BUCHAREST
You chose to stay with Sam instead of going and facing Bucky with Steve. You knew Bucky had been through a lot, but after Nat told you about how much of a punch he packs, you chickened out. Sam understood, having no problem with you joining him to watch Steve's back.
Not only that, but you chose to go with Sam because you'd have a bigger chance of spotting T'Challa before he runs into Bucky. Before he went into the building, you promised Steve that you'd keep Bucky out of Wakanda at all costs. No matter what the cost.
Due to the fact that you couldn't fly like Tony or Vision, you were currently on Sam's back. He was careful about it, of course, disarming his missiles for the time being. You saw him tap on his earpiece and speak, which brought you back to reality.
"They've set the perimeter," He mumbled. He lowered himself a little bit and bought himself a bit closer to the building. He looked over his shoulder and was genuinely shocked at how uneasy your expression was.
"Hey, this is gonna work out. If we run into T'Challa, Steve and I can keep Bucky away while you knock some sense into him. Or talk some sense into him, I guess." You smiled slightly at the little joke, but guilt quickly crawled back into your stomach. What if you didn't try hard enough? If you tried your hardest to convince him, you'd be safe and sound in Wakanda right now. You'd be hunky dory with the government, and the Avengers wouldn't be prying themselves apart right now.
"They're entering the building," Sam spoke into his earpiece. You put your helmet on at that warning, and gripped onto Sam's shoulders. Both because you were one wrong move away from nauseous, and because you'd meet your end if you slipped off Sam's back. Suddenly, Sam lowered himself even further and backed away from the building. "They're on the roof, we're compromised." He spoke. You took in a sharp breath of air. It was a habit that had grown on you since the day you began to fight.
"Breach! Breach! Breach!" Sam yelled. You held on tight as he flew around the building, circling the floor that Steve and Bucky were on. You both had to be ready to hop in if things went haywire, especially you. Sam was like a security camera, and it was a priority that he stay outside of the building.
You saw countless German officers burst in through the windows, Bucky immediately putting them on the ground. One even got pushed out the door, looking like he was half-dead. Seconds after, a backpack flew out the door and landed on the roof of the building next to it. More officers came in from both sides, shooting without hesitation. You couldn't bare to watch anymore as Steve flew out the door and took a hard hit to the shoulder.
Not even five minutes later, Bucky jumped out of the building from a lower floor. He landed almost quickly on the next building, grabbing the backpack and running off to who knows where.
Your heart dropped to your stomach when you saw T'Challa come in from behind, knocking Bucky down after a hit to the back of his head.
Bucky backed away a few steps, trying to figure out who this thing was. You were pretty sure your heart had dropped all the way down to your calves once you saw T'Challa take his claws out. You've almost never seen him use them in an actual fight. He didn't pull his punches at all, swinging with an intent to kill. Bucky couldn't keep up with his constant hits, instead trying to run away from the situation as fast as possible.
"Sam.." You tapped his shoulder once you realized he had no idea what was happening. He quickly realized what you were bringing to his attention, and you almost lurched forward with how fast he took off flying to the building. You tapped your earpiece, and spoke with the most uneasy tone that has ever come out of you. "Steve, southwest rooftop. Get Bucky and get out. T'Challa's swings leave much more than a few scars." Steve jumped out of the building quickly after your statement.
You watched in horror as a helicopter flew in, aiming directly at T'Challa and Bucky. You had to get down there now. Sam dropped you off as he knocked the helicopter away, causing it to lose balance.
Even with his helmet on, you know that even just your presence shoved a shit ton of guilt down T'Challa's throat. You never liked arguments, and you never started them. Despite that, you always won them. That's what T'Challa liked about you, and that's also what he feared about you the most. This was an argument he'd never sugarcoat his way out of.
He began swinging at Bucky again after stomaching the fact that he could probably never face you the same way ever again.
Bucky jumped off the building shortly after, and T'Challa followed. You did as well, still thinking about what you were going to say once you caught up to the two of them and at least made T'Challa put his claws away. You pulled Steve by the straps on his shoulders, feeling the need to warn him before he ran after Bucky.
"Steve. Can you.. can you let me handle this one? I won't lay a hand on Bucky, I promise."
You saw him hesitate, but you couldn't wait any longer. You needed and answer, and you needed one now. If you didn't get one within the next five seconds, T'Challa was going to get himself killed.
"I'm just trying to get T'Challa and Bucky fas far away from each other as possible. Please, Steve. This might be my only chance."
Steve nodded you off, and you ran. You were pretty sure this is the fastest you've ever ran, catching up with T'Challa in only a few seconds. You watched as he latched himself onto a car, which was trying desperately to shake him off. You decided to help, yanking T'Challa by his feet, causing both of you two to roll off into another lane. You kicked T'Challa out of the lane as a car headed straight for both of you. You really didn't want to look at him, but you had to make sure he was okay. After all, he was your boyfriend for Bast's sake. He propped himself up on a pillar and you knelt down to take his helmet off.
To your surprise, he didn't look much angry. He looked.. perplexed? At war with himself? He looked some kind of way you've never seen before. There was a cut on his forehead that was bleeding excessively, so you put his helmet down and took yours off. You made sure to keep your expression neutral, as this wouldn't be a great time to act solely off your emotions. You saw the way T'Challa examined your face before you pried open a small hatch in your helmet. You had Tony install some sort of miniature tissue box inside it after New York. You cleaned up the blood around T'Challa's wound until it stopped bleeding so much.
Before you could finish cleaning it up, Sam swooped by you two, Steve following him in a car. The windshield was shattered and hanging on by a thread. Multiple police cars zoomed after them, and the way T'Challa jumped up to run after them made you flinch. Your reflexes were on your side as you quickly grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him back down. "T'Challa, please!" You didn't mean for your voice to crack, but unfortunately, it did. Your rough, scratchy voice lit up a load of concern in T'Challa. Had you been crying? Did you cry him a river before you came here?
"T'Challa, this is not your battle to fight! I don't know if you're trying to win it or what, but you won't. Stand down or you'll only get us into worse trouble!"
Your own words caught you off guard and T'Challa quickly put his helmet back on and jumped into action. You cursed under your breath as you tapped your earpiece, breath wearing out with how fast you ran. "Sam! Put Rhodey on the line for me, and watch your back! T'Challa's headed your way!"
A beep played in your earpiece, and you tapped it twice to answer the call. "Rhodey!" You yelled, still running after T'Challa. He latched himself onto Sam as you picked up your pace. You could hear immediate typing, probably trying to track your location. "I'm in Bucharest. We're onto something with Bucky but I.." You paused, your mind suddenly going empty. You quickly remembered why you called and blurted it out. "I need you to come and arrest us. Nothing can stop Bucky anymore and.." Considering you've known Rhodey for nearly as long as Tony has, he already knew what you were going to say next. Nothing can stop T'Challa either, please arrest him as well.
He hung up quickly, and you felt a wave of relief when you saw cars begin to surround the exit of the tunnel. Officers flooded out, quickly aiming their guns at Bucky. You ran even faster, and nearly caught Bucky until T'Challa jumped in out of nowhere. He went straight for Bucky, but his plan of attack backfired when he was caught by the neck.
Everything was happening so fast that within a few seconds, Steve and Sam were following up behind you. You were so focused on how you were going to get T'Challa out of the way that you didn't even realize Bucky had stuck a bomb to the ceiling. It exploded almost immediately, and before you could jump out, Steve's car flipped over, stopping you from escaping. You were caught in another pile of rubble for the second time in one day. You tried to dig through, but you felt your stitches opening back up that you simply stayed put.
However, you were never one to give up. Never. So, you dug through the rubble to your left until you made an opening, enough to see what was happening and enough to see who was there. Rhodey. Billions more officers. Bucky. Sam. Steve. T'Challa. Did you trust him right now? No, not really. But you wanted to give him a chance of redemption with how bad you felt when you didn't let him help you in Vienna. You knew that somewhere inside him, he was still beating himself up for it.
"T'Challa!" You yelped with the last bit of life left in you. The weight of the rubble quickly lifted off of you ounce by ounce. You realized it was because T'Challa was using his claws. You wanted to warn him against it, but you knew he could never hurt you even if he was going insane. He couldn't bear the weight of another Nakia sized heartbreak after losing his father.
You gasped for air when you could make out your surroundings again. T'Challa lifted you up bridal style as you carefully wrapped one of your arms around his neck. He put you down, still keeping you up by the waist. You could barely stand, let alone on your own with the amount of pure pain in your body.
You mouthed a thank you to Rhodey when he looked at you, and he nodded. He then gestured toward T'Challa, and you realized why. You nudged his hip with your own, getting his attention right away.
"Take your helmet off," you mumbled. He tensed up, and you noticed. You nudged his hip again, and he complied. You took yours off as well, keeping it at your side. With the way everyone looked at you, you assumed your injuries were far from minor. You could taste a bit of blood on your lips, but you didn't really care. Steve took a step towards you, and so many things happened at once. Every soldier aimed their gun at him. Rhodey aimed his repulsor at him. Sam gripped tightly onto his shoulder and pulled him back. T'Challa took a step back and gripped onto your hip, making you wince from how strongly he held onto you.
"Congrats Cap, you're a criminal." Rhodey said in a low voice.
T'Challa stared down Steve and Bucky as they were put in cuffs. The look on his face was one you never thought you'd see on him before. His brows were furrowed and he just looked plain angry. You didn't see what happened after as Rhodey snatched you away from T'Challa, out of the scene and bringing you someplace quiet. He quickly gave you a few stitches and gauzed up what he could with the nifty little first-aid kit Tony had stuffed in his suit. Rhodey tried convincing you to let him find somewhere for you to hide, but you refused. What you did was going to have consequences and you didn't get to choose whether you faced them or not.
By the time you were stitched up and Rhodey flew you back, T'Challa's suit was in a secure briefcase. The same went for Sam's wings and Steve's shield. You took your suit off and handed it off to Rhodey, waving him goodbye. All of you had to hop in a van together to make sure no one pulled any tricks. You sat in the front with T'Challa, while Steve and Sam sat in the back. The ride was pretty quiet for the most part, but eventually Sam opened his mouth and tried to pry something out of T'Challa. You supposed he did it to figure out where T'Challa stood in regards to Vienna.
"So you like cats?" Sam spoke loud and clear. You scoffed, and Steve did as well. "Sam," He muttered. None of you wanted to anger T'Challa even further, but in your mind, he deserved it. "What? Dude shows up dressed like a cat, you don't wanna know more? " Sam looked at you in search of approval for his joke. You flashed a small smile before Steve asked a question to lift the tension.
"Your suit. It's made of vibranium?"
You chose to answer for T'Challa, and throw a little insult at him as well.
"It is, and so is mine. However, I suppose his skull is made of vibranium as well, since it's so thick nothing can get through it."
Sam snickered, and Steve scoffed. Well done, you said to yourself. Maybe now that you commented on how stubborn he is, T'Challa would listen to you. Your plan quickly backfired when T'Challa opened his mouth.
"The black panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations. A mantle, passed from warrior to warrior. 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?"
Your stomach churned at that last sentence. T'Challa really was out of his mind, wasn't he?
You checked the back of the van just to make sure Sam and Steve weren't too put off by T'Challa's statement. Sam had some sort of look that felt like a "long enough for them to knock some sense into you," Steve hung his head low, and you tapped on the barrier between the four of you. It caught everyone's attention, and T'Challa stared at you as you gave Steve a smile to calm his nerves a little.
You turned back around when you saw the driver give you a side-eye.
You knew you were at war with T'Challa, and that he was at war with himself as well. What kind of partner would you be to let him keep all that weight to himself?
Well, you simply wouldn't.