[oom] the rules have changed since I learned to play

[from_the_outside]

Five days has never felt so goddamn long. Fortunately, there's a lot to do.

She throws herself into mission prep, spending hours strategizing with Steve and Nakia and T'Challa and Ayo, going over the exit paths Bucky had outlined, discussing their bid, their timing, their plan, their back-up plan, their back-up to the back-up. 

She works with Shuri on the newest iteration of her suit: improved, stab-proof, and locked away inside a chic gold bracelet. It takes a little while for her to get used to how it responds, but after a few hours of testing and adjusting, she can call it into being with a second's thought.

She and Steve have long calls with Fury, going over the intel he's collected on the other guests. There's only one Fury's really concerned about, a representative from the crime-soaked island of Madripoor. The rep's name is Kwan, but it's the person he's representing that has Fury worried. 

"This guy calls himself the 'Power Broker,'" he tells her and Steve. "Word is he takes it literally. If someone out here is looking to merge Chitauri tech and vibranium, it's this asshole."

But even she can't be in meetings all the time, and at least once a day she packs her laptop and intel into her tote bag and heads down to the little hut by the lake where she checks on the goats (all doing just fine under K'Senge's care), the hut (untouched), and more often than not sits for an hour or more under the shade tree, trying not to picture Bucky lounging next to her.

Steve sometimes accompanies her. He's doing his best, she knows: he always seems to be nudging her to eat something or reminding her when it gets late that she should sleep. And he's good company. It's not his fault he isn't his best pal.

Who is absolutely everywhere she looks: in her room, down by the lake, in the meeting rooms, in the lab; everywhere.  

She'd been sitting beneath the shade tree the afternoon after he went under when Anwuli, the little girl with the pretty beaded bracelets, came shyly up to her, holding out a small bouquet of wildflowers. "From the White Wolf," she told Sharon, who took the flowers, wordless, as everything she'd tamped down in the lab threatened to spill right back out of her.

"Thank you," she'd said, and the little girl had flushed and run off.

That had been five days ago. She's received four more bouquets since. They sit in water in her room, filling it with a faint sweet fragrance as she looks at herself in the mirror, putting the final touches on Irma and waiting for Steve to arrive.

Nearly time.

Comments

[marvel_npc]

The finely tuned Wakandan remote-monitoring earpiece is able to transmit clear, easily distinguishable environmental sound as well as the wearer's speech, which means that when the weapon fires both the field team and Shuri are able to discern roughly what's happened. Shuri's sharp yelp of dismay echoes in everyone's ears before T'Challa hisses at her to be quiet.

"There is no question now, even if there were before," he says, low and furious. "That prototype, those plans, must go to no one else. And we must capture Gray, as well, without question."

Back in the room, the muttering among the guests stops for a moment as one of them stands up. "I'd like to examine it," he says, baldly, and another murmur sweeps the room. "Otherwise, how do we know this little demonstration wasn't staged for our benefit?"

[from_the_outside]

"Please," says Gray, and ushers the man to the stage, where Marcus shows him how to fire the prototype. He's clearly not used to firearms, and Sharon relaxes slightly – if his plan is to shoot the rest of them and make off with the prototype, he wouldn't get more than one, maybe two shots off.

Gray is clearly thinking along the same lines; he holds up a small blue cartridge. "The power cell for this piece is combination Chitauri technology and vibranium," he says. "Both very rare, but for a small finder's fee, I will be more than willing to help the winning bidder source the necessary materials."

The man who'd questioned them before squeezes off a shot that hits a little left of center, and nods to Gray. More questions come from the bidders – from everyone but Sharon and Kwan.

She's not sure she likes that. She hopes the number in the envelope she took from Steve is high enough.

Finally, Gray calls a stop to the questions and waves Marcus forward with a small black box. "The time has come, ladies and gentlemen," he says, politely. "Please cast your bids."

She lines up with the others and drops her envelope in the lockbox with a smile for Gray. "Quite a demonstration," she tells him, and he bows, slightly.

"I think it will be a lively competition," he tells her. "Please make yourself comfortable back in the reception room. I will be announcing the winner shortly."

[marvel_npc]

Back in the reception room, near-silence reigns. For the most part, the guards distributed around are keeping watch on each other. Steve observes a couple of edged arguments start, both of which are quickly suppressed by Gray's own guard team.

For the most part, though, it's calm, which lets him listen closely to everything that's happening in the other room. About the only thing that's good, from what he can tell, is that nothing got heated. It's a good thing they're here - if that tech goes further, they'll have a problem. Not to mention that the developer's still out there somewhere.

One problem at a time's enough for now, though, and he turns his attention to Sharon as she walks back into the room. She looks as cool and composed as ever, unruffled by whatever she saw. He crosses to her and offers her the glass back without saying a word, having held on to it the whole time.

[from_the_outside]

She takes her glass from him and takes a sip, murmuring,

"Get ready, everyone. We may have a big target on our back soon."

We are in position, T'Challa assures her. And so is Agent Ross and his men. We will not let anyone slip through our net.

Turning, she keeps Steve just behind her left shoulder. He's positioned them well, with their backs protected, but she can't help feeling like they're in a kill box.

It's a few tense moments later when Gray appears, Marcus in tow, and claps his hands for their attention. "My dear friends," he says. "I'm delighted to announce the winner of our little auction: she is new to our brotherhood, but clearly will make her own mark. Ms. Irma Kruhl, the winning bid is yours."

[marvel_npc]

A flurry of murmurs makes its way through the room. 'Devlin' sets his jaw and his shoulders and readies himself, watching everyone's reactions. More than a few look truly surprised, while some look resigned.

It's Kwan who concerns him most, however. True rage passes over the man's face, swiftly concealed behind an ice-cold mien. He gives a slight bow to 'Kruhl,' as though acknowledging an opponent, and says nothing as Gray continues,

"Ms. Kruhl, if you and your associate will come with me to complete the purchase?"

[from_the_outside]

She acknowledges the light golf claps and walks toward Gray, murmuring with her lips barely moving,

"We're moving clear of the room. Send in the cavalry."

Ross has to sweep the guests up while they're in the area in order to pin anything on them, but it can't be while she and Steve are in the room. She returns Kwan's nod and follows Gray out of the reception area and down a short hall to a beautifully appointed office. This building may be rented, but he does things right.

"This will only take a moment," he tells her, and gestures for her to take out her phone. "As soon as the digital transfer goes through, the item is yours."

She pulls up the app and takes a second to hope that Shuri had spoofed the account correctly, then swipes a finger and smiles as his phone chimes. "Done. And may I say, a very great pleasure doing business with you, Mr. Gray."

Somewhere outside the building, those code words set action in motion.

[marvel_npc]

Steve follows her down the hall, keeping himself between her and everyone else in the reception area. Behind them, Kwan's face twists again as he storms out of the room in the opposite direction, trailed by his guards. "We will have to intercept them," he snaps, moving quickly down the hallway and into the stairwell. "I refuse to let this slip from my hands."

---

Outside the building, where he's stationed in one of the JTTF surveillance vans, T'Challa's voice sounds in Everett Ross's ear. "They are moving!" It takes a lot to keep his teeth from grinding at not being the one to call the shots on this one, but Wakanda's king has more than earned his trust, and it's one of his people on the inside; none of his team had been able to secure an invitation.

"Go!" he snaps to his task force. "Green light, green light, all teams converge!"

[from_the_outside]

To Gray's credit, he doesn't panic when the first sounds of chaos reach their ears. Ross' men have the building surrounded, but Gray is no amateur; he only escorts her to a back door in the office and directs her down a narrow staircase.

It's fine; they'd planned for this. She carries the locked briefcase containing prototype and plans and follows Gray down the stairs as sirens blare and the sounds of fighting escalate.

"You are quite well prepared," she comments to Gray as he holds open a door for her. It leads to a basement level with an unobtrusive exit; too bad for Gray they've already tagged this way out as one of their own exit strategies. T'Challa and the others will –

Gray makes a strange choking sound and collapses, and she nearly trips over him before she realizes what's happening.

"Ms. Kruhl," comes the smooth, high tenor, and Kwan steps from the shadows, his two guards in tow. One has already shot Marcus. She can't see if he's alive or not, but the main problem right now is this:

Kwan and his men are between them and the exit. "I can see you're in a rush," he continues. "But I really must insist you take a moment to consider the business opportunity I'm about to present to you."

"I think not," she says, tightly, and doesn't even glance at Steve. "Ryan?"

[marvel_npc]

He's moving around and in front of Sharon before she's finished speaking his name. As the first guard swings his gun toward him, he slams a booted foot into his knee and a fist to his jaw, collapsing him, and throws an elbow strike into the solar plexus of the second. Steve follows that with a knee to the gut, sending the hapless guard airborne. He crashes into Kwan, flattening him to the ground.

The shouts from upstairs are getting closer. Steve's head jerks up as they suddenly get a lot louder, too - clearly someone's found the stairwell. He moves swiftly to Sharon's side and takes her arm. "We've got to go. Now."

Ross and his team will round up everyone they can find. They can't afford for either of them to be caught, especially not with what they're carrying.

[from_the_outside]

She nods, even as she can hear a familiar voice echoing down the stairs. "Request extraction, southeast corner, garden level," she tells her earpiece, and trusts to T'Challa and the others as they run. They make for the exit as quickly as she can move in these heels and this dress – a casualty of cover maintenance, but she's more agile in them than most.

Not quite agile enough for them to be out the door before sounds of a fight break out behind them, and although she knows she shouldn't, she looks. There's a brief second while Steve forces a lock they hadn't expected when she glances behind and sees – oh, crap, Ross. The guard hadn't hit Kwan hard enough, and he got the drop on Ross.

Sharon does a quick mental calculation – Ross' back is to her and Steve is through the door – and makes a decision. She reaches for the sidearm in her hidden thigh holster and in the space of a breath squeezes off three quick shots.

Center mass. Absolutely perfect. And as Ross turns, she's heading through the door in a flick of blonde hair.

Steve jams it behind them and they make for the open air of the street. She prays the extraction team is right where they ought to be.

[marvel_npc]

He's staring down the barrel of the gun in the weapons dealer's hand - turns out the guy wasn't down for the count after all - when three shots come from behind him and the dealer suddenly hits the ground in a limp heap. No faking this time; the guy's done, each bullet placed with stunning precision.

Ross spins around in time to see the blonde woman in the black dress who'd just saved his life vanish through the door, and as realization hits for a second it feels as though she's shot him instead.

Carter. That was Carter, who, evidently not satisfied with blowing up her incredibly promising career and being named enemy of the state, has apparently decided to go for an encore performance by fucking around with the illegal weapons trade in stolen vibranium.

Goddammit. How he's going to explain this to T'Challa, he hasn't a clue.

[from_the_outside]

Anyone looking would see two figures – one tall and broad-shouldered, the other small and slim – bolting from a garden-level door towards a small side street. So much, so usual: where it turns a little odd is how they slip into a shadow and just...

Disappear.

"This cloaking tech is the best," Sharon tells Nakia, seated at the wheel of the car they've piled into. Light spills from its exterior like water off a duck; it's nearly impossible to see in the dim light of the Prague evening. She only grins and hits the accelerator, taking them away from the fray and towards the quiet location where T'Challa and the others wait with the flyer that will take them home. "Package secure," Sharon tells the earpiece. "We're heading your way now."

Update complete, she grins at Steve. For the first time in five long days, she feels amazing. "Nice job. You may graduate spy school yet."

[marvel_npc]

"You had the harder job," Steve says, with absolute sincerity. "How you and Nat get such a kick out of this is a mystery to me." Nakia laughs and whirls them around a corner, down another street, and then whips them into the narrow alley that leads to the abandoned square they'd set up in.

T'Challa steps forward as they get out of the car. "Well done," he says. "And thank you."

[from_the_outside]

She hands him the briefcase containing the precious prototype and plans. "Kwan is dead," she says, without preamble, "and Ross was in position to apprehend Gray. The good news is I think he'll roll on the prototype designer, the bad news is somebody out there really, really wants this stuff."

They head into the cloaked flyer as she says to Steve,

"Looks like you and Sam and Nat have a few new leads to track down."

[marvel_npc]

"Looks like," Steve agrees, as T'Challa secures the briefcase for the flight back and turns to them. Ayo is already at the controls, ready to take off, and Nakia comes to stand beside T'Challa. She touches his hand lightly, and he gives her a quick, slightly rueful smile before looking back at Sharon and Steve.

"I will follow up with Ross later," he tells them. "You have done a great kindness for Wakanda, for my people, and for me. We are no strangers to those who would steal and misuse our vibranium, but this is more. I am in your debt."

"You're not," Steve says, a little more sharply than might be expected. "If anything, it's the other way around."

[from_the_outside]

"Definitely not," Sharon agrees, taking a seat and slipping off the heels with a sigh as Ayo lifts them into the air with a barely perceptible hum. "You've already done more for us than we could ever pay back."

With Fury in the mix she's sick to death of the 'who owes who what' game. T'Challa is a proud man, she knows... but he is also someone who understands the give and take tidal push and pull of the world.

"We were happy to help. You owe us nothing."

[marvel_npc]

T'Challa studies them both, then simply nods, accepting.

"We will be home in only a few hours," he says. "Less than you may expect. You have not seen Ayo handle a flyer."

"My king!" Ayo protests, from the front, and Nakia laughs. "What? It is true!"

[from_the_outside]

Sharon smiles at their teasing and leans her head back, closing her eyes as the flyer glides smoothly through and then above the clouds.

The mission is over. Her part in it is, anyway, for now. Weeks of work, of worry, of planning, all finished. If she lets herself, she'll be looking down the barrel of who knows how long before another project comes along, and in the midst of her relief and triumph, there's just the faintest niggling of trepidation.

Back to Wakanda. And Steve will head back out again, until –

She's going to have to find something to do with herself. And soon.

But for now, there's nothing to do but enjoy the flight.