[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

[nerves_of_ice]

"Uh-huh. We'll see how that changes in the next few weeks."

He follows her in and shuts the door, then tips his head toward the bathroom. "Why don't you go ahead and get cleaned up first?"

[from_the_outside]

She flicks a glance at him from under her lashes, exaggeratedly flirtatious. "What, not coming with me? Save some water?"

[nerves_of_ice]

Bucky laughs. "Temptress. Better go on before I change my mind."

[from_the_outside]

She sticks her tongue out at him and heads into the bathroom, snagging a fresh towel on the way. "Put some coffee on," she calls back to him. "I'll have a cup when I come out."

[nerves_of_ice]

"One pot of coffee, coming right up." While the water's boiling, he pulls down mugs and digs out cream and cinnamon for her from the supplies.

[from_the_outside]

She takes a quick shower and is out again in a few minutes, dressed in soft pants and a t-shirt, towel-drying her hair as she pads back out into the main room.

"Thanks, baby," she says, spotting the coffee being made. She goes to her bedside table, where she keeps her laptop, and pulls it out to set on the small breakfast table. "How about I call down for some dinner?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Sounds great." He hands her a mug with a quick smile, then snags his pack and heads for the bathroom. "I'll just get cleaned up while you're doing that."

[from_the_outside]

"You are such a tease, Barnes," she calls after him, laughing, but once she has a sip of her coffee – light, with cinnamon and sugar, just like she likes it – she calls down as promised. The kitchen confirms they'll send up some food, and she takes a seat at the table to wait for both dinner and him, opening her laptop to start sifting through intel as she does.

[nerves_of_ice]

It doesn't take him long to clean up, but he stands under the shower for a few minutes more than strictly necessary, trying to shake loose another memory or two.

Nothing comes, and he decides either there's nothing to recall or he's not settled enough to do it. Bucky shuts off the water and dries off, throws on clean clothes, packs everything else back into the knapsack and goes back into the main room. He sets the pack against the wall and comes to look down over her shoulder.

"Anything interesting?"

[from_the_outside]

"Mm."

She scrolls through a data sequence, then tips her head back to look up at him. "I'm running a search for 'Green,' but it's going to take a while to finish and without any other parameters, it's going to give us a lot of results. But right now I'm going through the Extremis files."

[nerves_of_ice]

He nods, and glances at the screen, frowning a little. "You said Fury thought 'Green' was a trader? And that Extremis was involved?"

He doesn't like it any more now than he had an hour ago. "It was pretty unstable, as I recall."

[from_the_outside]

"He also said he wasn't sure 'Green' was still active," she admits. "Which I guess is why he's comfortable sending Giulietta to check out the old leads."

She leans back in the chair, frowning. "Didn't Stark have some run-in with Extremis a while back?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yes," Bucky tells her. "From what Steve said, it's why Stark wasn't around to help out in D.C."

He doesn't specify when. He doesn't need to.

"He was dealing with the aftermath of ... what's his name. Aldrich Killian. He was the one who developed it."

[from_the_outside]

"Well, getting any intel from Stark's going to be a no-go."

She crosses her arms and studies the laptop screen. "I haven't found the records of any movement they made with that data yet, but Fury said they found the lead on Green in here, somewhere."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You'd think Fury would have... no, I guess he might not," Bucky realizes. "Or might not have access to that intel still, after--"

After D.C. After SHIELD's fall. It brings up another possibility, and he grimaces. "Or HYDRA might have buried it. Hell, that might even be how they got their hands on Extremis in the first place."

[from_the_outside]

"I wouldn't be surprised," she mutters, and glances up as someone knocks on the door.

"That'll be dinner. Let's let this search run while we eat, huh?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"Sounds good." He goes to the door and accepts the meal trays with a warm smile and sincere thanks, then carries them over to the little table by the window.

"Need a refill on your coffee?"

[from_the_outside]

"I'm good for now."

She leaves the laptop running its search, then comes over to join him. "The thing is, baby, I don't know that we'll be able to find anything Hill and Fury haven't already found. They have the same intel."

If she can't give them information, then she hasn't been helpful at all. But what else is there for her to do?

[nerves_of_ice]

"Not all of it." His expression is truly rueful. "But those last files are gone now. I'm pretty sure they are, anyway."

[from_the_outside]

"But none of that was on moving any of the product," she points out. "Not that I remember, anyway."

She moves the food around her plate with a fork, morose, wondering if maybe Bucky will remember something else overnight. "Fury said it was old information. Why look into it now, unless there's been some kind of development?"

[nerves_of_ice]

"No," he murmurs. "It wasn't." Product. He stifles his weary revulsion and makes himself focus on the problem at hand.

"Good question. Did the auction contact give up some new intel, maybe?"

[from_the_outside]

"Gray? Maybe."

She picks at her food and looks up at him. "I can ask when I call Fury back. There must be some reason for it."

[nerves_of_ice]

“I’m pretty sure Fury never does anything without a reason.”

He watches the way she toys with her food, distracted, and doesn’t like what he’s seeing.

“When are you supposed to call him back?”

[from_the_outside]

"I didn't give him a timeframe, but I don't want to wait too long," she tells him. "Tomorrow morning, maybe."

She taps her fork on the edge of her plate, thinking. "If it's just following up an old lead, it might not be too complicated. But I don't know if Giulietta would even know what to look for."

[nerves_of_ice]

“If she wouldn’t, why would he send her?” he points out.