Chapter 2
Chapter 2
“Hey. You need to look at this.”
Steve took his eyes off the book. Wanda sat crosslegged in the leather armchair across from him, all wound up with something on her phone. He’d skirted the whole Internet vibe, but for downtime he still prefered a good old fashioned paperback. To put his nose between the pages, feel the coarse texture on his fingertips. A touchscreen couldn't hold a candle to it.
Wakanda was a hidden gem in a treacherous world, but after ten months it felt like a prison all the same. Warrants were still out on their heads. The stint on the Raft had left a lot of the big dogs enraged. The highest security jail ever built and he’d barged in there as if it were the local Walmart around the corner. He’d half expected Iron Man to crash the party but Tony had kept to himself since Siberia. Another issue irking him. And the whole Black Panther deal sounding twice as sweet as it turned out to taste.
“Steve.”
Wanda uncrossed her legs. She held the phone out to him, jumpy. This was about more than the latest baby kitten video.
He took it. Youtube. “What’s that?” It read big blow up at new avengers compound LEAKED 1080p.
Wanda perched on the armrest of his own futon. “Here.” She hit Play.
He turned the phone sideways. Tony inaugurated the new Avengers HQ. Just because half the team were on Interpol’s most wanted list didn’t mean the Avengers Initiative didn’t continue. Those who had signed the Accords were operating still. And if rumors were true Tony was diligently recruiting new blood.
Wanda took the phone from his hands, impatient. “Let me skip to the fun part. There.”
They joined back into the final part of a press Q&A, someone asking about news on Team Cap. Steve smirked. He was sick of how the media tried to drive a wedge between them. As if Leipzig hadn’t been bad enough. They could do without the extra drama.
It was a handheld recording. Fast paced. He couldn’t make out a lot after the first detonation. Too shaky. He caught a glimpse of Tony on the ground. Civilian - no sign of Iron Man. The audio was bad too, but he counted two more explosions before the video cut out.
His blood ran cold.
He stared at Wanda. “Is this real?”
“Oh, yeah.” She typed something into the phone. “It’s all over the net. It’s all that’s on the net.”
She pulled up Google news. There were several articles. Explosive Revelations. Tony Stark presumed dead (again). New Supervillain in Town?
Steve put away his book.
Moby Dick would have to gallivant the sea for just a little while longer.
Their options were limited. T’Challa had offered them refuge under the condition that they kept a low profile and abstained from avenging until waters calmed and they were officially pardoned (if). They were free to move about the royal residence as they pleased, but it was not to be used as a base of operations. T’Challa had been clear on that. It was his terms or none at all.
Steve had rolled with it for the better part of the year. He’d tried to knock the renegade team together. With everyone against them they at least had to watch each other’s backs.
Lang left first. He’d fled the law for the better part of his life, he argued, he’d continue doing it. On his own. He left Steve a way to contact him in case Ant-Man could be of help, but he didn’t want to be pulled deeper into personal vendettas. “No offense, buddy, but Prison Break ain't my favorite show out there.”
Clint called his farewells at the Wakandan border. He had a family on his conscience; he couldn’t keep pokering with that high of a stake. They all understood.
Natasha was a wild card. Leipzig had been the last Steve had seen of her. She could be with Tony, or Fury, or for all he knew seeking solace in the loving arms of Mother Russia.
That left Wanda, Sam and himself. Bucky didn’t count. One of T’Challa’s terms had been mandatory cryostasis until they could figure out a foolproof way to crack Bucky’s conditioning. He was too much of a risk this way, a timebomb. T’Challa had commitments to his people. He couldn't accomodate a wanted mass murderer with a three digit kill number under the hood. Bucky was the first to agree - he now slumbered peacefully in his ice-bed beneath the ground. A bizzare Sleeping Beauty.
“What’s the plan, Cap?” Sam asked. He was itching to go. Anywhere. He suffered from the worst cabin fever of them all.
Steve took a deep breath. He looked from Sam to Wanda and back. He wanted so badly to tell himself that he’d learned something from Leipzig and Siberia and the aftermath of it all. That he shouldn’t - couldn’t - always trust his gut. He scratched at his beard. A new habit.
He wasn’t going to blow this one.
He couldn’t afford to.
His eyes throbbed from hours of staring at the screen. He pushed back, popped his neck, stretched tight muscles. A break was in order.
They’d spent the last hours researching the situation. The internet offered every scenario imaginable, from borderline PR gags all the way to a new Alien invasion. Take your pick. Stark Industries held out on statements. Tony Stark and Pepper Potts were still missing. Sam had a list of deceased. Wanda and about half the Youtube comminity believed that Tony had evac-ed in one of his suits and was now sitting it out on Fiji or the Maledives, but there was no reliable documentation on that. Nobody had seen Iron Man leave the building.
They did find one more clip: Tony getting knocked around by the blasts. He didn’t look like he was on top of things. At all.
Steve turned to Wanda. “Could you try to…”
He pointed a finger at his head. He had yet to fully grasp the extent of her powers, but he knew telepathy was among them.
Wanda looked up from her phone, scowling. “Don’t you think that was the first thing I tried? I can reach neither of them.”
“Does that mean…?” He wouldn’t finish the sentence.
Wanda shrugged. “It means nothing. They’re on another continent. That’s a long way. And I’ve tried Stark in the past. It hasn’t really worked since after Ultron.” She scrunched her nose. “It’s like I’m hitting a wall.”
“Wait,” Sam piped up, voicing what Steve was thinking. “You’re secretly messing with our minds?”
Wanda smirked, rubbed her hands mischeviously. “Wouldn’t you like to know now?”
“Cut it,” Steve said. They had to keep their heads in the game. If they were going to leave Wakanda it had to be on good reasoning. This was a one-way ticket.
“I’ll be right back,” he told them. “Try to be productive, yes?”
There was one thing he could try. To appease his conscience.
He retrieved the Nokia, flipped it open to the only saved number.
He’d been waiting for it to ring a good half year now, but so far it’d remained silent. He wished he wouldn’t have to be the one breaking the iron curtain, but the situation at hand demanded otherwise. If the explosions were real, if Tony was in any way incapacitated as Iron Man the entire Avenger Initiative was at risk - and that exposed the world to a whole new set of dangers.
He tapped the dial button. Held his breath.
The mailbox kicked in. This number was presently unavailable.
Steve flipped the phone shut.
Looked like now was his chance to repent.
There was a knock at his door.
“Yeah.”
Sam poked his head in, eyebrows furrowed.
“Man, you might wanna come. We’ve got… uh…” He searched for the right term. “… a visitor.”
They were two days into the event. The Internet was briming with conspiracy theories. Tony and Pepper remained MIA. T’Challa had put in an official call for them, but lacking leadership both SI and Avengers Inc were running in circles. Nobody had yet confessed to the attack. Loose ends everywhere you looked.
T’Challa had cordoned off a small part of the residence to give them privacy. Apart from the alotted staff nobody erred this way.
Sam led the way to the common room. Two royal guards were flanking their guest.
Steve stopped in his tracks.
Well, he sure hadn’t expected that.
“I think we’re good,’ he told the escort. “Thank you.”
They waited for the room to clear. Wanda stormed in, alerted by some unknown force, ruffled hair and sleep-laden eyes. Still in her pyjamas. Wanda was a lot of things, but no early bird.
“I told you to phase through the walls,” she exclaimed, upset. “Nobody needed to know you’re here!”
Sam gaped. “You two-”
Wanda cut him off with a swat of her hand. “Don’t. Not at this hour.”
Steve ignored them, transfixed on their invitee. The mind stone glinted in the chandelier light.
Eventually he spoke.
“What is this all about?”