𝗀 𝗁 𝗈 𝗌 𝗍 | | 𝗌 𝗍 𝖾 𝗏 𝖾 𝗋 𝗈 𝗀 𝖾 𝗋 𝗌

𝗌 𝗂 𝗑 𝗍 𝗒

𑁍 𝟤𝟢𝟣𝟩, 𝗎𝗉𝗌𝗍𝖺𝗍𝖾 𝗇𝖾𝗐 𝗒𝗈𝗋𝗄 ＆ 𝗐𝖺𝗄𝖺𝗇𝖽𝖺 𑁍

"ARE YOU JOKING?" MARTA ASKED T'Challa over the phone on Saturday morning. "Shuri's unfreezing him?" she was arriving back at the compound after a four hour run from the compound, to the city, then back to the compound. It helped her think, and it killed time that she had no way of filling.

        T'Challa smiled, sitting in his grand palace. "In two weeks. You said you wanted to be there when it happens, yes?" he asked in his thick accent.

        Marta put her phone on speaker and set it on her bathroom counter, brushing out her short hair. "Yeah. I'll be there. T'Challa, thank you. Thank your sister for me." Marta said gratefully, washing her face.

        "Of course." T'Challa said, and they ended the call.

        Marta's day was instantly a thousand times better, because her brother was waking up. She really missed him. Marta spent the day in the lab with Tony, letting him poke and prod her as much as he needed. He had a lead, and he was designing new technology to extract the disk from Marta's brain. She had told him she had to go to Wakanda, without telling him why. They never spoke of Bucky.

        The two weeks had passed in a blur, and Marta flew herself to Wakanda with ease, the Dora Milaje granting her clearance into the barrier. Marta touched down outside the palace, greeting Ayo and Okoye as they led her to T'Challa. "Your highness." Marta said when she saw him, bowing her head.

        "Enough," T'Challa smiled, drawing Marta into a hug. "You're just in time." the king of Wakanda led Marta through the palace to his sister's lab. Marta had heard all about Kilmonger's attempts to steal the throne, and was relieved that T'Challa had taken back his title, and his country was stable again.

        They walked through the palace, catching up. It had been three months since Marta was there, and Bucky's unfreezing was right at the same time Marta would have been visiting anyway. "Ok, I'm hitting the button!" Shuri said from behind the closed door of her lab. With wide and confused eyes, Marta and T'Challa pushed the thick doors open.

        Marta brought her eyes to Bucky's cryogenic chamber that he had slept in every time she had visited. But it was empty. Laboratory workers were busy in the center of the room, extravagant technology buzzing in use. Both Marta and T'Challa laid eyes on Bucky sedated on a lab table, technological claws on his head. Their eyes widened, mouths agape as there was a searing sound echoing through the room.

        "What are you doing?"

        "What are you doing?"

        Marta and T'Challa asked Shuri the same question at the same time, shouting in a panic, hands on their heads. Shuri looked over at the sound, powering down her tools and having her assistants stop working. She pulled her goggles up, resting them on her forehead. "Why would you do that to me? I could've killed him." Shuri said, exacerbated.

        Marta's eyes widened even more. "Sister, you were supposed to wait for Marta. She wanted to see him, to talk about the procedure." T'Challa said, offering a sad smile to a nervous Marta.

        "Oh." Shuri said, and then she put her goggles back over her eyes, getting back to work.

        "What are you doing to him?" Marta asked, stepping closer to her unconscious brother.

        Shuri operated her impressive technology once more. "I am removing Hydra's conditioning and restoring his memoires. It is a very long process. Once I have removed everything, I will reprogram his brain and neurons. It will probably take a week or so." Shuri answered.

        So Marta waited. Tony was fine with her prolonged absence, as he was busy with young Peter Parker, and Rhodey told Ross she was taking some personal days. Marta had everything all set. Everyday during that week, she watched Shuri work, eager to learn everything she was doing to help Bucky. She asked her if what she was doing would work on her, and Shuri said it wouldn't. Her Hydra control was too different from Bucky's, it was a completely different process.

        "Is that it?" Marta asked when Shuri powered down her technology, sitting beside T'Challa. He had managed to escape his mother hounding him about all of his duties.

        "Yes. Now, I wake him up," Shuri stood up and moved towards Marta. "The next few months will be long and hard. I will have to work with him every day to reinforce what I have taught his brain to do." she explained, and Marta nodded.

        "Can he stay here? Nowhere else is safe." Marta said warily.

        T'Challa stood, placing his hand on Marta's shoulder. "He is always welcome here. For as long as he needs." the man said, and Marta was immensely grateful.

        Shuri lightened Bucky's severe sedation and left the room with T'Challa, having her lab assistants clear out to give Marta and Bucky time to talk when he awoke. Marta sat with a book at his bedside, but she put it down instantly when his eyes fluttered open, losing her place. "Hey." Marta said, a light smile on her face when Bucky's eyes zeroed in on her.

        Bucky took in his surroundings. "Marta? Hey," he said, confused. "What happened?" Bucky asked, bringing his hand to the back of his head.

        "Don't sit up. Just stay still," Marta said, moving forward to stop Bucky from trying to get up. "Shuri unfroze you. She thinks she got Hydra out of your brain. For good." Marta's eyes lingered on Bucky's missing metal arm. She had forgotten he lost it during the fight.

        "Really?" Bucky asked, and Marta nodded. "You cut your hair. How long has it been?" Bucky questioned, instantly able to tell that his sister was different.

        Marta tucked a piece of her hair behind her ear. "A year. Just about. We don't have to talk about everything right now. All you need to know is that you're safe, I'm safe. Hydra's hopefully going to be out of both of our minds really soon." Marta said, holding Bucky's flesh hand. She had really missed him.

        Bucky nodded. They spent hours upon hours talking about everything that had happened since Bucky fell off the train. Marta detailed her wedding to Steve, and her impending divorce to Steve. Bucky was always on his sister's side when she was around, and on Steve's side when he was around. She told him about past missions, her current work she was doing. Bucky was sad that she was all alone, but he was happy she was keeping herself busy. They didn't talk about Tony.

        Shuri told Bucky and Marta everything they would have to expect in the coming months of Bucky's full rehabilitation. Marta gave Bucky a burner phone, so he could contact her on her burner phone whenever he wanted. She made him promise to call her every day, and if he wanted her to come back, she swore she would. Shuri told Marta she would call her at the end of every week and update her, on top of T'Challa's updates. Marta demanded to be well-informed.

        Marta and Bucky hugged for what felt like forever, but it still wasn't long enough. "I love you, little sister." Bucky said into Marta's hair, her head pushed into his chest.

        "I love you, too." she would be back, every three months, definitely a few days in between. When Shuri's work was completed, she would be there. Marta and Bucky had lost too much time, and neither were eager to miss out on any more of the other's lives.

        Tony went right back to work when Marta got back. He hung up on Peter and started doing more tests. He had made progress, which gave Marta hope. She and Rhodey checked out a potential sighting of the runaway Avengers, but it was a dead end. Marta was glad for that. She would've probably divorced Steve right then and there.

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