☆ 33 ☆ (TEXT; Private to Bucky | SPAM; OTA)

[punched_hitler]

[TEXT: Private to Bucky]
Hey, I need you to hang on to something for me for a little while, if you don't mind.

[SPAM; OTA]
[It's not that there's a new guy on the Barge - there's not. But anyone used to seeing Captain America around might notice that he's conspicuously missing as of Saturday - or, at least, he's not six-foot two and two hundred twenty pounds anymore. He's five-foot four and about a hundred pounds soaking wet, and he's not apologetic about it in the least. Same haircut, same voice, same style of dress (at least he asked for some civilian clothes that would fit), same attitude.

Steve goes about his day the same as he ever has - he goes for a run through the Barge early in the morning, and he shows up for his lunch shift in the kitchens and his shifts in the infirmary on time. He shows up at T'Pol's cabin for meditation, and he's even in the gym sometimes, working out against the bags. It's just that his mile has gone from two minutes to twenty, and he's got an inhaler in his pocket for those times when running or climbing the stairs - he's not taking the elevator, he refuses - gets to be a little too much.

Of course, he knows people are going to notice, but unless someone says something to him first, they're not going to hear a word about it from him. Actions speak louder than words, after all.]


[ooc: If anyone needs a reference, 1, 2, & 3, just with this haircut, still. Feel free to recognize him or not!]

Comments

hall!

[punched_hitler]

[It is true - this place is pretty weird, but this time, for once,] No, this was intentional.

hall

[150th]

{And what exactly is ... this?}

[Mewtwo tilts its head. You are short?]

hall

[punched_hitler]

[Definitely short. And a couple lot of other things as well.]

You remember how I was as a kid? [He smiles a little, because they actually had fun together, he remembers that.] I never grew out of it. Not naturally.

I just asked the Admiral to undo the process that changed me. It's like it never happened.

hall

[150th]

[Mewtwo frowns. It tries not to think of that flood. It was too trusting.]

{Who changed you?}

hall

[punched_hitler]

[That's not necessarily a bad thing, pal.]

In the first place? Shortest story is, the Army. I wanted to join, it was the only way they'd let me.

[150th]

{To alter your body?}

[Wow that's pretty gross. Mewtwo pulls its arms back, a little unnerved.]

[punched_hitler]

Yeah. It was experimental, they needed a guinea pig, and I agreed.

[Steve frowns a little at the motion, but he stands his ground.]

I don't regret it.

[150th]

{Why let them impose a price so dire? What right do they have to ask this of anyone?}

[punched_hitler]

It was war.

[It's as simple as that, but also,] I wanted to join. I wanted to make a difference, and I wanted to do it being a soldier. They told me the risks. I accepted them.

[150th]

{War.}

[Already agitated, its tail flicks. It's angry, angry that someone played mad scientist with the child it remembers.]

{War is the worst humanity can offer. I have seen it in your floods. What does a soldier gain compare to what he risks?}

[punched_hitler]

It may be the worst we can offer, but I think it's a chance to be our best. A soldier doesn't gain anything - he usually loses a lot.

[Sometimes his life. Sometimes worse.]

But he doesn't do it to gain anything. He does it to protect his home, his country. His way of life, and the things he believes in.

[150th]

{To protect them from the avarice of humans who would conquer - but no one ever strikes at the true problem. Always it is those with no power who fight and die on behalf of the cold and uncaring.}

[punched_hitler]

No. I guess we don't. [He's willing to admit that.] Most soldiers are just men - and women. They don't have control over anything, I admit that.

It's not fair. It's not right. But I wasn't going to sit by and let the Nazis steamroll over Europe when I should be out there doing something about it.

[He pauses, thinking of Schmidt.] I had the chance to go after the true problem. Part of it. I did everything I could to stop it.

[150th]

{Did you?}

[There has to be something good that came out of this frankly ridiculous and horrible story.]

[punched_hitler]

Um -

[He immediately wants to say no. But then he remembers what Bucky said, after he'd found out - how maybe the answer was still no, but at least HYDRA had gone running with their tail between their legs.]

For a while, [he finally settles on; he's clearly not happy with that answer, either, so he adds,] Because of the serum, though, I'm around to stop them in the present - my present - too. And I will.

[150th]

{Were you the only one?}

[punched_hitler]

That the Army made? Yes.

[His eyes drop a bit.] The scientist who invented the formula was assassinated as soon as I came out of the pod.

[He's not the only one who'd had the serum, but Schmidt is gone. And Bucky... well, Zola's serum was different, and Bucky hadn't gotten it by choice.]

[150th]

{So, they had no chance to distribute it to the unwilling.}

[Good.

Because, of course they would. Humans? At war? They would do anything.]

[punched_hitler]

No. I don't know that they would have, but it's a moot point, now.

They weren't the only ones trying to create super soldiers, though.

[150th]

{I am sure it is a goal that many human groups would reach for, if they thought it possible.}

[punched_hitler]

I don't think you're wrong, no.

There will always be wars, and people will always try to find better, deadlier ways to fight them.

[150th]

{Then why do you want to help?}

[punched_hitler]

Because I think that wars are about the people that fight them. I think that the people that fight them make the difference.

[He cocks a lopsided smile.] Besides, if people're shooting at me and that big, bright, star-spangled shield on my back? There are plenty of other soldiers they're ignoring.

[The serum built him to take more damage. So he'd rather take that damage, than let it fall on somebody else.]

[150th]

{Perhaps they are.}

[Mewtwo's face is not as expressive as a human's, but it frowns thoughtfully.]

{Were you in Narnia, when the ship took us to live there?}

[punched_hitler]

Yeah, I was. [He smiles a little, although it's tinged with regret.] I was a, uh, a gryphon. I was going to fight for Aslan.

[He did fight for Aslan, but he lost before the battle had really begun.]