Broken Wings

Chapter 3 Secrets

May 2016

Berlin, Germany

Suddenly, the Captain raised his arms - and that was the signal.

Talia's whole body tensed as an arrow shot down at Rogers' bound hands, cutting through the webbing and freeing him.

'Hawkeye.' Talia thought grimly; he was somewhere nearby. Stark's mask dropped over his face as he also searched for Barton in the direction the arrow had come from, when Spider-Man suddenly called out to them.

"Hey, guys. Something-"

The boy was cut off as a man suddenly grew out of nothing, kicking out from the side of Captain America's shield as if he were a mushroom growing along the base of a tree. Spider-Man released the shield as he was sent flying back from the kick to his chest, and the newcomer was quick to pick up the fallen shield. The man was already darting away by the time the group recovered from the surprise of seeing him appear out of thin air.

"Whoa. What-What the hell was that?" Colonel Rhodes demanded as the newcomer handed Rovers his shield back.

"I believe this is yours, Captain America." The man announced as Rogers took his shield back.

Talia's lips thinned but she looked back at Stark as he reported, "Oh, great. Alright, there's two on the parking deck. One of them is Maximoff, I'm going to grab her. Rhodey, you want to take Cap?"

The two men started to lift off in their suits, when Rhodey reported over their comms, "Got two in the terminal. Wilson and Barnes."

At once, Talia and T'Challa's attention was captured.

"Barnes is mine!" T'Challa snarled as he spun around and started to dart off in the direction of the terminal.

Talia was right behind the Wakandan king, even as Spider-Man asked anxiously in her ear, "Hey, Mr. Stark, what should I do?"

"What we discussed, keep your distance, web 'em up." Stark ordered.

"Okay, copy that!"

Talia felt movement behind her and she ducked; Rogers' shield flew over her head not a second later and hit T'Challa. The Black Panther fell forward, knocked down, although he was quickly back on his feet. Before T'Challa could get any further, Steve lunged at the man and grabbed him by the neck, hauling him back in an effort to keep his friend safe as Barnes made a run for it.

Talia, however, used Rogers's momentary distraction to slip past the struggling men and into the terminal building. Technically, every single person they were fighting would need to be arrested, but her first priority was Barnes. If not for anything else than to make sure he didn't turn complete psycho assassin on them again at the worst possible timing.

*********

Present

Undisclosed area, South Korea

It was morning by the time they had secured Klaue at the CIA South Korean Black Site. The man himself was quite unconcerned as they hauled him in and locked him up alone. In fact, he was downright insufferable the entire time as he just cracked jokes and took nothing seriously. Not even when they took his mechanical arm away.

T'Challa watched from the sidelines as the CIA undertook processing Klaue while keeping him under strict surveillance. His main focus was on the man who had managed to flee from T'Challa's home country with some of their weapons; and more importantly, their secrets. Okoye stood beside her king, her eyes ever watchful - although her gaze flickered often to the dark-haired woman across the room.