( 001 ) ➶ ( voice )

[arches]

Okay, so not to be ungrateful--because I really appreciate being fished out of the ocean and given a crash course, really, I do--but the whole time thing? Things are just frozen, back where we came from, is that it?

_{( He pauses for a moment, and huffs. Perceptive listeners will be able to tell that he sounds exhausted, more so when he continues. )}

Yeah, I find that a little hard to swallow. More than this place, even. Has there been any verification, on that? Or am I just supposed to assume the nice people fishing me out of the ocean were telling the truth?

_{( Another pause, some muttering that isn't quite audible, though there may be a curse or two in there. Something about deserving this? Who knows. And then, just as unceremoniously as it began, the feed cuts. )}

Comments

[oh yeah text oops]

[usavatar]

Your current position, agent. I'll confirm my identity in person. For the time being I'll say we had a shared mythological problem.

sure permathat

[arches]

And what makes you think saying that would make me tell you where I am?

[usavatar]

[ffffuuuuu trying to think of something that will confirm his identity with clint and no one else]

Agent Romanov saved my life. All our lives. I owe her, and she's not here.

encrypted like 60% he's still figuring these out

[arches]

_{( this place, earth sector, quadrants or something idefk. )}

Come now, come alone. If I don't like what I see, I will shoot you.

encrypted like 65% SO THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT ty barton

[usavatar]

Understood.

[And since I'm currently beating things up with a shield in vidya games you get the worst transition to action tag evarrrr. HAY CLINT HAY. Steve arrives at the designated position, moving like a man who knows he's being watched and hasn't decided yet if his watcher is going to arrow him in the face.]

np, cap o>

[arches]

<sub>( And Clint is on a low roof overlooking the area, armed to the teeth because he didn't trust leaving anything behind in his apartment. When he spots Steve his eyes go wide and he drops down in front of him.

Protip: he looks like crap. Seriously. He's exhausted and worn and he looks it, all over. )</sub>

Captain?

[usavatar]

[Wat. Last time he saw Clint, the man was in Natasha's company and look a hell of a lot better than this. Steve instinctively puts up a hand to offer support and drops it before getting anywhere near him.] Agent Barton, what happened to you?

[arches]

_{( And the instant Cap's hand goes up Clint is stepping back, eyes narrowed. He doesn't answer the question, but instead responds with- )}

You knew me. You recognized my voice.

_{( And then, muttered to himself: )} You're alive.

[usavatar]

[Now it's Steve's turn for confusion. ...More confusion.] Of course I did. Of course I am.

[Though that last part has a wariness to it, like Clint knows something he doesn't.] Should I take this to mean that... that things don't stop, back home?

[It's not much of a change to notice - the ripple of tension, the way he goes a little pale. But the idea of being trapped here while time goes by, while more time goes by, back home... It makes Steve feel sick to think about.]

[arches]

Don't stop? We're in the thick of it.

Or you were. I don't know--I was--

_{( And he cuts himself off, because he's sure Fury would have told them, but there's something very counter-intuitive about outing yourself as a traitor. )}

[usavatar]

[Okay, something is not adding up here.] Loki took you when he took the tesseract. You and Selvig. I'm aware.

[He glances at their surroundings, two very clearly Foreign men in the relative open.] We can talk later. You need to get some rest - where are you staying?

[arches]

_{( He flinches, visibly. And then opens his mouth to say something, before turning and lifting a hand to motion Steve to follow. )}

This way. _{( His voice is tight. )}

[usavatar]

[Steve falls in behind Clint, giving the man space without letting him get quite out of reach. He hasn't done a lot of exploring of the Earth Sector - even if it is friendlier toward their kind than other areas, that doesn't mean Steve feels secure in the idea they won't be attacked.]

[arches]

_{( It takes only a minute or two to get back to Clint's building; he hadn't strayed very far. He lets them in and pauses on the first floor, immediately finding a wall to put his back to as he regards Steve carefully. )}

Tell me what happened, before you got here.

[usavatar]

[Steve regards Clint in silence for several seconds before he says anything. It's one part inspection and one part tactic - a reminder of who has the advantage of both time in the city and information from home. Steve might be a good man, but he's still a soldier.] What's the last thing you remember?

[arches]

_{( Clint looks like he's about to go off, like he's about to lose it entirely. Then he winces, and puts a hand to his head, and just huffs. )}

I'm not entirely sure.

[usavatar]

[That actually gets Steve to soften in sympathy. He rubs his thumb over the bridge of his nose, deciding honesty is better than SHIELD's attempts as easing into the truth.]

Agent Romanov recaptured you. You came with her, and with me, and we met Stark and Banner and Thor in Manhattan. We stopped Loki. You worked as our spotter. Agent Romanov found the key to closing the portal Loki opened up. Stark, Thor, and Dr. Banner held the invasion back long enough for Romanov to do what she needed to do, while I did clean-up on the ground.

[He takes a chair for himself, a token gesture that indicates he trusts Barton not to try to put a knife or an arrow in him.] You really don't remember any of it?

[arches]

_{( He takes all of that in, lips pursed, and then runs a hand over his face. He wants to believe it--he desperately does. His voice is low, and fierce, when he responds. )}

I don't remember it because it didn't--hasn't--happened.

_{( And then: )}

What about Loki. Tell me you--we--got him.

[usavatar]

It happened. You helped save a lot of lives.

[A pause, and he nods once. There's a twist of near-hate in his expression, less at Loki then at the word Tesseract.] Loki and the Tesseract are both back on Asgard. Thor took them himself.

[arches]

_{( His mouth opens automatically to say something, but what can he say? That that's not good enough? That Loki should be on the floor somewhere, bleeding, as Clint lays into him every way he knows how? How can he ask what the point is, to know a thousand ways to make a man hurt, if he can't use those skills on the one person who unequivocally deserves it? His mouth shuts again. )}

...then how do you remember all this, and I don't? That's not...

_{( Possible. But really, is anything impossible anymore? And Clint realizes that if he doesn't accept this, if he doesn't let this be true, he may very well go mad. The not-knowing, the wondering, the guilt will swallow him up and he will collapse in on himself. So he clings to it, or the possibility of it at the very least. )}

That's a better end than I'd thought of.

[usavatar]

I don't know. [He waits, wondering if Clint will say what's on his mind. It's not hard to parse out what it might be, given everything. When nothing else comes out, he sighs and settles back in his chair.] Guess so. I would have preferred the tesseract being destroyed entirely, but at least it's out of human hands.

[arches]

_{( Clint pushes away from the wall at this point, because he's pacing. It's an odd sight, because he's still got his quiver hanging on his back and his bow over one shoulder and they shift as he walks. Finally he turns around and looks at Steve with fierce determination. )}

We can't just stay here--content with this. I can't just stay here. We've got to find a way out.

[usavatar]

[Steve straightens, eyes narrowing a little. It's a look that Bucky, Howard, Peggy, Phillips, or really anyone in the SSR would recognize - Say that again.] People started getting dropped here three weeks ago. Appearances seem to run in seven-day cycles.

According to one of my sources, we're being handled so graciously because there's a substantial risk that some of us will die trying to help save this place, which argues that those who're here aren't actually dead to begin with, which means there's got to be a way to get everyone out. I'm not going to leave if it just means more people will get dragged into the mess, agent. We do have to find a way out. But we can't abandon everyone else to do it.

I'm not a fan of being treated like a pig on a meat farm, but we have to deal with the entire situation, not just our own. [A pause.] And we're on a giant turtle.

[arches]

_{( Clint files away everything Steve’s telling him as best he can, to deal with later. Details, facts, and rumors about this place are useful, to be sure, but at the moment he can’t really focus on them. )}

A giant turtle.

_{( He says that flatly, the one thing he picks out—though he heard it all, really he did. )}

Any chance the thing itself is more friendly than the people on it?

_{( That’s a joke, mostly. He doesn’t actually want to try and talk to the giant turtle. But he walks over and braces his palms against the table Steve’s sitting at, thinking. Usually he’s bouncing ideas like this off Natasha, and she works so differently from him that they can see every angle of something between the two of them. Even from these brief glimpses, he knows strategizing with Steve is far from the same thing. )}

And I never said I wanted to get out at the expense of others. _{( That’s defensive; the last thing he wants is Captain America reminding him what kind of person he is. )} What you’re saying and what I’m saying aren’t mutually exclusive.

[usavatar]

Good. [He favors Clint with a small smile.] Good. I didn't think you were the type.

[Steve taps his fingers against the tabletop, trying to measure out what else he should say.] Yeah, I guess this is all built on the turtle's shell. Can't talk to it, so I'm not sure what good the information does us yet.

[A longer pause, this time.] One of my squaddies is here.