Death Where is Your Sting? - B. Barnes

Chapter 27

"I can't believe you called Sharon."

"We need help, Bucky."

"So call Banner or -"

"Banner's off the grid. I can't even get his voicemail. And Strange is... Strange."

"Shuri -"

"Is grieving. And the Wakandans are still pissed at you for Zemo."

"She'd help if I explained -"

"Ayo would kick your ass before you even had a chance. Sharon's already on board."

"We don't need her help, Sam."

"Don't be a stubborn old man, Buck. We don't have any medical support. You wanna save Ray? Then we gotta make sure they don't blow the building before we get every bit of information in that place. And we're gonna need help to comb through all the data quickly if we're gonna -"

"We can do that."

"You saw how Ray was declining last time. Now that they've programmed her, or whatever, you think they're gonna let her out of their sight for that long? No. They're gonna make it more aggressive this time."

Bucky huffed. "Torres was calling -"

"Sharon's CIA and she's already hunting down the Power Broker. She's the best bet."

Bucky glared at Sam, who looked at him unblinking. "Fine. But Ray stays under wraps. I don't want Sharon and her team -"

"Fair. I'll put her on the data collection. We'll focus on Ray."

"I want Torres on data with her."

"I thought you'd want him on Ray."

"I trust him. He'll make sure we don't miss anything. Plus, if Ray...she'd never forgive herself. Or me for letting him near the Reaper, for that matter."

Sam nodded, a grin growing on his face. "You're scared of her."

"What? That's..."

"She scares me too, man. I get it." Sam laughed. "Let's gear up."

~<>~

"Boys."

"Sharon. Thanks for coming."

"Happy to help, Sam. So what's the plan?"

"Secure the building. Bring in any guards, scientists. Gather the intel and lab contents."

"That's it?"

"That's all you need to worry about." Bucky's jaw ticked. There was something about Sharon Carter that was a little too... He couldn't put his finger on it.

"What, you guys have some super secret Avengers mission I can't know about?"

"Does it matter?"

"Well, I like to know what I'm walking into, Barnes."

"Well, that's a warehouse." He pointed to the building down the road.

Sharon rolled her eyes. "Helpful as ever. Sam, what's the details?"

"Sorry, Sharon. State secrets." He winked. "The lab is your priority. We need that intel."

Sharon sighed. "Fine. I'll go round up the team and meet you back here in fifteen."

"Hey, Torres is coming with you. He's gonna help with the files."

She flashed a tight smile. "Of course. Come on, Lieutenant. Let me introduce you to the team."