some saw the sun; (for fossils)

[bracchium]

[The Soldier stood statuesque before the prisoner, rifle in hand, loaded and cocked despite orders to not kill. There's something about this man that disturbs the programming buzzing under his skin, something that unsettles the natural order that confines the Soldier to his duties. Even with his full mask and goggles, The Soldier feels bare- exposed- before this one man.

Maybe it's because the Soldier doesn't know why he was sent for an extraction mission instead of an assassination, because he can hear distant voices in his ear, cries for help that end in a bark of gunfire. Why did this man deserve to live when all the others met terrible ends? It's not his place to question, but the Soldier doubts and he's not entirely sure it's the first time either.

He remembers waking up in the chair, screaming until his voice broke. Mission details about capture and extraction to Siberia. Do not, under any circumstances, kill the target. Holding back had been difficult, not pushing for death at every swing of his knife, but then the Soldier was able to land a few shots he'll be reprimanded for later.

But he did it. The prisoner is here and alive, mostly. The Soldier wants to run, to hand off to the next handler, rather than stand in this awfully small room with a man that unsettles him so deeply, but his orders were to not allow the prisoner to die. So here he is, watching for breathing and consciousness.

Comments

[fossils]

[ Settling up after New York took some time. Fury offered him a job with SHIELD, and he took it, thinking it might be his best shot at answers. Must've immediately told Romanoff to keep an eye on him too, because more than once she seemed conveniently be in his way when he was sticking his head somewhere it didn't belong. He can't say if she trusted him after New York or if she was just curious.

They found building plans for facilities never registered, which wouldn't be so strange for a classified para-military organization except for some of the names that signed off on them. That rabbit hole eventually led them into the crossfire of a man with a metal arm, and no past, except for a file Natasha had dug up out of Kyiv, typed and scrawled over in a mix of english and cyrillic.

And two photos.

When he wakes up he doesn't know how long he's been out or where he's been taken. He's restrained, bleeding, and no amount of shouting the name of the man behind the mask and goggles seemed to get through to him.

Steve's face is pale, his gaze fixed on the man standing there like a statue.

He shifts uncomfortably in his binds, air hissing past his lips. ]

You leave me like this and I'm gonna bleed out, Buck.

[ His voice is soft, and he's only half lying. Bucky nicked him good with that knife of his, Steve's white shirt is drenched in dark red at his shoulder where the blade had gone in. Missed anything major, but it's enough to make him legitimately light-headed at this point, however long he's been left like this. ]