Morden Man

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

Hell of a first Superman post. Knew you had the chops for Big Blue. @Hexaflexagon

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

This is what I think of your fucking egg puns.

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

Speak for yourself, I was on to that one an eggs-tremely long time ago.

@BlackSam3091

Guardians of Infinity

I really liked the concept but I guess even with a group as small as this getting everyone's schedules/lives in order to progress the story linearly was always going to be a tough ask.

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

March 24th, 2005
07:13am

Sixteen long hours. Bucky had never seen anything like it. In the forties there wasn't the time for men to break their prisoners down like Smiley did, with words instead of violence, but it was every bit as difficult to watch. There was a directness to the kid of methods men once espoused that although brutal made it less mentally trying than the process Smiley put Stevenson and Fontaine through. Questions after questions, follow up questions, asking them to recall minute details of operations years past, and the dragging through of their personal and professional lives. Smiley picked at their tragedies and flaws until they weeped like an infected scab and unwittingly revealed something about themselves. That type of scrutiny could make a person long after a pair of pliers.

It was revealing to watch Stevenson and Fontaine under duress. There were things you only learned about a person when their back was against the wall and they had no way of escaping. Neither Stevenson or Fontaine seemed like sunshine patriots. They had both endured hardships that had them stashed away in Jakarta but neither chose to leave for the private sector where they could have made a small fortune. They stood their ground and fought. For themselves, for their careers, and for their countries. Bucky wondered how he might have fared subjecting to George's relentless questioning.

Once they appeared and Bucky had taken them both downstairs to sleep, George asked of him to remove the tape from Jackson's room. He knew with some men that meant the pliers were coming out but with Smiley it meant something different. They'd be talking about something George wanted kept out of the prying eyes of Washington. Though Bucky's part in this mission had all but come to an end he sensed that Smiley's work was far from done.

"I'll be downstairs," Bucky said tiredly to the Deputy Director. "Give me a holler if Jackson tries anything."

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

It had been another long night. Brent Jackson had spent most of it pleading with Valentina, Bucky, and Stevenson that there had been some misunderstanding. He said he'd picked the folder up by accident at first. Then that he'd meant to pick it up and that he was going to hand it over to them the second they had landed in Tanjung Priok. Finally when it became clear that his excuses wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference he fell silent for the night.

Smiley had ordered Bucky to take the three of them out into the Indonesian countryside and to their credit Stevenson and Valentina had cooperated without complaint. They seemed to understand the drill. They were under suspicion by extension now and would have to jump through every hoop that Jackson did to prove they weren't dirty too.

It was a few hours into the afternoon when Smiley touched down in Indonesia. Barnes waited nervously in the confines of the two-story safehouse and watched the clock. He was anxious. With Tiger Shark dead, they needed to know how deep the rot went and every second they weren't privy to that information left them exposed. Jackson could have given HYDRA everything or scraps. That's what Smiley was on his way here to find out.

A wave of relief ran through Bucky as he heard the buzzer sound. He walked towards the front desk and glanced at the black and white screens. He smiled as he saw the Deputy Director on the doorstep to the safehouse wiping some sweat from his forehead. With a click of a button the fortified door opened up and gestured George inside.

"A three-piece suit in this weather?" Bucky grinned. "I admire your sartorial dedication if nothing else, sir."

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

"Roger that Beggar Man," Bucky said gravely as Jackson appeared from inside Tiger Shark's yacht and waved to Bucky. "Over and out."

As he let his hand slip from his earpiece Bucky sighed a little. Jackson, Stevenson, and de la Fontaine had seemed like a close knit group and something like this would tear them apart. Valentina might even be demoted and moved out of Indonesia. There was a part of Bucky that hoped there'd been some mistake but he knew that Brent wouldn't have been under suspicion if there wasn't at least some dirt on him. Jackson's insistence that Bucky leave to make contact with the rest of the team whilst he searched through Tiger Shark's things suddenly seemed conspicuous. Barnes shook his head, reminding himself not to act any differently with Brent, as he heard Jackson's footsteps coming up the steps towards him.

Bucky feigned a smile. "You find anything?"

"Nothing of use," Brent muttered as he pushed his thick glasses up his nose. "We should probably get going soon, Captain. Tiger Shark wasn't the only shark out here in these waters. Just the biggest one. I don't know about you, but I'd much rather not meet any of the others."

Bucky nodded and watched as Jackson wandered over to the captain of the container ship to explain what he needed from him. From his face Bucky could tell that he wasn't pleased at some American ordering him to turn the entire ship around but eventually he came to. The ship's crew rigged a chain to Tiger Shark's yacht and prepared to drag it after them. Satisfied the crew understood the consequences if the contents of Tiger Shark's ship were disturbed before they arrived back in Tanjung Priok, Brent appeared again and gestured to Bucky to climb inside the Chinook.

The journey back was a tense one, much of it conducted in silence, until Bucky told Jackson about the actual tiger that Tiger Shark had kept onboard his yacht. When Bucky explained to him how'd despatched the animal Jackson had laughed until he was red in the face. He'd even taken his hands away from the Chinook's stick for a second to wrap his knuckles against his chest like King Kong. Bucky's heart was in his mouth as he did it but despite everything he couldn't help but smile at someone making a cultural reference he actually understood for once.

In the distance the lights of Tanjung Priok came into sight and Bucky took a glance at Brent sat beside him.

Brent smiled uncomfortably. "Something wrong? You seem a little tense, Cap."

"There was a boy back there," Bucky said, clearing his throat a little as he stared out at the water beneath them. "He must have been seventeen, maybe sixteen, probably not even old enough to buy himself a beer back in the States. I killed him... I had to killed him, he would have blown the whole damn operation otherwise, but I can't get his face out of my mind for some reason. He was too young. You know?"

Jackson nodded and placed one of his hands on Bucky's shoulder to comfort him. Bucky smiled at him briefly and found himself willing Jackson not to have been involved in that mess in Yemen. Yet the feeling in the pit of his stomach, the gnawing, was too strong for him to ignore. The cranes of Tanjung Priok grew closer by the second and in the distance the outline of the black Jeep that had carried Bucky to the port came into sight. In a matter of minutes the two ant-like figures beside it grew more and more detailed. Mike Stevenson's large imposing frame stood cross-armed, his slick back hair unmoved by the wind of the rotors, with "Contessa" beside him waiting for them to land.

As the Chinook lowered to the ground Bucky opened the passenger side door and leapt down.

"Word from Beggar Man," Bucky said as quietly as he could to Valentina and Stevenson, gesturing to Brent. "We need to search him."

Valentina shook her head vociferously and whispered. "Brent? That doesn't make any sense."

Bucky understood her shock. He'd only known Jackson for a day and even he had found himself willing Jackson to be innocent. Bucky could only imagine what Valentina and Stevenson were feeling. They had worked beside him in Indonesia for nearly half a decade, shared their secrets with him, and put their lives on the line for and with him more times than they could count. To hear that Smiley suspected his involvement in a terrorist attack must have felt as much an affront to their character as it did on Jackson's.

"With or without your consent I'm going to search him," Bucky commanded. He looked to Stevenson. "Are you with me?"

"What's going on?" Brent said suspiciously as he climbed out of the helicopter. "What are you guys talking about?"

Stevenson looked to his Station Chief to get his cue and she nodded at him. Brent's eyes widened suddenly as he realised he'd been made and he attempted to run. He'd made it a few metres before Stevenson pulled out his pistol and took aim at him. Bucky placed his hand over Stevenson's pistol and gestured to him to put it down. There was a crackle of energy and Bucky's arc shield burst into life. With an effortless toss Bucky knocked Jackson off his feet and he landed on the ground a violent thud.

Valentina gestured Stevenson towards him. "Search him."

Mike climbed atop Brent and placed one of his large knees in the centre of his chest. The lenses of Brent's glasses had been broken on his tumble to the ground and across his chin were a few grazes where'd he'd scratched his face along on the tarmac.

Jackson tried in vain to wriggle free from Stevenson's grip before opting to plead his case instead. "There's been some kind of mistake here."

A mocking laugh left Stevenson's lips as he looked down at Jackson. "Why'd you run then, Brent?"

He was met with stony silence. It took a while to pat Brent down at first but when Valentina pushed a gun in his face he suddenly became more cooperative. Stevenson turned him over, making sure to push his face into the ground as he did so, and lifted up the distinctive white, orange, and navy gilet that Jackson wore most days. There wedged beneath Brent's shirt and his pants was a brown file full of papers. An expletive slipped from Valentina's lips in Italian and Stevenson held the file up to Bucky with a disappointed look.

"Beggar Man," Bucky said as he placed his hand against his earpiece. "You're going to need to get on a flight to Jakarta as soon as you can."

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

Aboard the container ship Bucky walked past the lifeless body of the boy he'd killed before sneaking onto Tiger Shark's yacht. There was a puddle of blood beneath his neck where he'd bled as he drowned on his own blood. His face was young and hairless with nary a wrinkle on it. Seventeen, maybe sixteen, Bucky thought to himself as he stared down at him. The ease with which he'd taken the boy's life left him despondent, especially now that he'd failed to capture Tiger Shark, and now he wondered whether he might have dispatched the boy without taking his life. His shield would have made too much noise. At least, Bucky needed to believe that.

He stared down at Tiger Shark's yacht where Brent Jackson was busy sifting through the pirate's possessions for evidence when Valentina's voice came through the earpiece in Bucky's cowl. "Sisyphus? This is Contessa."

"I hear you Contessa," Bucky muttered. "What do you need?"

"I'm putting you through to Beggar Man."

Bucky nodded to himself as he recalled Smiley's call sign and waited to be put through. There was a brief pause and he heard Valentina shuffling around for a few seconds. Finally the shuffling ended and Bucky figured he'd been patched through.

"Come in Beggar Man," Bucky said as he stared out at the Indian Ocean. "This is Sisyphus."

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED

The most beautiful bromance.

@Strawberry425

Ahem, these two dashing gentlemen would like a word with you.



@Natty

Maximum Comics: Dawn of Justice | REBRANDING - PLEASE STAY TUNED