[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]

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."

[nerves_of_ice]

Nakia, seeing the expression on Sharon's face, goes to join T'Challa by the window. Although she doesn't say a word, he looks down at her for a few seconds, then nods.

"Very well." T'Challa turns back to face Sharon, and walks over to stand in front of her. "I will take you to him. But if he refuses to see you, no one will force him."

"I will take her," Shuri interjects, as she closes the display. "It is almost time for me to visit anyway."

[from_the_outside]

She lets out a breath, and finds a faint but genuine smile that touches the corners of her mouth like a brief shadow.

"I agree to those terms."

With a glance at the backpack: "Can I have that back now?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Nakia brings it over and presses it into her hands.

"Good luck," she murmurs.

"This way," Shuri says. "Follow me." She offers Sharon her phone back. "How did you get such primitive technology within Wakandan borders to begin with?"

[from_the_outside]

She covers Nakia's hands with her own for a moment, grateful. "Thank you," she says, softly, then slings the backpack over her shoulder and follows Shuri, pocketing her phone as she goes.

"I put trackers into the clothes I took from the Task Force and gave to him," she admits, wholly unashamed, and slides an amused, self-satisfied glance Shuri's way. Her lips twitch like she's trying not to laugh. "And into his boots."

There was no way she was letting him disappear again.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Oh, very clever," Shuri laughs. "We got rid of those old clothes, but did not take the boots."

Two of the Dora fall in behind them at a distance; evidently no one's ready to fully trust the visitor with the Princess of Wakanda. Shuri doesn't seem to even notice.

"Did he know? He must not have."

She says it with confidence, as if there's no way Bucky would have hidden such a thing from her.

[from_the_outside]

"I don't think so."

She clocks the two Dora, but doesn't let it affect either her step or her voice. Now the laugh is perfectly audible in her tone. "I thought he might find one, but probably not all of them."

Were there only three? Sharon's not telling. "Besides, if he'd found them, he would have already found a way to yell at me about it."

She says that fondly, and she takes a second to recognize that fond is probably the wrong tone to take with this subject, but doesn't care enough to hide it.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yell? No." Shuri sounds disbelieving. "Surely not."

She leads the way out over green grass and open fields, headed towards a distant lake backed by a stand of trees. As they draw closer, a few small cottages fade into view.

"Does he yell? Normally, I mean."

[from_the_outside]

There's a light flicker of a frown between Sharon's brows, but she passes it off as being sensitive to the sudden sunlight.

(It's not...what she'd expected. Not that she'd known what to expect.)

Bust she keeps any observations to herself and laughs at Shuri's question. "Only in the sense that he gets very quiet and intensely disappointed in you and all your life decisions up to the current point, and probably some after," she says, amused.

Or maybe that's just with her?

"So maybe less yelling and more getting annoyed because he thinks he's the only one who can make accurate risk assessments."

The air is so fresh and clear; she takes a deep breath, looking around. "It's so beautiful here. I had no idea. Nakia always said it was, but..."

She shrugs. "You know. Nobody outside Wakanda has any real idea what it's like."

[nerves_of_ice]

"That is going to change," Shuri tells her, openly amused. "The world will soon learn just how wrong they have been about Wakanda all along. Although visitors may still be rare. We have no need of colonizers here."

As they draw closer, the sounds of children laughing and yelling can be heard, carrying easily on the clear air. There are three or four of them, small figures that appear to be playing tag with several goats, jumping back and forth around a much taller figure who is standing like a tree perfectly still in the middle of the chaos.

Shuri puts a hand on Sharon's arm and draws her to a stop. "Remember," she warns. "As I said. He is still healing."

[from_the_outside]

"Honestly, that's more than fair."

That amused shadow plays around her mouth again, and her eyes are bright as she watches, thinking of an evening over two months ago now, and Gene Kelly tap-dancing in the rain.

Good. He deserves as much joy in his life as the world can offer.

She comes to a halt at Shuri's touch and meets her gaze openly, listening before she nods. "I know," she says, soft. "I'm just glad he's finally getting a chance to start healing at all. I'll be careful, Princess, I promise."

She reaches for Shuri's hand and gives it a quick, reassuring squeeze. "Thank you for helping him. Now..."

Letting go, she tips her head in the direction of all this happy chaos with a flashing smile of her own. "What's with the goats?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"I will hold you to that," Shuri tells her. "I am fond of this broken white boy."

She looks at the tiny herd, the laughing children, and smiles.

"He needs to re-learn that he can bring life instead of death," she says. "Goats need care. He can give it."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon smiles over at the little group, too, eyes warm. "So am I."

There had been a few times over the last six weeks when she'd debated doing this, when she'd crafted argument after argument for why he should see her if this turned out to be a bad surprise instead of a pleasant one, but...

She's not worried about it anymore.

"He can," she confirms. "I've seen it." She gives Shuri a crooked half-grin.

"Shall we?"