You Must Remember This (WIP)

Chapter 19 - Aftermath

Wakanda, 2016

Seconds. It was a matter of mere seconds that assured Bucky came out of the fight alive. Steve watched the footage of Shuri's lab in silent horror. If he hadn't stopped Nemesis and pulled her off Bucky when he had... She came so close to killing his best friend. Too close. The blade had literally been at his throat. So why hadn't she finished it? Her crusade - the mission she'd been on for years, decades even - could have ended right then and there.

"Sam, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

Steve paused and zoomed in on the frame. Sam leaned in to take a closer look.

"Is she crying?"

They both looked at each other, wondering what that was about, when they were interrupted by a female voice behind them.

"Is that the footage from the fight?"

Steve turned to see Natasha limping into the lab.

"You should be resting, Romanoff." Steve scolded as he helped her into a chair.

"I did rest." Natasha winced.

"Getting knocked out by an electrode in your neck doesn't count as getting rest."

"For God's sake, Rogers, relax. The doctor cleared me."

"By himself, or did you help him come to that decision?" Sam snickered, much to Steve's annoyance.

Black Widow grinned back at him in reply. She held her hand out for the tablet. Sam shared a glance with Steve but ultimately decided that the wisest thing to do was to just hand it over. Even a wounded Black Widow was still very capable of kicking their ass.

"She's fighting Barnes differently than she did me," Natasha said after rewinding the footage a bit. "Nemesis didn't use any lethal moves in our fight. She fought to incapacitate me, not kill me. There's no restraint with Barnes. She's fighting with everything she has, driven by her anger."

"Then how do you explain her crying on top of him?" asked Steve.

Natasha's eyes squinted when the scene played. Her lips moved, speaking indistinct words. She shook her head, rewound, and did the same thing again.

"She's saying something to him. The way she's sitting makes it too hard to lip-read, though. Did you hear anything?"

"No, nothing."

"Is Barnes awake yet?" 

"He took a hefty beating; it may be a while."

Natasha nodded, pressing her lips together. Steve knew she wasn't the most emotional person, but he could tell it bothered her Nemesis beat her, and Bucky too. But she had nothing to feel guilty about. Every single person in this room, every single person who had been guarding Nemesis, severely underestimated the young assassin. It wasn't a mistake anyone would make again.
Steve took the tablet back and switched to the live feed of the security cameras. He was relieved to see Nemesis was still unconscious, lying on the floor of her new cell. Only a very small part of him felt sorry at seeing the girl in a vibranium-enforced straight jacket. There was no way she would get out of there any time soon.
This was good. It gave T'Challa and Okoye enough recuperation time. It gave Shuri the chance to develop extra security measures in case Nemesis somehow did manage to escape again (better safe than sorry, she said). And it gave Bucky time to wake up.

"What did Carter say?" Natasha's voice pulled Steve back to the here and now. "Does she know Nemesis?"

"Yeah." Steve sighed and sat next to her. "Every Agent 13 since Peggy has been in charge of Nemesis. But even she couldn't tell how old she was when she first met her or how old she is now. I don't think anyone can."