(POV Switch)

James Buchanan Barnes was inherently a simple man. At least, he was in Wakanda.

He enjoyed the farm work tasked to him, and the video calls to Steve, and he was forever thankful to the King, and the Princess of Wakanda. Bucky would have been content to live the remainder of his life in his hut, with the sun on his back and the playful teasing of the children who found him so fascinating. He hardly even minded when the kids braided his hair. A few visits from Steve a month, and he was sure that he could have lived happily until he was finally old and grey.

But life always seemed to have other plans.

Bucky knew that his life would change the moment that Shuri visited his hut with the news that more heroes had arrived in Wakanda. He had appreciated that phrase, 'more heroes.' As if he counted himself as one. She told him of a Sokovian woman with strange powers, and a man formed of metal with a gold cape. Someone else may have laughed, but Bucky only resigned himself to whatever news would come next.

Then, the call came.

Shuri made another visit to him, and as much as Bucky was forever grateful to her and her kingdom for helping him, his heart sunk when he heard her next request.

"Tony Stark contacted us." She had said. For one so young, Bucky remembered her sad eyes, and felt that he was not the first man she had seen go off to war. "Something's coming."

"He wants me?" Bucky has asked, hardly believing it. Shuri just smiled and shrugged, for once not having an answer.

"I called Rogers." She said, just as he had opened his mouth to ask if she had called Steve. "He's going too, along with most everyone else." That had been the tipping point for Bucky. Steve had always been his tipping point, even back when he was just a scrawny dumbass constantly picking fights. The only difference now was that he was a muscled dumbass constantly picking fights.

"Vision, Maximoff, they're going too?" He had sighed, already ready to go wherever the fight was at.

"No." Shuri had shaken her head, and Bucky distinctly remembered her eyes shifting to a distant point in the wilderness bordering his hut, as though something was there. "They will finish their business here, and get as far as they can from Stark. If you hear anything later, do not be afraid." She had warned.

He didn't know what business she was referring to then, and he hardly knew now. All Bucky Barnes knew was that later that day, when he was packing what few things he had into a bag, an explosion sounded in the forest where she had been looking, and when he was receiving his new arm in Shuri's lab, he caught a glimpse of the couple, though Vision was missing the stone in his head.

Now James Buchanan Barnes sat quietly in the back of a car owned by a man who hated him, waiting outside an airport for the few people he could safely refer to as friends. He was alone in the self-driving vehicle, but he anticipated Steve's arrival with what small eagerness he allowed himself, and tried to ignore his new metal limb.

---

"So you don't know what's happening either?" Steve asked, seated next to Bucky. Sam and Natasha sat across from them, and after everyone had safely buckled in- even though they were superheroes- the car had begun moving on its own. The four had reached a mumbled consensus that Stark was baby-proofing all his tech for the spider kid.

"No, Shuri didn't tell me much." Bucky shrugged, his expression grave but his spirit was lifted at his new company.

"We're going in blind too." Nat commented, raising a brow at Steve, as though t blame him for their lack of knowledge about whatever the hell was happening. Steve just gave her a smirk, and a shrug.

"We're needed." He said, as though that was enough to pack everything up and move. Bucky rolled his eyes at his friends overall lack of concern for his own wellbeing. Nat noticed his exasperation, and sent a reassuring smile his way. Bucky reciprocated, and idly thought about how most of his dealings with the now-blonde woman had been violently fighting each other. But for Bucky, suddenly becoming friends with someone he had previously been trying to kill happened more often than one might have thought.

"Are we needed though?" Sam asked, leaning against the car door. "Seems to me like there's some new hero everywhere I turn."

"And Stark's adopting half of them." Bucky mumbled, earning some quiet laughs. Despite how they tried to act, the air was tense in the car. Not between the four, but from their collective knowledge that they would soon be meeting Tony Stark and whoever the hell else he had called. Last time this many heroes met in one place, they were throwing punches in what was essentially a Walmart parking lot.

"Were Vision and Wanda in Wakanda?" Natasha spoke up, watching Bucky's reaction carefully. He nodded, slightly off-put by her intense stare, though he knew it was unintentional.

"I dunno what they did, but they aren't fighting with us. Shuri told me so." He explained. Steve frowned, absentmindedly looking out the window, where he could see them quickly traveling through the New York countryside, hopefully approaching the Avengers facility soon.

"Do we know who's fighting with us?" Steve asked. Everyone mumbled no.

"Do we even actually know if we're fighting?" Sam spoke up, not even bothering to listen to the results. "We're hopeless," he grumbled.

"Let's stay optimistic here," Steve took on his football coach voice, "this isn't the first time we've gone into battle not knowing the enemy." His pep talk did little to invigorate his team unfortunately, and Bucky gave him a sympathetic pat on the back.

"Heads up." Natasha was staring out her window, and soon after the rest of the car followed suit. The car was coming around a bend, and the Avengers facility was revealed to the team, giant and industrial. The facility had expanded since three of them had resided there, and the fourth was gazing at it for the first time, apprehensive to meet the man who owned the complex. Last time hadn't gone so well. As the car grew closer, the figure of a short man came into view, whose ridiculously expensive haircut complemented his designer suit and sunglasses. Tony Stark sure knew how to make an impression. Tony's expression was guarded as the car slowed to a stop next to him, just shy of the entrance to the complex.

Nobody spoke as the windows rolled down, and Bucky cursed his seating choice- he was right at the front, and couldn't even bother trying to hide. He simply looked down at the floor, and allowed his hair to shadow his face. Bucky refused to look up, even when he felt Steve's hand land on his shoulder comfortingly, and perhaps a little protectively.

"Tony." Steve greeted, his voice tight. The rest of the car waited with baited breath to see what the billionaire's reaction would be. However if they were expecting a fight, they got none. Tony simply sighed, and craned his head toward the sky. The man didn't even bother to conceal his next words, as though he was hardly concerned with the team in front of him.

"Naomi, I'm trusting you."

With those words to the sky, Tony turned without a second look at the car, and walked through the doors of the complex. As he exited, the car doors opened automatically, and the team shuffled out silently. Bucky was the first to break the silence, "who the hell is Naomi?" No one responded, their expressions confused and guarded. Beside him, Steve offered the only explanation he could think of.

"The woman Tony mentioned on the phone. The one who convinced him a war was coming."

"And apparently," Sam added, "lives in the sky."