He had written the letter the night before they froze him. He was pretty glad he was ambidextrous yet right hand dominant. He made sure Steve didn't see it, didn't want him to know anything about it until he was fast asleep. He liked one of the Wakanda doctors, so he gave it to him.
As he laid back in the white tube against the nice cushion, he closed his eyes and had a content expression on his face. Not quite a smile, but he surely wasn't about to dive into a panic. He knew Steve was positively heartbroken. Yet...hopefully when he woke up that frown would be upside down.
The chill seeped into his skin, through his muscles all the way to the marrow of his bones and it all went black.
'Steve...
Its not over yet. I had a huge setback with reverting to the Soldier, but I spent two years getting my life together. I wasn't okay by any means, but I was surviving.
I wrote in those journals you found, but that wasn't my only source of company.
I wasn't alone.
See Steve, you have a mission. Not just to find a way to fix me, but to save someone. You gotta save Flying Sam and Wanda and the rest, but you have to save someone who I also would rather die to protect than to let anything happen to her.
My daughter. Anzhelina/Angelina Barnes. Age 22, white hair, green-blue eyes, the cutest freckles and a buck ten sopping wet. Russian/Romanian-American. Birth name Mary, don't call her that.
Not a happy story, that one, but she is /my blood/ not some tank bred Super. You came to get me back at that apartment, she had been out working at the junkyard (I worked at a mechanic shop). Everything happened so fast, I barely remembered those facts about you let alone myself. I don't know where she is, only the safe houses she could be.
They all have signal radios she tuned herself. The frequencies you can try to tap into are on the back. As is the code word. Sorry its Romanian. Do your best.
Get her to come to Wakanda and grab her once she is over the border. She doesn't need help once she knows where to go. She was my Companion as the Soldier.
Don't unfreeze me until you have her, but I'd like if there was someone available to help my head as well. If anyone can keep me grounded it is her, at the very least.
Take care, punk.
P.S. she has her files. I want you to be her Godfather.'
Steve re-read the letter, leaning back against his chair. His hands were on a radio along with a headset. youtube had been his only coach him on how to say the word. He wished that Natasha, or Clint could help him but Clint pointed out that the code word was probably best said by him. Bucky undoubtedly told Angelina a lot about him, and would be more familiar with him rather than a stranger claiming to know Bucky and Steve. Steve had to agree.
The first frequency didn't work, and Steve had a suspicion that it was the frequency that was tuned into Bucharest. The second frequency was also a bust too. There were only three more that were left, and he really hoped that one of them would work. He picked the middle of the three and tried it.
"Prieten?" Friend? Steve tried, wincing. He listened to the static for a good minute was just about to turn it to the next one on the list when a female's voice answered him.
"Cine esti?" Who are you?
"Uh...I actually don't speak Romanian." Steve really hoped that Angelina wasn't overly paranoid. "My name is Steve Rogers...can you speak English?"
"I can." Angelina responded. "How did you find the radio?"
"Your father left me a letter telling me to get into contact with you." Steve looked at the letter that was by his side. He took a breath in and out. Angelina sounded so much like Rebecca it was a little jarring. Her voice was the same pitch. "He...uh...we're in Wakanda."
"Wakanda?"
"Yeah it's-"
"I know." She cut him off quickly. "Even radios can get tapped."
Steve nodded, though she couldn't see him. "He wants you here."
"Over there?"
"Over here." Steve confirmed. "We...he wanted to go into cyro."
Silence.
"Why?" Her voice was sharp.
"Trigger words." She probably knew the rest of it.
"Okay." The tone softened. "Where do you meet?"
"You mean, where should we meet?" Steve frowned deeply. "I was going to ask T'Challa about meeting you at the border. He said that he'll welcome you since you're family. You'll have to stay here though."
"Weather?"
"Humid and hot." Steve answered.
Silence.
"Angelina..." Steve trailed off and took a breath. "I can't leave here."
"I know." Another soft answer. "I saw the news...read it too. The Accords."
"And your father's-"
"Legacy. Though he won't agree that it is." Angelina confirmed. "People are terrifying and scared. It's best for me to come over there. Does T'Challa mind cats?"
"Wha- I don't think so...?" Steve blinked slowly at the random question. "I mean, he's the Black Panther-"
"I have a baby kitten. I don't want to lose her." Angelina explained. "Let him know I have a cat. Contact me with where to meet you. I have a feeling that activity at the border is a bad thing."
She was probably right about that.
"I should get better clothes for the weather too." She continued. "I'll be in touch. Keep this frequency. I'll remember yours. Your code word is Scut."
"Scut?"
"Close enough." Angelina confirmed. "Ciao."
Steve had to turn off the radio the moment he heard static and rubbed his forehead. If he could still get headaches, this was one. He pushed himself away from the desk and sighed. He was going to have to find T'Challa and tell him about a random cat.
He really hoped it wasn't a code for something that went over his head. He could almost picture Bucky laughing at him for it if it was. Or for even thinking that it was.
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