The Scarlett Soldier

│11│

Shuri and I ended up talking for a couple hours. I asked her questions about Wakanda and she asked me questions about HYDRA.

"Oh Scarlett, I'm so sorry." She said, after I told her my life story. All the training, experiments, and torture.

"It's okay, honestly. I'm never going back there and I'm protected from them. They can't hurt me ever again."

"But are they going to try?"

"I don't doubt it for a second, and that scares me sometimes but now I have Steve and my dad."

"Scarlett, there's something I have to tell you about your dad." Shuri said and I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What about my dad?"

"We have been trying to figure out how to get the trigger words out of his head, but we don't have it yet."

"So, what? He's going to be the Winter Soldier forever?" I said with tears brimming in my eyes.

"Not necessarily. He's decided to go into cryo because he thinks he's a danger to people, especially you."

"What?!? He's not a danger? How long will he be in cryo?"

"There's no telling. But as soon as we figure it out he'll come out."

"Is he still here?"

"Yes, he is in his room. The procedure is taking place in the morning." Shuri explains.

I instantly get up and storm out of the room. I was in such a trance of sadness and anger that I didn't even realize where I was going.

"Scarlett! You passed the room!" Shuri yelled, while running after me. I turned round on my heel and rushed to the door Shuri was standing next to. I swung the door open and saw my dad sitting at his desk with a couple Wakandian medics patching up his cuts and there was now a white sleeve covering the shoulder where his metal arm used to be.

"You didn't tell me you were going back under cryo!" I yelled. Bucky jumped up, throwing his book on the desk. "When were you going to tell me?" I stopped in from of him as tears started streaming down my face.

"Leave them." Shuri whispered to the medics and they all left the room.

"Scarlett... I... I was going to tell you, I swear..."

"Before or after you went under?" He looked down at his feet. "I just found you. I finally have a dad. And now you're leaving me again."

"Scarlett, I know how much this hurts you. But if I don't go under, I might hurt you physically and I can't take that chance." I didn't say anything. What was I supposed to say. He was right. "Scarlett I'm doing this because I love you. I can't trust my own mind."

"I understand." I said a little bit over a whisper. He was right. He wasn't in control of himself right now and he can't be until Shuri and her team figure out how to get the trigger words out of his head. He wrapped his arm around me, embracing me in a hug. I hugged him back, tears still falling down my face. After about three minutes he pulled back from me and kissed the top of my head.

"мой маленький солдат." He whispered to me in Russian, meaning 'my little soldier'. I smiled brightly.

I threw my fist towards him, punching him in the stomach. He stumbled back a little. "Good job soldier." He complimented me, I smiled and he pulled me into a hug. "мой маленький солдат."

"I remember, you called me that in Siberia!" I exclaimed, excited that I pulled out another memory from the depths of my mind.

---⭑---⭑---⭑---

I sat in a chair across the room from my dad who was sitting on a metal table, the kind of table you find at hospitals or science labs. He was wearing a white tank top and some pants. His shoulder was covered with a black sleeve where his bionic arm used to be. It was weird looking at him with only one arm, but I guess I wouldn't be able to look at him much longer since today he was going into the cryo chamber.

Steve walked in wearing a black zip-up hoodie and brown pants. He has two large bruises on both sides of his face and his hair was all messed up. He had either gotten into a fight or slammed his head in between the door and the frame, but knowing Steve, it was probably a fight.

"You sure about this?" Steve asked Bucky.

"I can't trust my own mind." He answered with a half-hearted smile, "Until they figure out how to get this stuff out of my head, I think going under is the best thing. For everybody."

I looked down at my feet. I couldn't stand the fact that I just found mt dad and he's going away for a long time. I know it's what's best but I just can't deal with the fact that I'm losing my dad, again.

"We are ready Mr. Barnes." Shuri said as she stood behind a computer with the controls to the cryostasis chamber. Bucky hopped off the table and walked over to large, metal tube and stepped inside. He laid against the back and one of Shuri's assistants fastened a strap over his chest. Shuri clicked a couple buttons on her computer and the machine started whirring as the clear glass covered the front of the chamber, closing Buck inside.

I shut my eyes tightly, unable to force myself to watch him freeze into an unconscious popsicle. I ran out of the room, tears spilling out of my eyes. I stopped outside of the room, into a hallway with a large window that took up the whole wall, displaying the beautiful land of Wakanda for my tear-filled eyes.

"He'll be back." Steve said, trying to comfort me. I didn't realize he had followed me out here. I quickly wiped away my tears and stared down at my feet.

"Sorry." I sniffed, wiping the tears with my long sleeve. "I shouldn't be crying."

"It's okay, Scarlett. It's okay to cry sometimes."

"I can't. Soldiers don't cry."

"Who told you that?" He asked.

"My old handler in HYDRA. Whenever I let a single tear fall I'd get punished because I was supposed to be strong. I am strong, and I shouldn't be crying."

"Crying doesn't make you weak. It just means you've been strong for too long and need a break. It's okay if you cry. You're still strong, you're the strongest kid I know."

"Thanks Steve." He then came over to me and wrapped me in a tight, comforting hug. That dumb saying 'soldiers don't cry' had been replaying in my head for years and here, right here, right now, I'm letting it all go.

I'm safe now. From HYDRA. Safe from prison. I'm free, finally.

I'm the Scarlett Soldier