Chapter Ten
Vienna, Austria
Temperance rolled to her side with a wince, coughing on the dust that rushed to make a home in her lungs every time she tried to catch her breath. She could see bright lights and the outlines of figures scrambling around her, but her sight was bleary, and her ears still rang from the proximity of the explosion. She buried her face in her arm, trying to cough the dust out of her lungs without sucking any more back in. When she felt a hand on her shoulder, she looked up from the crook of her arm to see Nat kneeling over her.
"Temp, can you hear me?" She was asking when the ringing in Temperance's ears subsided enough to make it out. "Are you hurt? Please don't be hurt."
Nat watched as Temp's eyes traveled around the room, unfocused and trying to piece together what had happened. Nat had watched in horror from her seat when the explosive went off. Temp, who had been standing off to the left of King T'Chaka, waiting for her turn to take the floor, had been blown back by the blast. She watched as Temp's eyes fell on King T'Chaka, who lay unresponsive on the ground a few yards away, his son desperately hunched over him.
"Come on, let's get you outside where you can breathe." She insisted, helping Temp up and turning her away from the sight.
Temp allowed Nat to guide her out of the building, and she watched as firefighters and other first responders rushed past to assess the damage. She'd been so close to T'Chaka. She wouldn't have survived, either, if she wasn't - well, her. T'Challa had been pushing past her, trying to warn them, trying to get to his father. If she'd caught on earlier, she might have been able to -
"Temp," Nat said, grabbing her attention. She'd been sitting on a bench outside of the Vienna International Centre while Nat made phone calls. Seeing her disheveled appearance, a paramedic had rushed up to her to inquire about her health, but she'd brushed him off, telling him that people needed help inside. Right now, Nat was holding a phone out to her. "It's Tony."
Her own phone had been buzzing frantically in her pocket for the last few minutes, but she hadn't pulled it out yet, her mind trying to sort through what had happened and what needed to be done. She didn't move to take the phone from Nat immediately, but Nat was persistent. Temp took it and brought it to her ear.
"Hello?" She rasped, her throat still raw from all the coughing.
"Temp?" Tony asked warily, "Are you alright?"
"I'm -" She began, but she paused when her voice didn't come out as steadily as she'd intended, clearing her throat, "I'm fine. What have you heard? Do you know what's happening?"
She heard Tony sigh on the other side of the line.
"Looks like the Winter Soldier," he told her, "they're pulling footage now."
"Barnes?" She asked, her brows furrowing. She'd never encountered the man, but she'd certainly heard a lot about him, having dealt with the damage he caused in D.C.
"Yeah," Tony said, "Look, Temp, this one really isn't a job for damage control, okay? Besides, we haven't exactly ironed out what the accords mean for damage control. Our hands are tied now that we've signed. What I need you to do now is sit tight with Nat and wait to hear what our next move is."
"Got it," Temp replied, nodding although he couldn't see it. Speaking to Tony and developing a game plan was making her feel more like herself again as the shock wore off. "Have you heard from Steve?"
There was a long pause. "No."
Temperance sighed. She knew the next conflict would be a nightmare to navigate with the team being split on the accords, but she hadn't expected to have to deal with it this soon, "Alright, just keep me updated, okay? I'll keep an eye on things here."
"Temp," He said, his tone warning.
"I'm not going to call in a team. I'm just going to talk to the emergency responders - make sure they're appropriately organized."
"Of course you are," Tony began, but she didn't hear the rest, because she handed the phone back to Nat and walked off toward the emergency response vehicles. Temperance poked around the emergency response area, asking questions about how many casualties and wounded they were dealing with, whether the surrounding buildings had been evacuated, etc. etc. until she felt a hand on her shoulder, ushering her away from the frustrated police officers. She was surprised when she turned to see that the hand belonged to Secretary Ross, and she resisted the urge to shrug it off, allowing him to guide her away to a more secluded area.
"You feeling alright?" He asked her. "You took quite a hit back there." She knew he was only asking to keep from jumping straight into his own agenda, but she wished he'd get on with it.
"I'm fine. What's the word?" She asked directly, crossing her arms.
"The word is that Barnes is involved, and we've got footage of him that places him near the explosives," Ross told her, confirming what she already knew. "He needs to be brought in, and the panel wants you to do it."
"Alright," Temperance said, pulling out her phone, "It'll take a few hours to get everyone rallied, but I think -"
"Not the Avengers," Ross interrupted, causing her to stop and look up at him. "You."
"Me?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowed.
"It's one man. Nobody's interested in seeing your family drama unfold - the more Avengers you involve, the more hectic it's going to be, and the more damage is inevitable. Your signature is on those papers, and the panel wants you," he lectured. Temp looked away, shoving her tongue into her cheek, "I want you to bring Barnes in, and I want you to do it the quiet way. Do you understand what I'm saying to you?"
Temperance glared up at him through her lashes, biting down hard on her cheek to keep herself from arguing. Of course she understood what he was saying. The quiet way. The accords hadn't even been in place for an hour yet, and he was already telling her to use her influence. She forced herself not to react so that she wouldn't give confirmation of her ability. She still wanted to play her cards close to her chest.
She had two choices: she could retire right now in front of Ross - tell him to go to hell - or she could play along and see just how much flexibility she could wrangle out of the accords. The latter seemed wiser for the moment, though she wasn't sure how she was going to bring in the Winter Soldier by herself. Either way, she agreed that he needed to be brought in. He was a danger to society, and he had killed the King of Wakanda - a country that had never bothered or hurt anyone in it's long, secluded history.
"Can I have Rhodes?" She asked, her negotiating habits rearing up in the midst of her frustration. She knew that Ross at least trusted Rhodey to carry out police action without question and to keep things professional, so it was worth a shot. He thought about it for a moment, before nodding and pulling out his phone.
"I'll send him your way." He said as she began walking away without another word. "Oh, and Ward?"
Temperance stopped and turned to face him again.
"If Rogers interferes, you bring him in, too."
Shit. Shit shit shit. Temperance was miles-deep inside her head as she headed for the car. Nat, noticing that Temperance was attempting to leave without her, stepped in her path.
"Where are you going?" She asked, one perfect eyebrow raised.
"I have to handle something," Temp told her brusquely, trying to step around her. Nat blocked her again. "I'll see you back in New York."
"Handle what? We're supposed to be sitting on our hands." Nat challenged her.
"Nat, I really don't have time to talk about it," Temp said. She wasn't going to lie to Natasha, but she wasn't trying to tell her the truth, either. She didn't need to, though - Nat was the most perceptive person she'd ever met. Her face fell when she put two and two together.
"They're sending you." She said. Then, in disbelief, "They're sending you? What, now they're your biggest fans?"
"Now that I'm at their disposal?" Temp retorted, "Yeah. Imagine that."
"Steve and Sam are going after Barnes," Nat told her. "If you arrest him, you'll have to arrest them."
"I don't know what to say, Nat. This was the agreement." Temp said, her tone resolved.
"If you pull the cord on this, he's never gonna forgive you." Nat replied, her voice lowering. Temp tensed at the implication that she was considering using her ability on Steve. She brushed past Nat, unlocking the car and walking around to the driver's door.
"I'll find another way." She said.
"What way?" Nat pressed. Temperance climbed into the car without another word, unwilling to admit that she had no idea.
Bucharest, Romania
"Friday, any sign of them?" Temperance asked as she glanced in the rearview mirror and switched lanes. She'd been weaving through traffic for the last 15 minutes, after landing the jet in Bucharest and changing into the spandex pants and breathable tank-top she kept on board for emergencies. It wasn't exactly spandex - some kind of synthetic fabric that was supposed to be rip-resistant, made from special fibers that Tony had been working on in recent years. He had badgered her constantly about building her a suit - any kind of suit - for years now, but she was resistant to the idea, insisting that she didn't have much use for one.
"There appears to be an altercation happening near the Bucharest Beltway." Friday replied, causing Temp to change to the far right lane. She had headed for Romania the moment she got word that someone had spotted Barnes.
"North or south-bound?"
"Northbound."
Temp took the appropriate exit based on the map Friday was projecting for her and picked up speed as she entered the beltway. The sleek, black car that she drove was compact and sat low to the ground, since it was designed to be carried in the belly of the jet. She weaved closely between two cars, ignoring their honking, and passed into a tunnel.
"Pedestrians ahead." Friday reported. Temp sped up.
"Gotcha." She murmured, focusing in on the running figure just ahead. Steve. Just as she caught up to him, he hurled himself onto the windshield of the police car next to him. The officer slammed the brakes, and Temp cursed, whipping around them just in time. She glanced in her rearview mirror as Steve pulled the man out of his car and took it, leaving him stranded on the motorway. "Damn it, Steve."
She pressed onward, eager to get to Barnes before he did. She neared another running figure and almost slowed down, until she spotted Barne's metal arm reflecting light up ahead. She did a double take as she passed by the figure, dressed in a black cat suit. "Friday, who the hell is that?"
"I can't ascertain the identity of the third combatant" Friday replied. Temperance turned her attention back to the road and focused on catching Barnes. This guy was fast. They needed to get off the motorway before someone got killed. She watched as Barnes ran right over the top of a moving car like it was nothing, and she swerved around the car in pursuit of him. In her rearview mirror, blue flashing lights quickly approached. It was the police car that Steve had commandeered. She watched as the person in the black cat suit hopped onto a nearby car and launched themselves onto the back of Steve's car. Steve slowed down a bit, attempting to shake him off. Whoever that was, they seemed to have the same goal as she did. Steve's car slammed into the police car next to him as he swerved back and forth, and Temp's grip on the wheel tightened.
"Unbelievable." She muttered. When she focused back on the road, she noticed that Barnes had taken a swift left to avoid the police that had come to head them off at the entrance of the tunnel. Temp swerved left, too, wincing as her car plowed through a line of barrels and out of the tunnel. When she spotted Barnes again, he was flinging a man off his motorcycle and climbing on. The traffic, thankfully, stopped in time to avoid the poor man lying on the pavement, but Temp had seen enough. Barnes sped off down the tunnel in the opposite direction they'd been going, and Temp's tires screeched as she slammed the brakes and spun the car around.
"Okay," She said, shifting gears and slamming on the gas, "this is gonna stop."
She took off down the tunnel after him - by now, the police had started to stem traffic from coming into this area, which gave her a much straighter shot. "Friday, take the wheel."
"Activating autopilot," Friday responded. Temp pushed a button on the dash and the sun roof slid open with a whoosh, causing her ponytail to whip around in the wind. She hoisted herself through the opening and planted her feet on either side, commanding Friday to close it 90%. She squatted low, clutching the small gap left in the sun roof to keep her balance as the car swerved a little.
"Alright, Friday, ease up to him," She called over the whipping wind. The car accelerated smoothly, and she shifted on her toes, preparing herself as the car approached Barnes' motorcycle. Just as she was psyching herself up for the jump, something came soaring past and slammed into her from the side, knocking her off her feet. She managed to keep her grip on the sunroof window with one hand and cried out as her body twisted, sliding off the side of the roof. She scrambled back up to see that Sam had been the one to barrel right through her. She growled in frustration - if she hadn't held on, she would have Steve's tire tracks on her back by now. "Friday, accelerate." She called. The car jolted forward to catch the winged man, and Temperance reached out, grabbing hold of his calf. His other foot attempted to kick her off, but she dodged it, yanking him down so that his body bounced off the hood of the car. He soared back up, spinning as his wings fumbled to find equilibrium again. Temp knelt low as the car zipped past underneath him.
"Asshole!" She called over her shoulder, glancing back to see that he had still managed to stay airborne - he would be fine. When she turned back around to find Barnes, her eyes widened. He had thrown an explosive up to the roof at the exit of the tunnel in an attempt to stop her from following him.
"Ma'am?" Friday asked, sensing the large chunks of concrete that fell into the road ahead of them.
"Not yet, Friday." Temp said, steeling herself and planting her feet as she watched Barnes drive under the falling rubble just in time.
"The road is 60% obstruc-"
"Not yet." Temp said, her brow creased in determination. She waited until the car was just about to plow into the stone obstructions.
"Brakes!" She shouted. The car screeched as Friday applied the brakes fully. The car still plowed into the concrete rubble, but the combination of the impact and the force of the brakes caused the car to tip onto its nose, vaulting Temperance forward. She used the momentum, leaping forward like a jungle cat on the hunt. She stretched through every muscle of her body as she was flung forward, closing the distance between her and Barnes. She slammed into him, knocking him off the motorcycle and sending them both crashing to the pavement. She grunted as her body slid across the pavement and rolled over Barnes three or four times from the momentum of the crash. She ignored the pain, scrambling to her feet as quickly as possible. She had rolled farther than Barnes, who also jumped to his feet. He looked back at the dead-end he'd created behind him and then forward again, where she stood in his way, feet planted. She pulled a small, heavy baton out of a compartment on her belt, and it activated at her touch, unsheathing itself in levels until it had built up into a long, blunt titanium staff.
"You're coming with me." She said. The cords that extended from his mind were unruly and squirming, but she could sense them. She hesitated only for a moment, faced with the decision of whether or not she wanted to use them, but a moment was all he needed. He rushed at her, and she swung her weapon so that the top end came at his head. He reached out and caught it with his metal hand easily, and she gritted her teeth as his other hand came out to grip the staff as well, trying to yank it out of her grasp. When it was clear that his strength was a match for hers, she used the force to brace herself and walked up his thigh, throwing her weight down toward the pavement. Her back rolled against the ground and he flipped over her, landing flat on his back. Temperance followed all the way through the roll with a backwards somersault that landed her directly on top of Barnes, whom she straddled. She brought the staff, which he still held with both hands, across his chest and pushed down, trying to keep him subdued. His leg came up, trying to hook around her neck, but she'd sparred enough with Natasha to see it coming and leaned forward, dodging it. The side of the staff that he was holding with his metal arm was steadily rising, and she knew she couldn't hold him down forever. Her hands shifted positions on the staff, and he smirked as he gained ground, pushing the bar away from his neck. She smirked back, her hands finding the two sections of the staff with rubber coatings. She twisted her wrists in opposite directions, causing the weapon to emit a charge. She felt a slight jolt from her contact with him and jumped as his body went slack. He groaned, letting go of the staff.
Temperance blew at a strand of hair that had fallen out of her ponytail and into her face, feeling triumphant. She pulled back her elbow, ready to knock him out completely, when another body tackled her from the side, knocking her head against the pavement. She groaned as she rolled away, bringing a hand to her head. The man in the black cat suit had already climbed to his feet and was standing threateningly over Barnes.
"I thought you were on my side," she groaned to nobody in particular, pushing herself back up. Before she could do anything else, Steve appeared and grabbed the man around the waist, throwing him off of Barnes. Steve stood protectively between Barnes and his two pursuers, glancing warily at Temperance. Temp had managed to hold onto her weapon, and tapped it three times with her ring finger. The metal plating shifted under her hand and the weapon curled into itself until it formed a stun gun. Temp pointed it at Steve, then the man in black, then Steve again.
"This is over." She ordered breathlessly, relieved when the police moved in to surround them. She tensed as Rhodey landed a few feet away from her with a heavy thunk and then relaxed, dropping her gun and allowing him to take over.
"Stand down. Now." Rhodey commanded. Steve obliged, putting his shield on his back and putting his hands up. "Congratulations, Cap. You're a criminal."
SWAT moved in and began to cuff Steve, Barnes, and Sam (who had just caught up to the confrontation). Temperance eyed the man in the black cat suit, who retracted his claws and reached up to pull off his mask.
T'Challa. Now it made sense - he hadn't come to help arrest Barnes. He had come for his own personal vendetta. Which meant that he, too, had violated the accords. SWAT cuffed him as well and began to load the perpetrators into a car. Steve made eye contact with her as he was ushered into the backseat, and she looked away, angry.
"Nice work, Temp." Rhodey assured her. Temp gave a curt nod, sheathing her weapon.
"Yeah, whatever."
Berlin, Germany
Temperance's mood had improved a little, but not much when they arrived at the Joint Counter Terrorist Centre in Berlin. The director of the Joint Terrorism Task Force, Everett Ross, greeted them in the motorpool and escorted them up to the offices, where the perpetrators of the accord would be held as a courtesy (as opposed to a cell)- a courtesy that he made sure they recognized.
Temp was relieved to see that Nat and Tony were already waiting for them in the offices, and she immediately crossed the room to join them, distancing herself from Steve and Sam, whom she hadn't said a word to since Bucharest. Barnes had been confined in a cell compartment on another level of the building, and T'Challa had been taken to another office, presumably so that he could make phone calls and handle the situation with some privacy.
"Romania was not accords sanctioned." Tony was saying to someone one the phone. Temperance hadn't thought about that. Did that mean they were off the hook this time? "Colonel Rhodes is supervising cleanup. Consequences? You bet there will be consequences."
Tony got off the phone, and Steve was immediately asking questions, "Consequences?"
"Secretary Ross wants you both prosecuted," Tony said, putting his phone in his pocket, "I had to give him something."
"I'm not going to get that shield back, am I?" Steve asked. Temp snorted derisively, crossing her arms. That was really his biggest concern right now? The shield? Her reaction caught the attention of Tony, who turned to face her.
"What happened with you?" He asked, "I tell you to sit tight, and the next thing I see is your face plastered all over the news?"
"You told me to wait to hear our next move," She corrected him, "And Ross told me the next move."
"He said jump, and you said 'how high'? That's how it works now, right?" Sam asked, crossing his arms. Temperance turned and pointed a threatening finger in his direction.
"You don't get to talk to me." She said. Tony glanced between the two of them.
"Well, something clearly happened there, but we don't have time to unpack all of that," He said, pulling his phone out and projecting a video in front of Temperance. It took Temp a moment to register that the girl in the images, jumping from a car crash and knocking a man off a motorcycle was her. She winced as she watched herself hit the ground and roll. She hadn't even noticed that the motorcycle had flipped right over top of her after she hit the ground. "Pretty impressive moves there, Miss I Don't Need a Suit."
"I don't," Temp said simply, feeling particularly contrary after the events of the day.
"Yeah? Lose the jacket." Tony ordered, shutting down the projection. Temp sighed and pulled off the jacket that one of the SWAT members had offered her. Everyone in the room winced at the sight of her shoulders, which were scraped red and raw from the burn the concrete had given her. Tony's jaw set, and Temperance, knowing that he was now angry, felt her own anger slip away a little bit.
"I used the Swiss Army Knife," She said with a wry little smile. Some of the mirth returned to Tony's eyes, and he smirked triumphantly.
"I saw that," He replied. "Worked like a charm."
Temperance rolled her eyes, the tension having dispelled with the exchange. The weapon she'd used on Barnes was something that Tony had designed for her and insisted she start carrying - calling it a heavy duty swiss army knife because of the many functions it has. Tony gestured to Natasha to come with the two of them, and Nat nodded, turning to Steve and Sam, "Try not to break anything while we fix this."
"Why don't you go try and talk to him?" Tony asked Temperance as they stood outside of the glass-walled meeting room that Steve was sitting in.
"Did Ross tell you to say that?" She asked, her tone challenging. Tony's eyebrows raised.
"No, but this attitude is really becoming on you." He replied sarcastically, "Is it going to be with us much longer?"
Temperance sighed, her face softening. "I'm sorry. It's just -Ross wanted me to…" She trailed off, knowing that he could fill in the blanks himself. Tony's eyebrows furrowed.
"He said that?"
"It was heavily implied."
"And did you?"
"Of course not!"
"Alright, well, I'm not asking you to go in there as Siren. I'm asking you to go in as Temp - someone Rogers really respects." He clarified.
"Fine," Temperance agreed. Tony had tried talking to Steve and had been making some ground. However, when Steve found out that Wanda was being kept at the Avengers facility in New York for the time being (until they could figure out a plan for her), he had become angry and doubled down on his stance. When she took a seat next to Steve at the conference table, he was wearing a soft, sad smile.
"You're not gonna change my mind, Temp." He said.
"Probably not." She agreed. The space between his brows furrowed.
"I'm sorry about the roadburn."
"Don't be," She said simply, "I made a choice."
"Yeah." He replied. There was such a palpable divide between them as they sat there, and it made Temperance's chest tight to think about. She may not have been on many missions over the years, but the Avengers had been her family after she had none, and looking out for the team had been her life; she couldn't bear the thought of a permanent split. She wanted Steve to give this up and fall into line, badly, and her ability was responding to the desire.
Steve's will had always had unique cords. Temp had disagreed with him enough over the years to be well-acquainted with them. They were firm and sturdy - she had a feeling that they weren't easy to pull - and yet they didn't swing away from her and flail like others'. It had taken her years to piece together that this meant that he trusted her. In some ways, it made the temptation harder. The cords just reached out to her, unassuming, waiting to be grabbed.
Just one pull, she thought. One pull and we could all go back to New York as a family. He probably wouldn't even know the difference, as much as he trusted her. Tony had even said that he seemed to be on the fence before he found out about Wanda. He could probably be convinced that he made the decision himself.
Temp blinked, shaking her head a little bit as if that would make the temptation go away.
"Temp, are you alright?" Steve asked. His eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes narrowed a little.
"I'm fine," She said. She had come in with a game plan - specific points to bring up, arguments to make. Never in her life had she been so utterly unfocused in a negotiation. But her ability was so strong right now - she was subconsciously boring deep into his mind, and his cords were so discernible, so palpable. "I'm…."
"You don't seem to have much to say," Steve said, his frown deepening. Then she felt it. First it was just a tremor. Then, slowly, warily, the cords curled away from her and just out of reach. Her eyes snapped to his. He was suspicious of her.
"I'm not trying to control you," She said.
"I know." He replied shortly, though his posture had straightened, and his expression wasn't nearly as soft as it had been before. She felt exposed and defensive and ashamed, as if he had been able to read her thoughts when she was considering it. She opened her mouth, unsure what she was even going to say, but it didn't matter. She was interrupted by sirens and flashing lights.