Chapter Text
Bucky would be the first to admit he’d forgotten all about his birthday. The look of surprise on Wanda’s face, coupled with the irritated tone of Shuri’s voice saying, “How did I miss that? ” in his ear made him smile.
Cassie also smiled, “I guess that you’d forgotten about your birthday?”
“You could say that,” Bucky replied. “Haven’t had the chance to celebrate many of them.”
“I can see that Wanda.” Cassie paused and interrupted herself to go off at a tangent, “You don’t mind me calling you Wanda, do you? Bit presumptuous of me to call you that without checking.”
Wanda nodded and smiled, “It’s my name.”
Cassie resumed her original remark, “I can see that Wanda was surprised and I imagine your friends listening to us on the comms are also surprised.” She paused, thinking for a moment before continuing, “Although, if you have Captain Rogers with you, he's probably aware.
“Everyone here is surprised, though Steve has just face palmed. A nice modern response from the old guy, ” Shuri said over the comms.
Bucky replied, “Oh, he does pick stuff up, he’s not a complete dinosaur.” Before realising, “Sorry Cassie, you can’t hear them. I was replying to Shuri.”
Cassie smiled, “It’s fine. You have Shuri with you? I understand she’s brilliant, an amazing young lady.”
“I like her.”
“I thought you might,” Bucky said, before turning to Cassie. “No, she’s not with us. She’s overseeing everything from Wakanda. You know this would be a lot easier if we could all hear each other.”
“There is a way to get a comms device to Cassie. Give me a minute or two,” Shuri said . “You’ll need to access the rear garden of the property.”
“Shuri is working on getting a comms device for you. She says we’ll need to access the rear garden.”
“A comms device would help, but as I said earlier, what I have to tell you will take a while and it would probably be safer for you not to stay here too long. I admit I’ve been stalling for time.” Cassie said, suddenly looking rather sheepish.
Bucky and Wanda both looked at each other and Cassie and the tension in the room suddenly rose. Sensing the change, Cassie continued, “Nothing bad, once I realised who was on my doorstep I became concerned that you might be spotted. Alisandra retired from the security services, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the house is being monitored. If you had been spotted I would have expected to get a phone call by now.”
“You think they watch the house, why?” Wanda asked.
“A couple of reasons, firstly, they might be aware that there was a connection between Alisandra and Bucky. Catching him would be easier if they monitor anyone who has a connection to him. They, like you, think Alisandra is here,” Cassie explained.
“Right,” Bucky said, his tone sounding wary.
“Secondly, you could say working for the security services runs in the family,” Cassie added.
“You’re an agent too?” Bucky asked.
“Like many things, it’s complicated. Telling you all about it would take more time than it would be prudent for you to spend here. I can see a fairly easy way to ensure your safety, Bucky and give me the time to tell you everything you want to know about, Alisandra, myself and Dawn; the person with whom all of this started.” Seeing the expression on Bucky’s face Cassie stopped him by holding a hand up. “Don’t ask about it. I’ll tell you when we have more time.”
“You’re thinking of coming with us,” Bucky stated.
“It is the logical solution. I can fairly safely leave here. By the time anyone realised I was gone, it’d be too late to stop me,” Cassie stated in a calm tone.
“Are you sure you want to leave here?” Wanda asked. “Who knows how long it’d be before you could return.”
“Positive,” Cassie nodded, her tone firm. “I always knew I couldn’t stay here forever. I may have become a little too settled.” She nodded her head towards Mike, who appeared to be asleep, but was purring loudly.
Wanda and Bucky both smiled.
“I need to make a phone call or two, especially as my contact hasn’t called, so it’ll take me a bit longer than the standard ‘grab my go bag and leave’ would take. I’m hoping your hosts wouldn’t mind another guest?” Cassie asked.
“I’ll ask,” Bucky said.
“While you do that, I’ll get started. Help yourselves to the cake. It will need to be eaten. It’d be a shame to waste it,” Cassie said, as she stood up.
“The answer is yes, my brother and I discussed just such an eventuality. While I haven’t managed to dig up too much information on Cassie, we think she poses no more of a security risk than Alisandra would.” There was a silence on the comms, before Shuri added, “You know, you could bring the cake with you.”
Bucky looked at Cassie and nodded, silently mouthing the words, “They’re saying yes,” while Shuri was talking.
Cassie smiled and nodded, “Once I’ve made these calls time really will be of the essence, so we’ll need to leave as soon as we can.”
Bucky looked at Wanda who nodded and then back to Cassie, before replying, “Not a problem.”
Cassie got up and left the room. The room fell silent, except for Mike’s loud and continuous purring.
“I thought you were going to suggest bringing the cat,” Bucky said.
“Oh no, dreadful idea. Last domestic house cat we had in the palace took an instant and intense dislike to my brother. Cats can be very territorial, you know, ” Shuri explained, an amused tone suggested there was a lot more to the story than she was telling. “ Okay, she’s finished one phone call. Now she’s on another.”
“You’re monitoring it and talking to us?” Bucky asked.
“It’s called multi-tasking,” Wanda explained. “Women are good at it.”
“She spoke to someone, I’m guessing it was the security services of some description. The call was encrypted, I was still trying to crack it when the call ended, so no information on that one. Now she’s on an unsecured call, and it’s rather mundane, I’ll let her tell you. ”
Moments later, Cassie reappeared in the room talking on her mobile phone. “... yes, thank you so much... No, just some family business… that’s very good of you, Mrs Matthews. I’ll let you know when I’m back, bye.” Finishing her call she looked up at Bucky and Wanda.
“No chance of a cat sitter at short notice, but my cleaning lady has agreed to come in and feed Mike. She’s helped out before.”
“Well that’s good news. Wouldn’t like to think of him being abandoned,” Wanda looked over at Mike, who raised his head, looked round and then went back to napping.
“Shuri suggested bringing what’s left of the cake, maybe just because she’s hungry,” Bucky said.
“I am a little, now will one of you please go into the rear garden, I have a drone about to touch down with a package .”
“I guess we could take the cake, but if I leave a note Mrs. Matthews would take it home for her family,” Cassie explained.
“Well, OK then. Shuri says we need to go into your rear garden right about now,” Bucky replied.
“Well, let's clear away the tea things between us,” Cassie paused. “Which will kill two birds with one stone, as it’s easiest to access the main part of the garden through the kitchen door.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Wanda said, standing up.
Bucky got up and collected a few items onto the tray that Cassie had left when she served the cake. Cassie picked up a few more items, Wanda got the last few and they all headed into the kitchen.
“Put those things there, the back garden is accessed through that door, I’ll go upstairs and grab my go bag and I’ll tidy the last few bits when I come down.”
A few moments later, Cassie returned to the kitchen carrying a black backpack, just as Wanda was returning from the garden with a small fabric bag.
“Shuri tells me this is for you,” Wanda explained, handing over the bag.
Cassie opened this bag and reached inside pulling out a comms device. “Very helpful. Does it need switching on?”
“No, she says it’s active, just pop it in whichever ear feels right to you,” Wanda explained.
Cassie did as instructed, then said, “Err, hello. Is it working?”
“Yes, we hear you just fine. Nice to speak to you, Cassie. ”
“Likewise, you must be Shuri.”
“Indeed, are you guys ready to go? ”
“We’ve just tidied up, Cassie has her go bag and is writing a note to leave with the cake.” Wanda looked up to see Bucky eating another slice of the cake. She stared at him.
“What?” Bucky asked between mouthfuls of cake.
“We need to get moving and you’re eating,” Wanda chastised.
“Cassie said it needs eating and I’m hungry. Let’s move then,” Bucky said wolfing down the remainder of the slice he had. “The cake is really good.”
Cassie smiled and nodded, “Thank you, I baked it myself. Yes, we best get moving. I spoke to a friend within the agency, just before I spoke to Mrs Matthews.”
“Right, what’s the situation, as far as you know? ”
“It took him a while to check, he had to be careful not to arouse suspicion. He says we haven’t been spotted yet, but thinks it’s only a matter of time. As I said before, time is of the essence, I think we ought not push our luck any further than we already have.”
“Well, let's go then,” Wanda said heading towards the front door.
“Yes, lets. The sooner we move the sooner I can tell you everything you’d like to know about Alisandra.”
As they walked down the hall Mike emerged from the living room. Cassie bent down, fussing him as she spoke, “Hey you, I’m going out with my new friends. I’ll be a while, but Mrs Matthews will look after you while I’m gone. Be nice to her okay matey?”
Mike meowed rubbing his head against Cassie’s hand. Cassie straightened up and stepped away, Mike sat down looking at her.
“You’re not making this any easier,” Cassie said before turning and heading out the door followed by Wanda and Bucky. She closed and locked the door, tucked her keys in her pocket and said, “Righty oh, lead on.”
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