Unease
Two Days Later
John Walker passed both his physical exam and his psych evaluation with flying colors. Once that news reached Trent, he immediately issued him his Level One SHIELD badge.
The decision was met with skepticism. Many agents cited Trent's own words that they couldn't depend on metahumans as reason to eye the hiring of Walker with suspicion. Trent laughed this off by saying that he said and meant that they couldn't depend solely on metahuman teams. Excluding metas completely was just foolish.
And thus, John Walker was given a more streamline version of Rogers' Captain America uniform, complete with the shield that Bucky used during his short stint as Captain. Bucky was far, far too willing and happy to hand the shield off to someone else. Steve chose him personally, so many thought that Trent should have respected that, as well as Bucky.
It wasn't that Bucky wasn't respecting Steve's wishes. He just wasn't worthy enough to wield the shield. It was like Steve's shield had its own magical charm or whatever on it, like Thor's hammer, and Bucky didn't feel like he fit the bill. A lot of people disagreed, to his face. If they really knew who he was and what he had done, they would have more than agreed with him.
Well, as of right then, the burden of being the living embodiment of the hopes, ideals and dreams of an entire nation was on someone else's shoulders. He had to admit, it felt good not being weighed down with truing to live up to Steve's legend. Let some other sap try and live up to it. He was going to be himself, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes. And right then, Bucky was waiting outside the sickbay in the west wing of the Triskelion for a certain mockingbird who had her wings snipped.
He was leaning casually against the wall across from her room, a cup of coffee in one hand and a foot long white box in the other.
"I can walk, you know," he heard her familiar voice say from inside the room.
"I'm sorry, Agent Morse," replied the clearly exasperated nurse, "but protocol says –"
"I know what it says," she snapped back.
Cabin fever was a bitch, he knew. Being cooped up in a hospital bed for a month and a half, being forced to rest and take it easy when there was so much happening and so many important things to be doing – it sucked. He knew more than probably anyone.
The nurse sighed and wheeled Bobbi out of the room. One look at her told him that she was pleasantly surprised to see him. "Barnes," she greeted.
"Morse." He handed her the box. "Merry Christmas."
She took the box readily and opened it. It was her battle staves, but with a pair of metal prongs at the tips. She inspected them curiously, then smiled and twirled on around her fingers. "It's August, old man. Thanks."
He smirked. "It was the least I could do."
"You did this?" she asked incredulously.
"What if I say that I did?"
She smirked and folded her arms over her chest. "I'd say I don't believe you."
"I'll try not to take offense to that." Once they exited sickbay and entered the lobby of the Triskelion, Bobbi stood from the wheelchair and nodded her thanks to the nurse. "I had Fitz do it. Figured that you'd need more firepower."
"So, now you're calling me a creampuff. Not doing too well here, Barnes." She smirked and turned on her heels to walk to the cafeteria. Having to eat meals in a hospital bed got old really fast.
Bucky rolled his eyes and followed her.
"So," she said as they gracefully walked through the light, but fast moving foot traffic, "heard that there's a new Cap in town."
"Thank God for that," he affirmed with an exaggerated sigh of relief. At her raised eyebrow, he sighed, more resigned this time. "I never wanted that burden. So, when Walker came along, I was more than happy to cooperate. It's his problem now. If he fucks up, it's on him, not me."
Bobbi just shook her head. "You didn't even give yourself a chance, sport."
Sport? "That's beside the point. I wasn't worthy."
"Being worthy isn't up to the chosen person to decide, but the person who chose them. Rogers chose you, out of all the SHIELD agents that are probably more capable. He must've seen something in you that you can't see yourself."
"You sound like Fury." Which meant, as he was reluctant to admit, she was probably right. Oh, well. Not his problem anymore.
"Which means I'm right." She grinned and stepped inside the crowded cafeteria. She went through the line and grabbed a cheeseburger, fries and a soda. Bucky took a spicy chicken sandwich, fries and a bottled water. "Now then, what's this I hear about my job being outsourced to a robot?"
"Yeah, Ultron. Seems legit, but…" He drowned out his concerned by biting down into his spicy chicken. Things like this rarely ended well. Sam had shown him both Terminator movies from the eighties. He saw how apocalyptic the future was then when robots took over; and now, SHIELD was walking step for step in its path. And since he had alienated at least the New Avengers, and likely also the other super teams, response time would be delayed, and any effort to stop them would be too late.
Or, he was just being paranoid and this was going to end up being just fine. But, a mechanical police force like this one rarely ended well. And he didn't even have to have seen a movie about killer drones and terrible futures to know that. It was just common sense. Then again, logic and common sense took a back seat when safety was a top priority. How far was SHIELD going to go to ensure this?
Insight was due to launch later this evening. From what he had heard, and witnessed first hand, one carrier was enough to ensure the world's safety. SHIELD was launching three. Whatever terrorists were out there were soon to have their days numbered to the hour.
And with the DNA tracking capabilities, there was literally no way anyone would be able to escape SHIELD's grasp – nothing could escape its notice. And the proactive algorithm thing – which was so much fantasy science that he couldn't even wrap his simple brain around it – made it so they would know who would be doing what in the future. They could know who was going to be a threat before that very person knew that they were going to be a threat. And since they didn't operate under individual federal laws, they could arrest anyone, anytime, anywhere at Trent's discretion.
It was scary shit, for someone on the other side. Hell, it was scary shit even for those within SHIELD. And with no one but the Council and the UN to answer to, they could get away with a lot of stuff.
"We're finally ahead of the curve. It's like a quantum leap in threat analysis," Bobbi said, as if she had just read his mind.
"Were you reading my mind?"
"Nah. You mumbled something about Insight, so I took an educated guess."
"Right," he mumbled. Quantum leap was a good way of looking at it. It was too much too quickly, in his mind. They had never really had any real respect for privacy, especially when looking for suspects. But this, this was too big a step in the wrong direction.
He'd give it a shot before he passed judgment. But, he really had a bad feeling about this. "Morse, you ever get a feeling that something you're about to watch happen is a really bad idea?"
She grew silent. He was afraid that she wouldn't answer, but she did, in a soft, almost inaudible voice. "Yes."
She knew it. She knew it as well as he did.
