thearena | Take me down to the river bend [Open]

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Take me down to the river bend [Open]

Who| MCU!Bucky, Elsa and Anna, MCU!Bucky and the Signless, MCU!Bucky and OTA
What| Bucky getting his murder on and also roaming the mall, come say hi
Where| The Marvel store, Centurion Cineplex and other various locations
When| First half of week 3
Warnings/Notes| Violence, death, Bucky's issues

Prompt A: The Marvel Store

The Marvel store has become his home base. Bucky spends every night here, bar something unexpected forcing him to seek shelter elsewhere. He varies his time between resting, pondering over the curious merchandise or taking care of his numerous collection of weaponry, cleaning the knives and gun in a routine that has proven a reliable way to settle his mind, especially in the long inactive hours of the night when sleep often eludes him.

Mostly Bucky chooses to stay in the part of the store dedicated to Captain America though he can be found wandering through other sections. Sometimes, through morbid fascination, he moves to the merchandise dedicated to him, which represents both his past and his current reality. Blue jackets, an old fashioned snipe rifle, stretchy sleeves of ridged silver material emblazoned with a red star and replicas of the black muzzle and goggles he wore as the Winter Soldier can be found here amongst other objects.

Prompt B: Through the mall, specify your own location

Almost every day Bucky leaves the shelter of the Marvel store and ventures out in the mall, patrolling down the levels and then back upwards again. He never does the same route twice and varies the times he visits certain locations, including what part of the day he'll venture into the food court to stuff supplies in a bag to take back upstairs to his allies, in case someone is watching out for him.

He can be encountered anywhere from the locker room on the ground floor to tribute personalised stores on the third. The only place he may avoid is the bookstore, only passing by the outside because even though he and the other Bucky destroyed all their biographies (so he thinks), the place makes him too uncomfortable to venture back inside when he has the choice not to.

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Some days the Soldier comes out stronger than the emerging shades of Bucky Barnes.

He wakes up to the Mission beating against the inside of his head, a steady pulsing that breaks his normal routine. This is the fourth week of the arena and he has been lax in his duty, in accomplishing that which he is meant to do. It cannot continue.

When the asset opens his eyes he is a hunter slipping out of his headout as soon as the shutters roll up and the lights come on. Knives are hidden everywhere in his clothing, a coiled loop of fishing line sits in one pocket but it is the carbine that is his first weapon of choice to utilise this day. He uses his rope slip down onto the second floor, ghosting towards a good sniping point he had discovered on an earlier venture and concealing himself as well as he could.

Here he has a good vantage point to aim around, below and above him, he only has to wait for a target to make itself known. Being a sniper in both his past and current lives that means he is prepared to wait a very long time indeed.

His blood is up and he's abandoned sniping now after the first kill in favour of actively tracking down his prey instead of waiting for it to come to him. The Soldier heads into the Centurion Cineplex, one place he has not explored frequently before in search of another target, bypassing the concessions stand in favour of methodically starting to search through all of the darkened screen rooms.

With his ensemble of dark clothing he blends into every shadowy theatre space, prowling through rows of seats and completely ignoring whatever is playing on the screen as he does.

It's then that the Arendelle sisters have the misfortune to be moving through the mall. They've been cautious, for the most part; staying close to one another whenever it's deemed necessary that they venture out of their home base, but it's time both of them washed up, and that means a trip to the ladies' room so they can take turns having sink showers while the other watches the door.

Unfortunately, Anna isn't exactly looking up as they pass through the open space, so she doesn't spy the soldier waiting above them, aiming to pick off the next target he finds.

Elsa always has been the cautious one of the two. She feels like it's her job to protect Anna, as the big sister. She's always trying to make sure nothing harms her, that she's always safe. But she knows the two of them can't just stay cooped up forever, so it's easy to get her to relent to going for a bath. She's starting to feel nasty, so of course it's necessary.

And because she's the more cautious and observant, as they move she's slowly looking all around to make sure they aren't in any danger. When something glints out the corner of her eye, she's quick to look that way. It takes only a second to realize that it's a gun, that someone is holding the gun and- and pointing it not at her, but at her sister.

"Anna!" she shouts, her expression one of horror, before she's slamming into Anna in order to push her out of the way.

Voices. Footsteps.

He settles further into his alcove, making his grip on the carbine more comfortable, human finger poised on the trigger. A carbine is not a gun made for sniping, it's range is limited as is it's accuracy, in hands less skilled than his it would be doubly difficult to do what he intends.

The Soldier is above and beyond an expert and he sets his sights on the first woman to come into view, the redheaded one and shifts the barrel, wanting a clear headshot. A slow deep breath...

He pulls the trigger, just as the blonde woman spots his presence an cries out in alarm, pushing the intended target out of the way. A clean headshot was meant for the first woman, for the second pushing her out of the way the changed angle and position (and a difference in height) likely meant the bullet would not hit so perfectly.

After the explosions in the food court and seeing Kurloz's mangled body, Kankri can't stay in the bendy straw pile anymore. He knew one of them would likely see the other die eventually, but that doesn't make it any easier on him. It's always been people he met here before, never someone from his own home, and that's a new and very painful violation.

He wanders through the mall, searching for Venus, or Shepard, or someone friendly who won't mind if he just collapses for a while, but it's difficult to search when you know you may come across someone significantly less friendly.

At last he picks a store at random, curls up under a rack of brightly colored capes, and gets out his current sewing project from his bag. It's something to do. Kurloz's doll is mostly finished now. Morbid, perhaps, but he'd gotten so used to huddling together in the pile these past weeks that he hopes the doll will bring him some comfort.

He cries a little as he pushes the needle through the fabric, but does his best to keep the noise down, not wanting to attract attention. One of the worst parts of the Arenas is that there's so much time and yet there's no time to mourn without careful preparation.

It's probably best that he ignores the screen, because this is the theater that's dedicated to the miracle of childbirth. Probably not the most fun place to hide, but the Signless had felt for quite some time that the food court was too exposed and too well-traveled, and Kurloz's death only confirmed that. He had to move, and the theaters are large and dark and perfect for huddling in a corner and blending into the shadows.

He now knows more about human reproduction than he ever wanted to, and he's gotten so good at tuning out the sound of the showing that it takes him a few moments to register the nearby footsteps. Crap. The assessment is a pretty grim one: he's weak and tired, with one arm bandaged, unusable, and a ticking timebomb for infection. Even if he were healthy he couldn't -- wouldn't -- fight, and the only exit would require running past whoever is in here with him. That didn't go too well last time he tried it.

Maybe if he can just very slowy, quietly scoot around the outside wall of the theater and around to the exit, he can get out while this person is still preoccupied searching the seats. It's worth a shot... he just hopes the darkness will mask his movement, even with the bright white cotton bandages and the sequins on his skating outfit reflecting the light from the screen.

Anna remains oblivious to the gunman above until the moment Elsa cries out. It's just one word--her name, and yet her blood turns cold with the sound of it, because in the same moment that Elsa's shoving her out of the way, she hears the crack of a gunshot. Anna cries out wordlessly, eyes wide and fearful, because now she's looking up, and she sees him up there--holding a gun. And Elsa--

"No," she gasps, "no, no, no, Elsa." The younger sister sinks to her knees, covering her mouth in horror as she realizes what's happened.

It's all such a blur. One second, she's pushing Anna out of the way, still on her feet. The next? She's on the ground. It's funny how it takes you a moment to realize you're in pain. For the longest moment, only confusion registers. Why is she on the ground? Why can't she move her legs, to stand up? All she can hear is Anna's voice, gasping and saying no over and over, but she doesn't really understand why-

Until the pain registers, and she realizes that she hadn't just pushed Anna out of the way. She'd taken the bullet intended for her. There's an intense, mind-numbing pain where the bullet entered her back, and her face contorts in pain.

At least Anna is safe. That's one thought that rings loudly in her mind. But then she realizes that he's probably still up there, and with a great effort Elsa pushes herself up on her elbows, crying out in pain as she does so.

"A-Anna- run..." Her voice is a pained, desperate whisper. "Please."

The Soldier feels a flash of irritation as his shot goes wild, the Target thrown away by the secondary priority. It's not an immediate kill shot, he can tell just by looking at the bloom of red blood spreading over the blonde woman's clothing (something buzzes in his head, like he should know her, that he's seen her before...) and with medical attention she could live -- however medical support is limited here, he is content she while die soon enough.

His gaze flashes to the initial Target again but there is now a limited timeframe to work with. No silencer was available to him, meaning his single shot will have been heard through the mall. It's reasonable to assess that other tributes will come to investigate what happened in short time.

He needs to move.

Springing up from his hiding place the Soldier fires again at the two and doesn't wait to see if the shot injures, kills or misses completely as he takes off across the upper floor, in seconds out of sight of the two women.

Something glints out of the corner of his eye in the darkness, the light from the screen catching and reflecting on the clothing of another tribute in the theatre.

Before he even turns towards it the Soldier pulls out one of his hunting knives and hurls it where the other is lurking with his right hand. A second later and he's pivoted to face the target and charging forwards, too experienced to assume the first attack will have done the job. It was more to throw whoever it was off balance and give him an easier opening in the follow up.

The carbine stays on his back this time as he pulls a serrated blade from his belt in anticipation of the kill.

This store is a secure location. Not only does Bucky return here but so do numerous allies of his, Steve and the people who call themselves Avengers, Steve's team.

There are numerous pieces of merchandise in here which declare that.

So when he walks through here he is slightly more relaxed than he might be anywhere else in the arena, less keyed towards immediate aggression when he stumbles across a stranger hiding underneath a rack of bright fabric (OWN YOU OWN MIGHTY THOR CAPE). The sound that draws Bucky over is soft and distressed and he settles a safe distance back before crouching down to look at the origin of it.

"Who are you?"

Kankri jumps, startled, and pricks his finger on the sewing needle. "Ow, ow, ow," he mumbles, sticking the bleeding puncture in his mouth on reflex as he looks up wide-eyed at the stranger who's found him. Human, as per usual. Surveying him with a cold, appraising sort of detachment.

"I'm Kankri," he says after a moment. "Kankri Vantas. I-I didn't know anyone was here, I just wanted to go somewhere not so...so open, for a bit."

He stuffs the unfinished doll in his bag and tries to dash the pinkish tears from his eyes, quiet for a few moments. Then, not meeting Bucky's eyes, he murmurs, "Are you going to kill me?" Because nothing about the man looks particularly friendly, but he's just...sitting there, watching. Kankri isn't sure what to make of it.

Edited 2014-09-14 21:49 (UTC)

He looks familiar, Bucky realises, from something he did recently. The assassin curls the fingers of his metal hand, thinking back to a couple days before. He killed someone like this one in the darkness of the cineplex.

A catlike tilt of his head accompanies this thought as he continues to gauge the person, Kankri, in front of him, thinking over the question he is asked. He could easily, maybe he should to get another tribute out of the way. Curiously though he finds he does not actually want to and decides further to allow himself to follow that desire.

It also occurs to him the others might not be pleased if he killed in here without need and Kankri did not seem to mean harm. Yet.

"Only if you attack."

Anna stares in horror, reeling as she sees red bloom over Elsa's side, running her hands over Elsa's face, trying to keep her close. To protect her, even if it's far too late for that. The younger sister flinches when Elsa urges her to run, shaking her head--but any thought of staying flees her mind when she hears the gun go off a second time, and then there's a searing pain in her right arm. She doesn't even stop to look at it; the pain echoes through her whole arm, but her head is surprisingly clear. Adrenaline. There's a wet seeping through the sleeve of her shirt, but no time for that. She has to get Elsa to safety.

"Come on," she whimpers, hitching her arms under Elsa's and ignoring the red hot pain in her arm. And she starts to drag her toward the Arendelle shop, inch by agonizing inch.

Elsa's stomach drops when she hears that second gunshot and when she gets a good look at her sister through the blur of pain, she feels horrified. She's been hit- not as bad as herself, but it's still happened and Elsa feels like a complete and utter failure. She hadn't saved her- she's hurt and he could pick her off easily, and here she is trying to save Elsa.

"N-No," she whimpers, half through pain and half in desperation, but there's nothing she can do as Anna hitches under her arms and starts dragging her. "Ahhh-!" she cries out, the pain in her back exploding as she feels the wound drag across the floor. A trail of blood is slick on the ground, growing longer the more Anna pulls her. "Please," she begs, and whether it's for Anna to leave or the pain to stop is unclear.

Kankri makes an offended little noise at that thought. "I don't attack people. I'm a pacifist. I see no reason to start playing these awful Games to win when I've been through two without shedding blood already."

He regards Bucky curiously, relaxing slightly now that he has something of a reprieve.

"Who are you? I haven't seen you before." Not that that's a surprise, when he's been mostly holing himself up since his second Arena. "May I ask why you're here?"

There's no way on Earth you could convince Anna to leave her sister behind. She feels guilty enough as it is; this would never had happened if she hadn't insisted on them cleaning themselves up. So she grits her teeth and carries on dragging Elsa toward their storefront. Elsa's cries of pain, her begging, feel like a stab wound to Anna's chest, and she cringes, pausing for a moment.

"Elsa, I'm so sorry," she whimpers. "I need to get you somewhere safe. Please don't hate me."

This hurts more than Elsa ever could have imagined. It's disgustingly apparent just how quick her deaths in this arena have been in the past. Beheaded so quickly, she never felt it, though it helps that the pain of her broken heart upon watching Anna die had numbed her to just about everything. Then there was Initiate killing her in the arena before this one, quick and almost...dignified. He had respected her enough to make it as painless as possible.

But this? This is excruciating and mind-numbingly painful. There's a certain panic behind it all in not being able to feel her legs, knowing something in her is damaged so thoroughly so as to not work anymore just leaves her deeply unsettled and afraid.

Her concern for Anna, however, is a distraction from that. Despite the pain she feels as Anna drags her across the ground, despite the fact that it feels like it's never going to end and she's going to be stuck in a state of agony forever, Anna's words cause her to laugh. It's a breathy, pained laugh that ends with her coughing.

"Hate you?" she asks, and she finds it in herself to lift her hand, reaching up to grip hold of Anna's wrist. The idea of ever hating her sister is so completely unfathomable- laughably so. "I-I've only ever- agh-" she cuts off as a particularly nasty burst of pain shoots through her, her eyes squeezing shut as it does so. The trail of blood is growing longer and longer as Anna drags her across the floor towards their intended destination. "-l-lived... to p-protect you. K-keep you safe. I-I could never hate you. E-ever."

Anna feels a fresh wave of tears sting her eyes, falling to her knees once more as Elsa struggles to speak. This has all gone so horrible awry, and even though she's glad that Elsa isn't alone, she's consumed in guilt. When Elsa finishes what she's trying to say, Anna finds herself blinded by tears, giving her sister a weak smile.

"Elsa," she sobs, "I love you so much. Please don't--don't die. Please." Her poor heart can't take it. "I can't lose you. Not again."

She hadn't meant to make Anna cry with her words, they're just simply the truth. Ever since they were little girls and realized how much she could hurt Anna if she wasn't careful, that's all she wanted to do, was to protect her. Of course it was fueled by fear, but also a burning desire to make sure no harm ever came to Anna. And she's failed that, which makes this all the harder to handle.

"Shhh... Anna," she says quietly, shaking her head and trying not to gasp out in pain again. The truth is, she knows she's probably not going to make it. Something is seriously wrong with her and the pain is blinding. "Just- just remember, wh-whatever happens, I'll always b-be there for you."

Even if just in spirit.

Maybe it's because she knows that she's going to die and that there's always that possibility she won't be brought back, that the Capitol will grow bored of her, but she can't help it when she says the next part. "Y-you can just... build a snowman," she whispers. "And think of me."

At that Bucky snorts softly with a minute shake of his head for emphasis. Pacifist, he knows the term, it means one who will not fight and therefore one who will not win. HYDRA had no love for them when he was theirs, they had stood in the way of the future order.

He rocks back lightly on his heels, perfectly balanced as he regards the creature before him. What Kankri is (beyond not human) he doesn't know, nor is he concerned enough to ask. "James Buchanan Barnes." he pauses, then adds, "Bucky."

The second question he debates over for a moment, May I ask seems a strange turn of phrase to him for the question is asked regardless. He decides there is no risk in answering, "I stay here."

Kankri smiles, only a little shakily. "Pleased to meet you, Bucky." He scoots forward, resting his arms on his knees. "I've never seen a human with a metal arm before. Well, no one with one, really. I know- knew- someone who could make robotic limbs, but he wasn't very good at it just yet, and no one we knew needed a replacement limb in any case. Is it uncomfortable?"

He's babbling and he knows it, but Bucky seems to be very reserved and monosyllabic and it's kind of strange.

Bucky's aim is good. The knife hits, and even better it hits the Signless's uninjured arm. The other one he can't even feel through the burns, but this one is suddenly lit up with pain. It's not at all enough to completely drop him but it does make him cry out and once and for all give away his position. He doesn't stop trying to scramble away, but his speed is definitely hindered by two mostly useless arms.

This is probably it. He is probably going to die. He is going to die to the sounds of someone clinically explaining the miracle of human childbirth. He cant decide if it's a good thing that he lasted this long or a bad thing he lasted long enough for this to be how it ends.

The cry has the Asset zeroing in on the targets position like a hound on the scent.

Anticipation of a successful operation tugs on decades of well planted mental conditioning, the urge and need to carry out the mission, to do as he was told and please his commanders. In the past months some of that programming has begun to break down, however it's too strongly embedded in his mind to ignore for long, especially in the arena when the objective is clear and obvious.

His headlong rush closes the distance between them in seconds and the Soldier slashes at the targets face with the knife in his right hand, following that strike up with the metal of his left fist aimed at the others chest.

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Take me down to the river bend [Open]

Closed to Elsa/Anna

Closed to The Signless

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Prompt A

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