I am silently fuming here right now. Stupid website logged me in after I had already done a full editing sweep on this chapter, so now all the changes I made are gone...ARGH!

Hopefully I can remember all the changes i made and its as awesome as it was before.

I'm going to go and be cranky as soon as I get through all of this.

xo


Chapter 11

Vielka sat on the side of her bed as the doctors and physio consulted on the other side of the curtain. She was now able to walk, albeit she couldn't walk for long periods yet. Since that day in the gym with Bucky a week and a half ago, she had been to the gym every day, working with first just Bucky, and then Steve and Sam joined them when they found out she was working hard at her recovery.

Elise, the physio, hadn't been too pleased when she found out, but when she saw Bucky and also saw what they were doing in the gym, she had found it very hard to say no, bearing witness to the vast improvement to Vielka's strength and endurance.

Now, she just waited for the okay to return to her own living quarters, and to start retraining with weapons. T'Challa had told her they were close to figuring out where Crossbones was hiding and what he was planning, she wasn't going to miss out on all the fun.

The doctor and physio entered, followed by T'Challa, who she hadn't realised was a part of the conversation. He smiled at her when she looked at him in confusion.

"Well, we've discussed it, and we think we should be able to arrange a decent management plan," the doctor said, smiling.

Vielka couldn't stop the grin that crossed her face, and looked to Elise. "You're already doing excellent work in the gym, I'll just join you for an hour each day to work on improving your leg strength and hopefully get you running again soon."

"And what are you here for?" Vielka asked looking at T'Challa with a raised eyebrow.

"Is it not alright for me to have an invested interest in a loyal friend?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "I was pressured to advocate for you on behalf of the team. Plus, I figured you would need help carrying all these gifts you've received over the last few weeks.

She gave a little laugh, looking around. Her room was now full of teddies, flowers, balloons and books. "Fair enough."

It took her another two weeks before her body was back to being fit enough to train properly. Elise was happy to allow her to start weapons training again, but stressed they needed to meet each other at least once a fortnight for her to ensure that her progress wasn't being hindered by any underlying injuries.

She picked up her two faithful swords, they hadn't been touched in so long, when she looked at the blade, she cringed. She was going to have to visit the workshops and borrow the wet sharpener.

She dressed in her familiar black bodysuit, the tight, figure-hugging outfit offering her great comfort, before grabbing her gear and heading out the door.

She hadn't even made it halfway to the workshops when she came across T'Challa heading in the opposite direction, dressed in his Black Panther armoured suit, with a long black bag in his hand.

"Ah, just the lady I was looking for," he said, smiling warmly at her. She looked behind her before looking back at him in mock confusion. He gave a small laugh before motioning for her to follow him. "It will only take a moment," he added, glancing at her swords in her hand.

"I was just going to sharpen them, they can wait."

"Those swords, I know you take great care of them, how did you come about them?" he asked curiously, as he led her towards the gym, she noted.

She faltered slightly, biting her lip. The thought occurred to her without warning and she found herself clenching her jaw. "From HIM," she muttered coldly. She glanced sideways to see T'Challa looking at her expectantly. "The doctor."

"I suspected as much," he replied, frowning slightly as he looked ahead, before speaking again. "Why do you care so much for them if they offer a link to an unhappy history?"

She was thoughtful, wondering the same thing. She answered slowly as she considered it herself. "Although they were from him, when I trained, it was the one time I felt like I might have had a minuet amount of control, they've been my comfort and safety as well."

"Hmm, but still, aren't they a reminder of a past you would much rather forget?"

"They're more like a reminder of a past which I do not want to allow myself to live again."

He frowned slightly, seemingly unsure by her explanation, as they finally arrived at the gym. "Well, perhaps you need to consider a fresh start."

He stopped before the door to the virtual training area, before holding out the long, black bag. She stared at him for a moment, frowning. T'Challa had long ago learnt that Vielka was not one to take gifts of the expensive kind from him, so for him to be handing her the bag, she was suspicious of his motives. He motioned for her to take it, which she did, carefully.

She could feel the two, long, familiar shapes of two sheathed swords within the bag, opening it to peer inside. She reached in, wrapping her hand around the end of one and hearing a low pitched beep.

She raised an eyebrow, before pulling it out, it was all black, but for a small symbol in Chinese at the bottom, which she instantly recognised as the Japanese symbol for 'Banzai'.

She noted a green light flashed at the base of the handle, along with several tiny buttons. "What's this?"

"We've been developing it for some time, trying to perfect a technology to advance the abilities of the sword." He motioned to take it and she handed it to him, instantly noticing when his hand touched it, the light turned red.

He tried to remove the sheath, but he couldn't. She raised both her eyebrows and gave a small smile. "That's brilliant."

"We thought so, it's got fingerprint recognition as well as DNA recognition, but also, this next part is quite dangerous," he entered the virtual training room with the sword and pressed some buttons on the robot control console inside the door. One of the robots appeared from the ceiling, dropping into a ready stance in the middle of the room.

T'Challa held the sword out to the robot, which it took, just holding it, the light on the base red. He then motioned for her to give him the other sword, which she obliged, increasingly curious of what would happen next.

He held it up to her and motioned to one of the buttons. "Press this one and see what happens."

She took the sword from him and waited for the light to switch to green again, before pressing the button.

The sword the robot was holding expelled four long and sharp blades from the handle, slicing open the robots metal hand easily, causing the sword to drop to the ground.

"Whoa..."

T'Challa smiled proudly. "I thought you'd like that."

She nodded slowly with wide eyes, before looking back to T'Challa. "But what about the blade? These little gimmicks are great, but if the blade isn't up to standard, then it's pointless."

He winked at her, motioning for her to remove the sheath, which she did. The blade shone under the lights of the room, and the blade appeared sharp.

"We called upon one of the best and last sword smiths in Japan, Korehira Watan to try his hand folding Vibranium. He complained a lot of it, but he managed it and said it would always be one of his finest works, but would never work with Vibranium again," he explained with a chuckle.

He motioned for her to try it out. She stepped forward, swinging the sword. It was lighter than her previous, but she doubted it could be as strong as they made out Vibranium to be, if it was this light.

She looked to the robot that stood still in the middle of the room. She frowned and shrugged, before running forward, leaping and bringing the sword down. The robot split in half cleanly, the sword catching on nothing, leaving a precise split throughout the robot.

She analysed the sword's blade, not a chip, scratch or dent. She nodded, impressed, before looking down to check the robot. A clean slice.

"What do you think?" T'Challa asked finally, bending down to inspect it himself.

She pursed her lips thoughtfully, before smiling. "I think I'm going to like new beginnings."

oOOo

Vielka's rehab was coming along nicely. So nicely, that she was training in the virtual training room again, although she was hesitant to train with anyone else just yet.

Bucky had watched her a couple of times, her movements were becoming smooth and fast once again, and she was beginning to display great agility once more.

Her physio was finally happy with her progress, now leaving her to train at her own pace. It had been two months since the incident in Austria, but it seemed she had finally clawed back her strength, and she seemed much happier now.

As he watched her, he couldn't help but be slightly envious. She was free from ever being put under someone else's control again. She would never have to unwillingly follow orders again. It was something he hoped he might be able to achieve one day, proper freedom.

He was roused from his own thoughts by T'Challa. "She fights differently now," he said, watching her as she brought the sword down on the last of the robots in the room.

"She does?" Bucky asked, not taking his eyes off her. He hadn't really noticed, but as he watched her more he did notice her movements seemed much more precise, much more fluid. It was more like she was dancing than she was fighting. "Oh, she does, doesn't she?"

"Yes, she fights like someone who has had a weight lifted from their shoulders," T'Challa replied, glancing sideways.

Bucky furrowed his brow, he felt like T'Challa was trying to make some unspoken point, like he always did. "Perhaps."

"Perhaps it is prudent of us to test her skills?" T'Challa offered, motioning to the door. Bucky finally looked at T'Challa and realised he was wearing his Black Panther armoured suit.

"Both of us? Hardly seems fair, she's only been cleared to full training a few weeks ago."

T'Challa was contemplative for a moment. "This is true, then perhaps you?"

"Me? Why me?"

"Why not?"

Bucky bit his lip, there was one thing that had him concerned, aside from possibly hurting her when he wasn't sure she was fully fit. "If I'm honest, those new swords worry me."

T'Challa raised an eyebrow and glanced back to the window as Vielka began to twirl her swords playfully. "They are very nice, aren't they?" T'Challa replied, smiling proudly. Bucky gave a small laugh. "Unarmed combat then, anything to test her agility and reflexes. Come!"

He walked to the training room door, entering without letting Vielka know.

oOOo

She spun around in surprise when the training room door opened, T'Challa walking in followed by Bucky.

"Hi guys," she greeted them, sliding her swords into their sheaths at her back. "I'm finished here if you needed the room."

"You seem to have returned to good form," T'Challa said, smiling at her.

She returned the smile, nodding her head once to the Wakandan king. "Why, thank you, I feel really good with where I am, considering where I was a few weeks ago. I could still do with some improvement though."

She smiled again, glancing at Bucky. She raised her eyebrows slightly and turned to leave.

"One moment, I thought perhaps it might be a good time to test you, see how far along you've come with your recovery," T'Challa said.

Vielka stopped and looked from Bucky to T'Challa. She couldn't help but smirk a little, that's why Bucky looked anxious. "Both of you?" she asked in surprise. "Hardly seems fair."

"That's what I said," Bucky muttered, seemingly annoyed with T'Challa.

"We already know I can kick both your asses on your own, what's two going to test?" she added, smugly.

Bucky's jaw dropped slightly, while T'Challa grinned. "Ah, but you were armed last time. I don't think we can measure your recovery as well if you're armed. So it would be only one of us."

Her confidence wained slightly, at the mention of being unarmed. She looked between the two of them, Bucky had his eyes narrowed at her, obviously not taking her jab at their last fight too well.

She weighed up her options. T'Challa was not enhanced, although his armour was powered in a way and that could make it seem like he was enhanced. It still wasn't a fair fight between them really, if she hit the suit in the right way, she knew she could cause it to malfunction.

Bucky on the other hand, was enhanced, and had the added bonus of having a nearly indestructible arm. It offered more of a challenge to her. His speed was on par with her own, if not a little slower. No doubt the weight of his titanium arm having something to do with that. He was stronger than her, especially with that arm, but her gut instinct was telling her Bucky would be way more fun to fight.

"Think you can actually fight without holding back?" she asked with narrowed eyes, looking at Bucky.

He straightened and puffed out his chest slightly. "Only if you think you can handle it, you've only just recovered."

"Now you're just making excuses. Scared or something?" she smirked, pulling her swords from where they clipped into the back of her bodysuit.

He looked at her with a dead pan expression as she handed the swords to T'Challa, who turned and headed for the door.

Vielka stretched her arms a little, she was actually glad to have some hand to hand. It had been awhile, so to get someone to spar with, without swords, was a good chance to get the cobwebs out, even if Bucky didn't put his all in. While she waited for Bucky to set himself, she made a mental note to put in some practice at the range as well.

She was so focused on what weapons she would train with at the range, she wasn't prepared for Bucky to come charging at her. He led with his right, aiming a jab at her head which she only just dodged, before swinging with his left. She ducked underneath it, before spinning away, looking at him incredulously. "What?" he asked, standing in a ready stance.

"A little warning would have been nice."

"Oh, sorry, I take it anyone whose going to attack you is going to do that too?"

She rolled her eyes and he lunged for her again, punching first with his left then his right again, which she dodged easily once more, before she aimed a punch of her own with her right. He turned his body slightly and her punched glanced off his titanium arm, but she was quick to recover, grabbing his shoulder with the same hand and bringing her knee up into his ribs.

However, he managed to get his right hand up, batting away her knee before bringing his left elbow down. It caught her arm, and threw her slightly off balance. He took advantage, throwing another punch with his right, which forced her back slightly.

He moved to kick out at her, but she read his move, as she managed to regain her balance, batting away his foot and hitting him with her own back spinning round house kick.

He was thrown back, only just managing to land on his feet, but she gave him no chance to catch his breath, running forward and aiming to kick at his chest.

She connected and he was thrown back. She landed and looked down at him, seeing him looking slightly bewildered, a smirk on her face as she turned away.

She was caught by surprise when he was quickly back on his feet and ran at her. He grabbed her from behind, flinging her over his shoulder, although she landed on her feet, he followed with a kick that landed on her chest. She was thrown backwards heavily.

"That was dirty," she muttered, getting back up.

He smirked but made ready again, giving her a coy smile. She raised an eyebrow, before lunging forward again. She faked to kick at his side, before switching quickly and hitting him square in the chest with a knee, but he caught her. "Not today," he said, and moved to pin her.

He moved her to the ground, trying to maintain his grip on her bent knee, but she was able to get her free leg onto the ground, arching her back and forcing him to roll so he was now the one pinned to ground, although he still held her knee pinned.

She began aiming punches for his ribs, still pushing pressure down on her free leg to stop him from rolling her back under him.

He tightened his grip on her knee and she hissed, his titanium arm was working its magic and if she wasn't careful she would need to tap soon. Finally, she calculated a new plan, planting her free foot onto the ground and kicking off hard, tucking herself into a ball and using her leg strength to flip Bucky over her.

His surprise at her move was enough to get him to loosen his grip and she kicked out with that leg now, connecting with his chest as they both rolled backwards, only she was able to stop herself.

She stood up, smiling smugly, as he untangled himself from the stack of mats he had crashed into.

oOOo

He had been close to beating her, and he knew it, as he stood up, feeling that last kick still in his chest. She ran at him again, this time with a flurry of punches and kicks, which he either blocked or dodged.

She tried to roundhouse him again, but he saw it coming this time, catching her mid kick and shoving her backwards. This time, she crashed into a set of stacked mats.

"Ow!" she said as she untangled herself. He felt a pang of regret, but was careful not to let it show. She looked at him with narrowed eyes, pushing a stray hair from her face. She was angry now.

Again, she launched a barrage of punches and kicks at him, and it was as if her speed had reached a new setting he hadn't experienced before. While he was able to block or dodge most, she was finding the smallest gaps in his guard and using them.

She connected with his left cheek, before he caught an attempted uppercut, holding her right hand in his left. She tried to kick, but he caught her leg too. He was ready to finish their fight this time. He shoved her back, and while she tried regain her balance quickly, he charged at her.

As she turned to face him, he crash tackled her, both of them sliding across the floor before they crashed into the furthest wall of the training room.

He was winded as he lie on the floor, she had braced herself when he tackled her, and it had knocked the breath from his lungs as he hit her. He looked down to see she had landed on top of him when they'd skitted across the floor.

She was breathing heavily as she tried to push herself up, placing one hand on his chest as did. It was tender and he hissed from the pain, catching her attention.

When she looked up at him, he saw that she had a cut lip and a few minor scratches on her face, but was relieved when she smiled coyly at him.

"Sorry," she said, rolling off of him, and pushing herself up into a sitting position. She touched at her lip, pulling a face when she realised it was bleeding, while he forced himself to sit up. He'd landed heavily on his back at some point and it smarted a little.

"Are you okay?" he asked. While he hadn't exactly held back while they fought, he still didn't feel good for smashing her as hard as he had.

She sat up a little straighter, seeming to test out her body, grimacing slightly, and he inwardly cringed. To his astonishment, she smiled.

"Never felt better."

She jumped to her feet, before offering him a hand up. He couldn't help but be impressed, as he took her hand and stood. He winced slightly, his chest letting him know that it wasn't so impressed. He bent down slightly, giving himself a moment to adjust to the pain.

She put a hand on his shoulder, concern written all over her face. "Are you okay?"

"What is it with you and pummelling my chest?" he asked, standing up straight again and looking at her in amusement.

Her cheeks went slightly pink and she shrugged. "It's a big target?" she offered innocently with a shrug of her shoulders.

He rolled his eyes and made his way to the training room door, opening it and standing back to let her through. "Thank you," she murmured.

Once outside, they found the rest of the team had gathered, and a medic. T'Challa nodded to the medic to check them over.

"This really isn't necessary," Vielka moaned, her words distorted as the medic checked over her lips and teeth. She glanced sideways at Bucky. "At least not for me, anyway."

Bucky narrowed his eyes at her and looked towards Steve, Sam and Scott. Steve was handing $10 to Scott as was Sam. "Really? You bet against me?"

Steve shrugged, looking ashamed, if not slightly amused.

oOOo

Vielka was feeling slightly worse for wear from the fight with Bucky. There was no way she was calling that a sparring match. She was going to have bruises on top of bruises from that one.

He surprised her. He hadn't held back as much in that match, although she sensed that there was no way he would ever put his all into a fight against any of them, unless he was triggered.

"I am glad to see you are back in good form, Vielka." T'Challa approached her and she noted he appeared quite grim. "You're going to need it."

"You've found them?" Steve asked, moving to stand beside Vielka.

"And more, I'll meet you all in the mission room in an hour." He turned to Vielka. "Go and get cleaned up, both of you."

She hurriedly did so, showering and changing into sweats, thinking about what she would soon be facing.

As she stood in front of her mirror, brushing out her hair and checking over her wounds, she began to contemplate the impending events. She wasn't sure who she wanted to take out more, Red or Crossbones.

Whatever the case, she would make sure one or both would pay.

Within an hour they were all standing and waiting anxiously inside the mission room, awaiting T'Challa. Vielka stood a short distance away from the others, deep in thought.

She stared off into space, thinking of what may soon happen. She never thought the day would come that she would be able to face up to Red. He was a twisted individual and strong, he had always been stronger than her, often beating her to within an inch of her life during the early days of being under the 'doctors' control.

She clenched her jaw slightly, feeling the rage build within her as she remembered those many beatings she endured at his hands.

"Hey." She jerked her head up in alarm, having been so lost in her own thoughts and memories she hadn't noticed Bucky move to stand next to her. He peered down at her with raised eyebrows and she calmed herself, exhaling a deep breath. "You alright? You sure I didn't hit you too hard earlier?"

It seemed he mistook her anxiousness for pain. She gave a little laugh. "Oh, please, just because you're built like a brick shit house, don't think you can hurt me that easily."

He looked at her with a puzzled expression and she realised her Australian colloquialisms may have just gone straight over his head. "I'm fine," she said with a sigh and shaking her head.

T'Challa strode in, immediately activating the screen at the front of the room. A map appeared, with several red dots that pinged at different intervals. "What is that?" Vielka asked, as they all began to move closer.

"That, is all the controlled soldiers."

There had to be at least 30 of them. She frowned, she didn't remember there ever being that many of them in Afghanistan. And if she wasn't mistaken, Bucky and the others had already dispatched of several others.

"The Viscount had also reverse engineered the device and made more. The problem now, is that Crossbones has the ability to create more as well," T'Challa explained, apparently having read the confused look on Vielka's face. "By the time we get to him, this number may have doubled."

"This doesn't make sense though, Crossbones isn't about armies or wars, he's about money," Clint said, looking from T'Challa to Natasha.

"There's got to be another reason behind this," Natasha agreed.

"Whatever the case," Vielka interjected. "We need to stop him, and Red."

oOOo

Bucky looked sideways at Vielka. He could see she was tense, her jaw pulled tightly and her eyes were dull.

T'Challa looked at her carefully, before switching the display on the screen. "I dug up as much information about these super soldiers as possible. If I'm not mistaken we can temporarily disable them by EMP, allowing us to slip in more easily."

"Could come in handy when we come up against Red too," Scott commented as he rubbed his hands together.

Vielka stood up suddenly, walking to T'Challa and putting her hand out. He looked perturbed for a moment but handed her the tablet. Bucky watched as she expertly tapped at the screen on the tablet a few times. She brought up a website, before tapping the screen a few more times and after it rebuked her efforts to enter a few times, it finally let her in.

On the screen was Red's old military personnel file, he was dressed in ceremonial attire in his picture, a serious look on his face. Bucky instantly bristled seeing his face.

"Red, formerly known as George Redman, Navy Seal, specialising in hand to hand, covert insertion and infiltration." She swiped at the screen a few times before bringing up what appeared to be a conduct record. Bucky tried to read it as she swiped through it and he noticed there seemed to be a few reports of misconduct. "He was tried several times for disobeying direct orders or operating outside orders as well as being renowned for threatening civilians while on OPS."

Everyone looked at her in confusion, unsure of the relevance of her point. She returned the screen to his picture. "Red is not operating under Crossbones control. The Major has always been a willing participant. He believed in the 'doctor's' ideology of the perfect world and perfect army." She handed the tablet back to T'Challa. "He now works for money, but I'm sure if the opportunity ever arose and he found someone who had the same belief on how to solve the world's problem, he would be quick to pledge his allegiance."

"So he's just a demented bastard then?" Scott asked blatantly.

Vielka didn't look at him as she answered, looking up at Red's picture instead. "More or less. EMP won't disable him though. His device has long been inactive."

Bucky recalled when he had first come face to face with Red at the pool party, when he captured Vielka. She had triggered her EMP, but he had been able to move about as if nothing had happened. She was right. There would be no slowing him down.

"There is one other person who can help us plan how best to attack," T'Challa said, he motioned to the door as it opened from the outside.

Bucky smiled when he saw a short, familiar woman step inside.

"Gaia!" Vielka exclaimed, running to quickly gather the older woman in a quick hug. Bucky found that odd, he had never seen Vielka show any real bond of that extreme with anyone yet. It was nice. "What are you doing here?"

"You should thank Bucky," T'Challa answered for Gaia, who seemed a little overwhelmed with emotion. "He remembered Gaia seemed to know a lot about your situation and suggested we get her in to help us reverse engineer the device."

Vielka looked to Bucky, giving him a grateful smile. He felt as if his chest tightened strangely, at the smile she gave him, and he faltered slightly before returning it.

T'Challa turned to the others. "Gaia was at one time, a tech at SHIELD. She was taken into custody by Hydra when they infiltrated, using her to make them many of their advanced technology. If it weren't for Vielka, who happened to slip out of their control when they ordered her to dispose of Gaia, she may well not be here today."

"My girl, you're free!" Gaia said, hugging her again.

Bucky looked to the pair again, it was heart warming to see them happily hugging, both of them free women.

"So what's the plan?" Steve asked, looking around. They all set forward, beginning to offer up ideas as to how to take out the soldiers and reach Crossbones.

oOOo

It was long after dark when they finally finished for the day. Vielka didn't love the plan, they were vastly outnumbered but she knew they needed to do something. She trailed behind the others as they headed to the living area, murmuring quietly amongst each other.

She stopped, thoughtful for a moment, before she turned and headed in a different direction. She headed towards the gym, but continued through once she reached it, heading outside. Once outside, she turned to the right, heading to the helipad, where the Quinjet was parked, walking past and standing on the edge of the cliff.

She looked out over the Wakandan rainforest, it was still with only the faint roars of a tiger somewhere down in the undergrowth.

She sat down and sighed, enjoying the cool breeze on her face. Loose hairs draped across her face, but she ignored them. She contemplated where she was, where she had been and what they were about to undertake. Never before had she been so close to being completely free of her torment. If they could just rid the world of Red, perhaps she could move on.

She bit her lip. No, she could never really truly move on. She wasn't the same girl who joined the military, fresh faced and keen to learn. She was now a living, breathing, killing machine, everything about her was created to subdue others.

She scowled. "Got to be kidding yourself," she sneered under her breath.

"I never took you as much of a joker, personally," came a voice. She jumped and turned her head to see Bucky walking across the helipad, the wind blowing his hair across his face and blowing his casual shirt tight against his front, showing the definition in his chest.

She cringed slightly, annoyed that her moment alone had been interrupted, turning back to face the forest and sighing. "Bucky, I'm starting to think you've got a tracking device on me or something."

He sat beside her, wincing slightly as he did so, causing her to look at him in mild amusement. It was nearly six hours later and he was still paining from their fight. "Hardly. There's not exactly a lot places to hide in this joint." She scoffed, pressing her lips into a line, doubting his reasoning. "Actually, Wanda asked me to come and find you to see what you wanted for dinner."

"What are the options?"

"I think the guys said the options were pizza, pizza and more pizza. They're ordering right now, I imagine."

She furrowed her brow and looked at him, before shaking her head. "Right."

"What are you doing out here anyway?" he asked after a moment of silence drifted between them.

"I was contemplating," she answered, still staring into the distance.

"What?"

She glanced sideways. Bucky was looking straight at her with a small smile on his face, leaning back on his arms, his legs crossed slightly in front of him, his jeans appearing to strain at the angles his legs made. She bet his roguish smile and mischievous eyes had got him all the girls when he was younger. She wondered what he had been like when he was younger and joining the military. She had often listened to Steve telling stories of the Bucky he knew as a youngster in the 1940s when they were trying to track him down, fascinated by the difference in time and lifestyle.

She found it hard to believe that the sometimes broody and quiet man that sat next to her was the same boy as back then.

"Well," she began slowly, quickly looking back out over the forest as she felt her cheeks heat slightly and heart quicken in her chest. "I guess, it all comes down to the fact that if we, by some miracle, pull this off, I'll finally be free of torment." She watched as a flock of parrots took flight from a group of trees as chimpanzees swung through the branches.

"That's a good thing, isn't it?" he asked after a moment of silence had passed between them, leaning forwards and peering into her face.

She bit her lip. It was, in a way. But would it change anything? "I guess so."

"You don't sound too confident," he replied, and she sensed him edging closer to her. "What's bothering you?"

She looked down at her hands in her lap, picking at her nails. "Well, while I guess I'll be free from ever worrying about them again, it doesn't change anything, does it?" she answered, looking at Bucky. "I'm still going to be forced to hide in the shadows, I can't go home, I won't have a normal life." She sighed, slightly relieved to get it off her chest, but uneasy having said it all out loud to Bucky.

He wouldn't have the kind of freedom she had, until T'Challa and his scientists and doctors could figure out how to reverse the brainwashing. He was always going to live in fear of turning into the Winter Soldier, and she felt bad having spoke her silly feelings towards her situation knowing he wasn't so lucky. "Sorry."

He looked at her incredulously and frowned. "What are you apologising for?"

"Well, I'm here worrying about trivial things like this and you're... well... you know..."

"Still harbouring homicidal tendencies at the mention of a few words?" She cringed and looked apologetic, but nodded, causing him to laugh lightly. "I don't know what you're feeling right now, Vielka, but don't apologise for feeling that way on my behalf. I'm glad you're going to be finally free, and although I'm a little jealous, I don't think you need to worry about my feelings. I've been through a bit, I'm pretty tough."

She scoffed and withheld a laugh and snide comment, to which he raised an eyebrow pointedly at her. She pursed her lips together and simply gave him a small nod, thinking it best to keep her wit subdued at that moment.

"Oh, if you're going to say something, Vielka, you best be saying it," Bucky said warningly, waving his finger in the air towards her.

She shook her head, looking away from Bucky. "Nope, you were nice to me right now, so I'm going to be nice and keep my thoughts to myself."

He poked her in the ribs, making her jump. "We both know you're not nice." She looked at him, mouth agape, while he grinned back mischievously. "Don't act coy."

"Take that back," she said, as he stood up and began to walk away. "I'm the nicest person you know!"

"As nice as a wolf amongst a flock of sheep, maybe," he called back, backing away with a challenging look.

"You're dead." She jumped to her feet and ran after him, making him turn and sprint away.

"See!"


I'm copying this edit to my clipboard to make sure the bloody website doesn't stuff me around again...

xo

Krayzee