[oom] see right through my walls

[nerves_of_ice]

As T'Challa stares at the hologram in the palm of his hand, he can already feel the headache forming. "She what? No. Never mind. Bring her to me in the throne room, when she arrives. I will deal with her myself."

He clears the image, then taps the Kimoyo Bead again. "Nakia. I need you."

* * * * * * * * *

"You cannot be serious."

"I don't see why this is a problem. You brought Everett Ross here--"

"Ross was dying! And he was never allowed to know that the man he was seeking was here! Nakia, I have made a promise to protect him."

"She is not a threat. Not to him."

"I will be the judge of that."

Nakia throws up her hands. "Fine. You will see. I hope it does not bother you that I stay and watch?"

T'Challa smiles. "Of course not."

Comments

[from_the_outside]

She has to admit, this place is beautiful. And the throne room is nothing short of spectacular.

One Dora escorts her in, another, holding the backpack she'd had on her when she was brought in, flanks her; both eye her with the cool assessing gaze of scarily competent people who will absolutely not hesitate to seriously fuck her up if she's here to do harm. Fortunately, that's the last thing she's here for. She's not even armed.

They bring her to a halt about eight feet from the throne, and she inclines her head to T'Challa politely. "Your Highness."

Her eyes track over to Nakia, standing nearby, and her mouth ticks the slight quarter-curve it takes to go from deference to irreverence. "Nakia, what's up, girl? You look amazing."

Nakia winks. Sharon grins.

[nerves_of_ice]

T'Challa looks at Nakia. He has no intention of asking aloud in front of her guest, but she knows him well enough to read the sharp query in his glance.

Nakia shrugs, and looks back at him without even the slightest sign of apology. You did not ask, did you?

"Agent Carter," he says, turning his attention back to the woman standing in front of him. He remembers her well, from one of the worst days of his life. How could he not?

"Welcome to Wakanda. Why are you here?"

[from_the_outside]

"Ms," she corrects, her smile fading slightly.

"Or just Sharon is fine. Pretty sure I got fired, so 'agent' no longer really applies."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Ms. Carter," he confirms, studying her.

"Why did you get fired?"

[from_the_outside]

"I broke the Sokovia Accords, disobeyed direct orders, stole government property, and aided and abetted wanted criminals," she says, without batting an eye.

"That's the kind of thing the CIA tends not to look too kindly on."

[nerves_of_ice]

He gives Nakia another look. This one's longer.

"I see. Then I must ask you again, Ms. Carter: why are you here?"

[from_the_outside]

She clocks the look between him and Nakia, and the line of her mouth turns rueful. "It's easy to confirm," she says. "If you tell Everett Ross I'm here, he'll arrest me in a heartbeat. Or Tony Stark. Whichever."

It's no secret that she went rogue. That's half the reason it took her so long to get here: they've been looking for her.

"I'm here for a friend of mine." She doesn't look at Nakia now, keeps her gaze levelly on T'Challa. "Bucky Barnes.

"I have some things that belong to him."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Then it is fortunate for you," T'Challa informs her, "that Everett Ross is not visiting Wakanda at present."

He lets that rest there between them all in silence for a moment before he continues,

"Sergeant Barnes disappeared with Captain Rogers in Leipzig."

[from_the_outside]

"I know."

(Thank you, Sharon.)

"I was there. But now he's here. And I can show you how I know." She turns to the Dora holding Bucky's backpack. "Can I have my phone back for a second?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Anyone can claim to be somewhere they were not," T'Challa says, and it's Nakia's turn to give him a look.

The Dora hefts the backpack in her hand, considering Sharon, and then looks to T'Challa. Whatever she sees in his face is enough. Instead of opening it, or giving it to Sharon, she walks over and gives it to Nakia before resuming her guard position.

"Front pocket?" Nakia asks, and opens it up without waiting for an answer. She pulls out a phone and looks at Sharon.

"Here." She walks over and presses it into Sharon's hands, giving her a speaking look as she does. "Careful what you are doing, sister," she murmurs.

[from_the_outside]

"Ask Steve Rogers," she says, calmly. "Unless you think he'd lie to you."

But she relents a little at Nakia's quiet advice, and takes a deep breath before turning her phone on and pulling up the screen she's been checking every day since Leipzig.

Every day since she went off the grid.

"Here." She takes a step forward and stops when the Dora come to alert, spears pointing warily in her direction. Holding her hands up, she gives Nakia the phone back and nods to T'Challa. Nakia, taking her meaning, brings the phone up to him.

It's not much. A simple map.

With one blinking light in what the rest of the world thinks is the undeveloped space of Wakanda. "If he isn't here now, he was here recently," she says, matter-of-fact. "I've been tracking him since he left Leipzig."

She still feels zero guilt about it. In her opinion, it's his turn.

[nerves_of_ice]

He stares at that blinking light in arctic silence for almost a full minute before he touches the bracelet at his wrist.

The young woman in the hologram that forms in his hand looks impatient. "Brother! I told you, today I am--"

"Shuri." T'Challa's tone is even. Too even, to judge from the way the tension among the Dora is picking up. "We have a situation."

"I'm on my way," she says, and the image winks out.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon glances at Nakia, and her friend gives her a faint shake of the head that makes her grimace, but she doesn't back down.

She can't. She's come too far. And he's so close.

[nerves_of_ice]

The young woman who enters moves with the lightning-struck brilliance of a gathering storm, all quick sharp motion edged with curiosity as she glances at the visitor. Shuri goes straight to T'Challa's side and looks down at the phone that he hands her.

"What is this?"

"A tracker. So she claims."

"Oh. Oh!" Shuri's startled glance flies to Sharon, narrowing in sudden interest before she looks back to the phone, then to T'Challa.

"Is it?" He's still watching Sharon, steady and level.

"That will be easy enough to check," Shuri tells them. "Give me a moment." She calls up a display from her wrist and holds the phone up to it so that the signals can align.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon watches this new arrival – Shuri, T'Challa had called her; his sister and a genius, if she remembers her intel correctly – with similarly undisguised interest, but says nothing.

Her tracker tech is nowhere near as advanced as Shuri's, but it's reliable. There's a bright flash of triumph in her eyes for a second as the signals align; it fades again as she meets T'Challa's gaze with her own calm, level one.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Well," Shuri murmurs, and exchanges a look with her brother. "I have some work to do. This will not be a problem for long."

T'Challa nods to his sister first, as Shuri moves to stand off to the side with Nakia, poking at the display without any sign that she intends to give the phone back any time soon. Then, he turns his cool regard back to Sharon.

"Thank you, for pointing out this weakness in our defenses," he tells her. "We will take Sergeant Barnes's things on his behalf. I will see that he gets them."

[from_the_outside]

Her eyebrows lift, and she glances at Nakia, who sighs and rolls her eyes, then looks back at T'Challa.

Her chin tips up, her jaw sets, and her gaze turns cool in a way Bucky himself would find very familiar.

"No."

Very simply.

[nerves_of_ice]

T'Challa stares at her.

"What do you mean, 'no'?"

[from_the_outside]

"Sorry," she says, not looking sorry at all. "No, Your Highness."

She stares right back at him. Her shoulders straighten, just a little.

"That's not good enough."

[nerves_of_ice]

"He is not ready," Shuri says, almost absently. She's still fiddling with the display, adjusting something. "He is still healing."

"Shuri." T'Challa sounds extremely pained.

She looks up in surprise. "What?" She waves one hand at Sharon. "As if she would just take no for an answer. She should know why."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon sets her jaw.

"He didn't kill your father," she says, hard. "And I'm not going anywhere until I see him with my own two eyes and make sure you're not treating him like he did."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Helmut Zemo murdered my father," T'Challa informs her, just as hard, just as flat. It's almost certain that she will recognize the look on his face, in his eyes; it's nearly identical to the one he wore at JTTF headquarters. "And framed Sergeant Barnes for it. I delivered Zemo to the CIA myself."

"Sharon," Nakia says, quietly. "We are not your enemy."

T'Challa does not appear to hear her.

"Sergeant Barnes is under my protection. I do not take that lightly."

[from_the_outside]

Everyone is her enemy, these days. But that's neither here nor there.

She slides a considering look at Nakia, who nods. She relaxes, minutely, then turns stubbornly back to T'Challa.

"Good. You shouldn't. But I'm still not going anywhere until I see him."

[nerves_of_ice]

He studies her without speaking for several seconds, then trades a look with Nakia for several more.

T'Challa pushes himself to his feet and walks around to stand by the window, looking out at the city in the distance, his hands clasped behind him.

"Why?"

[from_the_outside]

His back is turned, but Nakia and Shuri, if they're watching, will probably see how her gaze turns inward and a little sad.

"I told him once he didn't have to do this alone," she says, quietly, after a long moment. "And I don't go back on my word."