Jyn peered at her friend wondering what exactly had happened to the woman. At least she was sure in her belief that whatever it was, it was bound to be something big. Hopefully, the woman would be able to get through the next few days without incident. Running after her friend Jyn wondered to herself what had happened to make the woman feel like she to hurry off, she felt like the only thing she could think sure of was that was that was it was something big and bad.
Catching up with her agitated friend, Jyn gasped, sucking in the much-needed oxygen.
"Alright, well what's wrong? I was in the same interview as you and I feel like I can tell you that we didn't learn anything new right?" Jyn asked in concern wondering what was going on.
"No, you are right we didn't learn anything new in there, but if you mind, I would like to just tell this once. Now come on I need to hurry!" Dacia's voice radiated with tension and annoyance.
Jyn hurried to keep her friend's stride. The two of them might have been a similar height, but when Dacia needed to get somewhere, she tended to outrun anyone with her. Jyn would sometimes wonder if it was a leftover from Dacia's past as a Jedi rearing its head once again. At the same time though she was completely aware that it could just be some facet of Dacia's personality.
WHOOSH
"K, can you check on Jane's location?" Dacia burst into the central computer nodule ordering the AI.
"May I ask why, it doesn't seem as if Jane should be linked to this part of our investigation? Checking for the woman now." K dutifully told the woman.
Jyn arrived behind the woman and shrugged helplessly at a surprised looking Cassian. She had no idea what was going on and was only interested in hearing what Dacia had to say now.
"Dacia, what's going on? Why are you suddenly so concerned about Jane, the woman is still in the Chihuahuan Desert? Didn't she go back there after London? Just take a breath and tell us what is going on." Cassian cautioned the woman, wondering not for the first tie what exactly had happened to the woman.
"Right, I got a concerning email from Jane telling me that she had noticed some of the atmospheres in town wasn't exactly welcoming towards her. You know that she wouldn't exactly notice if a troupe naked of men were doing the can-can in front of her. We both know that she tended getting lost in her work at the best of times." Dacia started, a look of distraught beginning to creep into her eyes as she spoke.
"Right, I remember you mentioning that you would sometimes have to prod her to take better care of herself. But what has that got to do with anything?" Jyn supplied the woman.
"Because we know that if she has noticed something, then it's bad. We might need to go in and get her if everything is not as it should be." Dacia sighed, looking at once more irritated and nervous.
"Alright, well let's game this out, would anyone have any reason to go after Dr Foster? I do agree with you that the situation doesn't seem right, but is there anything we do for the woman?" Cassian cautiously answered.
"She is still at the facility in the Chihuahuan Desert; I am not picking up any definite threats to the woman, at least no new ones that we should be aware of right now. We should probably be more concerned with some of the things that aren't there." K interrupted them sounding thoughtful.
"Alright, well please tell us what that new element that you feel as if we should be looking at it right now?" Cassian asked looking alarmed at what he was hearing.
"I know that for now, we have been searching for Designation: Black Widow, right? It's possible that she wants to get back onto Stark's radar, in any way possible. So, she thought that if she should harm the Norse God of Thunder's girlfriend, then she might get herself back into the game." K told the woman.
Jyn frowned, her mind continuing to work in overtime as she crossed over to the computer. Tapping through some of the screens in front of her, Jyn frowned as she looked through some of the information that had come back to her after she had loosed a few digital worms to see if they had turned anything up for her. Frowning when she realised that nothing definitive had turned up, it seemed as if nothing had turned up. She would curious to know exactly what K-2SO had managed to find.
"What led you to that conclusion K, I haven't been able to find anything that we can use to find the woman?" Jyn asked, a subtle note of warning creeping into her tone of tone.
"You are simply a human Ms Erso; I can find some more than you can, remember that I am plugged into this information by my little finger." The AI cooly responded.
Cassian simply rolled his eyes; he wondered why the AI was continuing to remain combative with the human. When he was still a robot, it was likely that the robot was overprotective. He found that it could be so counterproductive when the Artificial Intelligence decided to pick minor arguments and be prickly with the woman.
"Okay, settle down, K have you picked up anything that could make us think that the woman might be anywhere near where Jane is, we don't want to place the woman in danger unnecessarily if she gets so much as a nasty papercut I want to be there to spot it. But you didn't answer Jyn's question what would she have to gain if she attacked Dr Foster? Wouldn't the woman be aware that the good doctor broke up with her godly boyfriend? Why would she try to use that to get onto Dr Stark's radar? Isn't the woman supposed to be smarter than this?" Dacia mediated the two and began asking some of the questions that were beginning to bubble up as she considered some of the things that she wanted to know.
"It's possible that the woman wasn't used to not being the centre of attention, she might have heard whispers about what happened in Siberia, she wouldn't have felt able to trust them. Don't forget that she might very well have burned herself and all of her contacts in DC. She might have seen this as the only scenario where she could get back into her sugar Daddy's pocket. You know fake a little concern, or just go straight to the nuclear option, because whoever heard of working through your problems? Dacia, you were closer to Jane than I ever was, do you know if she ever got an employment offer from SI?" Cassian offered, looking bored.
"Yes, she got one, but she turned it down, not wanting to be any closer to a city with greater levels of light pollution, at least that was what she told me. I suspect that she might have been stubborn and at the time I was glad I didn't try and push her even further. If she had been moved to New York, especially to a place like Stark Tower, I don't particularly care what name the Tower was going by; she might have been caught up in the initial ULTRON reveal. Now though, I am starting to wonder if it was the right idea for the woman to piss away the opportunity. I can't see it ending well." Dacia answered the man.
"It doesn't seem as if we can pick up any trace of where Designation: Black Widow is, but she doesn't seem to be where we expected her to be. At least not even on the same landmass or continent. The one thing that I'm struggling with is trying to understand exactly what her motives are because right now they don't seem to be making a certain amount of sense." Jyn offered.
"It seems like now she is more interested in circling the wagons. By which I mean that she might not have begun to realise exactly what she was pissing away and didn't want to see what she does when she has nothing and no one. Don't forget that for all of her angsty one woman army routine, she has never been on her own for very long. When Designation: Hawkeye had her in his sights her resolve with The Red Room was weakening, but she was still only looking for some way that she could get herself out of trouble." Cassian mused.
"Right and while she might have been able to hold onto a limited number of secrets when she had left The Red Room, but then by then, she was firmly under the thumb of S.H.I.E.L.D. It turned out years later that she simply left the one organisation to throw herself at the mercy of different employers. After DC, we can't claim that there was any difference between the methods and possible end goals, HYDRA truly had their hand in nearly everyone's business." Dacia pointed out.
"It still doesn't make a lot of sense, we need to know exactly what condition Dr Foster is in, we can put that out of our head. K have you managed to find her?" Jyn patiently asked.
"Yes, it doesn't seem like the residents of the town that she is living near are causing her any trouble. If my vote counts for anything, I will vote that we urgently need to go for the woman." K-2SO answered sounding uncharacteristically worried.
Cassian and Dacia simply exchanged a look, while the AI of the former robot might still share an antagonistic relationship he seemed to have become fond of the female scientist. Cassian for one felt like he couldn't understand the robot, not while he was still a robot, nor when he was an AI.
"It doesn't seem to be something that we could simply explain away. Not without a great deal of trouble. We need to get back onto brass tacks, Cassian did you have any takeaways from watching that interview?" Dacia sharply reminded the two in front of her.
"Right, well we were right, it doesn't seem as if the guy knows a lot, which after all we had expected. He did have some moments of exceptional lucidity, by which I mean that he can remember flashes of what he did, but he still seems to be struggling with his idea of how he should attempt to rationalise said actions." Cassian explained to the two in front of him. "Jyn you were the one interviewing him, did you notice anything from a psychological point of view?"
"No, it's like you said he wasn't 100% clear on some of the issues that he dealt with, or at least some of the previous hang-ups from his time in the care of HYDRA. One thing that I did find interesting however was that the man didn't seem entirely comfortable with who his friend had become. It's a working theory, one which I am still attempting to build, but that Barnes wasn't able to believe that it was his friend. While it is still conceivable that the guy's memories may have been shattered, possibly beyond repair, it doesn't seem like we can trust those instincts." Jyn trailed off frustrated.
"I don't feel comfortable dismissing anything Designation: Winter Soldier as out of hand. Yes, his memories might be distorted and confused, especially when it comes to his friend, but there could be something there that we can use. HYDRA may have spent a great amount of time breaking Barnes, but Barnes was before anything a soldier. Admittedly I can't claim that I know a lot about the guy's state of mind, but it's likely that he was able to use the memory of Rogers to try and place him." Dacia warned before also trailing off.
"So, even before we go in to talk to Designation (Former): Captain America we know that he is going to try protesting that his Bucky recognised him on that bridge. But have we even proved whether or not the man could say that?" Jyn responded thinking aloud.
"No, we can't while cryogenic freezing is not typically used at home, notorious gangsters like Jabba the Hutt preferred to use methods such as Carbonite Freezing. I was able to intercept reports while I was working within the Resistance that he was working with Boba Fett as one of his henchmen. I was never able to work out if he was fully in the Emperor's pocket though. So I can't confirm it with anything from home, but it seems more likely that Designation (Former): Captain America ran into him, by him of course I mean Designation: Winter Soldier near the end of a memory wipe and flash freezing cycle. I wouldn't bet the farm on Barnes is remembering; it was more likely a combination of elements, a perfect storm in a teacup if you will." Cassian replied his mind going through some of the things that he could still remember.
"In any case Sir, it doesn't seem like we don't need to worry about the conditions of those at home, not while we can't go home in any case. May I remind you to focus your attention on Designation (Former): Captain America has to say." K-2SO helpfully reminded the three-sounding fed up with having to say the same thing over and over again.
"He's right, you know we need to remain focused on what we are doing, Dacia what do you want to do next?" Cassian sighed, clapping his hands together to gather his ideas.
"Alright, BODHI?" Dacia asked, checking whether or not the silent AI was still listening to them.
"Yes, Ma'am" the AI cautiously asked.
"Plot us a route to Dr Foster; I want to be able to act at a moments notice if we find out that she is in trouble. Jyn, I can't remember what was said about the subject, but I want you to work on scrubbing the video of Siberia, with the help of K, we are going to show it afterwards. Cassian, I want you to interview the man, I am of course happy to loom at the back of the interview. I have a feeling that this may become hairy, we don't need to miss any possible precautions, not because we are in danger of becoming arrogant and complacent so close to the finish line. At least if the finishing line at this juncture involves completing the initial interviews. That sound good?" Dacia commanded the group.
The two other humans in the room nodded thoughtfully at the woman before launching themselves into action. Over the speakers, in the room, the two separate AI's played small sounds of their agreement. Dacia paused for a moment, thinking to herself, before coming to a quick conclusion.
"BODHI work with K-2SO to find out what you can about Dr Foster, her current whereabouts and whether or not she is in any danger at present. If you find any definitive information while we are in there, push it to my tablet, a feeling in the pit of my stomach tells me that all is well with the woman. Ready Cassian?" Dacia ordered peering at Cassian as she prepared to make a move.
"Before you leave Dacia, the prisoners are likely to be more than a little agitated in the prison cells. I've glanced through some of the footage from the cells, and after we left Designation: Winter Soldier appears to have started shouting. While I can't tell exactly what he was shouting about, I do know enough to know that now more than ever we will have the rest of them, but more importantly Designation (Former): Captain America is off his game." Jyn pointed out before the two were ready to leave the room.
"Alright? What's your point?" Dacia prompted frustrated with some of what she had heard.
"Look, all I am trying to get at is that the guy will be off his game for the next few hours. He will have suddenly realised that what he has done has been wrong but he won't be able to work out why. This might be something that we can use to potentially lead to the guy's unravelling. Whether or not you want to look at the whole starting as far back as DC, at least if Designation (Former): Captain America found out about the possibility of Designation: Winter Soldier being behind the assassination of Dr Stark's parents. It's likely that from that point he began to separate himself from the other man, even if only in his head." Jyn held her hands up attempting to pacify the woman.
"It would make more sense for the guy to be able to try and find fault in any of his, by which I mean Dr Stark's actions, which could give us some clue as for how he acted in the aftermath of the ULTRON fiasco." Cassian supplied thoughtfully.
"It's likely, but right now we need to keep our eyes focused on the prize. Are we ready to go into these interviews?" Dacia reminded the two having shortly considered their answers.
Cassian nodded once at the woman before swiftly exiting the room behind a silent Dacia; he found himself wishing that he could only know what to say to the woman. Alas he didn't, he would have to keep his focus on this next part if Dacia couldn't force herself to pay even more attention to this upcoming interview because he couldn't be sure if Dacia were even capable of giving the whole matter her utmost attention.
Shooting Dacia a wary and uneasy look under his lashes, Cassian wondered where the woman's head was currently. He shook his head once and cast his gaze forward to look at the corridor ahead of him. Deciding his head while he decided to get on with things, it would do him no good if he continued to wonder about where his friend's mind was. Shaking his head a little while he decided to simply get on with his job, he reached out to swipe his key card through the little machine that sat flush into the wall beside the doors that led to the cells.
Waiting momentarily until the woman was beside him, he nodded to the woman and pulled the hood up around his face. When the two were both suitably hooded up, they both walked through the doors and separated to perform their tasks. Behind him, he could hear Dacia's footfalls as she made her way to the central computer. Once there he knew that the woman would be scrolling through the settings.
In the meantime, Cassian made his way over to the small tablet affixed to the wall beside Designation (Former): Captain America's cell. Listening to the sounds around him as he made his way across the cell block. Hiding a smirk when he realised that it seemed as if the prisoners were becoming agitated in their cells. Jyn had already briefed him on what had happened in the cells after they had left Designation: Winter Soldier back to his cell. Cassian reckoned that Jyn might very well be right, Designation (Former): Captain America might begin to start spinning out if (though it was more of when) he realised that he wasn't in the right. At least not this time.
Cassian thought that might come as a big shock to the man might now realise that he had to make a change. Now he just knew that he had to begin the interviewing process. So, now he would have to get on with the rest of his work. Tapping at a few of the features on the tablet affixed to the wall beside the man's cell. When he had determined that Dacia had made it so that the rest of the cells were safely locked down. Glancing into the cell, he sighed when he took in Designation (Former): Captain America was standing up looking as if he was ready to start a fight with whoever should come through the door. No doubt this could be something that had the potential to become very awkward and difficult quick.
Taking a deep breath of air, sucking some of the oxygen into his lungs, preparing his body for the potential for a fight. Tapping the button on the screen in front of him he watched as the door opened up in front of him. Shuffling his feet on the spot, Cassian made his way into the cell, loosening some of the tightly coiled muscles in his body, Cassian made his way through the doors.
Realising that he was right to prepare his body for the potential of a fight in such close quarters, he had barely made it through the door when Designation (Former): Captain America attempted to lunge at him. Quickly ducking (as much as he could in such a small space) he grabbed one of the man's flailing arms and was able to wrench it behind the man's back. Using the man's surprise against him, Cassian was able to pluck the man's other arms and using it to cuff the man's wrists behind his back. Hissing to himself when he realised that the man had managed to catch Cassian in the side.
Hopefully, no ribs had been broken, even if they felt bruised. He would have to make sure to talk to Jyn afterwards.
Not being particularly careful to be gentle with the man, he might have brushed the man against the wall (but he thought that it was exceedingly likely that the man's Serum would return him to full health). Looking over to Dacia he nodded once and followed them from the room.
Hiding a smirk when he noted a strange sort of atmosphere is settling in the cells, he could see from the corner of his eyes, Designation: Hawkeye was stood up and peering at the odd-looking trio leaving the room. Wondering if the man's mind was racing through all of the possible things that they were about to discuss. Cassian had to wonder if the man had realised yet that he wasn't owed any answers. Not at least, because he had left more questions unanswered.
Cassian felt like he had to hide a shake of his head at the arrogance shown by their ilk.
Taking the man along the corridor Cassian followed after a quiet Dacia knowing that he now had more work to get done, it wouldn't do him much good to forget where he was. Allowing Dacia to swipe her keycard over the door that the interrogation room lay behind when the door opened up with nary more than a swish, Cassian made his way into the room. Taking special attention to make sure that it wasn't particularly likely the man should be able to escape, Cassian made sure that the man was securely lashed to the desk in the middle of the room.
Stepping back from the man when Cassian could be sure that the man had been securely lashed to the table. Cassian made his way back to the dull silver table, and slid into the silver seat facing the man and peered at the man in front of him. Cassian honestly felt like he wasn't sure what tack to take with the man. Having made the man uncomfortable with his sharp gaze, Cassian resolved that it would be better if he simply allowed the man in front of him to speak, only minimally prompted. Cassian realised that he would probably be better if he allowed the man to speak, no doubt Designation (Former): Captain America was in love with the sound of his voice. He would be better served to wait to see what he was given, only prompting when he felt like a question needed further clarification, no doubt the man could offer a veritable gold mine of information if he felt he had something to prove. With that in mind, Cassian began to speak;
"Hello, now I'm sure you can guess why I'm here. But just so that I can be clear, can you tell me what you understand so far of our purpose?" Cassian gently asked.
"I understand fine; you are here because most people with money or abilities would like to fall in Tony's pocket, tell me what did he promise you?" Designation (Former): Captain America tried to sneer, looking nervous.
Dacia, who was stood in the shadows of the room, cocked her head to the side and wondered to herself if the man realised how open he could be. Especially with someone who had effectively been bred for reading body language. She had to wonder if the man was putting on a show, with all of his most obvious masks laying discarded. Either way, it would be fun watching Cassian disabuse him of that erroneous notion.
"I see, why do you feel the need to continue down that path, you have to understand that it won't lead you anything good. There isn't a pot of gold at the end of this path. Why don't you tell me what you can, from what happened in DC? Or even better, your first impressions of Dr Stark?" Cassian warned the man in a light tone.
"He is nothing like his father, always whoring around, wasting his money, wasting other people's time. His father was a great man, why does he take such immense pleasure in making other people's lives more and more difficult?" Designation (Former): Captain America protested.
"Well, now that just isn't true. You were supposed to be a great strategic mind. Or was that simply more propaganda bullshit, like your captaincy rank?" Cassian lightly asked.
"What exactly do you mean? I earned my Captain rank fair and square. I AM A CAPTAIN!" Designation (Former): Captain America started to shout.
"No, see you didn't. It turns out that you were in boot camp for less than a month, so at most you could have maybe attained the rank of Private. But you didn't. Instead, you took part in human experimentation. The role that you fell into, part of the Howling Commandos, even there you shouldn't have been the highest-ranking member of the Howling Commandos, that, of course, was while you were still using the Captaincy rank." Cassian explained, folding his arms over his chest.
"We were at war; they wouldn't have wasted time by sending me to a war college to get a proper rank. There were men out there dying, why would they have wanted to wait around for me to attain some magical knowledge!"
"Excuse me, but you are joking me, right? I realise that you were taking your little ice nap, or maybe you just aren't interested in politics and world history. You seen after the Second World War, the allied powers wanted to put some of the higher ranking Nazis that still survived in a court of law. The only thing thing was that point they had to be careful, because as we both know the Nazis' hurt people in a vast range of jurisdictions. So now they had to work out to convene a legal trail for International Law and work with the Russian, French, British and American Law. They had seen what happened when members of the Italian public had managed to lynch Mussolini and his wife, they couldn't answer for themselves. That idea was creeping into the back of their minds for a few years in advance. It couldn't be a kangaroo court, but it took place at Nuremberg, a bit of poetic justice. After all, the Nazis had declared some of their most disgusting laws. Some of the decisions that they had enacted about how the legal proceedings are still used to this day." Cassian explained.
Dacia shifted uncomfortably against the wall; she sometimes found it irritating when Cassian got overly interested in war history and forgot to stop to take breaths. Rolling her eyes at the man in front of her, she felt like she had missed the man's voice beginning to take on a lecturing tone. Clearing her throat to try and steer the man back to the topic at hand.
"My point is that especially during times of International War, certain parties would want to make sure that they always followed strict rules on who they allowed gaining the rank of importance. Even if they don't foresee the likelihood of having to answer specific questions, they will quash the likelihood of anyone asking uncomfortable questions. Your rank was mostly done as a propaganda tool to keep the American public in the mind of war." Cassian calmly explained to the man.
"No, but you are still lying to me. I was a Captain; I am still a Captain. Why should I listen to anything you say. You are nothing but liars!" Designation (Former): Captain America tried to exclaim.
"I'll admit, I can see where you are coming from, but can you explain to me again, why you think I am lying. Right now, I can't think of any reasons you may not trust us. Right now, we are the only friends, especially after you pissed away the only man that could help you. You know that the only way you could have come out of this situation smelling like anything other than the shit you currently reek off. See, when you lied to the man for years about what you suspected about the man, nay your former teammate about what you at the very least suspect about his parent's death. You had to know that it would play out well. Of course, that isn't counting the small matter that you left him for dead."
"I couldn't trust that the man wouldn't simply hunt down Bucky and kill him. I couldn't simply trust that the man wouldn't try to kill an innocent man. You know as well as I do that Stark is prone to impulsive actions and he doesn't think things through, I couldn't take the chance that the man wouldn't do something monumentally stupid! I had just needed to make sure that I wouldn't lose my best friend again! Not to some man's stupidity and rash actions."
"That's interesting that you should think that, because well it seems as if you didn't know the man fought beside for long? Dr Stark might have struggled with the information if you had decided to tell him earlier, sure he might have been angry, but he would have concluded that Sergeant Barnes was not guilty, he was the guy who pulled the trigger. He would have wanted to help the man in any way that he could. But you made sure that he was confronted with that information at the worst possible time. Tell me why you decided not to come upfront about what you suspected?"
"I don't know what man you know, but the man had never shown much by way of impulse control, he just acted without any thought to others. He has never shown a compassionate bone in his body. Why would the unfeeling, shadow of a man try to pretend that he was able to care about someone other than himself just because I was asking on behalf of my friend?"
"Alright, I'm not going to lie to you and say that the man was perfect, but we have been able to talk to some of his former employees, and they have all been able to state that Dr Stark was a good boss. Sure he sometimes had trouble with keeping his attention engaged, but who doesn't? He always made sure that he was able to keep paying his employees a fair rate, where possible he followed the law. Him signing the Sokovia Accords, was another process of him attempting to follow the law, even if he intended to attempt to alter the law. If he hadn't, and he still acted as Iron Man, he would have been brandished a criminal, and spoiler alert, companies with a criminal's name on them, don't tend to do very well in the stock market."
"That's not true; you know that he killed Wanda's parents when she was still a little girl." Designation (Former): Captain America once again tried to protest.
"Except that's not true, now is it? You see after the Sokovia fiasco, Dr Stark ordered another deep dive on any missiles that his former mentor might have sold to Sokovia. It seems like Stane had a habit of selling HYDRA defective stock, which was in turn used to weaken the socio-political climate in Eastern-European countries. You fought alongside Dr Stark for years; you used his gear, did you ever notice whether or not the gear malfunctioned at a crucial point, or even ever?"
"No, but he still killed poor Wanda's parents, and he was later responsible for Wanda's twin brother Pietro's death. Why should I trust him after that? Why should anyone trust him?"
"You know, it's funny that you should bring up deaths, I honestly thought that you would have been the last person to do that, possibly because you knew how many people you were responsible for getting killed. Especially during your tantrum in DC. It wasn't just HYDRA agents you outed. You also outed S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, and a whole host of other organisation's, anyone who worked in conjunction with S.H.I.E.L.D. died, their families died, all because you couldn't think of yourself that you should maybe bring in an expert on cybersecurity. But you found out something then, and you weren't sure if you could trust Dr Stark to keep a clear head didn't you?"
"You make it sound so bad; we weren't sure who we could trust to not blow the whole thing, we couldn't be sure who was HYDRA or not. So, we made the decision not to pull the guy in, Natasha had let me believe that her hacking skills were enough."
"Except they weren't, now were they? Because she didn't leak HYDRA files, but more rather EVERY single file. You can make the excuse that you guys were pressed for time all you want, but it doesn't quite ring true, now does it? The only thing you managed to achieve from that debacle? You made it easier for HYDRA to gain a toehold on the world stage. And I'm going to stop you before you say anything, it didn't give them legitimacy but rather spread paranoia amongst employers, or even just neighbours. You see there is a theory that when you can't trust someone, you start to wonder whether or not they were spying on you. But that's not my point here, from that point on you were attempting to distance yourself from Dr Stark, because you didn't want to start asking yourself whether or not your actions were justified."
"That's not true, you know that's true, I never suspected Tony of being HYDRA, how could I?"
"That's not the most important part; I want to know what you were thinking when you made Designation: Scarlet Witch an Avenger. I can understand why you did it during the ULTRON fiasco, all hands on deck during a crisis right? But even if you didn't know that she mind raped Dr Stark in that Castle, you knew that she had attacked Dr Banner unleashing the Hulk on Johannesburg. That doesn't ring like the actions of a sane mind."
"She was sorry for what she did, and I can understand undergoing experimentation to help your country, I did, and it turned out fine. She lost her brother that was enough; she shouldn't have to answer questions, not when the cost was already high."
"I see, so if she hadn't lost her brother, it might have turned out differently. Would you have turned the two of them into the law? Because I'm pretty sure that anyone who was hurt or knew somebody who died in either South Africa or Sokovia or even at any point during her murderous HYDRA employment would disagree. We have after all been reliably informed by Designation: Winter Soldier that every last person who is a card-carrying member of HYDRA is willing to kill and die for their xenophobic cause."
"She said she was sorry for what she did, why should I punish her any more than she was already being punished?"
"Eugh, we're going in circles here, let's get you back to your cell." Cassian sighed, pushing himself away from the table.
Nodding at a silent Dacia, Cassian grabbed the brick shithouse of a man and hauled him to his feet, before following Dacia from the interrogation room. Content to follow behind Dacia in silence, not sure what Dacia's reaction would be if he started to ask questions.
When they had left the man in his cell, Cassian felt as if he had to hide a gulp when Dacia's footfall's quickened. This probably meant that there was no good news about Jane, he would have to support Dacia.
Putting a quick burst of speed in his footsteps, he hurried to catch up with Dacia just before the woman neared the door to central computer nodule. This next part might become difficult.
WHOOSH
Steve stumbled through the door to the cell; he still wasn't sure exactly what he had done that was wrong. Shouldn't they be thanking him on bended knee for what he had done to Tony? The guy's ego was big enough as it was, it shouldn't all be on him to bring the man down a peg. A frown crossed his face as he began to wonder exactly what had happened after ULTRON to make him think that the guy wasn't to be trusted.
He could be sure that he had started to distance himself from the man after DC, still not completely clear on what way the man's reaction to finding out that his parents had been assassinated would be. He didn't want anyone to take away his Best Friend; Bucky was innocent after all. That part at least had made sense, even if it was in a twisted way, that didn't right in his belly.
But why hadn't he even tried to understand what had happened to make Stark think that unleashing ULTRON would be a good idea? Had he buried his head in the sand and tried to move even farther away from the man? The man had been nothing if not kind to the man before, why had Steve felt the need to push himself even farther away?
With a pang growing in his belly, he suddenly wondered what Sarah, his mother might have said to him if she could see what her son had done with his life? What would Howard have said if he had seen the way Steve had treated his only son? Judging by the reaction that Tony had had when Howard was brought up, the two of them hadn't shared the best relationship. Couldn't Tony understand why he had been so hesitant to bring up details of his father's death? Why would he want to hurt the man needlessly, he had still needed a measure of control over the man?
Why did it feel as if he didn't know his thoughts? Why was there a strange gloss over his thoughts?
Shaking his head at the door to the cell, he realised that he didn't feel up to answered the incessant questions.