nerves_of_ice | Entries tagged with main storyline

He'd made a promise, and he intends to deliver. He just also intends to make sure it's not the sort of thing that draws an audience - especially not any of the kids.

It takes a little while to find a clearing further out but within reasonable distance of the hut, then a little bit longer to set it up with a waterproof chest and some basic equipment. But eventually it's ready, or good enough as.

Once the goats are taken care of for the morning, he takes up position under the usual shade tree to scratch out a few notes in his latest journal and to wait for Sharon to drop by. If she's got time this afternoon, if she's not busy with Shuri or Ayo, well, then they'll see.

He's been thinking about it for a while. Long enough to come up with a few ideas, long enough to find what he needs, but not long enough to stop being nervous about it.

It's late afternoon, almost evening. The kids are gone for the day, the goats are fed and watered, and there's nothing else to do but wait.

Sharon should be coming down from the Citadel soon. Probably. In the meantime, Bucky does his best not to pace a hole in the hut's floor, and tells himself to stop being an idiot.

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.

In all the things he's done up to now, he's never been asked to be a diplomat. Bucky's still not sure this is a good idea, but if nothing else at least it gets him out of Ross's path. And besides, being a diplomat to the Jabari's as T'Challa's White Wolf is a little different from being one anywhere else on earth, he's certain.

M'Baku greets him with a wide smile and widespread arms, inviting him to take in the grandeur of the Jabari's traditional homeland from the clifftop view before leading him inside. Bucky can already see some of the others measuring him for threat or competition or both. It's clear M'Baku knows it as well, and is amused by it - amused enough to let things play out as game or challenge or both.

It's going to be an interesting visit, he's sure.

Forty-eight hours later, he's sure of something else: he likes these people.

It's been well over a month since the auction, a couple of weeks since the procedure, and Bucky thinks they're all beginning to settle into what he thinks of as 'after.'

Sharon's at the lab with Shuri this morning. He's supposed to swing by there later or tomorrow, depending on how far she's gotten with the latest prototype - he'll wait to hear. In the meantime, he's concentrating on chopping up the latest fallen tree.

It's good work. Clean work, in more ways than one.

The sun's barely up when Steve arrives, carrying a picnic basket with breakfast for the three of them inside. Neither Bucky nor Sharon are surprised to see him, and from the quick grin Steve gives them, he was expecting that they'd be expecting him, too.

* * * * * * *

Afterward, Bucky leads Steve along the path by the forest's edge, while Sharon disappears back to the Citadel and then to meet Shuri in the lab. It's quiet there under the trees, dappled by sun and shade, and they're not likely to be disturbed, which is important. It takes a while for him to start talking, but Steve's presence is a quiet benison, and eventually Bucky begins to explain some of the things they've both been waiting to talk about until it was time. He tells his best friend how it had felt to fall under someone else's control. How it had felt when Ayo had spoken the commands, instead. What it feels like to know, really know, that he's free... and what that means. Everything that means.

Steve listens to it all, and offers several thoughts of his own. They both know Bucky's not ready to join him in the field, not yet, not to mention that there's a lot which has to be figured out first - but for the first time in a long, long time there's hope on the horizon.

Eventually, he asks if Steve had called Natasha, and Steve shakes his head. "I figured you'd want to be the one to tell her," he says, simply, and Bucky feels his heart swell at this continued proof of just how well his friend understands him, still. Always.

He borrows Steve's phone and waits until he wanders several yards away to place the call. She answers it before it starts the second ring, and he realizes in that instant that she's been waiting for news. "Natasha," he says, softly, and hears her breath catch. "It worked. I'm free."

In the minutes of quiet conversation that follow, he knows that she's shedding at least a few silent tears by the raggedness of her breath and the throaty sound of her voice, but he doesn't ask, and she doesn't say.

* * * * * * *

He walks with Steve back up to the Citadel, circling around with him to the landing pad where the Quinjet is fueled and ready. It's hard to see him go, as it always is, but this time it's different in some way neither of them can quite define. He's smiling when he steps back from the fierce hug they exchange, and Steve grins back at him before he goes into the jet and closes the hatch.

Bucky watches the jet disappear into the distant sky before he goes inside in search of T'Challa.

The first few days after Bucky goes under are spent in data analysis and quality assurance. There's a lot of information in the human mind, after all. Much of it is messy and complicated and stored in structures that are interconnected in unexpected ways. And when it comes to a project like this, something that's never truly been done before with a biological mind versus synthetic structures and artificial intelligence, something that has the highest of stakes, there's no second chance and thus no room for error.

Shuri spends her time focused on the mission during the first few days, leaving the majority of the data integrity checks to her technical team. She reviews their work at the start and end of each day when she comes to check on her sleeping patient, making corrections to methods and systems and processes where needed. She makes sure that there are two untouched backups of the original digital representation stored safely at all times in case they have to start over. Finally, they're able to confirm that everything is prepared, that the digital representation is not only complete but stable, and that the real work is ready to begin.

Once the mission's done, she turns the weapon prototype and its blueprints over to a few of her most highly-trusted developers for analysis and immerses herself in Bucky's mind. She'd already drafted the initial algorithm, of course, and has spent nearly three months refining it against the initial scans, every additional scan she's done since, the data from the notebooks Bucky'd kept and the memories he'd written down. She doesn't think it'll take too long to finish it.

It takes weeks.

She ruins multiple copies of the digital representation in the first two weeks while testing the algorithm against it - first in simulation and then in practice. It's the practical part that turns out to be problematic. During the first few tests, her code destroys HYDRA's trigger programming as intended, but then also devours the memories attached to it and proceeds to spread like a virus through everything it can reach. The next series of tests fails to fully eliminate the triggers, and post-implementation simulation reveals that the damaged programming, if not fully removed, will destabilize the mind entirely over time, leaving the subject lost to madness or dementia or both. Shuri refuses to allow any of it. Even the possibility is too much. Nothing must be left to chance. Nothing of harm must be allowed to remain.

Meanwhile, silent in the cryo chamber, Bucky sleeps on.

They're into the third week before the first test is passed. All work comes to a halt in the lab as they stare at the displays. No one dares breathe until the test is repeated. When the second series of results flashes up on screen, showing success across every aspect, the lab explodes in cheers. Instead of becoming easier, Shuri's work becomes even more painstaking and demanding, as she sets out to ensure the smallest nuances are fully refined. She creates additional copies and runs the algorithm against them under high-strain conditions. She practices transitioning the new digital copy from server to server to server, trying to eliminate any and all possibility of data loss during transfer.

At the end of the third week, she sends for T'Challa.

____________________

The first thing he's aware of is the cold. This kind of cold he knows all too well. It chills all the way to the bone, pinning him in place with frigid air around him and a cold surface under him. He's too cold even to shiver. Bucky can't move or speak, or do anything at all other than lie still and quiet, listening to the soft hissing sound that's the only thing he can hear.

He drifts in and out of awareness for a while as the light around him gets brighter and the temperature starts to rise. It's not until there's a loud 'click' and the hum of the cryo chamber opening that he finally opens his eyes.

He wakes long before dawn. Bucky lies still in the darkness, listening to the soft sound of Sharon breathing beside him, and tries not to let himself think. It's easier than he'd expected it would be. He's already made the decision to go ahead with the procedure, experimental or not, and he isn't willing to change it. As he accepts that, truly accepts it all the way down to his bones, a quiet sort of peace settles over him, and he gives himself up to it.

He waits until dawn streaks the sky outside before he gets up. Sharon murmurs a sleepy complaint, and he kisses her hair and reassures her he'll be back in a moment. It actually takes a lot longer than that for him to manage to shower and wash his hair as thoroughly as he can in the dim morning light, then to dress in the clothes that Shuri's technician had suggested he wear for comfort during cryostasis. He hadn't bothered to tell the tech that it doesn't really matter - he'd appreciated the gesture too much. When he finally goes back inside, Bucky makes coffee for them both, and smiles slightly at Sharon's efforts to be bright and cheerful, even this early. He knows why she's doing it. He doesn't protest.

Steve is waiting when they reach the Citadel. He stays with Bucky while Sharon goes to get cleaned up, the two of them standing together and looking out at the incredible view. They don't talk about the procedure, or the upcoming mission, or anything at all. They've already said everything that needs saying.

When the three of them arrive at the lab, another one of Shuri's medical technicians leads them back to the bioscan chamber. Shuri's already there, fingers flying over multiple keyboards and activating more things than Bucky can easily keep track of in a glance on a variety of displays. There's a soft hum from the equipment, he notices - even Wakandan technology isn't entirely silent, it seems. Somehow, that's reassuring. He listens carefully, aware of Steve and Sharon doing the same at his side, while she explains the procedure to follow one more time. How she'll be taking the final, full-spectrum comprehensive bioscan of his brain, capturing any and every possible nuance down to the smallest of details at both the nervous system and cellular levels. How she'll upload and double-check everything in a digital representation of his mind and how she'll put him to sleep once she's sure it's ready. How she'll finalize the new algorithm's design over the weeks to follow and test it against the digital copy to make sure HYDRA's programming can safely be destroyed.

How she'll overwrite his mind with the results, hopefully setting him free.

"Are you ready?" Shuri asks, finally, and Bucky nods.

"Yes."

Steve's the first to move, grasping his shoulder and pulling him into a quick hug. "See you when you wake up, Buck," he murmurs. "Don't sleep too long this time." Bucky manages a rueful grin in answer. "Count on it."

When he turns to Sharon, she just smiles at him, warm and bright. He smiles back, trying to reassure, and leans down to kiss her before he climbs into the chamber the technician's prepared for him, lies back, and closes his eyes to wait it through.

After a few minutes, the soft hum of the scanner shifts into an equally soft hiss as the cryostasis module activates, and he slides into unconsciousness before he even realizes it.

Ayo had suggested - firmly - that it would not be wise for him to be a part of the response team that's standing ready in case anything goes wrong, and he can't say that he disagrees with her. Instead, Bucky goes to Shuri's lab when 'Irma' and 'Ryan' leave for the meet with the distributor and listens in from there.

Nothing goes wrong. He's glad; they all are, he knows. Once it's clear that they're on their way back and not being followed, Shuri takes off her earpiece and turns to him. "Well. That is good. Everything is going as we had hoped. So now I must ask you - are you ready to proceed tomorrow as we have planned?"

He removes his own earpiece and sets it aside before he answers her. He doesn't want there to be any chance that he'll be overheard, not about this. "Yes," he says, quietly, but without hesitation. "I'm as ready as I'll ever be." One corner of his mouth twitches in a rueful smile. "Is it okay to say that I'm a little nervous?"

Shuri takes his hand between hers and holds on. "Of course it is okay," she tells him. "It is no small amount of trust that you have placed in me. This I know."

They sit there in the quiet for a while before he squeezes her hand and lets go. Shuri bounces to her feet and smiles at him. "Now go," she says, attempting a stern manner and failing due to the laughter in her bright eyes as she orders him around. "Do something fun today. I will see you in the morning."

"Okay," Bucky says, and gives her a quick answering smile before he walks out.

He goes back to the hut by the lake. Whether or not that'd been what Shuri had intended, he doesn't know, but it's more peaceful than anywhere else, and right now that's all he wants. Besides, if anyone's looking for him... well, they'll know how to find him there.

The celebration of the Jabari's reunification and alliance with the other tribes of Wakanda is a smashing success. Literally, in several ways, but no one's too badly hurt in any of the athletic events, the displays of skill, or the drinking and dancing of the evening parties. The formal speeches at the start, the end, and at many points in between are probably the greatest danger to most people - at least when it comes to the danger of falling asleep, although T'Challa, M'Baku, and all the speakers do their best.

For his part, Bucky hides from as much of it as he can. He's present at the opening ceremony, standing among the kingsguard and the Dora Milaje as unobtrusively as possible. He fades back as soon as it's over and goes to monitor the surveillance systems for any sign of trouble - it's a better idea to have him there than out in the crowd. For one thing, he's not able to blend in as easily here, and for another, he'd be on edge enough that no one, no one wants to find out what might happen if he were grabbed by anyone wanting to poke curiously at the White Wolf. He attends the first night's first party for as long as is needed, and finds the opportunity to tell M'Baku that he and Sharon will have to visit later, and that he'll contact him to let him know. There's no question that M'Baku's curious about the reason, but Bucky had timed the delivery of his news well, and the leader of the Jabari doesn't have much of a chance to press him before he's needed at another event. After that, Bucky trades a look of acknowledgement with T'Challa, another with Sharon, and vanishes as quickly as a ghost.

He avoids the hut by the lake, having made his arrangements with the children already; the goats will be well cared for, everything important that he can't carry with him is neatly packed away, and the rest is in the backpack he has on his shoulder. Bucky sets up a place for himself in the guest suite that's been assigned to Steve Rogers, slips a note under Sharon's door to let her know where he is, and sleeps on the couch in the suite that night.

The second day's easier in a lot of ways. Everyone's worked out their uncertainty on day one, and has settled into accepting that this is real, and it's working. If anything, the exuberance is far greater than it was on the first day, and slowly but surely, the level of tension among the guards relaxes, although their attentiveness does not.

Eventually, once evening comes, Bucky's able to retreat to Steve's suite once more. He settles comfortably on the couch with a book, and prepares to wait the evening through.

He and Sharon make sure to arrive at the Citadel for the meeting early. For one thing, Bucky wants to make sure that their side is fully aware of everything that's going on - especially in light of Steve's call. For another, he doesn't trust Fury not to try to get the drop on them by calling before he's expected.

He doesn't mention that part to Sharon.

Fortunately, it looks like everyone's had the same idea. Shuri wanders in first, already poking at something on her tablet, waves cheerfully at them and claims a comfortable seat on the side of the room. Okoye and Ayo arrive together, just ahead of Nakia and T'Challa, and it's not long before everyone is settled around the table.

It feels more like a council of war than anything else. Maybe it should.

[After this, from here...]

He doesn't use this room for much any more, other than to store things that would be hard to explain back in Wakanda, or in case he needs to take a few minutes down in a place where he's unlikely to be found.

The armchair in the corner by the reading lamp has a view of the single window, the hallway door, and the bathroom door. The bed itself has been dragged so that it backs up against the far wall, so that all a guy has to do is open his eyes to see the whole room -- including the exit door, armchair, bathroom, and closet.

He'd come to terms with the Loompas long ago, after everything, but he still prefers to keep the closet shut and store his things away in the dresser against the side wall.

Everything's neat and organized. Old habits die hard.

[C/N: adult content between consenting adults in thread.]

If anyone had asked him a week ago what he thought the future held, Bucky would have never predicted this. Any of this. Sometimes he still wonders if it's not all a long and complicated dream.

(He knows better. He's had those before, while deep in the ice. They don't feel anything like this.)

For whatever reason, Sharon hasn't changed her mind yet. When she's not in the lab with Shuri or plotting things with Nakia, she spends most of her days with him. He stores each one up like treasure, trying to keep it safe in his memory against the uncertain future.

So far, he's been able to talk her out of spending their nights together, making his case based on the need for her to rest in order to recover, but he's dismally aware that won't be a good excuse much longer. If he could just figure out how to get his nightmares under control--

An impatient nudge from one of the goats scatters the circling thoughts, and he goes back to measuring out the grain. Shuri'd said something about stopping by to see him this morning, and he'd like to be through with the chores before she shows up.

As T'Challa stares at the hologram in the palm of his hand, he can already feel the headache forming. "She what? No. Never mind. Bring her to me in the throne room, when she arrives. I will deal with her myself."

He clears the image, then taps the Kimoyo Bead again. "Nakia. I need you."

* * * * * * * * *

"You cannot be serious."

"I don't see why this is a problem. You brought Everett Ross here--"

"Ross was dying! And he was never allowed to know that the man he was seeking was here! Nakia, I have made a promise to protect him."

"She is not a threat. Not to him."

"I will be the judge of that."

Nakia throws up her hands. "Fine. You will see. I hope it does not bother you that I stay and watch?"

T'Challa smiles. "Of course not."

Things had gone well in Franche-Comté. Surprisingly so, even.

He's been considering what to do about Sharon Carter - Agent 13 - off and on ever since. Stubborn, even intransigent, determined, and with secrets of her own --

"Telling him would be for me. Not for him."

--she's also proven herself clever and capable, and so far true to her word.

"The question is, what are you going to do?"

"Lend a hand."

So far, he hasn't seen any additional manpower sent to track him down in the region. She's evidently kept their encounter to herself, which is a hell of a thing for a Joint Terrorism Task Force member to do.

Interesting, too. Maybe she'd really meant everything she'd said. He's pretty sure he knows how to find out.

For all that she's spent a good deal of time as an undercover agent, Carter's day-to-day routine these days is just that -- a routine, and probably more of one than she realizes. Silent as a ghost, he tracks her from place to place over the course of two weeks, observing her patterns and practices.

(It's only fair, given that she'd first set out to track him, after all.)

There's the little store near her flat where she likes to pick up fresh vegetables; there's the coffee shop near the task force offices where she has a preferred drink; there's the route she takes back and forth between them all, although that one at least changes from time to time.

It's a Tuesday morning when the young courier shows up at Sharon Carter's office with a delivery. The boy can't be older than twelve or thirteen, and he's carrying two things: a cup of her favorite coffee, and a small but surprisingly heavy box wrapped in brown paper and tied with string.