[ 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

[from_the_outside]

"I mean I have access to Captain Rogers, and I'm trying to maintain it without him getting suspicious."

Her jaw tightens, but she has this one card left to play, her ace up the sleeve. "Hail HYDRA."

[marvel_npc]

He nearly jerks to a stop, and waves for the other agents to go on ahead, signaling that he'll catch up.

"You're just full of surprises, aren't you, Thirteen?" he murmurs. "Okay. I'm listening."

Bringing Rogers in would be a coup the likes of which he hasn't had in a while, especially in light of STRIKE's failure to capture him multiple times now, not to mention the asset.

[from_the_outside]

She's not sure she'll ever wash the slime of those words out of her mouth. There's nothing to do but power through. "Look to your left."

When he does, she catches his glance and nods at him. "Start walking. I'll meet you at the bottom of the stairs and bring you to a secure location."

[marvel_npc]

He doesn't see any sign of Rogers in the area; just other people having lunch, talking on phones, reading the newspaper. No one seems to be paying attention to him, much less her. She must have sneaked away on some errand and gotten clear, but she's right that they'll be noticed if they're out in the open for long.

Sitwell nods back and starts down the stairs as he disconnects the call and puts his phone away.

[from_the_outside]

Just being near him makes her want a shower, but she greets him with professional warmth and walks with him, chatting lightly, around the block and through the neighborhood to the building they'd identified earlier. She takes him up the stairwell to the roof, then allows him through the door first.

It locks behind her, slamming shut with finality in a way that makes Sitwell look distinctly nervous.

He should. He's a goddamn traitor. Sharon's smile sharpens. Finally, she can vent a few of her frustrations. "Now that we're alone," she says. "Why don't you tell me everything you know about what HYDRA plans to do with Project Insight?"

[marvel_npc]

Goddammit. Sitwell arranges his expression into one of mild displeasure. "I don't know what you're talking about."

[from_the_outside]

"I think you do." She moves towards him, pleased to see him step back.

Like she told Steve: he's a coward. "And I really wouldn't mind beating it out of you, so by all means, continue to stonewall me."

[marvel_npc]

"I can't tell you what I don't know," he snaps, taking another step back across the roof and keeping a wary eye on her hands. "So why don't you stop wasting both of our time."

His phone is in his pocket, but if he can just get a hand on it he can signal for help.

[from_the_outside]

"Oh, it's definitely not a waste of my time."

God, what a rat he is. She feints at him, sudden and sharp, and in the same moment, a foot reaches behind Sitwell to trip him up as he moves backwards to get away from her.

Sharon's voice is conversational. "Is it a waste of your time, Nat?"

[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?"