Command • T'Challa

Running After

Oh, his eyes were so beautiful, and oh so haunted. My heart was catching in my dry throat, as he looked at me and I looked at him. He was lost, but he kept crying out, "Help me, I'm lost." but not in a way that others could hear him.
But I could. I heard all of the fear, and I tried to reach out-he reached out to me, but T'Challa cut him off, lunging at him.
"What the hell are you doing?" I shout at him, as he tries to claw Barnes' face off. Typical of him to come and crash my party now, now that I was this close to feeling like that boy who trained the whale in Free Willy. Free Bucky, I thought, the new movie.

Gosh, it was like being at a damn circus. Cats, guys with metal arms, when did it end? Right, when the 90 year old Mr. America himself showed up with his super-frisbee,I guess-work his friend Birdman flying in.

Now I knew I was screwed for sure, and Barnes' eyes were still so pretty, even when they were filled with fear at a man in a cat suit trying to kill him.

Speaking of Birdman and Captain Frisbee, where were they?
That's right, they were busy catching up, looking for Barnes just as much as me and T'Challa were. So they can be on the hunt all they want, but I want Barnes first, before T'Challa can hurt him, or before Steve opens his mouth and calls his name, further screwing things up.
I just want to help him. God love him, he's lost and has had everything he's ever known beaten out of his head.
I breathe deeply, running after T'Challa was so fast, it hurt to breathe again as I ran after the two of them. We were on a roof now, and I could see that T'Challa had Barnes pinned against a wall-oh god, he's going to claw his face.
I reach out to try to pull T'Challa's hand back, but I let it drop. Barnes had wrenched away from him.
"I didn't kill your father." Barnes rasped, as T'Challa tried to choke him,
"Then why did you run?" T'Challa countered. Barnes thrust his hand aside, taking off again, running from the crazy King in a cat suit who was out for revenge, or as he saw it, justice.
God, everyone is so screwed up around here. We need help.

"Black Panther!" I yelled. I knew that using his given name would be the wrong thing, and your highness would be even worse. He turned to look at me, and I used that window of opportunity to try to catch up with Barnes, seeing if I could send out a wave of confusion at T'Challa.
Normally, when I dispense these waves, they fall to their victims and affect them-but this wave just hit him and bounced back. His vibranium suit wasn't enough to protect him, I thought. Dammit, must be his superpowers that make him resistant to magic.

But he could be cracked.

I knew it, but now I was on a mission.
"I'm going after Barnes," I yelled. "Leave him to me."

"No!" T'Challa shouted, following me as I ran.

Seriously, what the hell was wrong with him? Couldn't he just slow down and let me do my job already? But noooooo, he just had to have a stick up his rear end and always be out for his stupid revenge.

"Move, or you will be moved." I growled at him as he tried to outrun me.
He grunted. I had a feeling I was going to pay for my remark later, but now I didn't care. Besides, it was cool to be able to reuse that line.

I pushed past him, racing for Barnes. As fate would have it, Barnes crawled down the side of the building, and T'Challa used his claws to slide down like a kitty down a fireman's pole. Showoff.
I, for one, just jumped, and used my powers to break the impact. Barnes saw me coming for him, and he looked terrified.
"It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you." I told him soothingly.
"I answered your call for help."

Barnes stared at me, entranced. My eyes were glowing, I could feel it. The power was surging, and he was forgetting g everything around him, until T'Challa threw me aside.
That severed the connection, and Barnes basically lost his mind. He turned crazy, lunging at T'Challa. He avoided me, like I was nearly invisible.

And for heavens sakes, that's the exact moment that Tony Stark decided to show up. Oh, and Natasha, Steve, Sam, And Rhodey. All. At. Once.

I'm so done. Everyone is going after Barnes, and Barnes is going after everyone. I need only to touch his skin for a moment and restore him to sanity.
Even as it all went to insanity around me, I kept aiming for Barnes, struggling to reach him.
I started to cry, recalling the times that I'd forgotten that HYDRA had used my powers to reveal people's secrets, and then several the connection. the severing of the connection could drive people to literal insanity, because it was suddenly and violent, not slow and gentle like it was supposed to be naturally.
Nothing about my power was natural, nothing. Hell, I wasn't natural, and neither was my situation but I remembered the screams of agony, the lonlieness, how trapped they felt inside their own heads.

But I pressed on, running after Barnes. T'Challa would be next on my list of people to help, of people to figure out. Even the handsome King with the brilliant smile had his demons -and it was up to me to smoke them out.

But first, Barnes. I lunged at him, jumping into the fray,my hands pointed at his exposed neck.

......