nerves_of_ice | [oom] a shadow in pursuit

"Think you could let me up now, Carter?" Ross growls. He'd been sorely tempted to try to pull free and get a look at this mysterious White Wolf as he departed, but decided to go with the better part of valor this time. Things are enough of a mess as it is.

"You have no idea how lucky you've just been," she says, and waits until Bucky's disappeared into the trees before she lets go and stands up, stepping far enough away that he won't be able to get the gun back without a tussle.

And Bucky's still watching. She's certain of it. "Let's go."

He gets to his feet and brushes himself off, ignoring the shooting pain in his right wrist as best he can. The look he gives Carter is glacial.

"This isn't anywhere near over yet," he promises. "Don't get cocky, Carter."

"Me?" she says, dry as dust. "Cocky?"

She tips her head at the Citadel and waits for him to fall into step with her before she takes her phone out again and texts Nakia to have ice packs, ibuprofen, and an ACE bandage available when they arrive. "What are you doing here, anyway, if you didn't come for me?"

Ross gives her a disbelieving look, right before his eyes narrow in thought.

"You tell me what you were doing in Prague, and I'll tell you why I'm here."

She runs a quick mental calculation, then shrugs.

"I was assisting King T'Challa," she tells him, picking up the pace. "I infiltrated the auction on Wakanda's behalf to retrieve the plans and prototype for sale."

"You infiltrated--" He breaks off there, thinking quickly as a number of possibilities become clear.

Something else does, as well. "Goddamn it." Now he sounds exasperated. "I'm here to apologize for the Task Force's failure to retrieve the plans and prototype."

"I wouldn't feel too bad about it," Sharon says. "We planned it that way."

She glances at them as they head back over the hill towards the Citadel. "I didn't think you saw me."

"You never were able to run that fast in heels." Ross glances back over at her as they come up the slope side by side. "I made you as you slipped through the door. After you dropped back to take that guy down before he could do the same to me."

He turns back toward the Citadel, his expression grim. "That's the other reason I'm here, by the way. To apologize for my rogue agent. What the fuck, Carter."

"I'm not your rogue agent," she says, stiffly. "I'm not an agent at all, not now that I'm on the CIA's watch list."

An escort of Dora wait for them near the launch pad, silent and stoic. Sharon eyes them as she continues. "And I don't have anything to apologize for, so you can take that off your to-do list."

"If you're not my agent, you sure as hell don't get to tell me how to do my job," Ross informs her, and joins her in eyeing the Dora Milaje, who split in half as they approach to escort them from either side.

"No?"

This is going great. "Maybe you can think of me as a kind of freelance consultant. At least until you try to put me behind bars."

He gives her an exasperated look and doesn't bother dignifying that with an answer.

Fortunately for all concerned, it's not very far to the council room where T'Challa's waiting. Ross waits until the Dora escort withdraws, leaving them under Okoye and Ayo's watchful eyes, then takes half a step forward and nods to T'Challa and Nakia, who's standing a little to the side.

"Your highness. Nakia. Good to see you again."

"Agent Ross," T'Challa says. It's warm but Sharon can spot a telltale tightness around his eyes that means he's probably fighting off a fiendish headache.

Honestly, same.

Nakia nods at a nearby attendant, who comes quietly up and offers Ross the ibuprofen and a small cup of water, then begins wrapping up his wrist as T'Challa continues. "I did not expect to see you back here in Wakanda so soon."

"I felt the need to apologize in person," Ross says, submitting to the medic's administrations without even token resistance. It's not the miracle Shuri had worked on him - thankfully, there's no need for that - but he can tell from the subtle shiver of the bandage that it's doing something that would stun the rest of the world.

"For my failure, and that of the Task Force, in Prague. I have to say I wasn't expecting this particular surprise, though," he concludes, cutting a fast glance at Carter before holding T'Challa's gaze, his chin lifted slightly and his shoulders set.

The medic infuses the bandage with the cold pack, then steps back and bows to T'Challa once finished. He nods back and turns to Ross, noting as he does that Sharon Carter appears to be only just barely refraining from rolling her eyes.

He doesn't sigh, though he's sorely tempted. "There is no need to apologize," he says, mild. "You performed admirably in Prague. I am sorry for our deception, but I think you can see why we had to keep our operative's identity a secret."

He nods at Sharon Carter, who nods back, her expression now carefully set. "I could not risk you attempting to apprehend your one-time agent after I had promised her safety."

"You promised," he repeats, slowly. "Your highness, Sharon Carter has been named an enemy of the state by the United States of America."

Tension is rising in him as he speaks, and he throttles it back as best he can. "You have to realize what that means."

T'Challa considers him for a long moment, then clasps his hands behind his back and strolls slowly to the window, looking out over the Wakandan plains.

(He does not see the White Wolf out there, but he knows that means nothing.)

"Sharon Carter requested and was granted asylum here in Wakanda," he says, apparently to the view. It's a moment more before he turns again and gazes steadily at Everett Ross. "To take an action against her is to take an action against me. I hope we can come to some sort of understanding before such a thing becomes necessary."

Ross pinches the bridge of his nose with his left hand, then lets it drop.

"You know I'm on your side," he says. "I have been since Busan. But I wouldn't be doing you any favors if I didn't warn you how this will look if it gets out."

Wait, what?

Sharon glances at him in surprise, but T'Challa only looks thoughtful. "I always value your advice, Agent Ross," he says. "I have no desire to position Wakanda against your government. And yet I know you have an oath and a duty to report Ms. Carter's presence here. So."

He nods to the Dora, who bow and file out, leaving the four of them alone in the room as T'Challa takes a seat and gestures to two empty chairs for Sharon and Ross.

"What shall we do about it?"

"Hell of a good question," he says, sinking into one of the chairs indicated. Ross gives her an exasperated look. "You don't do anything small, do you?"

"You used to like that about me," she points out, taking the other seat.

"But it really didn't seem like the kind of situation where 'small' would get it done."

"I liked it a lot better when our goals were aligned," Ross tells her, point-blank. "But no, you had to go and violate the Sokovia Accords --"

He turns to T'Challa. "-- the very Accords that Wakanda was instrumental in making a reality --"

Ross turns back to Carter. "-- and top it off with theft of irreplaceable government property, among other things."

Her mouth thins. It's all true, of course. She can tell herself she did the right thing all day long; it doesn't make her less of a criminal in the eyes of her government.

"If I were really a traitor, do you think I would have saved your ass in Prague?" she asks. "Our goals are aligned, I hope, even if I chose a different method. I threw my hat in with Captain Rogers because it was the right thing to do, Accords or no Accords."

"That just pisses me off even more, Carter, you ought to know that," he snaps. "Because of course they are."

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject