[Leipzig AU] good for trouble

[from_the_outside]

Busan glitters like a disco ball in the night, and no one gives them a second glance as they stroll through the fish market, Sharon in her white dress on Ross's arm, the rest of the team behind them. "Sophia," she says, warmly, and exchanges air kisses with the woman, her pink visor and plastic apron both bright. She knows to expect them, and after she pats Sharon fondly on the cheek, she nods them through.

They spread out through the casino, the team's voices low in her ear. She stays by Ross, playing the part of arm candy, applauding when he wins and consoling him when he loses.

There's no sign of Klaue yet, and the metal briefcase full of diamonds stays locked to the wrist of one of the other agents. "I'm going to get a drink," Sharon murmurs to Ross, and makes her way through the crowd to the bar. 

The martinis here are fine, but not as good as Nat's.

Comments

[from_the_outside]

She hears Ross's exasperated sigh at approximately the same moment as she locks eyes with Nakia.

There's a heartbeat, and then she slides her gaze away, smiling at the bartender. "A Vesper martini, please," she murmurs, and leans on the bar. Only then does she allow her glance to return to the woman in green sitting a seat away.

"What's a nice girl like you doing in a place like this?" she asks, keeping her voice to a low murmur.

[marvel_npc]

"Things just got a little more complicated," T'Challa murmurs in her ear. Nakia shifts position just a little as he starts to move across the room toward Ross, and smiles at Sharon.

"They say the gambling here is very exciting," she replies. "How could we not check it out? But I might ask you the same."

[from_the_outside]

Very exciting. It certainly looks like it's heading that direction. She can hear Ross and T'Challa beginning a low conversation, though her earpiece doesn't pick it up completely.

"I don't know about that," she says, thanking the bartender with a smile and taking a sip of her drink. "The tables here are getting cold. You might have better luck somewhere else tonight."

[marvel_npc]

"You are buying from Klaue," she hears T'Challa tell Ross, and it's all she can do to keep her smile in place. She can't even whisper for him to not give their game away, because not only does he have the right as king, but Sharon will catch her in an instant.

"Oh, no, here is exactly where we need to be," she says instead, lightly, and tips her head toward T'Challa. "But if the tables are not to your liking perhaps you should go. We could even meet later, to catch up."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon's glance tracks towards the craps table, where Ross and T'Challa are locked in quiet conversation, then up to the upper level where General Okoye watches over the crowd, and back again.

"That would be nice," she admits. "I hear we have a lot to catch up on. But I'm afraid my date is just absolutely set on staying for the duration. He doesn't like to gamble that often, so when he does, he makes it count."

[marvel_npc]

"Mm," Nakia says, and takes a sip of her drink. "I see. Is he the sort of man to listen to reason?"

T'Challa tells Ross he's been warned and moves away. Nakia makes herself not look over there to see how the other man is taking it. At least the general is keeping a low profile.

[from_the_outside]

A moment later, Ross's voice comes clearly into her earpiece and she has to resist a wince; he's never gotten out of the habit of just talking directly into his sleeve.

"It all depends on the reason," she says, and slants a sidelong glance at where Ross has gone after T'Challa, accompanied by a tiny tip of her head to Nakia so the other woman can keep track of them, too, while Sharon sips at her drink.

"In this case, he's dead set on getting what he came for."

[marvel_npc]

Nakia laughs softly, as though Sharon has just said something exquisitely funny. "He is not the only one."

Almost as if on cue, T'Challa tells Ross, "I am not here to make a deal."

[from_the_outside]

"Then I think things are about to get pretty interesting."

She doesn't watch T'Challa and Ross; there's no way they're going to be able to find a way out of this mess in the next few minutes, so she glances sidelong at Nakia instead. "By the way, you look amazing, girl."

[marvel_npc]

"Thank you," she murmurs, with a smile for Sharon as she runs one hand down along the side of her green-and-black dress. "So do you. That dress is gorgeous."

Interesting, Sharon had said, and oh, but she is right about that. Nakia's eyes widen very, very slightly as she does a quick count of the arrivals who are walking in on the upper level.

"Klaue," she murmurs. Sharon will think it is to her, and in part it is, although the rest is cover for her earpiece. "Plus eight."

[from_the_outside]

"Thanks," she murmurs. "My boyfriend helped me pick it out."

She sees Ross clock Klaue's entrance, then glances sidelong at Nakia and leaves her martini to move around the game floor, Nakia abandoning her whiskey to do the same.

The Wakandans aren't going to stand around and let this deal go down, she knows. But as more of Klaue's men enter the casino, she begins to think he knew what was coming

[marvel_npc]

"I thought there were no weapons allowed in here," Okoye murmurs. "There's not supposed to be," Nakia confirms. She moves as swiftly as she can around the edge of the casino floor without attracting attention.

Trouble is very definitely brewing. All they can do is be ready for it.

[from_the_outside]

Klaue doesn't bother with sneaking around; he strides right up to Ross as Sharon makes herself unobtrusive in the background.

"Well, that is quite the entourage," her boss says, dry, only to endure a barrage of Klaue's idiocy.

It's what he says last that sends a chill through her: "You think they're for you?"

He knows. Somehow, he must have known the Wakandans would show up, as as Ross gestures for the agent with the briefcase, Sharon finds herself tensing.

[marvel_npc]

"It's a setup," Okoye whispers, as six more thugs arrive. Nakia thinks that she is not wrong, but that does not change the goal; only the difficulty.

"We need to move on Klaue," she murmurs, leaning on the nearby gaming table and pretending to look interested.

"Stand down," T'Challa orders. "We can't afford a shootout." She grits her teeth, but holds her position.

[from_the_outside]

She doesn't see how what happens next starts, only the effect. There's a shout and a flurry of movement on the balcony, and then Klaue grabs the vibranium back and pulls a gun as Ross lifts the briefcase in front of his face to take the shots Klaue squeezes off.

Sharon drops and reaches for her Kahr in its hidden thigh holster, then takes aim at Klaue's men on the balcony, trying to keep them from picking off the agents and Wakandans in the crowd.

"Nakia!" she yells. It's too late now to worry about rumbling their cover. "Get T'Challa out of here!"

They can't have the king of Wakanda injured or dead in a shootout in Busan, they can't.

[marvel_npc]

She doesn't bother trying to answer Sharon, being far too occupied with working the floor near T'Challa to guard his back while Okoye deals with the men above. It is not her friend's fault; she does not know their history with Klaue, does not know all that this evil man has done. Nakia drops two of them, plants her high heel in the face of a third, and takes out the fourth that the General drops on her like a goddess from on high with a well-placed throat smash.

Klaue attempts to flee up the steps, and T'Challa goes after him, leaping to catch the balcony railing and flipping over it to confront him. Soon this will be over, Nakia thinks -- and then Klaue raises his arm and fires a blast from some sort of weapon.

As T'Challa is flung back through the air to land on the table a floor below, Nakia runs up the steps after Klaue.

[from_the_outside]

"The hell was that?" yells Ross, but Sharon's too busy tangling with Klaue's men on the floor to answer him, or even to begin to guess. She puts a foot into the side of one's knee, tearing tendons and ligaments and dropping him to the floor, then whirls to grab another by the wrist and send him flying face-first into the craps table.

When she looks up again, the Wakandans are gone, and Ross waves at her. "Carter!" he yells. "Come on, this way."

[marvel_npc]

Okoye is right behind her as Nakia reaches the street. "Do we just leave him?" she cries.

"He'll catch up," Okoye snaps, and flings a control plaque at a nearby car as they pass it. The two of them put on speed and slide into their own vehicle, then speed after Klaue and his men.

They cannot let him escape. They cannot.

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa sprints from the casino into the muggy night air, trusting that Okoye has chosen the right car.

"Shuri!" he shouts. She had better be in her lab, in range of the sand table.

[nerves_of_ice]

He's standing still in the lab while Shuri runs some sort of wand over him, checking its results on the tablet-- which she nearly drops when T'Challa's voice cracks through the air like a bolt of lightning.

"Yes!" Shuri cries, as a holographic car forms in the middle of the room. She dashes for the driver's side door and slides through it into the seat that somehow still supports her. After that half-second of frozen shock, Bucky's right on her heels, bolting around to slide into the passenger seat of the impossible vehicle as it announces, "Remote driving system activated."

"What the hell?" he mutters. "Hush!" Shuri orders. "I must hear everything."

[marvel_npc]

Which side of the road is it? he hears her wonder, and his impatience gets the better of him. "For Bast's sake, just drive!" he orders.

He hears the car coming behind him and thinks the Panther habit into existence. As his suits frays off his body and the vibranium suit takes its place, he executes an arcing backwards flip and lands on the roof, claws digging in for purchase.

[nerves_of_ice]

"Where are they?" Bucky demands. When Shuri answers 'Busan,' he tells her, "Right side of the road!"

He could swear he feels T'Challa land on the roof of the car, and Shuri lets out a delighted shriek and slams her foot down on the gas. "Let's go!"

[marvel_npc]

Ahead, the black SUVs carrying Klaue and his men begin swerving off the main road.

They're trying to lose us, Okoye observes in his communicator, and he hears Nakia a moment after, telling them she and Okoye will take the cars peeling off to the right. He digs his claws in as Shuri accelerates, the remote car in pursuit.

[nerves_of_ice]

They accelerate down the narrow streets after their quarry, past stalls and vendors and other traffic, heading at high speed for a major intersection.

"We're not going to make it," Shuri warns. Bucky starts to reach for the gearshift and emergency brake to throw them into a drift skid, only to hear T'Challa say, "Keep going!"

Suddenly the car tilts up into the air as T'Challa rolls to the side of it and uses his claws to help them corner. Bucky grins, wide and bright. "I've done the same thing with my hand before," he observes, causing Shuri to laugh as the car lands back on the ground and Wakanda's king lands on its hood.

[marvel_npc]

Ahead, Klaue's men open fire on him, splashing his suit with vibrant purple kinetic energy. He leaps for them, clawing his way up the back to the roof, which peels open beneath his vibranium claws as easily as he might pull apart a thin film of plastic.

No Klaue. He reaches in and removes the driver, tossing him behind the SUV and into the path of the remote-controlled car. "Hey, what was that?" Shuri demands, as the car bumps over the unlucky man.

"Don't worry about it," T'Challa tells her, leaping back onto the roof of the car as the SUV drives up onto the curb and launches itself into the air in a chaos of shattered metal and glass. "You're doing great."