6931/Winter Storm Warning

Winter Storm Warning
Date of Scene:	14 July 2021
Location:	Bucky's Bolthole
Synopsis:	Zemo weathers the storm, now they wait.
Cast of Characters:	James Barnes, Helmut Zemo

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James Barnes has posed:
    It was supposed to be a celebration, all their agents were out of the Framework and safe. It was supposed to be a happy moment. What it turned into was a nightmare. When a long-time, loyal Agent spoke the words 'Ready to Comply' right before attempting to assassinate Peggy Carter, something inside Bucky's broken mind just went *snap*.

    Why did he free Zemo before leaving the Playground and bring the man with him? The world may never know for certain, but the safe bet is that Bucky needed, not exactly an trusted ally, but someone he knew what he could expect from, a known element in a rising see of unknowns.

    It was easy to tell from the get go, that something had come unwound in the super soldier's head. It was impossible to miss the wildness in his eyes, an animal ready to flee or fight, maybe both. There was more than a little rambling about HYDRA being *everywhere* and how there was no way out but through them too.

    So, Zemo ended up here, tucked away and told to 'stay'. At least there's a whole lot of reading material? Bucky had made only one stop between Delaware and Hell's Kitchen and that was to retrieve the files on Project R.A.B.I.D.

    Those files contain documentation of testing done on R.A.B.I.D. subjects, they talk about testing blood clotting times, bone healing times, effects of poisons and chemicals on the body, effects of oxygen deprivation... drilling, drowning, cutting... if there's a nasty, vile, evil medical way to test the durability of a human body, it was done to those subjects.

    ...and compared to the same testing done on another; it doesn't take a rocket scientist to put the two and two and make four and come up with who else was made to suffer through those same tests. That other subject was... Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes, The Winter Soldier.

    Who, by the way, is currently putting the key in the lock outside the door. He's back from where ever he went after Zemo was dumped in the shit hole apartment.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     It beats being back in prison.

  At least he thought so. Zemo hadn't said much of anything on the ride, but he did a lot of observing. Seeing a man who he had seen in a very different light two days ago, completely unhinged, and seemingly ready to explode.

  He had not said much other than small responses, 'yes, no, okay' type things. But when Bucky left him alone, he took to doing reading. He had the time, and went through enough to where he already was determined to bring project R.A.B.I.D. down.

  He heard the key enter the tumbler, and put the file he was reading down, but still in his hands. "James." He says, looking expectantly from his seat.

James Barnes has posed:
    It's worse now. Not just because that wild look is still there, but... something's going on with his left arm. Every time he raises it past a certain point it 'zzzzzttts' and zaps him. Which, might be comical if it wasn't obvious that it HURTS like a bitch from the way his face pinches up in a wince, the little gasp of a breath.

    He forgets TWICE in a matter of moments, once when he used that hand to open the door and a second time when he opened the freezer to dig grab an ice tray and crack the rust-tinted ice in it out into the sink.

    For Zemo, even the painfulness of the zaps might be comedy gold. If it wasn't for the mention of electroshock in those files. Yeah, that has to be making whatever's shorting out in Bucky's brain pan worse.

    "Zemo," he grits out between clenched teeth. "You're still here..." His tone is somewhere smack dab in the middle of surprised and relieved and, well, maybe disappointed? Like maybe he was hoping to have to chase the Baron down?

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     "I felt like I should. Plus, Sam most likely has something that could find me." Zemo admits, not that it makes him any comfortable.

  "Not to make assumptions. But I could..." he makes a twisting motion like a screwdriver, to his left arm. It didn't do him any good to see Bucky being tortured by his own limb.

  "I'm not just good at policy debate."

James Barnes has posed:
    Bucky turns the faucet on to run water over the ice, obviously trying to melt it.

    When he turns back to face Zemo, those pale blues of his narrow. "I'm not stupid. I'm not going to let you fuck me up just like that." No, Zemo certainly wasn't brought in as a 'trusted' ally.

    But even standing there, still and not moving that arm, tiny shocks move through it, a faint humming undercurrent audible in the silence of the room.

    "We gotta move," he mutters before turning back to the sink. There's a key in his hand when he turns back around again, it gets shoved into a pocket.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     Zemo gives a sigh, he should have expected that. "I was not calling you stupid. Nor am I trying to 'fuck you up'. Not that my past actions indicate."

  He stands, as Bucky indicates a need to move. "Fine. I assume you have another hovel to scurry to?" He asks, before he approaches Bucky. "You cannot continue to fight HYDRA if your arm is constantly shocking you. Not at your full capacity." He warns.

James Barnes has posed:
    "I'm fine," but he's sooooo clearly not. It's getting worse and the next one, without even moving, actually brings him down to one knee as the shock spreads from his arm, to the never in his shoulder and through the metal reinforcement of his rib cage. Sweat beads his brown, his face grows pale.

    "They're the ones doing it, you can't stop it..." he hisses out between a jaw clenched so tightly that he might crack his own damned teeth.

    Dude is MESSED up, in the head. Really messed up. Lines between reality and his worst nightmares are blurred. The edges of the past and the now don't really exist anymore. Buckle up, Zemo, you're in for a wicked ride.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     "You are not." Zemo protests, before he approaches Bucky and grasps his right arm, helping him up. "We fix this arm, then we can go wherever."

  He looks around for a tool set or anything he can use to open up the arm.

  He gets into engineer mode easily enough, he's more concerned if Bucky will allow him to work on it or not.

James Barnes has posed:
    The actual tools in the little apartment are minimal and mostly things there to fix leaking faucets and the like. Wrenches, screwdrivers... a hammer. Bucky definitely isn't an engineer. It might be enough to work with to get the arm open, but fixing it beyond a bandaid patch job with the equipment available would likely be impossible for even the likes of Tony Stark.

    He balks at the idea at first, pulling away from Zemo and stumbling back. He narrowly misses ending up on his ass, but ends up on both knees when that damned thing *ZAPS* him again.

    "Fine, but if you make one wrong move, I'll kill you." The fact that he's on his knees, head bowed, hair in his face? It does absolutely *nothing* to make that threat any less valid and viable.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     What meager tools are available are gathered, and Zemo starts to get to work once he has Bucky seated. "You'd be doing me a favor. At least I'd be back with my wife and son." A little grim, even for Zemo. "This will not last long. And I'm afraid the USSR and Hydra did not leave the repair manual in the cache I found." Bucky would know what he speaks of, the data cache that contained the Winter Soldier program notes and other information on the program.

  He moves with determination, knowing if he screwed up, Bucky would most likely at least be angry about it. "What they did to their subjects...to you. Was inhuman. The kind of thing my father had no qualms in performing. For what it's worth. I apologize."

James Barnes has posed:
    If this was a time when Bucky was in his right mind, he might ask something like... 'and you trying to force Steve and Steve and me to fight to the death wasn't?'

    But he's not, in his right mind that is. Intermingled with the, relatively aging, Russian tech in that arm is something else, something not so old. A Wakandan has been futzing around in there, a brilliant little Princess has left her mark in the form of a tracking device, a system to monitor Bucky's vitals and a taser that can be fired remotely. But would Zemo even know what he's looking at?

    "Hurry up, we're going to miss the extraction time," Bucky snaps, but there's more than anger in his voice, there's *fear*. It's not an oversight that he doesn't address the apology at all outside of a moment of Thousand Yard Stare after it's offered. No, that's his mind saying 'no' to thinking too hard on the things that were done.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     The technology inside was still advanced by normal people's standards. He recognizes tech that isn't even Russian in there. But it wasn't the culprit, he was looking for anything that was sparking or any other non-correct way.

  Whereas Zemo keeps working on the task at hand. There, connections loosened where they shouldn't be. "Alright, hold tight. This may hurt." Trying to mitigate any angriness that may come from James.

  Click, and done, so far. "Try that."

James Barnes has posed:
    So many times people see him block bullets with that thing and figure it must not feel anything, must not hurt. But that's only because it's *bullet proof* not because it being crushed or the like wouldn't cause him a great deal of pain. Its electrical circuits are wired into the nerves in his shoulder.

    So, what Zemo says is going to hurt, hurts. It also kicks off a reflex reaction that has that arm swinging out suddenly. If it was to accidentally make contact with the Baron, it may knock him on his ass, but not knock him out.

    Oops. Maybe he'll get out of the way fast enough?

    His cell phone beeps twice in his pocket to indicate an incoming text message.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     When the arm does a fast pitch softball, and contacts him, it gets Zemo to the ground.

  "That was fun." He comments, shaking himself off and standing back up. "How is that?" He says, looking at Buck, some little part of him hopes it didn't make it worse. "Your phone." He comments, awaiting what Buck is going to do.

James Barnes has posed:
    He would apologize, if he wasn't completely crazy at the moment. The phone? It buzzes again and Bucky pulls it out of his pocket. His brow furrows and he fires off a text message in return. "It's not him," he mumbles uncertainly. "It's them, I know it's them."

    "We gotta go," he repeats to Zemo before pushing out of the chair to head for the door. Not even so much as a 'thanks'.

    There's a saying, something about not being paranoid if they're really out to get you. That doesn't exactly apply here. Bucky would be paranoid right now even if what's about to happen... didn't.

    The glass to the one window in the appartment shatters abruptly. A canister rolls across the floor.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     "Then by all means." Zemo says. He knows that HYDRA is just as capable to do what they do as Bucky makes it out to be.

  The glass crashes, and Zemo's eyes flare open, realizing just what it is. "Go!" He calls out, already heading for the door, stupid move, but he has no gun to equip beforehand.

James Barnes has posed:
    In what may be a surprising turn of events for Zemo, Bucky actually reaches out and snags the Baron to pull him back. He goes out the door first. It's not a hail of bullets he opens the door to, but there are a few shots fired up the stairwell.

    Thanks to Zemo, Bucky's able to bat them out of the air like flies with that metal hand. But... what now?

    They're pinned in! If they go down, they meet bullets - not a problem for Bucky, but Zemo's squishy! If they go back, the room's already filling with some sort of gas.

    From the holster in the back of his jeans, under his hoodie, Bucky pulls out a Glock 19, 33 rounds and tosses it at his... what? What the fuck is Zemo now? Seems maybe his baby-sitter through this mess or something. It'll be interesting to see where Bucky lands on it when... he has his right mind back.

    With back bad and down bad and no up to speak of save a roof access, the Super Soldier opts for left and kicks in the door to the apartment across the from his.

    The man and woman that live in the place just stare a little dumbfounded when their door splinters inward and Bucky's trying to shove Zemo in first. "Down the fire escape, go!"

    ... while he turns to face the gunman coming up the stairs.

    It would be soooo easy for Zemo to just fucking bail right now.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     Zemo's being tossed out the apartment is a bit of a surprise, but what is even more of one is reaching up and picking out the glock from the air.

  One, two, three rounds shot through he air down the hall, keeping people at bay. That was when Zemo's shoved in first, he continues down the apartment to the outside window. "Excuse us." He comments to the remnants as he passes through.

  Out the window and on the fire escape landing, down more stairs outside. It would have been easy to ditch Bucky right now, it would have been easy to let him just fry under his own arm's electricity, but he couldn't. What's going on inside that mind if his?

James Barnes has posed:
    By the time Zemo sits feet to ground in the alley at the bottom of the fire escape, Bucky has already made it through at least one gunman, down six flights of steps and is already waiting at the end of that alley on his custom Ural with... side car. Really, Bucky?

    "C'mon!" he calls out to the Baron. Get ...in?

    Sirens are wailing in the distance, sound like they're heading this way.

    Does anyone really wonder why Sam always seems so uptight? He hangs out with Bucky ALL THE TIME!

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     Zemo lands, putting the glock down for now, and then looks to the motorcycle. "A side car?" Whatever, no use in arguing about it now. He gets in the side car, and holds that pistol ready to shoot at those behind them.

  Where were they going to go? Who knows, Zemo will at least get them there without holes in their back.

James Barnes has posed:
    Well, they're going to the extraction point, obviously! Get with the program Zemo.

    Bucky's driving is nothing short of terrifying, unless a person can always remember that he has the reflexes of an Olympic Athlete, on steroids, at the prime of their lives and then a little more. Considering that, the close calls he has zipping in and out of traffic and even onto the sidewalk a time or two, aren't close calls at all.

    In the beginning they were pursued, things got a little dicey and Zemo got to see R.A.B.I.D. in action, three of them in fact, trailing across the rooftops on either side, firing down on them at any opportunity and one just flat out running after them. They were fast, faster than Steve, faster than Bucky.

    But, in the end, not faster than the Ural under Bucky's control.

    When they reach the 'extraction point', a lone pier somewhere at the very end of Coney Island, Bucky drives right up onto the sand with the little custom bike and parks beneath the pier, hidden.

    "Now we wait and hope they don't get hung up," he announces.

    Is he crazy? It may not seem so now that the threat has been proven to be real. Maybe they were messing with his arm. Maybe every rambling bit of nonsense he's spouted from the time he freed Zemo until now was true? But it's hard to believe that with the wild, crazed look still in his eyes.

Helmut Zemo has posed:
     The ride was...extreme, to say the least. But that was better than the alternative. Only a scant few shots had to be taken to keep the R.A.B.I.D. super soldiers away from getting too good of a bead on them.

  Twenty-six bullets left in that magazine.

  Once the two had arrived at their destination, Zemo extracts himself from the side car. "Sounds fine. They couldn't keep up with us after you went on that sidewalk...the second time." He doesn't call Bucky crazy, he's been called so many times, and probably is. But he also knows the extent HYDRA goes to take out their enemies.