The Engineer (Bucky Barnes x OC)

Chapter 4- King T'Challa is protective

I nervously moved to take a seat in a chair. T'Challa sat in the one across from me.

"How has everything been going in the lab?" he asked.

"Very well, thank you," I responded politely.

"Good," T'Challa's tone turned stern. "I want no messing around with my sister. You are here as her co-worker, and I expect you to treat her as one,"

I nodded. "You won't have to worry about that, sir, I only want Shuri as a friend," I assured him.

T'Challa seemed to relax. "I knew I could trust you,"

I let a smile creep onto my face. Truth was, I wasn't all that into girls. I don't find them all that attractive.

I don't like to date girls.

I don't have crushes on girls.

Alright fine, I'll get to the point.

I'm homosexual, commonly referred to as "gay".

I don't like to talk about it, though. Many, many people in this world think that being gay is a sin or something, even though it's not something you can just "stop doing" or "control".

I mean, how can you get on my nerves for being gay when some straight men can get away with saying they couldn't "control themselves" around a girl and harassed her?

Nothing makes sense in this world anymore.

"On the same topic of work, you're probably wondering what your assignment is," T'Challa said. "As much as we'd love for you to manufacture some of your own designs here, we also have something we'd like for you to help us with. Do you think you're ready?"

"Always, sir," I answered with a grin.

"Good," T'Challa smiled. "We're going to be receiving a patient. Someone who is mentally ill beyond self-recovery. You and Shuri are going to be helping clear some of his trauma,"

I vaguely remembered Bryce telling me about her trauma. She described it as a "disease with terrible side effects that just doesn't seem to want to leave you alone".

"Who is it?" I asked curiously.

"His name is James Barnes, but he prefers the name Bucky," T'Challa informed me.

Bucky Barnes? That rings a bell.

"Isn't..." I remembered Bryce also telling me about this slightly psycho criminal that had been part of the reason the Avengers disbanded, "Isn't Bucky Barnes the guy who bombed Vienna?"

"No," T'Challa replied. "He was framed for bombing Vienna, though,"

"Oh, NOW I remember!" I exclaimed. "He was on the news. Several times,"

"Yes,"

"You want me to help Shuri clear him of trauma?" I asked.

T'Challa nodded. "Though Shuri can fix physical wounds, mental wounds are harder. Your expertise seems to be in finding solutions to problems that appear to be without answers,"

I blushed slightly from the flattery. "Thank you. I'd be honored to help you. What is it exactly that I'm doing?"

T'Challa stood and started pacing. "We have a bit of information on Sergeant Barnes, and it appears that he occasionally may get triggered and relive a series of flashbacks. Your job will be to find or create a way to snap him out of his triggered stage, since we will not always be able to snap him out of it ourselves before he kills or hurts people,"

I nodded, standing as well.

"We have some information we'd like you to look over. Safety measures for emergencies and a bit of intel that's good to know,"

He handed me a black and silver hard drive. I took it, plugging it into my computer and beginning to download the files.

"Thank you," I said.

"It is not a problem. Good luck, Nico," T'Challa replied, starting for the door. When he opened it, Shuri stormed back in.

"What took you so long?!" she demanded.

I laughed and began to sort the files and documents.

T'Challa slipped from the room, and Shuri joined me at my computer.

"What are you doing?" she asked.

"I'm currently uploading the files your brother gave me. You've probably already seen them,"

"I probably made them," she grumbled, going back to work.

I laughed once again, typing up names for the files and opening a few that were labeled "safety protocols that were necessary to type up but stupid because nobody's gonna stop and read these when they're getting attacked".

"You don't say," I replied sarcastically, smirking.

When I clicked open one of the documents, there were only two words on it:

Play dead.

I began to giggle hysterically once I saw the next one:

Seriously, why are you even bothering with reading these?! Go save yourself!!

"What are you laughing at?" Shuri demanded.

"Your safety protocols," I replied through laughs.

"Oh," she snorted. "Yeah, I worked hard on those. Seriously, if you're in a dangerous situation, all I ask is that you get out of there and call the guards. That's really the only thing I need to say,"

"How do I call the guards, again?" I asked, smirking. "Isn't it supposed to be in the protocols?"

"Figure it out, you're supposed to be the smart guy," Shuri suggested. "Besides, as long as you don't go around triggering the guy, he won't try to kill you every three seconds. Isn't that how that works?"

"I mean... maybe,"

"I think there's a real safety protocol document in there somewhere,"

"Good,"

I dug around the files a bit more, finding it and opening it up.

Stop

Drop

Roll away to safety

I began to giggle madly. Shuri smirked from across the room.

"As I said," she quipped, "I worked hard on those,"

"I will keep in mind that next time I'm in a dangerous situation, the best way to get out is to roll away to safety," I replied.

"Oh, you should, it's the best way," Shuri said airily. "I'd also like to see the look on your face when everyone realizes that the genius here doesn't know how to fight,"