T'Challa's POV:
I know she's scared. I'd never admit it, but I am too.
I fear that I'll lose her trying to catch Barnes.
I fear I won't catch Barnes, or that there's some sort of history between the two of them that she doesn't seem to remember, but he'll make her. The way that she ran after him, she knew him. She just didn't know it, as conflicting as that sounds.
Maybe it's the way she won't listen(obey) me that I find so attractive about her. She's not like so many women I've met, and is nothing like the Dora Miljae. She's nothing like me- and that's what makes us so alike. She is independent, even as she pries her hand out of mine as we run. Her pain- that lost year of her life- only HYDRA knows what she did in that lost year- whom she had to kill, the destruction and torture she must've been used as an instrument of. Maybe she didn't have the memories blocked, but maybe the pain of the memories are so severe, she has shut it up in part of her mind, like a cold tomb, to keep them there, so that they cannot haunt her. She is like a ghost, I can only imagine the kind of terror I would feel if I were untrained and without my own powers. There's only so much I can 'know' . So much of my confidence comes from learned knowledge- but can one truly know something until they've gone through it for themselves? Can one truly love another until they suffer with them through their deepest pain?
I know I'm losing her, which only amplifies my pain. I want to get to know her better, maybe even marry her- I don't care what my people think- I will do as I please, no one can tell me otherwise-
See? We are alike, she and I. I cannot command or control her, and she cannot control me.
But she can command-so long as I don't lose her.
...............
(wasn't that great? sorry that it's so short. He'll have a few more parts in the future. Anyways, I realize that I still have the Bucky chase scene mixed up- and I guess it did take place in Berlin. Again, sorry,but I literally saw CW a month ago and theaters stopped having showings since. So forgive me in all of this mess for locations and such, and this probably backwards chase scene- i'm doing my best)
Berlin, Germany.
The chase for Barnes was more heated than ever. We were going to find him even if it meant taking down half of Berlin while we were at it. After I wrenched my hand free from T'Challa's grasp, we kept running after Barnes.
Only to find that the dude had a Harley-Davidson (?!!) hidden up his sleeve or tucked in his pocket, and was roaring off on it. He was making good time, too, before T'Challa leapt from vehicle to vehicle in an overpass until he took Barnes down, sending his bike sliding across the asphalt. Oh, and a couple of German special forces cars got thrown and blown up when Steve and Sam showed up, chasing after T'Challa and me, chasing after Barnes. And where the hell was Tony in all of this? Only God knew, though Tony had his moments when I'm convinced he thinks he is God...
So Steve was running toward me, and Sam was somewhere between flying and running, like he would land om top of me at any second. I didn't push them away, not sure if we were working together anymore or if we weren't, and believe me, you have no idea how awkward that is when you are trying to fight and run at the same time.
The answer came when Steve tried to grab me, and T'Challa, seemingly forgetting all about Barnes, lunged at Steve. It got real ugly real fast, and Sam yelling at me over the noise-
while Barnes came back and tried to run off with me. I was starting to feel like some shiny object that crows fight over- and T'Challa was probably feeling like a kitty that got dumped in a bathtub. Everyone was angry, no one was happy, it was all very sad and mad. I wish I could insert emojis here to describe the action,but it's pointless. The whole damn thing was pointless.
Seconds later, a whole fleet of Audis, which didn't belong to T'Challa, thanks to the police underlights- pulled up, surrounding us. Our little brawl was shut down, and then, before anyone could try to touch T'Challa, he slowly removed his mask, and all the other guys (except Barnes) gasped. Wow, no wonder they thought I was being kidnapped. I totally forgot that they had no clue that T'Challa was Black Panther- I guess, since Barnes knew, I forgot that they didn't.
Hey, on second thought, how did Barnes know?
Shit, now I had even more questions, even as I was getting locked up. They put handcuffs on me and shoved me in a bigger vehicle with T'Challa, Steve, and Sam. Barnes was kept in a containment truck with special restraints. Stuck, in a glass case of emotion, you might say.
Me? I had to listen to a bunch of super-shmucks.
"Do you like cats?" Sam asked, obviously to T'Challa. T'Challa didn't dignify him with an answer.
"Sam-" Steve started to say.
"What, dude shows up dressed like a cat and you don't wanna know more?" Sam continued
"Shut up, Birdman." I hissed.
"Why are you with him, anyways?" Sam just wouldn't quit.
"Because I don't have a choice." I growled. I could see T'Challa, in my peripheral vision, visibly stiffening at my words. What, it was true? I didn't have a choice. I had to be there- had to help him. I had no say in the matter, not then, and not now.
At least Sam was being quiet.
"You, not having a choice? You're the one who can't even listen to Tony Stark, and you let this African prince keep you? What the hell is-"
I cut him off. Tearing out of my handcuffs with my powers, I put Sam to sleep inside an old nightmare.No one could try to tell me what was up-
And naturally, I got myself shut up in the same special containment unit as Barnes- rumbling along in a truck with the former Winter Soldier to get to wherever the hell we were going.
..........
"Your suit. It's vibranium?" Steve asked, after Grace had been taken away.
T'Challa sighed.
"The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle passed from warrior to warrior. And now because your friend murdered my father, I also wear the mantle of king. So I ask you, as both warrior and king, how long do you think you can keep your friend safe from me?"
Steve didn't answer. Barnes was safe in that containment unit, along with Grace, and he guessed they'd be safe for a while. His only hope was that maybe she could be some help to him while they were together. Steve couldn't tell T'Challa what he knew from Bucky's and Grace's files, couldn't say a word.
You see, Steve Rogers knew what happened in that lost year of Grace's life.
And it was his given duty to make sure she- or T'Challa- never knew.
..........
"My name is Bucky." Barnes said, his lip quivering. "I remember."
"Well, I sure don't." I said. I didn't know why he was talking now, because it was irrelevant. No one here gave a shit of he remembered his old nickname or not. All that mattered was what he didn't remember-and it was my job to get it out of him. No one else but Steve knew that.
"Can you help me?" Barnes asked, his blue eyes staring into my brown. I shrugged, feigning ignorance.
"I don't know." I half lied, half confessed. I wasn't totally sure I could help him. Maybe it was better that he never knew. Maybe not remembering kept the nightmares at bay.
Yeah, I knew about those, too. At night you struggle to sleep, images of my precious mother's smile, her voice, her scream, though I never heard it.
I just found here there, bleeding out on the linoleum. Maybe that's why I hated guns so much-maybe that's why I didn't trust any men-didn't matter what color or age they were. I trusted no one, no one except Wanda.
And right now, I missed her more than I could ever saw. No one understood me like she did no one connected with me like she did. She was my best friend, my only real ally.
I tried to focus my thoughts on her, not to remember.
"I'm sorry about your mother." Barnes said.
Shit, he'd seen it. Why did it always have to work this way?
"Was it HYDRA?" he asked. I shook my head.
"Her boyfriend shot her while I was at school, when I was only 14. Came home and found her that way."
Sometimes it was hard to remember that there was a world outside of the one contained within our superhuman lifestyle-a life and a world that operated outside of HYDRA and the Avengers and the governments. This was one of those times to see that-and then forget it.
You see, that is not our world. It isn't Barnes' world, not Tony's and it sure as hell isn't T'Challa's world.
But it used to be mine, though it is now dead and buried like my mother.
I hung my head, waiting until we arrived.
........
"The caged bird sings with a fearful trill,
of things unknown, but longed for still,
and his tune is heard on the distant hill,
for the caged bird sings of freedom."
- Maya Angelou, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
Sitting in that container was like being choked. I was sitting still, held down, unable to do more than mentally reach out. I couldn't use my telekinesis, only telepathy.My containment wasn't even as large as Barnes' was, likely because mine was a backup in case Barnes' was compromised.
The whole thing was killing me.
Barnes, on the other hand, seemed calm and serene, or at least resigned to his current state. I guess being held up for so long, or exhausted from his running, he just decided to give up. I didn't understand his stillness.
I was encased in bulletproof glass, my hands bound in metal casing, not unlike what Elsa from Frozen had been locked up with (we have Disney movie nights at the compound sometimes,okay?) and I wished I could just Let It Go.
The truck went over a speedbump and the. I felt us going downwards, probably into a tunnel or some structure. Not long after that, the truck came to a stop. They removed Barnes first, me second. No others were around, and we were being pushed in our containers to a poorly lot, empty concrete room about one storie tall.
Empty, except for the little desk and chair, and neat little pen and pad of paper that sat on it. What the hell was this? Why were we being placed side by side in front of this desk?
We were left alone, no explanations, nothing. We might as well have been containers with dead bodies, for all they seemed to care.
The dim lights flickered, and and a door I hadn't noticed in the wall opened, a brown-haired white guy came through. They apparently have sent us a harmless little accountant to interrogate us. Ha-ha.
But it was no laughing matter.
I was about to reach into his mind when the lights flickered again, and he spoke into the little microphone, staring at Barnes.
"Mission Report, December 16th, 1991."
Barnes blinked. "Go away." he whimpered,shutting his eyes. Why so helpless all of a sudden? The man repeated himself, and Barnes swore through gritted teeth. In desperation, I reached into the interrogator's mind.
I jerked-hate and malice emanated from him like a stench. It wasn't hate towards Barnes-or even towards me, but a hate towards the Avengers. Who was this guy?
I had the distinct feeling that, one, no one could hear us scream for help, and 2, he wasn't supposed to be here, like, at all.
He spoke again, this time reading from a thin red book, and Barnes froze. "Stop!!" Barnes screamed when he noticed the book in the man's hands.
"Longing, rusted, furnace, daybreak, seventeen, benign, nine, homecoming, one, freight car."
the man spoke evenly and clearly, like someone using voice control would, so as nothing was to be missed.
Oh shit, it was voice control.
"Soldier?" the man asked, a little harsher this time.
"Ready to comply." Barnes said, his voice distant and faraway. Shit, shit, shit, he wasn't Barnes right now, he was the Winter Soldier.
The man turned to me, and got closer to my container.
"Ghost." I said. That was the one name I remember-
"The Ghost in the Machine?" he asked.
"Yes, sir." I said. I actually wasn't sure, but I was going to play along.
Barnes was already busting out of his container. The man stared at me, and I stared back, my eyes never wavering. I knew full damn well that he was taking great pleasure in 'deciding' my 'fate', as he hated the Avengers so. He had no powers of his own, none but his determination and cunning.
"You think I'll let you out, don't you?" he mused, laughing humorlessly.
"Screw you." I spat.
"I was never going to let you out-I don't need you. You're useless as far as I'm concerned."
Oh, now that pissed me off. I just kept staring at him, like the way that a caged Tiger or lion, or hey, even a panther, stares from a zoo cage. Once that glass jo longer separates us, he's a dead man.
And he knows it. He'll never admit it, but it's true. He looks at Barnes, who has escaped his container, opening his mouth to say something, but it never comes. Barnes comes right for my container, punching a hole in the glass with his metal arm, grabbing me. Snapping the bar that holds me back, and my hand locks, and handcuffs, he pulls me out.
The moment our skin comes in contact, my hand on his right wrist, and it all froze for both of us.
......