28. Another Broken White Boy
Mary watches intently as Ross begins his interrogation of Klaue. The crazed man was still singing before Ross cleared his throat. But what she expected to hear from the smuggler was exactly what she heard. Over the few years she was involved with Wakandan affairs she had read up on Klaue. Before the fallout with her team and family, she had even talked about Klaue with her son, he had met the smuggler on more than one occasion and she wanted to know all there was about the man sitting in front of her strapped to a chair by duck-tape.
"You know, you really shouldn't trust the Wakandans. I'm much more your speed." Klaue states casually.
"I don't trust anybody, not in this job." Ross replies simply. "But what i am interested in is that arm cannon out there. Where'd you get that?" He asks the smuggler.
Klaue shrugs, "It's an old mining tool that I made adjustments to. But I could get you one, if you like." He says with a slight smirk on his lips.
"Why don't you give me the name of your supplier, and i'll ask them." Ross asks.
Mary tenses in her chair as her hazel eyes trail up to T'Challa and Okoye. "Does Ross not know?" She asks quietly. T'Challa shakes his head in response and all the advisor can do is watch as the smuggler in the other room tells Ross Wakanda's secrets.
"He's right outside. Why don't you ask him yourself?"
"What? T'Challa?" Ross questions, Mary knows he doesn't believe it for a second, no one would if they were told the truth about what Wakanda actually is as a nation and what they possess, the lie was always more believable. "You're telling me that the weapon on your arm is from Wakanda?"
Klaue winks, smirking as he nods, "Bingo." Ross leans back in his chair across from the smuggler as he crosses his arms, still not believing it but willing to listen. "What do you actually know about Wakanda?"
Ross glances up at the ceiling as he thinks, "Umm... Shepards, textiles, cool outfits."
"It's all a front." Klaue states, "Explorers searched for it for centuries. El Dorado, the Golden City. They thought they could find it in South America, but it was in Africa the whole time. A technological marvel. All because it was built on a mound of the most valuable metal known to man." The smuggler explains. Mary hesitates as she listens, Klaue knew his history and he knew it well. "Isipho, they call it. The gift. Vibranium."
Ross nods, "Vibranium, yeah, strongest metal on Earth." He agrees.
Klaue chuckles, "The little doctor outside would know. She's been around it her whole life. But it's not just a metal. They sow it into their clothes. It powers their city, their tech, their weapons."
Ross glances at the double paned window, Mary hesitates, she places her hand on her stomach to attempt to calm her nerves. Though the secrets of herself and her family were out in the open now, she still didn't know how many people actually put the pieces together, like Klaue did. He knew Steve's shield was vibranium, and she had been around it since she was twenty-one. She watches as Ross then looks back at Klaue, "Weapons?"
Klaue chuckles, "Yeah. Makes my arm cannon look like a leaf blower."
Ross shakes his head, "That's a nice fairy tale but Wakanda is a third world country and you stole all their vibranium."
Klaue breaks out into absurd laughter, shocked and amused all at the same time, "I stole-" He laughs then snaps back at Ross, jerking his chair angrily, "-all of it?" He snaps, eyeing Ross, "I took a tiny piece of it. They have a mountain full of it. They've been mining it for thousands of years, and they still haven't scratched the surface." He states bitterly, "I'm the only outsider who's seen it and got out of there alive." Klaue snaps, then scoffs, Mary watches T'Challa as he walks away from the window, her eyes focused on the King until she's mentioned again, "Well, I was the only outsider, until Little Doctor arrived on their doorstep. If you don't believe me, ask your friend what his suit is made of. What his claws are made of."
Mary winces at Klaue's last statement, her scars burn briefly in remembrance. She had long forgiven T'Challa over the matter, but he still hadn't forgiven himself. That was why he always had her close to him, to protect her when he had hurt her the most physically. She stands from her chair as she walks over to T'Challa and Okoye, "What do we do now?" She asks them.
T'Challa sighs, he starts to speak but Ross walks back into the room the three of them are in. He stops and turns to look at the agent, his arms crossed over his chest.
"Your father told the UN that Klaue stole all the vibranium you had. But now he's telling me you have more?" Ross asks quizzically.
T'Challa looks at Ross skeptically, "And you believe the word of an arms dealer strapped to a chair?" He asks the agent in return.
Ross only stares up at the king, "How much more are you hiding?"
Before anyone can say anything more, Nakia enters the back room, looking over at Okoye, T'Challa and Mary, "Into eyenzekayo ibuyela umva." Something is happening out back. Nakia states quickly but the wall to the room Klaue is in is blown away before she can say anything more.
Mary's hazel eyes widen in shock as gunfire begins to ring in her ears. T'Challa pushes other agents onto the ground and Ross dives for Mary, "Get down!" He shouts as they collide with the ground harshly. She tries to push herself off of Ross to help the agents that were shot but the weight he has on her pins her to the ground.
She hears a clatter on the ground feet away from her as Mary sees a grenade. Her eyes are wide and T'Challa notices it, his panther suit already had materialized to protect him when he dives for the grenade. Images of her brother doing the same exact thing from when they were at Camp Lehigh flash through her mind, "St- T'Challa." She whispers, still in a daze from what was happening around her. She can hear Klaue talking with the people she assumed were his rescuers as T'Challa stands up.
The King darts out to pursue the shooters and it gives Mary the opening she needs while the gunfire is not coming towards the back room anymore. "Ross, you can get off of me now." She tells him, but she doesn't get a reply from him and it quickly worries her, "Ross?" She questions, "Everett, talk to me!" She exclaims as Nakia helps the advisor lift the agent off of her. She turns him on his side and gasps, she can hear Okoye shouting and then she hears footsteps. His fellow agents are around them as T'Challa and Okoye rush back into the room.
"He just jumped in front of her." Nakia explains to her king, looking at Mary who is trying to stop the bleeding.
"Everett, stay with me." Mary commands as she presses the force of a cloth she was given from one of the agents around her to try and stop the bleeding. She looks up at T'Challa, "He won't make it here." She mumbles, looking at the king, "It hit his spine."
Mary watches as T'Challa thinks it over then looks at his advisor, "Use a Kimoyo bead." He tells her, "It can stabilize him for now." He explains to the doctor. Mary was still learning about the technology of Wakanda, how she would need to adjust her medical skills to coincide with the technology of the nation now that she was living there.
The doctor nods, taking one of the beads off of her bracelet and placing it into the bullet hole of Ross's spine. She watches as Ross stops grunting in pain and begins to relax slightly, his breathing was deeper and longer. Mary looks at the agents, "Give him to us, to me. You might not trust me anymore but you can't deny my medical skills." She states, "I can save him." She reminds the agents. None of the governments trust her anymore after the civil war of her family/team. But it was true, her skills were unprecedented, no one could match her skills and knowledge of the decades she spent learning and training herself to be better. And it doesn't take long for the agents to agree. If Mary could save Ross, she would.
Mary stands beside Ross on the jet as they fly back to Wakanda. He was asleep and resting on the sand table in the jet. She knew coming back would not be happy, they were supposed to bring back Klaue. Not another outsider. T'Challa placed his hand on Mary's shoulder to try and get her to sit, but she refused. It was how she always was with her patients. Until they were in recovery, she would not rest or sit idle. This was a side of Mary that the Wakandan's had not seen yet, the side of Mary she was for so long. Doctor Mary Barnes.
"Our mission was to bring back Klaue. We failed. This man is a foreign intelligence operative. How do we justify bringing him into our borders?" Okoye states, looking at Ross.
Mary snaps her head over to her friend, "He took a bullet for me, for my child." She states, "I hadn't commanded the shield Shuri gave me to cover me, had that bullet hit me, I would not have my child still growing within me." She explains.
"That was his choice." Okoye says and Mary's eyes narrow.
"So now we're just supposed to let him die?" Nakia snaps in Ross and Mary's defense.
"I can't let that happen, Okoye. I've been a doctor for too long to just sit idle while i can do something and save him!" Mary snaps, she feels T'Challa squeeze her shoulder in comfort. She knew Okoye was just doing her job, protecting Wakanda. But Mary also knew Ross, they had their arguments when he took in her husband and daughter, but he saved her life and that of her unborn child's life. He didn't have to, and she would be forever grateful to the unconscious man laying in front of her.
Okoye looks at Mary, still not backing down, "Let us consider that you heal him. It is his duty to report back to his country." She states, and then turns to T'Challa, "And as king, it is your duty to protect ours-"
T'Challa tenses beside his advisor, "I'm well aware of my duties, General." He snaps at her, cutting Okoye off. He looks at Mary, "I cannot just let him die, knowing Mary and our technology can save him."
Okoye hesitates, looking at her king, "Where exactly are we taking him?" She asks carefully.
It doesn't take long for Mary and the others to walk into Shuri's lab after they land with Ross covered in a blanket to hide him from the guards and staff. Mary watches the young princess walk quickly to her brother and lifts the blanket with a smirk on her lips as she looks up at Mary, "Great! Another broken white boy for us to fix! This is going to be fun." She states.
Shuri is amazed as she watches Mary in doctor mode. She knew her friend was more skilled than anyone but she hadn't seen it since the two had met. And with the addition of her technology, Mary was exceeding even what she thought possible.
Shuri pulls a holographic image of Ross's spine, enlarging it so both of them can see the damage better. Mary looks it over, writing things down as she looks the hologram over and then Ross's stats on the wall behind his head, when she reads the information, she smiles, looking at Shuri and then the others, "He'll live." She states.
The princess's beads ring briefly and she looks down in surprise, "W'Kabi is here." She tells her brother and he soon jogs up to the top floor to greet his friend.
Mary looks down at Ross as Okoye and Nakia stand on either end of the small operating room. Evelyn was taking notes on what her mentor and Shuri were doing with Ross. "Mary, why don't i take over? You should rest."
The doctor sighs, "I know i should rest.." Mary mumbles, "But I can't rest until he's in recovery, you know how I am with a patient."
Evelyn chuckles softly, nodding, "I know, I watched you with Pietro." She reminds her, "But Shuri and I can take care of him, can't we?" The apprentice asks, motioning between herself and the princess.
Shuri nods, "Rest, go be with your husband. I'm sure he'd love the stories you have from the mission." She says and Mary sighs.
She knew they were right, she wanted to focus all her attention on Ross, but she couldn't. Not anymore with the baby on the way. Though she was only more than a month along she was feeling the effects of her pregnancy. She had felt them early on with Winnie as well. Shuri and Mary had guesses and theories, all leading up to the baby having some of Bucky's super soldier serum in his or her DNA.
"But you'll let me know the moment he's awake?" Mary asks, they both nod, then shoo the expectant mother away to her husband's corner of the labs.
When she sits down in her chair in front of his Cryochamber, his heartbeat fills her ears. His face remained unchanged from the moment he was put to sleep. The blanket that she kept in his room was still there. She wrapped it around herself as she sat in the chair.
But her phone rings unexpectedly, startling her as she pulls it out. She had nearly forgotten about her phone, she used her Kimoyo beads for everything it seemed nowadays. When she answers, a deep voice instantly comforts her despite his tone of voice not being as pleasant as it could be.
"Lizzie." Steve's voice whispers through the phone.
"Stevie?" Mary answers, "What're you calling for? Is everyone okay?"
"We're fine. But you left Wakanda." Steve says, reassuring her but also Mary could tell through the tone of his voice that he was upset with her for breaking their promise.
"How- the beads." Mary answers her own question, looking down at her beads, "They track, don't they."
"Your phone does, actually. Why would you put yourself at risk like that by leaving Wakanda? The baby.."
"We're fine.. I promise. I'm with James now actually. The mission..."
"Mission?"
"Klaue resurfaced again. He was the whole reason for me contacting King T'Chaka in the first place. How i got involved with Wakandan affairs." Mary mutters, "But I was safe. Shuri gave me protective equipment. It's really advanced, Steve."
"Were you in a fight of any kind?"
Mary sheepishly chuckles, her nerves of telling her older brother about how she was in the casino fight along with the car chase that ensued after made her scared to tell her brother because she knew his reaction wouldn't be a good one. "Did you see the Busan car chase on the news?"
"I did!" Mary hears Sam in the distance, "Damn, Mary, you were in that?" His voice is clearer as she now knows her brother isn't alone and is safe to talk.
"Didn't you see me? I pulled the same thing I did in the tunnel chase back in Germany." Mary teases her friend.
"You hung out of a car window?!" Steve questions panicked.
"I was fine."
"Says the pregnant woman putting herself on the news and blowing up parts of South Korea." Sam teases. "I saw blasts that looked almost like a repulser in the footage, was that you?"
"Yeah, Shuri made cuffs for me that turn into repulsors. I also have a pendant that can shield me from gunfire." Mary explains her new tools to her brother and friend. "I was always with someone too, either i was with T'Challa or the girls."
"Do 'the girls' have a name?" Sam quips teasingly and Mary chuckles.
"Okoye and Nakia. And no, you can't try and date either of them, Sammy." Mary teases back, she can hear the groan of her friend, "Okoye is with the border tribe warrior and Nakia is T'Challa's ex who still i think has feelings for him. He does too."
"Mm.. but are there any other Wakandan ladies that would have an interest in The Falcon?" Sam teases back and Mary can hear movement on the other end.
"That's enough." Steve mutters, "Are you sure you're safe, Lizzie?"
"Positive. I wouldn't put the baby in danger, you know that. But I did run into an old friend of ours." Mary reassures her brother as best she can.
"Oh yeah?"
"Everett Ross."
"The CIA agent who handled Bucky and B's interrogation?"
"Interrogation from hell more like." Sam grumbles.
"Same guy, he was surprised to see me. But he won't tell anyone. We have an agreement now." Mary explains.
"You're sure?" Steve asks, he can't have his sister in danger, Wakanda was supposed to be her safe haven from the nightmares of the outside world for the time being. At least until the baby was born and Bucky was in remission. Mary reassures him again and he sighs, "How's Buck?" He asks, changing the subject onto his brother in law.
"Still dreaming, I like to think." Mary answers, looking up at her husband, "Shuri and Evelyn have been working together on him."
"Ooooh." Sam teases Steve when he hears Evelyn's name.
"Would you shut up?" Steve playfully snaps at his friend. Mary can picture her brother nervously scratching the back of his neck with his famous half smile. "How's she doing?"
"She's enjoying herself here. She misses you, we both do."
"I miss you both too." Steve replies, sighing, "It's night time isn't it there?"
"It is, I should probably head to my room and sleep." Mary responds, "I love you, Stevie." She says. "And Sam?"
"Yeah, Mama Barnes?" Sam teases.
"Take care of him for me and Evie." She says.
"With my life." Sam answers.
"I love you too, Lizzie. Tell Eva that we'll see each other soon."
"I will." She answers as Steve hangs up. Mary sighs as she looks down at her stomach, her hands rubbing her stomach as she smiles softly. "Uncle Stevie doesn't want to tell Evie he loves her until he doesn't have to leave her so much, I know it." She tells her unborn child, chuckling softly at her brother's antics.
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