[oom] the wilderness gave it to me and the wilderness will not let it go

[nerves_of_ice]

He chooses both the day and the time with care, drifting up by the practice yards of the Dora to speak first with Ayo and then with Okoye in the same morning. In the afternoon he visits Shuri at the lab, later than usual, and delays after fitting and testing the latest prototype to discuss the upcoming surgery. It's no hardship to consider - compared to everything that's come before, it's nothing. Bucky's pretty sure that Shuri knows he feels that way, but it doesn't stop her from wanting to be sure in her planning and his preparations, and he's unwilling to protest the care that she wants to take.

The carefully calculated timing means that he's just finishing up when T'Challa arrives. The other man looks exhausted around the eyes, he notices. Bucky dips his head in a respectful nod and starts to withdraw, only for T'Challa to wave him to a standstill as he asks Shuri about upgraded surveillance devices for the borderlands. He'd expected him to do exactly that, but it's good to have been right, and being able to listen to their conversation gives him the opening he needs. Shuri goes down the hall to fetch something, leaving the two of them alone together, and Bucky meets the other man's eyes.

"Things aren't getting any better, are they." It's not a question. Not really. T'Challa shakes his head. "No. They are not," he agrees. "And there are not enough of us to guard all approaches. I am hoping these--" He goes to Shuri's workbench and stares down at the range of equipment there. "--will make the difference. Or at least buy time."

Bucky nods. "You told me before that you wouldn't ask for my aid unless Wakanda or the world was in dire danger," he reminds him. "That doesn't mean I can't offer."

T'Challa goes very, very still before turning to look at him. "White Wolf."

"This isn't like before," he says, quietly. He has to convince him. He has to. "It's not the same. This is about protection. Send me. Let me help."

He holds himself steady while T'Challa searches his face, and sees in the other man's eyes the moment when Wakanda's king makes his decision.

* * * * * * *

Half an hour later, Bucky leaves the train and heads into the Citadel instead of back to the hut by the lake.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

Sharon's right behind her thrown weapon; she grabs the javelin and deals a blow to the nerve that runs along the man's jaw, knocking him cold – and maybe knocking a few teeth loose, too.

Once she's sure he's out and that Bucky has more than held his own, she kneels to bind him as the Dora do the same with the other groaning, miserable poachers.

Her breathless smile is a quick flash of white teeth. "Hope you don't mind us crashing your party," she says, and swallows hard against the coppery feel of exertion in her chest.

[nerves_of_ice]

He spits at her, but it falls short. Bucky yanks the last poacher up and straps the bonds around his wrists, behind his back, then dumps him in the dirt and goes to secure the others. All secure, he sends, with the tap code.

Ayo's voice comes through transmission in response clear as a bell. "Here as well. We have many fools to bring before the king's justice today."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon rises, tapping at her Kimoyo beads before Toro's voice comes through. "We are secure," she assures Sharon, who smiles; the Dora sounds just a little disappointed.

"If they try this shit again I'm recommending you both for the front team," she says. "Good job. Thanks for holding the last territory."

Once they've made plans to rendezvous, Sharon collapses her javelin and stores it against the thigh of her white suit, then gives the bound poacher a nudge with her toe in the kidney for good measure. He groans and she smiles, sugar over steel, before heading to join the others.

[nerves_of_ice]

Myela laughs. “Oh, I like you,” she calls, as Sharon rejoins them.

“Good work,” Bucky tells them all, and quiet pride is clear. “Let’s get them back. We’ll leave a tech monitor with alternating teams of two along the border in case there’s another band waiting nearby, but I think we’ve gotten at least a good start on it.”

His stare for the poachers is level and flat and promises nothing good. “What they have to tell us will help us decide what happens next.

[from_the_outside]

"The rest of our team is on their way with the flyer," Sharon says, as Zara joins them. "Are they ready to load up?"

Zara's smile is all sharp satisfaction. "They are," she reports. "And should they decide to push their luck, they just may learn what a bad idea that would be."

Sharon's mouth twitches and she turns to shade her eyes and watch as the flyer comes in, landing nearby. "Alley-oop," she says, hauling one of the poachers off the ground. Zara takes his other side and together they begin walking him toward the flyer and the two Dora waiting there.

[nerves_of_ice]

Myela and Cedi take the next poacher while Bucky stands guard over the others. It takes several trips, and more than one flyer, but eventually they’re all loaded and Bucky contacts Okoye.

“En route with twenty-one prisoners,” he reports, and the bitten-off curse the general lets out is somehow deeply satisfying.

[from_the_outside]

"And it's not even Christmas," Sharon says, and barely refrains from winking at Bucky. "See you back at the Citadel."

She nods to the others and enters the flyer she'd come in with the rest of her team and the poachers they'd stashed into it.

[nerves_of_ice]

He stays behind until the backup teams arrive, reviewing the surveillance placement with them before departing with the final batch of prisoners. Myela flies them back while Bucky and Cedi stand guard.

[from_the_outside]

They don't fly back to the usual Citadel launchpad; instead, Toro takes them around the city and towards the back of the mountain, where a group of people awaits on a more defensible location. The poachers grimace as they see who has come to meet them: King T'Challa, backed by Okoye and Dora Milaje and dressed in the robes of his office, stands tall and calm, eying each poacher as they are brought from the flyers.

He makes no comment at all until the last flyer arrives and Bucky's team deplanes, but his mouth has steadily thinned throughout the parade. He casts an unreadable glance over the final group of poachers and addresses himself to Bucky. "White Wolf," he says. "It seems your mission was a success."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Your highness,” he says, simply. “Thanks to your leadership, Wakanda remains secure.”

[marvel_npc]

He nods and clasps his hands behind his back before strolling over to look one of the poachers in the eye.

"General," he says, mildly, and doesn't blink as the man flinches. "I am turning these men over to you."

"Yes, my king," Okoye says, with grim satisfaction. "They will sing like little birds."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky catches T’Challa’s eye and indicates one of the men. “Leader,” he says, in Wakandan. “At least one of them. Higher quality gear; others were looking to him for how to react when captured.”

Okoye’s eyes narrow as she turns to stare at the poacher, who starts looking uncomfortable with the attention.

[marvel_npc]

Between the two of them, there's no question who will win this staring contest. Okoye waits until the poacher has dropped his gaze, then slams the butt of her spear down, making him jump as she snaps out an order to the waiting Dora Milajie.

As the remaining prisoners are led away, she turns to T'Challa and crosses her arms over her chest with a bow. "My king," she murmurs, and follows her new charges... though not without first casting a wink to the White Wolf, Ayo, and Sharon Carter.

[nerves_of_ice]

“The border remains under guard until we know if there are more of them,” Bucky murmurs. “We should find out soon.”

He meets T’Challa’s gaze. “Thank you. For your trust.”

[marvel_npc]

"Thank you," T'Challa tells him. "For your help."

[nerves_of_ice]

He beckons Ayo and Sharon to step forward. “I didn’t do it alone.”

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa nods at the two women as they take a step forward; they return his greeting with respectful nods of their own heads. "Very good," he praises.

"All of you. I see I put my faith in the right hands."

[nerves_of_ice]

It is dizzying and somehow overwhelming, he finds, to be praised for this. For using his assassin's skills in this way. For protecting, and what's more, being trusted to protect.

Ayo murmurs something he can't quite make out, and he thinks - a little numbly - that he should as well, but he can't seem to speak. He ducks his head in a nod instead, and hopes it's enough.

[marvel_npc]

He nods again, tamping down on his smile. "Ayo," he says, and the Dora comes to attention. "You may return to your other duties."

She crosses her arms over her chest and bows as he glances to the White Wolf. "And you, White Wolf, come and give me a full report. I expect you may wish to join Okoye after?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yes," he says, moving automatically to fall in at T'Challa's side. "If the general doesn't mind; I might be able to assist. Sharon might, as well."

He doesn't want her to be left out, especially as of all of them she's got the right skillset to help when it comes to counterterrorism, which this most certainly is.

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa nods and looks to Sharon Carter. "If you're willing to assist further, please join the General," he tells her.

"Of course," she says, easily, and splits off in the direction Okoye had gone as T'Challa strolls with the White Wolf towards another entrance, one that leads back to the Citadel.

[nerves_of_ice]

He stays quiet as they walk, as the guards brace to attention at their king's passing, all the way inside and to the small informal receiving room that T'Challa prefers, then gives him a quizzical look.

"How much detail do you want?"

[marvel_npc]

"As much as you can give me," T'Challa says. He sets a hand on the back of a chair but changes his mind and strolls to the window instead, clasping his hands behind his back as he looks out over Wakanda.

"What are we dealing with, White Wolf?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"A combination of greed and stupidity, it looks like," he says, succinctly. "People who thought they saw an opportunity and a weakness, and decided to take advantage of it."

He frowns a little. "They were well-equipped. Too well. Either their clients have very deep pockets and don't mind paying up front, or there's something more there. We'll find out. The good news is that they didn't show any signs of being part of a large coordinated effort."

[marvel_npc]

"And their abilities?"

He turns to face the White Wolf, his expression calm. "Did they match the weaponry, or were they thugs with good guns?"