comment_fic 885-889: White Collar and Avengers
Title: the lost queen
Fandom: White Collar
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: fantasy AU
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 285
Point of view: third
Prompt: White Collar, Neal/El, the queen and a thief
The guard is clearly unhappy (and also clearly a guard, despite trying to hide it), and the woman is all smiles, chatting with the serving girls and the barkeep. The guard's frown is forbidding, his hand near enough to his 'hidden' dagger to be an insult - if anyone felt like taking it that way.
Thankfully, no one does. The woman's smile is just that appealing.
"I heard you're looking for a thief, milady," he drawls, settling beside her at the bar. The guard's frown is even more forbidding, his eyes trying to flay Neal where he stands.
Neal just grins at him.
"I am," the lady says, turning to smile at him.
He knows her face. No one else in the bar (thank everything that is holy, and everything that isn't) does.
"We should take this somewhere more private," he suggests.
Her smile doesn't dim as she nods. "Of course, Master Thief."
Neal doesn't glance around, just smoothly escorts the missing queen and her guard out of the dusty tavern, nodding at Moz at the door. "Who did you just signal?" the guard hisses, fingers actually on the hilt of his dagger.
"A friend," Neal says. "He'll erase our trail. Now, be quiet till I tell you it's safe to speak."
If she's Queen Elizabeth, then the guard must be Sir Peter. Word is, he betrayed her to a sorcerer and then vanished after the sorcerer double-crossed him. Most people think the queen is dead - two wars erupted because of it, spread across three realms.
But here she is. He casts a quick silence spell and then asks, "Why do you need a thief?"
Queen Elizabeth smiles at him. "To steal my country back."
Title: I loosed a dove
Fandom: Captain America movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Gilgamesh
Warnings: spoilers for Cap2: Winter Soldier
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 110
Point of view: third
Prompt: Any, any, a visceral reaction to a fear he/she doesn't understand
The asset is falling.
No, the asset cannot be falling.
He is awakening - the lights are bright, the handlers with their firm touches, too-tight grips (the asset is an asset and must be treated as such, what is kindness, what is kindness) (-Bucky)
The asset's eyes adjust and he obeys their commands, confirms the mission, eliminates three targets, returns to his handlers, gives his report, and obeys their commands.
The asset is falling.
He cannot be falling - he sleeps without dreams, always, and he is an asset. Assets have no weakness.
.
(The asset watches his target fall.
The target is falling.
-Bucky-
The asset lets go.)
Title: Your first words have yet to be said
Fandom: Captain America movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Elton John
Warnings: spoilers for Cap2: Winter Soldier; identity issues
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 255
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, "It's never too late to be who you might have been." - George Eliot
Your name is James Buchanan Barnes, the target said. You've known me your whole life.
Then finish it, the target said. Cause I'm with you to the end of the line.
James Buchanan Barnes, says the Smithsonian, was a good man.
The asset is not.
The asset is a weapon, nothing more than a gun or a knife. The asset has no opinions. The asset has no fear. The asset does not hurt, or weep, or pray -
The asset does not dream of falling, of Bucky being shouted and swallowed by the wind, by the snow, by the ice. The asset does not dream.
There are no handlers, now. No one to hold the weapon. No orders.
The asset - without his handlers, what is he? Who? The Bucky that the target called to so plaintively? James Buchanan Barnes, hailed as a hero by the museum?
The asset failed in his final mission; the target fell, and the asset plunged after him, pulled him from the water. The asset chose.
But weapons have no opinions. Whose weapon is he, now?
Then finish it, the target said. But the asset could not.
Cause I'm with you to the end of the line, the target said.
Staring at his own face, reading a biography that sparks nothing in his mind, the asset makes another choice.
Bucky Barnes is dead; he died saving Captain America. But James Buchanan Barnes? Whoever he is? Maybe the asset can try to be him, whoever he might be.
(That night, James dreams of falling.)
Title: the kind you stop
Fandom: Captain America movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Cap2
Warnings: spoilers for Cap 2
Pairings: gennish
Rating: PG
Wordcount:145
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, love means you risk getting burned.
Director Fury, Natasha, Sam, Agent Hill - they all warn him that there might not be anything left of Bucky to save. Steve knows that's not true; he'd have drowned if it was.
Sam tells him gently that even if the Winter Soldier can be salvaged, Bucky Barnes might be gone forever. Even if that is true, Steve wants to get to know whoever the Winter Soldier will become.
He doesn't tell any of them that he's done fighting against the Winter Soldier. He let Bucky fall, and while he slept in the ice, Bucky was tortured and brainwashed and turned into a weapon without a choice. But he chose to pull Steve out of the water. He chose. And if he finds him only for the Soldier to complete his last mission…
That's a risk he's willing to take for the chance to see Bucky again.
Title: No color in the Rainbow perceive, when you are gone
Fandom: Captain America movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Dickenson
Warnings: Spoilers for Cap2. Suicidal thoughts. Steve has PTSD and is also probably clinically depressed.)
Pairings: Steve/Bucky leanings
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 185
Point of view: third
Prompt: MCU, Steve, wrath is my sin
It's simmering beneath his skin, has been since he woke up (has been since Bucky fell, Bucky fell, Bucky fell), and he smiles for them, for SHIELD, for the cameras, for the people who follow him around the (enormous) stores and watch wide-eyed as he buys things he doesn't need.
He is so so so angry, and he doesn't know how not to be.
He felt relief as he fought the Chitauri, whenever SHIELD has a mission for him, whenever he runs so fast his lungs cramp like they haven't since he was 95 lbs and 5 foot 4.
But when there's nothing to do, when he's alone in his head, he can feel it simmering.
And then there's Bucky, and there's Hydra (cut off the heads and cauterize the stumps, raze it all to the ground, burn the ashes), and for one glorious moment, Bucky screaming at him, Bucky hitting him so hard he feels it in his soul - he feels joy, all the way down into the ice, and knows everything might finally be right, even if it kills him (please let it kill him).
Fandom: White Collar
Disclaimer: not my characters
Warnings: fantasy AU
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 285
Point of view: third
Prompt: White Collar, Neal/El, the queen and a thief
The guard is clearly unhappy (and also clearly a guard, despite trying to hide it), and the woman is all smiles, chatting with the serving girls and the barkeep. The guard's frown is forbidding, his hand near enough to his 'hidden' dagger to be an insult - if anyone felt like taking it that way.
Thankfully, no one does. The woman's smile is just that appealing.
"I heard you're looking for a thief, milady," he drawls, settling beside her at the bar. The guard's frown is even more forbidding, his eyes trying to flay Neal where he stands.
Neal just grins at him.
"I am," the lady says, turning to smile at him.
He knows her face. No one else in the bar (thank everything that is holy, and everything that isn't) does.
"We should take this somewhere more private," he suggests.
Her smile doesn't dim as she nods. "Of course, Master Thief."
Neal doesn't glance around, just smoothly escorts the missing queen and her guard out of the dusty tavern, nodding at Moz at the door. "Who did you just signal?" the guard hisses, fingers actually on the hilt of his dagger.
"A friend," Neal says. "He'll erase our trail. Now, be quiet till I tell you it's safe to speak."
If she's Queen Elizabeth, then the guard must be Sir Peter. Word is, he betrayed her to a sorcerer and then vanished after the sorcerer double-crossed him. Most people think the queen is dead - two wars erupted because of it, spread across three realms.
But here she is. He casts a quick silence spell and then asks, "Why do you need a thief?"
Queen Elizabeth smiles at him. "To steal my country back."
Title: I loosed a dove
Fandom: Captain America movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Gilgamesh
Warnings: spoilers for Cap2: Winter Soldier
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 110
Point of view: third
Prompt: Any, any, a visceral reaction to a fear he/she doesn't understand
The asset is falling.
No, the asset cannot be falling.
He is awakening - the lights are bright, the handlers with their firm touches, too-tight grips (the asset is an asset and must be treated as such, what is kindness, what is kindness) (-Bucky)
The asset's eyes adjust and he obeys their commands, confirms the mission, eliminates three targets, returns to his handlers, gives his report, and obeys their commands.
The asset is falling.
He cannot be falling - he sleeps without dreams, always, and he is an asset. Assets have no weakness.
.
(The asset watches his target fall.
The target is falling.
-Bucky-
The asset lets go.)
Title: Your first words have yet to be said
Fandom: Captain America movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Elton John
Warnings: spoilers for Cap2: Winter Soldier; identity issues
Pairings: none
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 255
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, "It's never too late to be who you might have been." - George Eliot
Your name is James Buchanan Barnes, the target said. You've known me your whole life.
Then finish it, the target said. Cause I'm with you to the end of the line.
James Buchanan Barnes, says the Smithsonian, was a good man.
The asset is not.
The asset is a weapon, nothing more than a gun or a knife. The asset has no opinions. The asset has no fear. The asset does not hurt, or weep, or pray -
The asset does not dream of falling, of Bucky being shouted and swallowed by the wind, by the snow, by the ice. The asset does not dream.
There are no handlers, now. No one to hold the weapon. No orders.
The asset - without his handlers, what is he? Who? The Bucky that the target called to so plaintively? James Buchanan Barnes, hailed as a hero by the museum?
The asset failed in his final mission; the target fell, and the asset plunged after him, pulled him from the water. The asset chose.
But weapons have no opinions. Whose weapon is he, now?
Then finish it, the target said. But the asset could not.
Cause I'm with you to the end of the line, the target said.
Staring at his own face, reading a biography that sparks nothing in his mind, the asset makes another choice.
Bucky Barnes is dead; he died saving Captain America. But James Buchanan Barnes? Whoever he is? Maybe the asset can try to be him, whoever he might be.
(That night, James dreams of falling.)
Title: the kind you stop
Fandom: Captain America movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Cap2
Warnings: spoilers for Cap 2
Pairings: gennish
Rating: PG
Wordcount:145
Point of view: third
Prompt: any, any, love means you risk getting burned.
Director Fury, Natasha, Sam, Agent Hill - they all warn him that there might not be anything left of Bucky to save. Steve knows that's not true; he'd have drowned if it was.
Sam tells him gently that even if the Winter Soldier can be salvaged, Bucky Barnes might be gone forever. Even if that is true, Steve wants to get to know whoever the Winter Soldier will become.
He doesn't tell any of them that he's done fighting against the Winter Soldier. He let Bucky fall, and while he slept in the ice, Bucky was tortured and brainwashed and turned into a weapon without a choice. But he chose to pull Steve out of the water. He chose. And if he finds him only for the Soldier to complete his last mission…
That's a risk he's willing to take for the chance to see Bucky again.
Title: No color in the Rainbow perceive, when you are gone
Fandom: Captain America movieverse
Disclaimer: not my characters; title from Dickenson
Warnings: Spoilers for Cap2. Suicidal thoughts. Steve has PTSD and is also probably clinically depressed.)
Pairings: Steve/Bucky leanings
Rating: PG
Wordcount: 185
Point of view: third
Prompt: MCU, Steve, wrath is my sin
It's simmering beneath his skin, has been since he woke up (has been since Bucky fell, Bucky fell, Bucky fell), and he smiles for them, for SHIELD, for the cameras, for the people who follow him around the (enormous) stores and watch wide-eyed as he buys things he doesn't need.
He is so so so angry, and he doesn't know how not to be.
He felt relief as he fought the Chitauri, whenever SHIELD has a mission for him, whenever he runs so fast his lungs cramp like they haven't since he was 95 lbs and 5 foot 4.
But when there's nothing to do, when he's alone in his head, he can feel it simmering.
And then there's Bucky, and there's Hydra (cut off the heads and cauterize the stumps, raze it all to the ground, burn the ashes), and for one glorious moment, Bucky screaming at him, Bucky hitting him so hard he feels it in his soul - he feels joy, all the way down into the ice, and knows everything might finally be right, even if it kills him (please let it kill him).