[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

[nerves_of_ice]

“I’m sorry I wasn’t faster.” He presses a gentle kiss to her hair and lifts his head. Bucky shifts to slide his right arm around her waist, drawing her to his side, close against him.

[from_the_outside]

"You got me here, didn't you?"

She closes her eyes at the feel of his mouth against her hair, then sticks close to his side as he draws her in. "You did good, Barnes. Really good."

[nerves_of_ice]

He shakes his head, eyes dark, but doesn’t argue with her.

Ross casts a wary glance over his shoulder, then clears his throat again. “So. What happens next?”

Shuri rolls her eyes. “Nakia comes to get you, and I call my brother. What did you think?”

[from_the_outside]

"Can food happen at some point?" Sharon asks, her arm around the small of Bucky's back. He's tucked her close and she's grateful for it; she doesn't want to be any further away from him. "And some water, maybe?"

Also clothes, but apparently Nakia is bringing those. Still, it's been at least a day since she's eaten anything, and her stomach is starting to talk to her recently repaired spine.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Come this way," Shuri declares. "Something small, until a full meal later." She starts off down the corridor, back in the direction of the room where he and Ross had waited for Sharon to wake up. Ross gives them a look, then follows after her.

Bucky tightens his arm around Sharon's waist and guides her along.

[from_the_outside]

Aside from the floor-to-ceiling windows looking out onto the impossible mine, the design of the lounge Shuri leads them to looks blessedly familiar: couches and armchairs and a small kitchenette.

She wonders if there are cheeseburgers in Wakanda. She could murder a cheeseburger. "Sit, sit," Shuri tells them, before going to the fridge to look inside, humming to herself.

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky leads her to one of the larger couches and helps her down to it, while Ross takes the armchair at the side. "You're really feeling okay, Carter?" he asks.

[from_the_outside]

"Really," she promises him; promises them both. Bucky's still treating her like she's made of blown glass, and she can't really blame him, but – "I've felt worse after a tough sparring session."

He looks tired and drained and he's still making sure she's alright, and she can't help the wave of affection that rolls through her for her gruff boss. "Thanks for coming, sir," she tells him. "Sorry to drag you so out of the way."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Well, I couldn't have you jetting off to who knows where without me in the shape you were in, now could I?"

"You know where," Bucky points out. "This is Wakanda."

Ross bristles at him. "I didn't know it at the time." A flicker of a grin curves Bucky's mouth, just for an instant, and Ross rolls his eyes. "You're a pain in my ass, Barnes."

[from_the_outside]

"Glad to see you two are getting along," Sharon says, amused, and turns her attention to the warm cup of tea Shuri brings over to her. "Thank you, too, princess," she tells the younger woman. "For everything."

She includes Ross and Bucky in her glance as she goes on. "Thank you all."

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri grins at her. "You are very welcome. I have never had anyone bring me a broken white girl to fix before."

Ross makes a slightly strangled noise at that and she turns on him. "Why do you always make that sound? It is true, is it not?"

Bucky huffs out a breath that might be laughter, which fades as his phone vibrates. "Just a second," he murmurs, and gets up to go to the other side of the room and respond.

[from_the_outside]

As Bucky moves across the room, Nakia enters, a bag in one hand and her brilliant smile lighting her face. "Don't get up," she tells Sharon, and comes to hug her, warm and tight.

"Do not do that again," she scolds, lightly, though Sharon can feel her arms tightening protectively.

"Well, maybe don't stand in the way of bullets," Sharon tells her, but she can't help squeezing her friend tight. If she'd been a little slower, who knows what might have happened? "Anyway, it's not like I need more than one life debt from you."

[nerves_of_ice]

He can hear them talking quietly behind him, but all Bucky's attention at the moment is on the phone and the message from Natasha.

Found him. Tony's in pursuit.

Bucky blows out a harsh breath and texts back, good. keep me in the loop? He follows it up with, Sharon's out of surgery. She's going to be fine. Will have her call later. Tell Steve.

The series of emoji Natasha sends him at that makes him chuckle aloud. Bucky shoves his phone back in his pocket and goes to rejoin the others.

[from_the_outside]

Nakia straightens from their hug to smile at Bucky. "Sergeant," she greets him, and glances at him and Ross. "May I borrow her for a moment? She'll need to get dressed before we go to the Citadel."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Sure," Bucky says. "But before you go -- Klaue's been located." He sees Ross stiffen out of the corner of his eye and turns to make sure he's addressing all of them.

"Tony's in pursuit now. We'll have an update soon."

[from_the_outside]

"I will tell my brother," Shuri says, tapping at her bracelet of beads as Sharon gets up from her seat and follows Nakia into a tastefully appointed restroom – more like a powder room with a separate space for a shower and toilet – off the lounge. Her friend pulls out a pair of light trousers and a loose shirt, along with a pair of sandals, and offers them to her.

"I've filled the closet in your room with other things," she says, as Sharon goes into the shower area to change. "But I thought you would prefer comfort while recuperating."

"I like the comfort," Sharon tells her, slipping out of the robe and into the clothes, "but honestly it doesn't feel like I'm doing much recuperating. The medicine here is a miracle."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Where? How? I need details," Ross snaps, rapid-fire, while Shuri waits for her call to be answered.

"I gave you what I had." Bucky gives him a patient stare. "Natasha did her surveillance thing. Tony's got the intel and he's going after him now. One of them will call me with any news. I'm not going to bug him while he's mid-op."

[from_the_outside]

By the time she and Nakia come back out, Shuri is chatting quietly with a hologram of T'Challa that floats over her wrist.

"Have Stark contact General Okoye directly, once he has apprehended Klaue," T'Challa is telling her. "Shuri, set up a line of communication for them."

Shuri nods and looks at Bucky as T'Challa's hologram disappears. "Give me Stark's number, before you go."

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky calls up the contact on his phone and holds it out for her. Privately, he entertains himself with imagining those two encountering each other. They'll probably end up speaking a whole new technobabble.

[from_the_outside]

Shuri makes a note and taps away on her beads, and Nakia gestures to the rest of them. "Come," she tells them. "I will bring you to your rooms. I'm sure you all want to rest."

Sharon's not sure she's got that right. Ross and Bucky both look exhausted, but they currently share a similar determined set to their jaw that makes her think neither of them is likely to take it easy until Klaue's been found.

But Shuri waves them off and Nakia starts making for the door, so Sharon follows. She finds she's impatient to see what else Wakanda might have been hiding from the world for all this time.

[nerves_of_ice]

Nakia leads them back down the hallway, but not in the direction of the elevator. Instead, she takes a long curving ramp that opens up on a platform which itself is open to the mine beyond, with one of the maglev trains waiting on a track there.

"I must ask you to remain in your rooms once we arrive," she tells them. "Your presence will not be unnoticed long, but the less we can make a spectacle of you at first, the better."

Bucky doesn't like the sound of 'spectacle,' but he's not sure what there is to do about it except go along with whatever T'Challa needs, given the situation. He nods.

[from_the_outside]

"No problem," says Sharon, who would like to sleep for a week. She blinks in astonishment at the speed and silence of the train that arrives, then steps inside when Nakia gestures them all in. Instead of sitting, she goes to a window, which means she has a perfect view of when the train arrows out from the mountain's interior and into the golden late afternoon light of Wakanda.

And Wakanda is beyond beautiful. "Holy shit," Sharon whispers, staring. There's a city that looks half-built and half-grown, gleaming and organic, spires reaching into the sky, and there are wide golden fields and woods that look wholly untouched. "Nakia, it's beautiful."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Welcome to my home," Nakia says, proudly. "I am so looking forward to showing you around, once you have rested."

She has every right to be proud, as far as Bucky's concerned. He'd gotten a good look as they flew in, as had Ross, but that doesn't stop him from moving to stand beside Sharon so he can drink in the view.

[from_the_outside]

She lets herself lean against him as she watches the countryside flash by, and almost wishes she believed in something bigger than herself so she could thank it.

But she has her loyal, stubborn boss and her sweet friend, and she has Bucky. She thinks of how desperate she'd been in Siberia, and can only imagine how he must have felt yesterday, what he would have been willing to do.

So she puts her head against his shoulder and keeps her eyes open to watch Wakanda flow past the train, and hopes he never has to feel that way again.

[marvel_npc]

* * * * *

He'd tracked Klaue well outside Busan, which wasn't a surprise. The surprise was that he'd tracked them to a... "FRIDAY, you sure about this?"

A pause, and then a voice comes coolly through the speakers. "I'm not sure I like your implications."

"Yeah," says Tony. "It's just that this is a junk yard."

"Your powers of observation are truly prodigious," FRIDAY says, dry. "What tipped you off? Was it the junk?"

"Just scan for Klaue," Tony orders, and watches as his HUD flickers. A humanoid shape appears, and Tony grins, bright and sharp. "Got him."

"Actually..." Data filters in through the HUD. "That isn't Klaue, boss."

"Then where's..." But his question is answered in the next second, as FRIDAY details a slumped body in front of the man. "Three dead," she whispers into his ear. "Be careful, boss."

"I'm always careful," Tony informs her, and streaks through the air. His landing makes the ground shudder, and he slowly stands, palm out, repulsor whining into life as he blocks the man from reaching Klaue's body. "Hey," he says, his voice mechanical through the mask's speakers. "Drop it."