Lucifer found a makeup case in the room's desk before long, but there was no sign of scotch or sellotape for the time being. Stationery of such a caliber was for desk jockeys, not executives, and in a technologically-inclined company such as RKDC the computers were constantly getting smaller and their processors getting bigger, largely eliminating the need for excessive physical paperwork. Heaps of physical files and data could now be distilled into portable tablets and phones of the company's own design. Impressive, if not of particular interest.
As soon as their paths crossed and the two were finished catching up in all their brevity, the corridors at least didn't seem as empty as they had before. For all Lucifer's senses could glean the level was empty except for the two of them, no heartbeats or footsteps to be heard discounting the numerous floors above and below. On the other hand, there was a more obvious indicator of a sentient presence here in the form of another sliding door over on the side of the floor Bucky and company hadn't visited previously, contrasting the neat handiwork of the door to the spliced worker's office by way of being slowly pried open by someone of great strength as opposed to sliced to ribbons. Inside was what looked like a de facto security checkpoint of a sort, a shambled array of broken computer monitors set up at one end of the room that presumably once displayed feeds of the other floors. On a blank section of the wall someone had scrawled something in stark, red marker.
I MADE TIME TO PRAY BUT THE ANGELS WERENT LISTENING
The last letter veered off sharply towards the end, as though the marker had been abruptly dropped. Unsettling as that was, it probably would've been fair to say it wasn't entirely the most attention-grabbing thing in the room.
That honor went to the veritable arsenal of weaponry decorating the opposite section of the room behind an open wire-mesh cage, hardware that would've been more at home among classified sectors of the military than in a security office. RKDC were military contractors, after all, and it looked as if someone had taken to stockpiling hardware in the few days since the event that brought all normal business conducted here to a screeching stop. The make and model of the weapons were unfamiliar even to Bucky, but many of the ammunition calibers were in line with the ones he knew, .22LR and 7.62mm boxes and whatnot in abundance. A high-grade sniper rifle lay discarded on the centerpiece table, magazine emptied of a single round but otherwise practically unused, which it had in common with the rest of the weaponry; practically all of it was brand new.
Maybe the angels were listening after all.
Or maybe someone else was. It wasn't terribly long before the sound of the stairwell door opening roughly and boots crossing the floor reached Lucifer's keen ears first and the Winter Soldier's soon after, finally signifying the presence of someone or something else on the floor that seemed to be searching from room to room.
"More security. Not your typical rent-a-cops. Obviously. Forced into. Heh," he was somewhat reminded of his earlier entry into the security room on the ground floor. "Though...," the Winter Soldiers words became lost to soft murmuring, moving beyond apprising the doorway to the attention-grabber to the back of the room. There his words regained strength as he continued in his nominal volume, "Maybe they knew what was in here. Don't recognize these guns. Munitions, I do."
A curious Barnes hoisted a heavy machine gun free from its rack, apprising it closely via many a criterion. Decent distribution of weight, meant it was balanced. Fortified stock, ergonomic grip and under-barrel, and more. A brief glance confirmed some of the munitions were something you'd not find on the civilian market. Nor the military, as general purpose, for that matter. A sharp exhale via pursed lips as the Winter Soldier threw a glance back to the Dhampir. "State of the art, cutting tech. Hardly surprising." Though it reminded him of HYDRA to a degree. Truly, the comparisons that could be drawn between HYDRA and RDKC was somewhat unnerving. There was hope in finding meaningful differences.
It was then Bucky heard the noise, well after Lucifer had. His features went rough, muscles tensing to form chiseled contours upon his face. As much as he'd liked to appreciate the hardware, there was no time for that. Was not why they were here. That and the situation evidently grew the more dire.
But first: he checked the sniper rifle laid out on the table, supported by its sniper stand. A swift detaching later and a once over, he noted a single round had been depleted. The rifle had been used, earlier. Replacing its magazine, he racked his brain in attempt of remembering the distinct sound of such a rifle firing. He failed to recount any instance. Before he determined there was nothing of merit in pursuing the matter further, given extenuating circumstances of the imminent nature, he glanced down the way and out beyond the doorway. Back whence they came, searching swiftly with keen eyes a bullet-hole befitting of the rifle's mighty caliber. Regardless of not there existed one, the soldier moved swiftly.
.....Now this was interesting. And at the same time, disturbing. More and more, Lucifer was harboring dark suspicions about the Spliced that Bucky was friends with. It was in an absence of life, save for them here. It was in little details and things that refused to add up.
And letting Bucky arm himself as he liked, Lucifer took out the makeup case. Flipping it open to expose the mirror, he held it carefully in hand to peek around the door, as sneakily as he could to see who was coming.
"Smart," Barnes commented as he moved in a hurry, collecting first munitions to replace all expended prior to their arrival here. There was something to be said when a private facility like RKDC had grenade shells within its private security's repertoire. The implications were something the soldier hadn't desired to consider. Fortune favors the prepared and this was it, in spades.
The three pistols' ammo supply was well in hand, having never been once expended. The M4A1's missing magazines were replaced, five of such containing 5.56×45mm NATO rounds ensuring a protracted firefight was in Barnes's favor. Grenade shells repleted back to five as well, slotted into once empty pockets of the Soldier's bandolier, with one already chambered. The same for the Skorpion's .32 ACP munitions, three magazines ensuring its readiness.
All in all: The Winter Soldier was back to full fighting capacity... and more.
*Due to the absence of any sort of written acknowledgement from one James Buchanan Barnes, please accept this canonical narrator's interpretation of his reaction.
While Bucky busied himself rubbing his face up against the large-calibre weaponry tenderly...
He was, in fact, stuffing a military duffle bag full of munitions still encapsulated within their plastic packaging interred inside cardboard. Down the rabbit hole followed a fairly adequate piece of machinery, so the Winter Soldier deemed:
Its intended recipient would be one Miss Chell. An upgrade, one with ensured supply of ammunition given its drum magazine never mind the better firepower, that Barnes would be remiss to nab. The opportunity stared the man in the face and odds were they weren't coming back. :' ) Spread the love. Suck it Shaun, still all mine. Ish.
And yes, toting around the duffle bag was going to make matters difficult given he was loaded himself. Thankfully, efficiently placed holsters such as the right thigh that contained two pistols, the one located against the small of his back where a skorpion dwelt, and another pistol opposite the aforementioned thigh made that a non-issue. Especially when one considered the man toting such luggage to be a super-human soldier, one armed (heh get it???) with a bionic arm.
Normally he had people to carry his weapons for him. : |
The shotgun rested atop the bundle of the munitions, the bag having been filled to reasonably less than half its volume capacity. He couldn't afford to go crazy, and a few boxes of munition was more than enough for a single soldier. Naturally, there were a few boxes of shells for Chell as well.
Slinging it the strap over his front, the bag rested against his back effectively rendering it difficult to retrieve the Skorpion at a moment's notice. And just in time too as he instinctively fell to a knee due to the following--
Lucifer's efforts yielded a brief glimpse of the approaching figure from the corridor as the mirror reflected the hallway lighting subtly. It was a spliced man dressed in a casual suit, scuffed and slightly torn at the collar, shaggy hair and dark sunglasses hiding his eyes as he walked with an imperial swagger and casually munched an apple in one hand.
What was more pressing was what was in his other hand.
And it was only in thanks to Lucifer's reflexes that he even registered the presence of the great metal cross wrapped in chains before it exploded, a massive round moving at a velocity greater than any ballistics he was used to all but annihilating the makeup case in his hand as a deafening gunshot cracked like thunder. Smoke wafted from the stock of the enormous weapon, its wielder lowering it to hold it vertical to the floor as he took another unconcerned bite of his fruit, seemingly more intent on announcing himself than in shooting to maim proper.
"I'll take it ye be the ones aggressin' me fine crew of brigands this curs'd evenin', then."
He tutted, grinning with a mouth full of apple.
"Didjer mothers never warn ye o' the dangers of triflin' with pirates?"
The light warped and shimmered next to him to unveil the gray, distorted figure of an eight-foot creature in heavy spiked battle armor, unfamiliar to Lucifer's eyes but more than recognizable to Bucky as the elite he'd combated just recently, alive and well despite the magazine that was emptied into it.
It was at that moment that a speaker connected to the monitor array within the security station crackled to life, strong static fuzzing a nonetheless recognizable voice that came in subdued and monotone in contrast to the jittery state the Winter Soldier had heard it in earlier. Agent Brand.
"They like it."
The fact that the sound carried over the speaker was made more disturbing by the lack of power supplying any of the adjoining equipment.
It didn't take an experienced, weathered (hue hue) soldier to recognize that was an exceptional big fucking gun that just fired. The Winter Soldier smirked. "Another enhanced. With a big gun... so I'm not the only one. Nice to know," his tone was deathly quiet though it was evident he made a quip. His words barely constituted what defined a whisper yet the dhampir's enhanced senses would certainly catch it.
"Siesta's over, it seems," Bucky added... before his features went blank, repleting in their place the momentary expression of recognition. Not because of the self-professed pirate and his words. Specifically, it was the voice that emerged following.
"That was Agent Brand. Something's wrong--"
Pirates.
Honest-to-God pirates and one of them dressed in the garb of a priest. The duality between him and the other was not lost on Lucifer, further proof that God or whatever powers-that-be had a sense of dramatic irony.
If only that iron wasn't in that really, big gun. He shook out the remains of the make up case from his hand and took a deep breath.
Before walking right out of cover, calmly and as polite as can be. He adjusted his sleeves, he fixed his white collar and then turned to regard the other. For a moment, the only sound was the crunch of the apple and the breathing before Lucifer inclined his head towards the other as though they had just met on the street, rather then have something shot out of his hand.
"Captain I presume then. Rest assured, maligning innocent pirates was the last thing on the mind of my group."
He glanced over with interest at the uncloaked Elite, having never seen the like before as he nodded towards him.
"He seems to be no worse for wear, to be sure. We're looking for two people....One with a shield and the other, some girl with him. You wouldn't have happened to have seen either, have you?
Definitely wrong. Barnes frowned, maintaining his low posture as he swiveled around to the central table with nary a sound made on his part. Edging around the table swiftly, fingers clambered onto and over the tabletop, laying claim to the sniper rifle once more as Lucifer engaged the pirates into dialogue.
Odds were, they knew he was there with Lucifer. They just didn't know what he was doing. Perhaps that put the dhampir in danger. Perhaps the lack of knowing gave them the advantage.
In the form of leveraging what was an effin' hueg sniper rifle towards a wall adjacent to the doorway, aligning into the direction of the pirates solely based on his hearing. chances were incredibly low that he'd score a shot on the pirates. Not that it mattered: a surprise was a surprise and the opportunities such afforded were immensely valuable. If the gambit was allowed and realized anyway, especially with Bucky taking care in ascertaining Lucifer's status and the nature of the dialogue as it unfolded.
@OrlandoBloomers @Ringmaster
