[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

[nerves_of_ice]

“You’re right about that,” he says, and tosses back the entire drink before requesting a refill.

It feels strange to hear her call him ‘Buck’, but it’s no weirder than the rest of this.

“So. Not dead?”

[daughterofliberty]

"Right," she says, blinking herself out of the mental spiral she's in.

"This was years ago, before you showed back up again. I'd been working with SHIELD and liaising with the Avengers for – I don't know. A long time. And Steve and I, we'd been together all that time."

She gives him a level look. "I'm not saying that to hurt you, Bucky. It's important for what happened next. Because when Nick Fury wants to send you on a dangerous, long-term undercover assignment, those are the kinds of missions that tend to get blown sky-high when your lover is Captain America."

[nerves_of_ice]

He shakes his head at her. “No, I can see it. I just told you he’s the better man, didn’t I?”

Especially without him there to get in the way, it sounds like. Guilt wrenches at him. If he hadn’t - would Sharon, the Sharon he knows, and Steve…?

They could have been happy. He’d seen it, Sam had seen it. And maybe if they had—

He forces himself to concentrate on the here and now.

“Fury, huh?” A scowl creases his brow. “And a long term undercover assignment. Now that’s sounding a little too damn familiar. Okay, go on.”

[daughterofliberty]

Her smile crooks, dimpling one cheek. "Sounds like the me you know disagrees."

Natasha is going to have a field day with this when she hears. If she hears. Maybe this particular parallel universe will just stay Sharon's little secret.

She takes another sip of her drink, that smile fading again. "I didn't get all the details until later, but here's the gist of it: Fury wanted to keep Steve from coming to find me, so he planted a bomb where I was supposed to be and showed Steve a recording of me walking towards it and it exploding."

The chill in her voice could freeze a tropical island. "It was a good video. Steve believed it. And with an explosion like that, Fury told him, there wasn't enough left to identify. That was that: bye bye Sharon Carter, no more Agent 13. Nothing left but a fond memory."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Well, she’s pretty stubborn.” He suspects this Sharon might be as well. She reminds him of what it was like talking with the Sharon he knows in Franche-Comte.

But as he listens to what she’s telling him, everything else fades.

A bomb, T’Challa had told him. He can hear each word falling on the air, gentle but clear, while water lapped at the shore and birds sang. A car exploded. There was a security camera that caught everything. I am sorry, White Wolf.

“I’m going to kill him,” he grits out, between clenched teeth.

[daughterofliberty]

Her lips thin as she presses them together. "Sounds like some things don't change no matter what universe you're in," she says, desert-dry, and leans forward to pull his attention away from his thoughts.

"Bucky, listen to me. If Nick Fury sent me – your Sharon – on some assignment and now claims she's dead and gone in an explosion, don't believe him."

Each word is sharp enough to carve solid rock. "Because he told the world I died and I didn't. I got lost behind enemy lines for years. Years. Alone and cut off from everything and everyone. Even Fury left me there. And when I finally – I'd changed. I was – "

("Remember Sharon Carter? Secret agent? Love of your life? That little fluffbrain worshipped you. Depended on you.")

" – Not the same," she concludes, tamping down the rush of old pain that threatens to well up again.

"If you think there's even a chance that might be happening again, don't let it."

[nerves_of_ice]

Even Fury left me there. The image of Sharon alone, unsupported, trying to survive in a world that thinks her dead sears itself into his mind, and the only thing that keeps him from bolting back through the door is the knowledge that time isn't moving on the other side and the need to gather the intel that might help save her.

If there's a chance, any chance, no matter how slim -- the rest of the world can go to hell. He's going to Madripoor.

"I won't," he swears. "I won't. I'll get the answers. If she's alive, if there's any chance she's alive, I'll find her. I'll get her out." He manages a flicker of a smile. "Steve'll help. And he's not the only one."

[daughterofliberty]

"Good."

She sits back and crosses one leg over the other. "If I'm right and Fury's just being a bastard again, it'll save you some fights down the line, probably. When I finally saw Steve again – that's a story – I was convinced he'd known all along I was alive and left me out in the cold anyway. Took us a while to get over that."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Steve wouldn't do that." Instant and certain, all the way down to the depths of his bones. He can't imagine a universe, any universe, in which Steve Rogers would be capable of such a thing.

"And it wouldn't matter if she hated me, if she didn't remember me, whatever, as long as she's alive and well and happy."

[daughterofliberty]

The stern lines of her mouth soften at his declaration. "Now that sounds familiar."

Not directed at her, but familiar nonetheless. "And as for the other thing – as it happens, you're right. He didn't. He really thought I was dead."

She shakes her head and lifts her glass. "So Fury sent your Sharon on a mission? Do you know any of the details?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Does it?" He gives her a sharp, interested look, and taps gently on the bartop for another refill.

"I know a few. Illegal weapons trading, basically. She's got an ID that's well-established for this after some previous work, and Fury wanted her to infiltrate the market in--"

He takes a swallow of his new drink and looks at her.

"--ever been to Madripoor?" His tone says it all.

[daughterofliberty]

Her expression matches his tone. "Not for a while, but I don't remember it being my favorite place."

She taps her finger on her glass, thoughtful. "Easy to get lost in a place like that. Good for undercover work; dangerous, though. You get made by the wrong person and it's all over."

Sharon gives him a close look. "You said you have some other people who will help? You and Steve and who, Natasha? Sam? Tony?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Not Stark, no. He still wants me dead. It's caused a rift." He eyes her right back. "I'm gathering that's not a problem where you're from?"

Bucky shakes his head. "Steve, yes. Natasha, of course. Sam Wilson, yes. And I'm pretty sure T'Challa'll be in - and Nakia, and maybe Ayo and Okoye, with Shuri running comms. Plus it'll be hard to keep M'Baku out if he gets wind of it."

[daughterofliberty]

"Far from it," she tells him, a little taken aback by the list he rattles off. "He was the one who – you know what? It's probably not the time to get into all that."

She turns her drink on its coaster, frowning. "Man-Ape? Working with you?"

Parallel universes. What a headache. She shakes her head and tries not to question it too much. "Well, he'd be useful, I guess. And it might not be a bad idea to rendezvous in Wakanda before heading to Madripoor; it's a lot closer than New York."

[nerves_of_ice]

"The Great Gorilla," Bucky corrects. "He's a hell of a guy in some ways, but has a strong sense of honor."

He's still eyeing her. "The one who -- okay, okay, we can table it, but I'd kind of like to know. If there's a way to bring him and Steve back together on my side of the door... well, I wouldn't object. Especially with New York not being an option right now. Steve's on the run."

[daughterofliberty]

"He's – "

She pauses, then lifts her drink and drains it. "For fuck's sake," she mutters. "I hate parallel universes. Okay."

Sharon turns on the barstool to face Bucky fully, sifting through all that's happened in the last years. "Tony got the trigger words out of your head. He equipped you when you and Fury were working together. And yeah, he and Steve fell out over the Superhero Registration Act, but it was never personal, and then when – "

It's her turn to choke on the words; her expression shutters and she turns away again. "How about that lager?" she asks, and as one appears, she picks it up, addressing Bucky without looking at him.

"A lot has happened. A lot of it not very nice, Bucky. I don't know if you really want to hear it all. But Steve and Tony, they're back to working together, as much as they ever did."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Tony got--"

He stops himself there and takes another swallow of his drink, considering her. Whatever happened, whatever stopped her from speaking, it's bad, he can tell. Just as he's pretty sure that he can tell that she doesn't really want to talk about it.

"I won't ask," he says, gently. "But just to bring you up to speed - I'm guessing your Superhero Registration Act is something like the Sokovia Accords. Steve and Tony fell out over that, but I think it would have been sorted out, I think they'd have found a way, if it hadn't been for Zemo and his bombing of the UN peace talks while wearing my face, and the goddamn recording he played for them of the Winter Soldier assassinating Howard and Maria Stark."

He finishes half his drink in a single swallow.

"So, no. Stark wants me dead. Steve defended me. The Avengers are split. Some were in jail, until Steve and Natasha broke them out. Shuri's the one who got the trigger words out of my head. I'm clean now."

[daughterofliberty]

"Good," she says, bluntly. "Don't ask. It isn't pretty, and you've got problems of your own to worry about. If we ever meet again and you want to hear the story... we'll get some more drinks and I'll tell you then, okay?"

But she listens as he continues, her expression flattening all over again. "Goddamn Zemo," she mutters. "A pain in the ass in every universe, apparently. Okay, so you've got, what. Half the Avengers? That should be fine. It's not like you guys need an army for a rescue op."

[nerves_of_ice]

"He's enough of one to be," Bucky agrees, then looks her right in the eye.

"If she's alive, I'll get her out. We'll get her out. Whatever it takes. I'm not leaving her there alone."

[daughterofliberty]

"I'm sure you will," she says, as gently as she can.

"Hell, just you and Steve together could probably take that whole damn city apart, if you felt like it."

Her finger taps on the bartop again as she thinks. "I'd make sure Fury doesn't catch wind of what you're planning," she warns. "He'd probably just extract her and double down on the lie. He's clearly playing a game of his own and he doesn't like when his plans get derailed."

[nerves_of_ice]

"He'll never see me coming."

As a promise, it has weight.

"So, no, he won't find out."

[daughterofliberty]

"You are good at sneaking under the radar," she agrees. "Okay. With the Wakandans helping, you should be able to get into Madripoor without any problems."

She studies him. "Have you been there before?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"It's been a while," he says, dryly. Very, very dryly.

"You have, I'm guessing."

[daughterofliberty]

"I have. I didn't like it. The whole damn city's a cesspool."

She sips at her lager, considering. "If you have a basic idea of the mission, you should be able to track her down. Follow the weapons she's supposed to be tracking... if that's what she's really doing there."

Sharon hesitates, then pushes onward. "Can I ask you something? Are my – are her parents alive, in your universe?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"It might actually be. The problem's a real one. Stolen vibranium, stolen Chitauri tech - put together, that's something nobody needs," he informs her. "She and Steve did a hell of a job breaking up an auction in Prague. I could see Fury wanting her back but under his orders and no one else's."

Something flickers in his glance at the question - and at what it reveals. "They are. They're safe in Virginia."