Chapter 1

"What do you mean, 'He's in danger?'" Steve paused in his tracks. He had been on his way back to his hideout in Brooklyn, when the 'anonymous' call came through, from someone whose voice sounded a lot like Tony Stark's.

"Just get over there. Vision says it's some douchebag named 'Erik Killmonger'. Fitting name huh?" there was some rustling on the line for a moment, before another familiar voice took over,

"Those are not the words I used." Vision cut in. "But Erik is heading toward the base in Wakanda, heavily armed. His Majesty said he could handle it, but Mr. Stark thought-" More rustling.

"Whatever floating-Jarvis-dude." Tony must have grabbed the phone back,

"What's the fastest way to the Horn of Africa? Come on help me out here man." Steve picked up his pace, keeping his phone to his ear as he jogged, "And how did you even get this number? Wait don't answer that. Just send me a jet or something."

"Already on it's way. See that tall building, at your two o'clock?" Tony drawled. Steve turned to see a skyscraper that was a fair bit taller than the others around it, "Get to the roof. And to answer your questions, you are so predictable Rogers."

Within ten minutes, Steve had geared up, though rather than his regular all-american look, he pulled on a black shirt and combat trousers. He packed a backpack full of supplies, mostly weapons, though he shoved in a first aid kit and some snacks from the cupboard, just in case.

Of course they had known where he was hiding out. So much for secrecy. Well as long as the government didn't know his whereabouts, that would be enough. He was after all, a fugitive. It did occur to him that this could be a trap to flush him out, but when his best friend and 'danger' were in the same sentence, he had to go. There were no 'ifs' or 'buts'.

He should never have left Bucky in such a defenceless state. He should never have let him go under. Steve had been apprehensive about the idea from the start, but Bucky had been insistent. He had wanted Steve to wait until either Hydra was gone, or he found a way to undo the damage they'd done to his head. So much for that plan.

After locking up his apartment, Steve stole out of the building, keeping to the shadows. He disliked sneaking around like a common criminal, but he was good at it. He'd been on enough covert missions to know all the tricks.

Steve made it to the roof without being spotted, despite a near miss with a cat in an alleyway, which had been mewling loudly at him, as if he might part with some food. Steve had apologised to the feline, as he was only carrying food fit for humans with him. Besides, who knew how long he might be out in the jungle for. He'd never been to Africa before, so navigating might prove difficult. He'd charged his phone, but that would only last so long.

Up on the roof, a jet was waiting for him as promised. The jet had a giant Stark logo vinyl on the side. He got in beside the pilot, and pulled the door shut behind him,

"Your boss ever hear of subtlety?" Cap quipped. The woman turned her head and gave him a sardonic look, "Of course not."

The flight lasted far longer than Steve was comfortable with. Four hours into the twenty hour flight and we was itching to go faster. He gave the pilot his best pleading look,

"Sir, that isn't going to work." She sighed. Ten minutes later she relented, for whatever reason, and gripped the gear stick, "You don't say one word to Mr Stark about this." She said, before pulling the gear up. With the jet now going at double speed, Steve relaxed. They still had another eight hours to go, maybe he could convince her to go at triple.

Hours later, when they finally reached North East Africa, the pilot spoke up,

"I should warn you Sir, they will have reached the base by now. You won't have much time, if any."

"T'Challa reassured me the base was heavily weaponised. I doubt they could easily break in."

"These aren't just regular soldiers Sir. Wakanda has an unusually high rate of enhanced beings. They say it's got something to do with that metal they use in your shield… and a lot of those guys are working for Erik Killmonger. At least that's what Mr Stark said."

"Wow Tony… might have mentioned this before I set out." Steve said to himself. "Thanks for the intel."

"No problem Sir." She returned to focusing on the jet, pulling them closer to the ground. "This is your stop." Steve had of course, already jumped out of the jet. Without a parachute, "Wow, he really does do that."

Steve landed in a crouch on the roof of the Wakandan base, then ran toward the door. He knew where to find Bucky, but getting there was going to be a pain in the ass. It was eerily quiet, despite being surrounded by jungle. There should have been birds chirping away, and the sound of insects, but only the dry wind reached his ears. He felt his heart skip a beat.

Something was wrong.

Screw stealth.

Steve kicked the door down. He ran down the stairwell, along vast corridors until he reached the elevator. Still, there were were no signs of life. He was struggling to breathe now, and not because of all the running.

Had he come too late?

There were no signs of a struggle. Nobody anywhere. Steve mashed the button for the 9th floor, and was relieved when the elevator complied.

When the doors opened, Steve was met by another round of pure silence. This was getting creepier and creepier. He darted over to the control panel, and entered the code to release the cryo chamber. He caught himself begging aloud that Bucky was still inside.

As the pod rose up out of the floor, Steve fell to his knees. There, in the center of the chamber was his best friend.

Steve could not relax just yet however. He pressed a button to drain the chamber of fluid. As the liquid slowly drained away, Bucky started twitching, and then finally started to breathe.

While the chamber drained, Steve checked the security monitors. No wonder it was so quiet, everything was happening below ground. There was fighting going on in just about every room in the minus levels, but the infiltrators were slowly making their way up the building. Steve pressed another button to open the chamber, then rushed over to catch his friend. Bucky fell into his arms, just as he started to hear hurried footsteps in the stairwell. Blue eyes blinked up at him.

With no time to think, he pulled Bucky onto his back, and carried him out of the room. He ran down a different way to the one he'd come in, hoping this would take them away from the fight. Steve hated running away, but he had to protect Bucky at all costs,

"Steve?" Bucky rasped. His voice was right beside Steve's ear, "What- What's going on? Is it Hydra?"

"Don't think so." Steve darted down another corridor, "And welcome back pal."

"You didn't happen to grab my arm did you?"

"Where is it?"

"You didn't think I'd need more than one arm?"

"Is this a test?" Steve smiled, stopping short in front of another elevator, "Which floor?"

"Five, I think."

"...You up for a fight?"

"Are you kidding? I'm currently unarmed in every sense of the word." He paused, "Of course I am." Steve set Bucky down slowly so he could find his legs.

"Remember that time at the amusement park in Queens?" Bucky mused, "We were drunk on schnapps, but you just had to pick a fight with some thug who was pushing other kids off the rides."

"You remember that?"

"You got your ass kicked, as usual. I had to step in of course and save your punk ass."

"Are you just bringing this up to make me feel bad?" Steve frowned,

"Nothing's changed. You do the fighting and I'll watch your back. Deal?"

"You want me to do all the hard work?" The elevator hit the fifth floor at that moment, "I see your attitude is back." the doors started to open,

"You were the one with the attitude." Bucky stepped back, as Cap pulled out his shield.

Bullets came flying toward them.

The corridor was filled with Erik's and T'Challa's warriors. Steve ran forward, and punched his way through the first few guys, but they recovered in seconds. Bucky ducked down and swept his leg out, tripping two of them over.

One woman sucked in her breath, before breathing out a ball of fire. It came pelting towards them. Steve raised his shield just in time, covering both himself and Bucky. He threw the shield back at her, knocking her out cold this time,

"How long was I out for Steve? Is this a thing now?"

"Two months. And no Buck, fire breathing is not normal." Steve grabbed his shield from the woman's unconscious body, and aimed it at another guy further down the corridor.

"These guys are enhanced?" Bucky asked, helping a Wakandan soldier back on his feet,

"Yup." Steve raised his shield again, as a flurry of tiny knives shot out of one guy's skin.

"Gross." Bucky remarked, as the man's skin healed over.

"Come on. Let's find your arm so we can get out of here." Steve darted down a corridor off to the left, trying each door as he went, pausing only to knock out the infiltrators.

"In here." Bucky stopped in front of a lab door. "They were fixing it up in here before I went under." Steve kicked down the door, and stood on guard while Bucky searched the room. "Got it." He said a moment later, as a whirring sound came from his shoulder. There was his metal arm, new and improved. Guess they would find out how much.

"How is it?" Steve asked as they ran back towards the elevator,

"Lighter." Bucky called after him, "I hope it's strong enough." Just to test it out, he punched at the wall. His arm cut through the stone like it was paper.

"That's new." Steve remarked. "Vibranium?"

"Maybe." Bucky smiled, following after his friend.

They fought their way through the building, until they reached the second floor. By this time there were a number of T'Challa's warriors backing them up, and the tides were turning.

At the end of the second floor corridor was the king himself, stabbing into a thug with his claws,

"Your Majesty" Steve called over,

"Captain. Good timing." T'Challa looked over to them, letting the man fall to the floor, blood pouring out of his chest.

Just at that moment, more enhanced soldiers swarmed the corridor.

"I'll take care of the intruders, but feel free to take some out as you leave." T'Challa called. He seemed angry. His warriors followed him toward the oncoming attackers. Steve turned to face his friend, his expression torn.

"I want to help them too, but we'll get in the way in this cramped space. Let's do as he says." Bucky grabbed Steve's wrist, and led him over to the stairwell. "This way we can thank them for taking care of me."

Bucky slammed his new metal fist into a soldier who was just coming up the stairs. He went flying across the space and landed in a heap on top of his comrades. It created a domino effect for of soldiers toppling over down the staircase. Steve took the chance to run forward.

On they fought, until they finally reached the building's exit. They must have taken out at least two thirds of the enemy soldiers, so Steve felt a little less guilty about them escaping. Bucky had been right. They had been more helpful this way.

The two men slipped away into the jungle, moving fast but quietly between the dense trees. They kept going for about five minutes, before Steve felt they were far enough away from the fight,

"Up here." Bucky pointed to a tree with so many branches, they could not see the top. "We can catch our breath in the canopy." He began climbing the tree with ease,

"Alright Tarzan. You lead the way." Steve called after him, grinning,

"Shut up."

When Steve reached the canopy, Bucky had already found a good branch to rest on,

"Do these trees look… odd to you." Bucky asked, "These leaves are weird." he plucked a fresh leaf from the tree, handing it to Steve. He glanced from the leaf to his friend,

"It's… glowing?"

"You sure I was only out for two months? Don't hold back on me, man."

"Glowing trees aren't a thing either." Steve huffed, climbing onto the branch to join Bucky. The tree was pretty sturdy, but as his friend had pointed out, it was indeed glowing, "Botany isn't really my forte." He frowned at the tree, pulling out his phone. After a minute of trying to figure out the camera app, Bucky snatched the phone out of his hand, and snapped some shots of the trees, and a close up of the leaf.

"I never can figure out modern technology."

"You can use a Wakandan control panel, but not a smart phone?" Bucky mused, "Alright who am I sending these to?" Bucky was scrolling through Steve's contacts, "Stark?"

"Yeah. He can look at it in his lab. Or get one of his staff to anyway." Steve's frown grew more stubborn as Bucky sent the pics, then returned his phone. "I'm gonna have to take a crash course in this stuff. I'm still only halfway through my bucket list."

"You made a list?"

"Well, Sam wrote most of it."

"Falcon guy?"

"Yeah him. But I add to the list whenever I get told I have to watch some film I missed or listen to an album I'm lacking." Steve paused, as Bucky was clearly trying not to laugh, "What?"

"You never were up to date, Steve." He chuckled. It was a strangely beautiful sound, perhaps because it was so long since Steve had heard his friend laugh,

"Jerk."

"Hey, I'm the one who remembered to ask Stark for a pick-up." Bucky was grinning now. "Unless you were comfortable just chilling out in the jungle for the next few days."

"You and Tony were texting?" Steve glanced down at his phone. There were a string of messages between them, which he had failed to notice until now. "You updated him on the entire situation between photos?"

"Some of us can type fast." Bucky teased. Steve pulled a face that made Bucky put his hands up, "Hey, you would have taken all day, old man."

"I'm younger than you!" Steve felt his muscles bunching up,

"Pretty sure you've been defrosted longer than I've been out of cryo." Steve practically tackled his friend, who was laughing like a brat. He tousled the guys's smug head, before pulling him in closer. He couldn't help himself. He had missed his friend for so long, thought him dead for years, and then had to let him put himself back in cryo for two whole months. He needed to just… hold him for a while. Bucky let him.

It was 2AM, and they still had another hour to kill before their pick up arrived. Steve could feel boredom seeping in, when Bucky picked up his phone,

"Hey I'm surprised you haven't installed any drawing apps. Or did Stark not introduce you to the app store?"

"There's a store for apps?"

"Jeeze… Here lemme show you." Bucky turned on something called 'mobile data' and opened up an app Steve hadn't even spotted. He browsed for a while, looking at user reviews, before installing an app for sketching. Steve couldn't believe Tony had failed to mention this to him. Yet another thing to berate him for when they got to Manhattan.

"So I can draw with this?" Steve took the phone back, looking at the blank canvas on the screen. He picked up a twig, and tried making some light marks on the page. Sure enough, pencil marks appeared on his phone screen. "Well this is neat."

Bucky watched as Steve began sketching the landscape. He even told Bucky to sit still so he could sketch him too. Seven sketches later and Bucky was bored again. He picked up Steve's backpack and rummaged through it, pulling out a jar of something called 'Nutella.'

"You had chocolate on you and didn't say anything?" Bucky gawked,

"Oops…" Steve paused in his drawing. He saved the file, before pocketing his phone. He reached into his bag and pulled out a packet of mini pretzels. "Try dipping these in it."

"Steve, do you know when I last had chocolate?"

"Uh… no?"

"1941. Before rations."

"...Oh." Steve knew his smile looked stupid.

"Yeah 'Oh'. Don't hold out on me man." Bucky smiled, opening the jar and the pretzels.

"It won't be the same without Sam's homemade cookies, but these should add crunch, Steve pulled out a pretzel, handing it to his friend. Bucky looked down at the jar of nutty chocolatey goodness like it was a lifeboat in a storm.

"Midnight feast?" Bucky grinned up at him, and Steve was suddenly a kid again in 1928, and his best friend was sneaking him chocolate bars from his mom's 'high shelf'. Sarah had told them not to, but hey, they wanted chocolate real bad. They'd hidden away in their cushion fort in the living room, believing themselves geniuses, never to be caught. Of course they had been caught, with chocolatey evidence all over their sorry faces.

Bucky dipped his pretzel into the Nutella, scooping up a large dollop of the smooth substance, before tossing it into his mouth. Steve watched in amusement, as Bucky's face changed from contentment, to bliss, to near tears. There was that beautiful sound again. As he chuckled, Steve felt his heart ache,

"Screw cryo," Bucky commented between mouthfuls of pretzel dipped in Nutella, "I'm staying up for this."

Tony Stark was examining the photos Steve had sent him. Funny, he didn't recall teaching Steve how to attach files to messages. Even Thor had got that far, but Steve required training for pretty much anything tech-related.

The images showed fairly normal looking leaves for Wakanda, except that they were glowing. This was not normal. He ran some basic tests on the images, but he would need a sample to find out anything useful. He recalled blinky the fish, from that episode of The Simpsons where they made you feel bad about pollution. The leaves were glowing kinda like Blinky. Not in a good way. More like a mutated way.

Tony sent a text to Steve, asking him to bring back some leaf samples. He hoped his pilot got Rogers and his bestie out of there before things got freakier.