"Shuri, don't be disrespectful." Okoye eyed her. "We all know that in whatever nation we speak of, female warriors are more skillful so they falter less often than their male counterparts. Meaning, there will always be fewer of them to fix up." The general smirked while she winked at the young princess, making Shuri break out into laughter. Okoye then looked to Maria as she spoke. "Nakia sends her greetings to you and thanks you again for your assistance in South Korea."

"I don't know why she's thanking me she helped me more than I helped her." Maria thought back to her mission from a few years back when they'd run into each other.

"When Wakanda was a hidden technological nation, the greatest assistance one could extend to us was in keeping our true identity a secret. You, Commander Hill, have shown this worthy quality to Wakanda and because of it, Wakanda will always show its gratitude to you and consider you a close ally."

"I'm honoured." Maria smiled, having so much respect for both Okoye and Nakia.

"Commander," Shuri mumbled through the packet of gummy bears that were between her teeth, "since we're all honoured allies and everything—" Okoye sighed as she removed the sweets from the girl's mouth so that they could better understand her. Shuri looked to Okoye. "Thank you," she said to her companion before focusing back onto Maria. "Anyway. Do you think that you could casually drop in the fact that Wakandans don't eat the next time you see Peter Parker? Tell him that we just inject nutrients into our bloodstream once a month. I want to see how far I can get before he starts calling bullshit. I already have him believing that we do not have stairs and sidewalks. He thinks that we just use hover lifts and teleporters to get everywhere!" She giggled.

Maria smirked in amusement. "Nutrient injections?" She nodded in compliance. "I'm sure I can manage to work that in at some point."

Shuri laughed and clapped. "Yes!" She then turned to Okoye as she pointed to Maria. "I like her."

The commander then slid her jaw to the side before approaching the topic, the one she truly cared about. "So, may I ask how things are going down in the infirmary?"

"Okay," Shuri said casually. "My travel medi-machine was having trouble getting Ms. Van Dyne's broken spinal connection to grow back together. So I ended up creating a vibranium clamp. Dr. Foster has already surgically affixed it onto the break."

"Is it working?"

"Yes." She grinned in excitement. "Now, we will not know exactly what the end result will be yet. The process does not reconnect nerves, it regrows them to make new connections. So hopefully these new connections will bring a fully functional nervous system about and then Ms. Van Dyne will gain complete control of her lower extremities once again."

Maria had to blink away the tears that were suddenly present in her eyes as a sense of relief came over her. She still was not fully without stress and worry, but she'd take the positive news. "What about her brain swelling? Do you have any tech that can help with that?"

"Unfortunately, my tech does not do much for inflammation."

Okoye then stepped in. "But for many generations Africans have been using the leaf of the datura stramonium plant for that."

"Yes." Shuri nodded. "And because of the vibranium soil in Birnin Zana our plants are more potent than anywhere else. Ms. Van Dyne is currently on a datura-drip. Within the last seven hours her swelling has gone down by eighty-five percent."

Maria gasped, having to wipe her eyes before tears had escaped down her cheeks. "Eighty-five?" she repeated like it was too good to be true.

Okoye turned to Shuri, putting the pack of candies back between her teeth. "Go sit down, I will join you shortly."

The princess muttered, "Okay," as she left to do as she was told.

Okoye then looked to Maria like she could read every emotion that she was experiencing. "One time during an outdoor training exercise one of my Dora Milaje was knocked over, and on her way down she hit her head on the side of a reflective pool. I was terrified." Maria could see the pain in her face as she was recalling the memory. "I thought that she was going to die. But our doctors gave her a datura-drip and twenty-four hours later she was awake, and twenty-four days later she stood by my side in battle as we defended our borders together."

Maria sniffled as she tried to hold herself together while nodding. Okoye's story brought a true sense of hope to her for the first time since the incident. "Thank you." Was all she could manage to say to her in that moment. The general bowed her head. "I think I'm going to go now. Try getting a few hours of sleep," Maria said more to herself than to Okoye.

"Good." She smiled. "A leader cannot lead unless she is well rested."

Maria laughed in response to the sense of relief she was experiencing. "Yeah!" She then locked eyes with the other woman as she said with the most sincerity, "Goodnight, General."

"Goodnight, Commander," she replied back in a similar intensity before Maria walked out of the cafeteria to make her way to her bed – finally.

Fourteen Hours Later

Hope felt pounding at the back of her skull. She slowly brought her hand to her head, wanting to rub at it. She tilted her neck and slid her fingers to the back of her crown where it had hurt the most. But to her confusion, she found a bald spot with what felt like a protruding scar across it.

"Hope!" She heard Scott's voice. She opened her eyes to see a blurred image of him hovering over her face. "You're awake." He grinned before he laid his hands on her shoulders where he then kissed her cheek.

"Okay, don't break her anymore than she already is." She recognised her dad's gruff voice.

"What happened to my head," she groaned through a dry throat as she awkwardly attacked the uncomfortable nasal cannula that was blowing air into her nose, pulling it off of her face. She then looked past Scott as her sight cleared and her eyes focused, recognising the view through the window. She realised that she was still in the Avengers Tower. Her gaze then fell to her parents who were standing at her feet. "Why are you guys here?" She could easily see them since the head of her bed was propped upright.

Scott looked over his shoulder to her parents. "Does she seem normal and totally lucid to you? She seems normal and totally lucid to me." He then whipped his head back to face her. "Um, what are things they ask in movies? Ah, Oh! Who is our current president?"

Hope scrunched her face in disgust. "A racist cheeto with a bad comb over."

"Okay, that's totally not wrong." The man nodded with a smile, obviously happy that she could answer his question.

"But my head though?" She pointed to the anomaly on her scalp.

"Yeah ah, they kinda had to cut into your skull 'cause your brain finally got too big for your own head. But don't worry, Doc. Foster Humpty-Dumpied you back together again."

"I had a craniectomy?"

"Yeah. Also, you broke your spine, but Kid Genius thinks you're all good now."

"Kid who…" Then all of a sudden she remembered the events that had led to her lying in a hospital bed. "Oh my god, Maria!" She gawked in pure terror as she tried sitting up in bed.

"It's okay. She's fine." Scott eased her back down by the shoulder to rest against the mattress. "She's already up on her feet, captaining the ship like her post was never empty."

Hope let out a giant sigh of relief as her heartbeat slowed after it had only just jumped to a gallop.

Hank took a step closer as he addressed his daughter. "Wait, what name did you just say?" He then looked to Scott. "You said she rescued an agent but didn't say who. Who was she?" he demanded.

"Ah, Commander Hill," he answered like he were scared of him.

"Maria Hill?" His head snapped back to Hope. "Un-fucking-believable." He laughed out in agitated anger. "Why is it that every time you do something stupid, that woman seems to always be on the other side of the equation?"

"Wait, what?" Scott turned to look at Hope in confusion.

Instantly, Hope became angry with her father for both, verbally drawing the connection between her and Maria in front of Scott, and for his accusatory attitude that he held against herself in regards to Maria. "I didn't do anything stupid!" she snapped back at him.

"Getting your spine severed and your brain tossed all while cracking my suit seems pretty stupid to me."

"I knew it! So you do see our suits as your own."

"Of course I do. I made them."

"Hank." Janet jumped in. "For heaven's sake, she just woke up. Will you not antagonise her?"

"Me, antagonise her?" His tone was hostile towards his wife.

"Dad, just get out!" Hope shouted while pointing strongly at the door, completely furious with him. She was so done with how he treated them, especially for how he treated her mother.

"Oh, that sounds perfect to me!" He then stomped out of the room muttering under his breath, "I knew you guys joining the Avengers was a terrible mistake."

Janet came around to the opposite side of the bed from where Scott was located before she lovingly took her hand. "He didn't mean any of that. He's been worried sick about you. This is just his way of dealing with it."

"Still doesn't change the fact that he's an asshole," she huffed.

Scott then looked to his girlfriend as he asked, "What was he saying about Maria though?" His gaze pierced into hers like he was piecing together the puzzle before her eyes.

Hope swallowed – her extremely dry throat hurting in the process – as she began searching for the right words, but before she could think up something to say, the door opened.

"Oh, good you are awake!" A young African teen nearly jumped with excitement.

"We heard commotion from the lab," an American woman in a lab coat said as she entered behind the girl, whom Hope had assumed was her doctor.

"More like, we heard raised voices." The girl eyed them suspiciously. "You Americans are a very loud people." She then walked over towards Hope as she looked over her with awe and excitement. "Now that you are awake, Sleeping Beauty, we can finally test your legs. I think you will be impressed with my handy work."

"Wait. תאט, אתה נוסע מהר מדי (tə•et etəla'sal'helmē•dī). Cool your rolls." The other woman walked over to where Scott was; the man moved away from the bed so she could gain access to her patient.

"Oh, right. I guess you should check her over first, Doctor." The teen nodded.

Hope studied the girl as she asked, "Are you Princess Shuri?" Recognising her from the news when Wakanda had opened their borders and offered to share their technologies with the world.

"The original, never been replicated." She used her thumb to point at herself. "Although" – her face scrunched as she suddenly seemed deep in thought – "if I somehow could figure out a way to do that, I sure would get a lot more work done."

"Okay." The doctor's eyes were fixed on Hope as if she were completely shocked. "You seem very coherent for someone who just woke up from a brain injury induced coma."

"I told you, Wakandan medicine is the best." Shuri smiled proudly at the doctor.

"Hope, would you please direct your eyes to me?" After complying, the doctor quickly checked her pupil dilation with her pen light as she introduced herself. "By the way, I'm Doctor Foster, but you can call me Jane."

Janet squeezed Hope's hand from the other side of the bed. "Jane's been doing a lovely job in taking care of you for the past three days," her mother said, shocking Hope to learn that she'd been out for that long.

"Okay." Jane placed out her, now turned off, pen light at an arm's reach away from Hope. "I'm going to need you to grab my pen." Hope obeyed and did so without any issue. Jane moved it around a few times, each time no more difficult than the other, including when she was asked to switch hands. "Good." Jane shook her head like she couldn't believe it. "Amazing actually." She then cocked her head to the side, furrowing her brow. "I'm just curious." She placed the pen high up in the air. "Try catching this." She dropped the pen as Hope soon moved to grab it, but was too slow as it fell into her lap. "Okay, that's fine. I wasn't really expecting you to be able to do it."

"But I should've been able to catch that, easily." Hope was startled by her failure of such a simple task.

"It's alright, your dexterity and reaction time should return during your recovery process."

"Can we test her legs now?" Shuri asked while activating a holographic screen just above her wrist.

"Yes, we can test them now." Jane nodded at her.

"What's that?" Hope motioned at the princess's wrist.

"It is your nervous system. The device on your spine is sending me readings."

Hope was referring to the holographic screen and not so much what was on it, but once she heard her answer, she was more interested in what was on it. "I have a device on my spine?"

"Yes."

Hope didn't know how she felt in hearing that information. Though, she was now a little more concerned if she would be able to walk in that moment based off of the conversation that was going on around her.

Hope then threw her stiff legs over the edge of the bed next to her mom. "Woah, slow down." Jane warned her. "I was gonna get you to wiggle your toes first, not have you jump out of bed."

Hope looked down to her bare feet. "Okay." She began wiggling her toes. Shuri and Jane squeezed past Scott, pushing him further away from Hope as they came around to the other side, witnessing Hope's mobility.

"Yes!" Shuri cheered as she made a fist and thrust it in towards her body. "I am good." She congratulated herself, in turn, inspiring Hope to try standing.

Hope slid off the edge of the bed as her mother helped stabilise her while she held onto her forearms; her feet then hit ground. Her knees instantly gave out on her which sent Scott rushing straight over to her as Hope reached a hand to his shoulder for support. He wrapped his arms around her extremely tender lower back, supporting her weight. Then together him and Janet helped straighten her out to stand properly.

"You okay?" Scott asked her as she was quick to nod, determined to take a few steps now that her muscles felt like they were starting to respond.

"Please be careful," Jane cautioned her, " you're attached to both an intravenous and a catheter right now, so don't go far, you don't have much lead."

"Okay." Hope gently pushed both Scott's and Janet's helping hands away as she took three small laboured steps on her own.

Janet brought her hands to her face as she started to tear up. "Thank god," she cried. Hope turned to her with a smile as she then took a step to her, throwing her arms around her in a hug, careful not to rip out the intravenous in her arm in the process. "Oh, Jellybean" – she kissed her daughter on the cheek – "you had us all so worried."

"Your readings are looking really good." Hope heard Shuri say from behind her. "You will be kicking ass with the Avengers again in no time."

"Does that mean I can get out of here now?" Hope turned her head towards Jane while keeping her arms around her mother.

"I don't know." Jane seemed absolutely stumped. "This is so new to me. I've never had a coma patient just wake up and be fine." She took a moment and thought on it a little more. "How's your head?" She finally asked.

"Pounding."

"Yeah, I'm hesitant to take you off of your drip."

"Actually." Shuri spoke up. "I've got Dispatches." She walked over to a table off to the side of the room that seemed to have a bunch of her gadgets on it. She picked up something that looked like a thin grey coloured square of plexiglass that was about two inches in size. "You take the medication in its original form" – Shuri grabbed a leaf out from a pouch – "and you place it" – she then shifted her fingers to separate what looked like one sheet into two – "between like so." She sandwiched the plant in-between the plates. "And now you have a time release datura patch. No need for an I.V." She walked over to Hope and pressed the device to her forearm. "See, a Dis – patch. Get it? It is a patch that dispatches medicine."

"Well isn't that clever." Jane sounded impressed as she walked over to Hope, forcing Scott to step away once again. The Doctor then met Hope's gaze. "How about you get back on the bed and I'll free you from your tethers here."

Hope grinned at the idea of being discharged. "That'd be great. I so want to take a shower and eat something," she said, now realising just how hungry she was. But at the mention of water she suddenly remembered her head wound. "Wait." She brought her hand under her hair to her shaven spot. "Can I shower with this?"

"Yes." Shuri stepped in. "I got the doctor to close up both your incisions." She then said as an unnecessary clarification, "Ah, the one on your lower back and the one on your head" – she then came back around to the pertinent information – "with my very own suturer. It instantly grafts your skin together, sealing the wound."

"That's remarkable." Hope couldn't help but be fascinated by the tool. Ever since she was privy of Wakanda's scientific advancements, she wanted to learn everything that she could about them.

"Yeah." Jane smiled at her patient. "I've requested one for myself already," she said while she, along with Janet, helped Hope back into bed.

"Okay," Jane addressed Shuri, Scott, and Janet, "I'd ask that you give us the room for a few minutes here."

Shuri was the first to head for the door, but just as the teen was about to leave, Hope called out to her, "Princess Shuri." The girl looked at her. "Thank you," she said with the utmost gratitude.

She smiled and bowed her head before exiting. "You are very welcome, Sleeping Beauty."

"I've got clothes for you here." Janet told Hope as she patted a bag that sat in a chair not too far away.

"Thanks, mom," Hope said as Janet leaned in to kiss her daughter on the cheek before heading out.

"I'll ah, just be outside," Scott said somewhat awkwardly like he was now somehow not sure if he should be there with her in the first place.

Hope nodded at him, guilt crashing down on her once again. She was convinced that he suspected some wrongdoing on her part now; that thought put a knot in her stomach.

Jane then closed the curtains around her bed as she proceeded to take out her catheter and I.V., freeing her up. She then slowly and carefully got dressed while using the bed to stabilise herself.

Once she was fully clothed Jane gave her the rundown of what she was to feasibly expect during her recovery, which were: headaches, sleepiness, dizziness, confusion, and memory slips. Though, the doctor wasn't completely sure about these potential symptoms because she'd never seen Wakandan medicine in action before. So she wanted to keep a close eye on her, and check in with her every so many hours for the first stretch of her recovery.

When Hope eventually wobbled out of her hospital room, she instantly went to Janet who had allowed her to take her arm for support. "Mom, do you think you could help me take a shower?"

"Of course." She lovingly pushed her daughter's messy hair out of her face.

"Ah, do you want me to walk you guys up to your room then?" Scott asked nervously.

She really didn't know how to answer him. She could see that he had questions for her and was currently agitated by them. "If you'd like to." She hoped the answer would be fair, allowing him to determine what he wanted to do based off his own comfort level.

"I mean, If you don't need me I can always go find Hank," he said almost like a threat, or as much as Scott Lang could make something sound like a threat. Hope assumed he was responding to hurt feelings while cautioning her that he could go ask her dad to fill in a few blanks.

Hope nodded, feeling horrible for all the deceiving that she'd done over the past week. She was so in the wrong and it was distressing to her. "Okay, well I guess I'll catch up with you later then." Her voice was frail as she yielded to his words of warning.

"Okay then." He says abruptly before turning for the stairwell, disappearing through the door.

Hope sighed as she started moving towards the elevator with Janet assisting her. "What was that about?" she asked Hope.

Hope dropped her head, shaking it. "I don't really want to talk about it right now."

"Alright," she says gently, "but I'm here if you change your mind."

Hope only nodded in reply.

They made it up to Hope's room where she ended up sitting on the shower floor to wash herself; in the end, not needing to call her mother in for assistance.

Hope took her time, allowing the hot water to fall down her back that was completely purple in one giant bruise. Her thoughts fell to Scott and the predicament that she found herself in with him. She knew that she had to tell him everything. She had to tell him the truth, but the only problem was, she was still not willing to admit the truth to herself. So how was she going to be able to tell him?

She sighed, dropping her head into her knees as the water trickled onto the back of her aching head. Her thoughts so quickly and easily falling to Maria and how she wished to see her. She wanted to make sure that she was truly alright from their fall and to collapse her sore, weary body into her arms and just be held by her. "Fuck," she muttered out loud, mad at herself for allowing her thoughts to go there but she just couldn't help it. She never seemed to truly be able to keep her mind off of her.

Hope then heard a knock on the washroom door. "Jellybean, you okay in there?" her mom asked from the other side of the barrier.

Hope's head jerked up as she called out, "Yeah. Almost done."

"Okay."

Janet snapped Hope back into gear as she continued her washing, now determined to get herself out there to deal with her shit. She needed to both see Maria and talk with Scott. She really didn't know what was going to happen out of it, but her current cowardly state was killing her; she had to grow a backbone – ironically – and do something about it. With that, she rinsed the conditioner out of her hair, hating the feeling of her bald spot whenever her fingers ran over it, and stood to exit the shower, equally scared and determine to get on with it – to see where her day would take her.