Captain America: Civil War (Charlotte Stark)

Ch. 5 Making Things Worse

A quick flight found the three men and I in custody in the back of a police van taking us through Berlin. Sam, Steve, and I sat together, facing T'Challa. I didn't know where Bucky was. None of them had said anything yet.

"So, you like cats?" Sam said out of the blue.

"Sam..." Steve said. I understood Sam's curiosity—and anger—but this wasn't the time. Why provoke him?

"What?" Sam shot back. "Dude shows up dressed like a cat, and you don't want to know more?"

Steve gave up. He was curious, too—he had to admit that. And after all, the fight had put them and T'Challa on the same side in the eyes of those who had signed the Sokovia Accords.

"Your suit," I said to T'Challa. "Vibranium?"

"The Black Panther has been the protector of Wakanda for generations," T'Challa said, ignoring the question. "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?"

We didn't say much after that. Steve and I were thinking about what Vision had said after the meeting with Secretary Ross; here was another enhanced individual they hadn't known about. But was he going to be a friend or an enemy?

After passing down a ramp somewhere in downtown Berlin, we were processed into an underground facility. There, I saw Bucky, manacled inside a sealed capsule, reinforced with who-knew-what kind of metals. He was being transported, and Steve and I wanted to know where. He spotted Sharon and was glad for a friendly face. "What's going to happen?" he asked, nodding in Bucky's direction.

"The same thing that ought to happen to you," said a trim, middle-aged man in a gray suit standing next to her. Classic bureaucrat, I thought. "Psychological evaluation and extradition."

"This is Everett Ross," Sharon said. "Deputy task-force commander."

"What about a lawyer?" Steve asked. I didn't like the look of Ross right off the bat.

"Lawyer. That's funny." Ross held Steve's glance for a moment, then turned to Sharon. "See that their weapons are placed in the lockup." Looking back to Steve, Sam, and I, he added, "Oh, we'll write you a receipt."

Sam didn't look convinced. "I better not look out the window and see anybody flying around in that."

Ross escorted us upstairs and over a pedestrian bridge, flanked by Sharon and Natasha. "You will be provided with an office instead of a cell," he said to us. "And do me a favor. Stay in it."

"I'm not intending on going anywhere," T'Challa said evenly. Neither Steve nor Sam and I had anything to add.

Natasha fell into step next to Steve and I . "For the record," she said quietly, "this is what making things worse looks like."

"He's alive," Steve said. That was what mattered.
She clearly didn't feel the same way. Neither did Tony, who passed by long enough to say, "Colonel Rhodes is supervising the cleanup. Try not to break anything while we fix this." Natasha walked ahead of them. Steve and I exchanged a look as she went. This was trouble... but we knew we had done the right thing.

We caught up with Tony a few minutes later in a temporary office space. He was on the phone. "Consequences? You bet there will be consequences." He paused. "Obviously, you can quote me on that, because I just said it. Anything else? Thank you, sir." He hung up.

"Consequences?" I said. "For who?"

"Secretary Ross wants you three prosecuted. I have to give him something."