Snarky ColdWinter #2

[fist_of_hydra]

The team had been arguing for a while now, and getting nowhere. They'd narrowed Savage's location down to Italy in September of 1944, but couldn't get any farther than that. James thought he had a pretty good guess what Savage wanted - this was where HYDRA had most of their facilities, and the Red Skull would be the perfect ally to Savage.

The only people who would have any further intelligence about Savage's possible movements were the Allied or Axis forces. Neither were going to hand the information over to a bunch of strangers. Ray wanted to play dress up and march in, pretend to be an officer and demand the information. Sara wanted to go in at night and steal it. There were half a dozen other ideas floating around, and all of them were bad. Quite a few of them were likely to get them shot at.

Ray might be onto something, though. At least, if you turned your head and looked at the idea sideways. Trying to march in and claim to be an officer nobody in the camp had ever seen was asking for a swift visit from the MPs.

Marching in and claiming to be an officer everyone in the camp had seen was another matter.

James had been lurking by the doorway, as was his habit, rather than sitting around the table with the others. He hadn't been contributing, so he was able to slip out without inciting comment. Once in the hall, he strode toward the fabrication room. "Gideon. Do you have any footage or photos of me in uniform in this time period?"

"Of course, Mr. Barnes."

"Good. I need a copy made, and make sure it looks worn and used. Can you do that?"

"Certainly."

"Then do it." James strode into the fabrication area, where a uniform was already synthesizing. He paused, looking at it, and rubbed a hand over the scruff on his chin.

Five minutes later he strode back toward the main room. It felt odd to be back in this uniform. Gideon had even managed to make it smell right - which was to say, like blood and gunpowder and harsh lye soap. Even stranger was not feeling his hair brushing against his cheeks and neck. He hadn't had short hair since HYDRA took him, and he found he already missed it long.

This wasn't him, anymore. It felt like the ghost of Bucky Barnes was riding his shoulders, and the weight was pressing him down.

"...are we supposed to do, walk in and ask them nicely?" Sara was saying, her tone full of exasperation as she threw her hands up at Ray.

"That's exactly what we're gonna do." James rose his voice enough to cut through the babble. Everyone turned to look at him, and most of them did a wide-eyed double-take. He raised an eyebrow at them. "It's just a matter of the right person doing the asking."

Comments

[coldlenny]

"It's fine." Len put a hand on his flesh shoulder, though with the thick jacket, he wasn't sure it was any more sensitive than his metal one up there. "You good?"

He didn't think James was good. He also wasn't sure he had a choice.

[fist_of_hydra]

"I'm okay." He really wasn't. He wished he could get a kiss, but if he took the mask off he wasn't sure he could bring himself to put it back on again.

At least once they were off the ship, there was little chance he'd catch a reflection. Once he got used to the mask and goggles again he'd be better able to ignore them. Hopefully.

When they emerged from the ship he heard a few startled noises among the crowd. Sara gave him a sharp, assessing look, eyeing the metal arm revealed by his half sleeveless jacket. No surprise a League of Assassins member would know all the stories about the Winter Soldier.

Jax and Ray he was pretty sure were just intimidated by the look. That was almost amusing enough to calm him. "Let's get this show on the road. The sooner we get this done, the happier I'll be."

"Are you ever actually happy?" Jax muttered under his breath, probably figuring James wouldn't be able to hear him.

"No," James replied flatly. "But I can be less happy. Move."

[coldlenny]

If there was one thing Len did like about this look - James' grumbliness was sexy as hell.

They headed out, travelling towards the location that Peggy Carter's file indicated they could find Savage. But they were only halfway there when they heard gunfire through the trees.

"We shouldn't interf--" Rip tried, but Jax, Stein, and Ray had already taken off through the trees.

Len cursed and raced off after them. "Try not to blow anything up in front of the muggles!" he snapped at the three of them. Ray had his suit in his pocket, but all Jax and Stein needed to do was join together and there'd be a lot of fire.

[fist_of_hydra]

For a long moment James stood frozen, struggling with himself. Gunfire in this area could only mean one thing. For the last hour they'd been travelling through terrain that was hauntingly familiar to him, and he knew they were skirting the edge of where the Commandos had passed.

And he remembered getting into a skirmish with a Nazi patrol, a few days before they reached the base itself. Which meant running toward that sound was running toward himself.

When Len took off after the others, however, he shook himself and followed his lover. Nobody would recognize him. Nobody could recognize him. They wouldn't even be looking, because Bucky would be right beside them.

The Waverider team hit the enemy flank hard. Gideon had made them period appropriate weapons, including a sniper rifle for him, so he slid to his knees behind a tree and started taking potshots at the Nazis.

At least it was easy to tell friend from foe, with the uniforms. Not so much for them - both sides turned and started firing at the Waveriders when they joined it. Cursing, James touched a button that would disengage the voice sythesizer, then whistled the trilling bird call that was the Commandos' signal for a friendly party. He was a little surprised he remembered it so clearly.

Immediately the Commandos switched their aim solely back to the Nazis. At that point, taking fire from two sides, the German forces went down quickly.

Of course, once the last one died, they had another problem. Captain America himself stepped out of the treeline, slinging his shield onto his back. "Who's out there?" he demanded. "How did you know that signal?"

[coldlenny]

Len had been getting worried things were going to go really badly, when suddenly that odd trilling call came out of the trees from where he had seen James stop, and abruptly everything changed.

And then. Fucking. Captain America. Looking all dirty and blond and like the person that James had known and loved his whole life. Also the most arrow-straight person Len could think of, and that included Barry Allen.

God, he hated him.

He strode up to Steve Rogers. "We're on your side Cap," he purred. "Met with Carter this morning, and she gave us intel. We're after an ally of the Skull - not trying to horn in on your party - but we saw you were having a little problem, so we thought we'd lend a hand."

[fist_of_hydra]

"Really." Rogers seemed unimpressed with the assertion. His sharp blue eyes scanned their group, taking in Sara and Kendra, Jax and Stein. "Funny, 'cause she never mentioned you to me. Not been in any of my briefings."

"How 'bout that sniper of yours shows himself, too?" a new voice called, from the trees on the opposite end of the area. An all too familiar voice, to James - it was his own. Of course he'd noticed there was another sniper.

Slinging his rifle onto his back, he dropped down from where he'd settled himself, landing not far from Len. He kept his hands up, palms out, to show he wasn't carrying any weapons. He knew he should be watching Steve, but he couldn't take his eyes off the spot where his voice had come from.

"Show your face," Steve demanded, scowling.

James opened his mouth, and nearly bit his tongue as he realized hadn't turned the synthesizer back on. He brushed the switch. "Not going to happen, Captain." He finally tore his eyes away from the trees, and looked at Len. Silently naming him the leader with the action. He didn't trust Hunter to handle this.

[coldlenny]

Len turned his head towards the familiar voice when he heard Bucky call out, cursing inwardly. Rogers wasn't looking as gullible as he'd hoped, and James had nearly blown their cover. He was obviously distracted.

Len was distracted.

But he couldn't allow any of the others to take control here. None of them were good enough at this. Especially since James had just designated him the leader.

"Don't get distracted, Cap," Len said, attracting Steve's attention. "You asked how we know the signal, and I told you. You think I'm HYDRA, because you haven't heard about our unit? We aren't after the Red Skull, so why would they have to run it by you?"

[fist_of_hydra]

"We are a multi-national group, not unlike yourselves," Hunter piped up. James glared at him, but the effect was probably entirely blunted by the goggles he wore. "We report directly to Allied Command. It's..."

"Not relevant," James interrupted, his altered voice cold. "We're wasting daylight. The longer we stand here chattering, the more likely Savage and Schmidt make that alliance and we're all screwed."

"I've been hearing some nasty rumours about this Savage guy," Rogers said. He still looked wary, but not like he was about to grab the shield and throw it at any second. "If what you're saying is true, maybe we should combine forces for the moment. The patrols in this area are double thick."

[coldlenny]

Len was actually almost pleased that Rip spoke up. Maybe the British accent would help a bit. Who knew? It couldn't hurt.

"Savage is as bad as they come. I hear the same about Schmidt. So if they get together, it'll be all over for the Allies, I figure," Len said.

He paused and considered the offer. If he said no, that would only look more suspicious. His eyes flicked towards Bucky. "We're all on the same team here. Of course, we should help each other out."

[fist_of_hydra]

For a long moment more Rogers stared at them, clearly assessing. Finally he nodded. "All right. Fall in with my men. We've got a base camp half a mile to the east of here, we were on our way back after scouting. We can compare notes and figure out a plan of attack from there."

Turning, he gestured at the trees. "Buck? Stick close to them, all right?" He gave Len a smile that still held an edge of mistrust. "Sergeant Barnes will stay with you. In case we get separated."

"You got it." Bucky stepped into sight, slinging his rifle over his back the same way James held his. His blue eyes flicked to James, scanning his mask and goggles and metal arms with curiosity. Of course it would be Bucky that Rogers would send with them.

It was weird, because James didn't remember any of this happening. Shouldn't he remember it, since it was now in his past? Stein didn't forget who his wife was, though. Even when his ring physically disappeared.

[coldlenny]

Len gave Steve a smile in return that didn't come anywhere near reaching his eyes. "Sure, we'd love to have Barnes tag along." But they'd have to find a way to ditch him before they found Savage. Couldn't risk having his lover's past self die.

He saw the odd similarity and tried not to stare. The resemblance was incredible - and a moment later, he shook himself for the thought. Of course the resemblance was incredible - they were the same person.

He walked over to Bucky and stuck out his hand. "Good to meet you, Sergeant Barnes. I'm Leonard Snart."

[fist_of_hydra]

Bucky shook hands without hesitation, but he gave Len the same curious once-over he'd given James. "Pleasure. We'll have plenty of time to get acquainted on the way back, so why don't we head out?"

"Good plan. Commandos, let's head out." Steve made a sweeping hand gesture and pointed toward the camp, and the rest of the Commandos slung their weapons away and started moving in the indicated direction.

Again James felt a pang. He remembered the old hand codes, found them rushing back to him the same way the identification call had. He was drowning in memories, sort of like what had happened when Steve first triggered his true personality, but magnified a hundred times over.

He was grateful to have the memories back; he was going to fill whole books with new information after this trip. At the same time, he wished he could just get a moment to breathe among the onslaught.

Stein drifted closer to Bucky, eyes shining with excitement. He was doing the same thing Barry and Cisco had done to 'the Winter Soldier' when they'd first realized who he was - Lisa had called it 'fanboying'. Hopefully he didn't give them away by asking too many pointed questions about things he shouldn't have known.

Falling in beside Snart, Bucky eyed the motley group, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. The two women, well, he'd gotten a pretty thorough lesson from Peggy about underestimating what a woman could do in the field. The black kid didn't bug him, not after working with Gabe for so long. But the old guy? He had to be sixty if he was a day, what the hell was he doing in the field?

And then there was the guy in the mask, his whole face obscured and his vice somehow distorted. It gave Bucky the weirdest feeling just to be near him. He was creepy, that was for sure. Turning his attention back to Len, he tried to ignore the masked guy stalking along at his back. "So, what can you tell me? Since I'm guessing you're gonna refuse to answer half my questions."

[coldlenny]

Len hoped that James was doing okay. At least with the mask, if he was having a breakdown, no one would notice. He was already trying to plan the best way to ditch Bucky before they got anywhere near Savage.

But for now, it just hadn't seemed like they had any choice but to let him tag along.

So he walked and plotted and glanced at Bucky when the Sergeant asked him his question. "Savage is bad news, and we're gonna take care of it," he said. "They say he's magic, that he can't be killed, but we have a special weapon that's the only way to take him out."

[fist_of_hydra]

"Yeah, well, Schmidt thinks he can do magic, too," Bucky said, skeptical. "Guarantee a bullet in the head will still take him down, we're just trying to get to a place where we can put it there. Why does your guy need a 'special weapon'? You gonna do the whole vampire thing, stake him, cut his heart out and head off?"

"Magic is just science we don't understand, yet," James murmured, vaguely recalling a quote about something like that. He'd certainly had it demonstrated to him - many of the things they could do in 2016 would seem like magic to these people, let alone the things from 2166.

[coldlenny]

"More like have Kendra here deliver the killing blow," Ray said cheerfully, having obviously been eavesdropping, too. "We really don't know what it is that's keeping him alive - I mean, obviously it's got to be science - but I assure you, it's true that he's hard to kill."

Kendra elbowed Ray fiercely.

"All we know, is that there's something to it," Len growled. "So I'm telling you so you don't blunder in and get yourself killed because you don't believe in magic, okay?"

[fist_of_hydra]

"Sure, okay." Bucky still clearly wasn't buying any.

James sighed. "They've made Rogers a hell of a lot harder to hurt than a normal person. Why is it so hard to believe someone might go even farther on that scale? Think of it like personal armour, if it helps. Knights were the biggest, baddest thing on the battlefield for centuries. Nobody could touch them... until they invented guns. We're bringing the gun to the knife fight."

That seemed to make Bucky think about it, at least. He cocked his head at James. "So why the fancy get-up?"

[coldlenny]

Len rolled his eyes as Bucky obviously didn't believe them, but then James said something and it appeared to be the right thing. Then again, that shouldn't have been surprising. James would know what would be persuasive to himself.

But he saw James freeze at the question, and quickly jumped in. "It's a security measure." At Bucky's questioning look, he smirked, slow and suggestively. "He's so gorgeous that if he took off the mask, everyone would fall in love with him."

[fist_of_hydra]

That drew a couple of snickers and snorts of disbelief from the rest of their crew. James rolled his eyes, though nobody would see it.

"Ask him how he knows," Sara chimed in, playful and sly. "He was the first victim. Now we can hardly separate them."

Bucky stumbled over a root and shot a startled look from James to Snart. James ground his teeth. Of course Sara wouldn't give a shit about the social mores of the time. This was the woman who'd seduced a nurse in a small town in the 50s.

[coldlenny]

Len grinned even more widely, and cast a lascivious look at James. "She's not wrong."

Then he glanced at Bucky again, looking defiant. "Not gonna be a problem, I hope. You seem like an open-minded kid."

It amused him somewhat to think of Bucky making some kind of report on him, that he was engaging in lewd and inappropriate behaviour, and then discovering that Leonard Snart didn't exist. Of course, they'd be long gone.

[fist_of_hydra]

Again Bucky looked back and forth between Len and James, probably trying to figure out if they were having him on. James refused to comment, but he also didn't refute the claim. He hadn't intended the subject to come up, but he would not reject Len outright.

He wished he could remember better what his thoughts about that sort of thing had been, though. He only remembered ever being with women before Len, and he knew the social attitude at the time was incredibly negative. Sara and Len had no idea how lucky they'd been so far, with their unashamed admissions of their sexuality no matter the time period or place.

On the other hand, he suspected he might have had a thing for Steve beyond mere friendship, though he was certain the interest hadn't been returned if it did exist. Whether he'd admitted it to himself was the question.

To his relief, Bucky finally settled on an expression of unease and uncertainty, but not disgust. "None of my business. Doubt any of the Commandos will care either, I guess. Though you might wanna be a little more circumspect, there's plenty of officers would write you up."

"Like Rogers?" James couldn't resist asking, poking at the question like a sore tooth. Len and Steve hadn't exactly become friends the one time they'd met, and he didn't know if Steve was unhappy about the relationship because Len was a thief, or because he was a man. Or both, probably, since the former was a given.

"Steve? Nah, he's about the most open-minded guy I know." Bucky shrugged. "We had a friend back in Brooklyn, Arnie, he was one of those."

They had? James blinked, startled, but the name brought a few new memories drifting back. Jewish fella, and he'd kept it quiet, but James did remember now.

He'd nearly nerved himself up to proposition the guy for a kiss, when they were teenagers, but chickened out at the last minute. He was oddly relieved at the proof that Len wasn't the first guy he'd thought about that way. It made it more real, somehow.

Fuck it. Bucky knew and apparently didn't care, beyond being startled they'd admitted it so openly. He let himself drift closer to Len, falling in at his partner's side in his usual position.

"See?" Sara grinned at them. "Can't keep them apart. It's cute, really."

[coldlenny]

Len was also wary, watching Bucky for any sign of disgust. But to his surprise, the younger version of his lover ultimately accepted when he'd said without issue - only warning them.

And suddenly, there was James, drifting in close on silent feet. There he was, right next to him, and Len only now realized how uncomfortable it had been with James so far away.

He did shoot a glare at Sara, though.

"The cutest," Mick rumbled. "We going or what?"

Len was just glad he wasn't inclined to blush. "Yes, we're going."

[fist_of_hydra]

Nodding, Bucky gestured to one side of the clearing. "All right then, gents... and ladies, sorry. We're heading pretty much due west, so let's go."

Bucky was kept giving Len and James a sidelong look as they all walked, quizzical and a little uncomfortable at the obvious display. Was James projecting, thinking there was a hint of wistfulness as well? Maybe the kid - he couldn't help but think of his younger version as a kid, even though there was really only a few years separating them - was imagining being able to be that open.

James stared right back at him, not hiding it or being coy, daring him to... he wasn't even sure. There was a possessive edge to his feelings, which was completely ridiculous. Bucky didn't want Len, didn't even know who Len was.

But James had fallen for him, and James was Bucky, so if Bucky got to know Len, would he fall, too?

When he realized he was growling, the sound thankfully mostly muffled by the mask, he forced himself to look away.

[coldlenny]

Len could tell there was some kind of tension passing between James and Bucky now that Bucky knew. He even thought he heard a growl coming from his lover's throat, though he couldn't be sure.

And even though Bucky wasn't saying much, it did seem like there was tension there now that wasn't there before.

He moved closer to Bucky, hoping James would hang back a bit. "This gonna be a problem?" he asked in an undertone.

[fist_of_hydra]

"You tell me," Bucky replied, shooting a wary glance over Len's shoulder. "Your pal there doesn't seem to like me much. What's his issue with me?"

The guy was downright creepy, with the mask and goggles hiding his entire face, and the unnatural sound of his voice. Then there was that weird metal armour over his entire left arm. It looked like he'd removed the sleeve of his jacket to show it off, which was stupid for a sniper. The metal could catch the light and give his position away.

[coldlenny]

Len shrugged, and lied without hesitation. "He doesn't have an issue with you - no more than anyone else. He's sensitive about our relationship, and he's a grump. Takes him a while to warm up to people. Don't take it personally."