Chapter Text
Chapter Text
She spoke the Russian words in succession, while Bucky once again tested his bonds, ensuring there was no give. He felt better about her doing this without his metal arm, but he was still terrified of hurting her.
He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to relax. He was safe here. He would not be made a mindless killing machine ever again, thanks to the brilliant girl currently fussing over him. His trust in her abilities, her skills, and just her was the only reason he had consented to this. He didn't know what to make of the girl, at first. He knew she was young, likely not even twenty, and yet she had designed all of the technical inner-workings of this fortified country. -The strange juxtaposition of her light energy and the heavy responsibility she so easily managed. She wore down his defenses with her kindness, patience, and teasing. The lost wary man was replaced with a hopeful one.
After the last trigger word was spoken, his mind softened into that pliable state that he so loathed.
He stilled and waited for instructions. Shuri quietly examined his brainwave activity in a hologram floating above her palm. She carefully focused in on the hot-spots that suppressed his personal will, manually fixing them with precision.
He blinked rapidly with glassy eyes, and shuddered.
The Doras standing guard tensed.
"...Sergeant Barnes? Do you recognize me?" Shuri leaned in close to Bucky's face, while Okoye huffed disapprovingly. She did not like the Princess taking such chances. No matter how skilled she was, she was not infallible. She could not predict what this foreign assassin might do.
"-Princess," he said, his eyes crawling over her face as if just waking from a deep sleep. "Yes, I know you."
She smiled broadly and he breathed so deeply that his entire body lost it's tension. She asked a few establishing questions about the date, time, and where he was, just to be certain.
"-For a second there I thought I'd dreamed all this." he said.
"Side-effect of my work. I told you it might all feel a little unreal, but this is not. I have successfully isolated the triggers. They no longer work." Shuri replied.
He could have hugged her.
"-But, the effects of your experiences are still there. You are still vulnerable to reprogramming if ever you are captured again. Good news is, since you are here, we do have non-medical treatments that would allow you to build up a resistance to it. I appealed to my brother and he has set aside a speck of land, -for your own use. It is private and full of simplicity; nature, quiet daily tasks, exactly what your brain needs in order to properly reset, -to heal. I, and the elders will also guide you through more in-depth aspects of your healing process."
Her hand rested near his so he gently took it into his own, a delicate thing covered in Wakandan henna patterns.
"Thank you." he said.
"It's what I do." she said, simply with a shrug. "I make improvements."