The White Wolf

XV

Ava didn't know how long she had sat there, leaned against the wall inside the room where Bucky was kept frozen. She didn't remember when she somehow stopped crying, and stopped shaking. But obviously she had, because now she was completely motionless, completely silent. She was broken from the loss of her father, and the deed she had done in murdering a fellow Wakandan. Not a single thought even crossed her mind anymore. Her eyes were glazed over in the absence of any information processing, and they stayed transfixed on a single spot in the wall where the paint was only slightly off-color from the rest of the wall. So minimal, nobody had ever noticed it before. 

"She's in here!" Shuri called over her shoulder, jogging in through the open door, followed by Okoye and T'Challa. The other two trotted in after the teen, their eyes landing on the blonde woman sitting on the floor. "She seems alright." Shuri said, kneeling down in front of Ava. She grabbed one of Ava's blood stained hands, frowning as she checked the white woman for injuries. "This blood isn't hers."

"No," Okoye said, walking past them. T'Challa stood in the doorway, his eyes following Okoye. "It's his blood." The general pointed down the body of a man she now stood beside. "One of the men Killmonger convinced to join him."

Shuri looked at the body, then at Ava again. Deep sorrow was in her eyes as she began to understand what Ava had done and why. "Come on, let's get you cleaned up. The battle is over." She said quietly, tugging Ava to her feet.

T'Challa was silent as Ava shuffled beside Shuri to the door, which he moved from so they could get through. Once beside him, though, Ava paused in her tracks to glance at the King. "I had to." Her voice came out as a whisper. 

The king nodded, offering a look of sympathy. "I know. I will handle this."

Ava nodded slowly, biting her lip as she looked back down to the floor in front of her feet as she followed Shuri.

**********

Several quiet weeks passed after that, and Ava spent most of them drunk. Shuri was appointed the head of a science center T'Challa opened in California. Nakia was the head of the new international communication efforts. Ross kept the vibranium a secret from the world. T'Challa started to share technology with other nations. Things were looking up for Wakanda. But not for Ava. She lived in the same hut that she had shared with Zuri, and stored the broken pieces of his spear in his room which she had left untouched other than that. Ava hadn't even gone to his funeral. She just got absolutely drunk that evening, and when Bomani came to check on her after the service, she didn't shudder or keep him out. She let him into the hut and drank some more before making a few more stupid decisions. That was when Shuri intervened and knocked some sense into Ava. She had Ava helping her with Bucky again, and for an entire week, she was sober and healing. An entire week, and Bucky was ready to be woken up again. 

Ava bit her lip anxiously, bouncing on her heels. "How much longer?" She asked Shuri. 

The teen laughed. "Excited?" She asked. Ava blushed slightly, shrugging. "You absolutely are." Shuri smiled. "It will be in a few minutes that we start the gradual increase of warmth to let his body acclimate and safely return to normal. He could wake up anywhere between thirty minutes and three hours."

"I hope it's nearer to the former." Ava said in a soft sigh. "You called Steve Rogers?"

"Yes, of course. Just like planned. He will be able to fly in tomorrow morning at the soonest, though he is not happy he is missing out on this."

Ava nodded, frowning slightly. "Maybe it's better he isn't coming until tomorrow. So Barnes won't be overwhelmed when he wakes up."

Shuri shrugged. "Maybe." She said, tapping buttons on her holographic screen. "Beginning decompression process." Frozen air squealed out from the seams of the chamber Barnes was laying in, making the glass fog up so they couldn't quite see him inside. "Starting the introduction of air increasing in temperature. This will take some time. We don't want to cook him on accident or leave him frozen internally."