It's quiet...too quiet.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Sam got some intel about a possible safehouse-slash-weapons depo that might be of interest to Bucky, so he and Steve head out to upstate Pennsylvania to check it out.

Steve doesn't have much hope for finding Bucky there--they're always at least two steps behind him, it seems, cleaning up what he leaves behind-- but sometimes standing in rooms he knows where Bucky has been is all the comfort he can find. Sometimes he feels like painting "BUCKY COME HOME" on the walls, just to see what would happen.

But Bucky won't be back to places he's already destroyed. Steve knows that.


Anyway.



The warehouse is on the edge of a small rural town that the economic crisis has hit hard. Most of the store fronts are boarded up. Some of the fields are bare, some are overgrown, and some hold the machinery of fracking. The warehouse itself looks rusty and abandoned, and Steve would pass it by if there weren't the hope of some sort of clue.

(Or the chance to bash some heads.)

It takes only a tap from the shield to break the padlock on the small door to the side of the building. No reason to break into the main security doors and draw attention to themselves. Steve eases the door open and steps inside, and nods to Sam.

Comments

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve makes it through the doors just as the waters rush into the building.

[notapilot]

Sam folds his wings in to make sure Steve has enough room and then looks around for anything promising.

"You want me to guard or help search?"

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus trusts the river to do its work, and he rides along the current of it, making his way to where he saw Steve disappear.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Search," Steve tells Sam, confident that the river Orpheus diverted through the warehouse will keep them safe from any lingering agents.

Intel is the most important thing right now.

[notapilot]

Sam nods and holsters his guns to begin searching.

"By the way, I owe your guy an apology. I underestimated him."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus continues his song as he rides the crest of water. It doesn't take him long to reach the doors Steve exited through. Another intent chord collapses the doors behind him.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve snatches up a CPU before the water can rush in. He breaks the casing open and snaps out the hard drive.

"Yeah," he tells Sam. "So have I."

[notapilot]

Sam sets to looking for any hardcopies or portable computer media, flash drives or CDs.

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus' anger carries him along much as the river did. His mode is destruction, not search, and it won't be long before that destruction reaches this room as well.

"We need to go," he manages, through the haze of music around him. The song is stretching out of his control, and he's not sure how much longer he can channel it.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve tucks the hard drives into the velcro-sealed pockets of his uniform.

He goes to Orpheus and takes his face in his hands, and kisses Orpheus, firm and deep.

He says quietly, "You amaze me."

[notapilot]

Sam turns to the door to give them a semblance of privacy. That is until he sees how things are just coming apart out there. He coughs and says, "Sorry to interrupt but things do look like it's time make tracks."

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus has to frown a moment at Steve's comment, though he grips Steve's biceps hard enough to bruise. "You terrify me," he says in response, but is distracted from expounding on that by Sam's warning.

"Let's go," is what he says in the end, hands moving back to his guitar in case they need assistance on the way out.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

"Terrify?" Steve begins, but yeah, they'll talk about it later.

He takes his shield from its harness and throws open the office doors to run back out into the fray.

[notapilot]

Sam is right behind him with his guns out, covering.

[golden_lyre]

Orpheus follows them both, hands back on his guitar, playing them safe passage from both flood and bullets.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

The shield slams into HYDRA agents and rings, clear as a bell, as it hits the walls of the warehouse before boomeranging back to Steve.

[notapilot]

Sam takes out a couple of agents that were trying to sneak past them on the catwalk. Part of him wonders what sort of things would lead a person to deciding HYDRA was the way to go, but the greater part keeps his head in the moment.

He'd be happy to help any to see the error of their ways after they aren't in a firefight.

[golden_lyre]

Just the sight of the HYDRA agents is enough to get Orpheus' blood boiling again. His song picks up right where it left off, and the waters, which had begun to calm, roil and foam, occasionally kicking up a wave to pull someone under. The protective undercurrent he began with extends to cover Steve and Sam as well.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Agents that try to reach Steve are swept away in the waves as Steve runs on nearly-dry ground. It doesn't escape his notice that they're so desperate they're actually just grabbing for him now.

[notapilot]

It doesn't escape Sam's notice either.

"Should we save any of them? Maybe they have intel?" He knows that's not part of the mission, but he has trouble not offering aid when the fights over, and things seems like their winding down.

[golden_lyre]

A few of the agents who grab at Steve find themselves sucked violently into the current or actually, physically pulled away by tree branches, working almost like arms. He has no desire to save any of them, and he purposely removes himself from the conversation, knowing his answer is likely to be shot down by Steve, at least, if not by both of them.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

In answer, Steve grabs one of the HYDRA agents and wrestles him into the mire. "Who do you answer to?" he demands. "Who's in charge of you now?"

The man gurgles in terror.

[notapilot]

Sam steps over and crouches down near Steve, resting a light hand on his shoulder.

"Hi," he says towards the HYDRA agent with a big smile. "In case you didn't notice, you don't have a lot of slack right now. So unless you want to join your friends, I'd suggest telling my buddy here what he wants to know."

Sam's good with playing good cop, especially since he knows Steve doesn't have the mind set for it right now.

"Or we can let our other friend there play another tune for you?"

[golden_lyre]

It's with a tremendous effort that Orpheus does not simply play the water into this man's lungs, but he's able to hold off, for the moment.

[thekidfrombrooklyn]

Steve shoves the man deeper into the mud. "Well?"

"Hail--" the man gasps, and the rest is covered by Steve's, "No!" before the man crunches his cyanide pill.

Steve swears copiously and shoves the mook away.