from_the_outside | [AU] protector and patron

I'm going to protect you, no matter what.

That's what she'd said to Bucky just before they left Virginia for the Avengers compound, forced into compliance by Tony Stark. She can still see his wry smile, can hear the way he'd called her his guardian angel.

Well, she'd meant it. She'd meant every damn word, including the ones she'd spat at Tony in the form of qualifications. If I think for even a second that you mean to harm him, we leave, she'd said. And there's absolutely no question in her mind that Tony does intend harm.

Maybe not the physical kind. But if he's been edging his way into the room's security, up to and including searching it, then that is pretty fucking harmful and she's got a signed contract, negotiated between the Avengers and their representatives and the United Nations Joint Terrorism Task Force, that says she can make good on the verbal agreement they'd made what already feels like a lifetime ago.

God, she hopes he argues. She would love to have the chance to throw the Task Force lawyers in his face.

It's actually a closer to eight hours after Nat's call that the Quinjet settles on a landing pad outside, but Sharon is no less furious about the whole situation for having another hundred and twenty minutes or so to stew over it.

"Morning," she says to a gaping Happy Hogan as she breezes through the entranceway. "Please tell your boss I'd like to see him at his earliest convenience. I'll be in the apartment, dismantling the incursions he's been making into my security system. Sound good? Great."

She doesn't break stride for even a second.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

nerves_of_ice

Sleep had helped. He doesn’t feel quite as ragged around the edges when he jerks awake from a solid three hours, and is even able to lie still and rest until he hears Natasha stirring forty-five minutes later. He’s sitting up and ready to leave when she comes out.

She gives him a level look, a cup of coffee, and orders to meet her for lunch at noon in the common area or else she’ll come looking for him and he’ll regret it.

It’s just after eleven now and he’s managed to hide himself away in a corner of the library when he hears a commotion heading down the hall toward the apartment he’s avoiding.

“Miss Carter - uh, Agent Carter I mean - if you’d just wait a second please —“

Surprised, he goes to the door and opens it slightly, enough to look out.

From:

from_the_outside

"No," she says, cool as a cucumber. She doesn't even slow down as a dismayed Happy tails her. "I've had plenty of seconds to wait while I was flying back here. I'm good."

She is beyond ready to throw down, and honestly? If Steve himself shows up and gives her those sad blue eyes and tells her Tony is struggling, she'll fight with him, too.

If the man can't control his impulses enough to respect someone else's privacy – or, barring that, an agreed-upon contract – then maybe he should take some time off from Avenging and go to actual therapy. She's done dancing around his feelings.

Bucky isn't in the apartment when she gets there, which isn't a surprise but still serves to piss her off even more. There was one goddamn spot in this place where he should have been able to feel safe, and he couldn't even have that? Sharon feels not a single shred of doubt as she pulls a small device from her pocket – one of a series of helpful little toys she'd requisitioned from the JTTF before heading back here – and sets it against a wall with a small click.

There's a moment, and then a shivering buzz runs through the walls and the air of the room, and every single electric device within the confines of the apartment dies at the same time. She removes the tiny EMP generator and turns to Happy, pressing it into his unresisting hand.

"Tell him we're starting from a clean slate," she says. "And tell him I'm not going to stand for his meddling anymore. And neither will the Task Force."

Edited Date: 2021-07-24 01:08 pm (UTC)

From:

nerves_of_ice

He ghosts down the hallway in time to hear Sharon’s crisp order to Hogan, and realizes in an instant what Natasha must have done. Or Vision, he supposes, but he’d been pretty clear—-

“Mr. Stark isn’t on the premises right now,” Hogan tries to explain, and Bucky decides that it might be kind to step in. He shifts to stand in the doorway, visible to them both.

“Agent Carter.” He keeps his tone neutral with determined care. “I didn’t expect you to return so soon.”

From:

from_the_outside

Hogan is extremely lucky he's not currently standing next to an open window, because she would definitely push him out of it and not feel bad about it even a little.

As it is, he glances at Bucky, and back at Sharon, and back at Bucky again, and Sharon rolls her eyes. "Sergeant," she says, and resists the urge to shove Hogan out the door, haul Bucky through it, lock it, and put her arms around him so tight she'd never be able to let go. "I wasn't needed in person at the Task Force offices anymore. Which is good, because it turns out I was needed here."

She glares at Hogan. "Fine. Call him, then. And, in the meantime, if I see you within a hundred yards of this apartment or if I even suspect that Mr. Stark is trying to surveil it, I will remove Sergeant Barnes from the premises and slap you all with a restraining order so fast it'll make your head spin. Comprende?"

From:

nerves_of_ice

“Is the Task Force going to reimburse Mr. Stark for everything you just destroyed?” Hogan tries, staring past her at the darkened appliances. “I need you to just calm down, Agent, please. I’m sure there’s been some kind of misunderstanding.”

Bucky raises his eyebrows at that and leans back against the wall beside the door, clearly ceding the ground to Sharon.

From:

from_the_outside

Her smile holds no amusement whatever, but it's no less satisfied for it. "Feel free to send them an invoice," she says, and then folds her arms.

"Has there? Enlighten me. So Mr. Stark hasn't been trying to hack into my security systems – the ones he agreed to leave the hell alone – and he hasn't had this apartment searched multiple times since I left for Berlin?"

Hogan's a big man, but he wilts a little under her level stare. "Because I would love to see how any of that could be construed as a misunderstanding."

From:

nerves_of_ice

“Compound security,” Hogan starts, then glances at Bucky, noticing the way his eyes narrow. He swallows, and says, weakly, “Mr. Stark has everyone’s safety in mind.”

From:

from_the_outside

"I doubt that very much," she tells him, cold as ice.

"Please tell Mr. Stark that if he feels the need to continually force his way past our agreed-upon restrictions, I'll be more than happy to remove Sergeant Barnes to a more secure location, for everyone's peace of mind. And if he needs a reminder of those agreements – "

She drops her bag onto the table and digs out a neatly-bound contract. It's heavy. There are a lot of pages.

Stalking over to Hogan, she pushes it at him until he reflexively presses it to his chest. " – Here's a little light reading to re-familiarize him."

From:

nerves_of_ice

Bucky turns his head to stare at Sharon as Hogan clutches the document to his chest and backs out of the apartment, saying something about notifying Stark’s lawyers.

“A contract?”

From:

from_the_outside

"Just a written version of the verbal one. I thought it would be handy to have if he tried something like this."

She stares down Hogan until he's out the door, then slams it and locks it behind him. "Threaten me with lawyers," she says, still steaming. "I hope he has fun with the ones we have from the goddamn United Nations."

The apartment is silent, now that she's fried almost everything in it. It's a hassle, but she'd come prepared; she can replace the security equipment with items requisitioned from the Task Force and it's not like she can't buy her own damn coffee maker. Once she's sure Happy's headed far down the hall and not likely to return, she looks at Bucky, cool exterior cracking into worry.

"Are you okay?"

From:

nerves_of_ice

“I’m fine.” The corner of his mouth quirks up in a wry smile.

“Which one called you? Natasha or Vision?”

From:

from_the_outside

"Natasha."

She studies him with concern, taking in his drawn face, the shadows beneath his eyes. He must have gotten some sleep on Nat's couch, but all it's done is blunt the edges. "She said you haven't been sleeping."

From:

nerves_of_ice

He sighs, long and slow.

“I sleep some.”

From:

from_the_outside

"But not enough."

She doesn't try to resist it anymore, comes to him and cradles his face with gentle hands that are at complete contradiction to her previous tone and actions. "I can't make it stop," she tells him, "but I can mitigate it, a little. I can take you back to Virginia, where it's quiet and nobody's trying to spy on you."

He'll try to tell her it's no trouble, it's fine. She's sure of it, just like she's sure it's not anything of the kind.

"Come on, Barnes. Let me bust you out of here. I've got three hundred pages and a fleet of lawyers that says I can. At least until we can sort this mess out with Tony."

From:

nerves_of_ice

He lets her hold on to him, searching her eyes. She means it, he can tell. She’s moved heaven and earth to rush back across the ocean because she thought he needed her. Because he did.

“I don’t want Stark to crash in on your family’s home again,” he murmurs. “I don’t want Steve to worry. I can take it. I’ve managed worse, I promise.”

From:

from_the_outside

"I know you have," she tells him. "I know you can. But the thing is, you don't have to."

She brushes her thumbs over the angle of his jaw before dropping her hands to reach for his. "He's not going to surprise me again," she says, a little grim. "Ross was not happy when he heard Tony's been playing fast and loose with our agreement and my security measures. I have the okay from him to remove you for the time being and I've got a whole lot of boring legal paperwork that says Tony can't follow us."

Her hands are warm as she squeezes her fingers. "Steve will understand. He doesn't want you to be miserable and exhausted, Bucky. Tony's pushed it too far."

From:

nerves_of_ice

“You flew across the ocean to rescue me,” he murmurs. “Again.”

Bucky squeezes her fingers, then frees one hand and raises it to touch her cheek.

“Okay. I’ll go with you. Wherever you want to take me.”

From:

from_the_outside

"No big deal," she tells him, soft, smiling faintly. "The Quinjet was right there."

Sharon breathes out, long and a little unsteady, and tilts her head into his touch. "I wish I could take you wherever I wanted," she says. "But for now, I'll settle for Virginia."

From:

nerves_of_ice

He brushes his thumb over her cheek. “Remind me to ask you later where you’d want to go.”

He glances around the apartment and at her. “When?”

From:

from_the_outside

"As soon as I clear it with Steve," she tells him, before her expression turns a little wry.

"We'll have to come back, probably sooner rather than later, but Nat's going to assist with apartment security. I want to replace the equipment in the apartment with JTTF gear, or potentially set up a temporary residence on the compound grounds but not in the building."

She sets her free hand lightly on his hip. "I'm prepared to let the Avengers patrol near, but not inside, the house, if that's what it takes. Vision, maybe, or Rhodey when he's back. Would that be alright?"

From:

nerves_of_ice

“Patrol…” He breaks off there and shakes his head. His gaze is troubled when it meets hers.

From:

from_the_outside

It's enough, and she nods. "Okay," she tells him, lacing her fingers with his cool metal ones. "That's okay. I won't bring it up and I'm sure Steve won't, either."

Check-ins, maybe. She can work with that.