Avengers: Search for the Winter Soldier
Chapter 39
Exchanges
Summary: The Soldier's re-surfacing gives Steve and the team a chance to connect with him after so much success with Soldat.
Although still resistant to trusting those he sees as his captors; an exchange between the Soldier and Vision causes images of memory fragments to intrude into the Soldier's psyche.
"Did he just say your name?" Bruce asked Steve who was staring at the Soldier, stunned. The two men stared at one another for a long minute, while Banner waited for Steve to respond to his question.
Although the man on the bed was holding his gaze, Steve couldn't say the Soldier looked angry. Serious, perhaps, but his eyes didn't have the same hateful glare they'd held the last time he was in their presence. He could see the intensity still in his gaze, but his anger seemed to have been put in reserve. Steve wondered what had changed. Perhaps Soldat having control for the whole week had influenced the Soldier's new behavior, or perhaps it was the dream from which he'd just awakened. He'd uttered both his name and that of Barnes, but why? Steve wondered.
"Sounded like my name… didn't it?" Cap answered Bruce but never took his eyes off the Soldier.
"With a little Russian influence… but, yeah, it did," Bruce agreed.
The Soldier's eyes moved from Steve's stare to sweep down his body as if sizing him up before settling again, holding Cap's steady gaze.
Steve frowned a little with a realization. "He can speak."
"Yep," Bruce replied.
"Soldat still couldn't speak this morning when I left him to take a shower," Steve reminded Banner.
As Banner and Rogers took turns speaking, the Soldier's gaze moved slowly from one to the other as if following their conversation, but made no overt sign that he understood what they were saying. He was still hard to read, Steve noted.
"Yep," Bruce replied again. "But… I don't think this is Soldat."
"It's not," Steve concurred.
Bruce went to his bag and retrieved a blood pressure cuff and stethoscope. The Soldier's eyes never left the doctor's back as he moved away and searched through the black bag on the table then watched him return with the items he'd taken out. Without asking permission, Banner simply began to wrap the cuff around the Soldier's right arm and then donned the stethoscope and began to take his blood pressure readings.
The Soldier watched Bruce with mild interest as the doctor listened to the beat of heart through the earpieces and when Banner was finished he pulled the cuff off and dropped it, along with the stethoscope, on the foot of the bed. Bruce looked up to see both the Soldier and Steve looking at him.
"140 over 92," he told them; not that either had asked. "Why don't we get him dressed and get him something to eat. He's missed breakfast and lunch," Bruce pointed out. The Soldier kept his eyes on the doctor and when Banner glanced at him and back to the blonde man, the Soldier shifted his gaze to Rogers.
Steve nodded at Banner's suggestion. "Yeah… I guess we should get him fed." He looked at the Soldier and asked, "Are you hungry?"
The Soldier's gaze dropped as he thought about the question and then he took a long deep breath and raised his eyes to look at Steve again, but he didn't answer.
"He can get up, right?" Steve asked Bruce.
"Yeah, he can get up as long as he's not feeling dizzy," Bruce told him. "Are you going to be okay with him?" he asked as he put away the cuff and 'scope.
"Yeah," Steve replied, "I'll be fine. I can handle him."
The Soldier tilted his head slightly as if he wanted to challenge that statement, but he didn't speak. He looked at Rogers with a gleam in his eyes and the corners of his mouth appeared to upturn ever so slightly as if he found Steve's statement amusing.
"I'm going to head upstairs and make sure a hot meal is started for him… for all of us actually, it's nearly dinner time anyway," Bruce mentioned and Steve nodded. "I'll also let Natasha know that he's awake. You may need her."
"I'll go with him if you don't need me either," Wanda told Steve.
"Okay. Yeah, that's fine. Thanks, Wanda," Steve replied and Bruce left the room with Wanda.
"If you're feeling up to it, you can get up. We have clothes for you to wear," Steve told him and went to the bags to dig through them. He heard movement behind him and glanced over his shoulder to see the Soldier standing next to the bed with the towel still wrapped around his waist.
"Here," Steve said as he turned around. He laid out a pair of dark blue jeans and two shirts; one a plain black tee shirt and the other was a dark green polo shirt. Steve pointed to the clothes on the bed then tossed a pair of underwear and socks on top of the jeans. "Those first," he instructed.
The Soldier looked down at the clothes and then looked around. When he turned back as if considering the clothes, Steve spoke again.
"What do you need?"
The Soldier raised only his eyes to look at Steve. "Gde myah dizhda?" Where are MY clothes?
"I don't speak Russian," Steve told him how many times now? He'd lost count. The Soldier looked at him without attempting to speak English.
Steve watched him without moving; noting his long hair needed a comb through it since he never got the chance to tend to him after his shower. He didn't think the Soldier would go for that though. Steve's thoughts drifted as he thought about Soldat and what had happened to make him leave. He supposed it was a good thing that the Soldier did return because Dr. Golden wanted the chance to evaluate him as well. He didn't realize that minutes had passed or that he was lost in his own thoughts until the Soldier's voice pulled him back to the present.
"Ya khochu svoyu odezhdu," the Soldier stated as he stared at Steve.
"I don't speak Russian," Steve told him with a sigh.
"He said he wants his own clothes," Natasha told him as she walked into the room. The Soldier turned his head to face her as she walked closer. She had her arms crossed in front of her and she stopped a few feet away from him.
"Ty ne poluchish' obratno svoyu odezhdu. Naden' ikh. Teper'," Natasha said to the Soldier and he just stared at her. You're not getting your clothes back. Put those on. Now.
The Black Widow and the Winter Soldier stared at each other and Steve looked between the two. He didn't know what Natasha said to the Soldier but he seemed to be challenging whatever she'd said to him.
"Naden'te ikh seychas," she told him with a bit of forcefulness in her tone. Put them on now!
The Soldier tilted his head to the side and blinked at her slowly then he turned to look at the clothes on the bed. He reached for the towel with his left hand and pulled it loose, letting it fall to the floor at his feet.
Steve glanced at Natasha now that the Soldier stood in front of them completely naked but she appeared nonplussed by his lack of cover. The Soldier glanced at her and Natasha held his gaze and then watched as he picked up the underwear and pulled them on. The jeans were next and he looked at the two shirts, choosing the black one. Straightening his posture, Steve reacted to the fact that the Soldier made a choice as to what to wear but he relaxed again when Natasha shot him a look.
They waited for him to finish dressing and he stood on the cold tile floor in bare feet. Steve picked up the socks and held them out to him but the Soldier's brow furrowed as if wondering why he had to put those on. He glanced around, looking for boots but he didn't see any. Natasha knew that the Soldier wouldn't want to put the socks on without boots because they would make his footing slippery on the tile floor. Slipping and sliding around in the event of a fight breaking out wasn't a situation he'd like to be in she knew.
"I think he's good," Natasha told Steve and he put them down.
"Okay… time for a meal," Steve announced. "Come with us," he told the Soldier.
Steve walked to the door but the Soldier stayed in place. Natasha took a step back and swept her arm toward Steve, signaling the Soldier to follow him. The Soldier hesitated a moment and then moved out behind Rogers and Natasha took up the rear. There was a striking difference between Soldat and the Soldier when it came to following instructions.
Soldat always waited for permission to move and did as he was told immediately. The Winter Soldier, however, was of a different mindset. He did not respect the authority Cap and Natasha tried to have over him in order to keep him manageable. He hesitated when they told him to do something just long enough to make his challenge clear without risking punishment and he stared at them in challenge at every turn. He did, eventually, do as he was told… however reluctantly.
Steve entered the elevator first and stood at the rear of the car toward the back corner. Natasha and the Soldier stood in front of him near the door. They rode the elevator in silence; Natasha and the Soldier looking straight ahead and Steve staring at the Soldier's profile.
When the elevator doors opened, Natasha led the way. The rest of the team was already there; some sitting in the dining area and others further away in the lounge. None seemed surprised to see the trio enter the room as Bruce and Wanda had alerted them. Their teammates watched as they entered and it was quite clear to them, by his posture and stride that the Winter Soldier was in the house.
Dr. Golden was sitting at a dining table close to the windows by herself with a notepad in front of her. She smiled at Steve and Natasha as they entered the room and then she focused on the man between them. He stood tall, with his head up and looked at every person in the room as if letting them know that he sees them. Emily also noted that he, like Soldat, swept every corner of the room as he entered and noted the position of each person in attendance.
Upon seeing the Soldier walking with them, Clint sat up on the couch to watch him as he followed Natasha toward the dining area. Sam slid off his chair at the tall tables near the windows in the lounge area. He wanted to be on his feet and the Soldier saw the action and regarded him closely. The corner of his mouth turned upward in a sarcastic grin and Sam was certain the Soldier remembered him from their previous battle.
Natasha led them to a table adjacent to the one at which Emily was seated so she could observe the Soldier. Bruce had contacted her on his way to the common room and she quickly dropped what she was doing so she could be in the room when they arrived.
Natasha led them to a table near the windows; thinking he'd like a view perhaps. The Soldier stopped and looked at the table where she expected him to sit. He considered each chair and its position and then raised his eyes to look at her then he directed his gaze out the large windows to the grounds outside. Nat realized what the issue was and stepped backward to a table that had a solid wall support between the banks of windows.
"This one," she said, making her choice. The Soldier stepped toward that table and stopped. "You can choose where you sit," she told him.
The Soldier looked to his left then to his right and walked to the chair that had the solid wall behind it. He stood behind it and glanced around again, even over his shoulder as if calculating the ease of which a sniper could pick him off if he sat in this one. He touched the back of the chair with his right hand and pulled it away from the table until it touched the wall. He looked at Natasha who was waiting patiently and then sat down. She moved to take a seat but the Soldier reached out with both hands, grabbed the underside of the edge of the table and pulled the entire table closer to him so he wouldn't have to expose himself in the window to reach it.
Everyone in the room stopped to watch as the sound of the heavy table sliding across the polished floor caught their attention. Natasha bit back a grin and then adjusted the other chairs on her side of the table that were now cockeyed after being dragged by the table leg. Wanda came over to help her straighten the chairs and Steve just stood nearby watching the entire thing play out. He glanced at Dr. Golden who was grinning as she wrote in her notebook and then she looked up at him. She gave him a tiny shrug and then tilted her head to indicate to him that he should sit down.
Natasha sat down to the Soldier's right side but left a chair empty between them to give him a little space so he wouldn't feel enclosed; plus the empty seat left a clear line of sight for Dr. Golden to keep her eyes on him. Steve sat to the Soldier's left; taking the cue from Natasha, he left an open seat between them.
The Soldier looked past Natasha's shoulder at the blonde woman seated at the next table. She was watching him with pointed interest and writing in her book. He had to assume she was an evaluator; he'd seen many in his life. No matter what they looked like or who they were; man or woman, they always did the same thing. They studied him and wrote in their books as if he was something to be learned.
His attention was pulled away from Emily by Wanda and Bruce who came over to the table with four plates. Bruce put one down in front of the Soldier and one in front of Steve. Wanda handed a plate to Natasha and took a seat at the end of the table facing the Soldier. He watched her with mild interest and the Witch and the Soldier considered each other for a moment and then Steve dragged his attention away from Wanda.
"You can eat," he told the Soldier who looked at him and then down at the plate in front of him.
The Soldier looked at the food on the plate and then looked around the room. Bruce had gone back to the kitchen where Vision was loading up more plates. He returned with the android and they placed a plate in front of the blonde woman and then set the remainder of the meals at a third table. Sam and Clint joined Bruce there just as the elevator doors slid open and the Soldier watched another man enter the room. He wore tinted glasses and had a goatee. His mannerisms were different than the others who surrounded him now; he walked as if he owned the place. He looked familiar to the Soldier and a second later he realized that it was the man he'd put down in the ring.
Tony saw his place already set and smiled his thanks at Vision as the android moved away to sit alone at a fourth table. The colorful synthetic man chose a seat at the separate table that would allow him to be close to the young female sitting across from the Soldier. He got the sense that the young female and the android were… close.
Steve and Dr. Golden watched the Soldier closely as he studied the group of people around him. He missed nothing, Emily concluded. He was extremely attentive to everything going on around him and he took it all in with an almost eerie calm that eluded Soldat.
As the man took his seat his voice drew the Soldier's attention. Tony looked past Clint's shoulder to see the Soldier looking at him. Tony raised his hand and wiggled his fingers at Soldat giving him a playful wave. When Soldat took a deep breath and narrowed his eyes at him, Tony realized it wasn't Soldat – it was the Winter Soldier. "Oh crap," he muttered and slid down in his chair trying to make himself unassuming. The last thing he wanted was another confrontation with the Soldier.
Emily watched the exchange between Stark and the Soldier and couldn't help but smile at Tony's reaction as he realized he just wiggled his fingers at the Winter Soldier. She figured he must have thought Soldat was still present. She bit back a soft laugh and made a note in her book.
"You can eat," Steve told him again, trying to pull his attention away from the others. Most of the Avengers glanced at him now and again, trying to appear casual as they did so, but the Soldier was aware of each person's perusal and he gave it right back to them. Dr. Golden wrote in her book, noting how he seemed to know, instinctively, when he was being watched and who precisely was watching him. He would shift his gaze immediately to the person watching him, not having to look around to find them. It was a bit uncanny, she noted. It was like a sixth sense he possessed; to know exactly who was watching him and where that person's location was and he honed in on them immediately.
The Soldier decided that none of these people were much of a threat to him so he took a deep breath and touched the food on his plate with his fingers. With his right hand he lifted the seasoned chicken breast off the plate to look at it and then put it down. He looked at the vegetables and the mashed potatoes with curious interest and then watched as Rodzhers picked up a knife and fork and began to pull the meal apart. He looked to the young female and to the woman he knew as Natalia Romanova. She was going by Natasha now. He glanced to the other table to see all four men were eating and focused mainly on their food so he looked at the large chicken breast on his plate and picked it up with both hands.
He tore into the chicken with gusto as if he was starving and this was the first meal he'd had in weeks. Steve paused in his meal to watch the Soldier. He took large bites out of the breast then pulled it into two large pieces. He tore the meat in chunks out of his hands. Dr. Golden wasn't entirely certain that he wasn't swallowing the chicken whole, but she could see him chewing the large amount he had in his mouth before swallowing and forcing it down. He held a last large chunk of chicken in his right hand and pushed it into his mouth then grabbed the glass in front of him. He had to chew the mouthful down to manageable and then chugged the contents of the glass to wash it down.
When he put the glass back down on the table, Steve reached for the pitcher and refilled his glass. The Soldier saw him refilling his glass and he paused while chewing to regard the blonde man. When Steve put the pitcher down again, the Soldier reached for the fresh glass of ice water and guzzled it; he drank it down so fast that a stream of water escaped the side of the glass and landed on his shirt. When he put the glass down he wiped the back of his hand over his chin and continued to devour the chicken remaining in his left hand. As he did so, Rodzhers filled his glass a third time.
The Soldier stopped chewing the mouthful of meat he had and stared at Steve as if trying to figure him out. Steve held his gaze for a long moment and then gave him a single nod. Steve went back to his meal, his casual manner kept the Soldier's attention. He chewed the mouthful he had slowly as he watched Steve eat his own meal without any care as to what was going on around them.
He put the remainder of the chicken down on his plate, his fingers now greasy and covered with the juices and seasonings. He looked at the utensils beside his plate and picked up the fork. He glanced at the blonde man and then at Natalia to see that they were using one to lift the food from the plate. He used his to dig into the mashed potatoes and shoveled them and the vegetables into his mouth. He couldn't chew and swallow fast enough though, Dr. Golden noted. He leaned forward to shorten the distance from the plate and the ends of his hair dragged in his food. Once he cleared the sides from his plate he went back to the last of the chicken, picking it up with his fingers. When he emptied the plate of food, he then drank down another glass of water. He left greasy fingerprints around the clear glass and it almost slid out of his hand at one point. He caught it, finished the water and almost dropped the glass again as he set it down.
Natasha lifted a large napkin from the table and held it out to him. The Soldier looked at the linen square and then reached for it. He wiped his hands and then his face and placed it on the table next to his plate.
He finished his entire meal in mere minutes and looked around to see that everyone else was only halfway through theirs and eating much slower than he had. He looked at the blonde lady who was also eating her meal but splitting her attention between it and him. She picked up her pencil and made a note in her book in regard to the rapid pace in which he took in the food and water; as if he was often denied both or perhaps they were inclined to offer him nourishment and then would take it away before he had a chance to take in enough to satisfy his hunger or thirst. That would be a particularly heinous form of psychological torture to a starving man.
Vision noticed the Soldier had finished his meal. He stood up and went to the kitchen. He came back with another full plate and swapped out the empty plate, placing the filled one in front of the Soldier who looked down at the second helping, not understanding that he was being offered a second meal.
"Is there anything else I can get for you, Sergeant?" Vision asked and the Soldier looked up at him with a tense expression.
Steve and Natasha looked up in surprise when Vision addressed the Soldier by his former rank. Dr. Golden also shot a look at the android. The Soldier stared up at him as if the word had triggered something in his head. He didn't know what it was though and his expression shifted quickly from confusion to anger and back to confusion again. He was trying to maintain an image of being stoic and unemotional, but now the words from his dream were echoing in his head again and he didn't know why.
'Sergeant Barnes?' The name caused a fleeting image of a young soldier in Army greens to flash through his mind but he couldn't grasp it. He felt as if he should know that man.
The Soldier closed his eyes and took three deep breaths through his nose. His jaw was clenched tight as he tried to push away the images from his dream.
Steve watched him closely; he could see the Soldier was struggling with something in his head – perhaps one of those memory fragments Emily had mentioned to them. Could the fact that he had been referred to as Sergeant and not Soldat have caused a memory breach? Steve was afraid to hope too soon.
"We're good, Vision," Steve told him still watching the Soldier closely. "Thank you."
The Soldier opened his eyes and looked over at the blonde lady to see her watching him intently. He couldn't falter in front of an evaluator, he told himself, unaware that confusion showed clearly on his face.