[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

[marvel_npc]

“I will call my brother,” she tells him. “He may decide what to tell Nakia, until we have learned more.”

And they will; there’s a determined look on her face as she lifts her wrist and taps a bead. “Brother,” she says, a little ways from Bucky, “I need you in the lab. The White Wolf says he believes Sharon might be alive; will you come?”

On her wrist, T’Challa’s expression is one of shock, complete and entire. “I will come,” he says, when his pragmatism wins out.

“Good,” says Shuri, and then, grimly: “Send me the recording you received. I would like to give it a much closer look.”

[nerves_of_ice]

He manages to keep himself from pacing by going to Shuri's coffeepot and brewing a cup, while she talks to T'Challa and then starts muttering at something on her tablet, frowning at it as she makes adjustments to whatever it is.

Bucky stares at the coffee and focuses on marshaling his arguments for T'Challa, as well as initial plans. He can't talk about the local, not to them, so how else might he plausibly have come up with this suspicion?

Those things occupy him for several minutes, long enough for the next train to arrive from the Citadel.

[marvel_npc]

The White Wolf says he believes Sharon might be alive rings in his head over and over as he strides towards the train platform.

Nakia had watched him with a sad, shadowed glance as he kissed her forehead and told her he was going to the lab; despite the crash of desire to tell her her mourning might be in vain, that her friend might yet live, he doesn't dare.

Not yet. Not without some more solid proof. He refuses to make her lose her friend all over again, to give her hope only for it to die a second time.

He loses little time in making his way to the train; takes long, quick strides to the lab. The only thing that keeps him from running is the sinking feeling that perhaps... the White Wolf's pain has created a new delusion for him, one that will surely hurt him dreadfully once more when it dissolves.

"Shuri," he says, entering the lab. There's sympathy in his dark eyes as he looks to the other man. "White Wolf. Tell me what you have learned."

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri waves an impatient hand at T'Challa without looking up from her tablet. "Not now," she snaps. "Five minutes."

Bucky gives her a curious look, then turns to him. "It's more of a suspicion than proof, yet," he admits, making himself meet the other man's eyes without evasion. "But I was... thinking. About how it happened. How it supposedly happened. And the thing is, T'Challa -- Fury's done this before. Hell, he faked his own death in a hospital so well that Natasha bought it. And there's no question that he's not a fan of interference with his plans. Having us think Sharon dead would ensure he had freedom from -- call it what you want. Accountability. Oversight. Interference."

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa listens in attentive silence, nodding as the White Wolf concludes. "I have had only a few dealings with Fury," he says, dryly, "but you and Ms. Carter always described him as a man for whom the ends often justified the means."

Manipulative was, he thinks, the word used. "But if she is in fact alive, why have we received no word? Surely she would not leave her friends in agony, grieving a death that never occurred?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He shakes his head. "I don't know," he admits. It tears at him to think that all of this might be false hope, that she could be dead after all, but he can't let himself dwell on that. Not now.

"Maybe she tried. Or, depending on how deep undercover she is, there might not be a way for her to get word out safely."

[marvel_npc]

Despite his better judgment, he finds he himself has not truly accepted the outcome of Sharon Carter's mission to Madripoor; he is all too ready to cling to the White Wolf's reasonings.

Even if he did not count her as a friend and trusted ally on her own merit, the part of him that would stop at nothing to assuage Nakia's pain and grief is much too eager to call this vanishingly small chance a real possibility. "Shuri," he says, sharply, and looks at her.

"Four more minutes," she says, and he shakes his head.

"You have one. Tell me you've found something. Anything."

The smallest flaw or slightest inconsistency in the recording. Anything at all to give him the excuse, to call this a mission and not just the rationalization of a grieving man.

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri makes a frustrated noise and flings her hands up, filling the air in front of them with a frozen video image. Bucky goes as still as the image hanging there before them, grainy security footage showing an explosion ballooning, showing Sharon--

The sudden ringing in his ears is so loud he almost doesn't hear Shuri say, "Look. There. Do you see?"

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa casts a glance at the White Wolf, the expression in his dark eyes thoughtful but not unkind, and then turns to stroke at his chin and consider the image.

"... No," he says after a moment. "Tell me."

Shuri makes another frustrated sound and blows up an innocuous spot on the sidewalk, just beneath Sharon's feet. "It's dark," she says. "But the angle of the sun is wrong for it to be her shadow. I think that spot of pavement is wet."

"So?" T'Challa presses, and she shakes her head, zooms in again on another spot.

"The rest of the street is dry," she tells them. "I'm almost sure of it."

[nerves_of_ice]

He steps forward on hearing that, studying the enhanced image with a burning intensity.

"All he'd have to do would be to insert her from another recording," he murmurs. "Can you look at the edges around that spot? Around her?"

Bucky glances away from the image as it shifts, to T'Challa. "I know it's a risk for me to leave the country," he says. "But I have to look for her. If there's a chance--"

[marvel_npc]

Shuri begins studying the frozen image more closely. "I'm not sure," she says, frustrated. "If it's doctored, they did an excellent job."

T'Challa looks at her and as she looks back at him with huge, worried eyes he knows they are thinking the same thing: it's not proof. Not enough. Not yet. And if they are wrong...

But he studies that dark spot beneath Sharon's feet and another where the flickering ends of her hair seem to grow faintly smudged. He thinks back to her first night here in Wakanda and the look on her face when he offered her sanctuary; he thinks of the friendship and assistance she has given, not just to Shuri and Nakia, but to him as well, and of his determination to keep her under his protection as well as the White Wolf and he nods firmly, once.

"Yes," he says. "We will go to Madripoor."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky closes his eyes, and the lines of relief in his expression just serve to highlight the exhaustion and strain, as well.

It would have been enough for T'Challa not to object to him and Steve going, given the risk. For this --

"Thank you," he manages, and looks at him again. "Steve's on his way back now. He'll be here in a few hours."

[marvel_npc]

"Then we have a little time," T'Challa says. "To plan."

And for the White Wolf to rest, if he can. T'Challa feels a pang of misgiving – if this mission leads to only more disappointment, what will that do to his friend? – but he shakes it off. There is no room for second-guessing.

He looks at Shuri, who nods. "I will have everything ready," she says. "Come back here when Captain Rogers arrives."

T'Challa nods back and goes to the White Wolf, putting a hand on his shoulder. "I will walk with you to the hut by the lake," he says.

"And we will discuss the best approach."

[nerves_of_ice]

He opens his mouth to say it's not necessary, that they can wait and plan there in the lab to save time, and shuts it again without protest. He has to stay rational about this; has to do everything he can to ensure mission success, including making sure he's ready in every way. Sharon's life might depend on it.

Instead, he nods, and turns to fall in at T'Challa's side. "We can't go in hot," he says, as they walk.

No matter how much he might want to.

"How much do you know about Madripoor?"

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa shakes his head, walking with long, measured strides, his hands clasped behind his back. "Nothing first hand," he says. "Nakia has told me of it. She has operated there in the past. I believe Agent Ross is quite familiar with the place, as well."

That last is said with a questioning air: no doubt Agent Ross would be more than willing to assist, but he as yet is unaware of the White Wolf's true identity. "I know that it is a lawless place, and that we will have to be on our guard."

He glances at the White Wolf as they board the waiting train. "Do you have reason to believe that, if she survived, she is yet in danger?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yes." It's very, very flat. "Madripoor's a cesspit. I don't know how many criminal organizations operate out of there, but it's a lot. If she's alive, working her way into one of them to find the weapons smugglers, without support..."

He shakes his head. After a moment's grim consideration, he glances at T'Challa.

"The Winter Soldier's known there."

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa considers him for a long, thoughtful moment.

"And yet would cause quite a stir by appearing in the company of Captain America and the King of Wakanda," he muses.

"...White Wolf, are you certain you are prepared to once again take on the persona you have worked so hard to shed?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"For this?" Bucky meets his gaze and holds it. The shadows in his own are bleak, but his determination is clear.

"Yes."

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa sighs, inwardly, but nods, his own gaze steady and clear.

"In that case, I will ask Nakia how we might best be able to leverage the Winter Soldier," he says. "I believe she still has come contacts in Madripoor, as well."

[nerves_of_ice]

He struggles with it for only a few moments before he says, quietly, "She could coordinate with Natasha. She's ex-SHIELD; she knows Fury well, and she knows the capabilities of the Winter Soldier, too."

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa nods. "Her knowledge and perspective may be invaluable," he agrees. "I will contact Captain Rogers and request a consultation."

He only hesitates briefly before adding: "And I suggest contacting Everett Ross. He has been working the illegal weapons trade as well; he may have intel we can use."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Up to you," he says, quietly, as they leave the train. Bucky hesitates before taking the side path, looking to see which way T'Challa wants to go.

"He's going to be mad as hell when he finds out you've been sheltering the Winter Soldier."

[marvel_npc]

"I have done no such thing," T'Challa replies, calmly joining him on the side path.

"The Winter Soldier has not been seen or heard from for over a year now."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky glances over at him.

"You know he's not going to see it that way."

[marvel_npc]

"Then we will see if Everett Ross is truly the man I believe him to be, or if he will disappoint me," T'Challa says, walking at Bucky's side.

"But I believe his concern for a woman who was previously his most trusted subordinate and his friendship with myself will prevail."