Chapter 21: London
The Greco-Roman pillars of the British museum nearly matched the drab, cold gray of the overcast sky. The museum loomed in the background, an ocean of tourists spotting the steps and stones leading inside. Bucky, Bella, and Shuri, dressed plainly in jeans and sweaters, walked circles around the grounds of the museum most of the morning looking for a woman in a red hat.
"Nakia didn't give us very much information. We don't even know if we have the right day," Shuri complained. "It could be a month from now."
"Then we come back every day for a month," Bucky said.
"How will we know it is the right one?" Shuri asked. "I've seen at least five different red hats walk past."
"Yes, but those were all men," Bucky replied, continuing to scan the grounds.
"That's not the point," Shuri said.
"Shuri, this is your first mission. Relax. Watch and learn and don't ask too many questions," Bucky said.
"It is your fault that I've had to wait so long for my first mission," Shuri said. "I would have been able to go on the mission to Nigeria three years ago if you both hadn't decided to marry and run off on a holiday at the beach for three months."
"A worthy delay, I think," Bucky said. "Now, focus."
The three continued to pace together until they were stopped by a voice behind them.
"Word alive! If it isn't Sergeant James Barnes. Well, I'll be!" came the quiet, British voice of a woman with white hair pulled into a neat bun. She sat on a small bench in the corner of the courtyard, a cane and a newspaper in hand. Yet, what drew their attention was the bright red hat crowning her snowy head, like a cardinal in a snowstorm.
"How do you know me?" Bucky asked, feeling uncomfortable being recognized. He had avoided international travel as much as he could for this reason alone.
"Hmmm. That is not something we should talk about here," she said, glancing around the busy courtyard. "I suppose you all should come home with me for tea and then we can make proper introductions."
"Yes, ma'am," he replied, glancing uneasily at Shuri and Bella.
The old woman slowly rose and took her cane.
"It's not far. Follow me," she said. She led them on a maze-like path through streets and shops and up stairs until she unlocked the door of a little flat overlooking the bustling street below.
"Make yourselves at home," she said. She removed her hat and ushered them towards faded floral couches. Antique furniture filled the sitting room and delicate blue and white floral wallpaper hung on the walls. She disappeared into another room and reappeared with a tea tray heavy with three cups of tea, sugar, and cream. Bucky jumped to his feet to relieve her of her burden and set it on the coffee table. She smiled in thanks.
"Here you are, dearies," she said as she handed out cups of English tea to Bucky, Shuri, and herself. She placed no cup in front of Bella.
"Now, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Mrs. Susan Ellis," she said, blue eyes glittering as if she had just discovered the punchline to a joke or unearthed a great mystery.
"How do you know Bucky?" Shuri asked, unable to contain her curiosity any longer.
"I will tell you," Mrs. Ellis said, carefully measuring her words as if with a teaspoon. "But first, I would like to know why I have the pleasure of being called upon by a Wakandan princess, a dead soldier, and a vampire?"
All three visitors turned upon Mrs. Ellis with wide eyes. Shuri spluttered her tea onto her dress before trying to clean it up with her serviette.
"Ma'am, I would say you wouldn't believe us, but with an introduction like that, you just might," Bucky started. "We have been sent to find you by the King of Wakanda because a prophet had a dream that we needed to find you."
"I see."
"You do?" Bucky said.
Mrs. Ellis did not respond but thoughtfully stirred her tea.
"I've seen more than most, even most of my age," she said, her cornflower blue eyes sparkling with unshed tears that threatened to overflow on her ridged and furrowed cheeks. "In answer to your question, your highness, I spent many years working with a woman called Peggy Carter. She spoke often of your companion here. Sergeant Barnes, do you remember her?"
"Yes. Quite a dame, that one. Steve was sweet on her since the first time she punched out a fella with a loose tongue. Our paths crossed often during the war," he responded, thoughtfully.
"Yes, yes. Well, I spent a good many years of my life in America working with the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division, otherwise known as SHIELD. I began as a data entry clerk but over the years I was able to work in a variety of departments, but mainly because Peggy saw possibility in me as more than a secretary or clerk. She was a great woman. Sometimes, when I could find her good and drunk, she would tell stories of her exploits during the war along with Captain America and your Howling Commandos.
"Imagine my surprise a few years ago when I see not only the long lost Captain American has reappeared, but the formerly deceased Sergeant Barnes' face is glued across my TV screen in relation to the death of the Wakandan monarch! I figured there had to be a good story behind that.
"Anyhow, during my work with SHIELD, I became privy to information the regular citizen is usually in the dark about," she said, nodding her head in Bella's direction.
"I retired in the early 1980's and decided I'd had enough of America and came back home. I've been here ever since. But I still like to keep up on current affairs. Call it a hobby," she said with a wink. "Now tell me, what can I do for you? Seeing such an unlikely trio in one place obviously looking for someone, I'll call it a hunch, but I just assumed you were looking for me."
"You were correct," Bucky said. "I apologize if this gums it up even more, but we don't really know what we are looking for. We were simply told to find you and nothing else."
"I am honored to meet you all," she said and rose. "Please make yourself comfortable while I make some toast."
The three visitors looked around the flat, each thinking of what questions they should ask, when Shuri's eyes fell upon a small black and white photograph of four teenagers together. She picked it up and looked at it.
"Mrs. Ellis, are these your children?" she asked.
Mrs. Ellis laughed and then sobered quickly. "No, love, I never had any children. That is me. You see the oldest girl with the long, dark hair? That was me in my early twenties. The young man next to me was my oldest brother, Peter. The two next to him were my younger brother Edmund and our little sister, Lucy."
"I wish I could have had more brothers and sisters," Shuri said, with a sigh. "Having only one is quite boring. My brother is wonderful, but I think having a few more of him would have been even more wonderful."
"Yes. Family is a precious gift that few people really appreciate while they have and only know the value of when it is gone. You have my deepest condolences for the loss of your father, Princess. I know it was some time ago, but I imagine you still miss him."
Shuri fought back tears and nodded.
"Is any of your family still around?" Bucky asked.
Mrs. Ellis sighed. "No. My entire family-my parents, brothers, sisters, cousin, and even an adopted uncle, I lost them all in a railway accident when I was still a young woman. My husband, also, died not long after we were married. I suppose I would call them my inspiration for my work with SHIELD."
"That is so sad!" Shuri said, grabbing the old woman's hand in her own. "You are like us. We have all lost parts of our family is very sudden and sad ways."
"What do you mean they were your inspiration?" Bucky asked.
"Awww, you know enough about SHIELD to ask that…" Mrs. Ellis replied. "Their deaths were proclaimed an unfortunate railway accident, but I never believed it was an accident. A few years before they died, Professor Kirke, our sort of uncle-not a real uncle, you understand, but like an uncle-he looked after us during the war in his great house in the countryside and we were close with him ever since. One day, he mysteriously lost all his assets. Not only the great house in the countryside but his childhood home in London and all his inherited funds. He was forced to move to a much smaller cottage while he pursued legal action to have his properties returned to him. During his investigations, he discovered that the same company acquired both properties. It was not long after that the railway incident occurred.
"It all seemed too coincidental to me. I couldn't let it rest…especially when I found that the Italian company that claimed ownership of the properties simply tore them down and dug up all the land as if they were performing an archaeological expedition. A few years later, they sold the properties to developers who build modern flats and a hotel on the land."
"You think they stole the properties to find something and then sold them when they found it?" Bucky asked.
"Yes."
"What do you think they were looking for?"
"Magic."
"Excuse me?" Bucky said.
Mrs. Ellis sighed. "There are parts of my life that I have never told to anyone. Not even my husband. There are parts of my life that I even tried to not remember myself," she said.
"Tell us," Bella said, leaning forward on her elbows in earnest.
"When we were staying with Professor Kirke during the war, my brothers and sister and I discovered some kind of portal between realms. We entered what we thought was a wardrobe and found ourselves in a completely different world. We spent what seemed like a half a lifetime there only to return and find ourselves returned to our previous time stream.
"That was not the only portal and it was not our only journey into this other realm. We were also not the only ones to have gone. Professor Kirke himself had traveled there as a child using magical rings that created a portal to not only this world but to many worlds.
"I know this all sounds rather fantastical, and that is why, for many years, I chose to pretend I had never experienced any of these things. For a young girl struggling to grow into a woman, a lifetime as a queen of another realm was too much of an obstacle to normalcy for me to cling to. I let go of the past in order to focus on my present.
"My family, however, they never did. Their hearts never left our other home and they longed to return. That's where they were all going to, you know, when the accident occurred. They wanted to gather what they called the "friends of Narnia," for you see, that is the name of this other realm or planet or world that we discovered, and on their way, they all died, all of them. All the people who had ever heard of or been to Narnia died that day except me.
"There was no way I could ever share about that part of my life with anyone. I would be looked upon as insane or delusional or fanciful. No, I kept that part of my life with my dear family and poured my life into my work. I wanted to discover the real cause of their deaths. I also wanted to make sure that other people wouldn't have to go through the pain of loss that I did for such unnecessary reasons. So, in my work with SHIELD, even if it was behind-the-scenes, I still felt like I was helping.
"I also felt a little more normal. Dealing with things like super soldiers and lifeforms from other worlds and galaxies and the like made my past not sound quite so outlandish."
"Wow! So, you actually traveled between worlds as a child? That is amazing!" Shuri said.
"You mentioned you were a queen. What did you mean by that?" Bucky asked.
"Well, when we first arrived in Narnia, we found the land was ruled by an evil witch who had been brought from another world by the magic rings I spoke of. As a child, Professor Kirke accidentally woke her and brought her to Narnia during the very beginning of their world. This witch eventually proclaimed herself the queen and held most of the population in subjugated through her magic and her cruelty. When the real king of the realm returned, he put an end to her and installed our family is rulers. We ruled for a few decades until we really were all grown adults. Then we came back home as children."
"What happened to the queen?" Bucky asked.
"Yes. Jadis, the White Witch, she was called. She really was horrid-all icy and cold and turning people to stone and all that and…"
"Wait, turning people to stone?"
"Yes. She would turn anyone who was against her to stone."
Bucky, Shuri, and Bella turned to stare at each other, mouths agape.
"What? Why are you all looking like codfish?"
"We have had multiple reports of people who have been turned to stone and we have been at a loss to know how," Bella said. "At least one source said a powerful sorceress was responsible."
"Well, I'll be," Mrs. Ellis said with a soft whistle.
"What happened to the witch?" Bucky asked.
"Anyhow, the King, Aslan, the Great Lion as they called him, he put her to death during our final battle and then he restored everyone who had been turned to stone. A few centuries later, during our next visit, an old hag wanted to resurrect her. She assured us that a witch is never really dead but can be brought back with the right kind of magic. Well, we had had quite enough of her and so didn't attempt it. Still, it spooked us to the core, thinking that one such as her could still be around and called back at any time."
"What were the portals that you know of that led between worlds?" Bucky asked.
"Well, let me see. The first was that old wardrobe. It never worked as a portal again, as far as I know. The second was a magic horn that called us from our world to Narnia, but we left that in Narnia. The third was a doorway in Narnia that Aslan built for people to return back into our world to an island where there's a cave with another portal on it. Then there was a picture at my aunt's house once that brought my brother and sister back. The last time I heard of, it was through a random gate in a school yard.
"Oh, and let me see, Professor Kirke used magic rings. Really, most times it was Aslan calling us into his world to help with some task or mission. The only time it was intentionally initiated from our side was through the magic rings. And seeing as that brought the blasted witch into Narnia in the first place, I'd say that didn't end well."
"Where did the rings end up?" Bucky asked.
"Ah me, lord if I know. Professor Kirke said he got rid of them so his uncle, the one who invented them, couldn't use them for any other nefarious purposes. But it's been so long now since I heard those stories. I don't know if he ever told us the nitty gritty details of what he did with them. I can't help but wonder, though, if anybody else knew about those rings and if they did, what lengths they would go to in order to obtain them," she said.
"Enough to steal property and remove witnesses," Bucky said.
"Yes."
"Did you ever discover who caused the railway accident," Bella asked.
"No. The company masterfully covered their tracks."
"I'm sorry."
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
They bid Mrs. Ellis farewell and thanked her for her time and hospitality. They promised to let her know if they discovered anything else.
Shuri skipped down the steps of the apartment building and circled around in the lightly falling rain.
"We've accomplished our mission! I want to dance in the streets and go to a pub and find a really old library and read a book that's older than my great grandfather," she said, skipping in circles around Bucky and Bella.
"After we make our report back to the General," Bucky said. "We are still on a mission here, miss excitement."
Before Bucky could contact the General, a loud bang exploded and smoke filled the air.
"What was that?" Shuri asked.
"I don't know, but I don't like it," Bella responded.
"I think I know, and that's why I don't like it," responded Bucky. "Let me go check it out. I'm the least flammable of the three of us."
He disappeared into the smoke. Another bang sounded followed the sound of Bucky shouting.
"Wait here," Bella said. "If anything happens, contact T'Challa and Okoye directly."
Bella ran into the smoke and found the remains of a small explosion. It seemed to have targeted a nearby dumpster. Bits of trash burned and flew down the road, but smoke continued to pour out of the dumpster.
"Bucky? Bucky? Are you OK?" Bella said, searching through the grey swirls until she came across Bucky's limp form near the dumpster.
"Oh, please, no." she cried and ran to him. She lay her head on his chest till she could pick out his steady breathing. His eyes remained fixed forward, staring at nothing.
"Talk to me, babe. Are you OK?" She said, patting his face with her hands. Her nonexistent heart jumped when she heard Shuri's scream.
ooooooo
A/N: FYI, this particular chapter references nearly all the books in the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. As the summary of this story says, I'm attempting a triple crossover (or quadruple crossover if you count incorporating African mythology)...strategic overstretch? Maybe...but it seemed like such a crazy idea that I went with it. And it's been fun. This is my first attempt at writing anything like this. I appreciate any feedback, critiques, or suggestions for improvement you would like to give!