Part 2: How Steve lost a Bucky

T'Challa sighed as he wearily rubbed his eyes. He had been staring at the same document for almost five minutes. The pile of paperwork on his desk wasn't diminishing either, especially not since the coup his cousin had tried to pull almost two months ago. There had been numerous Accords meetings to amend several details, including Enhanced anonymity and safety, documents about the aid sent to Bucharest, and now thanks to the coup he had to reorganize the Wardogs as well. To hear that several had easily sided with Killmonger had been disconcerting to say the least.

"Brother!" Shuri barged into his office, slamming the wooden door open with great force. T'Challa glared at his sister and said "If you cracked it again..."

"There is no time for that brother, look!" Shuri said with urgency as she turned on the flatscreen TV that was mounted on the wall between two bookcases.

The TV flickered to a News station that showed a blonde reporter standing in front of a wheat field. Further back a huge cloud of smoke could be seen as well as the body of a large rectangular spaceship that had crash-landed into the field.

"This is Christine Everhart from WHiH World News reporting to you live on the scene of what appears to be a crash landing of a spacecraft not from Earth. Reports are sketchy at the moment and several eyewitnesses said they could see the trail of the craft for several miles. So far, the eyewitnesses report that the craft apparently changed course mid-descent. Contacts tell us off the record that when it entered the atmosphere its projected path had put it crashing right into the middle of a heavily populated area but the craft changed course to the North West and finally ended up here. The only damage of note is the wheat field behind us and part of the road leading to a nearby farmhouse. So far the authorities have cordoned off the area and this is as close to the craft as we can go. We have just received reports that the New Avengers have been contacted and both Ironman and Warmachine are on route."

"That is......." T'Challa mumbled.

"I know, right! Real aliens!" Shuri exclaimed.

"They might pose a threat....." T'Challa frowned as he kept watching the news.

"Are you kidding brother," Shuri rolled her eyes. "You heard what that reporter said. "They purposely avoided crashing into a town."

"Still......" T'Challa was skeptical.

"Look, let's just agree to disagree for now on that for now. That is not why I am here." Shuri stated as she placed both of her hands on her brother's desk and leaned in, nearly knocking over a pile of paper.

"It's not?" T'Challa asked.

"No, I want you to have a talk with the good ole Captain. He's hindering Bucky's recovery." Shuri bluntly said. "I can't stand to hear him go at it in my lab anymore and Okoye also wants to spear him to a desk for his behaviour."

"Just what did Captain Rodgers do?" T'Challa asked as he put down the papers he had been reading, or at least attempting to read. If Okoye was also threatening violence things could not be good.

"So it's been two months since we managed to wipe most of the Hydra triggers from Sergeant Barnes' mind, but we can't do more than that." Shuri told him sadly. "Then Tony Stark hacked my computer,"

"Wait, Dr. Stark hacked your computer?" T'Challa was surprised. "Isn't your computer......" He made a motion with his hands. Shuri's computers had more encryptions than the Pentagon. If Stark could hack that then he was a force to be reckoned with.

"Yes, I have to update my security again. I did give him my Skype address though." Shuri smiled. "Also he knows the Rogues are here."

"I...... eh....." T'Challa swallowed.

"Don't worry so much brother. He doesn't blame you for giving them asylum. Especially since you found out what Rodgers did." Shuri looked mad now. "I mean who leaves a man behind. If Bucky hadn't told you and asked to go back to check on Dr. Stark....... Well, the world would be one genius shorter now."

"He knows?!" T'Challa was too stunned to ask anything else.

"Yes, he told me to thank his Kittyness and Elsa for helping him." Shuri snorted at the names. "But I digress. So the reason Dr. Stark called was because he wanted to share the BARF technology with us to help Bucky get rid of the last of the triggers. You must have already heard about this new technology."

"Well that's great!" T'Challa said while nodding.

"I thought so too, Bucky thought so too, at least until Rodgers heard about it." Shuri now rolled her eyes.

"Wait, what happened?" T'Challa now asked as a frown formed on his face.

"Steve was venomously against using the BARF tech and went on about how Dr. Stark was self-absorbed and was probably going to use this to hurt Bucky. Of course Sergeant Barnes didn't tell him off. He never tells Rodgers off. He just takes it."

"Sergeant Barnes is a grown man. If he wanted to tell his friend to stop......"

"That's just it brother. I don't think he can." Shuri angrily slammed her fist on the desk.

"Shuri, what?" T'Challa asked.

"I'm saying, Sergeant Barnes has a difficulty making choices. He spent over seventy years having his free will taken away from him. Now he doesn't know what to do with the freedom he has. Captain Rodgers might not do it consciously but he is continuously pressuring Bucky." Shuri stated. "I've overheard them talking. At first I thought it was of the good old days but then I realized that Bucky looked uncomfortable. When I asked him why, he told me he didn't remember the good ole days Rodgers was talking about. That the Bucky Rodgers knew didn't exist anymore."

"That's disconcerting," T'Challa said. "How did the Captain take this?"

"Bucky couldn't bear to say no to Rodgers so I had a little chat with him. The man actually had the gall to tell me that I didn't know what I was talking about and that Bucky was in there somewhere." Shuri now furiously ranted. "The Sergeant has endured almost seventy years of torture. There is no way he would be the same man anymore but the Captain is still adamant. I fear that this will turn out badly."

"What about BARF?" T'Challa asked.

"Bucky wants it, Rodgers doesn't want it, and is now hanging around my lab like a mother hen." Shuri muttered. "Today Bucky actually shouted at Steve to 'back the hell away' and you know what that happened?"

"What happened?" T'Challa asked, now looking more worried.

"Good ole Cap just flashed those baby blues of his and gave Bucky his kicked puppy dog routine. One guess who caved." Shuri muttered. "I don't care what anyone else says. I know emotional manipulation when I see it! Brother you need to have a talk with Captain Rodgers before I give Okoye permission to use her spear collection."

T'Challa nodded his agreement. The news was disconcerting to say the least. Shuri was very defensive about this type of behavior, especially when......., No it was not time to think of that. For now he had better confront the Captain about this matter.

T'Challa didn't have to look far to find Steve Rodgers. The man was indeed as his sister told him, hovering in the lab while the scientists were doing some tests. "Captain, a moment of your time."

"T'Challa," Steve greeted and Okoye who was accompanying her King glared at him for not using proper address. Okoye muttered something in Xhosa causing T'Challa to raise a brow at her.

"I wish to speak to you, privately." The King said indicated for Steve to follow him to a quiet section of the lab. Okoye stayed behind and then gave a nod to Bucky who had watched Steve go.

"Ma'am," Bucky greeted.

"I told you so many times not to call me ma'am. Okoye will do just fine," The Dora stated with a raised brow, a hint of fondness in her voice that she barely suppressed. "What is the Captain all huffy about now?"

"He found out about me practicing with the Dora," Bucky sighed. "Wasn't too pleased about it."

"We do not normally let outsiders watch our training." Okoye stated. "And the other ladies learned a lot from your fighting styles. He should be happy you are getting along with others."

"I just...... I just wished he would stop treating me with kid gloves. When I clean my guns, when I throw knives, even when I start speaking in Russian. It's always Bucky wouldn't do that."

"Have you told him how you feel?" Okoye asked.

"Eh....... I.... eh........." Bucky mumbled.

"You're afraid you would hurt his feelings." Okoye stated as she looked at the former assassin. "If Wakabi had ever talked to me like that I would have shoved his face in the rhino dung," She said just as T'Challa and Steve came back. Steve looked a bit put out but he bid Bucky goodbye and left the lab without any trouble. T'Challa thought everything would work out, now that he and Rodgers had had a heart to heart about the matter.

The matter seemed to have been settled and Rodgers didn't show up at the lab again but met Bucky afterwards. T'Challa had heard from the Dora that they were usually in the garden. So no one expected what happened a week later. It was already well past midnight when there was frantic knocking on T'Challa's bedchamber door.

"Enter!" T'Challa called as he woke up and grabbed the robe that was hanging nearby.

"My King," Ayo greeted, giving a short bow. "Something urgent has happened."

Ayo, accompanied by another Dora Milaje, led T'Challa to the wing that housed the Rogues. When they got there he could see that the door to Bucky's room was off its hinges. Against the wall laid a slumped and unconscious Wanda. The smear of blood on the back of the wall was concerning. A Dora was checking Wanda over and told T'Challa that miraculously she might just get away with a concussion.

T'Challa then peered into the room and saw Okoye and two other Dora pinning down Steve Rodgers who was sporting a busted lip, possibly a black eye. He could not see any other injuries but that didn't mean that there weren't.

"What happened here?!" T'Challa asked as he was getting both angry and annoyed.

"The Dora on guard duty for this wing alerted me that there was a fight happening in Sergeant Barnes' room." Okoye said. "When I arrived on the scene Sergeant Barnes was nowhere to be seen and the witch was unconscious like that. Rodgers tried to leave the room so we subdued him.

"And where is Sergeant Barnes now?"

"We don't know," Okoye stated.

"Well that's just great brother." Shuri now arrived at the scene in her nightgown. "You lost a white boy...... in Wakanda!"

"Not now Shuri," T'Challa warned. "We need to find out what happened."

"I can tell you exactly what happened," Shury said as she fiddled with two of the beads on her bracelet. A small screen appeared that showed the security footage. When it was done T'Challa actually glared at Rodgers.

"I can...." Steve started but T'Challa held up a hand.

"Save it," The King growled. "What did you think would happen when you decided to have the witch there try and use mind magic on your friend?"

"I just...... I just wanted Bucky back," Steve answered.

"Well now you lost him all over again," Shuri said with much contempt.

"Get the woman some medical attention and throw both of them in the cells." T'Challa ordered. "I will deal with you two later."

"What now brother?" Shuri asked as she watched the Dora haul a shocked Steve away.

"Now I have a call to make," T'Challa sighed.