The Ancient Sorceress ~Loki x Bucky AU~

Chapter 84

Steve stood next to the med pod, waiting for the percentage meter to hit 100%. Bucky was undergoing his last operation to make his new arm complete and stable. T'challa smiled as the pod beeped, slowly opening up to reveal Bucky with a brand new arm.

"It may take him a couple minutes to come to, but everything should be perfectly fine." T'challa was satisfied with him and his sister's work.

Steve and Bucky had been hiding out in Wakanda for almost a year now. Steve now sported a beard, and Bucky had grown out his hair. Since being in Wakanda, they hadn't experienced much stress. Sure, Steve would leave from time to time to take out terrorist cells in and around Syria, but he always came back to check on Bucky.

T'challa was always trying to help in the search for Shadow, someone he had come to have a soft spot for as he learned more and more about her everyday.

They felt like they had never made much progress on trying to find her, but they tried nonetheless.

While Steve and T'challa were catching up, a groan erupted from behind them. Steve turned, his heart racing with excitement to see his friend.

Bucky slowly pushed himself out of the med pod, bracing himself as he weakly sat upright. "Geez, is it normal to feel like Thor took his hammer to my head?"

Steve chuckled, placing a soft hand on his shoulder, "Yes. You've been in that pod for about a week now. But...how do you feel?"

Steve was probably more nervous than Bucky was. He watched as Bucky took a minute to take in his surroundings, then register that he had a new arm.

Bucky brought it up towards his eyes, turning his new hand over, staring at it in awe. He opened and closed his fist multiple times, feeling the sensations of having a proper working limb again. He grinned so brightly, his happiness spread to the others in the room.

"This feels...amazing!" He finally looked over to T'challa with sparkling eyes. "Thank you again. You don't know how much this means to me."

T'challa bowed his head in appreciation, "It is no problem. I'm glad that we could get rid of everything related to Hydra and give you something new and fresh."

Bucky turned back to Steve as he pushed himself out of the med pod. He wobbled on his feet a bit, but then was getting his bearings just fine. "Have we...made any progress on finding Doe?"

Steve tried not to let his smile drop. "Not anything new. We will keep trying though, and now you and I can go together and maybe see if your mating bond can help in any way."

Bucky couldn't help but be a bit upset, but he knew there wasn't a whole lot anyone could do. It was proving difficult to try and find his mate.

The three men began discussing the other Avengers and their whereabouts. Sam, Wanda, Pietro and Natasha all kept each other in the loop as much as possible. They didn't have to move around much, but there were times they would have to go off the grid when unwanted eyes got too close to discovering their locations.

Steve knew that Wanda and Pietro were somewhere in Scotland, and he had a gut feeling that Vision was with them as well. He knew that they were trying to locate Shadow, trying to use the stone to help aid them in any way that it could.

Natasha and Sam were always on the move, though they too were near or around Syria helping each other take out terrorist rings. They would send each other letters if they ever followed a lead or a hopeful clue on how to find their beloved witch.

It seemed that no one had much success.

Back in New York, Tony and Pepper continued on with their lives at the Compound. He was using his free time to search for Shadow as well. He had more options to help aid him in his search. His technology gave him a bit of an advantage, although it couldn't pick up any traces of her magic.