[oom] a shadow in pursuit

[nerves_of_ice]

It's been well over a month since the auction, a couple of weeks since the procedure, and Bucky thinks they're all beginning to settle into what he thinks of as 'after.'

Sharon's at the lab with Shuri this morning. He's supposed to swing by there later or tomorrow, depending on how far she's gotten with the latest prototype - he'll wait to hear. In the meantime, he's concentrating on chopping up the latest fallen tree.

It's good work. Clean work, in more ways than one.

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[from_the_outside]

It's late enough by the time she and Shuri finish that Sharon opts A. to hold off on a shower in favor of taking a swim later and B. to stop by the kitchens to pick up some lunch to share with Bucky back at the hut.

She takes a short cut through the Citadel and emerges close to the launch and landing pad near the great entrance, faintly interested to see a small jet parked there.

Someone must be visiting. She makes a mental note to come back the long way around to avoid any potential visitors and re-settles the bag on her shoulder as she heads towards the distant glimmer of the lake.

[marvel_npc]

It's been over a month, and he still doesn't have any more information on the mysterious winner of the weapons auction. Nor has he been able to find any scrap of intelligence linking his former right-hand agent to the event. Everett Ross can't decide if he should draw a sliver of hope from that, that maybe she's not involved at the highest of levels, or be frustrated at the possibility that she's just that good - especially since he knows that's far from unlikely.

Either way, he'd decided that he owed T'Challa the courtesy of an explanation in person. He doesn't often take advantage of the standing invitation that he's been granted, especially as he knows how much of a generous offer it is, but for something like this? It's the right thing to do. Ross finishes talking with the guard who leaves to notify T'Challa of his arrival, assuring him there's no rush at all, and ducks back out the door to retrieve his case from the jet -- only to freeze in his tracks as he spots the blonde walking across the grass.

No. It can't be. How the-- what the hell is she doing here?

Ross abandons any thought of his case, checks to make sure he has his weapon, and follows her as silently and stealthily as he can.

[from_the_outside]

Today, again, she'd looked at the napkin with the smiley face that's tucked into her sock drawer and thought about slipping it into her pocket to see if she could open a door of her own.

Like every other day so far, she'd decided against it in the end, though she can feel that her curiosity is beginning to overcome her natural sense of caution. Bucky hasn't brought it up without her asking about it first, and she's starting to think she'll have to go on her own to feel less like it's his space that she's intruding on and more like it's any other bar they could decide to visit.

Not today, though. She turns her face up to the clear Wakandan sky and takes a deep breath of the grass-scented air and thinks: maybe tomorrow.

[marvel_npc]

It's too open here. Far too open, when it comes to trailing someone like Carter. He waits until they're out of sight of the Citadel, until there's nothing around but grass and trees and the faint gleam of the distant lake, before drawing his weapon.

In deference to the past, he keeps it pointed at the ground between them, knowing that she'll know he can have it aimed in a fraction of a second.

"Carter."

[from_the_outside]

... Damn.

She's gotten too relaxed here, too at home. She's been too certain that she's safe here. She should never have gotten so complacent.

Sharon stops. She lifts her hands before turning very slowly in place, her brain whirring – how far is she from the lake and the hut? – even as her expression settles, calm and neutral.

"Sir," she says, tone mild. "You're a long way from home."

[marvel_npc]

“Look who’s talking,” he snaps. At least it doesn’t look like she’s going to do anything stupid, although he’s no fool - he keeps watching her like a hawk.

“What the hell, Carter?”

[from_the_outside]

He's not pointing the gun at her, at least, which is nice. She keeps her hands relaxed at shoulder height, open palms facing him in the universal signal for not armed; don't shoot.

"You're going to have to be a little more specific," she tells him, listening hard for any sign that Bucky might decide to make his way towards the Citadel instead of waiting for her by the lake.

That could go badly.

[marvel_npc]

“I’ve got a lot of specific questions, which you know damn well, because you’re not an idiot.” Ross glares at her in frustration.

“I’ll start with two: why the hell did you throw your career away, and what the hell were you doing in Prague?”

[from_the_outside]

Well, crap. He must have caught just enough of a glimpse of her as she ran through the door. "I can't tell you about Prague," she says.

"And I didn't throw my career away. I chose to do the right thing."

[marvel_npc]

“The right thing?” He sounds strangled. “You stole government property! You aided and abetted criminals!”

[from_the_outside]

"The Sokovia Accords are bullshit and you know it," she retorts.

"And we let ourselves get used by a psychopath who wanted to take out the Avengers. That's on us: on you and me. We did it all wrong. Cap was never the enemy. Hell, even Tony Stark's stopped helping Secretary Ross look for him, right?"

[marvel_npc]

“And you threw away your chance to help make it right,” he snaps back. “Enemy of the state. Jesus, Carter!”

He can feel his teeth grind together. “Answer me this. Why are you here?”

[from_the_outside]

Even though her hands are still in the air tension is beginning to thread through her shoulders. Her thoughts race; she's got to get him out of here before he sees Bucky.

She shakes her head at him, stubborn. "What are you going to do with that information if I tell you?"

[from_the_outside]

Negotiations were... spirited. But her instincts were right: Ross wants to help, as much as he can while within the confines of his role at the JTTF and within the CIA.

Still, she's glad when they've all shaken hands on a plan and the group breaks up, and as a gesture of good will, she offers to walk Ross back to his guest quarters. She'll be in the Citadel tonight, anyway; no matter how much she hates the thought of Bucky alone in the woods.

It's a quiet walk, and when they reach his door, she pauses, awkward. "Well," she says, and finds herself at a loss for anything else. "Good night."

[marvel_npc]

"Carter." His mouth runs off without any useful input from his brain, and what's worse, he can't make himself shut up. "Do you want to get a drink?"

[from_the_outside]

No, she should say, probably. "Sure," is what she says instead, after a second's complete surprise.

Not that she should be that surprised. Ross isn't the type to befriend his subordinates, but they've had a beer or a glass of Scotch or two together to mark an especially good day or an especially bad one before.

She tips her head at his room. "Have anything in here?"

[marvel_npc]

"Hell if I know. Let's see." He opens the door and walks in ahead of her, heading for the small convenience fridge that'd been placed inside a stylish cabinet.

Ross opens it and shakes his head. "I swear they don't miss a trick." He takes out two bottles of a beer he'd particularly liked on his last visit and which they've thoughtfully provided for him again this time, and holds one out to Carter.

[from_the_outside]

She takes it and flips the cap off, then lifts the bottle towards him in a silent toast.

"I heard about Busan," she says, after she's taken a sip. "How's your back?"

[marvel_npc]

"Good as new. Probably better," he admits, and gestures toward the small sitting area over by the window in silent invitation. "It's miraculous, what they can do here."

[from_the_outside]

"You're telling me," she says, as she heads to the little sitting area and settles in a chair that, like everything else here, is both beautiful and comfortable.

"I got a taste of that myself. Couldn't believe how fast I healed up."

[marvel_npc]

His brows furrow as he frowns at her. "You got hurt? What happened?"

[from_the_outside]

"I was helping Nakia out on a mission," she tells him, "and things went south. One of the targets got the drop on me with a knife, here." She puts her hand over the site of the now long ago stab wound.

"T'Challa stabilized it," which is a nicer way of saying 'shoved a bead the size of a marble into the meat of her leg,' she thinks, " – and when we got back the doctor did...something. I didn't ask too many questions. But it healed up within, what. Twelve hours?"

[marvel_npc]

Ross nods. "Sounds about right. I think it was twenty-four hours or so for me. But I'd expected to be dead or paralyzed from the waist down, so you can imagine it was a hell of a shock."

He takes a swig from his beer and leans back in his chair, eyeing her.

"I didn't know you had any sort of connection to Wakanda."

[from_the_outside]

"I knew Nakia from the old SHIELD days," she says.

She'll have to be careful. He knows her well and he knows all her tells; the only person she'd have less of chance of selling a lie to would be Bucky. "She put in a good word for me to T'Challa. But I had no idea Wakanda was anything like..."

She gestures with her bottle; at the room, at the mellow, gorgeous expanse out the window. "This."

[marvel_npc]

He snorts. "Who did?" Ross takes another drink and shakes his head. "You should have seen their faces at the UN when T'Challa let them in on the secret."