[616] ground zero for trouble

[daughterofliberty]

"Remember, Nick," she calls, buckling the utility belt of her suit. "I've got years of vacation time saved up. You owe me. After this, I'm taking five whole days in Virginia with Steve, and no one is going to bother us. Right?"

Fury scoffs, and she turns a gimlet eye on him. "Right?"

"Right," he says, holding up his hands in surrender. "Hell, Carter, it's not like the rest of the Avengers and SHIELD aren't around to pick up the slack. Go! You crazy kids have fun. Send a postcard. Let your hair down a little. You've been tense as a wire ever since – "

"I wonder why," she snaps, and he shakes his head. 

"Just saying," he says, as Tony Stark sniggers behind him. Sharon waves them both off, an unruly smile tugging at her mouth.

"I'll check in once I've made contact," she says. "Steve should be waiting for me at the rendezvous."

"Good luck, Agent Carter," Tony says, and she tosses him a crisp half-salute, then heads through the hatch towards the hangar that holds her vehicle: not the Quinjet, not for a mission this small, but the cherry-red convertible that hovers as she enters and taps out the activation code. "Come on, baby," she tells it. "Let's go for a ride."

But when she reaches the rendezvous at Avengers Tower and strides through the door, Steve's nowhere to be seen. 

And, honestly? Neither is the Avengers Tower.

Comments

[daughterofliberty]

"There's another pattern you can look for," she tells him.

"When I was out there, twisting in the wind, I still did everything I could to ruin the bad guys' plans – just like your Sharon was probably meant to do undercover. There aren't many good guys in Madripoor, so if it seems like the few there have got a guardian angel looking out for them..."

Her smile is sharp and crooked and more than a little self-satisfied. "I'd check it out, if I were you."

[nerves_of_ice]

Angel. The pang strikes straight through him, even as he manages to nod.

"Of course you did. I'll remember."

[daughterofliberty]

The faint curve to her mouth is as sympathetic as the look she gives him.

"I hope like I'm not giving you false hope," she murmurs. "It just sounded too damn familiar. But if I'm wrong... I hope you know I understand how it feels, all too well."

It had been the faintest glimmer of hope that led her to search again for Steve, that brought her to Bucky and Natasha and Sam, desperate for them to believe her.

[nerves_of_ice]

"I'll take any hope."

He studies her carefully. "But Steve's okay now," he says. It's not a question.

[daughterofliberty]

"Yes," she promises, instantly.

"He's absolutely fine now."

[nerves_of_ice]

He relaxes, unaware of how tensely he was holding himself.

"Good."

[daughterofliberty]

She smiles and shakes her head.

"Bucky and Steve," she says, "Steve and Bucky. Nice to know that's the same."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky smiles back.

"I can't imagine a universe in which it wouldn't be."

[daughterofliberty]

"Pretty sure I wouldn't want to see what else might go wrong in a universe like that," she says, and thinks back over their conversation, trying to pick out anything that might be useful that she hasn't addressed yet.

"Not sure what to tell you about Steve and Tony, though," she admits. "If I had to guess, Tony probably wants to make up but he's being too proud. You say this weapons tech is a big deal?"

She considers him, thoughtful. "Is it a big enough deal to get two warring factions of the Avengers to work together again?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He looks suddenly thoughtful.

"It might be."

The problem, in that case, will be his own existence - but maybe there's a way around that. Maybe Stark would accept him being taken into custody again instead, or something.

[daughterofliberty]

"Give them an excuse to work together, I bet that'll do the trick," she says, confidently.

"Does this Tony give a shit about me? Ours is always down for a rescue mission."

[nerves_of_ice]

"He might have before," Bucky says, slowly. Given the connection between Peggy and Howard, it's possible, although the odds on Tony Stark knowing exactly who Agent 13, Everett Ross's right hand, is aren't certain.

"But not since you - she - helped me and Steve. And got declared enemy of the state for it." Bitterness seeps into each word.

"He turned Natasha in to the Secretary of State for helping us escape, so... pretty sure he's holding a few grudges."

[daughterofliberty]

Her lips move, forming the words enemy of the state as her eyebrows hit her hairline.

"That does make it more complicated," she admits, still more than a little baffled. "But Tony being a bastard is nothing new. Trust me, I work with the guy every day. Well, if you play your cards right, you might be able to kill a bunch of birds with one stone... any chance Tony's feeling pretty annoyed with Fury, too? That might get him off his ass."

[nerves_of_ice]

He winces at the expression on her face. Visibly.

"I mentioned Zemo framed me for a bombing. Sharon works - worked - for the CIA, the Joint Terrorism Task Force. She got word to Steve when the worldwide manhunt spotted me so he could get to me first, then stole his and Sam's stuff out of lockup and got it back to them after -- let's just say a lot of things happened. It's a long story."

He shakes his head and reaches for the coffee.

"Maybe. Fury's been off the grid for a while, after I shot him. I don't know how Tony feels about him, but Steve would."

[daughterofliberty]

Her expression turns from baffled to bewildered and she shakes her head, too. "I hope we do run into each other again," she says, "because clearly we've got some stories to trade. Sounds like things shook out pretty damn differently in your universe."

Look, it's not that she hasn't wanted to pull the trigger on Nick, more than once, but hell!

Still, his description of what she – what his Sharon did tugs a small, proud curve into the corner of her mouth. "Atta girl," she says, half to herself.

"So then what's the deal with the Wakandans? Not that T'Challa isn't handy to have along – and Man-A... I mean, the Great Gorilla – but how do they come into the picture?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky takes a long swallow of coffee.

"T'Challa's father, King T'Chaka, was killed in Zemo's explosion," he says, succinctly. "So T'Challa came after me. When he found out the truth, he offered me sanctuary in Wakanda, and Shuri's help to find a way to remove the controls. M'Baku and he sorted some things out shortly afterward, and now they're allies."

[daughterofliberty]

"That's handy. Way better than how things turned out with M'Baku on our end."

She lifts her beer, then thinks better of it and sets it back down again. "Coffee, please," she says. "Just cream."

It appears as her bottle disappears, and she takes a sip, thinking. "And you said that we – that you and your Sharon – were living together this whole last year? So she's been hiding out in Wakanda, too?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He makes a mental note of the coffee preference without even meaning to, and nods. "She put a tracker in my boot when she got Steve and Sam's stuff back," he drawls. "So she was able to find me in Wakanda. T'Challa invited her to stay as well."

[daughterofliberty]

She can't help the grin that flashes or the laughter in her eyes.

"Tracker in the boot, huh?" she says. "There's that classic Carter charm. I oughta try that on Rogers, sometime."

God knows she's had a few hellish times trying to find him again. "So the lay of the land is: you two are on the run; so are Steve and Rome and Sam. But you've got allies in the Wakandans. Fury butted in, like he does, and now your Sharon is missing, presumed dead – or he told you she was dead, which amounts to the same thing. And you've got three main problems, aside from the being on the run thing: finding her if you can, shutting down the weapons ring, and getting the Avengers to play nice with each other again. Does that about cover it?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"That pretty well sums it up," he agrees, and rolls his eyes at her. "Yeah, I figured you'd get a kick out of that. She sure did."

[daughterofliberty]

"Who wouldn't?" she grins again, before sipping at her coffee, considering.

"I still think you might be able to solve a bunch of problems in one fell swoop," she says. "Take out the weapons ring and the governments of the world will owe you. Do it with a blended team of Avengers and non-Avengers and the media will lap it up. And if your Sharon's doing the same work already – I just bet a few quiet words to the right people from the right person will erase that 'enemy of the state' thing right off the books."

She shakes her head and sips at her coffee again. "Trust me; I've seen it play out time and again."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky studies her with open admiration. "Your universe must be a hell of a place," he says. "Mind if I ask a question about the other me?"

[daughterofliberty]

She lifts her coffee to him in a toast.

"Ask away."

[nerves_of_ice]

"The Winter Soldier," he says. "You said your Tony Stark got the controls out of my head. What happened with justice for everything I - he - did?"

[daughterofliberty]

"Well, it was a little complicated for a while," she says, after taking a long swallow of her coffee. "But you have a full pardon, and you work extensively with the Avengers. Legally speaking, you're in the clear."

There's something not quite soft, but understanding in her eyes as she looks at him. "You and I aren't all that close, but... I think you're still sometimes haunted by all the things they forced you to do. So you go out now and do as much good as you can, try to shift the balance back."