AN: This chapter was beta-ed by the Anonymous Second Beta.

This one I had to rewrite it a bunch until I was satisfied. I hope you like it. ^^

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Chapter 23: Bucky Barnes - CHEESE

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Pulling out of another nightmare, all I knew were the straps holding me down.

Panic sent me upright.

Grab Gerber Yari II under mattress. Stab heart between ribs. Target incapacitated.

Barely able to remember that Valeriy was behind me before I could break the foot that smacked me in the face.

A sleepy groan escaped the young woman. But she was upright. Eyes squinting in the dim lighting. Taser in hand. Just barely ready for the worst.

One of the rare moments where her thoughts were so clearly written across her face. In the way her brows furrow. In the way her eyes were still half asleep. The confusion of no intruder.

"Nightmare?"

I shook my head. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Eh, it's fine," she waved off. A little tick of anger crossing her eyes before they squinted at the bright phone screen. "It's close to dawn anyways. We can go look for the totems."

The way her hand reached out for mine. So naturally.

It shouldn't.

Didn't she know how easy her bones could break?

Just a bit of strength and they would crack.

Her light laughter made me pause and her hand slipped from mine. Then proceed to flap both her hands about by her face until her fingers slipped through the cuffs.

'Did I…?'

That was one of the hoodies she bought in Thunder Bay hanging off her shoulders. That she's been trying to zip up with the sleeves swallowing up her hands every time she reached to knee level trying to get a hold of the zipper. The more she tried the more she laughed.

'Did I… put the hoodie…?'

"Thanks Bucky," Valeriy chirped.

Her hand wrapped around mine again the end of the sleeve swinging about. A little tug from her and the zipper tab by her neck slipped from my fingers.

Seemed rather natural, the way she picked up the camera and slipped it into the hoodie pocket with her hand completely encased by the sleeve. I had to dodge the blanket she flung over her shoulder. But the mask, she had trouble smacking that against her face to have it stick.

"You know what?" Valeriy huffed, stuffing the sheet into her pocket. "We'll slap these on if we spot anybody. I'd rather see your beautiful face anyways."

Before she could skip her way out of the motorhome, I tugged her to a stop and opened the laptop, going over the surrounding area.

She hovered at my side, joining in. Going by how her head bounced and the noncommittal hum, she came to the same conclusion as I did.

Nobody seemed to be awake.

Made sense for 0451.

Before she could shoot her uninjured leg, I plucked the Five seveN Valeriy was trying to tuck under the waistband of her shorts. With a sigh, I made sure the safety was on. It wasn't. The sleeve likely shifted the switch without her knowing.

I had to hop on a foot to keep up with her as I slipped the barrel under my sock.

"Val – "

The sky. Stars filled so much of the darkness. Tiny dots so far away and half a moon. Bright enough to bathe the trees in pale light. All of it so familiar.

"How about we climb atop this thing and stare skywards? We got the time," Valeriy suggested with a grin. "Pretty sure there's a skylight inside I could pop open."

The roof of the motorhome would let us relax out of sight. If we were on our backs, it would be too low for anyone to spot. It would be a clear view of the stars without the leaves and branches of the trees.

"I can jump that," I told her.

"I sure can't."

"I can carry you and…."

Tossing her over my shoulder like before wasn't an option anymore. Even if the cast could handle it, she'd be in pain.

"I can just hang onto your shoulders?" Valeriy offered with a shrug. "Like a baby monkey or something…? Piggybacking?"

'Baby monkey…?'

Her finger twirled a circle. I understood what that meant. She wanted me to turn around. Her hands lightly clasped onto both shoulders.

Sweep legs. Heel drop face. Target incapacitated.

When she put pressure down through her hands, I knew what that meant as well and dropped to my knees.

A squeal mostly muffled by clenched teeth sounded above me. She crashed into the back of my head and shoulders, toppling in front of me.

I scrambled to catch her. Yet again, holding the young woman upside down while her arms tried to support her weight. One hand clinging onto the blanket she had brought out.

The panic subsided at her laughter.

Carefully, I lowered her behind me. But instead of sitting on a bed, she draped herself against my back. Her arms softly wrapping around my neck.

"Maybe I should have used my words?" she commented lightly. Hand reaching up and running through my hair. "I'm not trying to choke you. I'm going to just tuck my leg around your tummy…. Kind of like a hug? With legs…? 'Kay?"

At my nod, her left leg wrapped across my stomach. The pressure with her hands returned and the other leg flung around, crossing at the ankles.

"Oh, I did not think this through. This can't be good for your knees."

Before she could drop her legs, I grasped her knees. With a shift of weight to one knee, I easily stood up.

Valeriy giggled. Still hanging off my back. Her head lightly knocked against mine. Her cheek against my ear. Her arms squeezing down lightly.

A hug.

"Bicky! Go fatter!"

"…Hang on," I told her, and with a couple of steps, I sprung off the ground and gently landed on the middle of the motorhome.

Valeriy's laughter rang the whole way up.

I set her down on her feet. Made sure that she was stable on her right foot before letting go of her left. Minimize the damage on her ankle.

Her barely fading chuckles caught my attention.

"Again!"

"Val!"

I barely managed to catch the crazy woman. From how her hands dug into my arm, she was hurting from being caught around the fractured ribs. Struggling to push her weight off them and shifting my arm to her waist.

"Your ankle," I reminded her. My heart pounding in my chest.

"…Oops?" She sent a wary grin my way, trying to hide the pain behind it. "Slipped my mind?"

With a heavy sigh, I hauled her back onto the roof. "Do not jump off. If you want to go down, tell me. I'll carry you."

She mostly pouted but gave a nod. "…Okay."

With a flourished flick, Valeriy tossed the blanket, laying it down flat on the flattest part of the roof. Getting on her hands and knees to smooth out each wrinkle. She motioned for me to join her in the middle. To lie down and stare up at the sky without all the dust and bird shit.

"You knew we were going to be lying down…?"

"Nope. I brought this out in case you got cold."

"…." A warmth heated my face from the center of my chest.

Valeriy propped up on one arm, reaching across my body and pulling a bit of the blanket atop of me.

"I'm fine with the cold," I mumbled. "And it's only covering half of me."

"Ha," she laughed, throwing an arm and a leg on the half of me closest to her. "There. Problem solved. All covered."

"How did you come up with some complex plan to cross the border when your problem solving skills are like this?"

"Hey!" she huffed indignantly. "This is an apt solution." She couldn't keep the seriousness in her voice for more than two syllables before breaking into random chuckles.

A content sigh later, Valeriy shuffled to the side until she slipped off my arm. Took only a small movement of the wrist for my hand to brush against hers, still hidden under that damn sleeve.

She pulled way, flopping the sleeve in the air again until her hand popped out. Delicate fingers holding onto mine.

"…I've seen the sky like this before…" I mused. A memory floating just out of reach. "…I'm… I'm not sure where… or even when…. Have you seen the sky completely filled with stars? More than this…. Without a moon."

"More often than most people think I have?" Valeriy responded. "I'd say… the most stars I've seen is tied between somewhere in the middle of an ocean and…waiting for the elephant to finish fucking the truck when I was with Auntie Irene?"

Something tugged in my chest at the name, but something else bubbled at the image her words weaved.

"Irene…. I found her online."

"Her Wikipedia page is probably a mile long," she giggled.

All three of them had articles on that site.

Someone out there knew them better than I do….

My own sisters.

And none of what I read rang any bells.

Didn't manage to shake any memories lose.

I couldn't even recognise their faces.

There was a page on who I was before all this. Something I couldn't find when at the D.C. safe house.

Sergeant James Buchannan "Bucky" Barnes is a former soldier of the 107th Infantry Regiment and the childhood best friend of Ste –

A shake to my hand pulled me out of the spiraling thoughts. Valeriy's head landed against my shoulder with an audible thud.

"Whatever it is, we'll figure it out," she stated softly.

"…I might… have brain cancer…."

"…You've been trolling about WebMD haven't you? It's unlikely you have brain cancer, Bucky. Leave that diagnostic stuff to Amber, 'kay? We should hear from her when she gets back from her trip…."

"…She can tell what's wrong with me from a video conversation?"

"No? But the hair strands and blood will say quite a bit?"

"You… you never took blood from me."

"Eh, I had a bloody ass shirt… or two? You kind of bled a lot at the house…. From the first night at the house… and when you cut yourself…."

"Hydra will recognise me through the results. Your friend is in danger."

"All precautions are taken. She'll be working on machines that are completely offline. Eve won't let Hydra get their hands on Amber. Neither will I."

Her hand let go of mine, reaching up around my head and messing up my hair.

"You've got beautiful hair, Bucky. Strong and healthy. So your health should be about the same? It's a good thing your hair is long, more info."

"You could have told me that you were doing all this."

She shrugged. "Never crossed my mind? And… I'm starting to realize that I should have asked you first…."

The thought of which felt so very foreign.

"We've been looking into a way to do a brain scan? Without you having something put over your head or being immobile."

"Like an M.R.I.?"

"Yeah…?"

"I… I can try…."

"Nah, no need to put you through that. Something popped up in my search, and if that doesn't pan out, I can trick Gramps into making something that would do. It'll work out. One way or another. Especially if we make a mint off it."

"…You don't have to do all this."

"Eh, it's fun. Much better than the shit I've been doing."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"I could use another hug," she laughed jokingly.

But I wrapped my right arm around her anyways, pulling her closer. Valeriy snuggled in, head resting on my shoulder. A content sigh left her.

Under the joking there was something else. She'd been off since we met up at the H.M.V. Just the slightest. Her smile not quite the usual carefree curve. Her huffs of irritation. Her fingers fidgeting with the hem of her shirt.

It could have been dealing with those men after her.

Or whatever it was that the A.I. ghost has her working on.

If a hug could help, it's something I can do.

"…Do you want to talk about it?"

"…No…. I don't want to even think about it," she mumbled into the side of my neck.

I couldn't help but shift a tad.

"I forgot you're actually ticklish," Valeriy chuckled out.

When she tried to move away, I held my arm still for just a second and then relaxed, letting her decide what she wanted to do. Which was to curl into my side with a content sigh.

'This much, I can do.'

Something that didn't involve blood, pain and death.

Something simple.

Something warm.

I could even enjoy the moment.

There wasn't a nagging need to finish something. To hunt down a target.

I could just stare up at the stars… and relax.

"Anything else?" I enquired carefully.

"Sorry, I believe I misheard the… quest…. Buck – Hahahahaha! Sorry. Sorry. I dozed off there. What were you saying?"

"Is there anything else I can help with?" I repeated. "…I might not have graduated college…. I'm not even sure about having finished high school…. But I can do the grunt work. I read fast."

"Hmmm… I guess I could use some help evaluating security stuff? When we get to our destination. Nothing we can do at the moment…. As for schooling, would you be interested in finishing all that?"

"…I can't go to school. I'd… I'd put the students in danger."

"Well, we do have a few schools. You can take the courses virtually, go at your own pace and Eve will just supervise the exams and stuff?"

'I can finish school…?'

"So the question is mostly if you want to and which accent you feel like listening to? I'd recommend the British or Canadian schools. They're the most established campuses."

'I can finish school.'

"Australian is fun if you're actually there. The rest are in other languages. Which you can take too if you want to do the whole language immersion thing."

"English sounds good," I responded. I needed to get used to writing in English.

"You can take classes from different campuses too," Valeriy added excitedly. "I'll study with you. I have about five years' worth of stuff to catch up on… if I'll be working with Amber and Gramps again…. Maybe I'll take a class with you. Depends on what you pick. Oh we can take knitting together!"

"Knitting? When would we ever use knitting?"

"Probably never? But that's the whole point," she said excitedly, grinning from ear to ear.

"…The sun's coming up," I noted at the sky turning lighter and a few stars fading out of sight.

"Time to find the totem poles," she said, searching it up on her phone.

"…It's 5.9 kilometers away, Val."

"…I don't believe my ankle's going to love me after that…. Shall we steal a car?"

"…."

"You really disapprove, huh? 'Kay then, Let's just head off to Kamloops… where we'll be trading this big thing… for a stolen car…."

I could only sigh before scooping her up and snatching the blanket on my way to the ground. "Go steal a damn car. We're going to the totem poles."

A tiny excited cheer escaped from her as Valeriy scampered happily into the parking lot. With my hand clasp in hers.

When she tried to swing me towards the passenger side of a dirt caked sedan, I followed her instead. "I'll drive."

'I'll have to ask her how to pick a lock sometime.'

Would be better to have another option rather than breaking into everything.

A car with the door ripped off wouldn't blend in.

Nobody else was awake, so nobody would notice us speeding down the road. Got us there in less than half the time. 4 minutes and 26 seconds.

"This is a big one," Valeriy laughed, leaning against the dashboard with her face turned skywards.

13.74 meters tall. Red, black and turquoise painted over wood. 9 faces. Topped by a bird. Lit up by the rising sun.

"Let's take a picture with it," she said, setting up the phone gutted camera on the dashboard. She snapped a photo and fiddled with the settings. "We got a minute after I press this button to get into position. Going to count on you for a 5 second countdown."

"I can do that."

A beep sounded the press of the button and we both rushed out of the dirty car.

41 seconds.

We stood side by side next to the totem pole.

"We could make this a little more interesting," she said, leaning against the side of my arm.

"What do you suggest?"

34 seconds.

"How opposed would you be to me sitting on your shoulders?"

Easy enough to lift her over my head.

26 seconds.

"Oh, we're going to look tiny next to this. Move closer to the car."

"Here?"

"Probably more…. Oh! Oh! Better yet! We can cover the totem so when we put the glass on it, it's us!"

'That would be… here.'

"10 seconds."

Valeriy giggled excitedly, fiddling with my hair. Pulling it back and out of my face.

"5. 4. 3. 2. 1."

"CHEESE!"

I scrambled to hang onto her left leg when her right slipped off behind me with a downwards push against my shoulder. "Val, your ankle."

"You worry too much, Bucky. Landing on my working leg. Just hold still for a couple of seconds."

With that, her weight dropped off me. Hands braced against my back as support. Two taps on the way down.

Elbow to the side of the head. Target incapacitated.

"See? All good. Let's check the photo. If either of us looks derpy, we're retaking the photo again," she explained, pulling me along behind her.

Her hand still wrapped up in that damn sleeve.

"Did I blink?"

"Nope," she chirped, showing me the screen. "Even managed to capture that beautiful smile of yours."

'I was… smiling…?'

Not as widely as Valeriy in the photo or currently. But it was a smile.

"Holy shit…. We're the exact same height as the totem pole…."

'…I smiled…?'

"Here. Your turn."

"Huh…?"

"For your copy?" Valeriy offered, holding out the phone gutted camera while fanning her face with a photo.

'I was smiling….'

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"Think you can handle this?" I egged on, knowing full well he couldn't turn down a challenge.

Not even this wooden monstrosity of twists and turns. This is going to be awesome.

"…Steve?"

He was standing next to me just a second ago.

"Steve?! Where'd you go?"

Not a single head of blond hair at his height in the throng of people that surrounded me.

"Steve!"

"I can do this all day."

"Damn it, Stevie. Not this again."

I could hear my heart pounding at my ears while I raced towards his voice. Almost missed the clattering of hollow metal on hollow metal.

"Hey!" I yelled out, my fingers dug into a jacket. "Get the hell out of here! Or get your ass kicked."

I threw the stranger into the garbage can.

"I had him on the ropes, Punk."

"We're still going on the Cycl – "

A blow to the side of my head knocked me to the ground.

Jerked me out of sleep.

The surroundings dim, lit up only by the headlights of the sedan. Stone walls laced with black holes sped away.

"Hey, hey. We're safe here."

"Valeriy?" I called out, cranking my stiff neck to the back of the car.

She was driving into darkness. At thirty kilometers an hour.

'Are we… in a… tunnel system…?'

"Val! There's a wall!"

I dropped the dart revolver in favor for the wheel and the emergency brakes only to have her arm blindly flail about to stop me.

"Bucky, no," she chided. "And do not jump out of the car."

"There's a wall!"

I tried to hide behind my arm. Even the metal one. But I couldn't tear my eyes away from the wall we were headed straight for.

"Don't worry about the wall."

"We're going to crash! Val! What happened to the – There's another wall!"

"If it'll make you feel better, you can just close your eyes," the crazy woman suggested lightly, calmly switching gears, flinging the front end of the car and flooring the gas. All to make a tight turn while changing the direction she was driving.

"No! It wouldn't! I would not feel better!"

"If you slept for the hour I told you to – "

"Val!"

"I feel that I'm going to lose my hearing before we get to – "

"Why are there so many fucking walls!?"

All I got was more laughter, which didn't ease my nerves in the least. I couldn't shoot the walls away. But somehow this wall was dodged with the floor suddenly dropping down into another tunnel with another wall.

"But seriously, if I mess up… would be very bad. And it's been some years since I last did this… So maybe don't fight me for the wheel?""

"Where the hell are we?!"

"Canada?" she tried. Spinning the wheel completely turning the car to the right into a tunnel that I barely even saw.

The car continued to the right, up a long spiralling ramp. Turn offs at inconsistent intervals. Some even showing up as we drove by.

"Don't just speed up at the moving wall!"

There was no pattern to the wall chomping across the tunnel. Erratically speeding up and slowing down. We were either going to crash right into it or the car was going to be cut in half.

"Nah. Formula says I have to go at this speed."

"Formula? We… We made it… through…?"

Barely.

"As long as we follow the formula, we'll be fine. The security on this mountain is childish overkill but it's one of the safest places I know. The mountain isn't connected to our name or company. Nobody will look for either of us here.

"Best part is, Eve's has a bunch of restrictions here, which means that whoever she's scared of accessing her files won't be able find this place. Short of massive explosives, they won't be able to get to the location. That is if they can even find it."

"She's not going to be here either?"

"Eve? She'll be here. One of the places she loves. But she's not in charge of scrambling this maze or mountain security. Only hope of trying to mess with it is at the location, and one has to get through all this crazy ass shit to get there."

'…I… give up….'

I tried closing my eyes. Three seconds in, the nerves got to me. If we were going to crash, I wanted to see it coming.

I desperately wanted to grab the wheel. Or pull the emergency brake. Something to end this madness.

It looked like she knew what she was doing. The car hadn't crashed. Yet. Even with all the near misses.

'I should have just stayed sleeping….'

"How much longer of this?"

"Shouldn't be more than another ten minutes? I just follow the formula until we get there. It's basically never the same doing this."

She sent me a grin, gunning straight at another wall. But we didn't crash. We just went right through it. Into a curving room of polished black floors and high ceilings.

"Huh. I guess this time it worked out to be shorter?" Valeriy commented, slowing the car to a far more sensible speed. 21 kilometers.

A row of cars lined the smaller curve. 15 in total. Cars of all types and colors. One with the bumper barely hanging on. The other side had 5 motorcycles, 3 snowmobiles and 31 things I didn't know the names of or recognize. One of which almost looked like a car.

Valeriy didn't bother to park the car in line with the others. Just followed the curving ramping room to the end. 11 meters away from a set of doors sliding open.

"Welcome to the Soteria, Bucky. Here on out, we're safe."

"…We made it," I repeated.

The stress of Hydra finding me. The stress of Jekyll grabbing Valeriy. The stress of that damn maze. All of it washed away with a soft exhale.

"…Yeah. We built this to get away from the insanity of the world. Somewhere where image and names don't matter…. Anyways, feel free to poke around here for a bit. I need a few minutes up top. All the keys are tucked… somewhere. Eve knows. Just ask her."

With that, she opened the door and exited the car.

"Congratulations. I see that you're both alive and well," the A.I. ghost's familiar voice echoing throughout the massive room.

"Eve. I hate to admit it, but I did miss you."

"I'm not entirely sure if the feeling is mutual. I had to fix a washing machine and replace a set of overpriced plates. I'm certain that's not Mr. Barnes' doing."

"Oops? Sorry. I tried wash some stuff… on my own?"

As the elevator doors hid her from view, Valeriy gave a happy wave of her hand.

It was habit now. Searching an area to make sure it was safe. That there wasn't anybody hiding. That there wasn't a familiar face.

"...Mr. Barnes?"

I looked up from the floor, checking under all the vehicles for anything that shouldn't be there.

"Most of these cars can be tracked."

"Yes, but not from inside a mountain. This is the safest place for Val."

I came to a stop at a motorcycle that sported massive denting. A detached wheel. Bent in the middle.

Mangled was a good word for the mess.

"Took some time for her to pry it from the tree it was wrapped around…."

With nothing left to do besides guessing what the various contraptions strewn about could be, I slipped into the driver's seat of our stolen car. Parked it in line with the others and grabbed our bags just in time for the elevator doors to open again.

"Mhmh hm, Mhmmh! Hmm mmhm mhh hmhhmm!" Valeriy yelled through closed lips and stuffed cheeks. Waving me over with two of those altered oranges in hand.

And flanked by two massive dogs.

One completely white. The other a mix of red and white. Both of which sat with their ears just shy of her shoulder and staring right at me.

"Like, hurry up. I want to like, show you this totally awesome place," Valeriy said.

But the young woman stared at the upper corner of the elevator in bewilderment. Cheeks still stuffed to the brim.

She made a gesture of an exaggerated shrug. With her arms shifting from side to side.

The A.I. ghost.

The A.I. ghost was using her voice.

Valeriy waved for me to step inside the large elevator again. Mumbling something while motioning to the dogs. Still chewing at a feverish pace.

"They like to like, maul anybody who like, doesn't belong…. Val, hitting the elevator wall isn't going to do anything to me…. Fine. Like the dogs totally wouldn't bite you, homeboy," the A.I ghost said switching between accents and voices.

Valeriy quirked an eyebrow my way. "They – "

"Like they'll totally be friendly with like, you."

"Ev – "

"I totally like, ditzed out and like, totally forgot to tell you about like, the dogs."

With a heavy sigh, the young woman shoved half a PRO into her mouth, munching away as fast as she could. Cheeks puffing out again.

But neither of them moved their eyes from me. Merely watching me. Their tails flicking from side to side. Slow and calm.

I took a few steps closer, waiting for a reaction from the dogs.

None. No response to the movement. Posture still relaxed.

"Like finally…. Hey! Don't go throwing fruit peels at – Val!"

"Mmhm mmhm – !"

"Like get into the elevator already, homeboy. The place is like, humongous. I have like, a bajillion things I have to like, work on before I can like, sleep."

The last sentence put a pause on Valeriy's fruit peeling. Irritation flash across her face before she shoved another half of the PRO into her mouth.

"I'll like, show you the outside like, when like, the sun's not going to like, set on us. No point showing you like, total darkness."

With a deep breath, I slipped into the elevator, the doors closing the moment I stepped passed them. Trapped in a room that felt far smaller than 6 meters by 24 meters. With two giant dogs and a young woman flicking red fruit peels at where I assume a tiny camera in the corner had to be.

"…What's… what are their names?" I tried.

" He's Zephyr and like, she's Ixie," the A.I. ghost said in sync to Valeriy's head shifting from the white dog to the red one.

Cautiously, I reached out towards the nearest dog. The white one. Waiting for it to snap. Teeth and all.

The bushy white tail wagged a tad faster. Head tipping forwards against my fingers. Pushed against them when the legs straightened up, taking a couple steps to me.

"Can I ta– "

"Just like, don't attack them and they won't like, bite you. I'm like, more likely to like, bite than like, they are."

The white fur was so soft. Fluffy and warm. Much like the blankets when I wake up. The ones that Valeriy's been wrapping around me.

"Would you just – "

"But you'll totally like, love this place, homeboy."

The ears were so soft. The head following after my hand. The fluffy tail hitting against the side of Valeriy's stomach.

"Ev – "

"But like, I got no idea as to where you'll be like, sleeping. We don't have like, guest rooms."

When my ears popped, I paused. We weren't just going straight up. Nor were we moving slow.

"Val…?"

"Hm – "

"Like, there's no reason to be anxious. We're like, totally like, safe here."

With an irritated expression on her face, Valeriy pulled out her phone and typed away. More than likely arguing with the A.I. ghost.

She didn't even wait for the elevator doors to open to start walking. But she managed to time it just right. Kicking her shoes off in the process. Letting them land in two completely different spots.

The dogs trotted out after her.

I, on the other hand, automatically sat down to untie my boots before I dirtied the floors. Lined the four shoes up. Somewhere out of the way.

The room was massive. Big enough to fit the A.I. ghost's D.C. house with extra room. Not a window in sight. Just shelves upon shelves covering the entire length of the walls. All twelve meters of it. They bent and curved, changing the room into a ten petal flower.

The five tables in the room were supported by shelves. The part couch part bed was made of shelves. All of them filled to the brim with numbered binders.

The floor was also odd. Not a single straight line to them. Warped squares getting larger the closer to the walls they got. Following the curve of the walls.

"Half the rooms down here are probably used as storage?" Valeriy said, tucking the phone away in her back pocket, and weaved her way behind a large robot arm.

Heavy machinery was scattered about the edge of the room. This seemed to be where a good portion of the unidentifiable things in the garage were made.

"And the walk in freezer is… this one?"

The young woman pushed the shelf on the left side of a petal and a door sized chunk of it gave into a room filled with cans and boxes. Food. The pantry.

"Nope… umm…."

She tried another shelf a petal over and revealed a brightly lit with plants growing out of white pipes that lined the wall. The next hidden door to the right was filled with blocks of wood. Then she found the laundry room. Then a bedroom.

"Uhh… that's Tristen's suite. Best butler ever and probably psychic…. We didn't get away with much when he was around."

The A.I. ghost was likely the one behind opening the door to the left of the one Valeriy had first tried.

"Ah, there it is. The freezer. I'll just put a stack of stuff in front to let you know."

"I can remember it…. Why is the room shaped like this?"

"We went a little crazy? It's all based on the Fibonacci spiral. If you put a bunch of them together, you can get a swirly flower pattern thing…. Ah, we cut the silicone tiles into shapes it makes."

That's when I saw the spirals crisscrossing each other in the flooring.

The stairs were in a room hidden behind another shelf door. Unnecessarily wide but also curving much like the garage. When we stepped on them, they started to move. Like an escalator. That got narrower as we went until we came up from a hole in the floor of a room with far too many windows.

One window.

That covered the entire wall.

Eight meters tall. An entire wall of glass. Not just simple flat glass. Compound curves forced it into the petal shapes. Much like the shelves in the room below.

I couldn't help but duck back under the floors. Rushing down a few steps to keep under. Flinching when Valeriy grabbed onto my hand.

And then the stairs stopped moving.

"Hey, we're safe here, Bucky. Windows are better than the stuff used at the D.C. safe house and any satellite imaging of this area is automatically edited to be quite wrong. So it's safe inside and safe to go outside too. Come on, I'll show you how it looks."

She gave a little tug. Pulling me along, right to the window. She pushed on the glass wall there, and it swung open a door to the outside.

I could feel the warm grass through the socks on my feet. The soil was soft to walk on.

A sloped clearing gave this spot just enough height to look over the surrounding trees. Gave a broad view of the mountain range.

Not a building in sight.

This was the perfect vantage point to see who was coming up.

The two dogs bounded down the slope, barking at each other and chasing a black bird.

When I turned to face the structure we came out of, all I saw was a massive mossy boulder. Blended right in. It even felt like a mossy boulder. Warm from the sun. Damp at the moss. As if it had been here when the mountain had formed. Except for the piece that swung out which revealed what was actually there.

I quickly ran to the other side to see what the landscape was there. With the pair of dogs trying to keep up.

"Stay in this clearing, Bucky! There are traps all over the place beyond that!" Valeriy yelled after me.

"Okay!"

A slender waterfall was about 1853 meters away from the north side of the fake boulder. I could see anyone coming down the cliff face.

If the satellites didn't work here… no one would see unless it was with human eyes…

If I sat on top of the boulder… I would have a view of everything around.

'…This place… I can protect it.'

"Shall we go back to Val?" I asked the dogs for some reason.

Ixie barked in response and Zephyr was already on his way to her.

I took the longer way, checking out the full perimeter.

"Satisfied that Soteria can hide you?" Valeriy questioned when she spotted me. A carefree smile back on her face.

I gave a nod.

"I'll show you the land around when I got the time to. If you really have to go beyond the clearing, take one of the dogs. They should know their way around? Might be able to keep you safe from the bullshit security."

My hand found hers again as we made our way back inside.

Valeriy and the dogs wiped their bare feet on the rug at the entrance. I slipped out of the socks while I had the chance before I could leave dirty footprints across the tiles.

"Eve, mind heating up the floors?"

"Toasty floors in two minutes."

"Thank you," she chirped back while pulling me down a curving hallway of shelves and binders. She tapped on the left shelf wall, away from the large room with the windows.

"That's the parents' room. Only been used once by Gramps, but don't tell the parents that. I'd say best don't go in there either? We just leave it be."

Where two curves met at a point, she pushed in a shelf, pulling me into another room. Much smaller than the main room, but far bigger than any of the rooms at the safe house.

"This is my brother's room. You can use it. He doesn't mind…. Well, that is if we can find the bloody bed…."

For a bedroom, there was no bed to be seen in the large space. Just the windows that faced the waterfall and followed the petal shape that was everywhere else. A single petal. Tables lined against the glass. The zigzagging walls were covered by shelves. Again filled with numbered binders.

"Are all the doors here shelves?" I asked, facing her to find the young woman prodding the ceiling with a wobbly four meter long stick.

"They weren't in the beginning? We just kept running out of room for notes and stuff, so we kept adding them. The doors are easy enough to find. They're all marked with a tiny glow in the dark spiral flower thingy. Just push there and the door should open…. Unless Eve's fucking with you.

"Oh, and before I forget, the bathroom is shared. We wanted bigger bedrooms, though everything ended up stupidly big anyways…. But this room's been set up for your privacy and Eve won't use the cameras when you're inside the bathroom."

"Got it," I said since she wouldn't see a nod. Still too busy poking at the ceiling.

This was a lot of room to myself. A room larger than any in the safe house. Far larger than any of the rooms I could remember with… with….

A room with a hole in the ceiling at the rate she's poking at it.

"What are you looking for in the ceiling?"

"The bed?"

"The bed's in the ceiling…."

"Mine is? I couldn't find it when Amber was here. We just share my bed. There's a… crawl space? Something like that up there."

'That explains why the ceiling here is two meters lower….'

"…Damn shit. I honestly have no clue where he hides his bed."

"I don't need the bed, Val."

"…Oh… right," she mumbled, fiddling with the ruler and tapping it against the heated carpet. Never twice on the same spot. Still searching.

"Anything else I should know about this place? Would something jump out if I open the wrong door?"

"If there's anything like that, Eve would probably lock it? But you should never go into the tunnels without me. We won't be able to find you again. I'd have better luck looking for you in the forest with all the traps, rock slides, wolves, mountain lions, bears – "

"Val!" the A.I. ghost screeched with such anger.

"Calm the fuck – oof!"

I wanted to run. To hide. Anything to get away from that voice demanding blood and pain.

But there was nowhere to go. She controlled the doors. She could lock us in or used them against us.

Impale…. Impale…? Tar…get?

"Bucky. Bucky? It's alright, 'kay? We're safe here. Come on, give me the ruler. Bucky, please let me have the ruler before you use it as a bloody javelin."

I let go at another tug, watching her throw it at the shelf and the metal stick just shrunk and stuck to the shelf.

'Mag-magnets…?'

"Val! Move it!"

"Okay. Okay. Just stop yelling!" Valeriy's fingers latched around my wrist, pulling on it. "Bucky, I need you to let go of me. We're safe here. I just need to go take care of something, 'kay?"

"I can help," I quickly offered, hanging onto her when she tried shuffling out from under my leg.

"I don't want you a part of this." She scrambled to slip on those glasses of hers. "Ooh, this is a bloody fucking shit mess."

"Now!"

"Yup. Yup. Ass is on the move. Bucky, I'm sorry. Please just stay out of this."

Her hand tucked my hair behind my ear, resting against my cheek. An apology written clear across her features. From her smile to her eyebrows.

And then she was standing, almost running across the room. A shelf opened up for her. The angle hid what was on the other side of it.

"Valeriy…."

She didn't hear me.

Her hand tapping against the earbud. "Cass D'amour signing in. Taking over tactical. Anybody who wants blood speak up. The rest of you – "

With a slam, the door shut behind her. Not a single sound escaping into this room.

Leaving me alone.

With a pair of gigantic dogs.

'They're… They're going to kill somebody….'

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.**.

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AN:

And that concludes the RV road trip mini arc.
Had to take full advantage of the fact that Eve wasn't there so that part ended up far longer than the one chapter I had planned. But it turned out to be fun. Hopefully it was fun to read for you guys.

Anybody out there missed Eve?

Anyone have any ideas as to what's going down with Eve and Val at the end of the chapter? What Val doesn't want Bucky involved in?

If you're interested, rough floor plans of the Basement level with all the shelves and the main level with the bedrooms and windows can be found here:

It's a fancy mess, but give two kids to design a place, and it's going to be a mess.

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