[Virginia AU] we rose up from the falling waters

[nerves_of_ice]

A little over a week goes by, and as it does Bucky falls into a pattern, slow but sure. He wakes with Sharon in the mornings, shares coffee and something that suffices for breakfast, then works a little on searches and checking contacts and sources from other time zones and locations. Mid-morning finds him at the Task Force offices with Riley and his team. Early afternoon finds him meeting with Ross, if there's any reason to; mid-afternoon he checks in with Steve, with Tony, or with Natasha before he goes back to tracing rumors and hints.

Today's different, though. Today is Sharon's first day back at work after her suspension, and Bucky's determined not to do a single damn thing that might possibly make it difficult for her.

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[marvel_npc]

He knows, without her saying it, what Nakia is asking him to do, the rules and traditions she is asking him to break. He doesn't know this woman, although he has learned that she does, that she considers her a friend – but is that enough?

Enough to throw over generations of tradition, of law?

But she saved Nakia's life. If she had not – he looks to the man bending over her head, begging her not to go, and feels the echo of his anguish in his own chest. But for this woman, it would be his pleas, his tears, his heartsick pain.

Nakia meets his eyes with her own clear, anguished ones, and he holds out his hand, asks for a Kimoyo bead. Okoye, behind him, stiffens, but says nothing, and T'Challa meets Ross's gaze, lifting his free hand in a gesture of assurance. "This will stabilize her for now," he murmurs, and gently but firmly pushes the bead into the wound. The woman groans and tenses, then relaxes into unconsciousness, the bead glowing gently as T'Challa lifts his hand away.

[nerves_of_ice]

Sharon goes limp and boneless, and for an agonizing frozen moment everything in him just stops, sure that she’s gone, before he sees that she’s still breathing. Shallow, but steady.

“How?” he hears Ross demand, and looks up at T’Challa, who shakes his head. “Give her to us,” Wakanda’s king says. “We can save her.”

Bucky looks down at Sharon, who was dying and now isn’t, and looks back up at T’Challa. “Take us both. I’ll carry her.”

[marvel_npc]

Ross stares at the other man for a moment, then looks back at T'Challa, his jaw set. "Take her," he says. "But I'm coming, too."

Behind him, he hears Okoye's hissed breath. "My King – " she begins, but he shakes his head, sharp and abrupt.

"Would you ask me to leave you?" he asks, in Xhosa, and she subsides. He doesn't have to look at her to see the expression on her face. He looks instead at Nakia, and waits for her mute nod before he looks back at the dark-haired man, who is pale with fear and pain.

This may be the mistake that mars his reign for the rest of his life, but if they are to save this woman, there is no time for arguing who else may come. He looks the other man in the eye, and when he speaks his voice is firm. "Lift her," he orders. "Carefully. The bead will keep her stable, but she must be moved as little as possible. Do you understand?"

[nerves_of_ice]

“Yes.” Bucky gathers her into his arms, supporting her against his body, and rises to his feet.

She’s so light. He can almost hear the echo of her teasing him for the way he picks her up, like she weighs nothing, but she’s silent now and all too still in his arms.

[marvel_npc]

"Then come." T'Challa's glance flickers down to the woman's pale, unconscious face. "We must not delay."

He turns for the door, followed by Okoye, while Nakia rises to her feet and puts a gentle hand on the dakr-haired man's shoulder, coaxing him to follow. He can hear Ross snapping orders to his agents before the man trots outside to join them, as Okoye opens the door to a large SUV parked in the next alley over. Nakia goes to the driver's seat as T'Challa gestures for the man to set the injured Agent Carter across several of the passenger seats.

"Is there a hospital nearby?" Ross asks, but T'Challa doesn't answer him, only gets into the front seat when all are settled and nods for Nakia to drive.

His gaze meets Okoye's in the rearview mirror for a moment's silent communication before he looks away once more.

[nerves_of_ice]

He lays her gently down and gets in beside her, cradling her head in his lap. It's obvious to him that the spear-wielding woman - Okoye, he thinks, he'd heard them call her that and made a note of it - is opposed to this for some reason, but she isn't arguing with her king and that's all Bucky cares about.

If they can do what T'Challa said, if they can save Sharon, Bucky'll give them anything and everything he has to give.

Ross braces Sharon from the other side, and together they keep her limp form steady as the car moves swiftly through the streets. He doesn't know Busan that well, but it only takes a little for him to realize they're headed for the outskirts rather than deeper into the heart of the city.

[marvel_npc]

Ross and – Barnes, the man had said his name was, Bucky Barnes – hold Agent Carter steady as Nakia drives them out from the city, and it's almost certainly a testament to how shocked Ross is that he seems to wake as from a dream and realize that they've stopped, not at a hospital, but just outside a large field ringed with trees. "Wait," he says, leaning forward. "What is this? Where are we?"

T'Challa doesn't answer, only exits the car as Nakia does the same. She goes to the passenger door and opens it, gesturing for Barnes and Ross to remove Carter. "It's alright," she tells them, more gently than T'Challa might be able to manage. "You will see. Come. Bring her."

He feels Okoye come to his side and cuts a glance her way; she looks less disapproving than resigned. "We cannot bring them," she murmurs, in Xhosa. "My king, let us take the woman from here."

It's tempting. He could carry the woman as easily as Barnes can, and it would mean only one outsider instead of three.

Nakia, overhearing, glances at Barnes and Ross and hisses at Okoye in Xhosa. "Where is your pity, General?"

Okoye gives her a hard glance. "All of my concerns are for Wakanda. Let the outsiders take care of themselves."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I don't like the look of this," Ross mutters to Bucky under his breath, watching the Wakandans. He flicks a swift, uneasy glance around the empty field. "You think it's a trap?"

"No." If it were a trap, they'd already have tried to spring it by now. "I think it's something else." Gently, he lays Sharon back down in the car before turning to spear Ross with a look. "Watch over her."

He crosses the distance between the vehicle and the three Wakandans in a few quick steps and addresses T'Challa. "You said you could save her." He manages, somehow, to keep his tone quiet, but he can't do anything about the taut, desperate intensity to his words. "What are we waiting for?"

[marvel_npc]

"We don't have time to argue!" Nakia snaps at Okoye, in English, her nerves fraying, but Barnes is approaching and T'Challa holds a hand up to both women, ordering their silence.

He turns to the man, taking in the tightness of his voice, the hollow, desperate look in his eyes. "And we can," T'Challa tells him. "Tell me, Bucky Barnes. Would you give her to us, trusting that we will do so, and leave, if I ask?"

He hasn't made up his own mind yet, but how the man responds will give him information he does not currently have.

[nerves_of_ice]

He feels all the blood drain from his face as his gut twists inside him. He doesn't know what answer the other man wants, but if that's the only way--

"She saved my life," he whispers, raw and shattered. "She came into hell, risking her own, to drag me out of it. I don't know how to live if she's gone. So yes, if that's your price - I'll pay it. I'll do anything you ask of me. Hunt Klaue to the ends of the earth and drag him back to you, anything. Just save her. Please."

[marvel_npc]

It's hard for a good man to be king, his father had told him, there in the twilit realm of the ancestors. He wonders if this is what his baba had meant, because in this moment he is finding it difficult to put hundreds of years of tradition over the twist in his own chest.

He studies Barnes, absorbing the words, and only looks away when he feels slim, warm fingers curl into his hand. Looking to the side, he sees Nakia there, her eyes dark and sorrowful, the compassion and fire he loves in her blazing from her like a signal fire. "T'Challa," she says, softly, and in that one word he hears a far more eloquent plea, one built between them over years of trust and friendship and, yes, love.

He looks at her, and thinks of how lost he would be without her, and his fingers squeeze hers before he lets go. "We will go," he announces, and looks at Okoye. "All of us, General."

She takes a deep breath, but crosses her arms over her chest and strides towards the center of the field without further argument, though he can see her disapproval in the set of her shoulders. Nakia's smile shines like dawn breaking, and she lets go of him, hurrying to Barnes. "Come," she tells the man. "Get her. It's time for us to go."

[nerves_of_ice]

He strides back to the car and lifts Sharon into his arms once more. "We're going," he tells Ross. "Come on."

"What was that all about?" Ross demands, hurrying to keep up as Bucky carries Sharon toward the center of the field, cradling her close as he follows Nakia toward the others. He shakes his head. "I don't know, but I suspect we won't be long finding out."

[marvel_npc]

"Come," Nakia says, as gently as she can while still conveying urgency. "We will explain on the way. Only come."

Her friend is limp in Bucky's arms, but breathing, and Nakia comforts herself with the knowledge that if they can just get her back to Wakanda in time, she will be alright.

She has to be.

As they approach the center of the field, the air shimmers and the flyer's cloak drops, making it seem as though it has appeared from thin air, a futuristic, almost aquatic-looking vessel. She hears Ross's strangled curse, but does not stop, only gesture them forward as the ramp lowers and Okoye strides up and into the interior.

[nerves_of_ice]

Looks like Wakanda's been keeping a hell of a lot of secrets. Bucky slants a sharp look at Ross, who glares back at him. Bucky's pretty sure he can hear the other man grit his teeth before Ross takes a deep breath and starts forward.

Bucky follows, carrying Sharon, keeping pace with the woman who'd tipped T'Challa's opinion in their favor. "Thank you," he murmurs. "If it's Wakanda's secrets he's worried about, we'll keep them."

[marvel_npc]

Nakia manages a tight smile. "I will let the king explain," she murmurs. "But thank you for your assurances."

Okoye stands now at the top of the ramp as Nakia guides them up and into a flyer, before breaking away to prepare a sand table near the cockpit. "Lay her here," she instructs Bucky. "It will help keep her stable until we arrive."

[nerves_of_ice]

He places her on it while Ross hovers to the side, alternating between looking around himself and watching his agent. Bucky carefully arranges her head and her limbs to make her as comfortable as possible.

Her breathing's slow still, but steady. He's been counting each breath while he holds her, afraid that they might stop.

Once she's settled, he looks at the woman. "Your name's Nakia, right?"

[marvel_npc]

Nakia smiles at him, more warmly. "Yes," she says, and looks fondly down at Sharon. "Given a little while longer and some time to breathe, I hope she would have introduced us."

Her eyes are warm and a little calmer when she looks back at him. "T'Challa called you Bucky Barnes. Is that right?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yes." He tips his head sideways toward Ross, who doesn't quite startle but looks sharply alert all the same. "Everett Ross," Bucky adds. "Deputy Commander of the United Nations Joint Terrorism Task Force. Sharon's boss."

[marvel_npc]

"Charmed," says Ross, sourly. "What the hell is going on?"

"We are leaving," T'Challa informs him, stalking up the ramp as it closes behind him. Okoye has slipped into the pilot's seat, and around them the flyer hums with energy. Nakia gives the two outsiders a wry half-smile and moves around the sand table to stand with T'Challa, who clasps his hands behind his back and studies the other men.

"We are taking you to Wakanda," Nakia tells them. "All of you."

"To who?" Ross demands. "Obviously Wakanda isn't what we thought, but is there a hospital, a doctor – ?"

"We will take her to my sister," T'Challa says, evenly, as the flyer lifts away from the ground. "I will call her shortly, to prepare."

[nerves_of_ice]

He can't help but compare the smooth motion of the Wakandan flyer to that of the Quinjet, to the latter's detriment. A corner of his mind wonders just how excited Tony would be, if he were here, and dismisses it.

"I meant what I said before," he tells T'Challa. "Just so you know. There's nowhere on this planet that he can hide from me."

He ignores the look Ross shoots him at that.

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa considers him, wondering what, exactly, type of man it is that he has brought aboard their flyer, that he is bringing to Wakanda. "Then I believe we will have a great deal to discuss, Mr. Barnes," he says. "After we have fulfilled our promise."

"Sergeant," Ross says, almost reflexively, and meets T'Challa's eyes when the king glances his way. "Sergeant Barnes."

T'Challa glances at Barnes – Sergeant Barnes – and nods. "Please make yourselves comfortable," he tells them. "I must contact my sister."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky gives Ross a sideways, startled look at the clarification - and at the fact that he'd bothered to make it. Ross, catching it, jerks one shoulder in a shrug and says nothing.

"Here," Bucky says, looking over the bench in the wall near the table. "There's room enough for us both to sit with her."

[marvel_npc]

As the men take their seats, T'Challa ignores the glance Okoye sends his way, over her shoulder and taps at his wrist to activate a Kimoyo bead, placing a priority message on the notification. "Shuri," he says. "I need you."

[marvel_npc]

She has the music turned up in the lab and is dancing from foot to foot as she throws new ideas up into the holographic model. When the call comes through and interrupts the visualization to display an image of her brother instead, Shuri lets out a loud exasperated noise and sticks her tongue out at him.

"Brother! I was designing!" But even as she says it, a closer look at his grave expression and the fact that he is still wearing the Panther habit causes her annoyance to vanish. Shuri waves her hand at the controller and the music goes silent.

"What has happened? What is wrong?"

[marvel_npc]

"There was an incident," he says. It aches to see his sister's brilliance fade into worry, but there is no pretending that the news he has is good. Klaue gone, Agent Carter injured, outsiders who will learn Wakanda's secrets.

He sends up a silent prayer to Bast to aid him in this hour of need and continues. "Klaue had allies who broke him out of confinement. Agent Carter of the Joint Terrorism Task Force was injured during the attack. She was protecting Nakia."

He waves a hand and sends the data from the flyer's sand table to Shuri so she can view Agent Carter's vitals. "We are bringing her to you."