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Event - Dogged

Dogged

The message goes out to everyone on ADI's network. It seems to be something captured live. It's Pam Ruan, head of HR who holds a prosthetic finger up to her lips before whispering, "Everyone's pushing for transparency right now, right? Figuring out where threats are coming from and sharing. I think that should come at all levels. Let's see what Nia's talking about with Mr. Zyrian Steel, hmm?"

The camera flips around as Pam clearly creeps closer to an office door. There are muffled voices, and Pam sets the phone face up before using one hand to shove the thing under the door. The video shows a sliding picture of the office's bland ceiling for a moment before coming to a stop. The voices become much clearer.

"-down in Wolf Trap," a masculine voice is saying. Presumably, Zyrian Steel. "There's just no need for that."

"Zyrian, this ain't a negotiation." Nia Lehrer's voice is familiar to most people working at ADI at this point. They've likely heard her speak in some pre-recorded training videos at the bare minimum. Nia's tone is no nonsense and clearly on the edge of snapping in frustration. "You're not hiring us. I'm sending my people down to Wolf Trap next month. We've got evidence of those signalhead things being on the march, one down that way, your kick off for New Horizons in the park, and evidence out of there about the Lullaby Girl from some of my people."

There is silence.

"You remember her? Ava? Or Amber, it seems like. She's the one you gave us those Lucidio masks to help train our people against. Frankly, I'd be surprised if you don't remember her, Mr. S." Another drawn out pause. "You ain't been straight with me for a long time. You ain't been straight with ADI since Tawnya was Warden. You tell me you need us in Buffalo, payback for helping in Wolf Pen and Cortana and the mobile med units, and not only do half the staff come back with crab claws and whiskers, but I find out you're using us for business politics." There's venom in her tone. "Or were you just going to stay quiet about Etcher's enterprises competing with your own software companies? ADI is not your personal attack dog. You are our client. And I thought my friend. But I'm about 30 seconds away from firing you from both."

Further silence, then a heavy sigh. "And I was going to offer to send you and your staff on such a nice retreat." There's the sound of a chair being pushed back. "Warden, I think you misunderstand the nature of our relationship. You are the dogs. I am the master. I hold your leash. Or have you forgotten just how much technology I've donated to ADI over the years, how many of your systems run on things I built? We've had a mutually beneficial relationship up until now- Well… you and I have. Tawnya got to be a problem before the end, too. But I made sure that was taken care of."

"You self-aggrandizing son of a-"

"You're a much more practical woman than she ever was, even with those shiny ideals you hold so dear. You'll compromise for the greater good, to protect what's yours. Such a good Warden, looking out for her charges."

"What are you talking about? And get your hands the hell off my desk."

"Haven't you ever wondered about the title? Warden. Odd name for a leader of any organization, even one like yours. But maybe not so odd when you consider your more eldritch masters." A scoff. "The Hunt always does pick out the most oblivious avatars, doesn't it? What does a Warden do?" A beat. "She controls the monsters, Nia. Sniffs them out and contains them. And she goes after the poachers coming after her prey. Tell me, have you ever noticed how you're always picking up on threats far afield with uncanny precision. It's been getting stronger, hasn't it? Tawnya was the same way. As was her predecessor, I imagine."

"That's not- I wouldn't ever…"

"Wouldn't you, though? Every time you sent your own dogs after a threat, reveled in it, you were being such a good Warden, instilling terror in the hearts of your enemies, ADI's enemies. So many cults know who and what you are and they fear it. Fear the Warden of ADI, famed avatar of the Hunt. Even now, I know you've compromised yourself. Have you considered what that's done to you? You let that Visionary kid stay alive. I rather think that might have been the start of your slide, hmm? Making exceptions, just this once.

"Now," he continues, voice growing louder and footsteps starting toward the phone, "I realize this is a lot to take in, to think about. Why don't you do that self-reflection while I attend to other matters? You are doing good work, puppy. I need a dependable pet to take care of all those nasty pests who keep trying rituals. But no need to worry about the New Horizons launch, really. I'll just-" Zyrian pauses and everyone will have a view of a middle-aged caucasian man with dark, slightly graying hair and a beard. He's wearing khakis and a Hawaiian shirt, and he's looking down at Pam's phone.

"Well… fuck." He stomps a heeled shoe on it and the transmission ends abruptly.

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"I raid the security supplies a lot," Winter admits. "But definitely grenades and bullets for a distraction."

He eyes Steve a beat, then adds warily, "Maybe lightning. If you wear protective clothing."

Skeptical Steve is skeptical "Define protective clothing."

"Something to keep your hands from getting fried again," Winter says. "Rubber gloves maybe."

"Rubber gloves," Steve repeats. "Like I'm doing the dishes."

Yeah, he's not convinced. "It's not like it's gonna matter much."

"It might. It's worth a try," Winter insists. "If you don't, I'll take the hammer away." He doesn't know only certain people can lift it, so it seems a fair threat, even if he only half-means it. "I want to still be able to hold your hand after this is done."

Steve maybe rolls his eyes, but doesn't point out that Winter might have a hard time taking the hammer away. Honestly... he might not. Steve's never seem him try to lift it; who's to say he can't? Or that he wouldn't find some way, even if he can't. Winter is very resourceful.

"I'm not gonna burn my hands off," he says, sounding very sure of that, despite the fact that he had been very sure, the first time he'd used the thing, that the lightning wouldn't burn him at all. Clearly the rules are different here. Or the serum was helping him, somehow.

He still doesn't think he's going to burn his hands off, but part of him can't deny it's not a total impossibility. "You really think rubber gloves are gonna help."

"It's worth a try," Winter says again, driving home the point. Whether or not it helps, it can't hurt, and it might help. "There's no reason not to. Unless you're scared of looking stupid or something."

"I'm not scared of looking stupid," Steve sighs. He doesn't like looking stupid - who does, okay? - but that's not it.

He will feel stupid, though. No doubt about that.

"What are you gonna wear for protection?" When it doubt, turn the issue back around on someone else.

(Also, he wants Winter to come out of this in one piece, too.)

"Body armor and ear protection," Winter answers readily enough. "I've got my tac jacket, like usual. I might even put the mask on again for this." It's not like he can scare the signal tower monster by not looking fully human.

Though his stupid still-metallic fingers on his right hand aren't helping that. And the star on his shoulder, currently covered up in clothes, hasn't changed back, either. At least his fingers are the right length again. Mostly. His pinkies are still a little too long, but that's better than all of them.

Steve nods. That's acceptable - even the mask, if it's something Winter chooses.

"You still remember the signs we used in the Army?"

That makes him pause, trying to think back. Are they the same as signs he'd used with HYDRA? They might be, but he can't say for certain, so: "I don't know. You should probably drill me in them before we go, just in case." He shakes his head a little. "Belova and I are getting C4 for the thing itself. From security."

"All right," Steve says - drilling in signs is easy enough. He has no doubt that if Winter doesn't remember them, he'll pick them up again pretty quick.

And, "Good. Get more than you think you need." This isn't something they want to underdo. "I'd rather blow a bigger crater than was really necessary than leave any piece of it standing."

He lets out a breath, then adds, because he's been thinking it for a while now, "I feel like things are getting worse. More extreme. Not... drastically. But we're fighting an uphill battle."

There's a moment where Winter actually grins, maybe a little crookedly, maybe a little darkly, but still, it's there. "Don't worry. I'm good at explosions."

It fades, though, into something more blankly thoughtful. Ever since that fucking gun incident, he's had a harder time with expressions. It's annoying. "We are. Because we're working for a goddamn entity."

Honestly? Steve kind of loves that grin, just as it is. "I trust you," he agrees, his own smile much softer, admittedly.

That smile disappears, too, though, when Winter brings up the avatar-shaped elephant in the anti-apocalyptic organization.

"Yeah," Steve says, his voice dropping in volume, but not surety. "Yeah, we are, and I don't like it. At all." It feels too much like SHIELD, he thinks, watching Winter for a long moment. "I - don't know that I can keep trusting ADI." And that trust had already been brittle, in a lot of senses. The more he's seen, the more he's had to convince himself this was the best way to do things.

Now... he's really not sure. And he knows he doesn't have the luxury of just feeling uncomfortable about it anymore.

"What do you think?" he asks, quietly, knowing it's putting Winter on the spot, but also needing to know, before he says anything else.

Winter likes that smile, but he doesn't really have time to enjoy it, because here comes the big, important questions. "I won't feed an entity," Winter says with certainty of his own. It's one of his few lines that he won't cross. "If Lehrer doesn't step down." He hesitates, on that one. "I don't know. I don't want to work for her. I won't feed an entity."

But going it alone is... it's scary. "Belova wants to break, too. She says it will be hard."

Steve nods - he respects that reasoning, too. Not feeding an entity is a pretty damn big reason, after all.

"It probably will be," Steve agrees. "But that doesn't make it the wrong choice. And it doesn't mean we can't manage."

He watches Winter's face, something almost soft under his expression, and then he says, "We've done it before. Managed on our own, pretty well. Even if you don't remember."

Granted, Steve had been even more useless then. And they hadn't had Yelena. So they're already starting from a stronger position. He hopes.

"We can do it."

Yeah, he definitely doesn't remember, not even sure if it's from his distant wiped past or from some time after he got taken here, but before Steve got taken here. Winter breathes out noisily. "I hope we can. But I can't stay here if it's working for an entity. And you don't sound like you're going to stay, either. And Belova definitely won't. So. I guess we'll have to find out."

No matter how terrifying that is. At least he won't be alone. Yelena promised him that.

"I don't want to stay, if it's working for an entity," Steve confirms; there's a part of him that vividly remembers the conversation he and Winter had in the gym, after that lobster mission, when Steve had been... not thinking clearly, he thinks. There's sort of a weird haze of anger and self-loathing coloring all his thoughts of that week.

It scares him, knowing how easily he could have gone down a bad path. How much he still could, if he's not careful, and if ADI is run by an avatar, even if they might mean well...

"There are other people I want to talk to, too. Maybe it won't just be the three of us. But if it is, then that's what it is, and we'll make it work. As a team."

That's important - working together. Supporting each other. "We don't have to walk out the door just yet. But I think we should be ready. Just in case."

"I promised Hargrave I'd help with the next big thing, the Steel ritual," Winter says. "So at least until after that."

He doesn't look as nervous as he feels. But he does look a little nervous. He's glad at the idea of getting Steve away from the influence of another entity, not wanting to watch him act like he did in the gym that day. Not wanting to have to stop him if he goes too far. Not wanting to see what happens to himself if he gives in on this one point. He's worked hard to try and become a person. Going back on that would be awful.

"Kate, maybe," he says quietly. "Not Cortana. Not until we can provide what she needs. But maybe a few others. Hunter, the kid, he might come. He doesn't like fighting."

Steve nods. He's been thinking about Cortana a lot. And the others like her - the ones who aren't human.

"I want to see if we can help the people who can't just... walk out, the same way we can." He knows they're privileged, him and Yelena and Winter and Kate, at least. They can just walk out into the world. Cortana, Rue and Hob, so many others - they can't, and Steve doesn't know how to help them.

But maybe he could, if he can find out what ADI is doing in the first place, so they can replicate it or steal it or - something. "So it's okay if we stay a little longer. I want to do some digging. And Steel needs to be dealt with, I don't disagree."

So, yes. They should stay that long, at least.

In the meantime, "Will you talk to Kate? And anyone else you think might come with."

"Belova might talk to Kate first, but if she doesn't." He hesitates briefly, then nods. "I will. I'm not leaving her here if she doesn't want to be here. She's my team, too."

And they've got time. Time to plan. Time to make plans. "Belova and I have been looking for places for a while. We'll need to fix something up, probably, but. We can go somewhere together."

"We'll manage." Jesus, it feels like a mantra at this point, but it just... has to be true. "I don't have a lot of experience as a handyman, but I do know which end of a hammer to hold."

He pauses, then lets one corner of his lips tick up. "I even come with my own."

Which probably should not be used to pound nails.

But, more seriously: "Do you have anything picked out yet?" It doesn't sound like it, but he's a little surprised - and then a little not - to think about them looking for places. Just in case.

"Don't you dare use Mjolnir on construction," Winter warns, only about half seriously. "You'll zap the whole building."

He shakes his head a little, then. "There's a couple options. Belova needs to approve and then we need to. Actually buy it." He pauses. "I don't know how to do that. Hopefully she does."

Steve rolls his eyes a little, but, "I won't," he promises. Even he knows that's a little ridiculous.

But as for the actual matter at hand, "I can help. I don't know much about it, but I know something." He's never bought a place, but he's fairly sure he can help with finances and contracts. "If she needs any help. But I wouldn't doubt it if she does know how to handle that all on her own. I trust her." And any place she'd choose. "I'll talk to her. See if she needs anything more concrete than my support."

He pauses, then, taking a breath, letting it out. "I know you don't believe ADI could ever help us get back. I - don't know what I believe about them, but I do believe it doesn't matter anymore. I'm in this. With you, and with her."

He'd spent a long time believing there was some way home, through ADI or otherwise. Now... Now, he's realized that he's slowly stopped caring quite so much.

Winter blinks a few times at him, clearly taken aback. "You are?" Winter is still not great at long-term planning. He's been letting ADI do that for him, and sometimes Yelena, but he'd always known they were never going home. Even if it were possible, it would take so much fear-powered magic that it would be... a bad idea.

But he also knows Steve has always wanted to go back. Never actually thought he'd be content with what he has here, a broken not-his-person and constant danger and fear. So this-- is a surprise. And it makes him want to... do something. He isn't sure what that something is.

He settles for what he usually does when overwhelmed with a positive emotion. "Steve. May I hug you."

Event - Dogged

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