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JANUARY TEST DRIVE MEME
You awaken to godawful static overlaying a female voice that's too monotone to be anything but a recording. The static makes it difficult to understand the warning, but it's clearly a warning if your surroundings tell you anything...
You're buckled into a sturdy seat bolted to the wall behind you. Around you, there are dozens of others like you, some awake and others still unconscious, but it seems most of the seats lining the walls are occupied. The lights are dim, likely auxiliary lighting, leaving you mostly in the dark. You smell smoke and hear the sizzling crackle of electrical systems popping and shorting out. Some of the seats were jarred off the wall, leaving the occupants either wounded or dead. Count yourself lucky all you have is a headache and various aches accounted to whiplash.
You appear to be in a drop ship or an escape vessel of some form but the pilot is dead and the hull bears a massive gash where it buckled under the impact and sheered off. Through the door-sized opening, you can see vegetation. The air that wafts in is heavy with a humid heat, but it's obviously breathable.
Once you make your way outside, you'll see greenery: Trees, grass, and shrubs tangled with vines that grow wildly and suffocate the trees they climb. In the distance, behind the ship, you can make out a sandy desert that seems to stretch on endlessly. Forward through the trees, however, you may see a crumbling wall, but more importantly, you'll see signs of civilisation. Buildings and other structures seem contained within those decrepit walls. Maybe the natives can fill you in on what's going on, because the last thing you remember isn't being in an escape shuttle. As a matter of fact, you don't remember much about your arrival or where you are. But it's going to be a bit of a hike, better get moving. Though you might want to grab the backpack of supplies under your seat before you go.
With that, the power dies, leaving the drop ship in the dark, crackling and groaning as the hull cools from its catastrophic re-entry.
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People were gradually waking up and some were in and out of the tear in the hull, but one caught his eye. He knew the face, but not personally. This man who perched on the highest point he could safely reach was one that Rogers kept close. If the man didn't look just as lost as the rest of them, he'd have confronted him for answers. Instead, he stayed hidden, tucked in the shadows. If he recognises the archer, then it wasn't a stretch to assume the archer had basic info on The Soldier at the very least. He had been part of a rather large incident recently, just like this man had been involved in an international one even more recently.
But as the archer staggers and starts to go down, a long since buried instinct kicks in and before he can stop himself, Barnes is darting out of his cover to capture the man by the elbow and steady him.]
Easy, you could have a concussion.
[The long-sleeved red shirt conceals most of the metal arm, but the hand is what's bracing Barton's elbow while his right hand is now resting on the archer's other shoulder. He tries to guide the archer to sit on a piece of cooled debris so he could ride out the dizzy spell, if the man didn't struggle against his help.]
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His vision stops swimming long enough for him to realize who it is that had just guided him down to sit on some of the debris and his stomach immediately twists and his heart seems to be going a mile a minute now.
It figures. It just figures that he'd be stuck somewhere after a wreck with Steve's brainwashed buddy.
Clint's immediately attempting to stand again, wanting to put some distance between them as he reaches for--for nothing. He has nothing. He's defenseless and that doesn't make this any better.
Time for a new approach.]
What the hell are you doing here?
[Good. Perfect.]
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Same thing you're doing here, I'd bet.
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Descriptive. Really. Thanks for that.
[Dry tone is very dry. He can't help the snark though; call in a defense mechanism if you will.]
Let me guess, no idea how you ended up on that shuttle?
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[Most words spoken since his little freak-out with Daryl. Congrats, Clint.]
I think you already know if I was going to kill you, I would have done it by now. Let's not turn this into a fight you won't win, kid.
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[His surprise and worry is put aside in favor of a dry, sarcastic tone, Clint staring at the other now like one might look at a frustrating teenager.]
Kid? Okay, first of all, I'm not a kid--even if you are technically ninety-something.
[He's frowning now. Way to go, Bucky.]
Second, yeah, I do know that. Heard enough stories to know what the Soldier is capable of. But I have a feeling you aren't the Soldier anymore, are you?
[...Hopefully.]
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[Sorry, Clint. Bucky's suppressing a grin now. But it sobers up as the archer continues. He doesn't break eye contact.]
No. I don't wanna insult your intelligence by saying "it's complicated" but... [He shrugs.] I'm not sure what else to say. You don't have to like me--you don't even have to trust me--but right now it looks like we're gonna have to at least cooperate if we're gonna get these civilians organised and figure out what happened apart from the obvious.
[Buck very cautiously lowers his arms to his sides.]
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I'd always wondered. Sarcasm aside he seems too genuinely nice to know how to talk like that on his own.
[He took note of that suppressed grin and while it's a bit surprising it does help him stay relaxed. The other seems to be much more in control of himself than what he'd seen in footage from that whole debacle with HYDRA but it could just as easily be a rouse.
Clint had heard plenty of stories from Natasha after all.]
Fair enough. I'll save the judgement for another time, though, if that's alright with you. Right now we need to find shelter.
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He dips his head in a nod of agreement. Judgement. That was a frightening word.]
Understood. I'm working with another man on finding shelter. He's spotted some ruins between this site and the city in the distance. The city's about a day's walk with supplies and the wounded, but the ruins are just a few hours. I'm getting ready to scout ahead to assess the danger level.
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Well. No reason I can't go with you. Even dizzy I can keep up better than anyone else here and there's no way in hell I'm letting anyone go alone.
[Even you, Bucky.]
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The man I've been talking to suggested there's something pretty unpleasant in the forest. Somethin' from a horror flick if I understand him right. I gave my knife away, but we might wanna find you a weapon.