so uh my hand slipped “Well,” the

Sun, 29 Nov 2015 13:07:52 GMT

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so uh my hand slipped

“Well,” the guy said. “I figured those were goggles but uh. You got no eyes. That’s unusual. I heard stories about a guy, runs around with a blindfold on, but I figured junkies mess up what they’re lookin’ at sometimes. I guess not.”

“I have eyes,” Matt said. “They’re not useful eyes, but I have eyes. For the record.”

“Good to know,” the guy said. He shifted his weight slightly, but it wasn’t an aggressive move; more like he was settling his posture more comfortably. “So the question is, I kinda in my head had the Devil of Hell’s Kitchen separated out a little bit from the fakey ninjas, but not much, because I’m not sure what your deal is. Are you with them or against them?”

“Categorically against,” Matt said.

The guy’s weight shifted a little, back onto his heels a little bit. He was relaxing. “Good,” he said. “Then I got no quarrel with you. I figure the fakey ninjas are a local deal, and I’m not super involved with local politics.”

“Then why are you patrolling abandoned warehouses in the dead of night?” Matt asked.

The guy laughed silently through his nose. “I told you,” he said, “I’m a bum lookin’ for somewhere to crash. I actually wasn’t lyin’.”

“You don’t smell like a bum,” Matt said.

“Is that your deal?” the guy asked. “You’re blind but like, have super-senses apart from that? I figured that was a comic book thing.”

“I wouldn’t say they’re super,” Matt said, “but I get by.”

“It’s probably not my smell that’s weirdin’ you out, then,” the guy said.

“I mean,” Matt said, “it’s not helping, but no, I’m most concerned by the fact that you’re clearly part machine.”

There was a louder mechanical whir. “You been able to hear that since I walked in, right?”

“Yeah,” Matt said. “What the fuck is that.”

The whir repeated. There was a silent moment, and then the guy fuckin’ laughed. It was a low laugh, and not particularly mean. “Well, shit,” he said. “I done the big reveal of my identity a couple times lately but usually what does it is just, you know, I turn off the camoflage sleeve and then I don’t gotta say anything.”

“Camoflage sleeve,” Matt said. “What, you got a robot arm?”

“Yeah,” the guy said. Like that was an entire answer unto itself.

“And I’m supposed to,” Matt said, then cut himself off. “Holy fuckin’ shit.”

“Most people catch on right about then,” the Winter fucking Soldier said, taking half a step backward. There was something kind of gentle in his voice.

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dragonlady7

so uh my hand slipped “Well,” the