"This is an organizational nightmare," Wanda muttered as she swiped across the tablet.

"Yup," Sam agreed, "but it's coming together."

"I don't like having to rely on outsiders," Wanda groused.

"We don't exactly have much choice," I reminded. "There's only three of us and we can't escort every single person to a safe haven." Much like the Underground Railroad used to ferry slaves out of the South and to the North, we'd set up routes to get enhanced or Inhumans out of the US. First stops in either Canada or Mexico then to Europe where possible. The vast majority of old Hydra bases located in that half of the world and we knew of nearly a dozen that had never been discovered by SHIELD or anyone else. Granted none were in great shape, but most were livable with only a minimum of work. The walls and foundations solid even if the interior had fallen into decrepitude.

The challenge had been in setting up the network. The waypoints where those who wanted to run, could spend a night or two before moving on to the next. Finding people we could trust, who were truly sympathetic to the plight of the enhanced had not been easy. Some were enhanced themselves, but able to hide their abilities from others. The problem being, once you'd been put on the ATCU's list you could not be removed and whether or not part of their program were watched. Most could not fly out of the country without coming under close scrutiny. Presumed guilty simply because you'd survived terrigenesis.

Money had not been an issue thankfully and everyone we helped got a care package that included funds, a burner phone, and travel papers that would hold up long enough to get them across that first border. Going north easier than south, given once in Canada we could fly them over the pole and into any of a dozen points in Europe or Asia. We never took anyone to our base. I refused to compromise our home and both Sam and Wanda agreed with me. The risk of SHIELD, ATCU or even Ross setting us up, sending an agent in as a victim would increase with every single success so we made certain we stayed safe first and foremost.

"Someone compromised?" Sam questioned, setting his tablet down to watch her.

She shook her head. "I don't believe so, but that could change any day."

"You vetted everyone we chose to run the routes." No, I didn't approve of her reading minds, but in this case, I had told her to do so. We had to be certain that they weren't spies, had no interest other than helping those who needed it.

"And it has been two months. We have no way of knowing if someone has been bought, or sold out. All our contact is through coded messages and-"

I raised a single hand that cut her concerns off cold. "Yes, it's a risk, but it would be a bigger risk to check up on them regularly. Even if they never see us-"

"We could expose them." She sighed softly. "Trust issues I suppose."

"Well, they ain't us, so yeah," Sam agreed. "Still, provided none of our contacts go dark, we'll try not to assume the worst, da?"

One eyebrow rose on her forehead. "Da."

I found it interesting that after only a few months working together they'd both picked up Bucky's habit of answering in Russian. Granted, Wanda's native language was similar so in her case, it made some sense. Not so much for Sam other than trying to connect with my friend. Bucky had felt even more displaced than I, thanks to his memory issues, but Sam's experience with vets had been most useful. Allowing Bucky to vent the emotions associated with his torture and abuse by Hydra and coming to at least a partial acknowledgment that it had not been his fault.

There had still been days when the memories had been too much for him to handle, the Soldier taking control, though the need to complete missions that had long since been put on the books had lessened. The two personalities still at odds at times, but those memories that belonged to the Soldier had been key to finding all the old Hydra bases - the Siberian Base the last stop on the Soldier's journey, not the only one. He'd been kept at a half-dozen locations over the decades and knew of many others. Plus, the treasure trove of information stored here. It might be an organizational nightmare, but we had a solid base to start from.

"Next target?" I prompted. I knew who I wanted to contact next, but Sam and Wanda had been handling the detailed investigations, making certain that we could both get to the person undetected and that they would actually be interested in being rescued. We had a network set up for those who wanted to contact us, which we handled differently from those who had been conscripted to work for Ross under the guise of SHIELD, the ATCU or a smattering of other agencies.

"I really don't like the term 'target'," Wanda complained.

Not the first time she'd voiced that opinion and I had no intention of revisiting the lively discussion that had ensued. "Your choice?"

Sam swiped at his tablet sending an image to the big screen on the wall. A young man in his twenties with dark hair and dark eyes. He looked completely ordinary. "Josh McMillan. Taken out of amber six weeks ago. Is currently listed as a consultant for both SHIELD and the ATCU."

"Enhanced, I presume?"

"Inhuman," Wanda confirmed. Most of our targets had been. "Not certain what his gifts are. The little we've been able to find suggests an odd connection with technology, but there are no details. Almost as if they don't know or do not understand exactly what he can do. They seem to still be in the testing phase."

"Why was he ambered?" Most who had been because they fought back.

"Their electronics always failed around him, permitting him to slip their... requests to speak with him. They literally dropped an amber cage on him from above and had him fully restrained before they came within a half mile of him." Sam sounded impressed.

"So why do you think he will want to run?"

"On three occasions that we are aware of, he has slipped his leash and while he didn't take advantage of the situation to leave, he was most unhappy when he returned home to find agents waiting for him."

Sam added, "The one time they tracked him down he blew out the power over a three block radius. There's CCTV footage up until the moment the power died."

"They went after him with a full tac team," Wanda pointed out with glint of mischief in her eyes.

"And where had he gone?"

Sam tossed another image up on the monitor. "His sister's grave, which is outside the permitted radius of his leash."

"I'd be slipping my watchers too," I muttered. "Let's reach out to him and see if he has any interest in losing that fancy smartwatch he's been given."

"Will do," Sam said with a nod. "I'll keep you apprised." He glanced over at Wanda who shrugged one shoulder, clearly leaving it up to him.

"What?"

"I know you told us to drop it, but we've been keeping an eye on the power cells."

I rubbed a hand across my face. I'd had them back off for a reason. I hadn't wanted to, but Ross had been extremely unhappy with the situation and as expected the deal brokered to stop those bombs fell apart almost immediately after. Hill had been angry as hell, but had stayed with the Avengers, for which I could not blame her. I hadn't wanted to permit Ross access to the Hydra tech, but didn't exactly have much choice. I had actually considered going after the damn things myself, but without knowing which others were being targeted would have left me vulnerable to capture. So, I did the one thing I knew I would probably regret in the end: nothing.

"And?"

"And we believe someone is testing them," Wanda answered, eyes flashing red for an instant as she spoke.

"Of course they are," I muttered. "Why not let history repeat itself." I had hoped after neither Tony nor I being thrilled with the Hydra-based Phase II weapons on the helicarrier Fury would have learned his lesson, but then again, I doubted Fury was in charge. His involvement with the Avengers limited at best considering that officially he had died back in 2014. He'd assisted during the Ultron mess and the semi-official move to the Compound for the Avengers, but that had been pretty much it. "Why are you telling me this?"

The pair glanced at each other before Sam cleared his throat. "I... we don't like the idea that someone might be trying to recreate Hydra weapons."

"They could just be intending to use them as an energy source." I had to play devil's advocate, because if I didn't then I would have to do something. And in this case I really didn't want to. I wanted them to fuck up and pay for it. For whatever plan they had for the power cells to literally blow up in their faces.

Even good men could become angry.

"Steve," Wanda admonished.

"What do you want to do? Reason with them? They'll just try to arrest us again."

"And what if the next time they come after us it's with working Hydra weapons?" Sam argued.

"Then we'll die." I stood up and stalked towards the windows. "What do you want me to say? That we need to stop them? All three of us?" I shook my head. "We don't have the resources to pull that off."

"Perhaps instead of a frontal assault we go viral?"

I looked over my shoulder at Wanda who watched me with a concerned gaze. "What do you mean?"

Sam brightened. "We rat them out."

My brow knit as I tried to understand what he meant.

"Steve, they made certain to keep as much of the truth about the bombs, especially Sendai, under wraps. What if we tell the world what really happened?"

"We don't know what they are doing with them," I pointed out. We only knew someone had been making singularity bombs affecting the tectonic plates. As far I as knew it had never been determined who had been the orchestrator of it. I seriously doubted it had been any of the proverbial good guys. Governments over the entire planet had been suitably concerned that the human species as a whole would be wiped out should the explosions continue to their grand finale. The thin skin beneath our feet still shook like a living thing in, an hopefully, not vain attempt to stabilize the movement forced upon it by the implosions. It would be years before the tremors settled down according to the best scientists in the world, but so far it looked as if we had survived the worst of it.

"No, we don't, but if we start pointing fingers others, UN members, might begin to question the details. It might not stop them, but it should slow them down," Wanda detailed.

"You want to Wikileaks them?" I had to admit it that it could work. "Can we do it without revealing ourselves?"

"Oh hell yeah. But I'll give Scott a call. Make certain we can remove any metadata that could be traced back to this location." Sam seemed to really like this idea.

"And if they just move the power cells?"

Wanda had this one covered. "We can still track them. Unless they bury them in deep enough hole."

"Which would still stop them from using them. At least for a while." I nodded. Not a solution but a delaying tactic, which I could live with. "All right. Yes, let's expose them. See if they're willing to be held accountable once we put them in the spotlight."

Sam grinned darkly. "I'll contact Scott this afternoon. We should have a plan in a couple days."

"I'll handle McMillan," Wanda stated.

"Keep me updated."

They both nodded, stood with their tablets in hand and left the room. Left me standing there by the windows, the bright sunlight creating a rainbow in the mist generated from the falling water.

I had the sudden need to talk to Bucky, wanting his advice, but knowing I could not have it.

I needed something the two others I lived with could not give me.

. . . . .

We'd pissed Ross off. More than I could have ever planned for. We'd gone not only viral but anonymously delivered the data to a dozen reputable news sources all of which jumped on it like piranhas on an injured cow stepping into a quiet Amazonian stream to drink. The resulting backlash, both local and international, had forced an independent panel to be formed to handle the investigation.

The rumors swirled that the panel members would be requesting our presence, but nothing official had happened. Then again it wasn't as if they had our address to deliver the subpoenas and we wanted to keep it that way.

We'd been forced to take more care with our disaster relief. A pair of major quakes in Mexico drew us from our base only to damn near walk into a trap on day three.

The local authorities had been pissed at the diversion that had stolen manpower away from saving those still trapped in the rubble. The military contingent hadn't shown an ounce of compassion, not pausing to even take a breath when a massive aftershock knocked already fragile buildings down atop rescuers and locals alike.

No, they had stayed on task and tried to take us out with non-lethal weaponry.

We flattened them.

I apologized to the locals before dragging the members of the tactical teams back to their quinjets and ordered the pilots to leave. Both had complied with wide eyes and not a single word of argument

Then we'd gone back to the task at hand.

The Mexican government had been angry enough to make a few calls asking why a tac team, one who had not worn anything to identify their government affiliation, had tried to capture my team in the midst of a major rescue effort. And they hadn't been polite about it, Making certain dozens of international news agencies carried the story.

While no one had admitted to the action, Ross had taken the brunt of the discord. Denials of the events had been quickly shut down with video shot by dozens; including two news crews who had been reporting on the disaster and ensuing rescue effort. Proof that the incident had actually taken place no matter how loud the denials.

Sadly, I failed to feel vindicated.

"Buck, I have no fucking clue what I'm doing."

Even with all the trouble I'd been causing T'Challa had been generous enough to permit me to return to check on my friend. The headlines on the magazine's this time just as divided as the last only the focus had swung from The Winter Soldier to the former Captain America. The biggest difference being my chosen actions had been intentional and not forced upon me as his had been.

Some thrilled I'd taken to defending the Inhumans. Others not so much. And all that before the power cell proof had been released. Not much would happen there no matter how loud the public outcry. If there were money or power to be gained the tests would continue and Phase II or whatever they chose to call it this time would progress until the last battery had been depleted.

You'd think they'd be putting pressure on Tony to modify his arc reactors to achieve a similar result, but as far as I could tell that had not happened. Then again maybe they feared he'd pull whatever support he continued to give them should he be pushed too hard. The Avengers got the majority of the toys these days. He'd swung his focus from weapons of war years before I'd been woken up. He still built them, but kept a close watch on where they went. His company focused far more tech than weapons these days.

Unless something had changed they would not be able to recreate the power cells, which required stealing energy directly from the Tesseract. It remained off-world. Asgard, if I recalled correctly, under the protection of Thor and Odin.

"The world's gone mad and I can't fix it."

As always he didn't respond, though I wished with all my might that he would. The little lines on the screens didn't even change. My voice not having any impact on his reality. He'd lost weight in the weeks since I'd last been here. At some point, he had rejected the feeding tube and they'd been forced to take it out. The debate of cryo had already come up. Sending him back to the deep sleep in the hopes that in the future a way to wake him might be discovered. Of course, they still didn't know what had actually gone wrong.

I sighed heavily. "I'm trying to be that good man, but it's not as easy as it used to be. I took a stand, but it only seems to be adding to the troubles no matter how right I know it is."

"Prejudice is never an easy thing to fight. Especially when coupled with fear."

I lifted my head to see the King of Wakanda himself leaning casually against the wall across the room. "That just means you have to fight harder."

His lips twitched ever so slightly in what might have been a smile. I did not know the man well enough to be certain. "I have no doubt you will do what you believe to be best in any given situation."

Why did that vote of confidence feel more like a loaded bomb than actual praise? "That would be why I made certain to keep you uninvolved."

"While I do appreciate the discretion, I have begun to wonder if you are in the right." He pushed away from the wall to pace slowly towards the bed where Bucky lay lost in his slumber. "The world has changed and we must do so as well or risk repeating the mistakes of our fathers. Enhanced are here to stay, we must learn to live together or we will tear ourselves apart."

"An enlightened opinion." Not that I would expect anything less from this man. The world had just begun to understand the secrets hidden within the jungles and behind the walls this country had put between itself and the outside. The scrutiny had not yet become overt, but it would be coming and soon I imagined. If I had his backing, even if by word only, it would be of a great help in the future. I doubted even if I asked that he would go public with his views on the matter. His personal beliefs would not necessarily transition to the entire country willing to take a stand on his word alone.

"More than an opinion. I wanted to let you know that Wakanda will be a haven for any who need it. Whether it be safe passage or relocation."

I blinked. Given the insularity of this country that had to be about the last thing I expected. Granted, a handful of other countries had stepped forward to state the same, but we had yet to actually test those proclamations. "You willing to back that up in front of the world?"

He grinned, teeth white against his dark skin. "We're making the formal announcement in about two hours."

Well, I had to admit I was impressed and more than a touch thankful.

"Though I fear your visits will need to become more circumspect."

"Or not at all." He nodded. "I can't say I haven't been expecting this." True enough. Even with full stealth mode on the quinjet it could still be spotted now and then. We'd removed all the trackers, but there was always another way. Heat signatures, the telltale radiation the repulsors gave off. Every time one of us visited we made the situation more and more precarious for T'Challa and Bucky.

"My people will continue to send you regular updates on Mr. Barnes's condition." He did not seem overly happy with this decision, but it had become a necessary one. I had been bringing too much attention to my team and we would be hunted wherever we went now.

"I can't ask for anything more," I told him, not about to complain given all he had done for us in the long months since we'd first come here.

"You would have every right to," he told me. "The world owes you much, Captain, and this was never intended to be the purpose of the Accords."

I sighed softly. "I understand that but it doesn't change what is happening."

"It will not happen here. I can assure you of that."

I pushed to my feet not certain what to do or where to go next. The places where I would actually be welcome becoming fewer and fewer by the moment. I needed someone to talk to. Someone not involved in this mess and who would give their honest opinion on what the hell I should do. "Thank you for your hospitality."

"Captain, I am not asking you to leave right now."

"He doesn't need me to stay. Just... just let me know if you decide to put him in cryo." As I moved past him he reached out and set a hand on my arm.

"You carry a heavy burden, my friend, perhaps it is time to share it." The offer genuine as far as I could tell, but I no longer trusted my judgment.

"Too risky for you. Too risky for anyone, really. I just..."

"What? Anything you say will remain between the three of us." He nodded towards my sleeping friend.

I sucked in a breath and blew it out slowly. Might as well ease my conscience a bit. "I'm not sure what to believe in any longer. And because of that I'm not sure the others should remain with me." When with them I stayed strong, wore the face that they required of me.

"You have lost your faith?"

I dropped my head. "If you mean as in a religion, in God, no. Though I have to admit to not being the most devout Catholic since I woke up. No, this is more..."

"Belief in yourself," he stated, finishing my thought. "You do not believe that what you are are doing is right?"

"I do, but that doesn't mean it is right." I realized how foolish that sounded, but I feared that by imposing my sense of right and wrong on this situation was no different from what Ross and others currently were doing.

"Then perhaps you should listen to those who follow you. Has there been any dissension in your ranks? Disagreement on how to face these issues?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"And you trust them?"

"With my life," I told him. Even Wanda, after everything, I would fight beside her in battle with the certainty that she would guard my back as fiercely as I would hers.

"Then trust their belief in you. They would not follow you if they did not trust that your goals were worthy."

"And if all I end up doing is inciting a revolution?"

T'Challa shrugged. "The world is changing. The human race is changing. Growing pains are inevitable. A middle ground will be found eventually, but until it has you may want to consider making certain those you protect can defend themselves. Those who wish to anyway."

"You're telling me to build an army. That'll just make Ross even angrier." He would bring the fight to me, when and where he could, using all the resources at his disposal, including those Inhumans he had recruited. I couldn't defend them all. We couldn't. There were already too many of them scattered across four different countries for the three of us to defend while also trying to rescue others. He had a point, they needed to be able to protect themselves even though most of them had led nothing other than ordinary lives up until the moment terrigenesis changed them.

Part of me still longed for the opportunity to have a normal life.

Wife. Kids. Boring job. An art teacher maybe. Ordinary life.

For a brief moment, I had thought I could have my cake and eat it too. And then Lagos happened. And Siberia happened. And that tiny spark of hope that had begun to burn in me when I had finally kissed Sharon had long since sputtered and gone out. If she had not lost her job for assisting our escape she would have been forced to turn her back on me, which I fully understood. I could give her nothing but a life on the margins, on the run, sacrificing every part of her for others. I had no idea if that might be a choice she'd be willing to make. And I would not ask her to do so.

"Wars usually require armies, do they not?"

I feared he might be correct.