Bucky remembered what T'Challa had said to him before they had left the facility.
'I see you have developed a bond of some kind, it is far stronger than the bond she and I share. It is on a different level. You must use this, if we are correct, it will be enough to trigger her resolution to fight off the programming controlling her.'
He stared at her now, as she stood straight, her eyes focused on one thing. Following her orders. Destroying him. She began striding towards him, spinning her swords like deadly fan that craved for blood.
He ran to meet her attack, and they clashed with a resounding clang as her swords met his titanium arm. She tried to kick out at him but he was prepared for her fighting style now, dodging her powerful leg. She withdrew her swords, before looking to slash them across his right side, he ducked and weaved, blocking with his left arm when he could.
He fended off her attacks, looking for an opportunity to try and pin her, but she was giving none.
'Vielka, you don't have to do this,' he said through gritted teeth, as he caught one of her swords in his titanium hand. She tried to slash across him with her other sword but he quickly brought her own sword down to block it, spinning her around and wrapping his arms around her tightly, the hydraulics of his titanium arm working in overdrive to hold her. 'You're the same woman who didn't want to kill a bear, Vielka, a bear who wanted to kill you!'
She strained against his arms, before dropping all her weight suddenly. He wasn't prepared for it and she used his imbalance to tip him over her. He loosened his grip slightly as he prepared for impact and she used this to her advantage, elbowing him roughly and slipping out of his grip as he hit the floor, rolling to the side and landing on her feet.
She tried to bring her sword down as she spun around but he was quick to bring his arm up to block it. She tried to bring her other sword across his chest but he struck out at her with a well placed boot.
It connected with her chest and flung her backwards, causing her to slide across the ground. He felt sick the instant he connected with her, but to his astonishment she easily landed on her feet, skidding backwards with the momentum.
She lifted her head to stare at Bucky, who was beginning to breathe heavily, his ribs ached and he racked his brain trying to think of how he could appeal to her conscience.
'Vielka,' he said as she ran at him again and he prepared to fight back. 'Do you remember what you said to me in the forest when I threatened you?' He ducked her sword again, blocking her second sword before trying to knock the first from her hand, unsuccessfully. 'You asked me if the regret would be worth it?' She brought her first sword back down and struck at his leg, slicing across his thigh.
He felt the pain but was quick to take hold of one of her swords with his titanium hand and used his strength to throw her onto the ground roughly. He leapt backwards to avoid another slash of her sword but pain shot through his wounded leg and it buckled.
She flipped to her feet, turning to face him again, head tilting to the side as she analysed his position.
'The regret, it wouldn't have been worth it, and you would feel the same, you know you would,' he said, getting back to his feet, feeling the sting from his thigh.
She narrowed her eyes at him, and for a split second he thought he may have gotten through to her, but she charged at him once more with her swords twirling in her hands.
He did his best to block and dodge her attacks, but he was tiring and hindered by his leg injury, her swords catching him on his chest, arm and legs. She hit him with a well aimed kick and he was sent back flying, crashing into a bench before falling to the ground.
He struggled back onto his knees, looking up to see Vielka walking towards him, her lifeless eyes not moving from her target. It was hard looking into her usually sparkling, golden brown eyes, so dulled.
'Vielka,' he said, standing again. No matter how many times she hit him, he didn't want to hurt her anymore. Just knowing she was probably hurting on the inside, the real her, was more than enough pain for her. 'You need to fight, you beat the program once before, you can do it again.'
She tried to bring her sword down on him again, but he caught it in his titanium hand once more, but didn't counter. He buckled under her strength, falling to one knee.
'I'm not going to let you do something you'll regret, Vielka. Just fight it.' He looked up into her emotionless face, her eyes boring into his own but there was no sign of life there.
She spun her second sword, ready to drive it through him, and as she moved to thrust it forward he automatically reached out and caught it with his other hand.
He felt agonising pain through his hand, and he could feel the warmth of his own blood as it started to flow freely from his hand, but he maintained his grip on her blade.
'I'm not going to let you hurt yourself anymore, Vielka,' Bucky said through gritted teeth, staring straight back into those lifeless eyes.
She pushed with more force, trying to out-strengthen him, but he used all the strength he had left to hold her at bay, although he knew if she didn't stop soon, his strength would start to fail him as he lost more blood.
He shook his head, not taking his eyes from hers. 'Don't do this to yourself, Vielka. I won't let you,' he murmured, grimacing slightly as the sword slipped slightly through his bloody hand, slicing deeper. 'You mean too much, to too many people. You mean too much to me.'
He said it out loud before it had even fully comprehended the words in his head. It had rolled off his tongue too easily, surely it was the heat of the moment?
He had no time to contemplate what he had said, as he saw her eye twitch slightly. She then withdrew the sword he held in his right hand, causing him more severe pain as it sliced further as it withdrew. She used it to slash up his torso lightly. He fell backwards, releasing her other sword from his titanium hand.
She stood staring at him again as he clutched at his now bleeding hand but got back onto his knee, trying to stand again. He looked back at her, wondering if the twitch he saw was just his imagination. 'Vielka?'
She raised one of her swords in front of her, lowering her head slightly and he prepared himself for her next attack, struggling to his feet, although his right hand was now nearly useless and his torso burned from the long gash she left on him.
She took a step forward, but there was something not quite right about it, it seemed forced to Bucky, not fluid and quick as she had been.
Suddenly, she threw her sword at him, but he quickly brought up his titanium arm and deflected it, causing it to fall to the ground with a clatter. He looked back at her, mildly confused, as he knew that would not be an effective technique and he was sure she would have known that too.
What he was met with stunned him. Vielka was standing there, her other sword still in her hand, but her face was contorting, she appeared to be tormented, her eyes twitching and narrowing. They no longer stared lifelessly at him. He could see light starting to try and make their way back into her golden-brown eyes.
He stood slowly, taking a step towards her. 'Vielka?'
She took a step back, but it seemed like she was fighting her own body. Her jaw clenched and she raised her remaining sword, pointing it towards him, but it was shaky at best.
Then she spoke. 'Bucky...' He gaped at her for a moment, stunned to hear her voice again. 'I'm sorry.'
He furrowed his brow in concern, before watching in dismay as she brought her sword up, dropped her head forward and sliced her sword across the back of her neck.
'Vielka, no!' he shouted trying to move towards her, but his injured leg gave way again.
She threw her sword to the side, before reaching back with both hands and grabbing at the back of her neck, as if she was trying to rip something out. 'I won't do this anymore!' she screamed, as she ripped something from her neck.
Bucky struggled back to his feet, now pushing through the pain and running to try and stop her. He reached her as she collapsed, catching her in his arms. 'Vielka!
?' He could feel her blood flowing from the back of her neck, placing his titanium hand over her wound in an effort to try and stop the bleeding.
Her eyes looked blank for a moment before she peered up at him, her breathing ragged and quick, licking her lips and lifting one of her hands. He looked from her face to her hand, and saw she held in her hand some kind of metallic device. It was covered in her blood and the lights were flicking on and off, before they eventually stopped.
He took it from her, looking at it with narrowed eyes, before looking back down at Vielka.
'I'm sorry... Bucky... for giving you...a hard time.'
'Don't worry about that,' he murmured, trying to check the back of her neck, but her hair was sticking to the blood that flowed freely. 'I've got to get you out of here.'
She reached out and grabbed at his right hand, causing him to wince slightly. 'Thank you.'
He pressed his lips together, stopping the urge to say too much while she was in such a state. 'You would have done the same for me, Vielka.' She tried to smile, but it quickly turned into a grimace. He noticed she was starting to fade into unconsciousness. 'Hey, stay with me. We've got to get you to the jet.' She tried to keep her eyes open but she struggled.
Bucky cursed under his breath, lifting her into his arms, beginning to move carefully back the way they had entered. 'If anyone can hear me right now,' he murmured through gritted teeth as he fought his own pain. 'I've got her, but we need to get her medical care ASAP.'
'We're on our way back, we lost Crossbones,' Steve's voice responded. 'But we managed to get the Viscount, he's in a bad way too.'
Bucky clenched his jaw. How he would have liked to have had a moment with that bastard, just a minute would have been enough.So many faces flashed past. Bloodied faces. Men, women...children.
Then there was the feeling, the feeling of her whole body being invaded. The feeling of her body no longer being her own. Seeing what her body was doing, but being unable to stop it.
Worse still, there was seeing her body attacking her friends. Slashing through T'Challa's armour, cutting through Sam's wing and throwing him to the wall, slashing into Scott's arm and knocking him out, pinning poor Wanda to a wall with one hand, it all made her hurt more and more.
Kissing Bucky, that had hurt the most, more than anything else. She wasn't sure why that hurt so much. She didn't hate him, so that wasn't it. She remembered Crossbones whispering the order in her ear, she remembered internally she was losing it, angry, so very angry. Much as she try, she couldn't stop herself. In the darkness of her own mind, she might have wept if she could.
Bucky... she watched him take the blade with his right hand, the one that wasn't made of titanium, the one that was his own flesh and blood. She saw the blood begin to flow, she could even smell it. It had been too much for her to bear.
She had even heard him appealing to her. He had begged her to stop for her own well-being. He had begged her to stop for those that cared for her, he had asked her to stop because he cared for her.
She still remembered his blood flowing along her blade. And she remembered the pain as she fought the program. It had tried to stop her, to override her neurological pathways. She was stronger.
Her head hurt, her whole body hurt. It was one of the side effects, even though she physically acted like nothing hurt her, her consciousness that was buried within still felt pain. With every strike she made on someone, it grew.
She knew the only way she would ever escape the program was to finally remove the device from her spinal column, at the base of her brain. She also knew, that she was risking causing long term damage to her body, even death.
She also knew that she would rather death over hurting her friends anymore.
She opened her eyes slowly, her room was dark, only one light shone overhead, but she could hear a faint beeping and knew she was in the medical ward.
She glanced around as her eyes quickly adjusted, she couldn't see anyone in the room with her, she sighed, bracing herself for what she was about to do next, fearing the worst.
She tried to wiggle her fingers. To her surprise, they moved, the sound of the cables attached to the monitor making a soft 'chink' as it hit the side of the bed frame. She felt a wave of relief wash over her as she gripped at the sheets and mattress under her, but it was short lived as she moved onto her next order of business.
Her toes. She concentrated, gulping, before attempting to move them, she concentrated and moved them. She felt the sheets brush over her bare toes and nearly wept with happiness at the feeling.
She gingerly pushed herself up, careful not to extend her neck too far forwards or back, well aware of the stinging pain there. Her muscles still felt the fatigue from being controlled by the program, but she managed to put herself into an upright position. Her ears still rung, another side effect from the program.
Her mouth was dry and she looked to the bedside table for water, seeing a glass and pitcher there waiting, before reaching for it. Her body was so stiff, it was a real effort.
She was just about to give up when someone grabbed the pitcher and poured water into the glass. It was T'Challa.
'Corporal.'
She smiled weakly, before leaning back into the bed, accepting the glass of water and sipping it carefully. It was ridiculously refreshing.
'Please don't ever call me that again,' she said finally, sighing.
She saw T'Challa raise his eyebrows before he gave her a small smile, taking the glass from her. 'I am glad you are back.'
Vielka bit her lip. She wondered how true that was. 'How many did I hurt?'
T'Challa frowned, narrowing his eyes. 'This is not significant at this time.'
Vielka narrowed her eyes back at the Wakandan king, as he sat carefully on the side of the bed. 'This is very significant right now.'
He considered her for a moment before he spoke again. 'None of us suffered long term injury at your hand, Vielka.' She felt relief at that, closing her eyes for a moment, but she peered at T'Challa. 'We do not know about what happened while you were under Crossbones control while we were trying to find you.'
She looked down at her hands, biting her lip. She wanted to search her memory and see if she could remember what she did while under their control, but she was honestly too fearful of what she may see.
She felt T'Challa shift on her bed and he placed a hand on her shoulder. 'It was not your fault.'
She grit her teeth. It was her fault. She should never have left the jungles. It was better for everyone.
She moved to get out of bed, but T'Challa stood to stop her. 'I would not advise that, you have been in bed for quite a time and the doctors say you will need physiotherapy to be able to return to your full manoeuvrability.'
Vielka furrowed her brow. 'How long have I been out of it?' she demanded.
'Two weeks.' She gaped at T'Challa in disbelief. 'The first few days, the doctors induced a coma, wanting to ensure you ripping the device from your spinal column did not damage your nerves or chord.'
She stared ahead of her for a moment, frowning, before she looked back at T'Challa. 'What happened to Crossbones and the Viscount?
'Crossbones escaped, along with the Major,' T'Challa answered regrettably, and Vielka immediately felt rage boil within her. 'The Viscount, we caught, although he was severely injured at Red's hand.'
She narrowed her eyes at T'Challa as she took in that information. Why would Red turn on the Viscount? He must have fulfilled his usefulness. 'Where is he?'
T'Challa looked at her warily before answering. 'I do not think it wise to disclose that information,' he replied, the faintest of smirks appearing on his face, and Vielka felt the urge to grab the Wakandan royal by the scruff of his shirt, but quashed the urge.
Vielka sat quietly in her hospital bed, it had been several hours since her visit from T'Challa and since then Sam, Wanda, Natasha, Clint and Scott had all paid her a visit. She had offered her apologies profu
sely, but none had blamed her, all relieved that she was back to being under her own influence now.
And even though they all swore they didn't hold it against her, she doubted they would ever be able to forget. She doubted they could ever fully trust her again.
The safest place for her and everyone around her was not here. She considered what to do. Bucky had taken himself to the deepest part of a forest in Romania, in an effort to avoid civilisation. She herself had travelled to many a remote location, and usually she was fine until she tried to help someone.
She cursed her impulses, she couldn't ever just walk away if someone needed help. Perhaps it was time she learnt to.
She looked around, listening to see if she could hear any of the doctors or nurses' footsteps. When she was certain all was still, she began to pull the tubes from her arms.
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