H A I L H Y D R A || J. B. Barnes

t h i r t y - t w o

The next month went by quickly, far quicker than Becky anticipated. She didn't know if she was ready for the final step.

It wasn't as if Becky didn't want to go through with it. She most certainly did. But she was more afraid of the outcome, of the possibility that it wouldn't work.

Because if the smartest person in the world couldn't fix Becky, what hope did she have? She couldn't live like that forever. Something would have to give.

Regardless of Becky's hesitations, time continued on at its set rate and soon, she was being called into the lab for her final treatment.

They had the whole thing planned to the minute. Shuri would administer the final step of the program over 4 hours. It had to be done slowly and carefully so it wouldn't damage any part of Becky's personality.

After, Becky would rest for an hour and let the program finish its work. Then, at Becky's request, she and Ayo would head into the deep wilderness to test the conditioning. It was the final step.

Shuri assured Becky it would work, they didn't need to go out into the trees.

But without Steve there and with Becky's own fear at an all-time high, she insisted on it. She wasn't risking anything, not when she'd come so far.

So when the day finally came, Becky was extremely on edge. Her mind was running wild, her pulse was consistently fast. Shuri feared it was something with her program but Becky assured her it was just the nerves.

She laid back on the table, I.V. in her hand, and closed her eyes to try and relax while the program ran its course. Becky did tap her fingers against her hands all throughout the four hours, though.

It was over fast than she anticipated, the hours hadn't dragged on. It made Becky more nervous.

The woman was moved from the main room of the lab to a more private area. There, she would let the programming really take root and scrub the trigger words from her mind. All Becky had to do was relax.

Still, it was incredibly difficult for her. She was approaching the final step of her physical recovery, what 11 months had led up to. If it didn't work, Becky didn't know how she would carry on.

Eventually, Becky's hour was over and it was time for Ayo and her to head out into the foliage. Becky might have been more afraid for that than she'd been for anything else in her life.

It had to work.

"Now, I should hope not to hear from you until tomorrow. If everything goes as it should, I want you to get some rest back with the border tribe and I'll visit you in the morning, all right?" Shuri asked, a hand on Becky's shoulder.

"Right. All good. Thank you, Shuri. No matter what happens, this means the world to me."

***

Ayo and Becky walked along a fire-lit path in the forest. The latter was wearing a shit specially made to conceal the remaining metal of her arm, it worked best for the lab.

The warrior didn't need to carry the book with her anymore. She'd prepared for the task carefully and besides, the book was a negative trigger. If it didn't work, Ayo would need to be prepared to stop Becky at all costs.