[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.

Comments

[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."

[from_the_outside]

She grins at that, even through the slight pang of knowing she probably would have seen it, if she hadn't taken a hard right turn right out the window of her career. "You could have sold tickets," she tells him, amused, but sobers again when she sips at her beer.

"Now that it's out there, though, I get the feeling we're going to be seeing a lot more like the auction in Prague. This world has never met a resource it didn't want to exploit."

[marvel_npc]

"Too damn true," he growls. "And god knows after the last vibranium theft incident you're the right one to help them with it. I'd have wanted you in Busan if everything else hadn't gone to hell before that."

Ross sighs, and pins her with a look. "Tell me true, Carter: was I that much of a shit boss that you didn't think you could come to me for help?"

[from_the_outside]

She's in the middle of a swallow when he asks, and the bottle pauses at her lips while she watches him, dark-eyed and troubled.

"No," she says, quiet, and rests the bottle in her lap, fingers toying idly with the label. "You were a good boss."

She'd been meeting his glance, but now her gaze drops to the bottle as she shakes her head. "I'm sure you would have helped. But I'd have taken you down with me." She looks back at him, a stubborn set to her jaw. "I couldn't do that to you."

[marvel_npc]

"Throwing yourself into the line of fire in front of everyone else, hm?"

Weary, wry understanding is evident.

[from_the_outside]

She snorts a laugh and flicks an eyebrow up.

"Something like that."

Shifting in the seat to fold one leg beneath her, she swirls the bottle as it hangs from the fingers of one hand. "And everything happened so fast. There wasn't any time to spare."

[marvel_npc]

He grunts. "Damn Steve Rogers anyway." Ross sounds frustrated. "I get why he lost patience with the system, I guess, after D.C., but Jesus. First Sokovia, then Lagos, then this."

[from_the_outside]

"Come on," she says, amused and exasperated in equal measure. "This kind of thing has been his M.O. from Day One. You don't seriously expect the guy who went across No Man's Land, against orders, to take out a HYDRA facility all by himself to play ball when he thinks the system's got it wrong, do you?"

She tips her bottle at him to illustrate her point. "And we did get it wrong. Zemo played us all like puppets."

[marvel_npc]

"That asshole. Don't get me started," Ross growls, and takes another drink of his beer as if washing a bad taste out of his mouth. "He's cooling his heels in Barnes's cell right now. Or what would have been Barnes's cell, anyway."

[from_the_outside]

"He's – "

She has to stop there because the mental image makes her laugh right out loud. "Good," she says, lifting her bottle to him in a toast.

"I hope he's bored and uncomfortable."

[marvel_npc]

He raises his own bottle in answer.

"Your mouth to God's ear. Smug son-of-a-bitch."

[from_the_outside]

"Ugh," she says, grimacing. "He is. What is it with the modern day bad guy and all their deep, philosophical schemes, honestly? How come nobody just tries to steal the Crown Jewels or something anymore?"

[marvel_npc]

"Maybe they're all like that Loki guy and want shiny magic rocks instead of jewels," he says, sourly. "Not to mention the speeches."

[from_the_outside]

"Yes. The speeches. What's with the speeches? Do you think they rehearse them beforehand?"

She shakes her head and settles back into the chair. "I've got to hand it to Zemo, though. He actually managed to do exactly what he set out to do, which is more than I can say for the others."

[marvel_npc]

"Maybe there's something to reading Machiavelli, more than being a self-inflated jerk. Who the hell knows." Ross sighs. "I hope to god there aren't many more like him out there. Especially right now."

[from_the_outside]

"Yeah."

It's sighed, the way it might have been on any other night in Berlin after a day that went especially wrong, and she's not so caught up in her own worries not to notice it. Her mouth twists as she considers him.

"You're stretching your own neck out, you know," she tells him. "If they find out you're in contact and didn't bring me in, even with the excuse of negotiating with Rogers, you could lose your job."

[marvel_npc]

"Don't remind me," he grumbles. "Maybe it's something in the air here."

[from_the_outside]

Her mouth twists as she tries to hold back a smile.

"Maybe," she says, mildly. "Could be all that vibranium."

[marvel_npc]

Ross raises his right hand and flexes his fingers, pointedly and without any sign of pain, under the bandage around his wrist.

"Could be. It's pretty amazing stuff."

[from_the_outside]

She nods at his wrist. "Sorry about that, by the way," she says, wry.

All the vibranium and rapid healing in the world doesn't make up for the fact that he got assaulted first. Even if he was holding a gun near her.

[marvel_npc]

Ross shrugs. "Not your fault. That White Wolf's one hell of a guard."

[from_the_outside]

Her mouth works like she's trying not to smile again. "He is that," she agrees. "I'm just glad you weren't actually aiming at me. Things could have gone a lot worse."

For Ross, first. And then for her and Bucky both. And probably T'Challa, too. "But you should be safe from now on."

[marvel_npc]

"As long as I don't point any more guns at you, I assume." Ross shakes his head. "What's the deal with the invisibility thing, anyway?"

[from_the_outside]

"He's scarier when he maintains an air of mystery," she says, absolutely straight-faced.

"But yes. I would strongly recommend not pointing any more guns at me."

[marvel_npc]

"Do me a favor and don't give me a reason to." Ross tips back his bottle for a swallow, then points it at her.

"I didn't enjoy it the first time."