Your home in Sokovia was destroyed when Ultron decided to make it ground zero for his attempted coup of the world. Everyone had lost someone - some more than most. You? The family you'd worked for had perished - save one. The rumors were that he'd b...
... when we realize they're living inside our heads
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Helmut smiles at the news brief echoing to him via the radio the guard was listening to. He tunes out the subsequent chatter — none of it matters. Oeznik was successful. Another promise upheld.
He exhales a slow breath, shifting to prepare to descend once more into the world on the printed page. He's already earned the privilege of books. Well, one book. But it's a start. Next he'll ask for some paper and a pen.
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The four members of the super soldier group that your three had been chasing – everything set aside, everything thrown into chaos to achieve that one end – are dead. Car bomb. How had you not heard it? It had been strong enough to take lives. Were you so absorbed in talking with the family and the questions they were volleying that you'd missed it? It depends on where those super soldiers were being transferred from, perhaps. In Riga, during the argument over what to do with you, hadn't Sam and Bucky claimed there was a holding facility near Bucky's place? It had been part of the convenience factor argument that had ultimately swayed Walker from following through with his plan to arrest you and use you as bait. The fear that had caused your hands to shake as you tried to get into contact with Sam and Bucky to check their whereabouts? It's settled, and settled in, though it's hard to say if that's a good thing for the resulting heavy weight you feel within you.
It... made sense to assume that Bucky and Sam would be part of the transport team. Bucky had left the apartment in a hurry in the early afternoon. So then why, when you texted the pair of them, did Sam say they were just hearing about it as well?
We're good. Not in NYC. Just hearing about what happened, too.
Not in NYC. That's all Sam would say, or could say. Well into Monday evening and you're staring at your phone seeking answers from the screen of the device that simply aren't there. Then comes another text – still just Sam talking to you – that makes your expression morph into something else.
You should fly down and meet us. New Orleans?
New Orleans. What are they doing there? Louisiana. Whatever they're doing it clearly allows them some downtime or they wouldn't be inviting you to join them. Them... Bucky's yet to say anything. Pointing it out will likely not help matters, nor will attempting to reassure him that he doesn't need to worry about whatever didn't happen between the pair of you just before he left the apartment.