[Video; un: Snowpiercer]

[peacemongering]

[Pierce doesn't normally make announcements, except when it comes to internal company memos and the like. He keeps things strictly business most of the time, but he is making this addition to the network from his communal housing room. He looks grave and upset, but he is clearly wanting those who might wish to know the information that he has obtained.]

To anyone who knew and was friends with Miss Ava Orlova, I regret to have you inform you all that she has returned back through the portal. While we had only begun to build a relationship, she was the closest person to having one of my daughters back, and I will miss her.

[He sighs heavily and folds his hands together, managing a grief-stricken smile.]

If anyone has any stories of her exploits, I would very much value hearing about them.

Comments

[advanced]

[His fingers flex just slightly. He could end this now, nobody else is around to know, and Pierce is no physical match for him. God he wants to, but he won't become a murderer again.]

You knew what I meant, we both did, you only twisted my words to try and confuse me. It's not gonna work, I know your tricks now.

[peacemongering]

[He was waiting for when either the violence would come or the former-weapon would flee back into the day and never be heard from again. He was mentally placing a bet on which was more likely.]

If I wanted to confuse you, I would have chosen a different tactic completely. Do you know all my tricks? You're that self-assured on what I'm capable of, hmm.

[advanced]

Yeah, I know exactly what you're capable of.

[That, at least, is something he's pretty confident on.]

I remember pretty much everything we've ever done together, I've watched you for years.

[peacemongering]

[That brought a small smile to his lips, and he watched the Soldier for a long quiet moment.]

We made an excellent team. I could always trust you with my secrets back then.

[advanced]

Is that what you think we were?

[A team. Surely Pierce doesn't actually believe his own spin on things.]

[peacemongering]

Of course. Every member of a team works together to bring about a common goal. We were one another's second family; neither of us could have survived without it.

[He raised an eyebrow, watching the Soldier for reaction. Waiting for the denial.]

[advanced]

I'm surviving without it.

[It's not a denial that's what they were, even if he doesn't believe for a second they were at all like a team, but it's proof that part of what Pierce says is a total lie.]

[peacemongering]

Surviving isn't the same as living, which is likely how you would call your days with HYDRA. So in essence, you've done more while with HYDRA than you have here in this place.

[Keeping hitting a nail, and it would either bend and force its way right into the wood it was being pounded into.]

[advanced]

You just said we couldn't survive without it, said nothing about living.

[Wait, that's not how that meant to come out.]

I'm just proof you're wrong.

[peacemongering]

You can't live without surviving. You can't live while only surviving.

[Please, come deeper into his spiderweb of words.]

You always defied the odds, but still, hiding out in the ruins is nothing more than surviving. You look like you've dropped weight. Getting enough to eat?

[advanced]

I was taught to survive without a whole lot to eat.

[If he had to. Though HYDRA kept him well fed while he was in their hands, he was still trained to deal with starvation on a mission if it was necessary.]

And I don't need your fake concern.

[peacemongering]

So you admit that you aren't living, since you are only surviving.

[HYDRA needed a well working ideal weapon, and he had understood that, but there was a need to connect that had previously been denied. Karpov and the Red Room kept a distance like those under their control. He liked a different approach where he could.]

My concern for you was never fake.

[advanced]

Shut up.

[It's so frustrating to have his words constantly twisted about on him like that, and the fed back with just enough truth that he can't deny them.]

I know what you're trying to do and it isn't going to work, I'm my own man now, not yours.

[peacemongering]

Are you?

[He left the question hanging there, watching his Soldier with compassion, like that was not the first lie he would have to break this man of. There had been so few wars between himself and the Soldier; this was almost exciting.]

And as your own man, you're here to tell me off for doing what... being a friend to Miss Orlova?

[advanced]

You weren't her friend. Whatever she was doing here with you, it wasn't being friends. She's too smart for that, and you're not capable of friendship.

[It's stupid to keep throwing barbs out, but he can't seem to disengage now that he's started. Like walking away will be admitting defeat somehow.]

[peacemongering]

[At that accusation, Pierce laughed, warm and affectionate. It had him leaning heavier on his desk as he tried to contain it, and he even lifted a hand to wipe moisture from the corner of his eye. Oh, that was a good one.]

She wasn't too smart to propose a chess game with me. She wasn't resistant when she let me watch her perform ballet. She wasn't angry when she came to me after midnight on many occasion to discuss various subjects. Are you calling your apparent friend stupid?

From my experience, that makes you a bad friend.

[advanced]

[The laughter grates on him and he very turns to leave right then and there, but that would have been the smarter option. Instead, he throws a punch right at Pierce's face to try and knock that smug smile right off.

Stupid. Really stupid. He came here determined not to get drawn into anything physical that could come back and bite him, and now look.]

[peacemongering]

[Pierce knew at some point he would push just far enough to earn the kind of result that he was looking to have. He saw the punch coming, of course, and he enacted a momentary and appropriate look of surprise before that fist connected with his cheek.

There was a decided crack and a flare of blinding pain as he slipped sideways off of the desk to fall to the floor. He lay there without an utterance of pain, but his cheek was already swelling rapidly and his eye had sunken.]

[advanced]

[His mind feels like it's being torn into shreds after that, tugging him in all different directions. Part of him wants to flee, ashamed of losing control and afraid of what this would mean. Another part desperately wants to finish this, to beat Pierce until he's physically incapable of twisting anyone's words ever again, a frightening darkness by how easy it would be. And worst of all, there's still a part of him that feels as though he's attacked his handler, and that he should be punished for it.

It's all too much and he ends up stood frozen in place, just staring down at the rapidly blossoming bruising on Pierce's face, where his sunken cheek clearly speaks to a broken bone.]

[peacemongering]

[The pain was blinding, which kept him on the floor longer than possibly others might. He trembled where he lay, and he managed to slowly lift a hand to gingerly touch his cheek, feeling the damage along with each new flare of pain. The headache that was already setting in was distracting, but he still made slow progress to move from laying down to sitting up.

He eventually ended up leaning heavily on his desk, and the whole right side of his face appeared to be melting downwards. His left eye was able to focus with some work on his part, and he stared up at the frozen Soldier.]

Are you going to call for medical assistance, finish what you started, or walk away?

[advanced]

[It chills him right to the bone that Pierce can ask that question so calmly, when he looks so hurt. It really does feel like this was a battle and, despite being the one without any blood on him, Bucky has definitely lost. Lost badly.

He should call for medical assistance, but he can't bring himself to actually help, that feels like a slippery slope towards obedience. So he chooses the third option, he turns on his heel suddenly and flees as if the hounds of hell are on his tail.]