onlyforthedream: (pic#)
Steve Rogers ([personal profile] onlyforthedream) wrote2012-05-22 09:54 pm

if you can hold on, hold on

This isn't a scene I ever wanted to witness.

The run to the Compound was brutal, and Tony was on his way out to get Xavier when I was on my way in. At some point, I took the Shield off my back and set it on an unoccupied bed.

There are doctors moving deftly from the table Bucky's stretched out on to the sink, or trays of gauze and utensils and back again. I didn't let anyone get near the arm until Dr. McCoy was there. I know the kind of technology he's worked with. He removed it, and I felt something wrench in my gut. I was vaguely aware of someone at my elbow speaking with concern before I shrugged them off and went around to watch them peel away the Winter Soldier's uniform. It would take a soldering iron to cut through it. He's covered in superficial wounds- severe bruising, mostly, damage to his ribs. With the arm gone, they manage all right.

Oh, God, Bucky.

I beg off questions, agree to let McCoy take care of the knife wound in my side after another reprimand I barely register. I'm numb to it, whatever he's doing. I don't bring up the gash on my leg. There's enough blood and dirt that I can't imagine anyone noticing for a while, anyway.

"...you'll want to restrain him," I say, as the thought occurs, though the words are hard to get out. I catch Rory frowning in my peripheral vision, bagging the ruined and blood soaked t-shirt I'd been wearing before depositing it in the trash.

"Just- until-"

There's a sound in the hallway of heavy metal on flooring and I'm up, off the spare bed, ignoring Dr. McCoy's curse of frustration.

"Professor?"
thebettermen: ([px] you will listen to me)

[personal profile] thebettermen 2012-05-23 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
"Captain."

Windswept from the flight over and disoriented from the haste with which he was summoned, Charles nevertheless keeps his voice professional as he steps into the room. There's a time for academic curiosity, but this certainly isn't it, the tableau in the clinic grim, to say the least -- not that he had expected much else, even with what little information he was provided ahead of time. Right away, his gaze falls on the prone form of James Barnes. A note of concern sounds in the back of his throat; the man's seen better days. Then again, the same could very well be said for the Captain, desperation rolling off of him in waves.

For a moment Charles is not entirely sure which of the injured is meant to be his patient.

"Mr. Stark informed me that Barnes had been... programmed?" he says, casting a glance to the man in question as though to confirm the information. "Do we have any idea what set him off?"
notawastedlife: (Iron Man: Listener.)

[personal profile] notawastedlife 2012-05-23 08:55 am (UTC)(link)
"I called him Thomas Crown, but I'm pretty sure that wasn't the trigger phrase, he seemed kind of squirrelly already," Tony said, from where he was slumped in a chair in the corner of the room. Wedged, really, they hadn't designed the chairs with the armor in mind.

This was perhaps not Tony at his most diplomatic. Not to mention that Tony's most diplomatic was not exactly the stuff of legends. But he'd nearly been shot in the face and -- more upsetting to his sensibilities, he'd claim -- his armor had been shunted offline by a gadget in the guy's arm. Not even one of Tony's gadgets, which was both a plus and a minus.

"I don't even think he got the reference, honestly."
leftwithmybones: (discuss: by spacewhaleicons)

[personal profile] leftwithmybones 2012-05-23 11:28 am (UTC)(link)
McCoy's seen worse situations, but given that his 'worse situation' involved a black hole eating up a goddamn planet, he's not sure how comforting that is. As it stands, he's taking a look at the triage he's got to do and once the immediate physical is done, he hauls out the datapadd and his tricorder, ignoring the metal man and doing a quick scan of the brain's infrastructure at the current moment, which is only going to show him the battlefield. He hopes to hell that he can localize any of the damage without having a good map, but he's managed before and he'll manage again. "I'd like to know what he's capable of," McCoy says calmly, letting the scans finish up while he readies hyposprays with an array of his wares -- sedatives, numbing agents, and something that'll light up the brain if he has to go in and look for spikes of activity.

"If we're restraining him and all," he drawls mildly, but he doesn't ease back from Bucky. No one said he was a genius with his own self-preservation in mind.
thebettermen: ([cx] we are the better men)

[personal profile] thebettermen 2012-05-23 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"Captain-- Steve," says Charles, from where he's now standing at the head of Barnes' bed. Out of habit, he's placed his fingertips against Barnes' temples, though the gesture is effectively useless; he catches himself a moment later and drops his hands. Perhaps he ought to be afraid of jarring the man awake, given what the Captain's just said, but for as long as Barnes is unconscious, bruised, and bloodied, it's difficult for Charles to reconcile description with expectation. Barnes looks young and injured, not old and dangerous.

"I'm aware this situation is delicate, but to the best of your knowledge, could he have still been under the influence of this conditioning when he arrived here? Was he ever formally deprogrammed?"
leftwithmybones: (stripes and flares: by ?)

[personal profile] leftwithmybones 2012-05-23 10:00 pm (UTC)(link)
McCoy looks up from where he's running the scans, getting a full picture of what's going on inside of Barnes' brain. He tries not to compare him to the man he'd met that day, thinking instead of the patient on his table. "I realize I'm about to be the unpopular one, but are any of us sure this is natural?" he asks. "It's not like this place hasn't been an asshole before, is there anything, any kind of trigger that could undo that level of deprogramming? Hell, is there anything that could strip it away? I'm gonna need all the information you got."
notawastedlife: (How about that)

[personal profile] notawastedlife 2012-05-23 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
Tony looked up, neck extending slightly to move his head from where it had been resting against the armor.

"Could you be a little more specific on 'means'?" he said, not precisely ignoring the fact Dr McCoy was talking but filtering it out to be referred back to later. He could multitask, it was an asset. "Could we get the means? And by we I mean... me, if it was some kind of hardware. I can add to our means, if I know what we need. Are we talking some kind of chemical compounds, or directed electrical stimulation of the neurons...?"
Edited 2012-05-23 23:25 (UTC)
notawastedlife: (Not the villain of the piece.)

[personal profile] notawastedlife 2012-05-23 11:42 pm (UTC)(link)
"...can't be replicated here easily," Tony said, after a quiet moment in which he ran through a couple of ideas, and considered where he could get more information on this. He had a certain reaction to the word can't, especially as it related to making things.

That hadn't been a bad breakdown of what that thing was, actually. Scant on the technical details, but it was just an overview, it did the job.

"No, okay, barring greater scientific documentation and quite likely additional resources, we can't make -- cosmic cube? That's the name they went with? -- we can't make one of those. In a reasonable timeframe. Alternative methodologies, then. Back in your court, Charlie."
thebettermen: ([cx] taken aback)

[personal profile] thebettermen 2012-05-24 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
"Induced psychological changes tend to occur on a wider scale when our mysterious benefactors are the culprit," says Charles, having to backtrack now that they've run into a wall. "I've not heard of any other cases today... It's certainly a possibility, but I would rather operate under the assumption that this is something in our power to fix."

Eyes narrowing in thought, he frowns. This would be much easier if he could get inside Barnes' head and take a look around to see what's missing, what's buried. Dr. McCoy's scans, impressive as they are, eliminate the human element he's accustomed to manipulating, a tangled web of thought and memory resorted to lines on a screen.

"We need to wake him up."
leftwithmybones: (wtf is wrong with your brain: by ?)

[personal profile] leftwithmybones 2012-05-24 12:14 am (UTC)(link)
"...What?" McCoy says sharply, giving Charles a look that implies he thinks he's being a complete idiot and the only reason that he hasn't actually said as much is because he's got other pressing matters on his hands. He digs out the hypospray that contains the dye, waving it around in the air. "Okay, well, if we're going to go forward with a stupid idea, I might as well get something out of it. If he's awake, I want some baseline questions asked so I can see the reaction."

"Are we really doing this?" he asks once more, just in case someone has a lick of sense suddenly.
thebettermen: ([px] you will listen to me)

[personal profile] thebettermen 2012-05-24 01:03 am (UTC)(link)
"Because we don't have the slightest idea what we're dealing with," says Charles, eyes falling on each man in turn. "We don't know what's triggered him -- if he was triggered at all -- and our medical history is dangerously incomplete besides that. The human mind is as fragile as it is resilient, and by your own admission, James' has been manipulated more than most. If we're not careful, we could end up causing more damage than good by blindly choosing a course of treatment.

"Moreover, Dr. McCoy, I'm used to my patients being conscious. Had I my usual... resources, I could circumvent that issue, but unless one of you has a better suggestion for determining how deep this conditioning runs -- again, assuming that's what we're even facing, which is not guaranteed -- then ensure these restraints will hold, and wake him up so we can get some bloody answers. I will not risk this man's life on a hunch."
Edited 2012-05-24 01:06 (UTC)
notawastedlife: (Said it would work.)

[personal profile] notawastedlife 2012-05-24 02:09 am (UTC)(link)
"Doctor's orders," Tony said, standing up and, after a frowning look at the unconscious Barnes, picking up his helmet. "McCoy's got his roofie-in-a-can and I'm in armor, I'll hold him down. We can handle it. He's unarmed."
leftwithmybones: (that's OKAY?: by ?)

[personal profile] leftwithmybones 2012-05-24 02:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Why don't I get a goddamn helmet," he mutters, not paying attention to the pun. He's lived with Jim long enough to develop a fairly strong immunity to wordplay like that. He takes a deep breath and gives Charles one last desperately pleading look. "I'm injecting a neutral dye so I can read the activity in his brain while you talk to him. If you could get him to state his name and something else baseline, some facts, I'd appreciate getting that information before I go to my death," he notes, chipper in his wry sarcasm.

He steps back, gesturing to Charles to be on the front lines for when they wake up sleeping beauty.
thebettermen: ([cx] grab your coat)

[personal profile] thebettermen 2012-05-24 02:41 am (UTC)(link)
"No one is going to die," says Charles, feeling the need to stay serious if only for the Captain's sake. Were this Erik on the table, Charles can't imagine he would be in any mood for glib remarks, either, though unfortunately, his friend's actions were entirely and undisputedly his own. Taking a hypospray from McCoy, he has a half a mind to ask if the doctor's got anything in his collection of chemicals that will keep Barnes calm, yet cognizant, but ignores the impulse. Any drugs they inject might interfere with their readings; they'll just have to trust that Stark's armor proves a sufficient enough deterrent.
Edited 2012-05-24 02:48 (UTC)
onlyapassenger: (ss :: fuck you)

[personal profile] onlyapassenger 2012-05-24 03:06 am (UTC)(link)
The first thing that registers is the pain. The second, the coppery taste of blood. The third, the firm, unrelenting pressure of cold metal bearing down on half of his limbs. It's the last that finally startles him awake, a grunt pushing through his dry throat as his eyes flutter open and he takes in the strange scene with a confusion that runs right past fear and straight to anger.

"Wh-- You," he chokes out when he realizes just who is holding him down instead of what, straining against red hands. "Get-- Get off of me, you son of a bitch."
notawastedlife: (Method acting)

[personal profile] notawastedlife 2012-05-24 03:10 am (UTC)(link)
Well, that was... promising.

"Yeah, no," he said, applying enough pressure to make sure Barnes wasn't going anywhere without actually damaging the man further. Hopefully more than that wouldn't be necessary, but he didn't exactly seem cooperative. "Your therapist wants a word."
thebettermen: ([cx] listen to me very closely)

[personal profile] thebettermen 2012-05-24 03:20 am (UTC)(link)
They won't have much time. Charles casts a brief glance towards Stark before focusing his attention to the struggling Barnes.

"My name is Charles Xavier," he says quickly and calmly, hoping that by providing some information he'll get the same in return. "I promise I'm trying to help you, but I'll need you to cooperate. Do you know your name?"
onlyapassenger: (ss :: seeing red)

[personal profile] onlyapassenger 2012-05-24 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Under the circumstances, he doesn't trust this Xavier any further than he could throw him -- not very far, going by the telling absence at his shoulder. They've stripped him, humiliated him, and he's meant to buy that they're trying to help?

No. He was supposed to avoid this, supposed to get up after that damned repulsor hit him in the back, but the seconds leading up to his blacking out are missing. It's only when his head slams against the bed in his attempt to break free, stars exploding in his field of vision, that he realizes Rogers must've got him with the shield. He bites down a scream, breathing hard through his nose as he continues his futile fight with renewed fervor.

"Don't have one."
Edited 2012-05-24 03:46 (UTC)
thebettermen: ([cx] getting interested)

[personal profile] thebettermen 2012-05-24 04:33 am (UTC)(link)
"Alright. Then what are you called?" Charles says promptly, this time for Barnes' ears.
onlyapassenger: (ss :: not easy)

[personal profile] onlyapassenger 2012-05-24 04:34 am (UTC)(link)
"Don't play dumb with me, Chuck," he replies, baring his teeth in a cruel, ugly smile. Though his body doesn't relax against the constraints, he gives up on squirming, instead keeping his muscles taut, ready for any window of opportunity that might come his way. "You already know."

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