She felt sick. They'd taken down Darhk, but at what cost? She'd caused the death of 1,000's of people. Their blood might be on Dahrk's hands, but she couldn't help but feel a certain degree of responsibility. While she repeated the mantra of "it's not your fault, it's not your fault," nothing changed the gnawing guilt she felt. She couldn't sleep or eat. Every night she stared at the ceiling, imagining what it would feel for a bomb to fall from the sky. She no longer had her day job to escape to and since almost the entire team had scattered, she was left without distraction, without an escape.

"Hello Oliver." She sighed, coming into the lair. "Before you ask, yes this isn't my first cup of coffee today, no I don't care about how bad it is and I refuse to take sleeping pills." She said, not looking around.

"That is a memorable way to enter a room." A deep voice she didn't recognize said from behind her. He had an accent she couldn't place. Felicity closed her eyes and sighed.

"Look if you're going to kill me, just...make it not messy." She turned to look at the intruder. "Who are you?"

He was sitting at the conference table, wearing an immaculately tailored suit. He stood, tall and powerful, his movements fluid and graceful. He was breathtakingly handsome.

"Allow me to introduce myself." He said, taking her hand in his and raising it to press it to his lips. "I am T'Challa, and I promise I won't kill you, whether messy or neat."

Felicity's eyes widened as she realized who he was. "Your highness." He was the Wakandan prince...no, the king. She briefly remembered a recent news story about the bombing of a conference in Vienna that had killed King T'Chaka. "I'm assuming you want to ask the Green Arrow for something?" She glanced around the lair, but Oliver hadn't arrived...which was bizarre because he'd begun living there since their break up.

"No," T'Challa's response was swift and firm. "I require technical assistance...and a fair amount of discretion." He smiled as she looked at him in confusion. "I heard you were capable of both."

"Wouldn't this be a job for Tony Stark?" She asked, uncertainly.

T'Challa's expression froze for a second before a smile crossed his lips. "The matter in question is delicate and I cannot trust it to Stark."

Felicity looked at her hands. "I don't think I'm the person you can trust either."

"You are Felicity Meghan Smoak. You hold a Master's degree in cyber security from MIT. Until recently you were the CEO of Palmer Technologies, a position you lost because you wanted to make a lifechanging medical advancement affordable to those who needed it. In addition you aid the Green Arrow in his quest to protect this city." He looked at her curiously. "Unless I am speaking to a clone?"

Felicity managed a small smile. "Not a clone." She said.

"Then I'm talking to the right person" T'Challa said. "There's someone in my kingdom who desperately needs help. You would be helping right over half a century's injustice."

Felicity hesitated, looking around at the lair. T'Challa expected someone...moral. She wasn't sure he'd be okay with her help if he discovered her involvement with the bombing at Havenrock. Everything she'd heard about the king implied an extremely honorable person, governed by a strict warrior's code. But she was intrigued by T'Challa's offer. It was a mystery and she didn't like leaving things unsolved. "Okay."

She'd left Oliver a letter. It was cowardly, probably. She didn't want to face his disappointment or the expression of knowing sadness he'd give her.

"You're awfully quiet." T'Challa said. He was sitting across from her in a limousine on its way to the Wakandan palace. She hadn't said a word the entire journey. She gave him a smile, before glancing out at the jungle. It was dense, dark and so hot and humid, she could see the condensation dripping off the leaves of the greenery. Brightly colored flowers bloomed and every once in a while she swore she caught sight of something moving in the underbrush. Turning her attention back to T'Challa she gave him a rueful smile.

"It's kinda overwhelming, being here."

T'Challa nodded. "Until recently, Wakanda's borders were closed to outsiders." He said, motioning for her to look ahead. Out of the jungle emerged a gorgeous, sleek building that was both modern and camouflaged by the landscape. In front of it was a gigantic statue of a cat. Felicity gaped at him. "It is the black panther." T'Challa explained. "It is the traditional protector of my people."

Felicity gulped. Even though she knew it was ridiculous, it almost seemed that the colossal statue was staring her down, judging her. She shivered and looked away. "So who is it that I'm supposed to be helping.?" She asked, trying to get the panther's eyes out of her head. "Your highness." She added quickly. T'Challa let out a rumbling chuckle.

"That, Ms. Smoak, is something you must see for yourself. It will sound unbelievable without proof."

The proof turned out to be a man in a cryotube in the palace lab. Felicity walked up to him, scrutinizing his face. There was something familiar about him, but she couldn't place it. She pressed her hand against the glass. He was young, his skin pale and even though he was immobile, his expression seemed troubled. A news report she'd ignored because she'd been focused on Dahrk floated to the front of her thoughts. "The winter soldier." She murmured.

"James Buchanan Barnes." T'Challa said, causing Felicity to tear her attention away from the tube and turn back to him. "His friend calls him Bucky." He added, with slight amusement.

"His friend?... You mean Captain America. He's talking about Captain America." Felicity muttered as she looked back at the immobile supersoldier. "Why's he an icicle?" She winced. "There had to be a nicer way to ask that."

"He requested it." T'Challa said. "While he was beginning to regain his memories, there was still a large amount of hydra programming and he feared losing control of his mind."

"That's horrible." Felicity bit her lip,. "I'm just...not sure what you think I can do. I'm an IT girl, not a doctor."

T'Challa walked over to the lab's screens where Barnes' vitals were displayed. Tapping the screen, he brought up a full body scan. Then brought up his brain scan. Stepping aside for Felicity to get a better view, he waited. Felicity came close, frowning. At first it looked like a regular brain...until she noticed dozens of black dots that it didn't take a medical degree to know should NOT be there. "What are those?"

"Microchips." T'Challa replied. "We would have removed them, but they are more than simply in his brain. When he is awake, they are connected to certain parts of the tissue, ready to stimulate or shut them down depending on the commands uttered. As we don't have control of the list of commands, our only hope is to have someone attempt to access them and take them offline."

Felicity felt her jaw drop as T'Challa's intention in bringing her to Wakanda became clear. "You want me to hack his brain?"

T'Challa looked slightly pained as he replied. "Essentially yes, though that is a rather simplistic way of putting it. It would be no different than accessing a hard drive."

"Hard drives don't tend to be in people's heads." Felicity said, taking a step away from the scan. "I...what if I mess up and fry his mind?" She felt slightly sick.

"That is a risk." T'Challa agreed, "however, I have confidence in both your abilities and your judgment." He gave her an encouraging smile. "I do not believe you to be the type of person who would deliberately 'fry his mind'."

Felicity gulped and nodded. "This might take a while."

T'Challa looked back at the cryotube. "He has nothing but time." He murmured.

27. That was the number of chips in Barnes' brain. Felicity set up a command center in the lab. Every once in a while, a doctor would come into check her progress and Barnes' vitals, but mostly she was left to her own devices. So it was no surprise that after three days, she began talking to Barnes.

"So..." She held up her tablet, as if showing it to Barnes. She knew it was silly, but she'd heard that coma patients sometimes had a better recovery if people interacted with them. Of course being frozen was different than being in a coma, but the same logic could apply. In addition, if she spent her days alone in the lab, she might go crazy, " Thought you should know; I got 3 chips offline. But those were the easy ones, so it will take longer to get rid of the rest." She glanced down at the tablet. "Not that you can actually hear me." She muttered.

Shaking her head, she sat back at her desk. She was reminded of a day, years ago when she'd spoken to a picture of Oliver on the desk at Queen Consolidated. Looking up at Barnes, she sighed. Another beautiful with a tragic past. She'd been so innocent then. Did she even know that girl anymore?

"Just so you know." She said, looking across the lab where Barnes was sleeping. "I won't fall in love with you."

Barnes slept on.

She finally built up the courage to contact Oliver after a month and a half in Wakanda. She knew he'd tried to trace the call, but she blocked it. T'Challa had counted on her discretion. She came back into the lab, saddened. It wasn't that he'd tried to bring her back to Star City. It was the resigned tone he'd used when he told her he understood why she had to leave. He didn't even try to convince her to return, instead he looked at her with pained eyes. It had been too much.

She felt a wave of frustration as the computer told her she'd been unsuccessful in taking chip number 5. She slammed her hand down on the desk. "Don't look at me like that." She snapped at Barnes. "I almost married him." She sighed. "Just like I almost successfully ran Palmer Tech for a year and almost averted a nuclear disaster and almost got stupid chip number 5 offline." She rubbed her eyes. "And now I'm talking to a frozen assassin." She shook her head. Sighing she looked back at the computer, frowning at the code, she found the part that had malfunctioned. She rewrote it. After a few minutes it beeped. She grinned, looking up at Barnes. "And then there were 22." She gave him a half smile. "I promise; you won't be one of my almosts."

At 14 she asked T'Challa for a cake. He looked bemused, but he didn't object. She ate a piece in front of the cryotube; she got the feeling that Bucky wouldn't mind. He was Bucky to her now. She'd begun calling him that after she'd seen the footage of him in his imprisonment at the UN. He had asked to be called Bucky. She'd also seen what had happened when the Winter Soldier had been released. All it had taken was a few words. He'd been terrified, knowing exactly what was happening, but powerless to stop it. Unable to fight his own mind. She put down her cake and looked at Barnes' ever still face. "I won't let it happen to you again, Bucky. I won't."

"So, Captain America." She grinned. She'd just gotten rid of chip number 17. "I bet you have loads of dirt on him. When you get out of defrost we're cracking open a bottle and you're spilling everything."

"I would take what he says with a grain of salt, ma'am." A deep voice said from behind her. "Buck always had a hang for the dramatic."

Felicity whirled around and gasped as she recognized the man standing next to the lab door. "Captain Rogers...I didn't hear you come in, I-" She broke off as he gave her an indulgent smile.

"Nat's going to be proud that my stealth skills are improving." He remarked. "You must be Ms. Smoak." He held out his hand. "Steve Rogers."

"It's..." Felicity was completely overwhelmed. "It's an honor to meet you, Captain." She hoped her hand wasn't shaking. If he noticed, he didn't make any indication.

"Can you explain what you're doing?" he pointed to the computer. "T'Challa gave me the basics, but I think you can give me a better idea of the progress."

"Okay, well." Felicity pulled up the scans of Bucky's brain, showing which of the chips were offline and which were active. "I've got these 17 disabled."

"17?" Captain Rogers looked surprised.

"Well, it's a delicate process." Felicity said defensively. She was about to add more when Steve held up his hand.

"I'm just...impressed that you got them done so fast, I...I would have thought it would take longer." He gave her a small smile. "I bet you not even Tony Stark could have done it so fast."

"Well I'm great with my hands," Felicity said, then gasped, covering her mouth. "Please tell me I didn't make an innuendo in front of a national icon." She groaned.

"Ms. Smoak, I was in the army." Rogers replied, his smile widening. "Do your worst; I'm sure the Howlin Commandoes said worse."

She blushed. Rogers looked over at Bucky.

"There's few people in this world who'd be willing to help him as much as you have." He murmured.

"It wasn't his fault." She murmured.

"I just hop he can understand that. It's something i suspect you have experience with."

Felicity looked up at him in horror. He was examining her and gave her a rueful smile. He knew.

"T'Challa mentioned that you've been tearing yourself up inside."

"What would you do in my position?" Felicity said, unable to meet his eyes. "Is there an acceptable amount of collateral damage?"

Rogers, sighed and rubbed the back of his head. For the first time since he walked into the lab, Felicity saw the weight of his years. The serum and his time in the arctic had save him from ageing, but they couldn't erase his experiences. "The most difficult thing for people like us to accept is that sometimes you can't save everyone. Once you know that, you fight like hell to prove that statement wrong. You did the best you could under impossible circumstances. There was no right outcome, but there was a definite wrong one; the one you fought to prevent."

Felicity swallowed slightly. Captain Rogers' praise meant more than he could know.

He walked over to Bucky and gave him a small smile. "Even frozen you get a pretty girl to fawn over you." He muttered. "I don't know how you do it." He looked back at Felicity. "It was a pleasure meeting you." He said.

"Thank you, Captain Rogers." Felicity said. "Not just for the talk, but..." she took a deep breath before saying. "In 1944 you liberated a concentration camp in Poland. My grandfather was in there. Without you, I literally would't be here."

He ducked his head, smiling. "I was just doing what was right." He murmured. He glanced over at Buck. "Whatever he says about the summer of 37' he's lying."

"Damn it. Fuck. DAMN IT." Felicity hit the desk in frustration as the 15th error message flashed across the screen of the computer. "I had it."

T'Challa came into the lab. Looking around, he took in the empty food plates and coffee cups. "I was informed you had not left the lab in 3 days."

"I'm close." Felicity growled.

"You need to rest." T'Challa said.

"After i fix this." She waved him away. He scoffed at her impertinence.

"If you drop dead of exhaustion-" He began.

"I'm going to fix this." Felicity snapped, interrupting her typing to glare at T'Challa. He raised an eyebrow. "I...I need to do something right, i need to..." She broke off, breathing heavily. "I can't...I won't fail again."

"You haven't failed." T'Challa said. "But if you don't get rest, you will." He looked over at Bucky. "Sergeant Barnes has waited for almost 70 years to get justice, I'm sure he wouldn't begrudge you a few more hours. Especially if the price is your health and sanity."

Felicity closed her eyes, her head growing heavy. "You're a good king." She said.

"So I have been told." T'Challa said. "Now, leave. I do not want to see you in here for a minimum of 10 hours."

The day to bring Bucky out of cryo-sleep had arrived. Felicity was standing next to Captain Rogers as T'Challa directed the doctors to reverse the freezing process. It took a while, but finally the closed lids she'd been staring at for the last year and a half fluttered open. They were blue and as he sat up and looked around, full of apprehension as he took in his surroundings. He saw Steve and relaxed. "How long?" He croaked.

"Can't you tell?" Steve asked.

"No, punk. That superjucie they shoved down your throat makes it impossible to count any gray hairs." Bucky mumbled. Steve smiled.

"A year and a half." He replied. "It would have been longer, if not for Ms. Smoak, here." He motioned to Felicity. Bucky turned his gaze on her. Tilting his head, he opened his mouth to say something when the lab door opened and Ant-man walked in followed by Hawkeye.

"I want to give it to him." Hawkeye said.

"My boss built it." Ant-man shot back. "Hey Barnesicle, We brought you a present." He held up a large package. "Straight out of Pym's labs with cooperation from his majesty and Wakanda's top scientists." He shoved it at Barnes who didn't move, just looked at him; bewildered. Ant-man moved to unwrap the package. "I'll just...give you a hand."

"Scott." Steve groaned as it was revealed that the package had a brand new bionic arm.

"A hand, get it?"

"Seriously man?" Hawkeye muttered.

"Don't act like you weren't planning on saying it, yourself." Scott shot back. As they began bickering, Felicity stole a look at Bucky. He was looking at the arm. Sensing her eyes, he looked up at her. She blushed and excused herself from the lab. Bucky watched her leave, a slightly forlorn look in his eyes that went unnoticed by everyone...except Scarlet Witch who walked in just as Felicity left.

She walked through the palace, aimlessly, trying to school her thoughts. She'd grown very found of Bucky, but the man she...cared about wasn't real. He was a fiction, a version of him she'd created and projected on him. Bucky had no idea who she was and had no idea what he meant to her.

She was sitting in the palace garden when a voice interrupted her thoughts. "It's a beautiful country."

She looked up at the person who'd spoken. Bucky Barnes was looking at her curiously. His lips parted slightly as he looked at her.

"Yes." She said. "A bit hot, but...it's Africa, so..." She looked at her hands.

"I wanted to be sure." He said softly.

"What?" She asked.

"You didn't speak before, so I wanted to be sure." He hesitated walking over to her. "There was...the doctors say it's impossible since my brain was frozen, but I heard...this voice." He shook his head. "Couldn't tell you what you were saying, only that you said a lot of it." He held out his hand. "What's your name, doll?"

"Felicity." She said, talking his hand.

"Bucky." He said. "T'Challa's throwing a waking up celebration." He gave her a smirk. "Wanna pop in, steal some booze and then find somewhere for you to tell me all the things you said while I was sleeping?"

"I-" Felicity didn't know how to respond. She allowed him to pull her to her feet. "That sounds really..." She paused. She had two options. Walk away, or take a chance. She looked into Bucky's eyes, so full of hope and decided. "That sounds good."

"It's okay doll, after all." He smiled as he offered his arm to led her back into the palace. "You promised you wouldn't fall in love with me."