[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.

Comments

[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."

[marvel_npc]

Her shock is visible. "Klaue escaped?" She would not have thought it possible for that man to evade the custody of her brother and General Okoye.

Shuri brushes it aside for now in favor of calling up the data on a display next to T'Challa's image, and hisses at what she sees. "This broken white girl is very broken," she says, and ignores the strangled noise she hears somewhere off to T'Challa's side. "You should hurry."

[nerves_of_ice]

Beside him, Ross clenches his teeth to avoid letting out any more sounds, his gaze whipping back to Sharon.

Bucky can sympathize. He fights back the urge to howl his own grief and fear; Sharon's not lost, not yet - and studies the holographic image that's formed over T'Challa's hand, as much as he can see of it.

This 'Shuri' must be the king's sister. She's young, much younger than he expected, but she seems confident. Maybe that'll be enough. It's got to be.

[marvel_npc]

"We are coming as fast as we can," T'Challa promises. "Be ready when we arrive."

Nakia comes to stand near the two outsiders, absorbing the way they're listening and studying the hologram as Shuri assures her brother she will be prepared. "Princess Shuri is the head of the Wakandan Design Group," she tells Ross and Bucky, quietly. "She is brilliant. If there is anyone who can help our friend, it is her."

Ross looks grim, but nods, short, then turns to Bucky. "The agents left behind are attempting to find Klaue," he says, without preamble. "If the Avengers have any tricks up their sleeves that would make that easier, I'd be grateful for their assistance."

[nerves_of_ice]

“Thank you,” he tells Nakia. “For everything.”

Bucky looks at Ross. “I can think of a couple. You stay with Sharon while I make a few calls.”

[marvel_npc]

Nakia smiles at Bucky, gentle. She had heard, after all – and hopes Sharon had, too – the things he'd been saying back at the demolished black site. "I will stay with them both," she promises him, as Ross nods.

"I don't care what we need to do, Barnes," he says, his voice hard. "I want that asshole served up on a platter."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky nods to Ross. “We’ll get him,” he swears. “I won’t give up until he’s dealt with. Count on it.”

Having made his position clear, he steps away, pulling out his phone to call Tony… and then Steve.