Беда́ не прихо́дит одна́ (trouble never comes alone) by postcardmystery (R)
Fandom: AVENGERS (Captain America 2011)
Pairing: none; gen
Length: 10,000 words
Author on LJ: postcardmystery
Author Website: postcardmystery
Why this must be read:
This is a brutal, sharp, heartbreaking, utterly brilliant story of the Winter Soldier as he kills his way through decades of war in the 20th century. Please heed the warnings (per the author: There is explicit description of war, genocide, war atrocities, war as a tool of oppression and PTSD, torture and similar KGB-era tactics, as well was what could be construed as "terrorist" acts. This story also deals heavily with the consequences of brainwashing, including sexual coercion and the constant loss of control.)
Wars blur into one another. The landscapes are much the same. His codename is no longer the operative, is now and forever the Winter Soldier. Leningrad is all he will answer to, the mark on him of things everybody else is trying their best to forget. He does not like forgetting. He has never had a choice, why should they? In Kosovo he is an agent of chaos, the knife in the night who is not on anybody’s side. He wears a bandanna above his eyes, holding back dark hair thick with dirt. He wears the bandanna into Algeria, an agent of chaos once more. He travels the length of Africa, destabilising and propping up regimes as his orders see fit. He flees on a boat full of what the press call pirates, and then it's Chechnya, once more. He walks in snow and through deserts, he eats when he can and he hides his arm unless he's the last thing you're ever going to see. There's a tracking device beneath his skin, wrapped around his carotid artery, and if he pulls it out, he’ll die in seconds. They’ve got a wolf on a leash and he's never heard them so pleased with themselves, so sure that this is the only weapon they're ever going to need. They did not win the first war in Chechnya, but a second time and the story is rewritten. (He knows that this is a thing they truly believe. He's lived more history than they have. He knows better.) He rides on tanks, jumps from helicopters onto ground solid with snow. He stands, ringed by ruins, in a capital that burns. He lost his last war in Grozny. This time, he slings his rifle on his back, breathes smoke, knows what it is to watch history being made.
Беда́ не прихо́дит одна́ (trouble never comes alone) by postcardmystery
If you like the story, please let the author know!
*
Pairing: none; gen
Length: 10,000 words
Author on LJ: postcardmystery
Author Website: postcardmystery
Why this must be read:
This is a brutal, sharp, heartbreaking, utterly brilliant story of the Winter Soldier as he kills his way through decades of war in the 20th century. Please heed the warnings (per the author: There is explicit description of war, genocide, war atrocities, war as a tool of oppression and PTSD, torture and similar KGB-era tactics, as well was what could be construed as "terrorist" acts. This story also deals heavily with the consequences of brainwashing, including sexual coercion and the constant loss of control.)
Wars blur into one another. The landscapes are much the same. His codename is no longer the operative, is now and forever the Winter Soldier. Leningrad is all he will answer to, the mark on him of things everybody else is trying their best to forget. He does not like forgetting. He has never had a choice, why should they? In Kosovo he is an agent of chaos, the knife in the night who is not on anybody’s side. He wears a bandanna above his eyes, holding back dark hair thick with dirt. He wears the bandanna into Algeria, an agent of chaos once more. He travels the length of Africa, destabilising and propping up regimes as his orders see fit. He flees on a boat full of what the press call pirates, and then it's Chechnya, once more. He walks in snow and through deserts, he eats when he can and he hides his arm unless he's the last thing you're ever going to see. There's a tracking device beneath his skin, wrapped around his carotid artery, and if he pulls it out, he’ll die in seconds. They’ve got a wolf on a leash and he's never heard them so pleased with themselves, so sure that this is the only weapon they're ever going to need. They did not win the first war in Chechnya, but a second time and the story is rewritten. (He knows that this is a thing they truly believe. He's lived more history than they have. He knows better.) He rides on tanks, jumps from helicopters onto ground solid with snow. He stands, ringed by ruins, in a capital that burns. He lost his last war in Grozny. This time, he slings his rifle on his back, breathes smoke, knows what it is to watch history being made.
Беда́ не прихо́дит одна́ (trouble never comes alone) by postcardmystery
If you like the story, please let the author know!
*