Heroes

Imperfect Circle

Steve looked around the white room and walked over to Bucky, who had an IV in his arm and a black fabric covering the remains of his metal arm.

"You sure about this?" Steve asked him again.

"I can't trust my own mind." Bucky told him, chuckling softly. "So until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going back under is the best thing. For everybody."

Steve watched as they helped Bucky get situated, being kind to him every step of the way. Bucky smiled at Steve before he closed his eyes, the glass freezing up. Steve closed his eyes for a moment before he went outside and looked at the landscape beyond the glass of the window. He heard heels clicking and turned to look at the sound.

Wanda smiled at him lightly and stood next to him, looking out the window. Neither person talked for the longest time, Wanda finally broke the silence.

"How are you?" She asked, not taking her eyes off the jungle below them.

"I lost him, for what I thought was forever, in 1945. Only to figure out that he was alive a few years ago and only to loose him again. Finally I find him, actually him, and we're all damn fugitives and he is frozen in a tube." Steve ranted.

"Hey." Wanda said and brought him into a hug. "Shhhh. It's all going to work out in the end."

"How do you know?" Steve asked, hugging her back.

She pulled back and looked at him and smiled at him.

"Just a feeling." Wanda said.

Their eyes were locked and it felt like the other was moving closer when they heard footsteps. They turned to see T'Challa walking over to them. Steve and Wanda separated and went back to looking outside.

"Thank you for this." Steve said.

"Your friend and my father, they were both victims. If I can help one of them find peace..." T'Challa trailed off.

"You know if they find out he's here, they'll come for him." Steve said.

Both men turned to look at each other.

"Let them try." T'Challa said.

All three of them looked out at the Panther statue, knowing Ross would stand no chance against the country of Wakanda.

"Steve." Sam called, coming down the hallway. "You're going to want to see this."

T'Challa, Steve, and Wanda all followed Sam down to one of the rooms.

"I hope you don't mind but I opened one of the emails sent to you." Sam said to the king.

"Why?" T'Challa asked.

"Because it had her name on it." Sam pointed to the subject of the email.

'Natalie Rushman.'

Steve felt his breath catch in his throat when he saw it was from Tony.

"Well?" T'Challa asked, not knowing the significance but saw Steve's reaction and that concerned him.

Sam hit play on the video message that was sent through. Tony appeared on the screen.

"Your majesty." Tony begun. "Don't worry about Ross, F.R.I.D.A.Y. has the transmission being scrambled right now." Steve noted that Tony's eyes were red and there were bags under them, not a good sign. "I was, uh, requesting your help in an urgent matter."

"Tony Stark asking for help, never a good sign." Wanda muttered.

"Where's Nat?" Sam asked, just as Tony began to speak again.