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Post by Aileen Barton on May 18, 2016 16:10:23 GMT -6
"Take a hike, JARVIS," Aileen said as she stepped up to the door. The AI wasn't allowed to look into people's bedrooms, Aileen was pretty sure, for their privacy more than anything else, but she wanted to make sure. If JARVIS knew what she was planning, he'd let Ginnie know and, as much as Aileen hated lying to her best friend, it'd be far worse if she knew. Because what Aileen had planned wasn't only wrong, it was also probably illegal. She wasn't sure if her and James would get in any real trouble, but she knew Ginnie would try her damnedest to stop them. Assuming James was even interested. It would have been best if Aileen could have gotten T'Shan and Ginnie involved as well, but both of them would forbid her. Ginnie had done it before, handcuffing Aileen or otherwise stopping her whenever she thought she was in too deep.
She knocked on James' door, and then let herself in anyway. As long as he wasn't in the shower, it should be fine. If he was sleeping, well, she wouldn't have a problem waking him up for this. She'd waited for Ginnie and T'Shan to both be out, and for Olly to have given them some peace, and she wasn't going to pass up this opportunity.
Typically, interrogation wasn't high on Aileen's list of things to do. She knew SHIELD sometimes indulged in stuff they couldn't exactly be open about, kidnapping, torture, that sort of thing, but the Avengers didn't do that. None of them wanted to, and they didn't have a reason to. Well, that was then. As soon as someone had gone after one of them, tried to hurt one of Aileen's friends, the rules were changed.
Of course, torture hopefully wouldn't be necessary here. And if it was, well, that was part of the reason she wanted James. She didn't know the specifics, but she'd picked up hints. She knew that he'd been involved in....less than legitimate activities before. So she'd help with tracking Gizmo down, and then she'd ask really politely who'd employed him. If he didn't tell her, she'd have James ask him. And then, if he still didn't, she'd have James ask less politely while she pretended to not notice. "I need your help," She said to James, not mincing her words for once.
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Post by James Barnes Jr on May 23, 2016 23:42:49 GMT -6
James was passed out in his bed at the Avengers Mansion. He'd had a training session here at the Tower with War Machine and then just decided to pass out afterwards. His room was a bit of a mess with clothes on the floor. Some were his, some Ginnie's. The two of them had been too busy to grab everything in the last couple of days. He'd get around to it sooner or later.
Through the sleepy haze, James heard a knock and then his door open. Usually, only Ginnie did that, so he wasn't too worried. He murmured slightly, still coming to consciousness. "What did you forget this time? I know you have other underwear in this building." He rolled over and then he realized it wasn't Ginnie. His heart started racing and instinct came into play.
James threw a pillow aside as he came up with a pistol from somewhere in the bed. He leveled it, before his eyes finished focusing and processing the image. It was Aileen. Usually, she did whatever she could to stay away from him after the whole thing with his doppelganger, yet for some reason she was in his room. He wondered briefly, if she was here to kill him and then shook the idea away.
"Hawkeye... Ginnie's out and you're a few months too early for my birthday. You'll have to come back when she's around. Not that I haven't had that exact dream before, mind you. But usually, you're both wearing something... more fun." He flashed a smile to show he was clearly kidding. James put the gun down when she asked for his help. He stood up, setting the gun on the table. James was only wearing his boxers and he rummaged through one of the piles for a shirt. He discarded the first one, an AC/DC t-shirt that was entirely too small. That wasn't his. The second one was one of his Star Wars shirts. He slipped it over his head.
He smiled again. "She didn't give me the wifi password, if that's what you're looking for. I can probably hack it for you though." The smile faded after he saw the look on her face. "What do you need? What's happened?"
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Post by Aileen Barton on Jun 7, 2016 5:08:05 GMT -6
Aileen couldn't deny that it was making her uneasy to be in James' room. It had been months since she'd been kidnapped, and he'd had nothing to do with it, but she still found it hard to relax around him, to go back to the easy friendship they'd had before everything had happened. And here she was arranging a secret mission with him. Well, the things you do for the people you cared about. And besides, maybe it would help. Spending time around him, especially on something like this, could only make her feel better, right?
At least James made it somewhat easier for her as he assumed she was Ginnie in his half-asleep stupor. She was able to keep it light-hearted, think of ways to make fun of him. It helped her not think about....other things. "I know I do," She said glibly as James mentioned underwear, "Half of mine's in Ginnie's room. But it's nice to see the two of you aren't bothering to be subtle anymore." It wasn't really much of a secret now that Ginnie and James had basically been having a bang-athon the past few days. Catching up for lost time, clearly. For months Aileen had been teasing them both about it, and now it was finally happening. It was nice to be right, even if it meant Ginnie was unavailable for large stretches of time.
Seeing James point a gun at her made her freeze and her heart race, and she knew it wasn't the gun doing that. It took some effort to force herself to exhale and give a somewhat unconvincing laugh. "You seriously sleep with a gun?" She asked, trying to get back the same tone she'd used earlier, "Well, I owe T'Shan ten dollars." The effect wasn't quite as genuine, but even now her freak-out was beginning to fade.
She gave a genuine laugh at the threesome joke. Maybe that was a good sign. A couple of months ago, and even the thought of something like that with James would have probably freaked her out, but now it was just a funny mental image. "Maybe if you're a good boy your dreams will come true," She said, her voice still a little shaky, but her teasing evident, "I do own plenty of fun." When he stood up, she snorted. "Nice underwear." She also noticed the shirt he looked at before moving it away, and raised her eyebrows. "She'll want that back. But I'm sure she'll come fetch it tonight."
She'd come in planning to have a genuine and blunt talk, and she'd ended up making jokes about a threesome with Ginnie and James. Well, that basically summed up the Avengers, really. But then she thought about what she'd come here to talk about, and there was a much more serious expression on her face. "I need you to keep this between us," She told him, "No telling T'Shan, or Ada, or Olly, or anyone. And especially not Ginnie." Aileen hated keeping secrets from her best friend, but she'd had far too much experience with Ginnie handcuffing her to the nearest solid fixture anytime things got too serious to risk it. She took a deep breath.
"Somebody attacked us," She said. "Actually, scratch the 'somebody' and 'us'. Gizmo attacked T'Shan. We thought he'd killed him." That was all fairly run of the mill for a superhero. "It's not his style. He builds giant robots, not bombs. I think...." And here was where she risked sounding crazy. "I think he was doing it for someone else. And I think it'd be a really good idea if we found out who. I don't want to know what sort of thing you used to do, but I'm pretty sure finding Gizmo and finding out who hired him would be the sort of thing you're good at."
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Post by James Barnes Jr on Jun 16, 2016 0:40:06 GMT -6
James let out a loud sigh. "Well, so much for keeping that a secret. Maybe we don't tell Ginnie that I'm the one who let it slip, huh? Because then I'll have to answer questions that I don't want to. Seriously, no one else knows. Don't tell a soul."
As he dressed, he looked at the gun and shrugged. "Hey, sometimes, in the spy business I would go to bed with someone to get the information that I needed. More than a few times, they tried to kill me in my sleep. It sort of becomes old habit after awhile." He sighed at the comment about his underwear. It was a pair of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Boxers. He wasn't ashamed. "I like these. They were a gift from my sister. And I've never been a good boy. Even as a boy." James slipped his uniform pants on over the boxers and listened to what Aileen had to say. The request for secrecy was interesting.
"So, basically, you don't want me to tell anyone who might stop us. I can understand that." He grabbed a notepad and wrote some things down on it as Aileen spoke. He took a few notes and then looked up at her. "So, someone you care about was attacked and you want to take them down. I can get behind that. Lyds was also part of that mess and I want them too. But if we're going to do this, there has to be some ground rules." He tensed up, remembering a conversation he'd recently had with the Flash. James had decided to commit himself to being Cap fully instead of the Winter Soldier in a Cap costume. "Neither of us can kill anyone. You don't want to know who I was, fine, but I'm not that person anymore. I can find them and we can bring them down, but I don't want to cross that line and you sure as hell shouldn't either. I won't drag Cap's name through the mud."
"Two other questions...Why don't you want Ada involved? She has just as much right as either of us and the Queen of Wakanda has more resources to call upon than I do." He looked over his shoulder as he grabbed his uniform shirt and started to slip it over the t-shirt. "And in light of everything... Why come to me? You and I aren't exactly best friends these days." There was no malice in his voice. He kept the tone light and soft.
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Post by Aileen Barton on Jul 5, 2016 3:45:27 GMT -6
Aileen couldn't resist a laugh as James told her to keep quiet about it. "Right, because you two were so subtle about it," She told James, "Even if you hadn't been making gooey eyes at each other for months, and don't get me started on the sexual tension, I'm pretty sure it doesn't take a genius to see that you guys are an awful lot happier." She snorted, "I'll just tell Ginnie I saw multiple pairs of...comic book boxers on her floor and assumed they were yours." Oh she was going to get a lot of mileage out of the Ninja Turtle shorts, she really was. "Hey, that's not fair. If I can't tell T'Shan, I lose out on fifteen bucks." She'd bet it would take less than eighteen months for Ginnie and James to get their freak on, T'Shan had taken it.
Aileen realised that, to her surprise, it was easier to be around James this way. Just staying casual, teasing him, actually opening up rather than closing herself off. For months she'd been....well, not unfriendly, but she hadn't exactly welcomed his presence. Had left the room if she'd been alone and he'd come to sit down, had avoided bantering with him like she did T'Shan and Ginnie. Maybe she'd just let her anxiety build up until thinking about facing him was worse than actually doing it. It'd taken her a shot and a pep talk to get herself in here, but now she felt easier around him than she had in months. Of course, it wasn't entirely back to normal. There was still part of her that wanted to leave the room and never come back, but that part was less than usual, and for once her telling herself that it hadn't actually been James who took her was enough to keep her calm and able to banter. She wasn't even pretending all that much, this was an actually fun conversation.
It got promptly less fun as James turned to more serious topics, and her expression got more grave to match. "JARVIS isn't listening in, but if Ginnie does find out, I know she'll stop me at least," She looked at him, "Maybe you as well, if she has a pair of cuffs that can hold you." ...That was an amusing and gross mental image. "T'Shan won't want us to avenge him and Ada...well, she might not either, and I can't trust her like I can my team." Yes, Ada was an Avenger, but in Aileen's mind, there was the "Core Four" of her, T'Shan, James and Ginnie, and "the others", like Rupert and Ada. Even if they were all more powerful than her, it was just the way she thought.
"So yeah, we keep it from anyone who might stop us. And anyone in general." It was technically a crime what they were planning, after all. As he mentioned not killing anyone, Aileen looked torn. She didn't want to kill. Never did. But they'd gone after T'Shan and Lydia. "Not if we don't have to." She said. Somehow, she never thought she'd be taking this stance, and James the non-lethal one. "I'll leave my guns at home." She had a pair of Colt M1911 handguns she kept for serious situations, and if this didn't constitute one of those, she didn't know what did, but James was setting the terms here. She came to him for help.
At the mention of Ada, Aileen looked awkwardly away. She was hoping James wouldn't point out both her right to revenge and the fact that she had a kingdom, but she'd gone and done both. "It's....awkward with Ada," She said, "I like her, and she's a good fighter, but...." There was no easy way to say this, "She's not one of us. None of them are. I like Rupert and Ada and Lilu, a lot, but they're not the people I can rely on. And despite how I've treated you, you are." She was also really hoping that counted as an apology for avoiding him for months. At his point about not being friends, she was thrown. It was one of the ones she'd thrown at herself repeatedly while debating whether to ask him or not.
"I never meant to cut you out for so long," She told him. Looks like she was going to have to explain. She'd been thinking of how she felt, she hadn't thought what it was like for him with her blaming him for something someone else had done. "After what happened, I just told myself I needed a couple of weeks to get over it. And then a couple of weeks turned into a month, and then two months. And then..." Her voice shook slightly. "I wanted to talk to you, to get back to normal, but..." To her mortification, there were now tears running down her face, "I just... I just..." She tried to disguise a sob as a cough, "I just hid. After what happened with the other you. I'm sorry." She was basically blabbering by this point, speaking quickly as she tried to ignore more and more tears down her cheeks. This was a long way away from the banter just a minute ago, and even the conversation about killing had been less painful than this.
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Post by James Barnes Jr on Aug 5, 2016 19:58:32 GMT -6
"It's not fair, but I have access to SHIELD memory wiping technology. I can erase this conversation. Besides, I'm pretty sure he knows. I think he figured it out when I tried to fight him in a field." He looked up from what he was doing. "Maybe just forget you heard that. I meant our weekend in Vegas."
The Super Soldier paused. "Wait. You two bet 15 dollars? That's deplorable." He took a moment and deadpanned. "Surely, that bet is worth more. I mean come on. It's us. It would be worth several thousand dollars to the right tabloids."
He continued writing on the note pad. "JARVIS can't listen in. I keep a scrambler active in this room to prevent it. I handle too much classified stuff to worry about the AI or anyone else getting curious. I imagine Rupe has one similar in his room." He listened to Aileen's reasoning for keeping everyone out of their little errand. "So basically, you want someone you can trust who won't stop you. You can trust those two. They're good people and they've earned their place here. Ten fold. But I understand what you're saying."
The confession that Aileen gave was unexpected. Well, that wasn't true. James knew her psychological profile enough to know that it would have come at some point. He just wasn't expecting it so soon. James nodded, and reached to pat her on the shoulder. "Apology unneeded but accepted. I understand. I took a few weeks off from the Avengers to get sorted, myself. I was debating quitting to make things easier for you and T'Shan, honestly. Ginnie stepped in. Then T'Shan." He gave her shoulder a squeeze.
"That's why I was giving you your space. I figured you'd come talk to me when you were ready. I'm not mad or anything. I get it." He wrote a few more things down. "I've got the perfect excuse for what we can do. I'll tell Ginnie we're taking a team building day to try to get things sorted. It will make her happy and give us some space to operate."
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Post by Aileen Barton on Aug 13, 2016 15:19:23 GMT -6
Aileen was mortified as tears continued to pour down her cheeks. She'd come in planning on having a serious conversation about their next move and the steps they'd have to take to make sure it was kept quiet, and possibly making a dignified and heartfelt apology. Instead she'd ended up breaking down and sobbing next to him, and she was pretty sure it wasn't all about what had happened with James. It was just everything that happened to her, everything that was still happening. Mostly about James and what had happened to her and what she'd done, though. As he squeezed her shoulder, she was simultaneously glad for the contact and thankful he didn't try for anything else. They'd cleared a lot of the air, but she still wasn't sure she'd be comfortable with that.
"You tried to quit?" She asked, her voice shaking again, "I didn't...You shouldn't have..." She wasn't entirely sure how she was supposed to end that sentence. "Ginnie would never have let you." That was safe. That wouldn't rock the boat. But then she paused again. "What do you mean, make it easier for me and T'Shan?" Of course all of them had read the tabloid articles, seen the stories, the gossip, the shippy tumblr posts. And yeah, maybe, back then, she'd thought about it. But had she been thinking about T'Shan? Or had she been thinking about his replacement? His brutish, evil replacement? She still wasn't sure. Everything had blurred together. And then, after whatever the hell had happened to him, T'Shan had told him he loved her, but that had to just be his relief at having survived talking, surely. And at being home after everything. Right?
Eventually her tears stopped, and she wiped at her eyes with a sleeve, chuckling. "Didn't mean for this to happen," She said, a sort of laughing sob escaping her as she smiled at James. It was strained, but not forced. "Thank you for the space, it means a lot to me. Sometimes you and T'Shan are such guys I forget you can actually be kinda sensitive underneath it all." She frowned as he mentioned the team-building exercise. "You think she'll buy it?" She wasn't sure how much they could get done in a day, but James could always extend it. And one last thing. "If you mind-wipe me, Ginnie will never let you touch her again."
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Post by James Barnes Jr on Sept 27, 2016 14:04:09 GMT -6
James let her shed the tears. He'd dealt with enough people in his life to know that this was helpful to let Aileen to move past the trauma she'd experienced and begin to heal. He knew that they weren't back to 100 percent yet, but this was a good start to repairing their friendship.
"You're right. She didn't let me. I did quit and she told me that she wouldn't tolerate that. She came to my apartment and argued with me. We made everything work again. But, she wants me to keep working with the Avengers.
The Super Soldier offered Aileen a smile. "Yeah, we never do. It's okay though. Everything will be fine. We'll work it out." There was a pause. "You forget that I have a little sister. I am used to the need for sensitivity and giving people space. I am just very good at hiding it." The question of Ginnie's acceptance was a good one.
"I do. She wants us to work out our differences. Her better nature will make her want to believe it, even if it may not be true." And then he nodded. "You know I would never wipe your mind. Unless I sincerely had to. That's not something I'm in the habit of doing unless it saves lives."
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Post by Aileen Barton on Oct 27, 2016 10:19:06 GMT -6
It was embarrassing, unfortunate and honestly just inconvenient for Aileen to cry, but maybe it'd served a purpose. She felt a little better, and it felt like, in a way, it'd broken the ice between them. After a month of being agonisingly cordial and courteous but nothing else to each other, they were finally being honest and almost like they'd been before everything had happened. "Right, I'm sure arguing was all that happened last night," She said with a bit of a wet chuckle, "Did you take back the resignation before or after the angry sex?" She figured she knew both of them well enough to guess at that.
Aileen wiped her eyes again, clearing them of the last of her tears. She had the sort of complexion that didn't go splotchy and red when she cried, but it had still undoubtedly ruined her makeup. She'd need to touch that up in the bathroom as soon as she was done. And probably fix her hair. And anything she could do to delay seeing people until she was certain it'd look like she'd done nothing more taxing than watch Bridget Jones that day. "Just always kinda assume you were a bit of a jerk of a big brother," She told him, a teasing note in her voice, "Making fun of Lydia, hiding her things. Farting everywhere." It was definitely easier to joke now, to mock him jut a little bit.
Aileen still wasn't sure how likely it was that they'd gone on some sort of training retreat together, but would Ginnie have it in her to question her best friend and...well, whatever James was all that thoroughly? Maybe she'd just be happy they were working things out and leave them to it. Still, Aileen felt bad lying to Ginnie. She only rarely did it, and usually about petty things. This was a big lie. A serious lie. But it was the only way she'd be able to do anything without Ginnie handcuffing her to a bed. "The only thing you're allowed to wipe from my mind is the memory of that video of Phil Coulson twerking," She told him, a smile on her face.
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Post by James Barnes Jr on Nov 15, 2016 3:02:48 GMT -6
"We debated it for a bit. She had some better ideas."
James shrugged. "We didn't sleep together until afterwards, if you must know. And that's all you're getting from me. It never happened, as far as anyone else is concerned. Don't make me let things slip to the Asgardian. Because I will." It wasn't a big secret, what was going on with him and Ginnie, but the two of them were still trying to figure it out and they didn't need it broadcast over the entire universe until they had at least figured out some semblance of what was going on.
"No, her friends Marty and Walt were always the little jerks that she dealt with. Because of our age difference and all the things she was going through, I actually tried to treat her like a princess. I always thought that it would make things easier for her." The super soldier offered a shrug. "I know. It shocks most people. But it's generally good policy to be nicer to the sibling that can blast you through walls. It also saves on repair bills."
As James went about setting up the cover story in his mind and working some details out, he paused and stared at Aileen. "Yeah... No one wants that erased from their mind more than me. Except maybe Lydia. He's like our dad. Think about that for a minute." He looked at the paper and then at Aileen. "When can you be ready to leave?"
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Post by Aileen Barton on Dec 24, 2016 5:33:42 GMT -6
"Uh-huh," Aileen told him, a wry smirk on her face as she nodded, "'Better ideas'? Is that what we're calling it these days?" After over a year of them denying there was anything there, she was determined to tease them to hell and back over it. "Well now that you two are together, maybe Ginnie will tell you about the times me and her had 'better ideas'." She wasn't going to let this drop anytime soon. Or until Ginnie did one of her usual revenges, like shooting her or leaving her in an ice-cold hot tub, or just whatever JARVIS could think of that would annoy her.
Aileen continued to nod as James gave a mixture of further information and warnings. Her mouth opened to make a quippy comment, but snapped shut at the threat. "...What would you let slip?" She asked cautiously. Anxiety began to build in the pit of her stomach. He couldn't know about Flo, surely. They were never obvious, and Aileen refused to see her in the Tower. The thought of any of them knowing wasn't great, but especially T'Shan, that was terrible. Still, as James continued to talk about Lydia, Aileen took a slow breath out. It was going to be fine. No way did James know, and no way would he tell even if he did. "Aww, you were whipped by your sister?" Aileen said, her teasing tone back. It was definitely sweet how James was with Lydia. "My cousin lived with us for a couple of years, and me and her tortured each other constantly."
At the more serious question, Aileen paused and pursed her lips as she thought. "Got a photoshoot in a couple weeks," She told him, "Dinner with Ginnie next Friday. That's all I got planned. So any time after that should be good, if you can convince Ginnie that nothing's going on." She was honestly less worried about T'Shan stopping them, if she was honest. He'd understand why she wanted revenge, and he often thought with his heart. Not Ginnie, however. Aileen knew that her best friend would weigh up the risks and decide it was much too dangerous. T'Shan could be persuaded to let them go, but Ginnie would just stay firm in her belief, and probably leave Aileen handcuffed to something until she agreed.
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