[AU] How much - how little - is within our power

[from_the_outside]

 "No," says Sharon, for what feels like the thousandth time. "That's not acceptable."

The rest of the flight had been uneventful, and once they landed she'd been grimly unsurprised to see that Stark had sent Happy Hogan, his erstwhile chauffeur, to guide them to the apartment they've been assigned. Stark himself had apparently gone somewhere to get out of his armor, somewhat mollified by having gotten them here and under his thumb.

Except Sharon won't stop kicking up a fuss.

Hogan stares at her as she inspects each corner of the apartment. "I can't cut these rooms off from the central security protocols," he says, slowly, like he thinks she's just misheard him.

"Well, you can," she tells him. "Or I can force a cascade in a couple load-bearing subroutines that will shut the whole damn thing down. It's your choice."

Comments

[marvel_npc]

She’s not even sure if James realizes that he’s flicked her a glance, checking for her opinion. The one he gives Sharon’s a little more cautious, which she makes note of.

No wonder her friend looks ready to chew nails and spit rocks, as they say, although she’s keeping it well hidden.

“It could work,” she agrees. “If he believes it. And if he doesn’t piss off the JTTF in the process.”

[from_the_outside]

Sharon makes a small, skeptical sound. She imagines Tony and Everett Ross meeting and promptly has to fight a headache.

(She doesn't miss Bucky's glance her way, and gives him a faintly wry one in return: there are a lot of things that could go wrong with that scenario, not least if she ends up getting recalled back to Berlin.)

"Well, that's part of why I thought Rhodey could go with him," Steve says, and diplomatically adds: "He's a good mediator."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You know him better than I do," Bucky says. "And it's your team. If you think it'll work, if you think it's the best play, I'll back your call, you know that." There's no hesitation in his tone.

"But if he thinks you're just trying to get him away from me and kicking him out of his own compound to do it, it might make things worse. None of us want that." He smiles at his best friend, small and fleeting, but real. "Sharon might shoot him if he keeps annoying her, but I'm okay, Steve. You don't need to worry about me."

[marvel_npc]

He's pretty damn sure he'll need to keep his own counsel about whether or not he should worry about Bucky, because Bucky's gauge on the situation might be a little... askew. But he doesn't argue it, just nods and returns that fleeting smile with a stronger one of his own.

Steve looks at Sharon. "Please don't shoot Tony," he says, only half-joking.

"I won't if he doesn't give me a reason to," she says, which is not as reassuring as he'd like it to be.

[marvel_npc]

"Hmm," Natasha says in her ear, studying the screen. "You know, I've got a couple of tricks set up in my own apartment that we could probably rig here too. If you want." She glances up at Steve and James, standing together at the kitchen counter.

"Don't suppose a girl could get a cup of coffee over here?" To her lack of surprise, it's James who moves before Steve can. "Milk, no sugar," she tells him, just as if he's never known.

(And, well. He's never known how Natasha Romanoff takes her coffee, now has he?)

"Thanks," she adds, as he sets the mug down beside her. She watches in secret amusement as he claims Sharon's mug and goes to refill it, too.

[from_the_outside]

"I will definitely take you up on that," Sharon tells her, and glances a half-smile up at Bucky for the fresh cup of coffee, then looks at Nat.

"What do you think, Nat? You must have profiled Tony before you went undercover for Fury. Is he likely to push back enough to make it a problem?"

Maybe he'd want to get the hell away; who knows?

[marvel_npc]

"Yes," she says, as she takes a sip of her coffee. She watches Steve and James both over the top of it. Steve looks crestfallen and then determined; James looks resigned for the flicker of an instant before he goes blank. Natasha fights the brief impulse to reassure him and turns to Sharon.

"Unless Steve can convince him that no one else can do it as well as him, that they - we all - need him to help with this, and that James won't be a problem while he's gone."

She expects that to go over like the proverbial lead balloon, and waits to see which direction the explosion will come from first.

[from_the_outside]

Steve looks unhappy, but Sharon nods; that fits her assessment, too. "I don't know him like you do," she tells Nat, then looks at Steve. "Or you. I think it might work – he loves this team, the Avengers are basically his family – but he would have to know it was a team effort and not just him getting sidelined. And I don't think it would work anytime soon," she adds, as Steve opens his mouth.

"You didn't see him this morning. He's nowhere near cooled down; he's not thinking rationally, he's upset and defensive. My guess is anything you do that could be taken the wrong way will be."

[nerves_of_ice]

"But he didn't try to kill me," he says, and notices how Natasha's glance narrows in instant speculation. "Not a single strike. You were right, Steve - give him enough time, give him a reason to back off - like not letting Zemo destroy the people he cares about most - and there might be a chance."

He's still pretty sure that the way out will end somewhere none of them want, but if they can buy enough time, maybe he can figure something out. With that in mind, he meets his best friend's eyes and says, very softly,

"But he has to believe, really believe, that you're not going to choose me over him."

[marvel_npc]

Sharon looks a little doubtful at Bucky's first comment, Steve notices. He'll have to follow up on that, but first:

"I don't want to choose anyone over anyone," he says, unhappily. But the problem is – that Bucky knows, and that's why he's saying what he's saying and how – is that if push came to shove he would side with Bucky. Every time.

And in this case, not only because Bucky is his best friend – and he only just got him back – but because it's the right thing to do. He sighs a little. "Okay. I won't push it for now."

He turns back to Sharon. "Have you figured out what you'll tell Ross?"

[from_the_outside]

"He's not going to be happy that I lied to him," she says. She'd already told Bucky, but Steve and Nat don't know Ross.

"I told him it was a family emergency. I can spin it as coming to help you, Steve, since we have a family connection. It might take a little creative license, but I think it could work."

She curls her hands around her coffee mug and studies each of them in turn. "But I don't know what to tell him about Fury. The rest of the world thinks he's dead, even after the SHIELD helicarrier showed up in Sokovia."

[marvel_npc]

"How much would Ross - he's not related to the Secretary of State, is he?" Natasha asks, with a slight frown.

"How much would your Ross like having a big secret in his possession? Like the truth about Fury's survival, in deep cover?"

[from_the_outside]

"Not that I know of," she says, to Nat's first question, then sinks into thought, considering the second.

"I'm not sure," she says, finally. "He's not the kind of guy who depends on leverage. He's pretty straight-forward; used to be a fighter pilot. He'd be willing to keep a secret, but I don't think it would be a big draw for him."

[nerves_of_ice]

"You could try telling him Fury was staying dark while I was in the wind," he suggests, with grim humor. "After all, I did shoot him once already. If you stretch it enough, that might also fit why you took on a freelance project."

"You shot me too," Natasha points out, archly. "Twice. I'm still public."

"Yes, well, you're braver than Fury," he says, without missing a beat, and is privately pleased at the sound of her laughter.

[from_the_outside]

Sharon huffs a faintly amused breath and shakes her head. "That could work," she admits.

"But he'll definitely want to make sure my allegiances lie with the Task Force, not the Avengers. And not with what's left of SHIELD."

[nerves_of_ice]

"Yes, he will. Which means that you can't negotiate anything on the Avengers' behalf."

He keeps his tone carefully casual. "You can represent what they're asking for back to Ross as a liaison, you can negotiate with them maybe, but you can't be the one to do it for them. Not without it all falling apart."

He has a second to imagine Sharon and Tony negotiating with each other and feels a sudden spike of pain shoot through his head.

[from_the_outside]

She engages in a short but intense silent argument with him, during which her expression shifts from bemused surprise to a mulish frown to futile exasperation.

"You're right," she says, a little shortly. Steve looks back and forth between them.

"What are you talking about?" he asks. The line of her mouth thins, but she's calm when she answers.

"I can't advocate for the Avengers with the JTTF," she says. "Which means I can't advocate for Bucky with the JTTF. That's up to you guys."

[nerves_of_ice]

He sees it hit Natasha a bare instant before Steve puts it together, and watches the flicker in her eyes before she manages to get her expression under control.

Steve doesn't try, and so it's to Steve that he speaks.

"There's a good chance that they'll want to take me into custody." He sees Steve start to argue and cuts him off. "I know. I don't--" Too close, too much, and he shifts quickly, while his right hand tightens on the counter to the point where his knuckles go white.

"It's not a good idea to let them get their hands on me. For more than one reason. But you need to recognize it's likely going to be a problem."

[marvel_npc]

"We're not gonna let that happen," Steve says, firmly. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Sharon's expression shifting from annoyance to calculation, and he knows he has to cut that off at the pass.

(She'd aligned herself with him and Natasha when SHIELD fell, but the JTTF isn't HYDRA.)

"Sharon, I know you can't advocate for us, but you can advise us," he tells her. "That goes both directions. You know the JTTF well, you know Ross, you can help us come up with a plan to bring back to him."

She still looks unhappy, but she nods, a little tightly.

[marvel_npc]

“I’ll help. I can be sneaky,” she teases Sharon, trying to get her to sink into it as a challenge. Lightly, she adds, “I might have some old paperwork that we could use for inspiration.”

[from_the_outside]

She wrenches herself from her annoyance and gives Rome an amused look. "You, sneaky?"

They're all right, she knows. That doesn't make it any easier to swallow. "I bet."

The Black Widow isn't considered as great a threat as the Winter Soldier, but Sharon knows enough of Nat's past to be sure that the paperwork and negotiations surrounding her defection to SHIELD probably make War and Peace look like a short story. "Thanks, Nat. That'll help."

[nerves_of_ice]

He leans back against the counter and finally lets go of it, reaching for his coffee again.

“What do the others think? Not Tony.”

[marvel_npc]

Steve leans back, too, mirroring Bucky's movements and crossing his arms across his chest. "I didn't want to get into too much beyond Karpov," he admits.

"But Wanda, Vision, and Sam all know you're here."

It wasn't so long ago that Wanda blamed Tony for the death of her parents and tried to revenge herself on him. Somehow Steve thinks Tony might not see the similarities so easily. "Only Sam's had a run-in with the Winter Soldier before, but he knows plenty about getting back on your feet."

[nerves_of_ice]

He winces a little at that observation and takes a swallow of his coffee.

After a second -

“Yeah, well. I’ll try to stay out of their way,” he promises.

[from_the_outside]

"But we can't stay penned up in here, Steve," Sharon points out. "I still think it would be better for us to be further away from Tony, but if that's a no-go then we need to at least be able to move freely around the compound."

"Yes," Steve says, instantly. "Of course. We're not jailers and you're not – neither of you are under arrest." He sighs and shakes his head. "I don't know what Tony was thinking."

"He wasn't," Sharon says, a little flatly. "He just wanted Bucky where he could get to him easily, so he threw his weight around and forced it."