Sandbox thoughts

[woundedwinter]

Torchwood.
The last place Bucky was looking to find answers was in Cardiff, of all damn places, but he had run out of options.

Seventy odd years ago he was a solider, a sniper in the 107th and he had everything a fella could want. A best friend, a damn good career and a unit he cared for. A mission in the mountains had gone wrong. They were ambushed and in a desperate attempt to save his friend, Bucky fell. He didn't tumble down the side of the mountain or crash into the ice, though. He was swallowed up by a burst of blue-white light and six months ago he dumped in the middle of New Mexico with an artificial left arm and no memory of what had happened to him or why he'd been flung so far into the future.

He called in what favors he could, talked to anyone who would listen, desperate for answers. What had happened to him? Where had he gone? The Howling Commandos were long gone. He had nothing left.

It was easy to strike the deal in the end. Work with Torchwood and try and find the answers. They dealt in the weird and unexplained and god knows Bucky had enough of that.

Comments

[bottledblond]

Oh. Could Bucky be missing a significant amount of time? Steve frowns, trying to keep the worry from his face as he turns to look at Constantine and his wall-hovering maneuvers. “John?”

It would be all right if this wasn’t his Bucky. They seem to have different ideas about what happened to the other anyway. Maybe Bucky, this Bucky, has always been good at hand to hand combat. He used to box after all.

[trenchcoat_brigade]

"Search me, mate. I never even heard of you lot before winding up here." He could try and read dimensional energy from them to see if they were from the same place, but that would take both time and power. He's not going to do that in front of Sylar when he's struggling.

"Let's get to someplace warmer and then dig for the answers, yeah?"

[bottledblond]

With a conversation ended like that, the room falls more or less silent. It’s not something Steve isn’t use to though, having spent the last half a year being more alone than ever before, even surrounded by more people than he knew how to deal with. Steve gives Bucky the smallest of smiles before propping his arm up on the little desk and setting his ear on his palm.

There’s a lot to talk about, but maybe where there aren’t so many people wanting to interject in their conversation.

It’s a good half an hour before the light on Jack’s cuff buzzes on and he flips the leather casing open to check the dials. “All right folks. Who’s ready to go to Wales? Walk through quickly, keep your heads turned to your right, and if we end up on a highway, don’t stand still. This is more like a guess than science,” Jack says cheerfully.

[peter_one]

Peter watches uneasily as Steve falls quiet. Mister Bucky drifts closer to his best friend and Peter bites back any memories he has of the future. Maybe they can do better here. He hopes so.

Bucky stands as Jack gives the regular rundown to Steve, Peter and John. "Stay close. If you feel like you have to throw up, turn to the right. It happens to all of us."

He only steps through once Steve and Peter go through. They're not used to this. He is.

[bottledblond]

Jack and Sylar do not follow. Klaus can run the welcome party, and Bucky will keep him and his brother from fighting too much. They have work to do. A lot of work. And Jack needs to drain Gabriel of the pent up emotion he can taste dripping off of the other. A good expenditure of his stamina will do some good.

Even if it’s not of the sexy variety.

Steve is dizzy, stumbling when he steps out of the vortex. He hadn’t known what to expect when Jack gave all the warnings, but being suddenly in the back store room of a chip shop and smelling fried fish just has him feeling. He ends of throwing up quite mightily into a dish washing sink, groaning.

[woundedwinter]

At least he's been through this before. Bucky can swallow his nausea and focus on taking care of the others. Between him and Constantine's easy charm, they're out the door with a few orders of fish and chips while Peter and Steve get some fresh air.

Jack can handle Sylar and calm him back down. Bucky doesn't exactly know how and frankly he doesn't want to.

They make it back to the flat he's been living in, Bucky shouldering open the door at the noise beyond. He can hear music and arguing. "Damnit," he mutters. "C'mon in."

"Klaus? Where the hell are you?"

The flat is relatively austere, with only a few plants in the windows and nothing on the walls. He's been there six months but it still doesn't feel like home.

[bottledblond]

Steve is pretty lost. They wander down the street away from the chippy with plastic bags and more napkins than he’s ever seen. He isn’t sure where they are, other than Wales, or where they’re going. Periodically, he does reach out to grab Bucky’s elbow just to center himself. It’s not quite what he expects when Bucky ushers them all into his apartment. One he evidently shares with multiple people.

He supposes that makes sense though. Bucky wouldn’t have his own place. Not if he’s only been here for a small while.

He turns a questioning eye to his friend when a willowy looking man (woman?) rushes out from the back room. “Oh hey! I have to go!”

[woundedwinter]

Every touch is met with a reassuring smile or even a nod because he knows how strange this all feels. At least Steve had a few months out of the ice to get used to modern conveniences.

"We own the whole floor, so there's plenty of room." He's setting down the food when Klaus drifts by. Bucky doesn't question it, "All right Klaus. Later."

"Come on. Catch your breath fellas. I know it's been a hell of a ride." He thumbs the tops off a couple of beers from the refrigerator.

[bottledblond]

“Gotta get back to the HUB before the world blows up!” Klaus calls, donning an odd furry pink jacket before he slams the door.

There is an odd eclecticness to this space, and a considerable amount of clutter. It’s obvious that several people live here, and from what Steve can piece together, it’s Bucky and the brothers. He notes that odd person as Klaus, which means that there is the knife stealer somewhere.

Steve does relax a little while he parks himself at the table and accepts the beer. It won’t do anything for him but this feels normal. He and Bucky never drank together, Steve couldn’t before the war and during…. It wasn’t possible. But this is something friends do on TV shows and it leaves him more relaxed.

He feels a little badly wishing John and Pete would find someplace else to go but he and Bucky will have time. Eventually.

“Thanks.”

[woundedwinter]

"Again? Okay man." He shakes his head but makes no move to stop Klaus or find out what the problem is today. If they need him, they'll call him. Today has been weird enough.

John can take the hint in Steve's pinched expression and his lonely eyes refusing to leave Bucky. He sighs and stands up. "Come on lad, let's have a look around outside."

Peter is happy to go exploring with the mage, finally leaving Steve and Bucky with a few moments to themselves.

[bottledblond]

Not so sneakily, Steve leans forward as the door closes to watch the shadow of it receed before he looks back at Bucky.

He’s warm, a little sticky from whatever ordeal they had been through still, and in illfitting clothing, but he’s never been happier just to look at someone before. He can feel himself huffing at the way he’s behaving and lowering his eyes to the hand wrapped around the beer he probably won’t drink.

“I didn’t picture after the war quite like this but at least you’re here. With me.”

[woundedwinter]

"Yeah." Bucky smiles over at him. "Some nights I didn't think we'd make it out alive. Never thought 'launched into the future' was in the cards for either of us."

But he's glad all the same. Steve is familiar and Bucky has been missing any tie to the man he was before he fell into that Rift.

"Feels like we tripped into one of those science fiction books I used to read to you when you got sick."

[bottledblond]

After so much time of wanting to say so many things, the words seem to die in Steve’s mouth. Is it possible to be so overwhelmed with words that they just get jammed up in your throat and block away everything up?

He has to do more than state. God, Bucky must think he’s crazy. In a way, he feel like he really is. His mouth opens and he clamps it shut again. It happens twice more before he abandons his beer and just grabs Bucky up to hold him close.

[woundedwinter]

For a heartbeat, Bucky thinks Steve is going to kiss him as he lunges forward. He wraps his arms around him, holding his best friend near. His metal hand moves in slow circles along his back.

"It's okay Stevie. It's gonna be okay." After all, they found each other, they can do anything now. They can face it together.

[bottledblond]

There have been so many times that Steve wishes he could just kiss Bucky, but that’s not something people do. It’s not something he does. He’d never wreck a friendship by doing that. And never now that Bucky is alive and back in his life.

He holds the guy a little too hard, fist in the back of his shirt.

“Yeah, it’s okay now,” he promises, “but I’m just trying to convince myself you’re real, pal.”

[woundedwinter]

A low chuckle as he holds him fiercely. "I know pal. I fell through seventy years and woke up alone and missing my arm." But it all feels less unsure with Steve back in his life.

He wants to tell him, to show him that it's okay now, but it takes time to get over fears that had been ingrained since childhood. Don't tell. Keep it secret.

[bottledblond]

The phone in Bucky’s back pocket starts to buzz just as Steve’s grip loosens into more of an embrace and less of an emotionally charged clinging. He can feel the vibration through Bucky’s body and he drops his hands to Bucky’s arms to hold him back.

“You’re…?”

He sort of knows how phones work. They’d given him one but he never remembers to keep it on him and it’s programmed to ring like a real phone.

On the other end of the line will be Jack, back it seems from Antarctica, calling everyone together.

[woundedwinter]

His lips thin at the vibration. Now isn't the right time, but that's hardly new for the two of them. Bucky answers and confirms they're all needed back at the HUB.

Diego has fetched Peter and Constantine, so Bucky hangs up and puts his phone away. Duty calls yet again, which means their talk will have to wait a little longer.

"C'mon. We're being called back for a debrief."

At least they can talk on the way?

[bottledblond]

Occasionally knocking his elbow into Bucky’s as they walk, or good naturedly shoulder checking him after they round a little tree planted into spaces on the curb side of the sidewalk, Steve looks far more relaxed than he had been. “Do you do this often? Are you some sort of science fiction cowboy now?” he asks, seeing Peter, John and another man he doesn’t recognize but keeps looking back at him about half a block away.

Cardiff looks like a much prettier New York, beautiful and winding streets with lots of trees and flowers and little front gardens to houses every few blocks in the middle of shops and high rise office and apartment buildings. It’s eclectic and Steve feels calm here.

“I kind of like that for you,” he grins, adjusting the weight of his shield on his shoulder.

[woundedwinter]

The question pulls a laugh from him as they walk. Cardiff doesn't seem as lonely with his best friend walking beside him, the two of them jostling like teenagers. The locals are used to unusual sights like his metal arm so the shield barely warrants a second glance from anyone as they pass.

"I swear if a hat finds it's way home, I'm painting your shield pink."

He swings open the door and motions him inside. "Torchwood's given me a home and a team again. The missions are weird as hell, but I like it."

Maybe Steve will like it enough to stay too. He hopes so.

[bottledblond]

Bucky might want to buy that paint because Steve is about to get framed. Klaus absolutely owns cowboy hats.

He’s a little confused by the tiny shop they enter, though. There are old pamphlets and maps everywhere. It’s clean, though, not a speck of dust anywhere, and there’s all sorts of Weird alarms going off in Steve’s head. It doesn’t make sense—

But neither does the nondescript blue eyed man in the three piece suit ducking up from behind the counter. “They’re in already,” the man says in a very Welsh accent, eye lingering on Steve, who matches his energy.

The blond does offer his hand. “Steve Rogers—“

“Oh, we all know who you are. Ianto Jones. Pleasure.”

[woundedwinter]

"Ianto here holds the whole operation together. We'd be doomed without him." Bucky's words are absolutely genuine as he claps his shoulder and leads Steve to the HUB. Ianto may only see himself as a valet or low man on the hierarchy, but his dedication to the job doesn't go without being noticed.

Inside is vast, so Bucky keeps one hand light on Steve's elbow to steer him in the right direction.

"I'll give you the tour later pal."

[bottledblond]

“Gonna need a map,” Steve mutters as he steps through the vault door and looks up the old silo. He hands clench in his pockets but it’s only to stop the giddy excitement. This is better than being shipped off to war and that particular excitement.

It’s something else. Something intense. Something like a real future. Steve has always wanted to protect people and this goes beyond trying to stop the Nazis.

There are people scurrying around on the various levels, most pausing to look down at him over railings. He can hear their murmurings but he can’t make out what about.

John and Peter are just to the left, what looks to be an old cinderblock office space. There are wooden chairs and desks, a white board, a chalk board, and technology that would make Howard Stark blush. It mixes interestingly together, the old and the new.

Jack is behind the desk, Klaus seated on the edge, but Sylar is no where to be seen. “Buck!” That would be Klaus, flamboyant and high on who knows what. “Daddy was just here telling us that Gabriel and he destroyed all of the crazy Rift monsters.”

Steve smiles. He always tries to fit in but…. It’s difficult. “One ate me.”

Klaus blinks at him. “Oh. Um. Glad that was a you problem.”

[woundedwinter]

Bucky grins at Steve, remembering the excitement he felt the first time he stepped in, realizing he could do some good in his search for answers. "You're gonna love it. Six months and I still haven't found everything this place has to offer."

He knows Jack is fine. But that doesn't stop him from giving him a quick glance before pulling his attention to Klaus. "Yeah, so much for an easy run checking Rift activity."

"We got a lead on where the rest are?'

[bottledblond]

Jack shakes his head. “I’m sorry, I know you were hopeful that this would bring you some answers,” Jack says. “We contained everything, destroyed what we could and—“

“Didn’t bring any back!” Klaus triumphs with a clap. “Which means that I’m no longer needed here. I have a little self medicating to doz”. He slips off of the desk, brushes up against John just to see if there’s anything in his pockets, which he will not take with Jack right there, and scoots.

Dark blue eyes from beneath the most well groomed, but stylish mop of brown hair scan the room. Three new comers and Bucky. Who knows where Diego went.

“That leaves us having to deal with you three.”