Bound By Purpose

Repercussions

I'd been accustomed to waking from oblivion, but in those past times I'd felt hollow, sick to my stomach. As I open my eyes now I feel an overwhelming calm. There is no danger here. Sitting up I find that I'm not connected to any wires, tubes or machines. I'm in a cozy room and as I peer out my window above my bed I see jungle, beyond that, the outline of a bustling city. The door opens and I immediately turn my head ready to defend myself if needed.

A young woman walks in and seeing my defensive state she stops from coming any closer. "My name is Shuri." She begins. "My brother..."

"T'Challa?" I ask, remembering him vaguely as someone I saw before I blacked out. I reach for my neck and find it coated with something.

"I've fixed your wounds." I look out the window again at the vast sweeping city it was well ahead of my time.

"This... This is Wakanda?"

She nods. I reach for my neck again and remember the gunshots. I can't see what's across my wound but there is no pain. "Please don't scratch at it." Shuri says taking a step towards me. "Allow it to do its work." I suddenly remember the last few minutes before my demise.

I look up slowly. "What happened?" Some of me remembers feeling hands on me before it all went away but I can't remember if they were cold with metal or that of the Captain.

"Your friends are here." I nod hoping she means all three, though part of me knows it will be Bucky and Steve. Relieved and eager to receive the whole story I stand and find that I feel fine, I felt no repercussions... not yet anyway.

"Are you alright?" Shuri asks me as I stand for a moment trying to feel the pain.

"Yes." Where did I stand in the world now? Had Tony survived? Yes I tell myself, Steve could never kill him. I start for the door. "What exactly did you do to me?" I say changing the subject.

"Ah so it is working." She says. She leads me out the door and down the hallway. "It's something we've been using here for a long time. We stitch up the wound and then cover it in a root that grows in our caves here."

"Primitive." I say joking looking out another beautiful window at the lush greenery. She laughs as a door buzzes open.

"We've been in the shadows for generations." The large doors open to a bustling lab. Bucky sits in a similar outfit to mine, his arm is gone but he doesn't look too beaten up. "You'll be secure here." Steve and T'Challa stand with their backs to us, but Bucky notices us and perks up causing the the others to turn.

"Thank you Shuri." I say reaching out a hand to shake not sure how to formally depart with royalty. She grabs just under my elbow, our forearms flat against each other.

"Come visit me in my lab when you're done here. I have something I'd like to show you." She squeezes my arm once and then leaves me. I smile as the doors close behind her, what a woman. Turning back to the boys I can see that they all look rather perplexed. Bucky jumps off his table.

Steve starts "Evelyn..." but Bucky interjects.

"Steve I'd actually like to talk to Evelyn alone." He puts his good arm on Steve's shoulder and Steve gives a curt nod before stepping away with T'Challa. His first action surprises me. He throws an arm around me and pulls me to him in a hug. It takes me by surprise but I bury my face in his shoulder and breathe him in.

"What happened?" I ask pulling away.

"We won." He says taking a step back. I look down, not angry at his answer but still sad that it hadn't ended in peace.

"And Tony?" I ask looking back up.

"Alive." He says, he seems a bit hardened at the fact I've asked this question.