The road was long and dark as they zoomed down it, the car - the target - in their sights up above. Her fingers gripped on the handlebars of her motorbike as she glanced to her left. It was time to begin the mission…

"It wasn't them! Hydra was controlling their minds!"

Bang!

A gasp passed her lips, burning at her already sore throat, as she sat up. Scrambling around the bed she found herself on Harper frowned as she took in the room she was in. Machines she didn't recognise emitted loud beeps from where they sat at her beside and the bright light above hurt her eyes.

"Hey, hey," a voice she recognised immediately cut through her panicked breathing. From beside her Steve Rogers was standing up from the chair he'd been sitting in, his hands raised in an attempt to calm her "Harper, calm down."

"Where am I?" she asked breathlessly, the room was alien to her. Far too clean, too bright and very unfamiliar "What happened? Where's Bucky?"

Steve smiled, reaching down and taking her hand "We brought you, both of you, to Wakanda," he explained, watching as Harper's head quickly turned to look out of the window on her other side "They have technology beyond anything we could ever think of. King T'Challa has promised to help Bucky."

"Why?" Harper, still feeling a little fuzzy, asked "He thinks Bucky killed his father."

Steve shook his head "He was there in Siberia," he explained and Harper brought the memory of her spotting T'Challa suited up in the corridors at the centre back to the forefront of her mind "He caught up with Zemo, the man who brought us there, while we were...fighting. Zemo explained everything to him, it was him who organised the bombing disguised as Bucky."

Though she nodded she felt as though all the information being thrown her way wasn't really taking "And Tony? He's…?"

"Tony's fine, back at the compound."

"Pity," Harper scoffed before she frowned and settled back against her pillows "Sorry," she continued, reaching up and pinching the bridge of her nose with the fingers Steve wasn't holding onto "Sorry, I didn't mean that."

Steve smiled "It's okay if you did," he said with a shrug of his shoulders "He is the reason you have that painful looking bruise on your face."

"I'm okay," she said, unable to stop the wince as she reached up to once more to press her fingers across her skin "So, how are they planning on helping Bucky? What's going to happen to him?"

"He's going back under Harper," Steve explained in a slow and careful tone "Cryogenic sleep. Shuri, she's the princess and...well and the whole reason this country is as advanced as it is from where I'm standing, she's going to - Harper!"

Without bothering to listen to his explanation Harper had pulled her hand from his grasp, swinging her legs over the other side of the bed she swayed as she pushed herself up onto her feet "I'm fine," she insisted as Steve appeared by her side to catch her "I need to see him."

"And you'll get to but you aren't rushing off and ruining my good work before you do."

The voice was different and Harper glanced up to see a new person, clearly the Wakandan princess Steve had mentioned, had entered the room "Work?" she asked, her gaze following the younger girl as she fussed around the machines around her, pressing buttons and musing over the readings on the screens.

"You're a level two super soldier Miss Rhodes," the princess said, her tone distracted as she worked "Not as high as Captain Rogers or Sergeant Barnes but still up there," she explained, making notes as she began removing the wires snaking from Harper's body "I just had to have a little play up here once I fixed your broken jaw," she continued, wriggling her fingers near Harper's temple with a smirk on her face.

"You did?" Harper asked before turning to Steve "She did?"

"Shuri," was her answer "You can call me Shuri...and yes. You aren't as far gone as Sergeant Barnes but there were still some things to figure out."

"And you did it?" Harper asked with a frown "You...figured them out?"

"I always figure things out," Shuri answered with a smirk and a wink. "The brainwashing Hydra attempted to do to you has been deprogrammed from your brain. Your memories will come back but slowly so be patient...if that's possible."

"I just want to see him," Harper said, glancing between Steve and Shuri with a desperate look on her face "Bucky. He can't go under before I've seen him."

"Nothing is going to happen with Sergeant Barnes until you've had time with him," Shuri reassured "In fact, Captain Rogers is on his way to see him now. We'll get you dressed and ready while he's gone," she said before shooting a glance in Steve's direction "Captain Rogers?"

"Right, yes," Steve said with a nod of his head. Looking back down to Harper he sent her a smile "You're okay?"

"I'm okay," she reassured with a nod of her head.

"Take your time," Steve insisted as he made his way to the door of her room "Even if you need more than you think. I'll stall him until you can come."

"Thank you Steve," she replied, sending him a smile before he disappeared out into the hallway. Turning to Shuri she smiled as she watched her remove the last wire stuck to her skin "I can get up now?"

"Slowly and carefully," Shuri answered, a dip to her eyebrows which told Harper she meant it "There was a lot I had to dig through in that brain of yours," she began as she turned her back on Harper, opening up the cabinet to her left to retrieve her clothes "You had trigger words, they used them on you only a couple of times, so they were easy to deprogram," she said as she placed the pile of washed and folded clothes down on the bed "Sergeant Barnes. His are a lot more ingrained."

"Is this you telling me he'll be under a lot longer than I was?" Harper asked as she slowly pushed herself up onto her feet, closing her eyes for a couple of seconds and taking in a deep breath through her nose as she steadied herself.

"I didn't say that," Shuri said, helping Harper out of the hospital gown she was in. "I'm just pointing out the facts. I'll do my best but I'm not sure how long it'll take."

"Okay," Harper said with a nod as she sat back down on the bed to pull her jeans onto her legs. They were the ones ripped at the knee she'd stolen from a store when she and Bucky had first left together and she couldn't stop herself from smiling "Okay," she repeated, getting to her feet once more and brushing her hands down her clothes "How do I look?"

Shuri tilted her head to one side "Could be better but you'll do," she said, a teasing smile coming to her face as Harper scowled across to her "Ouf, much worse now!"

"Just show me where I need to be going," Harper said with a roll of her eyes, a grin coming to the younger girl's face as she linked their arms and led her out of the door.

"He's just next door," she explained as they turned right at the bottom of the corridor Harper's room had been on, gesturing to the only door they were facing "I'll wait here."

"Thank you," Harper said genuinely, feeling a rush of affection wash over her as Shuri sent her another grin.

Her legs still felt slightly wobbly as Shuri let her go on alone, her heart pounding in her chest almost nervously as she made her way toward the door.

The room she opened it up into was larger than hers had been, filled with more machines and scientists in white lab coats hurrying around looking important. Across from where she was standing she spotted Steve with his back to her, and could hear him speak as she approached.

"You sure about this?"

Her heart leapt as she spotted Bucky raise his head, pursing his lips together as he nodded "I can't trust my own mind," he said with a sigh as his head ducked down "So, until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head I think going back under is the best thing…for everybody."

Steve looked torn as he folded his arms over his chest, letting out a sigh of his own as he nodded his head "But before you do, I think there's someone who wants to have a word."

Bucky seemed to relax as soon as Steve stepped aside to show Harper standing behind him, his lips fell into a soft smile as his eyes met hers.

"I'll leave the two of you to it," Steve said, reaching out and placing a reassuring hand on Harper's back before he turned to leave.

"He's not bad y'know," she said with a smirk, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder to where Steve was slipping out of the room "This place…is amazing," she said breathlessly, sharing a smile with one of the lab techs before stepping closer to Bucky.

"You're hurt," he said with concern as he reached out toward the bruised side of her face.

"Oh this?" she asked, gesturing to her face with a roll of her eyes and a wave of her hand "You should see the other guy."

"I did hear you had a great trainer."

Her heart skipped and a smile came to her face as the Bucky she knew shone through. Moving even closer to him she itched to wrap her arms around him, her eyes flickering nervously over to the other people occupying the room. She settled for perching beside him, nudging his shoulder with her own.

"I'd say you got a worse deal," she said, wincing as she gestured to his missing arm.

He simply shook his head and shrugged in reply before his head bowed slightly "I'm sorry. For dragging you into all of this."

A look of unamusement he had gotten used to crossed over her features "I think we both know I was already knee deep in all of this shit way before we met," she said with an arch to her eyebrows. Reaching over she linked their fingers and squeezed his hand tightly "Are you sure? That this is the best-"

"I am," he answered as he squeezed back "I'm terrified of becoming that guy again, terrified I'll end up hurting you. I don't know how long I'll be out but Steve told me both him and T'Challa will keep you safe," he said, a smile coming to his face as his eyes flickered up to finally meet hers "I told them you're more than capable of doing that for yourself."

"Thanks to that trainer who put me through my paces."

Bucky shook his head "Because you're one of the strongest people I've ever met," he corrected her, his fingers still laced with hers as he let out a sigh "I don't know how long I'm going to be out for but I…I just want you to know, y'know," his sigh was filled with frustration this time as he raised his eyes to the ceiling "I don't quite know how to say how I feel, this isn't really a situation I've ever been in before."

"Me either," she admitted as she reached out with her free hand to gently cradle the side of his face for a couple of seconds. Her eyes scanned over his face as she made sure to take in all the features she wasn't sure when she'd be able to see again "Don't forget me in there."

"Impossible," he replied with one last squeeze of her hand "But I'm not saying the same to you. Harper I don't know how long I'm going to have to be in there and I don't want you putting your life on hold or putting yourself in danger on purpose okay?"

She went to speak but found herself getting interrupted before any of the words came out of her mouth. A man in a lab coat stepped up beside where they were sitting to inform them it was time and the door reopened so Steve could come back inside.

"Ready buddy?" he asked, trying to sound more relaxed than he actually looked as Bucky slowly got to his feet and stepped into the machine waiting for him.

"No getting killed while I'm in here," was his reply, his eyes flickering between the two most important people in his life as they stood in front of him attempting to look as innocent as possible.

Moving around to stand by his side Harper put on the bravest face she could as the door was shut and his head leaned back, his eyes closing as the machine began to whir. Without realising her hand reached out toward the glass and she snatched it away, reaching up instead to wipe beneath her eyes.

"So," Steve began nodding his head for her to follow "The king wanted to know if you'd like to see your room?"

"My room?"

"Of course," Steve replied with a grin as the two of them made their way toward the door, Harper throwing one last look over her shoulder toward where Bucky was resting "You didn't think we'd make you leave him did you?"

It was like a weight was lifted off her chest and she took in her first deep, lung filling, breath since she had woken. Nodding her head she glanced across to him with shining eyes as she reached up with shaking fingers to tuck a strand of her hair that had fallen from her ponytail behind her ear "Thank you."

"I just have one condition. I need help with something."

Harper frowned as she glanced up to Steve. All she wanted to do was head back to her own room to curl up beneath her quilt, she wanted to eat chocolate and cry as she tried to make sense of what had happened.

But she knew there was no way she could say no to Captain America.

"Anything," she said with a shrug of her shoulders, folding her arms over her chest and turning to face him as a smile slowly came to his face.

"Have you ever broken someone out of prison before?"

The End

Harper Rhodes Will Return

Thank you so much to everyone who has read/reviewed/favourited...I can't believe it's over!

Keep an eye out for the sequel sometime next week!

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