“Bucky Barnes?” Why did all the crazy people he knew have so much alliteration in their names? Tony rubbed the sand from one palm onto his jeans and sat back on his heels to cradle the device and begin to work again. “Huh. So brainwashed. Not a robot. Doesn’t explain the anti-aging, though,” he thought out loud, before glancing in Steve’s direction again. “I was a teenager the first time I met him. He wore a mask but his eyes... people age the most around their eyes.” And they were hard but young. The same eyes. Tony still had nightmares about it when he didn’t drink enough to have no dreams at all.
There was a spark in the box and then a voice crackled from inside of it. “What happened? Protocol Alpha initiated.” It was a demanding sort of voice, hard and angry.
Tony rolled his eyes. “One-two-three-four-five. World’s worst password,” he muttered as an aside to Steve. “I had to blow everything up. The Soldier came. He dropped off a baby on the doorstep, rang the bell and left. Tell me where to go next.”
“What?!” There was some crackling that seemed to happen conveniently over the cursing. “Don’t have time for— Stay put. Tomorrow we’ll drop new coordinates.”
“Tomorrow? No. I’m not sleeping on the beach without supplies—“
“Too dangerous, Stark. Hold for further instructions.”
Tony cursed without the radio to bleep over it and threw the tethered box into the sand. “Great. You’re a ray of sunshine. So glad you came to visit with your old war buddy, Captain. No one is gonna want to hear that Captain America and the Winter Soldier used to be butt buddies. I’d keep that to yourself.”
no subject
There was a spark in the box and then a voice crackled from inside of it. “What happened? Protocol Alpha initiated.” It was a demanding sort of voice, hard and angry.
Tony rolled his eyes. “One-two-three-four-five. World’s worst password,” he muttered as an aside to Steve. “I had to blow everything up. The Soldier came. He dropped off a baby on the doorstep, rang the bell and left. Tell me where to go next.”
“What?!” There was some crackling that seemed to happen conveniently over the cursing. “Don’t have time for— Stay put. Tomorrow we’ll drop new coordinates.”
“Tomorrow? No. I’m not sleeping on the beach without supplies—“
“Too dangerous, Stark. Hold for further instructions.”
Tony cursed without the radio to bleep over it and threw the tethered box into the sand. “Great. You’re a ray of sunshine. So glad you came to visit with your old war buddy, Captain. No one is gonna want to hear that Captain America and the Winter Soldier used to be butt buddies. I’d keep that to yourself.”