DIVINE RETRIBUTION │barnes ²

twenty two

'So you like cats?'

Zhenya cringes. Now was so not the time, not when her father was locked in a glass cage like some sort of animal, with armed guards and cameras trained on him every time he breathed. It didn't feel right to make this event seem casual and unimportant when it was.

'Sam,' Steve warns, clearly also not in the mood for this behaviour.

'What.' He retorts. 'Dude shows up dressed like a cat, you don't wanna know more?'

The blonde ignores the question and turns his attention towards T'Challa. 'Your suit. It's vibranium?'

'The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle, passed from warrior to warrior.' There is a slight pause and then he says, 'Because your friend killed my father, I also wear the mantle of king.'

And that's when Evgenia loses it. 

Every single pent up emotion that she's been suppressing for the last 24 hours surges out of her, like a wave that she can't control nor escape. She sees black. And she lunges towards the man, the tug in her stomach stronger than ever before and her eyes - her eyes turn into an icy shade of blue.

Her fingers close around the king's forearm and then there are hands on her waist and she's pulled back down onto her seat. 

'Yebat tebya, yebat tebya! On ne ubil tvoyego glupogo, ispol zovat svoy grebanyy mozg!' She yells, eyes still icy and face growing redder and redder with anger by the second. 'Optusti menya! Optusti menya! Otstan ot menya!

'No. I'm not letting go,' but the arms slack around her torso and after a while, so does her posture. The icy blue turns back into it's normal shade and Zhenya feels the insurmountable urge to cry.

Someone pulls her into their shoulder and the first fat tear rolls down her cheek and into her lap. She doesn't bother wiping it away or the next ones away as they fall from her eyes, faster and faster until she's hiccuping into his shirt.

Zhenya feels the car slow down and she hears large metal gates rolling open. The door to the car is opened and whoever's letting her clutch pathetically onto them is half carrying her out of the car and then there's a bombardment of voices as people surround them and the sounds are too much all of a sudden. 

She clenches her eyes and cups her hands over her ears as mustard yellow turns into wine red turns into space grey and then a rainbow explodes in her ear, sending shards of fuscia and cobalt everywhere. And just as soon as it began, the colours fade away into nothing and Evgenia opens her eyes.

Her vision is still blurry as a redhead runs towards her and locks her in a tight embrace. 

'Bozhe moy! What's wrong? Are you ok? Did they hurt you?' Her mother bombards her with questions.

'The colours got too loud. It hurt.'

Natasha brushes a hand over her forehead and Evgenia sees her mother mouthing a conversation with Steve and Sam. The men and the woman that she recognises as Sharon, turn away from the group and start leading them out of the building.

'You'll be provided with an office rather than a cell. Do me a favour, stay in them.'

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She didn't remember falling asleep against the table, but when she woke up, lights were blaring like a siren and everyone was panicking. It doesn't take long before the sleepiness is replaced with adrenaline and Evgenia sprints out of the room after half a dozen soldiers.

She runs with them over the bridge and back into the first building and when they reach a glass room with scattered chairs and tables, Zhenya can make out the distinct silver arm and maroon shirt of Bucky dancing with the Wakandan king and she thinks she's going to be sick. 

Knowing that she has waited for far too long, the girl tries to get her powers to obey her as she dashes past the fallen T'Challa and pauses momentarily to check if Natasha is alright but it seems that the fight in Romania combined with her breakdown in the car, has exhausted them. 

'Papa, stop! Papochka!'

Bucky stops for a mere second and turns around to stare at his daughter who's gaining on him from the bottom of the stares. Confusion and anger mills around in his eyes and Zhenya feels hopeful for a moment, but then the Cat Man leaps off from a high landing and Bucky's attention snaps towards his rival.

Evgenia springs into action, her bionic leg vaulting her up the stairs in record time, and she crashes into both men at top speed, knocking all three of them down the other set of stairs, T'Challa landing on her legs. And before she's had the chance to push herself away, the king and the former killer are on their feet and the Black Panther's leg shoots out and slams Bucky against the wall and then her father disappears through the gap.

She hurries to peer over the rails. He's gone, no surprise. Evgenia doesn't inform T'Challa that it'll be a waste of time jumping over the rails in search of her father, instead, she turns and hurries up the stairs - because if there was one thing that HYDRA had drilled into them, was that the rooftop was your best chance of escaping.

Taking the steps two at a time, she elbows the door to the roof open and is hardly surprised to see Uncle Steve already on the roof, attempting to stop the helicopter from taking off, one hand wrapped around the landing skis and the other on the helicopter pad's rails. 

From the corner of her eye, she spots a plastic box of rope. She hauls all of it, hangs it around the back of her neck but by the time she reaches the pad, Steve is flat on the floor, trying to avoid being cut by the whirring blades.

Evgenia dumps the rope and looks up to find her father's bionic arm wrapped around Steve's neck. The floor is littered with broken parts of the now destroyed chopper and seeing no other way to prevent her uncle's death, she picks up the closest part and chucks it towards his arm, but it bounces off harmlessly and only distracts him long enough for Steve to pull back slightly.

Just as she's trying to think of another idea, the chopper tips forward and pulls both of the men into the water below. Zhenya rushes to the edge, she looks back towards the door and then to the water. Jump and get in bigger trouble with the authorities or stay and be treated like a zoo animal.

She steps off the ledge.

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