"Wakanda?... Wait...Isn't that.." she trailed off, drugged mind becoming confused.
"You're safe here, and we were able to patch up your wounds. Sergeant Barnes is here too."
Aubrey carefully looked over their faces, finally, a name coming to mind.
"Wanda...you all made it out?...and you're..?"
"Cap busted us all out, and this is Shuri."
Shuri clicked something on her watch and Aubrey's bed moved, slowly sitting her up.
She hissed under her breath, noticing the gap in her teeth, as the bed finished moving. Aubrey's shaky hands came up and she inspected them, observing their cleanliness before looking back up at the two women.
"I'm very confused and...my head is fuzzy...it...like it was when..when...I was at Hydra...I can't remember what happened."
"It should come back to you soon. You had a pretty serious concussion, blood loss, a big crack right here-" Shuri pointed to a spot on the side of her own head, covered by elaborately done hair. "-oh, and you were missing some teeth."
"I think I still am." Her tongue slid along the spots where a canine and two molars had been on her right side.
Shuri chuckled "Yeah, we have some replacements if you want em, but we need to wait until your blood levels even out and the crack starts to heal."
"Okay-" she shifted, becoming aware of a prickly feeling on her scalp. "-I assume my...head was taken care of?" tentatively, Aubrey's hand went up, finding the place where her hair had been shaved away. The spot was numb and she felt bandages covering the wound.
Wanda stood, pacing over to the windows and clicking something on one. Suddenly the tinting faded away and Aubrey's mouth dropped in shock. The world outside was like nothing she had seen before. The city sprawled across a valley, mountains in the background with more buildings poking out of them. Vehicles flew in the air, lush biomes surrounded the place.
"Wow," she murmured, taken by the beauty and peace.
"It is quite the place isn't it?" a familiar voice started, Aubrey jumped. Frantic eyes finding Black Panther standing in the doorway. He was no longer in the black catsuit, instead, he wore dark-colored leggings and a shirt with a brown jacket.
"I..I-" she started but he held up a hand.
"You are safe here Aubrey. I have no quarrel with you or Sergeant Barnes, both of you were victims, and I only hope you can find peace."
"Thank you" relief moved its way through her. He nodded, pulling Shuri aside and saying something to her before leaving.
Aubrey spent the rest of the day dozing, both Wanda and Shuri leaving her in peace. Bits and pieces started emerging back into her thoughts. She remembered Bucky being falsely accused, Secretary Ross, imprisoning her...flying somewhere with Tony.. But that was it. The world outside the window moved on. She thought of it as a hidden gem, technology years ahead of everyone else, being used for good, instead of exploited for evil. Aubrey was able to leave her bed the next day, still taking it slowly and resting whenever things started to spin. Her stomach grumbled but nothing sounded good, so she picked at the food brought by Wanda or Shuri. On the second day more revealed itself….Siberia...the fight. Where the majority of her wounds had come from. Aubrey stood in black pants and a sweatshirt, overlooking the city when a knock shook the door.
"It's open," she rasped.
Shuri walked in, a gleam in her eye as she crossed her arms."Are you coming?"
"What do you mean?" Aubrey turned, rolling her shoulders and immediately regretting it as her many bruises ached.
"T'Challa was supposed to come to talk to you about Sergeant Barnes and his choice"
"Is Bucky okay? I didn't know where he was but didn't want to"
"He's alright, keeps pestering everyone about you. But we thought it better to let you heal before anything else happened. Come on, I'll tell you then I'll go yell at my brother" she grinned as Aubrey pulled on her cleaned combat boots. The hallways were black, lined with silver and purple designs, she watched them swirl along the walls as Shuri spoke. "We know about the things in your head and what Hydra did. And the more I thought about it, the more sure I became that we could figure out a way to...to break the programming-"
At those words, Aubrey stilled, widened eyes finding Shuri's.
"You..you mean you could….fix us?...No one could ever...use us again?" the words came out in a whisper like she was afraid saying them would diminish the chance.
"Correct-'' her voice had softened slightly at the word. "But he has also decided it would be...better to go into cryofreeze until we can figure it out….You also have that option.."
Aubrey puffed a breath out of her lips, mind swirling. "Can..can I talk to him?"
"That is our destination" they started walking again and she suddenly wondered if the shaved patch on her head looked weird. In the reflection of a silver swirl, Aubrey saw the dark circles under her bruised eyes and realized that she looked awful. A mahogany door automatically slid open for them. The room was large, with holograms and see-through screens that held diagrams of the human body. Three medical beds sat by the windows, a one-armed man sat one of them, facing the outside. Shuri shuffled towards a technician and the holograms as Aubrey padded forward.
"It's beautiful out there, isn't it?"
He started, turning around, eyes running over her form. "Brie" the word sounded like a sigh of relief and a small smile lit her face. Aubrey edged onto the bed beside him, her shoulder bumping his flesh one. "You're here" he finished.
"I am...not in one piece but..here"
Bucky laughed softly "What a poor bunch we are. I've got no arm, you're half metal at this point."
"Isn't that the truth…even more so when they can replace my teeth" her tongue ran over the empty spots again.
"You...how do you feel?" his glacier-colored eyes found hers. Aubrey only met his gaze for a moment before looking away. When she didn't answer, he bumped her arm like she had.
"You don't need me to add my problems onto yours"
"Brie-" he started, shifting so he could see her better "-You took on my problems without question. I will always be here for yours."
She nodded, fingers fiddling with the edges of her sweatshirt. "Thank you-" the words filled the space between them as she continued "-My head hurts...a lot. I've got bruises everywhere...I'm nauseous...this-" she pointed to the scab on the side of her forehead "-aches...and...I'm...remembering things" the last sentence came out as a whisper.
"I am too" he responded quietly, hesitating before saying the next words, "Shuri told you?"
"Yeah….I...I hope they can do it...I really do but…-"
"It's almost too much to hope for?" Bucky finished for her. Aubrey nodded, puffing a breath out of her lips.
"When are you….going under?"
"Soon...Shuri said the chambers would be finished tomorrow or the next day..but if..if you want me to wait...I will"
"No..I..I think I'm going to do it too...makes it safer...for everyone." She watched as a black jet flew past the window.
Bucky sighed and the two sat in silence. Leaning on one another, drawing strength from the other as people moved around them.
Aubrey pulled the short-sleeve white shirt over her head, puffing a nervous breath out of her lips. Late the night before, after she and Bucky had parted ways, Shuri had brought her the clothing and instructions for the next morning. The cryofreeze chambers had been finished. The walk to the lab room was shorter than she would've liked and Aubrey was met with a small crowd. Lab technicians, T'Challa, Shuri, Bucky, and Captain America all stood around the room. Several people turned at the sight of her and Aubrey was bustled over to a medical bed. A pick line was inserted into her elbow as Bucky finished speaking with Cap, looking over to her.
"You ready?" his smile was forced and his hand twitched.
"I'm not sure this is something I'll ever be ready for" Aubrey swallowed, tears welling in her eyes….she was terrified of going back under. But she also wanted nothing more than to feel safe in the fact that no one could use her or Bucky ever again. Shuri's heels clicked against the tiled floor as she came to the two.
"The chambers are prepared."
"Okay" Their I.V's were removed and Aubrey stepped into the glass chamber, gulping breaths and using the prickly cold on her bare feet to stay calm. Before the tube closed, she looked over to Bucky, who stood in his own. He gave her a small smile, mouthing
"Everything will be alright"
She nodded, giving him her own watery smile before letting the technicians finish velcro-ing the straps. Her head lay back on the headrest as the chamber hissed closed, lifting and whirring as it turned on. An aching tiredness seeped into her bones as the glass frosted over. It traveled up her body, crystalizing onto her as Aubrey's mind was put to rest.