War Zone (AU?) Meme

[cornichaun]

 THE WAR ZONE MEME


WARNING: Meme will contain TRIGGERS, including war, violence, capture, and general uncomfortable content. Please do not click if you don't want to see, and please respect your fellow role-players.

◊ Post with your character with name and canon. 
◊ List any preferences(roles, scenarios, time periods, etc.) you have.
◊ Reply to others! Roll using random.org or choose your prompts.

ROLES
1) The General/Admiral: You're the head honcho, the guy in charge. You have hundreds, maybe thousands of lives resting on you. What decision will you make?

2) The Officer: Not the leader, but you've got responsibility for your crew. What's your specialty -- independent initiative? Insubordination? Or do you let the noncoms walk all over you?

3) The Soldier: Just an ordinary soldier with your pike, or rifle, or energy gun. Your job is to follow orders. But when it comes down to it, when you look the enemy in the eye -- what will you do?

4) Spy: Dressed in civilian clothes, disguised as an enemy officer. Your job is to get as much information as you can, and then get out. Or are you going to sow a little chaos and destruction along the way?

5) Civilian: This is your land that's being fought over. Do you support a side? Do you hide, or do you hold steady in the face of such violence?

6) Other. 

SCENARIOS
1) Battle: In the middle of the fighting.

2) Downtime/R&R: A few peaceful moments, to spend as you will.

3) Sabotage: Something's gone terribly wrong. A factory blown up, a bridge destroyed, an assassination. What do you do about it?

4) Planning: How do you go about storming that beach?

5) Capture/Rescue: The enemy soldiers have you surrounded. Or maybe you're on a daring mission to break your buddies out of jail.

6) Other. 

TIME PERIOD
1) Ancient times: Grab that centurion's helmet, form up into a phalanx, and let's go crush those Gauls and/or Persians!

2) Medieval times: Suit up in your armor, grab a lance and make sure to bring along your squire.

3) Revolutionary times: Basic guns and muskets, very little medical care, and very little tactics. Give the other army a few days to dig in, and they'll hold you off forever.

4) World War I/II: Technology is advancing, and warfare is more sophisticated than ever. Remember the trenches, the skirmishes in cities, the spies and the drama.

5) Modern times: Guerilla warfare, modern tactics, modern technology.

6) The future: Ray guns? Space battles? Let your imagination go wild.

7) Other.

Comments

Bucky Barnes | MCU |

[frozenassets]

[ooc: Timeline: Bucky's from World War II as a soldier serving with the Howling Commandos. OTA to all scenarios. Medium to longer prose preferred.]

[super_soldier]

[ooc: Any prompt in particular catch your eye?]

[frozenassets]

[ooc: maybe something to do with sabotage or there's a mole or something, possibly a mission nearly gets compromised? I'm open to all the scenarios, really.]

[super_soldier]

Contrary to what the American public had been fed by the Stars and Stripes and all the various propaganda machines, the Howling Commandos did not come together as a seamless team. At least not at first which it to be expected when you throw in a bunch of strong personalities and people from a dozen different walks of life. Under normal circumstances, a Japanese American, an African American and a French Resistance fighter along with a British soldier would never have been allowed to fight in the same unit as a bunch of Caucasian soldiers like Steve and the others. It just wasn't done but Captain America had demanded his diversified unit and he'd had enough pull at the time to make it happen.

But that didn't mean everyone was rooting for them. Plenty of people stood by waiting for the Howling Commando's experiment to fail miserably. Because then they could use it as an excuse to forward whatever agenda they happened to be espousing. Because despite the stellar success they had had working together to take down the HYDRA base and bring home over three hundred soldiers, people still thought of Captain America as an over glorified publicity stunt so he and the Howling Commandos were under a lot of scrutiny.

They could scarcely ship out without the wire lighting up with reports where they might be sent to next and it was only a matter of time before the Nazis tapped into that information. So while the Howling Commandos were freezing their asses off trying to stealthily climb through the Italian Alps in the middle of winter to take down a HYDRA base, HYDRA already knew they were coming. The white landscape with its low-laying fog made visibility all but impossible beyond a ten or twenty yards but Steve was still able to spot the HYDRA soldier hiding high in a tree overhead sighting up to take a shot at Gabe's head.

His shield thumped audibly against the enemy soldier's body and sent him falling bodily from the tree to crash limp on the ground.

"We've got company!"

And that was when all hell broke loose.

[ooc: I figure he and Bucky can get cut off somewhere along the way? Lemme know if this works? I'm headed off to sleep now but I can change if it you need me to in the morning. Just hit me up on PM or something.]

[frozenassets]

[ooc: looks great! I'm not the fastest tagger as a warning, but I try to get back every other day or two.]

The cold prickles at his skin, about the same as the way the hairs on his neck seem to stand on end with this feeling like they're being watched as Bucky trudges through the forest with the other Commandos. His eyes dart from side to side, tree to tree, straining to pick apart an actual threat from shadows in the fog. His fingers tighten on the rifle cradled in his arms; he's at his best when he's got a high vantage point with a clear view of the battlefield, not down here on the ground with this soup all around them. It leaves him feeling useless, exposed. There's this sense that they aren't alone here and he's just waiting for that other shoe to drop, and deep down, he's wondering if he can kill whoever tries to take Steve out in time.

Only no one tries to take Steve out at first, because apparently Gabe was the target, and Steve's got it first. Steve suddenly turns, head cocked like a wolf listening for something in the wind, then he's a blur of motion. The shield goes zinging somewhere up in there air, with this sickening thud that has a body dropping from the tree like a bird that hit a skyscraper window. Bucky quickly slings the rifle on his shoulder, instead going for the handgun at his side.

It's sloppy. Bucky's thinking Hydra could have really gotten the jump on them if they hadn't put that one soldier in the tree. Or maybe that was the point; everyone's attention goes to Steve's shield suddenly whirling in the air and that body, that Steve's cry is the only thing that saves them then from getting a bullet in the stomach or leg; Bucky turns, gun raised, just in time to see patches of snow exploding upwards here and there, as soldiers, clad in white and and brown uniforms surge upwards. One of them's going for bigger mound, and whipping this blanket off in a spray of snow, reveals a mounted machine gun. His stomach sinks.

Bucky doesn't hesitate. His wrist whips right over, barrel of the pistol aimed right at the gunner, pulling the trigger, dropps the man right over it in a faint spray of red mist out the back of his skull before the soldier can get the thing turned their way. The air suddenly rattles with gun fire, as Bucky dives for the closest Commando - it's Dum Dum- and sends them both crashing into this ditch nearby with a hoarse swear coming out of the other Commando, right as another machine gun opens fire. Hand pressed to smash Dum Dum's bowler into his head, Bucky checks on him, makes sure he's okay, he's not been shot, then he's silently crossing himself for good luck, dimly hears himself tell Dum Dum to cover him- then Bucky does one of the more stupid things in his life, and pulls himself out of the makeshift trench as bullets whiz around him, as he make for Steve.

[colordoesnotrun]

[ooc: Ahahaha apparently I am too? Jesus, sorry it's taken me so long. This past week ran me over repeatedly with a steamroller and made RP impossible to brain.]

Steve couldn't really get a pin on HYDRA's tactics, honestly. Their whole 'cut one head off and two more spring up in its place' mentality was just sinfully wasteful in his mind. But they seemed to have the numbers to support such a tactically reckless campaign. Having gone up against the Nazis and HYDRA both together and apart, Steve wasn't sure where Schmidt got as many willing warm bodies to be tossed into the meat grinder. Maybe he had a killer recruitment campaign?

Things go to hell in a handbasket quickly from there. Bucky dropped the machine gun's gunner but sure as told, there was another HYDRA goon there springing up to take his place. The previously almost eerily silent woods was suddenly filled with the sound of gunfire. The Howling Commandos find themselves in enfilade between not one but two German machine guns.

"Monty, take Gabe and Dernier and try and get some flanking fire on that other MG!" Steve had to shout to be heard over the roar of the machine guns. He took cover behind a tree and did some quick calculating in his head. Not many people realized just how much math Steve Rogers had to do on the fly to make sure that his shield flew both true and invariably bounced back to him in the end. He could take out the new gunner but he had the sneaking suspicion that someone else would immediately be there to take their place which meant they needed to disable the damned gun now.

Steve saw Bucky's insane dash along the shallow laughable excuse for a trench and nearly felt his heart stop. Especially when bullets started to pelt right for him as the machine gun zeroed in on his position. "Bucky! Get down!" Everyone always thought of Captain America and thought of the shield but there was a reason Steve also went into the field packing a sidearm as well as the shield. The Colt pistol fit well in his hand despite the fact that Steve had never fired a gun before he'd joined the military. Three rapid shots hit the gunner with frightening precision, two in the chest and a final in the head and the machine gun went silent for a few moments at least and hopefully before it riddled his idiotic best friend full of holes.

[frozenassets]

Steve's not the only one Bucky's done something this reckless and stuck his neck out for; he's done it for his men, back before Hydra got his unit, but Steve's that weak spot of his where Bucky's a hell of a lot more likely to do it over and over and over again, no matter the odds. No matter how dumb the idea or how many guys, Bucky's always had a hard time picking his battles wisely when it came to Steve Rogers.

Just never thought he'd end up with more than one machine gun in the equation.

But he's got Dum Dum squared away, and Morita and the rest are up. Good enough for now, but Steve's still out int he open; shield or no shield, that thing's not big enough to cover all angles, or his legs.

Bucky charges forward, kicking up snow and snapping off shot after shot as he hurtles towards Steve's last location. His skin crawls all over with this twisting anticipation mixed with fear; any moment now, there's gotta be a bullet or several that finally get him, he might not even feel the pain first, he might just get the breath knocked out of him first, then the rest'll register. There's a lot of snow being kicked up, the trees blurring together as Bucky makes right for where the guns are most aimed; Steve's hunkering down behind his shield behind a tree trunk that's looking more and more like nothing but a pile of toothpicks waiting to happen, firing off shots here and there.

There's a man with a rifle setting himself up further away from the chaos, aiming right at Steve; he's got enough of an angle that he can tag his friend even with the tree in the way. Bucky zeroes in on him, hesitates this one moment that leaves himself open as he slows a step as he aims; the shot's near impossible to make with this kind of handgun at this distance, but hell, he's motivated and desperate enough to try. There's this dim, lancing pain in his side, Bucky aims, breathes out, fires once.

The sniper drops like a stone. No way he's the only one out there.

Bucky obeys immediately a second later, drop-sliding down into this dip that lands him behind a boulder and a small smear of blood against the snow. "We probably got more snipers trying to circle around us. What's the plan?" Bucky has to shout. Digging into a pouch, his fingers wrap around a full cartridge. With a sharp whistle to get Steve's attention the next time he's back under cover, Bucky tosses it towards him.

RNG Says 4

[thewinterslight]

"Look, I'm not saying it's a bad plan, I'm just...oh wait. No. I am saying it's a bad plan. In fact, it might be the stupidest damn plan I've ever heard. Give me the map." Without waiting to see if her brother would actually relent or not, Bex reached over and grabbed the thing, laying it out on the table in front of her.

"I say we come in this way..." She drew a line opposite from the direction Bucky had just suggested. "The forest is thicker there. More trees equal more cover."