REUNITED ~ STEVE ROGERS [4]

Chapter Fifteen

Klaue was strapped to a chair in a small room. I joined Ross, T'Challa and Okoye in front of the 2-way glass, watching him. He didn't seem fazed, in any way, about being stuck in a room with at least three people who wanted to kill him. That made me even angrier than I had been before.

"So this is a big mess, huh?" Ross, who was a lot shorter than I remembered, turned to us. "I figured we could go good cop bad cop. I'll talk to him first, then you guys go in-"

Okoye looked at T'Challa and I. "We can't let him talk to Klaue alone." She said in Wakanden.

"Better to let him talk to Klaue alone for five minutes then to make a scene here." T'Challa replied calmly. I nodded, while Ross looked on with a confused look on his little Hobbit face.

"I agree. I'm still not sure Ross won't arrest me right now. Best to let them do their thing."

Ross cast a dark look at me when I mentioned his name, but he didn't understand anything else. T'Challa pondered this, then looked to Ross.

"After you questioning, we will take him back to Wakanda with us." He said plainly. Pure bewilderment washed over Ross' face.

"What? No. look, I like you. A lot. But he's in my custody now. He's not going anywhere." His eyes flickered to me for a split second. "Listen, I'm doing you a favour by letting you even be in here. And, I'm being extra nice by not arresting Miss Fugitive over here." He jerked a thumb at me and I scowled.

"You couldn't arrest me even if you tried," I muttered loud enough for him to hear. Ross' brow furrowed but he ignored my remark.

"I'm doing you a favour," he placed a hand on T'Challa's shoulder, who looked at it amused as Okoye stepped forward threateningly.

"If he touches you again, I'm going to impale him to this desk." She spoke in stern Wakanden. Ross could sense a threat when he heard one, even in a different language and he pulled his hand away as I snickered.

"Does she speak English?" Ross asked T'Challa. T'Challa only smiled.

"When she wants to." Okoye snapped back, staring straight in Ross' eyes. He was unnerved, upper lip twitching ever so slightly.

"Yikes, okay let's just, stop being so intense." I said, inching in between the pair to stop this strange staring contest.

"I'm going in. And when I'm done, you guys are up." He moved for the door, and paused, pointing a finger at me. "Not you. Just those two. Just because I haven't arrested you doesn't mean you're not a criminal."

"Agent Ross-" T'Challa said, stepping forward and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah?"

"I do appreciate you help in Busan." I could tell T'Challa was genuinely appreciative, and Ross acknowledged it.

"You see that?" His eyes on me. "Its called diplomacy. You're welcome." He turned and went through the door, shutting it promptly behind him.

"Okoye, Khethiwe! Play nice." T'Challa tried to sound stern but there was a twinkle in his eye that told me otherwise.

"Eh," Okoye winked at me. "Americans."

To be honest, I wasn't interested much in what Klaue had to say. He was a loon, and even though I could hear the conversation through the bug stuck to Klaue's shoulder in my earpiece, I didn't listen much to his ramble. Instead, I studied the room around us, watching the people inside. I had a funny feeling, in the pit of my stomach that something wasn't quite right.

"That's a nice fairy tale, but Wakanda is a third world country and you stole all their vibranium." Ross' voice caught my attention and I tuned in again. Both Okoye and T'Challa had their brows furrowed in concentration.

"I stole all of it?" Glancing to the window, Klaue turned his head and looked straight at me, his dead shark eyes burrowing into my soul as he laughed hysterically.

"All of it? I took a tiny piece of it. They have a mountain full of it. They've been mining it for thousands of years and still haven't scratched the surface."

Ross stared at Klaue unwavering, nervous finger tapping as it rested on his thigh.

"I'm the only outsider whose seen it, and gotten out of there alive."

A beat. Everyone was hushed, waiting. Ross's face was taut, pinched as he tried to comprehend.

"If you don't believe me, you ask your friend what his suit is made of... what his claws are made of." Klaue smirked as Ross got up swiftly, looking at T'Challa through the glass and making for the door. The ground trembled, and my eyes flicked to the window, watching a paint truck rumble past. My attention turned back to Ross as he stood in front of us, stern.

"Your father told the UN that Klaue stole all the Vibranium you had. But now he's telling me you have more?" The undertones of suspicion made that pit of anxiety in my stomach grow. I had never fully understood the need for the secrecy surrounding Wakanda and what it contained, but I knew not to question it. That was just the way it was.

"And you believe the words of an arms dealer, strapped to a chair." T'Challa was amused more than concerned. We had always kept our secret, so why should today be any different?

Ross hesitated, but he didn't say anything, instead studied our faces intently. I glanced over my shoulder as I sensed movement but saw nothing. The pit grew. Something wasn't right, I was sure of it.

"How much more are you hiding?" Ross stepped forward and questioned. T'Challa smirked but before he could say anything the door swung open, banging on its hinges. Every armed man in the room pulled their weapons but it was Nakia, unarmed and unfazed.

"Something's happening out back," she said quickly in Wakanden.

Ross looked T'Challa, and I looked at Okoye.

I was sure we were both thinking about the paint truck when the room exploded. 

Authors Note

Hello lovelies! Hope you are all safe and well. Just a short chapter this week, I have been swamped with work as I near the end of my first collage semester, but don't worry! You will still get a new chapter each week.

I'm thinking about making a book for my poetry, so let me know in the comments if you would read it!

Have a wonderful week loves, see you again next Sunday

~JJ