"You're good. I am better." Slade commented as he took a look at Bucky, who's superhuman physiology was still in the process of fully repairing his body. As of now, he still had a black eye, several bruises, and a few broken ribs in the process of healing themselves. All of which would be gone by the next day.
"I still think what you did there by disabling my arm was a low blow."
"You don't win fights by playing nice." Slade shot back. "Besides... would you rather have me breaking your real one?'
"Like you can!" Bucky smirked. "If I wasn't fighting you with one arm the whole time, I could have kicked your ass."
"That'd be the day." Slade commented as he thought of all the people who had said things like that in the past. The list went on and on, every single one of them, the fight had always been swift and one-sided.... but there have been exceptions. The best one just happened to have been, the guy in the bat costume. That was a man who deserved all the respect in the world... even he hadn't managed to defeat Slade by himself.
Slade mused for a moment, if the guy in the bat costume wasn't so full of his own "self righteousness" and "justice doesn't kill" then it was a good question to whether or not Slade could win. He knew better than to think that such a skilled and intelligent fighter was fighting at his peak in the times they met... The difference between them was easy. Slade always fought to kill, unless he didn't feel like it. But the guy in the bat costume? He held back. Chances are, if he was who Slade thought he was... then this was a man with unlimited resources... and yet... he still holds back. Few men deserve the respect he deserves, no matter how deluded he may be.
"Besides... I fought bigger guys than you." Slade said again. "Tell the US government that it takes more than just a pair of thugs with superhuman strength and tried and true tactics to win their wars. They need things like discipline... they need to think out of the box, and they shouldn't be two guys who think that they can win wars by playing fair."
"You always struck me as the type of person who'd stab his enemy in the back." Bucky mumbled.
"Only if the person isn't worth my time... besides... who needs knives? I got a sniper rifle." Slade went on. "If I can't savor a good fight, then I think we should just finish it nice and quick."
"Right... you know... I am not big on hired guns and all... but I think you'd make a good teammate... if you actually weren't in this all for the money."
"I am not. A man needs some excitement in his life doesn't he?"
"Great... so you're here to kill people?"
"No... I am here to FIGHT people." Slade said. "But I fight to kill. I don't enjoy the killing pal... that's sick. I enjoy the fighting. Isn't that right Trude?"
"Huh? What?" Barkhorn asked taken back.
"How much you like your job?" Slade asked.
"It's... I like it. I like it." Barkhorn replied slowly, wondering exactly how Slade was so easy going with people he was busy beating senseless just minutes prior.
"Now kid... you never killed another man before have you? At least... not before coming here." Slade asked again. "But you fought many times... right?"
"Yes...." Trude said slowly. A few hundred dead Neuroi would be the testament to that... but admittedly, she never dropped a body before until coming to Equestria. Thinking about it gave her a sick feeling in the stomach, to the fact that these were PEOPLE. Perhaps bad people, perhaps some of the worst people that would ever exist, but they were still human. They weren't mindless aliens who sought out to eradicate human life. Murdering another man made her feel uneasy, but in the end, she reasoned to herself. It was either going to be her, or them. "Why are we talking about this?"
"I dunno... James was interested in my job." Slade quipped. "Why do you judge anyways? Don't you have enough skeletons in your closet?"
"I am fighting for what's right Slade. I don't have anything against mercenaries but I sure as hell don't like them too much. If they didn't pay me to crack HYDRA's skulls, I wouldn't care. I'd still not stop until everyone of those damn krauts were dead."
"You might offend someone with that word." Slade commented. Rather, Trude was oblivious to the use of the word, having never heard it once. "Is it really justice you want? Or are you in here because... someone... wronged you in the past? And now you want to kill them?"
Damn.... how did he?
"And what do you get out of this kid?" Slade asked turning to Trude.
"I never thought of anything actually... if anything... I am actually worried about a few things..."
"Comrades back home?"
"Them? Oh... there's no need to worry about THEM. They got everything... but I am worried about Chris... what's she going to react when she finds out her older sister disappeared? She just barely recovered from a coma. The rest of our family is dead...."
Almost as though it was against his will, Slade just regretted what he had said to Trude and this entire conversation. Granted, he wasn't one to care about other people's misfortunes... but no matter what... it was awfully hard even for a man who killed people for a living to not feel at least a twinge of sympathy... and...
"You got one thing going for you kid." Slade said, wiping any emotion from his face. "It's heart. Doesn't matter that you fight like a girl... but if you have the will to do so... there is nothing you can't do. Training is nothing Trude. Discipline is nothing. It's just will that's everything."
"Motivational speaker huh?" Bucky smirked.
"I was a Colonel in the military... it was my job." Slade smirked back.
"So... how was Canterlot?" Steve asked as the two got back.
"They fought about as well as a pack of stuffed animals." Slade commented as he set his things down. "And for the record... I beat Bucky too now. Maybe you both should try."
"Three old men fighting?" Erica asked. "That'd be fun to watch."
"I really want to slap her right now." Bucky commented aloud as he glared at the young girl, who smiled impudently at him. These two...
"I could probably beat him up." Barkhorn raised her voice regarding Bucky.
"That's not how I remember things kid." The Winter Soldier commented. "Besides... I think me... being an expert assassin and all wouldn't lose to someone who fights like a girl..."
"Will you stop saying that?!" Trude asked irritably. "What's wrong with you anyways? You have something against..."
"Just an old saying back at home..." Slade said. "It's nothing to be offended about kid... because I bet telling someone that from where you come from is a compliment.... hey... you wanted something Steve?"
"Yeah... I found a HYDRA server." Steve began as he nodded to Erica, who pulled it up with a grunt. Pulling it out from the quinjet was harder than carrying it, though seeing a small person carry a large piece of machinery was still pretty amusing. "What's that thing you do... with computers?"
"Hacking?"
"Yeah... whatever that is..." Steve said as he watched Slade pull out his "smartphone".
"You can do that with that little thing?" Captain America asked with disbelief.
"Cap... it's not actually a smartphone. I built the thing myself." Slade said as he brought the "phone" close to the server, the screen of sorts appearing straight out like a hologram, not something unlike that of STARK industries. "We this a cryptographic sequencer... it's just one of the many things my phone can "be"."
"Some kind of super-computer of sorts?" Bucky asked.
"In a smart phone." Slade said as he looked at Trude, Erica and Medic. "What?"
"Vouldn't a computer be... um... larger?" The doctor asked. Being from the 60s... their computers were roughly the size of a fridge.
"That's the beauty of 2014. We can make things smaller... much smaller..." Slade grinned as he began the hack. "So... what are we looking for?"
"Where the jet Erica shot down was headed." Steve said.
"Okay then. I'll get that for you... I guess we head to the fun part afterwards?" Slade asked.
"Like old times..." Bucky commented. "Hey Steve... mind if we talk downstairs?"
"Sure thing pal." The Captain said as he went downstairs, watching as the Winter Soldier closed the door, so they wouldn't be heard.
"You know how you mentioned Erica reminded you of Erich Hartmann?"
"Yeah?"
"Gertrud Barkhorn is..."
"Gerhard Barkhorn. The other top German ace in the war." Steve said. "I did my reading you know... but what is it? Something on your mind?"
"Listen... Medic... I don't know that guy much... but he feels kind of off..."
"Relax Bucky... he's not a Nazi... and he wasn't one. He lived through the war.... told me that it was rather unpleasant. I trust him... you should too. He's a good man, even though he might be crazy... like... very crazy."
"Okay... but then there's... Erica and Gertrude... you know... those uniforms... I still can't get past them..."
"Neither can I." Steve commented. "But as long as they don't go around goose-stepping or sieg-heiling, I think I am fine with them."
"Just because they don't do that... you know what Erica told you. Hitler is a painter. How do we know their version of Germany isn't some kind of tyranny like the Nazis? How do we know that the reds didn't take over and..."
"You're overthinking it Bucky. The Kaiser is still in charge, Adolf is some random painter, and they're actually allies with the USA... or USL... what's wrong with the two anyways? I know I still feel the whole "girls playing soldiers" thing is wrong... but that's from our point of view. Where they're from, she could probably take you on if you hadn't been... well...."
"If HYDRA hadn't turned me into their own personal super-soldier." Bucky said grimly. Baron... Baron... Baron something... "You know how I feel about..."
"Germans? Bucky... is this what everything is all about? Because someone is from 1944 Germany, you have trust issues?"
He said nothing... because the truth was... Bucky did have problems. Only recently had he recalled the events of his life, and even now, the man was bitter over the second world war. That's not to say... Rogers wasn't either. His bitterness would be more directed at Hitler and HYDRA, rather than Germany as a whole.
"Just because they're German doesn't mean anything... not even German actually. Karlslandian if I have the word right. Bucky... they're not bad people. I've spent enough time with Erica to know that. Hell... she acts more like some schoolgirl in 1944 than someone who should be a soldier. She's a nice person and frankly... how can you not like her for being herself?"
"Okay... okay.." Bucky said as he went back upstairs.
Steve looked at his friend's back. Rather unsure to whether or not Bucky got the message. The phrase "one ear in, one ear out" should be coming to mind right about now.