[oom] the rest of you, the best of you, honey, belongs to me

[from_the_outside]

It's been a little over a month since Bucky brought her to that training space and told her he was making good on his promise; a little longer since she's met Ayo for an hour a day to spar and train and meditate and learn. In that time, Shuri's updated her suit and Bucky's prototype arm, and Nakia's successfully launched the first of her outreach centers in the place where a young N'Jadaka had once had his whole world shattered.

Ayo prefers to train with her either early in the morning or late in the cool of the evening. Today was the latter, and steam is lifting off Sharon's shoulders as she walks back from the Citadel, her hair a sweat-damp mess in a ponytail, her muscles aching pleasantly. 

She's back on top. Between Bucky and Ayo, she's faster now than she ever has been; more adaptive, more thoughtful about her approach. She still can't beat Bucky one on one, but Ayo had tested her against Aneka, another Dora, recently, and she'd more than held her own. She's flexible and strong and her cardio hasn't been this good in years.

More than that, she's happy, the way Bucky wanted her to be. She has some direction, and that's all she really needed. What she'll do with it is the next step, but she's not quite there yet. For now, she strolls down the path toward the hut by the lake where she's been more or less living with him, the sunset light just now dying from the sky. She's so lost in her thoughts it takes her a second even to realize that there's a buzzing coming from the pocket of her tote bag.

And it's not like she was expecting a call, anyway. Who would it even be from?

Comments

[marvel_npc]

It's not that he hasn't tried, but it turns out it's still damn hard to get intel from inside Wakanda's borders, new approach to dealing with the rest of the world or not. He's privately amused at just how much the rest of the world is scrambling to catch up with regard to the differences between what everybody thought they knew about Wakanda and what the actual truth turned out to be. As much of it as they're showing, anyway. Fury's under no illusions that they're revealing everything.

Still, he feels as though he's at least a few steps ahead of most on that score, due in large part to their... well, call it an 'existing collaboration.' One he means to extend and deepen. Without detailed intel, he has to keep track through rumors, word of mouth let drop by Rogers and Romanoff and Wilson, and events made public, such as the release of information about an anti-poaching initiative, to fine-tune his timing.

But he knows Agent 13, and he's deeply certain that by now she's ready to climb the walls without more meaningful work to do. And isn't it convenient that he has a few ideas about that?

Fury puts the call through on a secure channel, and waits to see if she'll pick up or not.

[from_the_outside]

She frowns at the contact that flashes up on her phone screen, then hits 'accept' and brings the phone to her ear. "Nick," she says.

Even to herself, it's hard to say if she sounds more wary or more intrigued. "Just calling to say hi?"

She can't imagine that's the case, but you just never know with Fury.

[marvel_npc]

"I could be," he returns, mildly. "Hi, Thirteen. Am I interrupting anything?"

[from_the_outside]

"Maybe," she tells him, looking around at the wide open sky, the calm fields, the first evening stars just beginning to twinkle. "But nothing major."

Not that there's much major he could be interrupting out here. Not for her, anyway. She's made as much peace with that as she can. "What's up?"

[marvel_npc]

"Nothing major," he echoes, dryly. The trick when setting a hook is to not be obvious about it. "Wanted to pick your brain a little if you've got the time."

[from_the_outside]

She frowns a little but nods, even though he can't see her. "Sure," she says.

"I've got time." Nothing but time, really. "How can I help?"

[marvel_npc]

"I've been doing a little digging into known associates of some of the players who were present at that auction a little while back," Fury says. "You remember the one."

Of course she does. That's the whole point.

"I know you got some face time with Kwan - before you removed that source of intel for us, that is. He happen to mention anyone or anything named Green? Person, color, location?"

[from_the_outside]

"Green? No."

She makes a face at his comment – it's not like she was going to let Kwan kill Ross – and wracks her memory, but shakes her head. "He asked if I'd ever been to Madripoor," she reports. "But no Green. Why?"

[marvel_npc]

He makes a noncommittal sound at the mention of Madripoor and otherwise ignores it. Outwardly, anyway.

"Too much to hope for, I guess." Fury lets himself huff out an exasperated breath. "There was something in that intel you sent through Hill a while back. Focused on creating plant-like regeneration through genetic manipulation. Contact's code name was 'Green.'"

He'll be damn surprised if she hadn't reviewed every detail of the intel before sending it.

[from_the_outside]

"The intel from Thessaloniki?"

It's been... hell, it's been almost a year since that mission with Bucky, but she can still remember with perfect clarity the way he'd taken apart the lab. She also remembers watching as he sorted through the data, and she'd spent the evening after he'd left looking through it herself.

What had they called that program? Extremis. Was that it? "I thought that trail would be cold as hell by now."

[marvel_npc]

"Yeah. That intel," he drawls. "Looks like cold might be just hibernating. Turns out it connects to a couple of other things - anyway, you know me, Thirteen, I hate loose ends. Before I send someone to check it out I wanted to see if you could shed any more light."

He's careful to keep his tone nonchalant. "Sorry to have bothered you for nothing."

[from_the_outside]

"Wait."

It snaps out of her like a reflex. If HYDRA's gene manipulation intel is still out and about... well, they never did get to that next location. Maybe if they had, the trail wouldn't have gone so cold. "Who will you send?"

[marvel_npc]

He shrugs, and puts it into his voice. "Giulietta, maybe. It wouldn't be a far stretch to reach from Italian Base Ops."

[from_the_outside]

"Giulietta's a technician," she points out, her frown audible in her voice. "If she runs into trouble, she's not going to be able to get out of it. What exactly is this all connecting to, Nick? You have some other leads?"

[marvel_npc]

Come on, Thirteen. Take the bait. You know you want to. She's sharp, though, and he's already being way more obvious than is safe.

"Then she better not run into trouble. It's old information anyway, both this and the other bits and pieces I've cobbled together," Fury informs her. "If this 'Green' was still active, though, that might have been different. Looks like they were a trader of some kind, like Gray, but working mercenary markets."

[from_the_outside]

Mercenaries are way above Giulietta's skill set and pay grade, but it's not like Nick has his pick of agents right now. 19 is retired, and she'd have been Sharon's first pick after Nat.

Or herself. There's no doubting she, herself, would have been the clear choice for this mission. "I still have a copy of that intel," she tells Nick. "Before you send Giulietta off, let me run through it again and see if Bucky or the War Dogs know anything about this Green."

[marvel_npc]

"If you're offering, sure," he says. "Appreciate it. I won't tell her to pack a bag just yet."

It's enough, for now. The seed's planted.

"I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."

[from_the_outside]

"I'll call when I have something," she promises, and hangs up before she can let what she really wants to say past her teeth.

Send me.

Still, her steps are a little faster and her thoughts are a good deal more preoccupied as she makes her way along the path toward the hut by the lake.

[nerves_of_ice]

Crack. The sound rips through the air as the log splits in two, followed by a couple of thuds as the pieces fall to the ground. Bucky blows his hair out of his face and sets up another chunk of log, then picks up the axe and focuses.

Crack.

At this rate, they won't be short of firewood any time soon.

[from_the_outside]

She follows the sound of the axe splitting wood, smiling as she strolls towards him. "Hey there, Paul Bunyan," she says.

For a moment, all thoughts of Fury and missions and intel vanish from her mind. He looks healthy and content and her heart squeezes to watch him shake that long hair out of his face. "Expecting to get a cold snap soon?"

[nerves_of_ice]

He chuckles. "You never know. No, it was more for something to do. I figured on carting the extra over to the village, take a load off supply for some of the senior citizens there."

Bucky looks her over. "Did you have a good session with Ayo?"

[from_the_outside]

"What a good boy you are."

She sets her tote down on the grass and takes out a water bottle from inside it, then comes over to hand out the bottle to him. "Yeah, really good. I think she might start letting me try the spear, soon."

[nerves_of_ice]

He shrugs off the compliment, but accepts the water with a nod of thanks and raises it to his lips for a quick swallow - then lowers it to give her a delighted grin.

"Really? That's great!" Sharon's been working so hard, she's got to be pleased with this.

[from_the_outside]

"We'll see," she says, but she's grinning back at him. His pride in her and her abilities fills some hollow inside she hadn't even known was there. "A lot of my improvement's down to you, coach."

[nerves_of_ice]

"I just helped a little." Bucky hands the water back and uses the proximity to sneak his arm around her shoulders for a quick hug. "You're the one who put in the work. That's what matters."