nerves_of_ice | [Leipzig AU] a means to a necessary end

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leipzig au

[Leipzig AU] a means to a necessary end

It's a long flight from Berlin to Novosibirsk and the secret location far beyond it, even in a Quinjet. They spend the time planning and coordinating. Bucky describes the structure and security of the facility itself as best he remembers. Tony calls up plans and blueprints from god knows where and throws them into the middle of the plane for all to see. They're not the same as what Bucky remembers, they figure out fairly quickly, but they're better than nothing.

Tony also takes over the back of the plane and snaps at anyone who comes close, doing something that involves shifting screens and models of buildings and wave patterns and a human skull, and the eventually the low humming grind of a machine. Soon after, he stalks back up to the front of the plane and shoves a set of custom-fabricated earplugs at Bucky, who stares at them and then at Tony.

"Noise-cancelling all the way to total sound blackout. Tap the end of the earpiece to deafen yourself," Tony informs him. "Last thing we need's for you to be his puppet." Bucky starts to stammer a thanks, but Tony growls something under his breath and stalks back to the back of the plane again to work on something else. Steve catches Bucky's eye and shakes his head, and Bucky decides to leave well enough alone.

Sam advises everyone to rest in shifts; Bucky knows he's not wrong, but neither he nor Steve can do it, and after a while Sam stops trying to convince them. Natasha sits with him for a while, her eyes dark with concern. They don't say much, but there's no need to.

A Snowcat is parked outside the door of the facility when they land. Bucky's jaw sets in hard lines at the sight of it, and he trades a look with Steve.

They're already here.

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T'Challa spreads his hands. "I granted a request for political asylum," he says. "As is my sovereign right. Whether it puts us at odds is entirely in the hands of the United States."

He clasps his hands behind his back once more and considers Ross. "He will be safe from those who would misuse him in Wakanda. Can you promise the same if he returns home?"

The answer's no, and everyone in this room knows it. If they hadn't before - Riley, maybe - they do now, given the way his jaw clenches tight at the question.

Barnes is standing perfectly still, he notices, and perfectly silent, apparently calm and undisturbed by any of this. "Going back on your promise?" Ross snaps at him. It's a cheap shot, born of frustration, and he regrets it almost as soon as he says it -- the more so when he sees the way the man goes pale as a corpse, the way Rogers grips his shoulder and gives Ross one of those level, disappointed looks of his.

He turns back to T'Challa. "There are other ways, surely," he grits out. "I'm trying to help avoid escalation, your highness."

Next to Ross, Agent Carter goes white and then red with anger, a transformation which T'Challa notes with interest.

"I am perfectly willing to cooperate you if you can find another way," T'Challa says, mild. "I am certain this is a last resort for Sergeant Barnes. After all, he might be safe, but he will have to leave his friends behind. As much as I love my home, I can understand that it is unlikely to be his first choice of residence."

Steve's hand tightens further on his shoulder now, taking comfort as well as giving it. Bucky hopes like hell he stays quiet and doesn't let Ross goad him into reacting. There's time to find out what the options are, visits maybe, something, depending on what the Wakandans want to do with him when he gets there. For all he knows they'll want to lock him in a box too... but he doesn't think so. Not given what T'Challa's already said and done.

He makes himself pay attention to what's going on around him - he'd better, given that he's the flash point. Sharon looks furious, although she's hiding it pretty well. He wishes he could tell her he's sorry for disappointing her, again.

Ross is saying something, he realizes, and wrenches his focus back. "It's going to be hard to do that if you've already set yourself in opposition," he tells T'Challa. "I need time to defuse the situation. Or a plausible reason for him to be with you. Something."

Of course, he can offer an extremely plausible reason, which is that if Shuri cannot help get the controls out of this man's head, no one in the world can, not even Tony Stark.

But he can hardly say so without risking derision at best and unwanted attention on Wakanda at worst. "I have already given my word on the matter," he says, still mild. "And I prefer not to lift my protection while the Secretary is here. I understand that this complicates the situation, Deputy Commander, and I am sorry for the position in which it puts you, but I will not go back on my word. Sergeant Barnes will remain under Wakandan protection until he feels it is safe to do otherwise."

Ross scrubs both hands across his face, not caring what it reveals about his stress levels, and lets them drop. The problem is that no one knows much about Wakanda. No one goes in, no one comes out, save for the occasional delegation. Obviously they have some experience with enhanced individuals, given the surprise T'Challa himself had presented them with the other day - more than anyone had been saying - and yet they're also the country that had helped create the Sokovia Accords.

What all of that means in this case is anyone's guess. Ross hates guessing. He hates even more the nightmare scenario that they're facing if this blows up in everyone's face. He needs time to talk Thaddeus - goddamn 'Thunderbolt' anyway - down from whatever position he'd taken that's caused all this to begin with.

"How about this," he half asks, half suggests. "Before anyone starts talking about politically fraught things like 'asylum', why don't I say that Barnes is acting as an, uh, advisor in the Zemo matter while you're here. Give me a few days to see if I can straighten things out."

At the small of his back, he taps a finger on the back of his hand, thoughtful, before looking to Captain Rogers and Sergeant Barnes.

"This is your decision," he tells them. "If you wish, I will extend our... hospitality to you both while the Deputy Commander attempts to smooth things over, regardless of political standing."

Nausea threads through him and coils in his gut: a warning. T'Challa can't possibly know what effect his request for a decision has, but Bucky's well aware of the razor-thin edge he's walking.

"Everything I told you before remains true," he says, low and carefully clear. "All of it." The amount of trouble he brings, his determination not to be used to hurt others, his desperation to find a way to save Steve and Sharon, Natasha and Sam and Tony and the others from the trap being set for them all with him as the bait and trigger both.

"I'll abide by whatever you choose, your highness." He gives Steve a quick, pleading look.

T'Challa watches him intently for a moment, then nods and turns back to the Deputy Commander.

"If we accept your plan," he says, "Secretary Ross will still have access to Sergeant Barnes, seeing as he is a citizen of the United States. That negates the entire purpose of the scheme. How will you mitigate that danger to Sergeant Barnes's person?"

Ross starts to respond, but Steve squeezes his shoulder and lets go as he moves two steps forward, placing himself protectively half a step in front of Bucky.

"Maybe no one had the chance to give you the details, but practically the first thing Secretary Ross did when he walked in was demand to know why Bucky wasn't in a cell," Steve tells him. "Tony had already explained the situation to him, multiple times. He's not interested in the truth. He's determined not to believe it. Now I don't know what he wants, not for sure, but I'm not willing to take that risk, and neither is Bucky."

Ross's jaw tightens as he looks between them. "You sure don't make any of this easy, do you?" he grits out, and looks to T'Challa, who considers him back calmly.

"It seems we are at an impasse," he says, in his same mild tone. "Sergeant Barnes requested asylum because he is not safe within the reach of the United States government, and so I cannot in good conscience accept your proposal. Although I am willing to let the Secretary believe the Sergeant is only advising us, up until the point the true nature of our agreement must be made clear."

That would likely cause more problems than it would solve, but he feels he ought to offer regardless.

"Not intentionally," Barnes murmurs.

Ross gives him a frustrated look, then turns back to T'Challa. "I'll accept that offer, thank you. Let me see what I can do with the possibilities." He shifts his attention to Rogers. "Does Stark know about this?" he demands, and can feel his teeth grind when the other man shakes his head, unapologetic. "He was still with Secretary Ross at the time," he says. "We didn't feel we could wait."

He's going to have to buy stock in Bayer at this rate, he just knows it. "Thank you for your time, your highness. I apologize for any problems all this may have caused you."

"If it causes any problems," T'Challa says, smoothly, "none will be unsurpassable. Thank you, Deputy Commander. My only regret is in making your position a more complicated one to be in."

At least someone appreciates the mess this is going to cause, although he notes it's not stopping T'Challa. Ross nods, starts to say something else, only to stop and half-turn as the door opens.

"My king," the woman says - he doesn't know her name, which is an oversight he means to correct as soon as possible, as clearly they've got to get a lot more up to speed on Wakanda. "All is in readiness."

"Very good," T'Challa says, and turns to Sergeant Barnes and Captain Rogers.

"Gentlemen, if you'd care to go with the General, she will show you to the Sergeant's new quarters."

He nods, and flicks Sharon a quick, slightly helpless glance before he moves to follow Okoye. All his words have dried up in his mouth.

Behind him, Steve murmurs, "Your Highness. Deputy Commander. Agents." He can feel his steady presence behind him.

She clamps down on the desperation welling up inside her as she meets his quick glance. No matter how it feels, this isn't the last time she'll see him.

"Captain," Ross says. "Sergeant. I'm sure we'll speak again soon."

Her head is killing her, but she keeps her chin up and her shoulders straight as she watches Steve and Bucky follow the Wakandan woman out of the room.

They walk with Okoye past the guards and down the corridor to the elevator that leads into the parking structure attached to the Center. It seems as though he should say something, but he can't find the words to speak, and no one else seems inclined to either.

That is, until they reach the black car with its two guards. These are the two that were on the door earlier, he notices - the others they just passed must have taken a new shift, but--

"Sergeant. These are Ayo and Mya, of the Dora Milaje," Okoye says. "They will be your security detail while you are still here in Berlin."

Bucky stares at her, then at the two women, struck speechless. Beside him, Steve blurts out, "Security - Bucky wouldn't hurt anyone, didn't we just--"

"You misunderstand me," Okoye cuts in, cool as the flat of a blade, while Ayo's glance on Steve narrows sharply. "They will ensure protection for him, not from him."

The spike of fear in his chest fades. Stand down, he tells himself. The Wakandans agreed to help them, and that means he's going to have to trust that they'll do the right thing.

"My mistake," he says, and turns to the guards. "Ma'am," he says to one, and "Ma'am," to the other. "Thank you both."

“In protecting you, we defend our king’s honor,” Ayo tells him, while Mya sizes Steve up and accepts his apology with a sharp nod. “No one will take you from Wakanda unwilling. No one.”

Her words have the weight of stone, impossible to deny. Bucky manages a nod of his own. “I’m sorry to be so much trouble.”

The General sniffs. "No trouble," she says, then, meaningfully: "Yet."

She jerks her head at the car and Mya reaches to open the door for him and Bucky. "We will speak again later," Okoye tells them, and turns to head back into the Center.

Steve's not sure they spoke now, but he can respect an exit when he sees one. He glances at Bucky, then at the guards, before climbing into the car.

He climbs in beside Steve. Mya shuts the door and goes around to slide into the driver’s seat. Ayo turns to look at them as the car pulls away from the curb.

“Your friend Wilson gave your things to Mya,” she informs him. “They await you in your quarters. He offered to bring anything else you might have forgotten, later, should you wish.”

Bucky blinks. “And that’s okay?”

Ayo gives him a scathing look. “You are not a prisoner. Of course you may have guests. At least until we return home; passage across the border into Wakanda is strictly controlled.”

"That's good news," Steve says, giving Bucky an encouraging glance.

For now, anyway. There must be something he can do once Bucky's gone to Wakanda itself.

Ayo sniffs, and doesn’t bother to comment. Bucky nods. “Tell Sharon, will you? When you have a chance,” he says to Steve, softly.

It’s hard to believe how much has happened in the last few days. His mind is reeling.

"I will," Steve promises. "I can bring her over later, too."

It's part promise to make sure the two of them can see each other, and part reassurance that he'll keep an eye on Sharon in Bucky's absence.

It's not much, but he hopes it helps.

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