[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.

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[from_the_outside]

Well, she'd thought she'd been dying. It doesn't feel great to be proved right.

Sharon blows out a breath and holds onto his hand. "I'm sorry, baby," she murmurs, watching him as Shuri continues whatever it is she's doing. "I'm so sorry I scared you."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You saved Nakia," he replies, just as quietly. "I'm putting the blame on Klaue, where it belongs."

Bucky takes a deep breath and squeezes her hand. "But please try not to get shot again, okay?"

"Good advice," Shuri agrees, brightly. "I will not always be there. There!" She steps back and casts the image from her tablet into the air so that Sharon can see. On one side, her form shows all the damage from her arrival scan marked in orange - and on the other, it shows the current state, with no signs of injury or scarring at all.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon looks at the original image and blanches, her free hand instinctively lifting to rub at her back.

"That's incredible," she murmurs. "It shouldn't be possible."

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri beams at her. "It is here."

Bucky squeezes her hand again, trying to reassure her. "Princess Shuri's pretty good at the impossible," he says, dryly. "She was already well on the way to getting the controls out of my head before Tony got here. She's the reason I'm free."

"Mr. Stark helped," Shuri points out. Bucky shrugs. "You did it together."

[from_the_outside]

"Then I owe you twice," Sharon says. "And I didn't get to say it when it happened, so thank you, for that."

Her fingers are tight in Bucky's. "That was the best call I've ever gotten."

[nerves_of_ice]

"No, you do not," Shuri says, firmly. "I was able to help, and I was glad to. Besides--"

She flashes a quick bright grin at Bucky.

"--I enjoy a challenge, and he certainly presented me with that."

He huffs a soft breath of laughter. "Least I could do."

[from_the_outside]

"I guess we both have," Sharon says, and grins up at him before she looks back at the princess.

"So how's everything look, doctor? Will I ever play the violin again?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri lets out a delighted laugh. "Not if you never did before!" she teases right back, and looks at Bucky. "Oh, I like her."

"I do too," Nakia says, as she comes around the curve of the corridor and into the main room, Everett Ross trailing behind her. Bucky squeezes Sharon's hand once more, then lets go and steps to the side so that Nakia can sweep past him and hug her friend. "Don't you ever scare me like that again."

[from_the_outside]

"I thought he said you could work miracles?" Sharon says, grinning, right before Nakia sweeps her into a hug. She stands to hug her friend back, fierce.

Her memory is a little fuzzy, but seeing that man in the mask aiming at Nakia... it's not something she's ever going to forget. "Don't get shot at, then," she murmurs, but she really can't tease about it. "I'm so glad you're okay."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You, too," Nakia tells her, almost fiercely, and hugs her again.

Behind them, Bucky and Ross trade a look before Bucky tips his head back and to the side, indicating that the other man should feel free to approach Sharon. Ross circles around to where she can see him and clears his throat.

"Carter," he says, gruffly. "You're looking a lot better."

[from_the_outside]

"Thank you, sir." Her emotions are still so raw that she almost hugs him, too; she's so grateful to see his gruff, familiar face.

And the fact that he's here means he refused to let them take her without him. A wave of affection washes through her for her grumpy boss. "I feel a lot better."

She remembers his voice, the orders to keep breathing, to stay alive, and she knows he must have been as worried as she's ever seen him. "It's really good to see you."

[nerves_of_ice]

Ross jerks his head in a nod of agreement. "Just so you know, you were the only serious injury," he tells her. "Martinez took some cuts from glass when the window blew out, and people are generally pissed off, but most everyone managed to duck and cover."

Bucky, watching silently and intently from the side, finds that he has to stifle a smile as Ross adds, dryly, "Maybe I'll send you back through training on how to do that."

[from_the_outside]

"When did this turn into a performance review?" Sharon wants to know, but there's no heat in it.

"Come on. Like you wouldn't have done the same thing in a heartbeat."

[nerves_of_ice]

Shuri comes around to tug at Bucky's arm. "Show them the sitting room," she suggests, under her breath. "You are certainly familiar enough with it, and how to access the kitchen stocks there."

He manages to choke back a wry laugh. He certainly is, with how many different types of snacks they'd ended up getting from there for Tony and how long he and Steve had spent there. "On it," he promises her.

"Good. I will tell my brother, and come to join you once I know."

Bucky nods and raises his voice. "Okay, everyone. Come with me. Give the princess her lab back."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon takes his hand again as Shuri gestures them out, and goes where he leads them, Nakia and Ross walking along with them.

"So..." she starts, and glances between Nakia and Bucky. "Not a poor third-world country."

[nerves_of_ice]

"No," Nakia replies, smiling, and says nothing more. Bucky's own smile is quick and bright.

"No," he agrees. "Probably the richest and most advanced country in the entire world. You've seen a little of the technology, but as for resources, just to give you an idea..."

He tips his head toward the windows they're walking past. "That's a vibranium mine," he tells her. "We're inside Mount Bashenga. The entire mountain's made of vibranium."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon stops dead, which tugs at his hand as he keeps moving. "Mountain? The entire mountain?"

She turns to look back out the window, her mind spinning, trying to comprehend.

It's a little like car tires spinning in snow. She's still not quite up to her usual snuff.

[nerves_of_ice]

Ross starts to say something, only for Nakia to shake her head at him. "Give her a moment," she murmurs. "You at least had smaller things to experience first, and T'Challa's explanation."

Bucky stops when Sharon tugs at his hand, and goes to stand with her by the window. "The entire mountain," he murmurs. "They use it in everything. For everything. It's amazing what you can do with it - so much more than anyone else ever dreamed."

[from_the_outside]

It doesn't take a genius to extrapolate why she's never heard of any of this, why Nakia never told her, why Bucky had been so evasive, why she wasn't allowed in the country.

"Got it," she murmurs, her eyes huge as she looks out onto the mountain's interior, lit with glowing blue. "And I can't tell anyone, right?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Right," he confirms, very quietly. "From what T'Challa told me before--"

He gives a quick look to Nakia, who nods, her expression grave.

"I was the first outsider that's been invited in for a long, long time. Centuries, I think. Then Steve and Tony - although invited's a stretch there. Now you, and Ross. That's it."

His expression hardens. "Klaue doesn't count. He sure as hell wasn't invited. And he's going to be stopped."

[from_the_outside]

Sharon's expression hardens. "Yeah, about Klaue."

She turns to Ross. "What's the plan, sir?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky gives Ross a flat look, and Ross gives him a hard stare right back before he looks at Sharon.

"Wait for his Highness, Carter," he says. "The Task Force isn't running this op. The Wakandans have been after Klaue for a long time; we're going to be assisting, not leading."

[from_the_outside]

She glances back and forth between them, frowning slightly, then nods, grateful that Ross hadn't tried to sideline her completely, that he hadn't brushed her aside.

"Okay," she says, simply, and looks up at Bucky as her stomach growls. "What was that Shuri said about a kitchen?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"It's part of the sitting room. Waiting room. Lounge. Whatever you want to call it," Bucky says, and gives a tug at her hand to start her moving again. "And it's really well stocked. You wouldn't believe how fast Tony Stark can go through snacks."

Nakia pushes the door open into the comfortably appointed area with multiple chairs, tables, and couches, walls covered with Wakandan art on printed and woven fabrics, and a long counter with cabinets along one side of the room. Bucky lets go of Sharon's hand so that he can open a cabinet or two, showing their contents and including the hidden refrigerator cabinet, before he goes to start the coffee maker.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon looks through the cabinets and selects a package of dried mango slices, chewing on them as she looks around.

She still feels perfectly fine, but out of deference to Bucky and her friends, she soon takes a seat on one of the couches, watching as Bucky makes a pot of coffee, as Ross pauses in front of one of the prints, clasping his hands behind his back and frowning as he considers the art. "Tony must have been like a kid in a candy store in this place," she observes, thinking back on the lab they'd just left.