18550/Let's Talk

Let's Talk
Date of Scene:	12 July 2024
Location:	The Metropolitan Correctional Center New York
Synopsis:	They expected a zealot, what they got was a psychopath. One name was the reward for all their trouble - a breadcrumb to be followed to the next. Oh, yeah, and Becker managed to survive yet again like the cockroach he is.
Cast of Characters:	James Barnes, Sam Wilson, Natasha Romanoff, Camille Russo, Richard Stadler, Morrigan MacIntyre, Sara Pezzini

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James Barnes has posed:
It's been almost a month since Nathaniel Becker was taken into custody. He's currently being housed at the The Metropolitan Correctional Center New York, New York's federal prison. His trial date has been set for August the 5th and so far he hasn't spoken a word to anyone - literally anyone. He hasn't requested an attorney. He's being kept out of general population for his own safety - even some criminals are murderously enraged over the loss of Captain America, go figure. He hasn't talked to any of the correction officers. He's just been a lump in a private cell in solitary confinement. That is until today.

Today Becker is in a room that's been set up for interrogation. It's an odd thing to have in a prison, but with it being the type of facility that it is, it's not uncommon for questioning to take place here in regards to crimes committed on the outside and those committed from within.

The room itself is pretty standard fare - bright overhead lighting, dull green painted walls, concrete floor, table at its center and a big glass window that can be turned into a two way mirror with a press of a button on the wall directly in front of the table.

Becker is currently in shackles, both hands and ankles. The former are connected to the table top and the former from anchor points in the concrete floor. Bucky is standing on the other side of that glass - in full view of everyone in the room, no mirror today. His hair is a little on the longer side than it was that fateful day when the world lost an icon for hope and justice. It's not quite into his eyes yet, but close. For today's exchange he's chosen a bit of a throwback when it comes to clothing. While the man himself may not have given himself over to the cold entirely just yet, Bucky certainly looks the part of The Winter Soldier today - right down to the mask that allows only those piercing blue eyes to be seen. Arms folded across his chest, comm feature turned on with his implant - it seems he's just here to watch and listen.

As the others are let into the locked room by the prison warden himself, the man mutters, "Be nice if you lot would just save the tax payers' dollars on this one."

He's one of the millions - perhaps billions - of people that want nothing more than to see Nathaniel Becker pay with his own life for his crimes.

Sam Wilson has posed:
Sam is present, wearing the a black shirt and pair of urban camoflauge pants with a pair of sunglasses over his eyes, and a pair of heavy boots. As the warden shows them in, he nods politely. "Thanks for giving us a moment to talk to Mister Becker. I appreciate it." he says as he makes his way into the interrogation room and as he catches Bucky's eye, he gives a firm nod of support before he turns his attention back to the prisoner.

Approaching Becker, he speaks conversationaly. "You upset several people when you went after Captain Rogers." he offers quietly. "So, we're going to do the polite thing and make you talk. "I'm not a doctor, so I'm not tied down by any oaths. And if I were, this won't kill you."

Taking an IV bag out of his kit, he shakes it a couple of times and then connects a feeder tube to a needle. "This is just saline water. No effect on anything. Just need to keep you hydrated. Feeling for his vein, he inserts the needle and secures it down."

And then he returns to his bag and takes out a needle filled with cloudy white liquid. "This is 3-Methylmethcathinone, a designer drug from Sweden. As for what it will do to you, like with mephedrone, users of 3-MMC typically report effects such as an elevated mood, pleasant body sensations, feelings of love and empathy, euphoria, greater appreciation of music, heightened libido, and increased confidence and sociability. In other words, you're gonna be chatty."

"I'm here to make sure you stay alive and talkative. So..." he injects the needle into the stem of bag and empties the contents into the feeder tube. He turns to face the others. "Give him a couple of minutes and he should be talkative enough to tell us about his first crush."

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Count Natasha in amongst those numbers. But still, even as a domestic terrorist, the man has some level of rights. It's American law and jurisprudence, and it's too public to just have him vanish over into the system. Natasha is more there to be a support for Bucky if he needs it. Natasha is not the empathetic one. But she can fake it very well. She's here for her comrade. Natasha rarely uses terms like 'friends'. And she and Bucky probably aren't. Not in the same way that Natasha and Clint are.

Natasha and Bucky share a common frame of reference and life experience. Killers. Terrorists. Assassins. Murderers. Spies. They were both made into them, willingly or not. She understands in a way as one can without a sense of emotion what Bucky is going through. Steve was his brother. The grounding force in his life.

Natasha is here, faded into the background to just observe and be on hand. To read his body language. To watch him. To evaluate.

And if need be to be the one that hurts him.

Camille Russo has posed:
Agent Russo smiles politely, sunglasses in place to protect eyes that are still oversensitive from her recent concussion. "The people deserve to see justice done, since we were able to apprehend him. There's already too little trust in the system, even when the criminals are caught red-handed or brag about their work." It's likely Becker won't see much past his first month in prison, she reckons. Not as angry as so many people are. He'll get his walk or shower time with a group of men that want him dead for what he's done, and he won't walk out alive. Everyone will swear he tripped or fell, and the guards will conveniently be handling some other issue at the time. Anything that doesn't match the story will be covered.

She slips into the room behind Sam, taking a relaxed parade rest stand behind Becker. The reason for her presence will be clear as soon as they start asking questions, so for now she says nothing else, just waits. She'll likely need all of her energy for what she's planning.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Stadler didn't like this man. Not at all. Granted, that was the same as millions of other Americans who could be assured that the powers that be were handling this with intelligence and tact. And sometimes it was damned complicated to be those powers.

He wasn't in the front room with the man; he didn't have a need to be. He had a closet full of hats, but 'cop' wasn't among them (despite the thought that Reserve positions might come in handy one of these days). He also wasn't an intelligence officer, and his Uniformed Services Card said retired. Sam was even dealing with the drugs; it was a wonder he qualified for the Visitor badge he was wearing clipped to his suit jacket.

No matter. He wasn't going to miss this. The information was too important, and what it might do to the people here, people who knew Captain America, who loved him, even more so. At the very least he could be a brace to any of them taking things... too far.

"Never liked drugs like that." He said, turning his back to the window momentarily, his lips not readable from the other side. His eyes were on Bucky. "Tactically, certainly has it's problems. Talk doesn't always equal the truth. I suppose it's just empathy on what the damn stuff does to you."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
While Doctor MacIntyre is not a spy, she does tend to blend into the back of groups rather well! While she was guessing no one was going to beat the hell out of Mister Becker...she was going to insure that if they did that he was at least helped back to being able to stand trial. Sam didn't have an oath, she did.

She's dressed for a day at school, which means professional looking shirt and skirt. There isn't a smile on her face currently given the whole situation. She couldn't beat Becker's face in either...because that would be just as bad as one of these others doing it. "I'll make sure he doesn't die." she states in her usual tone when dealing with SHIELD stuff.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara was there. It wasn't clear to anyone, including herself, if she was there as part of SHIELD, an Avenger, or an NYPD Detective. None of that actually mattered to her at the moment. Seeing this man sitting there alive, well fed, and tended to by the prison just plain rubbed her the wrong way. It was actually Witchblade who wasn't happy to see the man so comfortable, but the entity had a way of letting his thoughts influence the woman.

She listened to the comments from the officers who had been watching over him as they departed, a large part of her agreeing with them but that part had a name. She checked over his prison file to ensure that he was being protected until the trial. She looked like just another officer at the moment, following procedure to the letter.

Remaining quiet, listening and just watching for a short time, she studied the body language of this Becker. All the while in the back of her mind were scenarios that played out if this interrogation had taken place anywhere else. The answers could have simply been plucked from his head without him even being awake, but this was the legal way, and the law was being followed.

When the others had made themselves known, said what they were going to say, she folded her arms across her chest so that her right hand was on top and Witchblade could 'see' the man clearly. Crossing to stand in front of him, she cants her head slightly before a dark smile flashes across her face.

Speaking in a low, deep, serious tone she asks, "Do you see that man there?" as she James Barnes standing on the other side of the bullet proof glass. "They used to call him the Winter Soldier, which surely a man of your talents has heard of him."

Leaning in a little closer she continues, "If you don't know, then let me tell you the short version. He is rumored to be the world's most deadly assassin, he was the boogie man, the worst nightmare."

And now she whispers, "If you think that pain of glass will save you from him, you should think again because he spared you once, he's not going to do it again if you don't give us exactly what we need.... and me? The Witchblade, I'll let him do it."

Standing back up she offered Becker a smile, such a charming, award winning smile. "Think long and hard on your next words."

James Barnes has posed:
Still not a word, or a move, from Becker - not yet. He just sits there through Sam filling him up with drugs, through the others entering the room and saying their piece and through the glare from the wild eyes of James Buchannan Barnes - childhood friend of Steve Rogers. He just sits there with a smug, smarmy little smile playing on his lips. Such calm in the face of being interrogated by the likes of the Avengers or just batshit nuts? That remains to be seen. Perhaps he just figures they can't /actually/ do him any real harm here?

The statue of a man on the other side of the glass might beg to differ with Becker's sentiment. He doesn't however. Tuning into the bastard's heartrate via the enhanced hearing provided by that same implant - a thing that most of the time he loathes and wishes to be rid of - his head shifts ever so slightly. It's a barely perceptible motion. Quietly, to anyone that might be wearing comm units - his mouth completely hidden by the mask on his face - Bucky murmurs, "His heartrate was even and steady when you all walked into the room." Even before the drugs, save that moment of widening eyes at the mention of The Winter Soldier and Witchblade. One would think the man would at least be a /little/ more nervous. "He's either a sociopath or he believes so much in the cause that he's not afraid at all to die for it."

But there's something in Becker's eyes that hint at the former. They're actually not unlike Bucky's were back when SHIELD and the Avengers all thought he was one that should be stopped, not saved. All but Steve that is.

Bucky's attention shifts to Rick, his own eyes revealing just how close he is to unhinged when he says, "I don't like them either. Makes a man hurt less in the event they need to be hurt." Or worse.

Bucky's hands drop to his sides, his left one flexing into a fist. It's pretty much a given that he's imagining what it would feel like to squeeze Becker's skull like a ripe watermelon with that hand. Depending on how this all goes, there might not be much of Becker left to be brought back - Bucky spared him once, but could he do it again?

Outwardly Becker seems as nonplussed as he has since the beginning. His smile grows a little wider, a little more smarmy and he does actually speak, but the words aren't what anyone wants to hear - yet. "Who woulda thought, the man, the legend, Captain American taken out by a simple press of a button?"

Anyone standing near Bucky might be compelled to take a few steps away when the sound of the feral growl that escapes him reaches their ears.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Sara is a police officer. She (in theory) follows the law. But the Witchblade? It follows a far older tenet. Vengeance. And perhaps by it's own definition, justice. A valiant man has been murdered for little. Is what the perpetrator is going to be put through even remotely justice for the suffering he is due?

And as Becker starts to talk, Natasha goes to look almost amused for a half second. Sam could probaly spot it in her, even if the others didnt. Bucky's attention wasn't on her at the moment. This is the man that they couldn't kill as it's not what Steve would have wanted?

A waste.

But in given company, Natasha's expression goes to smooth out. "Becker, is it? I take it that you don't know who all of us are then?" She would gesture at each person in turn.

"most of us want to hurt you badly or worse. And yet we shall not."

Sam Wilson has posed:
"This is the stuff the CIA uses." Sam points out. "Not that sodium pathomite stuff." That explained to Stadler as he listens to Bucky as he speaks and he nods his head firmly. "So. Let's start. Who are you working for?" he asks Becker with a smirk. "Because you are clearly not the man in charge, or they wouldn't just be leaving you here, flapping in the wind with no protection or even a lawyer." he points out.

"So, life will go easier for you if you share what you know." If the observant were to notice, Sam has yet to turn the small nozzle that woule leak the drugs into the IV. He's bluffing, to see if he'll talk without the drugs first. Becker's remarks on the button push are ignored for the moment. "I'd worry more about yourself than Captain Rogers or the Winter Soldier. And worry more when they release you into GenPop. Sure, you may get some friends, but my guess? You'll draw many more people that want to kill the man that killed Captain America."

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara said what she wanted to say, though she removed all the cursing and the throat punch part that Witchblade wanted. She was already pretty certain that this man wasn't going to say anything, and thanks to Bucky's she was now convinced he was a psychopath. For him, all of this, the drugs, even her threats, was about the attention. Attention on him, on his cause, on his purpose.

When he finally spoke, the words were like small daggers aimed perfectly at his targets. He wanted to rile them up, perhaps test just how far he could push them before someone killed him and saved him from the trial entirely.

Snorting at him, she walks back to the exit door and leans beside it. The drugs were going to be required, but deep in her soul she felt they wouldn't work, they wouldn't get the answers needed, and she was going to have to arrange for an extra visitor from the JLD.

Camille Russo has posed:
Camille has shoved all of her thoughts and most of her emotions down into a deep, deep box that isn't going to be opened again until she's crawling back into Rhodey's bed. It's a good thing too, as Becker opens his mouth just for shit to fall out.

She steps forward after his comment, drawing symbols across the back of his neck in a tacky, red-black ink before capping the pen in her hand and settling gentle fingertips on either side of his vocal cords. "It is probably for the best that you refrain from such comments, Mr. Becker." Her voice is still faintly pleasant, and her fingers don't make any move to press or restrict. The symbols across the back of his neck encourage truthfulness. She can't compel him, but she can encourage. She can also make his lies sound like the garbage they are. "We are going to ask you three questions to be certain the drugs are working. Please lie about your date of birth."

Richard Stadler has posed:
     A lot of threats going through the other end of the glass with the heavy hitters in there. Sam Wilson, he had seen a bit at school, but beyond a few pleasantries, he knew him only by reputation. And the rest... throughly dangerous individuals that he was reasonably certain the law couldn't touch. It was... unknown if he would be alive after this, and Rick didn't think a stern look from him or Doctor MacIntyre would stop it.

Comms were still working, at least, given Sam's communication, and Rick's head nodded just slightly. "Yeah, makes it harder to hurt the man if you need to. Never liked trying to get information out of someone like that. Usually it's either acting calmly or pressing on a pressure point. If neither of those work, no need to waste time." He said. "This guy know what he did, and I imagine he knows the worst we can do is kill him. Though it looks like Agent Russo might be trying a little of that hocus pocus."

He's silent for a bit, turning back around to view the man briefly. Blankly. True believers. You almost had to respect them. ALmost. Not quite.

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan has no want to kill Becker, she figures that he's going to hang himself...or there is going to be a Winter Soldier coming through the glass to do that at some point. She's quiet and standing off towards the corner of the room. While she's not talking, she is observing and making sure that no one is going to lose their cool. She's just a consultant!

She does realize Sam's not started the IV...but she doesn't say anything. There's just a bit of a look towards the mirrored glass before giving a look back to Camille and Sam as they work.

James Barnes has posed:
Sam's threats are meant with an even broader smile. Natasha's make him chuckle humorlessly. His mouth was open as if to speak when Camille started scribbling on the back of his neck and then laid those fingers so gently on his throat. As if his grin was slimy enough before. The stare he gives Camille is nothing short of lewd. Finally he does speak, but not to answer Camille's question - it's to answer Sam's. "You got it all wrong, man. Sure, I did a job for the guy but I ain't mixed up in all that tree hugging bullshit." Definitely not garbage jibber-jabber. "You think he felt it? You think he knew in the moments before everything went BOOM?" The word boom is punctuated by a slapping of his hands down hard on the table top. Finally he turns his attention back to Camille. The word he's trying to get out was 'yesterday', but it comes out sounding more like 'steadyer'. Most of the same letters, but not quite the right word. "Huh, interesting," he murmurs after.

"His heartrate is still steady," Bucky murmurs over the comms. The he replies to Rick, "There are worse things." Than death - if anyone knows that to the center of his soul, it's James Barnes. There are things way worse than death.

Becker isn't the only one in the room that's too calm. The last comment didn't even get a reaction from him other than a slight cant of his head. Is it just imagination or is the air getting a little chilly. Everyone gets numb in the cold. The winter months are frigid and deadly, they kill without remorse. It's Bucky's lack of reaction that indicates that a blizzard might be brewing inside him.

Becker is obviously not a zealot - he's in the world for himself and nothing else. He's not behind any 'cause' but his own. That doesn't mean, however, that he doesn't have any information to offer. It does mean that maybe, just maybe, it might be even easier to get if someone tosses out the right bone.

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would lean back, "Oh, we're not here to make you suffer. We're here to get what information we can from you. Then pass judgement. Or to pass it along to those who will. You deserve death.. But you won't get it. That would be.." Belittling in the extreme of what James had done to take the man in in the first place rather than go with his first instinct. "I don't think we can hurt you either. Physical pain will yield nothing, emotional pain the same. You don't particularly care either way. You have nothing for a cause, no stake in anything."

She muses, "But what we can do is keep you alive. For a very long time. There's magic and technology.. A life support capsule. An IV. Restraints. Fired off to orbit somewhere around a moon. Cut off from everything for a century or two, a hundred light years from anyone who cares."

Sam Wilson has posed:
Sam's right hand curls into a fist. His teeth are bared for a moment. And it looks like he's about to strike Becker, but he steps back at the last second. "That's cool man, you want to be like that..." he says as he rubs his arm against the sudden cold. "I'm sure you can ask him yourself." he offers cryptically. "If you're still around when he comes back." A slight change in tactic to see if Becker responds to that.

But for the moment, he steps back to be next to Morrigan. He wants someone else to lead. Interrogations are not covered in the PJ manual.

Camille Russo has posed:
Camille's voice is steady as she stares at Becker, and she doesn't react to the frank lewdness in his stare, either. "My coworker is correct in that we can deny you the joy or release from joy for a very, very long time. What is your goal in this, Mr. Becker? Tell us." Her stare flicks to Sara for a moment, and then back to Becker. "Penance can be delivered if you cooperate with us. Do you not want the world to understand why you pressed the button?"

She neglects to mention that said Penance is a stare, delivered directly to the face by a being that made her want to shit her own pants in fright just from a glimpse of it, even though she doesn't do the sorts of things that attract angry Ghost Riders.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Stadler can feel the chill of the attitude from the man in the room with him, and has to imagine that Becker would count his life down in minutes. So be it. It would have been a lot easier on everyone if he had gone out with his weapon drawn and firing; neater, and cleaner. But here he was, in a federal prison, and that meant that-

"Jesus." He says, to Natasha's statement on what she planned to do. "No, Mr. Barnes, I'm not going to... argue that. Agent Romanova just put that paid to it. Lord, if we can sell it, maybe that'll get through to him, but I have to wonder if people understand that the mercy we can show is not for the benefit of men like him."

He turns to look at Bucky a bit more directly. "I'm... sorry. Sounding like I should have majored in Philosophy, But that man has objectives that may horribly align with ours, if we're not careful." He turns around to the window, speaking quietly on the radio. "Russo. Right idea. Focus on what he wants at the end, going into the hereafter. I'm sure he's prepared for it.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
For Sara at this point it was completely a watch and wait situation. She had already profiled the man in her head, which means others had reached the same conclusions as well. He was a psychopath. Witchblade may seem entirely distracted by the proceedings, but not enough so that he didn't notice the use of magic to compel Becker. He took note of it, filed the information away, and went back to focusing on breaking down Sara's will.

Folding her arms across her chest, she cast her green eyes to the floor for a moment, a dark smile cross her lips. "He's just trying to get a rise out of anyone he can, in hopes that we will just kill him now and be done with it. To turn us into him, to make us the monsters instead of him."

Looking up from the floor, there is a flicker of red light in her eyes for a split second as she says, "But don't worry Becker, that's not going to happen. No one is going to kill you today, or tomorrow. As Agent Romanova said, we'll keep you alive for a very long time... yes, /we'll/ make sure that death doesn't happen." She gestures toward the bracelet as she says this. "If you cooperate, we might kill you tomorrow though, if that's really want you want."

There were few things in the world that angered Witchblade more than a lack of justice, and to his ancient god mind, there was no justice in being imprisoned or questioned. Justice was an eye for an eye. This man had blown up Steve Rogers, so Witchblade wanted to blow up Becker... one limb at a time.

"Who hired you?" she finally asked bluntly, regaining the upper hand in her own mind and once more walking toward the man shackled to the table. "We can play games, or we can get to the point. Give us names, meeting locations, how you were paid... the more you share, the better it is for you."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan straightens up a bit when Sam looks like he's going to deck the Becker. Then there is relief when he doesn't. When Sam steps back there is a moment that Mo takes to let her hand touch his arm in quiet reassurance. It's a quick thing, but she then looks back to Camille as she talks about Penance and she wonders if she's talking about Ghost Riders. They'll get back to that!

There were a million things that she could threaten...but none of them here in front of witnesses.

James Barnes has posed:
"That was too easy," Becker says to Sam, along with a wink.

"This worthless piece of wasted sperm is a hired demolitionist," Bucky offers into the comms. "An explosive expert selling his expertise to anyone that can pay the price, no matter what the job or how many lives lost." Basically an assassin without a second thought to the lives he takes. It's just another striking resemblance to the man behind the glass, or at least to the man he was forced to be for decades. "We need to access SHIELD's databases or the FBIs. Someone needs to run a picture of this fucker and see if it comes back connected to any other potential 'jobs'." It's the most animated his voice has been since the start of it - the most 'human' it's sounded rather than the predatory animal hinted at in his words before. "I'm positive Nathaniel Becker is not his real name. If we can get that..." Maybe they can use it to throw the guy off his game?

"What do I want? Well... "A Mindful, Mysterious Conduit". For the first time since it all started, Becker looks a little thrown. He works his jaw a little, opening it and closing it before he says, "A Mournful, Sinister Comedy." Quickly bottling up any shock at this latest development he says, "Don't you love a good riddle?" It's clear, those weren't the things he meant to say. It's also clear that Camille's spell has him a little flustered. A man like him doesn't like to feel out of control.

Once he's collected himself, he turns his attention to Natasha first. "Can I put in a request for the in-flight music playlist? I rather like Waiting for the Next Explosion by The Flaming Lips." Next Sara gets the brunt of those deranged, yet somehow serene green eyes of his. "Better how?"

Natasha Romanoff has posed:
Natasha Romanova would go to lean back over, "Oh, I don't know. Just do remember that we work here under rules and regulations. That we're all quite experienced with staying within." The otehrs she gets a sense are mostly staying quiet out of a sense of not wanting to incriminate themselves or give the man something to work with. Natasha doesn't particularly care. She's not beholden to those things. And her own rather blunt offering might get the others going on about it.

This man is worthless beyond what he took from them, and she sees no more real point to tolerating his continued existence beyond giving the others a sense of closure. For their sake, she can go along with it.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
Sara smiles, canting her head slightly as she says with all the charm of the NYPD detective she was, making an offer only a DA could make. "The 'better for you' depends on three very important factors, so listen carefully."

Leaning herself against the side of the table, offering to Becker the view of her from the side, she continues with. "The first is of course how accurate the information is, which leads right into the second factor... does the information lead us to whom we are looking for, and you know full well who that is."

She turns her head to offer him another smile, "The last factor is how much information  shared, which will reflect directly on the answer to, what it is you want in return."

Sam Wilson has posed:
"Only because I made a promise to someone to not fuck you up." Sam responds flatly. "You're not worth the incident with the NYPD." He ends up next to Morrigan, and when she touches his arm, he turns to give her a brief smile, before his attention returns to Becker.

"He's clearly brainwashed to be immune to interrogation." he admits with a sigh. "And while Bucky's right, I don't think he's gonna care if we find any old dirt on him."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
Morrigan might be the quiet one, but she is not being quiet for the benefit of the prisoner...she is quiet so that she can pick out things. "If you really wanted ridiculous amounts of money that wouldn't have came out as a lie." she points out. "I mean, I could use magic to rip through his mind. His past...but that is unpleasant to most involved." she sighs softly to that. "And threatening to leave him in another dimension probably wouldn't do much either." she shrugs.

Camille Russo has posed:
It is a good thing this is being recorded on SHIELD devices and not by the NYPD, Cam thinks idly as Becker is needled at. She'll watch the tapes later, but right now all of her focus is on continuing to separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to his answers, as frustrating as they are, and tilts her head at Consultant MacIntyre's words. "It may not be as painful if we work in tandem, but it may not be admissible in court, either. It will be excellent for the eventual Lifetime docudrama about all of this, however."

A bit of her own thoughts come through, like the ease with which she could break his neck, and also his impressive ability to attempt to stare down two of the deadliest assassins in the world. Her own SERE training would probably break under the murderous intent that Barnes exudes, and if Becker had a drop of magic he'd be pissing himself from the threatening aura that fills the space. But she isn't on the hot seat, and he's too... something, not right - to notice how malevolent things feel. Or he doesn't care.

That's almost worse.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     Rick nods a bit to Bucky. "We've got two a couple of SHIELD agents in there as well as a cop. I'm sure they've got the access to run the guy through facial recognition. Find out who he might be and if he has any pressure points to press on. Maybe he's figuring that someone will be able to extract him from a place like this... or that he's going to die, either from us, the justice system, or his employers. That has quite a bit it can do clear someone's mind if he accepts it."

Always good to speak from experience.

And then Rick frowns. "Odd words to say. Little off there. Sounding like... a bad Times jumble. An anagram." He says, frowning... before nodding. "Well... that explains what Doctor MacIntyre was saying. Two doctorates certainly go toward sharpening the mind. I'd have to get my phone out for it."

James Barnes has posed:
"This is the most entertainment I've seen in a long long time," Becker begins with a wink in Sara's directon. Then Morrigan speaks and he snap points with a hand shackled to the table and says, "Now she's a bright one, she's going to go places." He leans back, obviously itching to put his hands behind his head but unable to do so. "I'll tell you what, I'll give you one name for free. I know so much more than just that one name, but tonight? I'll give you one freebie. Cockerham." Really, there's no indication that the name he's offering is a lie, jumbled by Camille's spell. He even repeats, "Cockerham - not even a joke. No wonder the guy's looking for some sort of validation, right. But hey, we all have our crosses to bear, right? I bet none of them are as heavy as the one around the neck of The Winter Soldier right now?" He pauses and looks right at the glass, right at Bucky and simply says, "Boom." Once he's spoken the forbidden name, giving that one little crumb of information and taking that one last jab at Bucky, Becker falls silent again. There's nothing more than that smarmy smirk left and it's pretty clear that's all it'll be. This is nothing but a game to him and he's /enjoying/ every second of it.

In the moments that follow the reveal and the subsequent verbal bitch slapping, Bucky balances precariously on the line between busting the glass and using a shard of it to slit Becker's throat and, well, not doing so. Anyone near by can certainly /feel/ the murderous intent warring with the man Bucky truly wants to be underneath it all. In the end, it's a combination of the two that wins. Shattering that glass into a million tiny pieces with one blow from his left fist is the easy part. The part that hurts, the part that takes almost more strength and effort than he has is to simply turn and walk out of the room as he turns off the comm feature of his implants.

One name, is it enough? Can everyone else manage to get more? Right now, Bucky doesn't really care. Distance - if he doesn't get it he knows he'll be lost to the blizzard and returned to Winter. That's not the man he wants to be.

Sara Pezzini has posed:
It takes every ounce of Sara's control to keep from laughing at the report that comes to her through the Avenger comms. She had taken to leaving it on and asking Jarvis to listen in, and the AI had in fact found their man. The information offered however, to her mind, was hysterical. It all matched perfectly to his psychopathic, narcissistic personality, even the codename. For now she kept the report to herself, and kept herself from laughing.

Either way, they had their ace over the man finally.

As the glass shatters, Sara is on her feet and around the chair to actually protect Becker should Bucky intend to come through. When he doesn't, when he just turns and walks away, she leaves the interrogation room by jumping through the open window, rolling up onto her feet and following him out. She wouldn't stop him, she wouldn't talk to him, she wouldn't do a damn thing but be there just as she had been for the past month.

Richard Stadler has posed:
     And... well. There it was. Rick raises his eyebrow as he provides it, and nods his head. "We've... got something, I suppose. I hate that he's playing games with us." He says. SOmething to fill the silence, at least. He can see that look on Bucky's face, the glass that seperates them from the criminal also there in his mind, it seems. A thinner, more fragile sheet that it would be difficult not to break.

"That's the problem, though; they want to-"

Rick was sure he had a point. A really good one, but even he couldn't remain still as that fist quickly lashed out, shattering the heavy mirrored glass next to them, and flinching during something like that was always the embarassing part. His reaction could at least sell that Bucky was unpredictable, though. For all the good that did.

Rick's looking at the man through the open window, now, but that's all. What could he say? What words would rattle him? Nothing he could think of.

He just walked to the door, and left with the rest of them. That was the point. People wanted to play the game. They just never considered they'd meet people who would play it better than they would, and that's all they could do.

Camille Russo has posed:
Camille removes her hands from Becker's neck, and refuses to wipe them against her suit where the man can see. She feels distinctly unclean in his presence, and is beyond ready to go home. She grabs a set of alcohol wipes from Sam's kit and begins to clear the odious man's neck of the ink still sitting there, smiling with a grim satisfaction when the only thing left is the faint image of a black dahlia. Fitting, she thinks.

"We can rewatch the video later. I have better places to be than here." A comfortable couch and the ability to talk waits for her, but she isn't willing to have it ruined by voicing it in front of this man.

Sam Wilson has posed:
When Morrigan starts to show her anger, Sam reaches down to grab her hand to squeeze it, to try to keep her grounded, because he's well aware of what she can do. And it also keeps Sam from launching at Becker himself. There's a sharp glance towards the window as he hears it shattered. He releases Morrigan's hand, ready to interpose himself between Becker and Bucky and he shakes his head as Buckky opts to walk away. "Fuck." he mutters. He knows he cannot do anything for Bucky but be there, but still, it's a pain in the ass.

"I have a hard time with solving the daily Wordle within three turns. I didn't ever notice the anagrams." he admits with a frown. "But someone will figure them out."

Morrigan MacIntyre has posed:
"Yeah I've definitely been places." Morrigan muses to that as she rolls her eyes at Beckers snappy come back. When the glass breaks, she calls up a spell very quickly to shield others from the falling pieces. Because she didn't want anyone hit and she was expecting a Winter Soldier to come through them. But that doesn't happen! She lets Sam's hand go when he releases hers.

"I think we should all clear out and let him do his thing." she states. Then she looks to Sam, "Do you want to go see about him?" she asks him as she nods her head the way Bucky went. Because she knew that there was the need to make sure Bucky was okay with him.

Sam Wilson has posed:
"No, he's okay. At least as okay as he can by." Sam responds to Morrigan's question. "I'd rather just return home with you and sleep in, because I imagine tomorrow won't be much better." '