Meetings of metallic arms and the badassery kind (for nepodatlivyj)

[hawk_shot]

She was pretty pleased with herself, to be honest.

With Clint back in Iowa and his mentoring becoming a bit of a virtual-remote arrangement for now, Kate had to take the job in her own hands. You know, keep an eye out there, an ear ready to catch any news about bad guys doing their bad guys thing. But she was good at it, if she dare say it herself.

Sure, her mentor wasn't thrilled by the spamming of news, but specially not the pictures. A couple of knocked out villains where cool, but Clint always had something to say when she sported a bruise here, a cut there. Why couldn't he appreciate the fine job she was doing taking in all his tips to treat her wounds?

The plan tonight had to do a smoother job. No blood (from her side at least). But these guys? She had followed them and like a pro figured out a few things, nasty ones. These guys were total assholes and deserved a good beating. Messing with the elderly? It was lower than being low. Kate had prepared, was pumped up to ruin their plans. Packing a few tricks arrows, she got ready to do a clean superhero job. Help some people, impress Clint. Maybe even invite that sweet granpa that for some reason had been targeted to go out for a nice meal, talk to them to make sure they were alright. Pay for any damage to their home. They deserved it.

What Kate had not expected was that who she guessed was this poor man's grandkid would be there to actually help her kick some villain asses that evening.

And by kick ass, she meant total inhuman strenght and jaw dropping fighting.Before she knew it the fighting was done, almost done in a blink of an eye. His pile of knocked out guys was even bigger than hers.


"Wait, how did you do that?!"

Comments

[nepodatlivyj]

Yeah, Bucky had no idea who this girl was who just... showed up in the middle of the latest attack on one of the neighborhood 'Nam vets and started taking guys out, but he wasn't going to refuse an assist. Sure he was annoyed at first, the way she barged in with her weird purple jumpsuit and her bringing a bow and arrow to a gunfight (Like. An actual bow and arrow to an actual gunfight, who did that?), acting like she was some kind of superhero. But looking at the smaller but not insignificant pile of bodies on her side of the room he was starting to think maybe she really was some kind of superhero. These weren't just some punks they were dealing with, but highly trained guys.

He only knew one other person who could hold their own with that kind of weapon, and that was Barton, and he was supposed to be retired. So who the hell was this and where did she come from?

It never occurred to him that she might not know who he was either. Probably should have; his arm was covered up, and per his pardon agreement with the government he wasn't supposed to be on anyone's radar... and yet he still was, people still came out of the woodwork from time to time, and hanging out with the new Captain America didn't really help. But here was this new vigilante who didn't know Bucky Barnes from Joe Sideways, and it was just as strangely refreshing as it was kind of insulting.

"It's complicated." Bucky made a point of pausing a conversation that could turn out to be really long, so that he could check on the actual victim in all this: Edgar Ramos, 74 years old, and not a threat to anyone. He'd managed to lock himself in the bathroom when all this started going down, and it was only luck Bucky had been there in the first place. He knocked gently on the door.

"It's okay, Edgar. It's over. You can come out now."

[hawk_shot]

"It's complicated? Okay, yeah, that explains it," Kate huffed out, a little out of breath already. Another one of these henchmen attempted to creep up on her, but with a swing of her bow she smacked him square on the face, the guy swirling on his spot before falling down to the ground, the lights knocked out of him.

Had the stranger badass noticed that awesome move? He was too focused walking across the room, avoiding stepping on these assholes. Looking for something?

No. Someone.

From her spot, Kate only heard a shy mumble. Edgar was quiet, even for Bucky, close as he was to teh bathroom door now.

"J-James? Is - Is that you?"

Kate watched from her spot as the door was finally opened, the sweet old man and owner of the house visibly shaking as he made his way out of his hiding spot. He reached onto Bucky immidiatly, holding onto his biceps in a way that made her wonder if he was shocked to see him there or just needed someone to hold onto, someone to help him feel grounded.

"They - They started destroying everything. Look - Look at my home." Swaying a shaking hand, the old man pointed at the apartment as if Bucky had not taken a look around himself until now. It was clear he was in shock. "They kept asking for a thing but I don't know- I don't know what it was. I couldn't help them." Edgar's voice broke as he held onto Bucky again.

[nepodatlivyj]

"It's me," Bucky confirmed, letting Edgar hold onto him for as long as he liked. "Come on. Come sit down." And he guided him over to the couch, slowly, with a patience he reserved for very, very few people in his life. Brushing some debris aside that had once been a wooden stool, he sat down with Edgar, glancing at Kate with an unreadable expression as he did so. Maybe still surprised she was here at all.

"You said they were looking for something?" It'd be something to figure out later, maybe take one of these guys with him before the police came, get some answers out of him. "Did they say anything else?"

He looked at Kate again, this time more than just a glance. "Mind getting him a glass of water?" If there were even any glasses left. They really had done a number on this place.

[hawk_shot]

Kate was speechless, watching the scene and the tenderness in which this guy dealed with that poor, old terrified granpa. It was a bit mindblowing to think that this was the same guy who moments before had been slapping around bad guys as if they were nothing but flies...

"Oh, sure! Yeah, sure thing."

The request had shook Kate, who finally adjusted her bow back onto her quiver and moved, doing her best to avoid stepping on anyone's limbs, as she made her way to what remained of the kitchen.

Edgar slowly lowered himself onto the stool, still looking anxiously at their surroundings. He shook his head, taking his time to think before answering Bucky's question. "They said - They said they were looking for something but I swear - I swear I don't know what..." Distracted, he raised a shaking hand and pointed at a silver frame on the floor, its glass shattered. "My Susan. They -- Oh, they broke it."

Kate's heart broke a bit for Edgar, hearing the distress in his voice. She rushed, going through the few cupboards still up until she found one with glasses and quickly moving to fill it with tap water. She rushed back to both men, crouching before the old man and offering a hopeful smile and the glass for him to take.

"Don't worry, sir. We'll help you. Your things will be alright and you'll be safe now. You're safe, I promise."

[nepodatlivyj]

Hey, Bucky had facets. He could be nice, when he wanted to. Problem was most people didn't really put him in the mood for it.

There was a shadow of anger that slipped over his face when he saw what Edgar was pointing at, that he carefully schooled into something more pleasant when he looked back at the old man. The bastards really did a number on his place, and he didn't even know why.

But Bucky was starting to get ideas. Wild ones, maybe, but this wouldn't be the first time he'd had to deal with people looking to reclaim something that should have never belonged to them. People, groups, who should have taken the hint and stayed gone.

And if not HYDRA, it could just as easily be some new opportunistic faction trying to get their hands on something dangerous. Shit, who knew, maybe even some of the older HYDRA members pivoting to change with the times.

Whatever the answer, he clearly wasn't going to get it from Edgar. Poor guy was so rattled and confused he wasn't sure he was gonna even take the glass of water from the girl's hands. Because that would require letting go of Bucky.

The girl... She was quick, eager to help. Maybe a little too eager, seeing as she took it upon herself to answer for the both of them. Bucky shot her a look, mostly because making promises like that was something he wasn't all that fond of doing. They had a tendency to come back and bite you in the ass. The trouble was Edgar wasn't safe, never would be, not until they figured out what was going on and stopped it.

Bucky finally took the glass with a curt nod of thanks to the girl, offering it to Edgar.

"You need to drink this, okay? All of it." And with hands still trembling, the old man did so.

"Good. Okay. I need to talk for a minute with my, uh. Colleague. In the kitchen, just right over there. Just sit tight." And he pointed at the kitchen, which, this being a typically tiny New York apartment, offered a clear line of sight to the living room.