courtings | open post (steve rogers)

Civic-minded? Steve couldn't quite shake the feeling that Lawrence was just humoring him until he got out of here, but seeing how he'd more or less barged in on him, that wasn't really what Steve would call bizarre behavior.

"Well, the two things might be connected," he said after a pause. The only connections the Winter Soldier had to anything was through HYDRA, so Steve had to hunt down what was left of the severed heads before they disappeared entirely.

"It's pretty far north, I know. It's all right, I don't mind traveling." It was going to be difficult with half of the country shut down, but Steve had never let that kind of thing stop him. He pocketed his phone and then moved back over to Lawrence, putting his hand out. "Thanks again."

Guy with a metal arm and... Soleil? Nope, no connection there, he would have known about it. He'd been running The Burn after all, and you couldn't hide stuff like that from Soleil.

"Seems a pretty tenuous connection. We weren't working on prosthetics." Probably. He was pretty sure they hadn't been working on those.

He took the offered hand and gave it a firm shake. "Be careful. I know some places were... well, kind of a mess on the way down. Looting, rioting, all that fun stuff." Of course not he places Soleil had been watching over although who knew what was going on there now. "No problem. Say hello to the professor for me if you see him."

It wasn't about the prosthetic, but rather about what the Winter Soldier was used for, but Steve wasn't going to get into that now. Most would still consider him a myth, though Bucky had definitely attracted a lot of attention back in DC. It wasn't going to be nearly as easy for him to hide now, which meant he was going to go deep underground. Steve had to catch him before it was too late. It couldn't be another seventy years before they saw each other again.

Steve took the warning about the rioting seriously, nodding in response. "I'll definitely keep it in mind." Bucky would be able to blend into that kind of chaos, so if anything, Steve would have to look more closely in those areas.

"If I find him, I'll mention how helpful you were," he said with a quick smile as he pulled back and turned toward the door.

He was going to have to check up on this guy. He wondered if he could still get access to Soleil's files. Should be able to at the lab, even if it'll just be him. God that hurts, a slow ache in his chest, a life without Soleil.

If he'd just been faster, if Walker hadn't been so bloody stubborn...

Lawrence followed him back towards the door, his hands shoved in his pockets. "Thanks. Getting messages up there isn't exactly easy now, and at some point I should get back to work, right?"

"Maybe once this all dies down, yeah," Steve agreed, though in reality he didn't know if Lawrence should go anywhere near this research if it was really tied up in HYDRA.

"For now, though, just stay safe," he encouraged Lawrence with a quick smile and a pat on the shoulder. "Good luck."

And with that he headed out the door and down the street, hands shoved in his pockets. This hadn't been the biggest lead, but it was something, and that was good enough for him right now.

"Yeah. Assuming it's still going. Hard to do technology research when the tech got fried, right?"

He smiled back, and wow, this guy was actually, genuinely a nice guy wasn't he? It was a little disconcerting. "You too. Enjoy Edinburgh."

He waited until the man was gone out of the door before he locked up and went back to the computer. Bright Star. That was where he was headed.

He packed up and left London the next day, heading south towards the coast. It was easy enough to break into the facility when you had all of the access codes after all. And Easy enough to ingratiate himself with a few people in the nearby village, doing odd jobs in return for supplies while he tried to salvage as much as he could of what Soleil had been working for. Trying to see if there was any way she was still alive somehow.

Steve didn't end up enjoying Edinburgh so much as he found a lot of dead ends. Literally, as it turned out that Lawrence's professor was dead. Stranger than that, he'd died right before the EMP that had knocked out a good chunk of the power here for days. Could just be a coincidence, sure, but that didn't seem likely.

More digging turned up information about a group called The Burn, which had been tied up in the research into AIs. The most worrying thing about it all was the hinting that coercion had been used on some of their employees, and seeing how Steve was tracking someone who'd been brainwashed, it set off alarm bells.

A lot of the bases tied to the group were completely destroyed, most likely because they were covering their tracks, but there was one that still looked to be intact. It was called Bright Star, apparently, and it was located south of London.

After checking in with Sam (who also hadn't found any good leads on Bucky), Steve crossed the country yet again. He spent a night in the village nearest to the base, and thne headed up for the facility early the next morning, once again incognito.

It was as he circled the perimeter that he spotted someone approaching one of the doors. Steve was prepared to take cover, but then he realized he recognized the person.

"... Lawrence?" he called out from where he'd been standing a few yards back. What was a research student doing here? This was all starting to feel more and more suspicious. Maybe Steve had been wrong to take off without looking into Lawrence further, but here was his second chance.

Oh for... Really, this was things were going to go? Send someone off on a wild goose chase to Edinburgh and they ended up at the one base Lawrence was at? Was this karma? Did that actually exist?

At least he hadn't surprised him/ Maybe it could be salvaged. or he could just shoot him. One tourist. It'd take a while before he was missed in the confusion.

He turned around, leaning casually against the door and gave a cheery wave. "Well, wasn't expecting to see you around here. What brings you to Bright Star?"

Maybe it would take a while before he was missed, if Steve was actually nothing more than a tourist. But he was a lot more than that, and people were bound to notice.

He wasn't expecting this to break out into any kind of physical encounter, but he did remain on edge just in case. Nothing about this situation was predictable.

As far as Steve was concerned, Lawrence should look a little more surprised to see him. That cheery act is starting to wear thin. "That lead you gave me, actually. Did you know your professor is dead?" Possibly even murdered?

His eyes widened, shock clear on his face at the news. A positively text book reaction to hearing such terrible news. "Oh my god. Really? The Professor is... oh god, what happened? He was fine when I left Inverness."

Wow, Deja vu much. he was half expecting Stanton to pop out from behind Steve.

Maybe Steve should have taken more care with delivering that news. For a split second he felt guilty, but there was still too much about this that was off for him to hold onto that for very long.

Instead he crossed his arms and regarded Lawrence carefully. "Yeah, it looks like it happened on the morning of the EMP. Have any clue what the significance might be there?" He was going to be patient, but only to a point.

Lawrence looked back at Steve. Why was he surrounded by people who were too clever by half and who had to push at things they'd be better off leaving well alone? It wasn't like Steve even had anything to do with this. He chewed pensively on his lip for a long moment. "I- I don't know. Um.. Wait... New Tomorrow set off the EMP. Maybe they found out about his research. Some of it was military technology and they hate technology."

There was that group again, New Tomorrow. Steve would have looked into them further if he hadn't found so much more damning information about The Burn. He narrowed his eyes, teetering between trusting Lawrence and shoving him up against the nearest wall to threaten him and get some more answers.

"Kill some professor, then cut all the power?" He could see how that might be some plot from an "eco-terrorism" group, but that still didn't explain everything going on here.

"All right, and how about you? What are you doing here? I thought this base was abandoned." There was something very fishy about a research student showing up at a place like this.

"I don't know," Lawrence said helplessly. "I'm not with New Tomorrow." Because they were pathetic and had long since outlived their usefulness. He should have made sure they'd been wiped out altogether.

His shoulders slumped a little and he turned to glance at the doorway to the lab. "It is. I wouldn't be here if it was still active. Don't fancy getting shot if I can avoid it."

So what, the people who ran these bases just shot at anyone who walked up to the front doors? Steve suddenly wished that he had his shield with him, but he'd get by without it. He couldn't afford to bring it along when it essentially painted a big target on him and he was trying to be subtle.

"Same here, but that still doesn't answer my question," he pointed out. He wasn't going to let Lawrence change the subject or deflect, he needed a straight answer. If he didn't get a good one, then he was going to have to start demanding answers. All of this stunk too bad.

Now, had Soleil changed the codes when he'd left? That was the question. Internal power had been preserved but this wasn't a base that he'd visited personally. Well, he supposed she hadn't told any of the worshipful masses to kill anyone claiming to be him on sight so...

"There might be backups of the servers in there. Work from the project. I don't want it to go to waste. And also this place probably still has power and I really want a hot shower."

Steve wasn't buying it, not completely. Not with the things that he'd found out while researching. Though it also occurred to him that conditioning had been used on employees of this group. What if Lawrence was a victim of that too?

With that in mind, he shifted his weight and threw out a few more questions. "Seems like you could have had a hot shower back in London," he said with a shrug. "Why are you so interested in the project now? These bases have been shutting down for a while."

"Yeah, but if you're given a choice between a shower in a rubbish house in London, and a shower in an honest to god secret base, which one are you going to choose?"

He wasn't going to be placated was he? Typical. People always had to choose the most difficult route. "Well, you put a couple of years of your life into something, it's never fun to see it all go up in smoke."

Having all of your work undone was a hard pill to swallow, Steve had been there, but he still didn't think it justified this kind of behavior.

He was going to have to push a little harder and see how Lawrence reacted. This didn't have to get violent yet, but Steve was keeping an eye out for any sign that Lawrence was carrying.

"Think I'd choose the house. Way less of a hassle," he responded. "I'm going to have to follow you inside." Seeing how that was his plan from the start, this was only a minor change. It was more Lawrence's reaction that he was interested in.

He wasn't about to start waving a gun around here. It was too open and he lacked the element of surprise. Inside though... well, he had the plans of the base. Steve didn't. "Your loss," he said with a shrug and a smirk.

He leaned over to input the codes that would let him in, and mercifully they still worked. She hadn't changed them or set it to explode as soon as anyone gained access. He supposed she hadn't expected to not be there.

"If you want to. You did come all the way down here. I can't imagine why you'd find computer banks that fascinating though."

"We'll see," Steve responded, his tone clipped now that he was nearing the end of his patience with all this. Still, he didn't get any violent refusals, which might only mean that Lawrence had a plan for when they got inside. Steve wasn't going to let his guard down from here on out, seeing how he was moving into unknown territory.

As soon as the doors opened up, Steve followed Lawrence inside, remaining a few feet behind him just to be safe.

"So, I heard some rumors about this group... The Burn. That they used certain kinds of coercion to get people to work for them. You know anything about that?" If so, Lawrence probably should have mentioned it by now. It could be he was a victim of this still, but his reaction might clue Steve into that.

"Your choice," Lawrence said flippantly.

It was dark when they stepped inside, concrete and metal, but the lights started to flare on as they passed and the door closed behind them. He reached out to pat the wall, an almost affectionate touch. "Good job sweetheart."

It was irrational, but it felt like she was still here a little, taking care of him. Making sure he didn't stumble and break his neck in the darkness.

He glanced back at Steve, smiling slightly. "They drugged the water supply for a lot of places, among other things. Just ask any of the twenty-thousand people who went into the Dome on her Day of Glory. It's not a secret, if that's why you're asking."

Okay, that? The touching the wall and talking to it like it was a living thing? That was strange no matter which way Steve looked at it. His jaw tensed and he fought the urge to ball his hands into fists.

It felt a little like he was walking into the belly of the beast now.

"Not a secret, but I had to do some digging to find out more about it. Were you influenced, Lawrence? Is that why you're here?"

Something here wasn't right and didn't fit and Steve was going to keep digging until he figured out what exactly it was.

He felt better being here. Secure. Genius Loci, wasn't it? The spirit of the place? Or maybe Ghost in the Machine was more fitting. She'd never felt like a machine to him though.

He laughed a little at the question and turned to look at Steve, smiling. "Me? No. I mean once. Bio-engineered midges. But that drug doesn't affect me the same way it affects most other people. Just caused hallucinations, not suggestibility like it was supposed to. Anti-psychotic pill took care of the symptoms pretty well."

If Lawrence was telling the truth, then he was also admitting to the fact that he was here on his own power, which only made his actions stranger.

Bio-engineered flies? Steve rubbed a hand up his arm when he felt his skin crawl at the thought. These people had really thought of everything when it came to spreading their drugs.

"Why doesn't it work the same way on you?" Steve asked, keeping a steady pace behind Lawrence in the event that he tried to make a run for it.

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