[WWII AU] a brand new day

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky wakes in the predawn darkness, long before reveille would normally be called. He spends a few minutes reviewing the mission in his head before he rolls from his cot; there's no room to think about anything else. He meets Steve and the rest of the Howling Commandos at five-fifteen. As planned, they're on the move before the hour has passed.

It's a long day, a hard day, but in the end a successful day, for the most part. The hidden facility carved into the hillside is no more when they leave, HYDRA's agents defeated, their stockpiles destroyed. But there's still no sign of Schmidt, nor of Zola, and that remains incredibly frustrating.

Still, there's reason to celebrate today's win, and the squad's more or less exuberant on their return, some fourteen or so hours later. Steve disappears into the command tent to debrief with Colonel Phillips; Bucky'll catch up with him afterward, as usual. He spends a few minutes trading quips with the others before disappearing to weapons storage to see to his own rifle - also as usual. Something about taking care of it helps him feel like he's cleaning the blood off his own hands.

After that, he finds he's too restless to settle yet, and figures it's not the best idea for him to be around others until he sorts himself out. Bucky wanders along the edge of camp in the dark, then veers from the path and off into the field where he'd spent some time watching the stars only a couple of days ago.

It should be peaceful there, more or less.

Comments

[nerves_of_ice]

"You can call me Howard, you know," he says, with a brilliant smile. "At least when we're not working."

He turns away and raises his voice. "Okay everyone, on three--"

As the equipment hums and the assistants start recording the readings, Bucky slants an amused look at Sharon.

[from_the_outside]

She makes a face and shakes her head back at Bucky, amused and wry all at once.

"Seems like he's in a good mood today," she murmurs, low enough the others won't hear.

[nerves_of_ice]

"It sure does." It's really all he can do not to laugh, but he keeps a lid on his amusement.

"Did you sleep well?"

[from_the_outside]

"Mhm."

She gives him a studiedly neutral glance. "Took me a while to fall asleep, though."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Huh. Me too," he offers, innocently. "Maybe it's the resonance."

"That's - plug that into the math," Howard mutters, ignoring the two of them and waving his hand at the lab team. "Check me on this. See, there?"

Something about his tone draws Bucky's attention, and fast. "What's he talking about?"

[from_the_outside]

"That must be it," she agrees, then frowns over at the inventor. "I don't know. Everything okay over there?" she calls, lifting her voice.

Howard waves distractedly at her, focused on the equations he's scribbling down. "Odd," he mutters. "Maybe it's exponential decay."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Decay?" Bucky mutters. "I don't like the sound of that."

"It's fine, decay's normal," one of the assistants says, trying to reassure. Bucky shoots the man a sideways look, not particularly reassured. "What's decaying?" he asks.

"The signal--"

"Check the linked readings," Howard orders. "I want to see if this persists or if the resonance between them offsets it." He looks up. "That means hold hands, you two."

[from_the_outside]

She frowns, but offers her hand to Bucky anyway, glancing over at him.

Somewhere behind her, Nurse Hart shifts. She doesn't clear her throat or say anything, but Sharon can picture her disapproving expression as clear as day anyhow.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky takes her hand, lacing his fingers with hers the same way he had the first time here in the lab, and forces himself not to think about the way her hands had felt last night - any part of it. He offers her a quick, reassuring smile.

"Here we go," he says, dryly, as Howard counts off and the switches flip.

"Resonance rate seems stable at first glance," one of the assistants offers, uncertain. Howard's gaze snaps up and he glares at them. "Ask it or state it, don't dither about it!"

[from_the_outside]

Her smile flickers back at him as she threads her fingers with his, palm to palm. She doesn't think it's the wiring that sends the flurry of electricity up her arm.

The assistant straightens under the lash of Howard's words. "Holding steady at the same rate as the the previous attempt," he reports.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Better," Howard concedes. "Now, if the resonance is stable, but the individual decay differs between subjects, what does that mean?"

The entire lab team trades glances with each other before Harry Jackson, in the unofficial role of team lead and/or unfortunate target, offers a quiet, "I don't know, Mr. Stark."

This time Howard doesn't snap at him. "Neither do I," he says instead. "That's the point." He swings around to look at Bucky and Sharon. "We need more readings. Back to back like before, first - you can stay seated, it's fine."

[from_the_outside]

She lets go of his hand and turns on the stool to face away from him, lightly bored.

"We should bring a deck of cards or something next time," she mutters. "Or a book."

[nerves_of_ice]

He laughs under his breath. "What, this isn't entertaining enough for you?"

The meters hum again at the same pitch as before, and he watches as the team scribbles down the results and compares it to other scribbles. Howard snatches one of the papers and scans it carefully.

"Huh," he says, and turns to look at the two of them again. Bucky looks back, a little warily. "What're you thinking, Mr. Stark?"

"I'm thinking that you--" he swings around to glare at Nurse Hart as he talks, stabbing a finger at her. "--need to not interfere this time. We need a full-contact reading."

[from_the_outside]

Nurse Hart looks almost apoplectic with rage, and Sharon narrows her eyes at Stark.

"Explain," she says, in the kind of tone that would make Nick Fury wary.

[nerves_of_ice]

"It's not improper or anything," he starts, holding up both hands defensively. "That's not why, I'm not into that kind of thing."

Bucky keeps his expression neutral, almost empty as Nurse Hart chokes on thin air. "Mr. Stark--"

"Anyway," Howard says, rolling right over her protest, "The point is that - look, remember the first test, when you touched the meter in the field and it nearly blew up? Contact enhanced the signal strength. Now there's something going on where it looks like his resonance isn't fading as fast as yours is, so I need to know if more contact changes the numbers, or if it's just any contact at all. Get it?"

[from_the_outside]

"Explain what you mean by full-contact, Stark," Sharon says, exasperated.

He gives her a disbelieving look. "You know," he says, and lifts his arms in a gesture, hugging the air, exaggerated.

"Mr. Stark," Nurse Hart snaps. "We already talked about this – "

"Yeah, yeah," he says, waving at her, dismissive. "Why do you think we figured out a way to keep them clothed?"

Sharon sighs and pushes off the stool. "Fine," she says. "Let's go."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Agent Carter, you don't have to do this," Bucky says, quiet and resolute. Howard stares at him. "Yes she does, Barnes, that's the point, I can't measure this without you both."

"No, sir, she doesn't," he lashes back, something flashing in his eyes as he gets to his feet. "And you're not going to push her into it, either. If it comes to that I'll take responsibility before Colonel Phillips."

[from_the_outside]

Everyone's making such a big deal out of this that she guesses she probably should, too, even though the reality is: she doesn't really care. It wouldn't be the weirdest or most invasive thing she's had to do in the name of science and her duty.

But even if she's not upset, it's clear Bucky is, and they're in this together. If he feels Stark's pushing it too far, if he's uncomfortable, the least she can do is take his side. "You heard the man," she tells Stark, and stays where she is, a reasonable distance from Bucky. "Find some other way to measure what you need, or go without."

[nerves_of_ice]

Howard lets out a strangled, frustrated sound. "You know, Rogers was a hell of a lot more cooperative," he informs Bucky, whose jaw sets in hard lines.

"Captain Rogers volunteered," he points out, and it's almost possible to feel the temperature in the room drop from how cold his tone is. "For that matter, you can do whatever you need to, to me, in the name of your experiments for this; I volunteer, too."

This time hangs in the room unspoken. A few of the assistants trade uncomfortable looks.

[from_the_outside]

There's got to be a way to convince him he doesn't need to jump on this grenade. If anything, she's far better situated to act as Stark's lab rat; she doesn't have any trauma, recent or otherwise, from any similar situations.

But if there's the slightest chance what Stark is doing could help her get home, shouldn't she bull over Bucky's protests and just do it?

Not without talking to him, first, she decides. If she can convince she really doesn't care, that it's fine, maybe he'll feel better about it, too. "You have the comparable readings for today," she tells Stark. "Anything else – and I mean anything else – you need to discuss it with us before trying to spring it on us mid-session. Informed consent, Stark. Emphasis on the informed."

[nerves_of_ice]

Howard throws his hands in the air and storms out of the tent without bothering to answer either of them. In the awkward silence that ensues, Harry Jackson steps forward, clearing his throat. "Mr. Stark's got a bit of a temper," he offers. "He'll cool off in a bit and come back for a new angle. Let's get you both unhooked, and we'll look at what we got, then try again tomorrow."

"This way, Agent Carter," Nurse Hart says, as Bucky sits silently back down on the stool. "Let's get you out of here."

[from_the_outside]

"He's not the only one with a temper," Sharon snaps at the luckless assistant. She feels bad about it in the next second and huffs an exasperated breath at herself, shaking her head. "Fine. Thank you, all."

Turning, she follows Nurse Hart's gesturing towards the changing area, and steams silently as the woman helps her change and remove the harness, then dress again.

It's not the experiments that bug her, it's the lack of information. If he'd just tell them beforehand, all of this could be avoided.

[nerves_of_ice]

Jackson's waiting for them when they step out of the changing area. Bucky's nowhere in sight.

"I'll take that," he says, reaching for the harness. "Um, was any part of it uncomfortable, or anything? We can make adjustments."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon frowns and glances around, then narrows her eyes at a shadow that moves across the ground at the bottom of the tent flap. There's a break, and then it moves back again the other way.

"No," she says, turning back to Jackson. "It's fine. Thank you, Jackson. Nurse Hart. See you tomorrow."

She nods to them and heads for the door of the tent, determined.

[nerves_of_ice]

He paces back and forth in front of the lab tent, trying to get hold of himself. It's fine if Howard goes to Phillips; he'd meant what he said, and he can take the heat. It's just--

The tent flap opens and he spins on a dime to look, then straightens to attention. "Agent Carter."