video; guess who's back, back again

[assembles]

[ The feed snaps on, and the frame is on the crowded side. In the foreground Steve and Wanda are seated, arranged on a couch in one of the mansion’s tea rooms, while Natasha stands behind them, leaning against the wall near the door. Steve has his phone tilted so that all of three them are visible, Wanda’s arm linked with his.

Steve’s in civilian wear, his expression composed and collected. He isn’t here to give out orders or make any speeches, though. ]

So it looks like Wonderland sent all three of us home at once. Sorry about that. [ As if they had any control over it. ] But we’re back now and more or less in one piece. [ Which isn’t the full story at all, but that isn’t something that needs to be shared with all of Wonderland.

Natasha pushes away from the wall at this and moves closer into the frame of the video, leaning on the back of the couch over Steve’s shoulder, expression mild. ] I don’t know if any others of us were sent home recently, but if so, letting us know would be greatly appreciated.

[ Her lips quirk briefly. ] Either way, I think some of us will need to be assembling for a SitRep soon regardless. But we wanted to let you know we were back to keep people from worrying.

[ Steve glances over his shoulder at Natasha, nods, and then returns to looking at his phone. ] Let us know if we’re needed anywhere.

[ With that, the feed cuts. ]


[ They’ve done their duty and reported their return, which means that it’s time for all three of them to go and lick their wounds. Steve returns to his room first and foremost, finding Bucky even sooner than he had expected when it turns out he’d camped in his room.

Once they’ve reunited, though, Steve laces up his shoes and goes for a run up and down the beach, needing some time to clear his head. Everything that happened back home has him on edge, searching for a way to take action, to do something, and yet none of it means a thing here in Wonderland. There are no Accords here, but a secret that had been revealed in the worst possible way back home remains a secret here, and it’s eating at him.

He also heads up to the roof, as if hoping that a bird’s eye view of everything will somehow cause it all to make more sense. Wonderland isn’t where he’s supposed to be, but at least some of his team is here. They maybe be prisoners, but they’re not caged and collared. It’s something. ]

[ Once Natasha parted ways with Wanda and Steve, having had a chance to - finally - compare information, she briefly stopped by her room upstairs, checking to make sure everything she'd accumulated here was as she'd left it. Then, after replying to a few text messages that had been waiting for her, she headed to the fifth floor. And the bar.

Because damn, did she ever need a drink. Or twenty. ]

[ For most of the day following their return to Wonderland, Wanda remains out of sight. There's no trace of her in either of her usual haunts, the training room or the magic study: she shuts herself away in her room for the better part of the afternoon, door locked tight, though she'll likely answer for those who seek her out. It's been months since she's been this withdrawn-- longer, considering how much time had passed during her trip home, but she finds herself feeling very much like the Wanda who had first come to Wonderland one year earlier, skittish and wary of human contact, unnerved by the idea of having to explain exactly what had changed to rob her of the confidence she had spent so many months building alongside her teammates and new friends alike.

Eventually, it's one of the most basic of human needs that forces her to emerge, hunger driving her to leave her room behind and make her way down to the communal kitchen. After spending time in government custody, the need for a real meal as opposed to whatever the closets might be able to supply is enough to make her brave the mansion beyond her room. She keeps her focus narrow at first, rummaging through the pantry to see what it might have to offer in the way of ingredients, occasionally turning her attention to the kitchen at large to see who else might have wandered in since her own arrival, an attempt to remain aware of her surroundings. House arrest followed by more severe isolation has done very little to put her at ease, and she finds herself unwilling to trust even the slightest creak of the floorboards, regardless of the fact that here, the word fugitive means very, very little. ]

[ OOC: One or all of them will respond to any network replies. If you reply to any of the action options, please specify who it’s for! ]

Comments

private for Steve

[therapize]

[Honestly? It really is, and A+ to Steve for the restraint. Cami almost expects that she would be the first, given that Steve has actually answered her. But he already knows, so she nods her head, at first thinking she'd leave it at that.

But it isn't that simple; when someone gets sent home and they come back in short order, they typically live out a period of time in their own world. When someone comes back after a longer duration with none of their previous memories, then the timeline gets reset. So instead of ending the call, she sets it to private; Steve no doubt trusts the people he's with, but a little extra caution never hurts.]

He was pulled from a different time than before. [And to give him what warning she can, just in case Steve wouldn't know:] His arm is gone; the metal one.

[assembles]

[ It's information that Steve is glad to have confirmed, if only so that he doesn't have to dance the what's-the-last-thing-you-remember dance with Bucky once he finds him. If his arm is missing, then there's really no question of what time point he comes from. At least they'll be on the same page. ]

Yeah, I... we must be from the same point, or close enough.

[ Naturally, Cami will want to know what happened there, unless she already asked Bucky. Whether or not Bucky would have actually told her any version of the truth is less clear. ]

We got into some trouble, but things are more or less resolved now. [ Less rather than more, but Steve doesn't need to put all of that on Cami. ]

[therapize]

[She nods, thankful that the randomness seems to have worked in their favor this time; it's not kindness, but it almost feels like it could be, to hear that Bucky and Steve are from about the same point in their timeline.

When he tries to say it's all done, however, Cami arches an eyebrow.] More or less? [Because she can still see Bucky's wariness when she'd acted out of concern, hear his voice as he claimed he deserved it. And she knows Steve, including his habit of putting too much on his own shoulders in the hope of keeping it off someone else's.]

Something tells me the smart money is on "less." [And he also knows her, because yeah, Cami does want to hear what's happened from Steve's perspective.] So are you going to tell me, or am I going to have to fail to get you drunk again before I can wheedle it out of you?

[assembles]

[ Steve is all too aware of Cami's nature at this point, that once she gets set on something she won't just let it go. He's had enough talks with her by now that he can't say that he's that uncomfortable with telling her -- and he also doesn't have to tell her every detail. Just enough to appease her.

Little does Steve realize that he's gotten into this strange habit of having informal therapy sessions with Cami. It helps him if they don't ever label them that, or acknowledge it. He's just chatting with a friend, right? ]

The reason I found Bucky at all was because he got framed for bombing the UN. That only exacerbated some disagreements that we were having as a team, and eventually I ended up being branded a criminal. [ Steve doesn't look too bothered by that last point, regardless of how severe it sounds. ] There was a pretty brutal fight, but everyone came out of it alive. [ Although sans a limb in one case. ] And right before I came back here, Bucky decided he wanted to go back into cryostatis until we could remove some of the triggers that HYDRA left in his head.

[ There, the cliff notes version. ]

[therapize]

[Whatever helps Steve rationalize this to himself--at least until he's ready to call it what it is. For now, he can say it's just convincing Cami that he's okay, even if she might pick apart the details to figure out that secretly, he's not.

But they'll see. In a small package Steve delivers a hell of a lot of information; when he talks about a bombing at the UN she has to remind herself that they come from different worlds, that Cami's version hasn't seen that brand of tragedy. But the shock of that aside, there are other things he brushes over, complicated messes that he neatly sums up, as if that were that.

They both know better.]

That's--wow. [Massive might be a good word for it. She shakes her head, then starts with what she knows is important to him.] Those must have been some crazy disagreements, to escalate into that.

[assembles]

Well, there was another factor playing into it too. Someone who wanted to see us turn on each other. So he set up a situation where that would happen.

[ It had all been carefully crafted. Zemo had claimed he'd spent almost a whole year planning it out, and they'd all fallen for it. None of them had seen it coming.

A sigh heaves out of Steve's chest as he looks away from his phone. ]

I dragged some of my friends into that trouble with me -- that's my main regret. [ Even if they had all known what they were signing up for, Steve doubts they expected it to go as south as it did. ]

[therapize]

I'm willing to bet that if you ask those friends, they would all say they chose to go with you. [Nice to know Steve hasn't lost his often unreasonable sense of guilt and responsibility in his time away though. She calls him on it easily, because the only way Steve is going to let go of any of that regret is to accept that those people around him made the choice to support him, regardless of the consequences.

And now might be where she would think about flying pigs, but given that they're in Wonderland, it isn't exactly unfeasible.]

So let me see if I'm understanding this right, okay? Some obsessive creeper was watching you, realized your group was starting to fracture, and then basically threw a hand grenade into the mix. [Maybe literally, since he's the one who likely did bomb the UN.] And it worked—although I'm not clear on the part where you wound up being a criminal.

[assembles]

Maybe. [ Steve hasn't actually asked any of them. Natasha didn't come to his side, which leaves Wanda, and she's already been through so much. He doesn't want to put more pressure on her by ambushing her with a question like that. What happened to her is unforgivable, and while Steve knows that she probably wouldn't blame him, he'll continue to feel responsible for how she was treated in the Raft.

Cami seems to have the gist of it down. Steve nods along as she recounts it to him. ]

Basically, the UN was trying to pass something called the Accords which would make the Avengers a public entity under their control. I didn't agree with it because I thought we might end up manipulated by people with agendas. When I refused to sign, then turned around and helped Bucky evade the troops sent after him, that's when I became a fugitive.

[ There's no sense of remorse or regret as Steve explains. He would do all of that again the same exact way, if he had to. ]

[therapize]

[Yeah, maybe's not good enough here.] Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't these the same people you said you trusted because they were all capable of handling themselves? That means they're capable of choosing their own paths, too.

[But wow; there's something Steve doesn't feel guilty about. If Wonderland had a newspaper, she might be tempted to give them a headline.]

Given everything that happened with HYDRA, I can understand why you'd be reluctant. [The agency of Nazis hidden within SHIELD. But really, politics aren't exactly stellar in Cami's world either; people in office and agendas practically go hand in hand. For that sort to get the power of superheroes under their control could go disastrously wrong to say the least.

At the same time, however, she can also see the reverse position. Cami's pretty used to being the human in the room, after all. She's been manipulated by people with powers beyond her imagination. It's just as easy to see why the common masses would want some reassurance over a group like the Avengers.]

On the whole, it sounds like one hell of a mess. [She smiles faintly as she leans back.] Which makes your solidarity and your confidence pretty impressive. So is that all of it, or is there something else I'm missing?

[assembles]

[ Steve knows logically that Cami is right, but he can't shake the way that he feels all the same. If it were that easy, he'd probably be a much happier person in general, but it isn't. Still, at least there's someone who's bothering to say it to him. That's something.

He appreciates that she doesn't judge him too much for his stubborn choices. Then again, Cami's only hearing about it secondhand, rather than seeing the mess that he'd made up close and personal.

When she asks if there's anything more, there's a moment of dead silence as Steve's gaze flicks to the side. He hasn't even shared the worst part with her, but it's too much to tell. Especially when it doesn't involve just him. ]

It escalated from there, and the fight between me and one of my teammates got really personal. But that's not really something I should be sharing around. [ To his credit, he does appear apologetic as he looks back to the feed. ] Sorry.