Amanda Smith (The Avengers ff) #English

24.

Middle of the night.
I lie in my bed and stare at the ceiling.
Slowly, I sit up and think.
What would have happened, if I've stayed?
Standing by the window, I look at the beauty of Wakanda.
Why am I running away instead of facing it?
I imagine what Peter is doing right now. Maybe he's just standing by the window and looking at the stars too.
Forget it, it will never be the same again as it used to be, I say to myself, trying to think differently.

Soon Sergeant Barnes will be taken out of artificial deep sleep. Then we will see if the reprogramming was successful.
I only saw him on the news before, when it was said that he's responsible for the death of T'Challa's father. Before that, I heard stories about the Winter Soldier from my brother. I was fascinated and scared at the same time.

After a while I finally get tired again and go to sleep.

Early in the morning I walk down the hall looking for a familiar face. The only one I meet is T'Challa's sister Shuri.
"Where are the others?", I ask her.
"They have started a new mission in Syria", she says.
Natasha is on mission again?
With the injury?
I hope they'll take me along too, if I'm better than I am now.

"I'm on my way to the lab right now, come with me, instead of going through the corridors", she says, eyeing me.
"But first you should wear something else".
What's wrong with my clothes?
I follow her slowly into a large room. Before that, I look at the guards at the entrance.
When I turn around again, she stands in front of me.
With a dress.
How impractical to fight.
I never really was a fan of dresses. The only exception was Homecoming.
Actually, I didn't want to go there because I knew Peter would be there. But Grandma said it would be nice to be there.
Actually, that was it. I talked to students who usually always ignored me and had fun.
Shortly I also heard from Ned that he and Peter said I looked good in the dress. That strengthened the self-confidence.
Even the fact that Peter hadn't completely forgotten who I am made this evening more beautiful. The only time I saw him there was when he left Liz. At this moment, I wondered what was wrong with this boy. Now I know better.

Finally, newly dressed, we are in the laboratory.
"Is it really true that you are smarter than Stark?", I ask as she enters something on the keyboard.
"By far smarter", she says smiling.
I smile as well and look at the sleeping sergeant Barnes.
"How did you do that and what did you do?", I look at her.
"I made a copy of his brain and first tested it to avoid tissue damage to the original, then developed an algorithm to erase key words linked to his memories, leaving the memories completely untouched", she explains proudly.
"Wow, that's remarkable", I say and listen to her.

Peter's Pov.

Just on the way to the training room, I have to think about the last days.
The school comes to my mind, I should ask Tony to bring me back to Queens. Aunt May is probably already worried. I'm away longer than agreed.

After the training I sit in the lounge and think. A short time later, Agent Smith comes in.
"Are you okay?", he asks, I just nod.
"I was just thinking of the last days", I say.
"She's your sister, right?"  I ask, he nods.
"Another reason for her to run away, who could blame her, I wasn't there for her when she needed me, after the our parents died, I started training as an agent, and just some time ago I visited her first time", he says and leaves then. I'll stay here for a while and then go too.

Amanda's Pov.

A few days later. Steve has just returned. Sergeant Barnes should now be woken up again. We all stand behind a glass and watch it. Shuri is typing something on a keyboard.
Check the values ​​and then open the capsule in which he lies.
A few minutes pass.
Then he finally opens his eyes.