[ WWII AU ] a ghost story

[from_the_outside]

It's been almost two years since she's been home, and little by little, the grief has gotten easier to live with.

It hasn't gone away. But she's able to focus on her job, watch movies, chat with friends, sleep most nights. She still dreams about him, but the dreams are tinged with wistful longing and only sometimes does she wake up with tears on her cheeks. She can't have his picture out in this apartment, Kate's apartment, but it's safe in the mountain house, along with his last letter to her, and she has a scan on her phone to look at when the long day is over and she's in bed, the stars from the lamp he'd given her filling her dark room.

Steve has helped, more than she could ever explain, and she hopes she's helped him in return. Aside from a few deeply classified missions here and there, they haven't worked together all that much, but she still sees him almost every day. In the halls, she's undercover as his mild-mannered neighbor, Kate, but in her secure apartment they can talk over anything, everything.

And it works. Every day is a little easier. They lean on each other when they need to, and they spend hours remembering and reminiscing about Bucky, talking shop, chatting about how Steve's fitting into the future. It's nice. She still misses Bucky, an ache that never really goes away, but they can both breathe through it, work through it, live through it.

She's on her way up from the basement laundry machines when she hears a familiar step in the hall, and has to smile to herself – first her own, then Kate's sweeter, more open one. "Hey, neighbor."

Comments

[marvel_npc]

"Not even a little bit." Romanoff sounds smug, damn her. He lands awkwardly on the rooftop, scraping both hands against the gravel-covered surface hard enough to bleed as he scrabbles backward like a crab and scrambles back to his feet, trying to get them both in view. "Jasper's been a bad boy, wouldn't you say?"

Sitwell sneers at them. "You two are crazy, do you know that?"

[from_the_outside]

"A very bad boy." She keeps moving towards him as Nat flanks him, keeping a watchful eye to ensure he doesn't reach for his phone.

"We might be. But you're a fucking traitor, and that's worse."

[marvel_npc]

He scoffs. "Please. As if SHIELD's done anything but fight a useless holding pattern for decades. HYDRA's going to ensure freedom from chaos. We're going to save the world. Your way of thinking's limited."

They're backing him slowly towards the edge of the roof, which he doesn't like, but it's not like either of them are murderers. Maybe he can stall long enough to break for the door.

"But it's not too late for you to do the right thing."

[from_the_outside]

"It's like you want to be punched in the face."

And, god, she wants to punch him. His shoes scuffle against the edge of the roof, and she reaches out to grab his shirt. "Careful there, Jasper. It's a long fall."

[marvel_npc]

He manages to keep himself from jerking back as she grips his shirt - he'll have to have it cleaned, but recoiling would have a bad outcome - and sneers at her again.

"Do you really think this little game of yours is going to work? Your threat's empty."

Not if she actually wants information from him; not that he's going to give her any.

[from_the_outside]

She gives him a long look, then shrugs and lets go of his shirt. "Yeah, maybe."

There's a beat, and then she adds: "But hers isn't."

Nat strikes like a snake, kicking Sitwell square in the chest and sending him plummeting over the edge of the roof. As he screams, Sharon glances over at her friend. "I feel like this whole 'bad cop/worse cop' thing is really working for us."

[marvel_npc]

"Mm-hm," she agrees. "Besides, it's fun. We should really do this more often."

The pitch of Sitwell's scream changes, and Nat shades her eyes to look up as Sam soars from below into the air above them, his hand firmly wrapped in Sitwell's shirt collar. "Think he'd let us try the wings?" she asks Sharon, as Sam dumps the other man back on the roof and comes in for a landing. "They look fun, too."

[from_the_outside]

"We can hope."

She comes to squat down by Sitwell, hands dangling between her knees. "So. Let's try this again. Tell us what you know, or next time maybe our friend here won't be quite so quick on the draw."

[marvel_npc]

He pushes himself up to his knees and raises both hands in the air, trying to ward off the madman with the wings, or anything else. "Zola wrote an algorithm!" he gasps. "For the Insight helicarriers."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon frowns at him. "What algorithm? What does it do?"

[marvel_npc]

"It chooses Insight's targets." Sitwell edges backward on his knees, only to freeze as the man takes a step toward him, blocking his escape route.

"The asset's effective, but he can only target a few people at once. Insight can do more."

[from_the_outside]

"The asset."

Cold fury lands like a rock in her gut. "What do you know about him?"

[marvel_npc]

"HYDRA's secret weapon." Maybe that's it, she's trying to protect Romanoff and Rogers. If he can turn her toward the asset - well, he'd like to see her try and it would sure as hell solve the problem he's got now. "He eliminates problems. Has since the beginning."

[from_the_outside]

She has to return to this question of the algorithm, but she can't stop herself.

"How do they control him?"

[marvel_npc]

"There's a program. They use it to activate him, before giving him his targets." He's babbling, he can hear it, but he can't stop himself, and besides it's safer to talk about the asset than about Insight. It won't matter what they know about him, not when he's coming for them.

"They wipe his mind between missions, using electrical shock. It keeps his focus clear."

[from_the_outside]

It's shit, but maybe there's something useful in it. If they have to rewipe him each time – she very, very carefully doesn't allow herself to think about that and what it means beyond the most superficial of levels – then it's because the program isn't permanent. Whatever they're doing, maybe it hasn't erased Bucky completely. Maybe it's only suppressing him.

Still a nightmare. Still torture and pain. But maybe, maybe, fixable. "This algorithm. How is it selecting targets?"

[marvel_npc]

"Easily. The twenty-first century is a digital book. Zola taught HYDRA how to read it." Sitwell pushes himself up, staggering to his feet and shifting to put his back to the wall of the utility shed.

"Your bank records, medical histories, voting patterns, e-mails, phone calls, your damn SAT scores! Anything and everything. Zola's algorithm evaluates people's past to predict their future."

[from_the_outside]

Her blood runs cold.

She's horribly afraid she already knows the answer, but she asks anyway. "And then?"

[marvel_npc]

He's said too much. Cold horror grips him. "Oh my god," he whispers. "Pierce is gonna kill me."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon shoves forward and grips his shirt again, shaking him. "And then what?" she demands.

[marvel_npc]

It jerks him out of his own thoughts, and he grabs her arms, ignoring the way the man starts forward. "You have to protect me," he demands. "You have to! He'll send the asset after me."

[from_the_outside]

"If we're going to protect you, you'd better make it worth our while," Sharon warns. "Intel and anything else you can give us."

[marvel_npc]

It's a devil's bargain, but it's also the only way he can see to survive. "Okay. Okay. It's a deal."

Sitwell licks his lips, his glance shuttling back and forth between her and Romanoff. "You wanted to know what happens after the algorithm chooses the targets? The Insight helicarriers scratch them off the list. A few million at a time. And HYDRA takes over. Everything."

[from_the_outside]

Sam exhales, explosive, and Nat swears, low and under her breath. Sharon looks up at her, clinging to her control, unable to stare directly at the swirling mass of panic that's trying to set in. "Insight's locked down," she murmurs. "We'll need access."

[marvel_npc]

"You and what army?" he snaps. "Are you out of your tiny little mind? There's no way in there that won't get you noticed."