Bucky didn't like how he thinks of Angeldust when he sees Venus. Buckingham knew it was wrong on his part- he shouldn't make assumptions about people based on their appearances. He shouldn't make ties to people that he struggled to deal with in the past. The former assassin had to keep reminding himself that there are multiple kitsunes out there with silver pelt coats. He shouldn't be reminded of Angeldust whenever he pads past Venus or sees them. If anything, it's unfair on Venus, who doesn't even know of Angeldust's existence. If Venus found out why Buckingham felt awkward/uncomfortable around them, he's sure the Solbinder would be upset. Bucky would feel upset if someone looked at himself and thought of someone they didn't like- whoever they would think of isn't Bucky. But, is he able to stop these thoughts from occurring? Boy, he wishes he could just shove them out of his skull and never think of them again. But it's not that easy, it's not easy to forget someone and their actions. It's impossible.

The maine coon found himself padding along the boardwalk when he heard Venus's call. His ears pricked up as he listened closely, coming to a stop. When Bucky heard the word poison, the male nearly turned around and walked the other way. Bucky didn't have a great experience when it came to the topic. Speaking of the Angeldust guy, the two of them weren't exactly buddies. They were enemies, just like him and Levi. Except Angeldust lived in both groups- his original clan and war-torn home. And Bucky happened to be the one to discover Angeldust was a traitor- Angeldust figured this out, and made sure to keep Bucky silent. Long story short, Bucky got poisoned, and somehow managed to survive to tell the tale to his leader later.

His paws were itching to move, retreat to his boathouse and slam the door shut. But, the Warden didn't budge. Instead, the male closed his eyes for a moment, thinking to himself. Calm down, Barnes. Venus is not Angeldust, they aren't them. With a sigh escaping his lips, the male silently began to move again, this time heading over towards the session. If Bucky wanted to prove himself that Venus isn't Angeldust, it will have to be more than just a thought. He has to attend this session, whether he's going to like it or not.

When he arrived at the edge of the crowd, the kitsune spoke up again. "Anyone care to come up here and help me preempt this lesson with an efficient way of administering injections of poison?" Considering his past experiences with poison, it would be best if Buckingham stayed quiet and watch whoever volunteers to Venus. But, if he's trying to prove that Venus isn't Angeldust, sitting and watching isn't going to help, right? Surely Venus isn't going to stab them with the syringe, he'd have to get permission for that. If he volunteers, he should be fine. No, not should- he will be fine. So far, no one has volunteered anyways. It was getting awkwardly silent, no one was moving. "I will," Bucky volunteered, as he weaved his way through the crowd, not once did his fur brush up against anothers. Once he was at the front, he made his way over to Venus, light blue eyes locking on them.

Bucky should listened to his gut. He should have kept his mouth shut and waited for someone else to awkwardly volunteer themselves. As the moment Venus spoke up again, the maine coon was instantly regretting his decision. Apparently, he was wrong about assuming Venus wouldn't inject a syringe into him, especially without 'permission'. Bucky thought the Solbinder would double check to make sure it was okay to do, but then it dawned on him. When he volunteered, he gave the okay to Venus to go through with the demonstration. "It'll just be a little sting, doubt you'll even notice it." Venus's words reached his ears, the maine coon not even noticing the nervous energy radiating off of the kitsune. Bucky was too focused on his mistake, and how this is a horrible idea to convince himself that Venus isn't Angeldust. The last thing he should have done was volunteer in a session where he's suppose to imagine he's actually getting injected with poison. It will only make him think of Angeldust, he's such an idiot! "Wait, actually I'm backing out of this-" He tried to desperately tell Venus, but his words met deaf ears, getting cut off half way through it.

"Smile for the audience."

Bucky wasn't smiling, not one bit. If anything, he looked even more alarmed than he did a moment ago. He was beginning to back up, hoping to scramble away from the kitsune before Venus could reach him. Unfortunately, Venus was quick with the empty syringe. Bucky's eyes widened as he felt the needle pierce his right shoulder, freezing up. Venus mentioned they doubted Bucky would even notice it go in, meaning he shouldn't feel a thing. Hell, they are so wrong, so so wrong. Not only did Bucky feel the needle dig into his fur, he made the mistake to look over at it. His eyes glued onto the syringe, and after a few mere seconds of staring at it, pain flared up in large amounts.

The syringe was empty from the start. Everyone in the crowd could see that Venus isn't injecting anything into him. Venus even mentioned injecting air was dangerous, the Solbinder didn't do anything after piercing him. But despite all of that, the pain he felt seemed so, so real. Suddenly without a warning, the maine coon stumbled back from Venus, the syringe still in his shoulder. What Bucky was feeling was phantom pain- despite how vivid it feels, the symptoms of belladonna weren't actually there. He squeezed his eyes shut as the sunlight suddenly felt sensitive to his eyes, feeling as if he was going to loose balance. As his eyes were closed, it felt like his head was pounding- glimpses of his past flashing before him.

"Everyone knows you did it and that you enjoyed it."
"Bet it was the only thing you knew how to do correctly- eat, sleep, shit, kill, repeat."
A silver kitsune stood before him, syringe in their paw as they jabbed it into his veins. The smile they wore as they injected the poison was malicious- his claws digging into the sand as he began to gasp from the pain. He was told the dosage was small enough that'd he'd survive, and remember not to tell a soul.
And finally, a somali feline with a petrified gaze met his eyes, trying to call out to a brainwashed soldier, and their appearance morphed into the kitsune with the poison filled syringe.

As Bucky opened his eyes, his vision began to get blurry- and this time, that's not the phantom pain. His heart was racing and racing, the male stumbling back as his mind desperately shifted gears. When his vision became clear, his pupils became slits and his expression dropped to nothing. He was no longer thinking like Bucky Barnes- it was almost like someone else was wearing the Warden's face. But the scary part of this, is that it's the same person- but just in a different mode. This side of him, the part that only Levi and Marina know of, is barely a person at all. It's a living breathing machine, or weapon. It's sole purpose is to kill, eat, sleep, and repeat. It doesn't get to make it's own decisions, it doesn't have rights, and if it ever thinks it does- that's a malfunction. The Soldier doesn't even know who Bucky is, it's like Buckingham is forgotten until he's pulled out of this dark, deep hole.

The Asset only looked at Venus for a split of a second, light blue eyes widening at the recognition. The Soldier knows this kitsune, it's seen it before. The Soldier remembered them being a somali cat the first time it went after them, but in other memories, they're that kitsune. They changed bodies, and the Asset is sure it isn't wrong. The somali, it's first target, and the kitsune are the same. Little did the Soldier know, that it's actually mistaking the Solbinder for another kitsune. The Solbinder isn't it's first target, but it didn't stop to think about that. It looked over at the syringe, and without a second going by, ripped it out and shattered it on the ground, eyes locking back on Venus.

That little shit, they dared to harm the Soldier, even after the threats it made to it months ago? Even if the syringe was empty, it knew injecting air was just as dangerous. The Soldier was lucky it managed to back away before Venus could inject the air. It's lips began to curl into a dangerous snarl, ears flattening to it's skull. The Asset knew it has a new handler in this clan, but it couldn't wait for them to order the Asset. This is a former target, who just proved to them that they are just as disloyal here. It can at least, at least jump them, have them ready for death and face any punishments it'll receive for its malfunctions.

Without another thought, the Winter Soldier lunged forward, barreling into the kitsune, pinning them down in the process. The Soldier held one of their paws down with it's flesh right paw, and put it's left metal paw onto their neck- ready to dig it's metal claws into their throat. "Try one more stunt like that and I will override orders to keep you alive," The Soldier hissed menacingly, shutting out the screams from the crowd, tail lashing. The Soldier itched to dig it's metal claws in, his claws twitching against the kitsune's silver fur. "Am I clear?" It questioned as it's eyes narrowed, waiting for Venus's answer that would either keep the Solbinder alive or dead under the Asset's claws.

[ permission given to powerplay, feel free to open! <33 ]

Breathe easy, nothing was going to happen and they could afford to have some type of peace. Just a moment to relax and calm the nerves after everything that had been happening. As long as the Ascendants stayed away from them then Sunhaven would stay away from those murderous bastards. She wanted nothing to do with them and that was just a mere fact. Healing was the name of the game here and she was slowly proceeding along that route. Even though she wore bandages and they often got stained with blood because of her movements and because she didn't actually take it easy she still felt better. Felt more like herself than she had in a long while. Things were looking up and she allowed herself to just watch the waves as the they rolled against the sands of the beach. Her eyes closed for a singular moment as she allowed herself to just think of other things. Things that made her happy and she lifted her head up to the sky, jaws slightly parted. The first image to pop in her head was her brother, he always made her happy and despite him not being here now she wished that they could have talked more. Though the second image surprises her greatly, a pelt of grey with striking blue tattoos coursing along his frame. It jolted her out of her moment and she opened her eyes before shaking her head alittle.

But there was hardly time to dwell on that as she heard Venus call out about something. Some type of training? By the time she got there she knew she would be late but hey, it was the thought that counted. Thick paws pushed up from where she was laying and she shook sand from her form before making her way toward the are where the training would be proceeding. Claws dug into the ground as she began to hum a soft song to herself, eyes brimming with a sense of ease before the scene before her came into view. At first it was perplexing because she thought that they were merely training. Maybe a medical session turned into battle training instead and she tilted her head to the side. That wouldn't make sense though because Venus was very enthused when it came to medical stuff. As she quickened her pace and got closer she realized almost immediately that this was not normal. This was not a battle session and the grating threat leaving Buckingham's throat made her ears pin back against her skull.

What was going on? "Get off of them." Her voice was a command, a snap of tongue against teeth as her body came forward and aimed to shove Buckingham off of the kitsune. Not a rough gesture but firm enough to possibly make him move as she stood over the kitsune with a protective stance. Her eyes scanned over Buckingham's face then and she saw the way he looked, it was the same time as when they were at the Ascendants. This wasn't Buckingham anymore and she lowered her head a bit. "Ya stand down Asset. No overriding orders. Leave Venus alone."

"SPEECH"

Unfortunately, the Soldier didn't get a chance to hear Venus's answer. It's gaze had been locked on Venus's eyes, their own light blue eyes that screamed to kill. It nearly wanted to kill them without an answer, just get rid of the pest and explain it to their handler. It would take any punishment for the murder, and would expect a harsh one for overriding orders. But before it could dig it's claws into their neck, it's ears pricked up at that commanding voice. "Get off them." The moment it heard them, it knew it was it's handler. But the Soldier didn't budge, it didn't back down like it was ordered to. It didn't get to stay in place for long, as his handler decided to make the Soldier move- they must have realized it didn't want to comply. The Asset was roughly shoved off of the kitsune, stumbling back a bit before regaining it's balance.

It's cold eye blue eyes landed on Marina, who stood over his first target. The Soldier couldn't stop itself from scowling at her, how she's protecting the two-face liar. "Ya stand down Asset. No overriding orders. Leave Venus alone." The Soldier heard the command loud and clear but it did not want to comply. It felt anger begin to run through it's veins, another malfunction, pissed that got ordered to stop yet again. The Asset knew that it's a weapon, that it's meant to be ordered around, but it's not suppose to be ordered not to kill! "No," The Winter Soldier snarled, "They intended to harm the Asset, potentially even murder. They aren't trustworthy, let me kill them!"

The Winter Soldier's eyes narrowed to slits, as it dared to speak out of term once again. "Why are you ordering me not to kill? Do you know how to control the Winter Soldier? I am a weapon, you aren't using me correctly." It dared to question and insult his handler, implying she was ignorant and stupid when it came to controlling a living, breathing weapon. The Soldier was never ordered not to kill when Ximen was it's handler. It was strange to be ordered to stand down constantly, it felt like it wasn't fulfilling it's purpose of existing. It has no other purpose in life, why does Marina bother having the Winter Soldier around if she doesn't want it to kill? Wouldn't it be easier if she put it out of commission? It wouldn't say another word, eyes fuming with anger as it looked at Marina and Venus below her.

She was taken aback and stunned into silence as the thing that Bucky had become ranted at her. Calling her inadequate and that she didn't know how to use it properly. Her ears pulled back for a moment, shoulders wanting to hunch and tail wanting to tuck between her legs. She didn't know why that hit her so hard and she allowed a frown to slip across her muzzle. Perhaps she was incompetent at such things like this and maybe she was using it wrong. The thought passed her mind to use the Asset against the Ascendants, to use it against them and kill those that were a threat especially that bastard Moonmade. It would be easy and she almost parted her jaws to speak of it but then they sudden snapped closed gaze closing and squeezing tight as she got a hold of herself. She was not like that. She wouldn't stoop to their levels of murder and unless provoked again she wouldn't make another move against them. At this point she just wanted them to stay as far away from her home as possible. Stick to their own and they would have no more problems, she didn't want anymore problems. The hellhound knew she was just done with everything and her eyes lit up with a fire in them as she stared down at the Asset.

To talk down to her friend pained her, he was not a tool in her eyes. He was her friend and he'd stuck with her for so long now that the notion of what she was about to say was almost unbearable. But if she wasn't firm who knew what would happen. Maybe it would disobey her and try to attack her instead and she had to keep her promise to Bucky. To pretend to be this handler and stop him from harming anyone. Ears laying back against her skull the hellhound squared her shoulders, tail raised up in a stance of aggressive dominance as her muzzle curled to reveal large an jagged teeth that spoke of venom. Her body was rigid as she glared at the creation that someone had turned Buckingham into and she wished more than anything that she could fix this. That she could help him. "Ya will stand down or I will string ya up by ya back legs and use ya as a punching bag as ya punishment! Back away! Now!" Her jaws snapped forward then on a threatening clank of teeth as she made sure to stand in front of Venus. After all they were the one that she was trying to protect and she aimed to curl one of her tails around the other protectively.


"SPEECH"