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Character: James "Bucky" Barnes &
Time period: Post-CA: TWS
Warnings: Obsessive Bucky on the loose.

At first, independence had seemed like one of his better ideas, but he had begun to revise his opinion once he had verified certain truths, taken noted of the factions searching for him, and realizing that the world was a wide landscape where a man could get lost. After he had rearmed himself from the bodies of two Hydra agents, a drug dealer, and a gang banger, he had come to realize that slipping away, hiding, being nothing at all was very easy, too easy.

He had been built on the foundation of a command structure for more than seventy years. Even before the blurred vagueness of falling, he knew order and military command. Aside from mashed up images, feelings and impressions, he knew that he had to have some manner of structure in his life. With no more commands down the line, he loitered, slipping through the shadows on Washington for awhile, finding the unsavoury places and people, leaving a few bodies in his wake and not particularly caring that they were found and televised either. A weapon bared he moved through the chaos at first because it was all he knew, listless for anything but the violence he had played a role in for so long. It lost it's purpose without the trigger of structure.

His world stagnated as he avoided those who hunted him, and he cared little for the lives he took when they found him. They came to command him because they thought he would simply bow to old standards, that he would go back to being his code name if they applied even electricity to his brain. They hadn't earned the right to command him. They were weaker than he, hadn't even survived a single encounter when he decided to throw his weight back at them. They were weak men, lost in words and hiding behind guns and dying in the shadows of buildings and trees.

Slowly, resolution began to form from the ashes of his lost command structure. He decided he would allow himself to be commanded again, that he yearned to be commanded by someone with the strength of both character and body to overtake him or at least bow him slightly with respect. Pierce had been like that, he reflected. The man hadn't needed to physically harm him to command his respect, though he remembered well being struck when he required the prompt. A few others had commanded a similar reaction deep in his guts, and his attention snapped over to them. One at a time, he decided. One searched, the other could be found if he looked.

He had been lost for a few months, considering leaving to go to Brooklyn for more pieces of an old puzzle, but he was drawn back into Washington because beating information out of a SHIELD agent had satisfied him that he would get what he wanted. As a ghost story, he knew that the only way to get proper attention was to do something not only obvious but dramatic. His depth of dramatic no doubt would be very different from others that he knew existed, but like a well-trained dog returning to his master, he knew how to get the attention that was needed to invite a recall command.

Hydra agents were not easy to find in large quantities in Washington anymore, most arrested or underground and hiding. It took him two days to find a nest of the vipers, using the old underground tunnels that he knew well. He'd ended them to prove he might not be under command, but it was something worth earning given his skills. Their bodies were left in obvious Hydra uniforms and symbols and piled high in front of the Smithsonian. As if the symbol of his loyalty degradation wasn't enough, none of the corpses had heads, and he had piled them in such a way that he could sit atop the whole mess and lounge there as obvious as the start of a new day.

Media and police were one thing, not that interesting, but he let them think they had command of him for a moment. Let them show his face around for SHIELD and Hydra and them to know he was here. Meaningless orders were ignored, people's reactions only earned a turning of his cheek in dismissal before he knew that the police presence would be a problem to slip away from. Instead he slipped from his lounging perch to ignore warnings and breaking into the Smithsonian because it suited him there. It seemed a fitting place to bow to the command of someone worthy.

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While he might have been passive or appearing so, he watched her like a hawk, his brown eyes keen and hungry for her reactions even if his expression showed nothing. She was so pure and honest, giving him what he wanted to see, showing him the bits and pieces that he knew made up her person and the steel spine that would allow her to direct him as Hydra never could. Compassion was for her to worry about; he had left compassion behind when he had began his bloody trail through history. He recognized that she could temper his sharpness or set him to her enemies with a single command. A thrill ran through him at the sheer thought, so the real thing would no doubt be much, much better.

"Few would have seen the layers of the messaging in it, but you have always been smart to that sort of thing," he said softly as he stepped away from the plane to bring himself closer to her. He put himself in the open as a sign that he wouldn't hurt her, though he still could if he wanted to. "Hydra is without its fist, and the heads of the beasts are being reduced faster than they an regenerate. Think of a world free of that ideology."

He stepped closer bit by bit until they were within striking distance with fists. He took another larger step forward, staring at her eye-to-eye. "Who is Bucky to you?"

Life and death had no value to Hydra. So long as their missions were accomplished, who cared how many lived and dead. Sarah had witnessed that first hand when she was sent on her first mission. No one batted an eye to the kills. When their objectives weren't met, then they got talked to and punished. Clones were less than human. Their life held no value if they couldn't produce results.

She stayed quiet, following behind him as they left the room, heading down the halls to the Captain America exhibit. When they stopped in front of the memorial to James Barnes she felt chills ran down her spine. Her eyes shifted from his face to the man pronounced dead. Well...she'd be damned. Sarah wasn't expecting this sort of twist.

"He'll be a hard man t'find..." she murmured, returning her gaze to his face.

"But, you've given me a place t'start. I don't want t'disturb you relivin'....that." she gestured her head to the memorial. As creepy as it was to know when he 'died' and who he was, she had to say...he still looked damn good for a man over fifty.

She stretched her hand out, gesturing for him to return the photo back to her. He trained her well enough to find others. It would be hard, but impossible for her to find Duncan.

He admitted that he was slightly curious of her origins considering he knew that they were called 'clones'. He knew that much of Hydra dabbled in that sort of thing in an attempt to make a perfect soldier but also to expand on the world to something greater than the rolls in the sheets that humans normally did. They had been dabbling in things best left alone for many years, but he had been a part of some of it and a victim of other parts, though his memories were hazy. For now, it didn't seem particularly important.

"Depends on where the threads lead, but you don't have to go back that many years," he said casually and looked at the picture again. "Reliving being dead? James Barnes died seventy years ago; what life do I have looking at a memorial?"

He made no move to give her back the photo and instead pushed off the memorial. "Do you really think I'm going to let you leave here?"

Cloning was part of a future Hydra wanted to create. A world where they picked the best genes and created life to serve their purpose. They could take the best of people and create beings whose sole purpose was to live up to Hydra's standards. It was the perfect way to establish and maintain control. Thus far Project Leda had been a success and prior to Hydra's fall, they wanted to keep going.

Sarah wanted to know her origins to know if she had the marker for the defective gene. She fought to keep her life and wouldn't have her own body betray her in such a fashion. The only thing standing between her finding Duncan was him.

"Maybe I want to dig deeper. It's my call." She didn't have to answer to him or anyone else.

"Dunno, for all I know you could be waiting for Captain America to show up and knock your teeth out." Why else would he set up camp here? For shits and giggles?

The longer he made her wait the more irritated and annoyed she became. How hard was it to hand back a simple picture? Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly at him. They had a deal. They exchanged information and now they could part ways. A clean break for the two of them. She could find answers and he...could continue to live in a museum.

"I know you're not stupid enough to make threats to me." Her hand slowly moved back to her side.

"Do you really want t'fight? We know the outcome of it." They would fight their hardest, leaving bruises, marks and scrapes on the other. Someone would get shot at, possibly wounded and some how, some way, it would cause both of them to fall back to their old routine where their clothes would vanish and they'd experience a warmth and bliss that only came from releasing tension.

"Save us both the time and give me the photo back."

It was her right to dig as deep as she wanted to about her life, but she had to recognized that Hydra might have been underground now, but they would come to collect the pieces of the puzzle back together. Work would either be deemed unfit or pulled back into the fold, and the clone project seemed far too important to have any known clones wandering around looking for answers to questions about their origins and worse their genetic make-up.

"You might not want to pull on that thread; it might not lead to where you want it to," he replied simply. Hydra secrets had secrets and they weren't friendly. One clone searching for a single man that might be alive or dead? It seemed like an interesting adventure.

"I'm wanting for something far less significant," he murmured as he made a show of tucking her photo into his vest carefully so as not to damage it. He zipped the pocket closed and allowed his hands to return to his sides casually. "Purpose and structure," he added airily. "A mission to find a lost scientist gives me a break from running about like a rabid dog."

He wasn't afraid of the threat of a fight, but he knew it was also dangerous to do it here when he had left that nifty gift outside. "You either let me come with you, or I let slip to Hydra where you're going. Don't think they won't be interested in a non-coughing clone."

The weight of his gaze on her was just a bit disconcerting, mostly since she wasn’t sure she could properly identify exactly the feelings that were flickering on them and maybe it was better if she didn’t, the last thing she needed was further distraction and she was quite adept at ignoring certain things and be able to focus on what was the most important thing at the moment.

She wasn’t sure if that was meant to be a compliment or not, but she supposed she had to be smart enough to recognize that, after all, wasn’t she a symbol herself and it would have really been rather sad if she hadn’t been able to understand his message. When he moved, she kept her position, knowing by experience that she shouldn’t completely trust he wouldn’t attack her just yet. “I thought I was in a world free of that ideology already.” And she truly had, she had thought she had taken the one responsible for this already. “Yet here they are still, there can be fewer heads but they might always come back.”

How long it had taken Zola to single handedly recover the organization, in the shadows and right under the noses of SHIELD, it was something she will rather not think about since thinking about Zola, sent her to the path of thinking about what they had done to the man in front of her.

Noticing the now close distance between them, she took a little step back and braced herself for anything while she met his eyes firmly, refusing to look away. “You were the closest person in my life, my closest friend and companion, even when I had nothing you were always at my side.” It was hard to put into simple words what Bucky, what he meant to her.

"I'm interested t'see how deep the rabbit hole goes." It was her choice to know where she came from, who she was created after or from. After that...she didn't know what she'd do. Maybe this adventure would bring her some closure and in the process take care of some of the people who thought her weak. Maybe even find that bitch, Rachel and do her in.

A growl rose up in her throat watching him carefully tuck her photo away. Fine, he could keep it. She had the photo memorized enough to do well without it. But no, he wanted to force his way to go with her. Why? Didn't he want to fight someone else or...do whatever it is he liked doing these days.

"Let it slip, then. I know they're after me and if more come to the party, the more fun I'll have." Sarah wasn't backing down from the issue. He wasn't coming. There was no need for them to fall back into their old habits, even if a tiny part of her did like his company.

"If you want your own fun find it elsewhere, Barnes."

He wasn't so naive to think that Hydra was gone; he had worked too long in various places not to know that they were there, that they existed all over the world and no where would be free of them without significant hard work. He had no direction though, not real need to go and hunt them down because he didn't care enough about this world to think of saving it. Right now, he had to be selfish; he had to find a balance and purpose for himself and if it lead him in the direction of freedom and death to Hydra, he would focus on it only then.

"Hydra lives somewhere in every country of the world," he said simply, shrugging his shoulders as he were unconcerned about the spread. "Defeating the heads here simply means there's new ranks for advancement. Every last one of them needs to be eliminated if you want a world free of it."

He didn't mind her taking a step back, pleased that she recognized the danger that he presented. Yet, he felt a well of disappointment to her answer, his eyebrows drawing together as his lips twisted into a disapproving frown. "I 'was' all that, was I? Now I am nothing to you?" He turned his face aside, letting his hair slide over his cheek to obscure his wounded expression but not before he made certain she caught a glimpse of it. "I have nothing, Stephanie. If you've truly left me behind, I have nothing at all."

"You might be well trained, but you haven't had the access that I have," he replied simply and shifted his metal hand up as if he were studying his fingernails. "I don't see why this little charade can't continue, unless you're afraid that I'll show you up and steal the glory or hide information from you."

He was going with her, but she just hadn't agreed to it yet. Even if she slipped away, he would follow her, hunt her and keep danger from him because he decided it was structure enough that he could focus on it. He had nothing else after all; Hydra was too deep rooted for him to consider killing it all. This was something he could do well and easily, and he embraced it without even caring for her permission.

"Leaving a trail of bodies only brings more attention. The best you can hope to do is bury them," he replied as he regarded her with cool calculation. She could run and hide and be hunted and never see the end of the rabbit hole she was looking down. "Don't call me 'Barnes'," he snarled, showing teeth in pure threat.

He actually hadn't developed a taste for being called anything really. The name hurt, but he wasn't about to admit it.

"It's about bloody glory!" Sarah snapped, growing more frustrated and annoyed with him as the seconds ticked on. There was no way she could've expected him to want to tag along with her. She was prepared to do things on her own. Prepared to handle her business, even if it meant she might die from it.

If she did die, at least it would be because she was doing something she wanted to do.

"You're one t'talk, considering your handy work outside." It wouldn't be that hard to hide a dead body or more. Thus far she had done well for herself, keeping her tracks covered unless she wanted to be found. But, he was the best tracker around. Even if she walked away from him, he'd find her. He always found her.

"Make me," she hissed back with anger in her brown eyes. He was doing a far better job of pushing her buttons than she was doing to him. Her fingers were itching to draw her weapon out and shot him. He'd evade her shots, of course and knowing her luck, one would ricochet and end up going through her instead.

She knew he was right and well she had known that even before he had told her that, she had realized that Hydra was going to be an entity that was never going to truly disappear, the realization had hit her since the moment she had discovered the organization was still alive and thriving within the one that she was slowly dedicating her life to and that Peggy had helped to create, something that had enraged her a bit, and she could probably dedicate her life to try to eradicate it, but then she couldn’t quite oversee the world had also other threats asides from them.

“I am quite aware of that.” Though it was probable that their ideas of elimination differed like an abysm, she had seen his methods and idea to achieve that mean piled outside the museum, and in truth she was still on the fence about what exactly could be done to contain them, killing just wasn’t her style but then there was also a part of her that hated them so much, she didn’t wanted to lose sight of herself when it came to this.

There was a small frown on her face at his words. “I never said you didn’t mean anything to me, I wouldn’t have gone after you if you were nothing to me.” And yes the wounded look hurt her, it did, but she tried to keep her expression composed, not knowing what could be perceived as weakness for him right now. “I never left you behind, but I couldn’t force you to something you might not have wanted or felt ready for, we made a promise a long time ago and I always keep those, Bucky.”

"And if you want to live long enough to see the other side of whatever glory there might be, you need me," he replied coldly, aware that it was true. No one escaped him when he wanted to find them, and there was no way that he was going to let this single opportunity slip away from him regardless of how annoyed she might be with him. She was easy to ire, but her emotions tended to boil into something warm and pleasurable, so he wasn't going to complain much. It was all part of getting what he wanted.

"And do you see them storming the building coming to get me because of it?" He stepped closer as if to prove his point about his own freedom right now. He stood in a shrine to a life that had fallen into the cold, no more than a passing salute the man he once was. "You can't evade me, Sarah. You can't evade Hydra forever either, and what's the point of a fool's quest if you aren't given some information for your troubles?"

He turned his face aside from her attempt to badger him. He could crush her skull if it suited him after all. "You need your tongue to interrogate people, so I'll let it slide this time."

She might have been aware of it, but he knew from the reading in this place that it had to rub her the wrong way that all those years, all those efforts, all those lives sacrificed that Hydra would continue on and kill and kill and manipulate this world to strip freedom from people. While he might not remember things about them, their time together, he knew how a good person worked having seen enough of the self-sacrificing types around. As his memories returned and perhaps the emotions that went with it, he might not feel the need to manipulate her as he was.

"I could be of use to you," he said softly, glancing at her through strands of dark hair. "I remember... a few things here and there about Hydra, and I could help if you wanted to focus on that." He knew a lot actually, and because Hydra often considered him docile and slumbering in the cooling process, he listened to things best left unsaid. He could be of help to her, but it would be for his benefit, so he obtained what he was missing and settled himself into a task that she could so easily direct him at. She knew how to command; he knew how to take orders as well as give them.

He gazed at her through his hair, and his expression shifted to an almost childish vulnerability. "To the end of the line," he whispered with a slight bob of his head. He did remember that now. "Do you... can you someday think of me fondly again, or has all I've done with Hydra tainted your opinion of me?"

As much as she wanted to deny, scream and yell at him, what he said was true. She wouldn't be able to escape him or Hydra. She would always have to live her life looking over her shoulder to see if anyone was following her. It wouldn't be much of a life, but at least it would be hers. This was all assuming she left the museum with her life still in tact. As it were she wanted to put her gun between his eyes and fire. If not that, then land a good blow to his head.

"I don't need you. Been doin' just fine without you," she hissed between gritted teeth.

He was tempting her, toying with her and doing one hell of a job of it. Either she would have to shoot something when this was all over, or get a stiff drink. Maybe both.

"I can get the information on my own. You're the one that needs a fucking distraction or a hobby..." the words were murmured to herself as she attempted to calm herself down. It wasn't working, it rarely did.

"You..." Sarah stopped herself, forcing herself to take a deep breath and take a step back.

"A fucking, god awful prick." She said the words loud enough for him to hear. There was no point in arguing anymore. He was standing by his decision and she doubted any persuasion on her part would make him change his mind.

"Fine. You can come along."

For a few moments she didn’t said anything to his offer, is that the reason he had lured her here? To make this kind of offer to her and it was quite a good one, an offer that appealed to the side of her that hated Hydra so much, the one that also wanted her best friend back, to have him close and be able to help him. She was sure that he probably knew more than what the organization itself probably expected him to and she was so torn right now, about what to do and think.

“So is that why you brought me here, to offer me your help to hunt down Hydra?” Well it would make sense in a bit, wouldn’t it? He was free from his ties of them and wanted to get even. She took a deep breath and slowly uncurled her fist, her fingers tingling a bit since she hadn’t realized how tight the motion had been and she shifted her fingers a bit, trying to get rid of the sensation.

Her frame tensed a bit, those words strangely hurt right now and she just gazed at him again, with a soft expression. “I have never stopped being fond of you, Buck; I don’t think a lot can change that.” And she didn’t exactly blame him for what he had done under Hydra orders.

Oh yes, she had been doing just fine on her own tracking him down when he laid the most obvious sign out on the doorstep and then lost her apparent only piece of connection to her past to him. She was doing very well on her own, and he knew that her temper would get the best of her soon enough. As far as he was concerned, he had her eating out of the palm of his hand and she just hadn't realized it yet. That was the way he liked to play when he had set his mind on a task.

He did need a distraction and a hobby, but he had just found one. He felt no need to tell her that right now though, since he knew with her snarling and anger that she was losing her feel of the situation. If he waited her out and poked her a little more, she would give in with little fight and they would be on their way. He'd even give her back her nice little photo once they were out of the Smithonian too.

He smirked when she cussed him out and knew he had won. He shifted his weight to a more relaxed pose, looking eerily similar to the man displayed on the monument behind him. "It's a good thing you accepted the inevitable. A shorter time than most of your project."

"No, I wanted to see you again," he murmured softly. He could have really made the offer, but this place had seemed the most fitting for this kind of reunion and uniting of purpose. This was the monument to lost soldiers, to a history long forgotten or mocked after all they had sacrificed. It seemed fitting that he would be remade here, that he would gather up a little of what he lost because of her. Even when he had nothing, he would make certain that he always had Stephanie. She had no choice; they had promised to the end of the line.

"Hydra is hunting me anyway, and they are hunting you. Remember how well we did as a group against them? I want... I wish I could remember what it was like," he murmured softly before he stepped closer to her when she had uncurled her fists, a sign of the tension leaving her, a sign he could weasel his way in close and hopefully not get brained for it either.

Slowly, he submitted as he faced her, his kneed buckling in slow motion as he settled on them before her. His arms reached out so that they could curl around her upper thighs, hoping to draw her in where he could rest his cheek against the swell of her right hip... always her right hand man. "Don't leave me in this darkness. Help me, Stevie," he whispered brokenly.

And wasn’t it oddly and bittersweet ironic that he had picked this place for this reunion, no, it wasn’t ironic. He had picked this place on purpose, it was strategic of him to bring her and lure her here after all, this place held so many meanings to her and then there was his memorial, something that she couldn’t help but thing as one of her greatest failure and regret when she had failed to save him, this was done on purpose and now…now she wasn’t sure if he had done it to hurt her further or taunt her. It made something in her twist at any of those possibilities.

“Of course I remember, just like old times, right?” And maybe that sounded a bit bitter and wistful, back then it had been them and the commandos against the world, they were the only remaining two and still seventy years later they still needed to take care of them. But if she went that way, well, they wouldn’t exactly be alone, there was Sam and maybe the others might be willing to help.

She was snapped back at his sudden motion, everything in her coiled and she reacted, barely managing to stop the hit when she realized what he was doing. Her eyes widened in sheer shock and her body trembled a bit, still getting down from the sudden rush of adrenaline and waiting for her muscles and body to relax. Her arms fell to her sides and she stood there for a bit, processing this, she couldn’t ignore the plea from her friend, the person she had been searching and hunting to be able to help out, bring him out of that darkness and here he was asking that.

Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath and tries to relax herself even further before opening her eyes again and looking at him, she hated seeing him in this position, had Hydra ever forced him to do this and she couldn’t help to feel a bit angry at that. “Get up!” And she nearly winced at how her voice sounded at that, before taking a deep breath. “Get up; you don’t need to kneel in front of me.”

She might have remembered, but he didn't and words on a monument only seemed to mock him. Words didn't bring with it the tide of memories to him, and that angered him. Only people seemed to draw him out of the fog, but he supposed he could accept it now that he had someone who recognized and had shared similar difficulties as he had back then, had been there in the flesh along with him. She would bring him back from the brink of nothingness, draw him out of the fog and release him when it suited him to be on the loose.

"I remember being cold," he murmured softly, peering up at her. He knew the risks of being in close to her when she knew he was a threat to her and could potentially turn on her in a moment's notice. However, down on his knees was a surrender that he had offered no other before, and it was a vulnerability he needed to use to keep her from knocking his head off or injure him. Only those worthy of him could ever bring him down to this level of loyalty.

He turned his face along her hip, peering up the length and curves of her body to peer at her face. His expression softened and almost produced a smile, but he made certain it appeared hard to come by, like he had nothing happy right now but her. Like a loyal deadly wraith chained to her for the purpose that she would decide. "Stephanie," he breathed hopefully at her closed expression.

Yet, his ears burned with command and the sharpness in her voice. His arms slithered away from her waist, and he rolled smoothly to his feet again with a crisp abruptness of a soldier. "I've missed you, Stevie. I'll be with you until the end of the line. I'll help you with anything, just... don't leave me. I don't want to go back to... that."

It was quite hard for her to be the only to remember all of those things, all those memories and times they have shared in the past, it always hurt to know that she was nothing but glimpses of memories of the two people that had meant the world to her, Bucky barely remembered her and Peggy eventually forgot and then was back to acting as if she was seeing for the first time, it was a bit discouraging and she tried not to let that take her down and settle herself with the knowledge they were still alive at least.

There was a small stutter in her breath when he mentioned the cold, she also remembered being cold, when she had crashed that plane and then it had only been the rush of icy cold water, the freezing temperature seeping into her bones and then she had slipped into sweet oblivion and darkness, at the very least comforted she had managed to save many lives and was probably going to see her mother and Bucky soon, but nothing was easy and here she was.

It has rather hopeful whisper of her name, it brought something that she wasn’t sure how to interpret, it sounded as the kind of whispers she had heard men and women alike expel on the few times she had been in church and they had been praying to any holy being that was listening and it made her feel as if chains were being wrapped around her, tangling her to him in a way that she might dread in a future.

She didn’t fail to notice how quickly he followed her instructions and it just made that invisible thing between them tighten more, it worried her just a bit and she took a deep breath. “Alright…alright, I’m not going to leave you.” And why couldn’t she help but feeling as if she had sold her soul to the devil. “I…I need to call Sam, give me a second.”

He looked down at the red light and then followed it back up so that by the time Bucky was speaking, Steve was looking at him. "I'm flattered that your opinion of me's that high and all, but you're wrong."

No, not he alone. He was pretty sure he hadn't done anything truly alone in his life. There'd been Bucky or Howling Commandos, or Avengers, or Sam and Nat, or even SHIELD. He didn't work alone. Other people worked with him and god dammit he wasn't a lone wolf. His pack was loose, scattered, he was sometimes introverted as hell, but he wouldn't have accomplished much alone.

"Am I?" He leaned a little on his rifle, eyeing the distance from himself to the man standing on the ground. He kicked his legs up into the air like a child might, but he was anything but that as his brown eyes were coldly calculating. "You came, and I suppose that's all that matters. To the end of the line, right?"

He shifted on the plane with a surety that it would hold as he rose to his feet even as the plane swayed in the air and the cables groaned softly. "You didn't like my gift then? I can find something more to your liking if you want."

Steve stepped back, but he only did it so that he could keep his eyes on Bucky. Whoever or whatever he was, he'd meant what he'd said. "To the end of the line," he repeated. He ignored any feelings that might have roused, hearing those words in that tone. "And I didn't say I didn't like your gift, I just said I wasn't the only one who understood the difficulty."

He paused, but only for a moment. Could he have gotten up there? Yeah. He could now, actually, but he didn't see much point. Not yet, anyway. "You coming down?"

His chest swelled with breath when he heard that repeated back to him like a declaration, and his expression softened with faint euphoria as he swayed on his feet. Yes, he had chosen well to leave such a message. This was one who could give him what he needed, and he would see to it that Steve gave it to him. "No, you and I are different from the others. Others recognize decapitation is difficult, the little details to doing it, but you and I... we're special." And they had each other.

He shifted and stepped off the plane, falling the distance with his rifle in hand before the sound of his boots hitting the floor echoed. The tile under his feet cracked, but he simply ignored it and stepped away, flicking his rifle with an expert each to swing against his back instead. He walked towards his friend. "I saw my old face, you know. Strange they'd make a monument part for me, right?"

In his own way, he was confident that being close to her would enable him to gather back all the pieces that seemed to jab his mind at times but with little context. He knew that she knew everything there was about him, and he could have it back if they stayed close to each other, protected each other like old times because that's what friends did for each other. He had already decided on this, and he would see it through to the end as well.

On his feet again, he allowed his arms to dangle loosely at his sides as he watched her with great interest. She had accepted him as easily as he had hoped that she would, like the best friend that she was and always would be to him. Her heart was kind, her spine made of steel, and her mind willing to accept things or change them to suit her moral code. It was exactly what he wanted, what he believed he needed, and it felt so good to have it presented to him.

He nodded and wallowed in the warm feelings in his chest when she said she wouldn't leave. Perhaps she had no idea how right she was about that. At the mention of 'Sam', he shrugged his shoulders. "He probably shouldn't come here. I can get us out just fine so no one knows."

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