he knows that room, doesn't he, it's just like Italy all over again.]

Bucky -- hang on, Buck, I'm comin'.

[He knows that voice. Knows it better than anyone else, and it cuts through the haze a little bit, his eyes flicking towards the direction the voice had been coming from.

He doesn't move to pick up the comm, but the repetition stutters to a halt for a moment as he struggles to reconcile the memories the hotel was forcing on him and the present.]

Steve? [His voice is still quiet, barely there, and he can still hear Zola talking like he's in the room with him, or far away, asking questions he didn't know the answers to and telling him what he needed to do, now.]

It's me, yeah. I won't let 'em get ya. [He's trying so hard to sound cheerful, upbeat, like he does this every day, saving his best friend from torture at the hands of Nazis -- but he knows what came after too, and he doesn't want to imagine the Red Skull in this hell hole.]

Hold tight, keep quiet. I'm on my way. [--And he is, too, quietly picking up his comm and jogging to the second floor.]

[Bucky just nods, not even really sure if Steve can see him, or if he's actually hearing him at all. Zola seems a lot more real, right now, even though he can't really see him, either.

But he does keep quiet, biting the inside of his cheek to keep from going back to mumbling what had almost become a mantra and staring up at the ceiling, trying to ignore the voices.]

[He does make it to the second floor eventually, distracted from time to time by flashes of people, at the corner of his eyes. HYDRA agents, sometimes a flash of red far ahead. But after some trial and error, he finds Bucky's room, and with the help of his shield, manages to ...well, bash the door open. There's little time to waste, and he never had much patience for lockpicking anyway.]

Buck? Hey.

[Bucky glances over at the door when Steve smashes it open, but doesn't move to get up or really otherwise respond for a moment, blinking slowly at him. He could still hear Zola, telling him- he wasn't really sure anymore, he just recognized the drone of his voice, but he could see Steve, too, and hadn't he been talking to him earlier?]

Steve?

Hey, pal. [He kneels to offer Bucky a hand up, looking around furtively. Just in case. He could swear he'd heard footsteps for a moment there.]

You alright?

[Bucky reaches for Steve like he's still not sure if he's really here or not, but when his fingers brush against Steve's, he immediately grabs his hand hard enough to hurt and slowly pulls himself up, still looking blearily and confused.]

What happened to Zola? Is he still here?

I haven't seen him, but we can't be too careful around here, huh.

[He helps Bucky up, then, pausing to listen every once in a while.] We should get outta here.

[Bucky doesn't let go of his friend's hand, partially for balance, but also because Steve's the only thing that seems remotely solid and real right now, and he's not at all interested in losing that.]

Okay. [But he still looks warily over his shoulder again at the corner Zola had been standing in, expression still dazed, but slowly turning into a glare.] I don't know what he wanted.

[Don't worry, Steve's not letting go either, for much the same reasons. This place keeps shifting, and he doesn't like it much.]

I can guess. I won't let him touch ya.

[Bucky doesn't say anything, still scowling a little at the corner. After a while, when it had happened, he'd been too out of it to really understand what they were saying after a while, between the pain and confusion and the fact that they were speaking in German, not to mention the fact he'd probably been running a pretty high fever at the time, but he felt like he'd understood it better this time, that they were trying to make him into something. Something dangerous.

He shook his head, trying to clear it, and tore his eyes away from the corner, still holding Steve's hand like a lifeline.]

Let's go.

[They might have been. Maybe they were, if Steve trusts Natasha's word. He's not sure on that, he won't believe it til he sees, but he's still not going to tell Bucky unless he knows for sure.]

Yeah. Not to my room, there were bugs. [But he gives Bucky's hand a brief, reassuring squeeze, and they're off. Hopefully heading somewhere safe, Steve doesn't have anywhere in mind except just getting out of here as soon as they can.]

Edited 2012-11-30 01:58 (UTC)

[Bucky doesn't really care where they're going as long as they're moving and Steve's more or less in one piece, although he gives him a weird look for the comment about the bugs.]

Bugs? You okay?

[Good, so long as they're away, then. He shrugs a bit.]

Fine. It was just ...a lot of bugs. Thousands, probably. Kind of creepy.

That's disgusting. [And, frankly, if he was less distracted, he'd probably be advocating figuring out a way to get rid of them right now before they decided Steve's room wasn't the only fun place to explore.]

Where's- [And for a second, he's not actually sure who he's asking about, flashes of familiar faces and names running through his mind and he can't focus on one, and he can still feel something prickly and dangerous in the back of his mind, but he tries not to focus on it.] Have you seen anyone else?

I think it's the hotel in general. Pretty creepy sort of place. [He'd tried to convince Top Dollar of that, to no avail.

In any case, he shakes his head, and very nearly answers Bucky back with one of the names of the Commandos --before he remembers, and shakes his head again.]

No. Just Top Dollar and you. Talked to Natasha.

[Bucky almost stopped walking, suddenly a little more alert and focused and looks at Steve sharply.]

Is she okay? I thought- [Except now he wasn't sure if that had been real or not. It had felt real, he'd talked to her and he could remember the conversation, but he could remember Zola, too, talking too quickly and quietly for him to really hear, and it hadn't been like that.] She said she was going after Loki.

She's alright, as far as I could tell. I saw that, too, told her not to. I don't know if she did or not.

[Because after that, he'd started seeing things, hearing things -- sort of lost track of everyone else. At least until he saw Bucky's post, and he was damned if he was going to fail Bucky again.]

I think she's still fine. We would have heard.

[It takes him a minute to identify the voice, if only because he's got a lot else to pay attention to; but it tugs at something in him, and when he backtracks to it while scanning the network, he picks out the name being repeated.

First Rhade, now Bucky. Ben's trying out another relatively new emotion when he breaks into the feed: anger.]

Bucky? Where are you?

[The camera angle's not great. Bucky's jaw is in frame, but not much else, and he still sounds a little out of it, but. He's alive.]

Second floor. Steve's with me. You okay?

[There's visible and audible relief when Ben hears that Steve is there; it's who he'd been about to call, anyway.]

I'm unharmed but I'm not okay. Are you? What room?

[Ben is already headed for the floor in question.]

[Bucky considers for a second, but eventually does get back to the comm instead of getting distracted by dead people or anything.]

I don't know. Second floor somewhere. Where are you? What do you mean, you're not okay?

I'll find you.

[And he will - he'll smell him out if he has to, check every room, but he'll find Bucky and make sure he's okay for himself. His eyes are narrowed and focused as he gains the second floor, heads for the nearest door.]

I mean I'm not okay. [This sharp with impatience, then it shifts a little more towards almost desperation, definitely frustration.] She lied. She said we'd be safe. No one is safe.

Edited 2012-12-04 21:11 (UTC)

We just need to get back to the Barge. [It's hollow, like he's just saying it for the sake of saying something, because while he does sort of believe going back would fix all of this, he's almost not sure they're going to be able to.

And he definitely doesn't have it in him right now to talk him down about the Blue Lady, or how she'd never been here or existed in the first place. That this place was just trying to wear them down and drive them crazy.]

Yes, we do. It's not safe here.

[It's alright, he would have a difficult time being comforted or otherwise placated just now anyway. Mostly he's just concerned with getting where he can lay hands and eyes on Bucky, and that's what he focuses on as he goes through the other rooms on the second floor like a one-person tornado on a mission.

He knocks on the door when he gets to it but he can already smell Bucky, so he just opens it, narrowed eyes scanning for his former warden and friend.]

What did it do? [He demands, making his way over.]

[Bucky is sitting on one of the beds, and he's alone - Steve went to go look for someone or something, and promised he'd be back, and Bucky trusted him. He always trusted Steve.

He looks up when Ben enters, blinking, almost trying to rationalize if he was here or just something he was imagining, but even if he was, he wasn't Zola or the Red Skull or faceless Nazis or hollowed out faces of desperate, terrified people, so he just accepted it rather than trying to pretend he wasn't there.]

Made me remember some stuff I wish I could forget. [It's vague, intentionally so, and his voice is still hollow and rough, but he seems more alert, at least, and looks Ben over with concern without getting up.] How are you doing?

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