PSL for Serene_Rage

[irememberedhim]

The Soldier still hadn't remembered his name. Most of the mutants in the base had taken to calling him Winter after he'd given his code name when Erik had captured him. He knew he was still being watched. That the telepaths closest to Erik were doing everything they could to make sure he was still stable and mostly sane.

Over the weeks since they're fight and being taken in by Erik he had started to see things the way the man saw them. It wasn't much different from HYDRA. Honestly, in a way he thought Erik's view was better. The special people of the world, the mutants, people like him even, who had powers of different kinds...Erik wanted a better world for them because they were the future.

Well, who was he to argue, right? He just leaned into his bed, closing his eyes and sighing before shifting a bit to lay down. His memories, some of them anyway, had been coming back. He remembered a scrawny guy, remembered being close to him. But that guy would be long gone by then, even if he could remember his name.

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[irememberedhim]

"Don't worry about me. I've got it covered. Just get yourself down so I don't end up hurting you." He waited a moment before he started jerking back with his metal arm, doing his best to break away at the dirt holding him in place. He used his free hand to dig in as well, tossing dirt and debris behind him.

[serene_rage]

She just nodded once, "Got it." She could already tell that the battle at the far side of the cliff was winding down, someone had realized that their hostage had gotten away, and Rocky hadn't yet managed to call in backup, too focused on not letting the Soldier go.

Lex lowered herself to the ground, crouching so that she could dig both hands into the dirt at the base of the now arm-thick vines, she knew it would sap her energy, but she also didn't entirely trust that the Soldier would be alright with a fall from that height, so she worked the vines into a crash-net, something to catch him at a higher level and lower him to the ground when he got himself free.

[irememberedhim]

Bucky yelled as he started to pull his arm harder, fist pounding into the dirt holding him, cracking it, sending little chunks of dirt and dust flying everywhere. The hold wasn't so strong he couldn't break it, but he hadn't thought about the distance below. Though he would have survived it, it certainly wouldn't have been pleasant.

Which was why he shouted when he finally felt the dirt give, having let go completely. When he started to fall he reached out, grabbing for more rock or dirt but he ended up landing in the net, looking around in shock.

[serene_rage]

Lex lowered him to the ground, setting him on his feet and letting the vines retract to their normal size, even that dwindling down to nothing before long, "Gotcha." She said, followed by: "C'mon, let's get out of here before he figures out how to get down or calls in reinforcements."

Though that wouldn't be long, and they still had to get back to the marked-out patch of ground that was their 'base', and no sooner had she started running than Rocky's cry of: "Hostage is free!" went up, shifting the battle, Magneto and the rest of the team immediately came to the defense, air support, as it were, keeping the other team off of them so they could actually get back to that home base.

[irememberedhim]

He ran with Lex, protecting her as best as he could while the others protected them both. Once they reached their base he smiled, turning and looking back at the others. "That was fun." He said when he looked at her and then at Erik.

"When it comes to being on the other team I'm not really...I've kinda got a disadvantage. No powers. I just use my arm and weapons. But I don't actually want to hurt anyone."

[serene_rage]

The two teams were chatting amongst themselves once more, Rocky congratulating Lex on not panicking when Bucky took her over the cliff as he was one of the few who knew about her fear of heights, which was part of why he'd suggested having her up there in the first place.

Erik nodded at Bucky's concern, "Treat it like sparring, as I know you've sparred with many of us in the past, and trust that we'll be able to defend ourselves." Kite, who had also heard the statement, shrugged, "And if you're that concerned, you can always be the hostage."

[irememberedhim]

"I've been in that situation before." He said to Kite, looking worried. "I don't do well being tied up so I would likely end up freeing myself. Or trying anyways." He said, shrugging a shoulder. "But either way I want to chance at everything. I want to give everyone a chance and...I need to start teaching all of you how HYDRA works as well."

[serene_rage]

Erik nodded at that statement, "We'll be working time for those lessons in along with the regular training sessions. And if you're still concerned about injuring someone, and concerned about playing at being the hostage, perhaps guarding the hostage would be the best position for you. It would keep you out of direct combat for the most part, and you wouldn't have to worry about being confined."

[irememberedhim]

Bucky considered it for a moment before nodding. "It would likely be better that way. I still want to try, but if it becomes too much then we definitely need to move on to something else."

[serene_rage]

The second round went almost as well as the first had, though the hostage wasn't freed before the time was up, which was generally how it went, actually getting Thorne free had been a fluke, but one that had worked out well, one that gave them a better idea of how the Soldier could actually work alongside them.

Their first lecture in Hydra tactics was arranged for the following day, with a slightly larger group. The Brotherhood did already have some information, though most of that was from an outsider's perspective, observations they'd made when going against Hydra cells or operatives, and a few grainy video recordings.

[irememberedhim]

Bucky took them through the lecture himself though, explaining how HYDRA did things and showing each of them how to take down an agent the best way. Though he did explain that there were others like him, others they would be activating.

He squared his shoulder, shaking his head. "If you run into one of them, don't angage. They have been trained to take down anything blocking their way. They won't care who you are. They will kill you."

[serene_rage]

The news that there were more of them was almost a surprise. Erik had suspected as much but he hadn't had any proof before, and hearing it from Bucky wasn't as jarring as he'd thought it would be.

Of course, the news was a surprise to many of the others who hadn't even heard as much as rumors, and caused a wave of murmured concern, even questions, to which Erik just lifted both brows, waiting to see how Bucky handled that before deciding whether to step in himself.

[irememberedhim]

Bucky straightened up when he noticed the wave of concern, holding his hands up. "Thats why I'm trying to teach you everything I can about the way they work. About how HYDRA works, how they fight. I would prefer you to never have to face any of them, but if you have no choice...then that is what I'm here for."

He answered everyones questions to the best of his ability, clearing his throat before looking at Erik. "The best thing to do is immobilize them as quickly as possible. Use your abilities to your advantage. If they have a gun, disarm them, immobilize their arms as quickly as possible if you can. We are trained proficiently in knives as well and the Soldiers carry plenty of them. If they can't get to them, you'll be better off."

[serene_rage]

While that wasn't enough to put everyone completely at ease, it was enough to have them quieting again, apparently the difference between 'do not engage' and 'use your abilities to prevent engagement' were two different things, and the latter was more what they were used to.

Erik nodded once, a small, even pleased, smile catching at the corners of his mouth, Bucky had done well in recovering the situation, and answering specific questions had done more to ease the group than anything else, which was also a good thing.

[irememberedhim]

Once the session was completely over he stepped out of the room with Erik and looked at the man. "Was that okay? I needed to get it out there...if they didn't know about the other Soldiers...it could have ended up..." He frowned, looking down for a moment.

"I just didn't want anyone to get hurt because I couldn't warn them about it, about them. But I did now. And none of the Soldiers are as well trained as I am. None of them were with HYDRA as long as me."

[serene_rage]

He shook his head, "It was good. The correction was better." A small smile, "You have to understand that most of them have only ever been told what they can't do under the guise of it being for their own good. So giving them an alternative was probably one of the best things you could have done."

[irememberedhim]

"Well...I mean I've been here long enough now to see the things everyone can do. Why should they be told they can't when most, if not all, would be perfectly capable of finding a way too incapacitate the other soldiers and probably any other HYDRA agents they come across?" He asked, tilting his head a bit.

[serene_rage]

He nodded, "you've learned that much faster than many of the others have." Even other mutants sometimes didn't catch on or understand just what their own were capable of.

Even Erik had taken some time to learn that telling them not to do something -as opposed to alternatives to doing it- was the fastest way to make sure they did exactly the opposite of what he wanted them to do.

[irememberedhim]

"You took me in, they've become my friends...my family." He said with a smile, looking at him and then away. "Are there any that could stand swimming in ice cold waters? I know where the plane went down. HYDRA has looked for ages, but they don't have the resources we do."

[serene_rage]

"You're our brother the same as any of them." He agreed, though the question had his expression smoothing again, "Come with me to my office." He said, turning to lead the way and closing the door behind them once they were inside.

He didn't hesitate, not exactly, he'd been waiting for the question of Steve's whereabouts to come up again eventually, especially the more Bucky remembered, and all he did was to slide the master timeline away from the wall, turning the board around to reveal the smaller information array on the back.

It wasn't a timeline of what was upcoming, but of what had already happened on multiple fronts, people searching for Steve and how far they'd gotten, what information they had. So far no one had actually found him, or if they had they'd kept it quiet enough that even he didn't know about it, which was possible, but unlikely.

"Tell me what you see." He said, "Besides the Captain, what's the common thread?"

[irememberedhim]

Bucky tilted his head and slowly moved closer to the board, looking over what information they had, his fingers tracing beneath before looking at Erik. "He went down in the Atlantic...but..." He frowned deeply, shaking his head. "These aren't the right coordinates, Erik. This isn't where he went down."

[serene_rage]

His brows both lifted at that, just a little, "No?" If everyone had been working from incorrect information, he supposed it made sense that no one had actually found him yet.

He smoothed out the map on the board, "This is the last known location of the Valkyrie he was piloting, last transmitted coordinates before communication was lost." That was the one thing everyone agreed on, though there was some variance from there, factoring in ocean flow and tides and even just the aircraft's actual velocity and projected velocity.

"Or is that incorrect as well?" He asked, studying James once more, curious now just how much the man knew but didn't realize.

[irememberedhim]

He kept looking over the information before shaking his head. "No." He said suddenly, metal fingers moving over the map. "No I...I managed to break free one day. I got into one of their labs and I do remember the paperwork. They didn't have the...tools to go looking, but they had the right information at the time."

He brushed his fingers through his hair. "Everyone thinks he was headed this way and he was. This was the course the Valkyrie was supposed to be taking, but Steve took it off course slightly." He grabbed a pen, changing the course by drawing a line. "I know Steve. This would have been the best way to take her down, especially since he had been fighting Red Skull before he crash landed."

[serene_rage]

He nodded at that, mulling it over, not that he could even begin to guess what had been in the Captain's head at the time, nor how Hydra would have had the correct information but still hadn't found the man -unless they were still under-equipped, which he supposed was possible- nor anyone from the now-defunct SSR wouldn't have known the correct coordinates for when communication was lost.

But he was willing to let that go, for the time being, James was resolute in what he knew, and that was enough for him to go on, "We'll adjust our search area and do our best not to alert anyone to that fact."

[irememberedhim]

"Thank you, Erik." He said as he looked at the map. He brushed his fingers through his hair before looking back at him. "I want to go with the next search group. If they find him...I want to be there. If there is any chance he could be alive somehow..."