The needle pierced the skin in the crook of her elbow. She struggled against the straps binding her to the chair as the clear fluid scorched her vein and she took a sharp breath through her teeth.
"This will make you remember." One of her captors assured her.
He'd been the one to inflict all the pain, to ask all the questions. He was tall, broad-shouldered and strong; she wasn't sure that he was Wakandan, his accent was different. He'd told her his name was Jideo during one of his interrogations and his eyes blazed with a brutality that would stop many a man in his tracks before running the other way.
A familiar feeling came over her for a moment before her eyes rolled back and a flood of images saturated her mind. Her body went limp in the chair.
Towering figures surrounded her. She looked up but couldn't see them clearly. They were blurred. One stretched its arm out to her, and she started to feel the life being pulled out of her. She screamed in pain but choked on something lodged in her throat. She watched as light left her body and the figure caught it in a vial.
She felt herself being lifted into the air before layers of cloth began wrapping itself around her where she hung, struggling to breathe. She felt herself being lowered into something and all light went out as a lid was sealed over her.
Below her, in the earth, she was aware of a sleeping presence.
She convulsed in the chair, and it tore her out of the vision.
"What did you see?" breathed Jideo, grabbing her hair and pulling her head back.
"Nothing. I saw nothing." The words scraped over her vocal cords.
"You should know better by now than to lie to me." He spat through gritted teeth.
His fist crashed into her stomach, sending her flying back in the chair. One of the armrests and one of the legs broke off on impact and Jane was sick over the floor.
She felt her one arm free and quickly grabbed the other strap around her trapped arm, tearing it out of the wood. She stumbled to her feet as Jideo scrambled to catch her and kicked the chair still attached to her other leg against the wall as hard as she could, sending splinters flying everywhere. Before he could secure a grip on her arms, she bent over and ran into him with her shoulder, lifting his feet off the ground and slamming him into the wall. She heard his head crack against the stone and stumbled back a few steps as he sank to the ground.
She looked around her frantically. She had no idea how to get out. They'd been very diligent about taking her to and from rooms blindfolded. She pushed back the cold panic threatening to take her over and took a deep breath, driving the world out of her mind, centring herself.
She'd been in this room before. With her eyes closed, she remembered - a right out the door, eleven paces and then a left; up a few stairs and then another left - that was the way back to the room they kept her in.
She had no idea what day it was, but it was dark outside. She broke into a run and took the route fresh in her memory. In front of her cell, she glanced around at the sound of footsteps down the passage and saw the shadows of several men on the wall coming her way.
Steve, T'Challa and Sam were lying on their bellies on the top of a small outcrop, hidden amongst the tall grass. They had the cover of darkness working in their favour. Shuri had found signs of life hidden in plain sight on the border of Serpent Valley. Whoever had taken Jane, had used the same shield technology used to hide Wakanda from the outside world to shield themselves.
"There are many." She whispered.
"How many?" Steve was positively vibrating next to T'Challa.
"If I had to guess I would say about four hundred."
"We're completely outnumbered." Breathed Sam.
"You don't say," muttered Steve.
T'Challa looked over his shoulder to the women behind them at the bottom of the outcrop. "Okoye, take Ayo, Shuri, Nakia and Romanoff and get inside. Try and find her and disable the shield. Call in the rest of the Dora's and the army."
"We'll punch a hole for you to get out." Steve finished his sentence.
"Give us ten minutes before you launch your attack." Replied Okoye before she started to talk into her bracelet, leading the women into the darkness.
Ten minutes felt like ten hours to Steve, when finally, T'Challa spoke. "Be careful not to stray out on the other side of this encampment."
Steve and Sam looked at him, puzzled. "Just beyond the border, there," he pointed "lies the Valley of Serpents, no one who has entered, has ever returned."
"As much as I don't wanna know," said Sam "you can't leave me hangin' like that."
"It is said that ancient reptiles dwell there." Said T'Challa ominously, before rising to a crouching position as his hood generated around his head.
"I had to ask." Muttered Sam, as he and Steve readied themselves next to T'Challa.
"Take no prisoners." Breathed T'Challa.
"Wasn't planning to," replied Steve, as the three men made their way down the front of the outcrop. T'Challa's and the Dora Milaje's armour allowed them to penetrate the shield, just as the one around Wakanda did and they stood in it, creating something like a doorway to let the others through.
All hell broke loose as swarms of men flooded out of a large stone building not far from them. Steve left nothing behind as he tore through ten at a time. Sam took to the air, scorching long strips of grass with whatever was on it.
They battled on for about twenty minutes when a fresh wave appeared bearing Chitauri weapons. There were several choppers in the air, and they were taking fire from all sides when a massive explosion hit close to where Steve was fighting. It sent him and all the men around him flying through the air. He rolled out of it, the others, not so much.
"Please tell me you're still alive?" Sam's voice rang in his ear.
"Still kickin'." Answered Steve. He felt warmth growing on his side and lifted his arm to find a piece of debris sticking out of his ribcage. His face contorted with pain as he pulled it out. A few deep breaths had him running ahead again.
Three choppers focussed in on Sam and T'Challa watched as he went tumbling out of the sky. A few tense moments passed before Sam's voice cracked over the comms line; "I'm grounded."
Okoye and Ayo came running out of the stone building, supporting Nakia between them. T'Challa froze before he ran at full tilt to meet them.
"They shot her." Cried Okoye.
There was a growing dark spot just under Nakia's collarbone.
"I am okay," breathed Nakia.
"We have to get her out of here," barked Okoye.
"Go!" Commanded T'Challa, fighting off attackers around the women as they made their retreat.
He was taking bullets, but his Vibranium suit offered him ample protection. His thoughts went to Steve and Sam, who were completely exposed.
"Sam!" He cried over the radio, "Get yourself out of here before you get killed."
"No!" Answered Sam, firing his last bullet and pulling a knife. "I got this."
"Sam!" Huffed Steve, "that's an order!" He took his focus off his six for the split second he talked to Sam and dodged an incoming Chitauri blast half a second too late. If he'd had his shield, it wouldn't have been a problem. He slammed into the ground, curling onto his knees at the pain in his lower back.
"Steve!" Called T'Challa and Sam at the same moment. There was a pause during which they could hear him struggling to catch his breath.
"I'm fine." He croaked. "Nothin' I can't walk off."
T'Challa and Sam were silent.
"Sam, get outa here!" Steve's voice was still choked.
Sam spoke after a pause, crestfallen. "Aye aye, Cap," before he made his way to where the barrier was supposed to be. The women must have succeeded inside because it was gone. He looked back, his eyes drinking in the scene. It was carnage.
Most of the men and firepower seemed to be concentrated on Steve. Something to the left of the scene caught his eye, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the Dora Milaje, followed by the Wakandan army launch their attack.
An hour after they'd launched their rescue mission, T'Challa finally reached the entrance to the building with Steve at his side. The extra men and women on the ground had made all the difference.
They made their way inside where they found Natasha and Shuri fussing with a huge door.
"Have you found her?" Steve's voice came in broken bursts as he bolstered against the pain in his back and his side, he'd taken two bullets in his right arm and another in his abdomen. He was limping.
"Steve?" Natasha was shocked. "What happened out there?"
"It seems they counted on him coming for her," answered T'Challa. "Where is she?"
"She's in there." Said Shuri, angry. "But we can't get it open." She kicked the door a few times, sending low, hollow bangs reverberating around the stone walls. "There is a passage that runs all the way around this central area. We were just coming around from disabling the shield when the door shut on us."
The door was several inches of steel and had a small barred window at eye height in the centre.
Steve took a few steps closer and looked through it, taking in the grim scene beyond the door. Strewn across the floor of the large open area were the limp bodies of at least fifty men. He could hear a struggle just behind the wall on the far side of the room with a doorway carved out of it, but it was completely dark.
"What happened here?" He asked Natasha and Shuri.
"We don't know." Replied Nat. "We found it like this."
There was a cracking sound, followed by a thud from the darkness beyond the doorway on the other side of the room and then everything went quiet.
Steve swallowed back the pain searing through his body.
"Jane!" He croaked through the small window.
Out of the black doorway, slipping from the darkness like a shark through water, appeared a figure.
"Steve?"
It was her. He felt tears sting his eyes as raw emotion flooded his heart.
"Jane!"
She moved out of the darkness completely, revealing herself covered in dirt and smears of blood. Steve watched as she drew closer until her hands were around the bars of the small window and her face was right in front of his.
Her eyes were wild, and her breathing quick as tears streamed silently down her face.
"Jane, is there anything on your side that can open the door?" Asked Shuri.
She didn't want to move away from Steve.
"Jane!" Yelled Natasha.
She reluctantly let go of the bars and disappeared to the side, and Steve's eyes closed with relief. He rested his head against the bars.
There was a sound from the entrance behind them.
Steve, T'Challa and Nat turned as several men came up the corridor. They were fish in a barrel.
All three launched an attack before the group of men could become fully aware they were there, while Shuri kept working on the door with Jane. Steve had the upper hand on the three men he was battling when a bullet hit him in the chest.
Everything slowed down as he took in deep, desperate breaths at the burning shot.
Nat and T'Challa finished off the attackers and ran to his side.
"Steve? Steve?" Natasha's voice was breaking with emotion as he felt himself fall backwards. The ringing in his ears drowned out all the sound around him, save for the scraping of a heavy metal door against stone, and in an instant, she was there, her strangely beautiful eyes brimming with tears.
She put her hand on his cheek, unable to stay the tears dripping down her nose. She touched his chest, taking in all his wounds.
T'Challa deactivated his hood and looked worriedly at Natasha who shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks. Jane watched the exchange.
"No!" She breathed.
She sat back on her knees next to him and leant over, putting her ear over his heart. It fluttered for a moment before it became more erratic.
Her body shook with a desperate sob as she willed with her whole being that the situation was reversed. Instinct took over as her body drew in a few deep breaths, she let the world fall away around her and Steve and centred herself, keeping both hands on him. Closing her eyes, she let herself sink into a state of pure focus and found all the damage in his body in her mind. Holding on to all his wounds mentally, she began to pull them towards herself with all her might. At first, nothing seemed to happen, but she kept pulling, harder and harder until she could start to feel pain in her own body.
T'Challa, Shuri and Natasha watched as dark patches of blood began growing on the dirty linen slip covering Jane's body in the same places they were on Steve's. Steve's body healed just as Jane's took on all his injuries. Once all that was left of his wounds were the holes in his combat suit, she pushed herself up on her shaking arms and watched as his eyes opened. She smiled at him, reaching up to touch his cheek.
"You're going to be okay. I've got you," she whispered before collapsing on his chest.
Steve took a sharp breath in, moving slightly on the ground and finding all the pain gone. He looked down at Jane on his chest and realised with horror that she now bared the wounds he had moments ago. He sat up slowly, taking her up into his arms gently.
"What the hell happened?" he cried.
Nat, T'Challa and Shuri, sat dumbstruck beside him. He rose to his feet, clutching her to his chest.
There was an unearthly roar in the distance that put them all on edge.
"What the hell was that?" breathed Nat.
"Trust me, you don't want to know," replied Shuri.
"Sam, where are you?" Steve asked over the comms line while still looking at Jane, his voice shaking.
"We're at the fighter." He replied.
"Fire it up. We need to get back to Shuri's lab ASAP."
The three of them ran up the ramp of the fighter minutes later, shocked and horrified expressions playing between them as they heard trees cracking in the distance. Not one of them wanted to turn to see what was coming.
Steve ran with Jane to the medical bay, laying her down gently on a bed as the fighter sped off.
Nat stood just outside the medical bay.
"What's going on?" Sam's shocked voice came over her shoulder.
She looked around at him, tears welling in her eyes as she shook her head in disbelief at what she was about to say.
"She took it from him... all of it."
Sam's jaw dropped as he took a step closer to see what was happening inside the medical bay.
Nakia was sitting on a bed next to Jane, looking just as horrified as everyone else, T'Challa was by her side.
Steve didn't know what to do other than put pressure on her wounds. He felt helpless, still reeling from what just happened.
Shuri was running around Jane; concern etched harshly on her face. She put a thick layer of gauze on one of Jane's wounds and pressed down as hard as she could.
"Okoye", her voice cracked over the comms line, "change course to the hospital."
Steve looked at her, his eyes red and each knew what the other was thinking.
Shuri's Vibranium treatment did not work on Jane.