How Liberty Dies

1.03

"You'll be provided with an office instead of a cell. Now, do me a favour, stay in it."

"I don't intend on going anywhere." T'challa replied solemnly.

"For the record, this is what making things worse looks like." A red headed lady looked at Steve and did a double take when she saw Leia beside Sam. "Who's the kid?"

"Man, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that today I would have 2 nickels. I'm Leia."

"Just Leia?" She questioned.

"Yeah, I guess." Leia looked down at the ground as she walked.

The red head looked over to Steve confused and he just mouthed 'I'll tell you later'.

"Well Leia, I'm Natasha, but you can call me Nat."

Leia looked up from the ground and gave her a grateful smile. "Thank you ma'am but trust me, I know who you are. You're Natasha Romanoff, aka The Black Widow, Super badass superhero, saviour of New York. Aka my idol." Natasha couldn't help but smile.

"Well, I'm glad to know I have a fan."

"No, Romania was not Accords-Sanctioned." The one and only, Tony Stark's voice, could be heard from down the hall. "Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup."

"Try not to break anything while we fix this." Nat walked into another room. Leia guessed, to take care of some super cool spy business.

"Consequences? You bet there will be consequences." He was talking to someone on the phone but he was making prolonged eye contact with Steve, which seemed to make his words even more intimidating. "Obviously, you can quote me on that, because I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir."

"Consequences?" Steve asked.

"Secretary Ross wants you all prosecuted, including the girl. Who is she, by the way?" Tony asked, watching Leia sceptically.

"I'm Leia, Mr Stark sir. Big fan by the way-"

"You assisted Mr Rogers?"

"Well i guess, but-"

"Then save it. I have no time to talk to criminal children."

In that moment, every ounce of respect that Leia had once held for the great Tony Stark vanished. Instead, being replaced with cold blooded hatred. She once looked up to his brilliancy when she was alone in the world, hopeless and a life full of inconsistency. The only constant thing being the hundreds of billboards with his face plastered on them. It may seem weird to think about but knowing that she'd always be able to see his face wherever she went, brought a sense of comfort to a homeless, 13 year old little girl.

"I'm not getting that shield back, am I?" Steve called out as Tony started to walk away.

"Technically it's the government's property, wings too." Nat said, turning back around to walk side by side with Tony.

"Wait, so does that mean I won't get my ring back? Cause I really need that ring." Leia said anxiously.

It was the truth. Without that ring what was she supposed to do? That ring was the only thing stopping her from being sent to an orphanage. With the ring, she could always escape when the police came after, which they often did. She didn't want to go to an orphanage because that meant that she would have on opportunity to be sent to live with another family. She knew she had parents somewhere, and the idea that she would go live with another family and act like they didn't exist scared her. Living with a new family meant giving up. Giving up on the idea that they might be out there looking and longing for her just as much as she was for them.

. . .

"I'd have a motion to have you and Wanda reinstated." Tony added as a bonus for Steve signing the Accords.

"Wanda? What about Wanda?" Steve suddenly questioned.

"She's fine. She's confined to the compound, currently. Vision's keeping her company."

Steve sighed. "Oh, God, Tony. Every time I think you see things the right way..."

"It's a hundred acres with a lap pool. It's got a screening room, there's worse ways to protect people." Tony interrupted Steve, not letting him get his point across.

"Protection? Is that how you see this? This is protection. It's internment, Tony."

"She's not a U.S citizen, and they don't grant visas to weapons of mass destruction."

"She's a kid!"

"Give me a break!" Tony suddenly yelled at Steve.

"Look at her." Steve said, pointing to Leia who was sitting by herself in a separate glass room. "She doesn't have parents, or a home. She needs people like us who can take care of her, not some ass wipes from the government who couldn't care less about her. She's never had a proper home, cause they kicked her out of the one she had."

"I'm doing what has to be done. To stave off something worse" Tony argued, not budging whatsoever from his opinions.

Leia was sitting in a room next to Sam who had recently joined her. She was wearing black pants and a T-shirt that was way too big for her that wrote 'PROPERTY OF S.H.I.E.L.D.' across it in bold white letters. She was pretending she couldn't hear the argument between Steve and Tony, but the truth was she could hear every word of it. She heard how Steve stuck up for her and she heard how Tony knocked it straight down.

"You keep telling yourself that." Steve placed down the pen that he was holding. "I'd hate to break up the set." And with that he stormed out of the room.

. . .

Leia was now sitting with Sam, silently playing chopsticks (It had taken a very long time to teach Sam how to play and he still sucked), when Steve walked in without a word which distracted Sam and gave Leia the perfect opportunity to switch her fingers and beat him.

"Hey you cheated." Sam whined.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about Mr Wilson." Leia said innocently.

He chuckled, "Call me Sam." Those three words seemed to have brightened Leia's entire demeanour.

Leia watched Steve stand, facing the screen that currently displayed Bucky being interrogated. She kept watching until Sharon walked in and handed Sam a few sheets of paper.

"The receipt for your gear." She said nonchalantly, walking over to Steve.

"Bird costume?" Leia snorted, "Come on."

"I didn't write it." Sharon shrugged smugly. She probably did.

Sharon leaned over the desk and pressed a suspicious looking red button which turned on the tv inside the glass room, meaning Steve could now hear everything that was being said between Bucky and his interrogator.

"I just want to ask you a few questions."

Silence

"Do you know where you are, James?"

Silence

"I can't help you if you don't talk to me, James."

"My name is Bucky."

(1,129 words)