Joy ride (part1): Stealing

pursuit

Steve has always been an idiot. Bucky knows that down to his bones, and James hadn't even needed to read between the lines at the Smithonian exhibit to learn that. Stevie just never thinks. Never thinks things through. He is definitely not thinking as he's sliding down another slanted roof-top, opening to a clear drop at least fifty feet down. James scampers a level above him, doing a little better on the edge of the dome of a tower twenty feet removed. Mostly thanks to the spear he's jammed between the black shimmering tiles.

How the pair got to the far roof is a mystery. Steve might have jumped; but the clerk could not have traversed that distance unaided. For James, the distance itself is not a problem: he is a sniper first. He likes to keep his distance. But.

It's frustrating; watching as Steve slowly closes on the clerk, who is probably not a real clerk because he's doing reasonably well navigating the slippery roof while backing up. When he reaches a corner, the man turns easily, his body becoming progressively obscured from James's position. Still the distance is manageable. An easy shot; a possible knife-throw. James has no guns and only the one knife on him, but he's confident he can make the throw. He has the luxury and time to choose the killing shot, or aim the knife at the man's thigh and take him down. James could do it. If he had a hand to spare.

Instead, he's scraping boots over the edge for purchase, trying to place his body behind the upraised spear dug between tiles. Trying to get his single, right hand free so he can reach for the knife in its sheath on his back. Yet every time he thinks he's got his shoulder or hip leveraged right, the spear shifts a little, the shaft loses a few more degrees of its vertical position, and James slips. This has to be the first time James actually misses his metal prosthetic at all.

"Mister Barnes." a slightly cold voice rings out from above; from the balcony he came from. The vestibule Now leap to the side and at least ten feet above him. It's the General, Okoye, one hand pressed firmly on the railing, spear stuck out to him from the other. "Please climb back up to us. You are in no state for acrobatics."

"I'm in no state? What about Rogers?"

She grins at him, all teeth and no amusement whatsoever. "How about you come back in; that way I can deal with Mister America next."

James takes one look at the two figures facing off. He has no worries Steve would lose. He just worries, because Steve is a dumb fuck, and if this clerk is the kind of person James thinks he is,.. That creature would be happy to take them both down. And, James realises: "I can't."

Then, James curses: only half the clerk's dark head is still visible, Steve's hands warding and thrust forward as his lips move. He's fucking trying to talk that creature down! The large blond has his gaze locked with the clerk, but the dark man steps back and is now completely out of sight. This is not good.

"James, look at me."Okoye, again, from above. "Please trust my people to take care of this and climb back up here."

James does trust the Dora to do their job. He does. But this is Steve being an idiot, and James cannot take a risk of them not stopping Steve. So instead James looks towards the tower's side. He'd have to either climb over the dome or shimmy around to the other side, but he's reasonably sure he'll be able to get eyes on the clerk from there. Maybe he'll have a better purchase, and he'll be able to take the shot.

While Okoye starts to rant about the useless stupidity of men in general, and white men in particular, James tries the shimmy tactic. It sounded nice in theory, but he's already dangerously close to falling. Only his one boot, planted behind the spear, gives any purchase. As much as he tries to find purchase with the other foot so he can move the spear, he finds none. Not even kicking in produces more of a foothold; instead a tile drops. And, a second one right after. James has a moment of hope that the mortar beneath might offer a little more friction than the smooth covers, and then.. another tile drops, and suddenly the resistance the spear had offers changes to nil.