BRAINWASHED ─ marvel

III. The Cargo Boat

Chapter Three:
Bucky

There's only two transportation options available to get to Mongolia. Flying or by boat. Unfortunately flying isn't an option. I have no identity or passport, and while I'm sure I could find someone to create those for me here, I don't have the patience or care to do so, so going by boat is my best option. It will take about a week to get from D.C. to Hong Kong, then I'll steal a car and drive for about two days until I reach Erdenet.

It's not ideal, but it will have to do.

At the shipping harbor I'm currently at, only a couple boats are heading to Hong Kong. One of them is rather large, filled to the brim with crates, so it could be easy to hide there, but I also see a lot of workers, so it will be equally as easy to get caught. Another one of the ships has a similar problem. But the third option, I see only three or four people on board. There aren't nearly as many crates and shipping containers on board, but it looks to be the safest option.

I hide behind a pile of crap traps as I scan the boat for the workers, but they are either below deck or off somewhere else on the dock. Now is my chance to sneak aboard.

I dash out from behind the traps and run towards the dock's ledge, jumping when I reach it's end and grabbing hold of the ship's stern. I recognize that walking aboard the ramp would have been easiest, but I'm not risking being seen, so I haul myself onto the boat from the back. Now that I'm on the ship, I notice that there's a wide staircase leading below deck, which presumably is used for storage. Staying there is my best bet, up here I'm just a walking target. As swiftly and silently as I can, I head below deck and scan around to find someplace to hide. Down here there's a couple doors, one of which leads to a bedroom with two large beds, another room is filled with bunk beds, which look cheap and old so they must be for crew members, another door leads to a bathroom, and the last door near the stern is a supply closet.

That will have to do.

I slip inside and shut the door gently behind me, and in just enough time as well. A few seconds after I step away from the door, footsteps clunk above me. More footsteps follow a few minutes later, I count a total of five. If things go south I can handle five crewmen, though I'm hoping to avoid any altercations while on this voyage. I hope I can just hide in here, unnoticed and undisturbed.

It's a new and strange feeling to want to back out from a fight instead of run headlong into one. Perhaps the old me didn't like fighting all that much and the instinct for peace is starting to come back to me. I didn't even consider that: that more than just my memories would return, that my instincts, my beliefs, my behavior would start to reappear.

I feel like a snake shedding it's skin, like the Winter Soldier has grown unfit for my body, so bit by bit I'm removing him and becoming James Barnes.

This line of thinking makes my head begin to ache, so I go to sit down on the floor and begin to rub my temples. I really wish my memories and every other aspect of my old self would just come back to me all at once, it's frustrating and near torturous to—

"Hello!" A tiny voice says to my left.

I slowly turn my head to find a small boy standing a couple feet away, holding a toy boat in one hand and a toy plane in the other.

I cautiously give him a wave. "Hi."

"What are you doing on my daddy's boat?" He asks innocently.