Venus | James B. Barnes✔️

lvii. 𝚠𝚊𝚔𝚊𝚗𝚍𝚊

EVELYN HAD given Tony and Vision a brief goodbye as Ayo waiting outside. Evelyn left with the strong warrior, not looking back at New York. She did not know when she would return, but for now, she had other matters to worry about. Evelyn could not deny her interest in Wakanda as she flew with Ayo in the high-tech jet. Wakandans seemed ahead of the world technologically.

Evelyn furrowed her brows as they began to lower to the ground in a field of trees. Ayo smirked slightly at Evelyn's face when they had made it through the barrier—showing Evelyn the entire country of Wakanda. Evelyn's mouth hanged open as a small laugh left her throat. "Wow," she said as she pulled off her sunglasses.

"Welcome to my home. King T'Challa waits for you," Ayo stated as the jet landed on a landing pad on top of a large building. Evelyn walked off of the jet warily, eyes taking in every new sight around her.

Ahead, she saw the man she had once ran from and fought. Evelyn bit her lip as he neared her, hand extended to shake her hand. She took his hand gently as he placed his other hand on top of them. "Mrs. Barnes," he greeted. "I am glad to see you. The flight was okay?"

Evelyn nodded, still not understanding what was going on. Did he not want to kill her? Did he know the truth? She assumed so if Bucky and Steve were there.

"It was good. Ms. Ayo was very kind," Evelyn said hesitantly.

T'Challa laughed as he dropped their hands. Ayo walked next to her with a smirk on her face. "She was? Very unorthodox behavior," he teased the woman.

Ayo looked at Evelyn with a bow of her head. "No Ms. Just call me Ayo."

"Evelyn, then," she told the woman back. Ayo nodded before she walked off.

"You must be confused," T'Challa began as they started to walk down the runway and into the building.

Evelyn nodded as she looked around. They were walking into a lab of sorts. "A bit."

"Zemo has been taken into custody. I realized he was the real culprit when I followed Mr. Stark to Siberia," T'Challa revealed. Evelyn seemed to breathe out a sigh of relief when she heard Zemo was captured. "I brought Sergeant Barnes and Captain Rogers here."

Evelyn nodded as they walked past many Wakandans. Finally, they made it into a lab where a small girl and another warrior-like woman was waiting. "Brother, is this she?" the small girl said, and Evelyn realized she would be considered a princess. Her eyes did not stay on the two women long as they finally moved to Steve, who was standing tall next to Bucky. Bucky sat on a table, his metal arm reduced to a stub with a covering on top of it. He gave her a weak smile just before the small girl charged at Evelyn to hug her. "I am Shuri."

"Shuri, please," T'Challa stated as Shuri backed off of the hug. "This is my younger sister. And this is Okoye. She is the leader of the Dora Milaje."

Evelyn smiled at the two. "It's nice to meet you both."

T'Challa motioned for his sister to walk to him as Evelyn stepped toward her favorite men. "Hey," she said awkwardly. "You look better."

Bucky smiled tightly. "Feel it," he said. His eyes went to Steve, who understood immediately. He walked off toward the Wakandans as Evelyn took a step closer to him. "I'm sorry I never told you," he said after a moment.

"How could you tell me, James?" she said with a small bitter laugh. "That's not something you bring up, and quite frankly, I could've gone my whole life without knowing it."

"But you do know it."

"I do," she agreed. "It doesn't change anything. It hurts, yeah," she admitted to him, watching his eyes flash with pain, "but it can't be undone. You weren't in control. I don't blame you. I never could."