biggerstick | (no subject)

No, you deserve it.

What'd I do!

I don't remember, but I was annoyed so obviously you deserve it.

Then he'll stay with you until you can find it in yourself to forgive me. What are you doin'?

Remodeling.

Are you going to have a problem with it?

You can stop. We're not goin' that way.

[ it's very much the even-keeled, matter-of-fact tone of his commands. ]

You can either give me a viable alternative or you're gonna have an insubordination problem, Cap.

I don't have one.

Then I'm remodeling.

Tony, we'll think of something. But it's wrong.

If I went crazy I'd want you to have a room to lock me into. If you went crazy I'd want a room to lock you into, and I think you would too.

It sucks that Barnes is having trouble with it, but locking up a dangerous criminal isn't wrong.

This isn't about Bucky being able to handle it. It's about the fact that he's not a criminal, he's a man who will have had unconscionable things done to him beyond his choice or control to make him dangerous, and treating him otherwise isn't going to help him remember who he is, or make him any less dangerous.

He's gonna have so many people against him on all sides who're going to want to do exactly this to him or worse, but we've got to be better than that, Tony, for his sake.

For God's sake. He is turning into an assassin, the Winter Soldier is an assassin. Will have been an assassin for decades.

JARVIS, show Cap what we got on the Winter Soldier, skipping whatever you've managed to dig up from other universes.

[it's not that much info, but enough to get a very clear idea of just how dangerous the Winter Soldier is]

You want to keep him from doing harm and getting harmed, you're not gonna manage it with hugs.

[ he looks at it, and flinches, but he doesn't look away from it, either. mostly he just looks terribly sad. ]

You think this is anything I haven't already imagined? Tony, I'm not gonna let him hurt anyone. But I'm not gonna add to this, either.

JARVIS, what happens if this place makes me a danger to myself or others?

The protocol currently in place requires denying you access to the suit and computers and notifying Captain Rogers, sir.

Hear that? It's called having sense.

[ actually smiles a little at that, touched. ]

It's also called trusting me to do the right thing. I'm not gonna lock you up, but that doesn't mean handing you back the weapon. You said it yourself, you either trust me or you don't.

Edited 2013-11-02 04:06 (UTC)

[Tony sounds pretty annoyed]

You wouldn't need to lock me up because you can knock me out with a single punch. And you just said you don't have an alternative.

I don't. I also said we'll figure something else out. That's what the trust is about — can you believe that or not?

[ he pauses, but not long enough for Tony to answer just yet. ]

Look, I can't give you a guarantee. But that's not our job. We're here to do the most good for the least damage. Not the most damage we can justify in the name of being safe. Guarantees are nuclear deterrents. They're making things we have no business making because we're afraid something less won't be enough.

You're not going to figure something else out, because when you need something like this figured out, you ask me, and I got nothing.

So, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna build what I was gonna build anyway and if you don't need to use it, good for you. And if you do, then it's there— also, I spent the better part of a year being a nuclear deterrent, so...

. . . I hope you change your mind. But in the meantime, if it's gonna be here, I can't be.

[turns back to his monitors]

I'll miss you.

. . . me, too.

[ and heads for the door. ]

Are you leaving the bear?