so bad guys can't see me bleed

•tape eighteen•

"So you like cats?"

I almost choke when I laugh.

"Sam," Cap says to him, nodding to the seat behind him and I.

"What?" Sam asks. "Dude shows up dressed like a cat, and you don't wanna know more?"

"Your suit," Cap says to T'Challa. "It's vibranium?"

"The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations," T'Challa explains. "A mantle, passed from warrior to warrior. And 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?" He turns to Cap.

"Longer than you'd expect," I say, earning a glance from him.

—

"Cap, what the hell are they gonna do to him?" I ask him quietly as we get out of the van and see the soldier—Bucky, I should probably start calling him—in an enclosed space with glass on the walls. He glances at us, makes eye contact with both Cap and me, and then he quickly looks away.

"I don't know," Cap whispers. "We're about to find out."

Him and I turn and walk towards Sharon and another man with Sam and T'Challa behind us.

"What's gonna happen to him?" Cap asks.

"Same thing that ought to happen to you," the man says. "Psychological evaluation and extradition."

"So, torture?" I ask, raising my brows.

Sharon takes a breath in. "This is Everett Ross, Deputy Task Force Commander."

"What about a lawyer?" Cap asks.

"Lawyer," Ross says. "That's funny."

"It's his constitutional right," I say. "He's been a US citizen since the 1910s."

Ross chuckles. "See their weapons are placed in lockup." Sam and I look over and watch as they take our weapons and suits away from the car. I shove my hands in my jacket pockets. "We'll write you a receipt."

"You can't keep my things," I tell him. "I owned them long before you decided to call them government property."

Sam walks after the guys that have our things. "I better not look outside and see anybody flying around in that," he says as we follow after him

—

"You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell," Ross says as we all walk down a hallway. "Now, do me a favor, stay in it."

"I don't intend on going anywhere," T'Challa says.

"For the record, this is what making things worse looks like," Nat says to Cap, walking next to him.

"He's alive," Cap says.

"That's worth something," I say as we walk into a room where Tony is standing on the phone.

"Romania was not Accords-sanctioned," Tony says to the person on the phone. "Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup."

"Try not to break anything while we fix this," Nat says to us.

"Consequences?" Tony asks. "You bet there'll be consequences. Obviously you can quote me on that 'cause I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir." He hangs up the phone and walks over to us.

"'Consequences'?" Cap asks.

"Secretary Ross wants the three of you prosecuted. Had to give him something," he says as him and Nat start to walk away.

"I'm not getting that shield back, am I?" Cap asks.

"Technically, it's the government's property," Nat says. "The wings too."

"That's cold."

"Warmer than jail."

—

"Hello, Mr. Barnes," someone says in wherever they have Bucky. The screens in front of us have about three different angles of him and the room around him.

Cap is standing next to me, his arms crossed over his chest. I'm sitting in one of the chairs, looking through the glass and listening with my arms crossed too. We glance at each other every now and then.

"I've been sent by the United Nations to evaluate you. Do you mind if I sit?" He sits down at a table across from Bucky and gets out some paper and a pen. "Your first name is James?"

—

"Here's the receipt for your gear," Sharon says, handing Sam a piece of paper while she walks into the room.

"'Bird costume'? Come on."

"I didn't write it."

I sit boredly, messing with my fingers while Cap stands at the corner of the table. Sharon clicks a button, and a view of Bucky comes up on the screen. Cap glances back at her.

"I'm not here to judge you," the man talking to Bucky says. "I just want to ask you a few questions. Do you know where you are, James?" He doesn't say anything. "I can't help you if you don't say anything, James."

"My name is Bucky."

Cap turns and grabs a file, opening it. Inside is the picture of Bucky that they showed on the news. Cap glances around, then looks at Sharon. "Why would the Task Force release this photo to begin with?"

Sharon shrugs. "Get the word out. Get as many eyes out as we can?"

"Right. It's a good way to flush a guy out of hiding," Cap says. "Set off a bomb. Get your picture taken. Get seven billion people looking for the Winter Soldier."

"You're saying someone framed him to find him?" Sharon asks.

"Steve, the three of us looked for the guy for two years and found nothing," Sam says.

"We found something. Once," I say.

"Yeah, and then he got away," Sam says.

"We didn't bomb the UN," Cap says. "That turns a lot of heads."

"Yeah, but that doesn't guarantee that whoever framed him would get him," Sharon says. "It guarantees that we would."

"That was probably the point," I say with a shrug.

At the same time, we all stop moving and furrow our brows.

Cap turns back to the TV. "Yeah."

"Tell me, Bucky. You've seen a great deal, haven't you?" the man asks.

"Who the hell is that?" I ask. Cap furrows his brows more and shakes his head.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Bucky says.

"You fear that, if you open your mouth, the horrors might never stop. Don't worry. We only have to talk about one."

Not even a few seconds later, all the lights flicker off.

"Come on, guys, get me eyes on Barnes," Ross says into a walkie talkie.

"Shit," I say, standing up. "We gotta get in there."

"What do you mean?" Cap asks me.

"It's pretty convenient that the power goes out, isn't it?" I ask.

"Jesus Christ," Cap says. We both turn to Sharon.

"Sub-level five, East Wing," she says.

Then we start running.