Eminent Silence

by Tristan Carey

  'Well, we've discussed it, and we think we should be able to arrange a decent management plan,' the doctor said, smiling.

  Vielka couldn't stop the grin that crossed her face, and looked to Elise. 'You're already doing excellent work in the gym, I'll just join you for an hour each day to work on improving your leg strength and hopefully get you running again soon.'

  'And what are you here for?' Vielka asked looking at T'Challa with a raised eyebrow.

  'Is it not alright for me to have an invested interest in a loyal friend?' She narrowed her eyes at him. 'I was pressured to advocate for you on behalf of the team. Plus, I figured you would need help carrying all these gifts you've received over the last few weeks.

  She gave a little laugh, looking around. Her room was now full of teddies, flowers, balloons and books. 'Fair enough.'

  It took her another two weeks before her body was back to being fit enough to train properly. Elise was happy to allow her to start weapons training again, but stressed they needed to meet each other at least once a fortnight for her to ensure that her progress wasn't being hindered by any underlying injuries.

  She picked up her two faithful swords, they hadn't been touched in so long, when she looked at the blade, she cringed. She was going to have to visit the workshops and borrow the wet sharpener.

  She dressed in her familiar black bodysuit, the tight, figure-hugging outfit offering her great comfort, before grabbing her gear and heading out the door.

  She hadn't even made it halfway to the workshops when she came across T'Challa heading in the opposite direction, dressed in his Black Panther armoured suit, with a long black bag in his hand.

  'Ah, just the lady I was looking for,' he said, smiling warmly at her. She looked behind her before looking back at him in mock confusion. He gave a small laugh before motioning for her to follow him. 'It will only take a moment,' he added, glancing at her swords in her hand.

  'I was just going to sharpen them, they can wait.'

  'Those swords, I know you take great care of them, how did you come about them?' he asked curiously, as he led her towards the gym, she noted.

  She faltered slightly, biting her lip. The thought occurred to her without warning and she found herself clenching her jaw. 'From HIM,' she muttered coldly. She glanced sideways to see T'Challa looking at her expectantly. 'The doctor.'

  'I suspected as much,' he replied, frowning slightly as he looked ahead, before speaking again. 'Why do you care so much for them if they offer a link to an unhappy history?'

  She was thoughtful, wondering the same thing. She answered slowly as she considered it herself. 'Although they were from him, when I trained, it was the one time I felt like I might have had a minuet amount of control, they've been my comfort and safety as well.'

  'Hmm, but still, aren't they a reminder of a past you would much rather forget?'

  'They're more like a reminder of a past which I do not want to allow myself to live again.'

  He frowned slightly, seemingly unsure by her explanation, as they finally arrived at the gym. 'Well, perhaps you need to consider a fresh start.'

  He stopped before the door to the virtual training area, before holding out the long, black bag. She stared at him for a moment, frowning. T'Challa had long ago learnt that Vielka was not one to take gifts of the expensive kind from him, so for him to be handing her the bag, she was suspicious of his motives. He motioned for her to take it, which she did, carefully.

  She could feel the two, long, familiar shapes of two sheathed swords within the bag, opening it to peer inside. She reached in, wrapping her hand around the end of one and hearing a low pitched beep.

  She raised an eyebrow, before pulling it out, it was all black, but for a small symbol in Chinese at the bottom, which she instantly recognised as the Japanese symbol for 'Banzai'.

  She noted a green light flashed at the base of the handle, along with several tiny buttons. 'What's this?'

  'We've been developing it for some time, trying to perfect a technology to advance the abilities of the sword.' He motioned to take it and she handed it to him, instantly noticing when his hand touched it, the light turned red.

  He tried to remove the sheath, but he couldn't. She raised both her eyebrows and gave a small smile. 'That's brilliant.'

  'We thought so, it's got fingerprint recognition as well as DNA recognition, but also, this next part is quite dangerous,' he entered the virtual training room with the sword and pressed some buttons on the robot control console inside the door. One of the robots appeared from the ceiling, dropping into a ready stance in the middle of the room.

  T'Challa held the sword out to the robot, which it took, just holding it, the light on the base red. He then motioned for her to give him the other sword, which she obliged, increasingly curious of what would happen next.

  He held it up to her and motioned to one of the buttons. 'Press this one and see what happens.'

  She took the sword from him and waited for the light to switch to green again, before pressing the button.

  The sword the robot was holding expelled four long and sharp blades from the handle, slicing open the robots metal hand easily, causing the sword to drop to the ground.

  'Whoa...'

  T'Challa smiled proudly. 'I thought you'd like that.'

  She nodded slowly with wide eyes, before looking back to T'Challa. 'But what about the blade? These little gimmicks are great, but if the blade isn't up to standard, then it's pointless.'

  He winked at her, motioning for her to remove the sheath, which she did. The blade shone under the lights of the room, and the blade appeared sharp.

  'We called upon one of the best and last sword smiths in Japan, Korehira Watan to try his hand folding Vibranium. He complained a lot of it, but he managed it and said it would always be one of his finest works, but would never work with Vibranium again,' he explained with a chuckle.

  He motioned for her to try it out. She stepped forward, swinging the sword. It was lighter than her previous, but she doubted it could be as strong as they made out Vibranium to be, if it was this light.

  She looked to the robot that stood still in the middle of the room. She frowned and shrugged, before running forward, leaping and bringing the sword down. The robot split in half cleanly, the sword catching on nothing, leaving a precise split throughout the robot.

  She analysed the sword's blade, not a chip, scratch or dent. She nodded, impressed, before looking down to check the robot. A clean slice.

  'What do you think?' T'Challa asked finally, bending down to inspect it himself.

  She pursed her lips thoughtfully, before smiling. 'I think I'm going to like new beginnings.'

  Vielka's rehab was coming along nicely. So nicely, that she was training in the virtual training room again, although she was hesitant to train with anyone else just yet.

  Bucky had watched her a couple of times, her movements were becoming smooth and fast once again, and she was beginning to display great agility once more.

  Her physio was finally happy with her progress, now leaving her to train at her own pace. It had been two months since the incident in Austria, but it seemed she had finally clawed back her strength, and she seemed much happier now.

  As he watched her, he couldn't help but be slightly envious. She was free from ever being put under someone else's control again. She would never have to unwillingly follow orders again. It was something he hoped he might be able to achieve one day, proper freedom.

  He was roused from his own thoughts by T'Challa. 'She fights differently now,' he said, watching her as she brought the sword down on the last of the robots in the room.

  'She does?' Bucky asked, not taking his eyes off her. He hadn't really noticed, but as he watched her more he did notice her movements seemed much more precise, much more fluid. It was more like she was dancing than she was fighting. 'Oh, she does, doesn't she?'

  'Yes, she fights like someone who has had a wei
ght lifted from their shoulders,' T'Challa replied, glancing sideways.

  Bucky furrowed his brow, he felt like T'Challa was trying to make some unspoken point, like he always did. 'Perhaps.'

  'Perhaps it is prudent of us to test her skills?' T'Challa offered, motioning to the door. Bucky finally looked at T'Challa and realised he was wearing his Black Panther armoured suit.

  'Both of us? Hardly seems fair, she's only been cleared to full training a few weeks ago.'

  T'Challa was contemplative for a moment. 'This is true, then perhaps you?'

  'Me? Why me?'

  'Why not?'

  Bucky bit his lip, there was one thing that had him concerned, aside from possibly hurting her when he wasn't sure she was fully fit. 'If I'm honest, those new swords worry me.'

  T'Challa raised an eyebrow and glanced back to the window as Vielka began to twirl her swords playfully. 'They are very nice, aren't they?' T'Challa replied, smiling proudly. Bucky gave a small laugh. 'Unarmed combat then, anything to test her agility and reflexes. Come!'

  He walked to the training room door, entering without letting Vielka know.

  She spun around in surprise when the training room door opened, T'Challa walking in followed by Bucky.

  'Hi guys,' she greeted them, sliding her swords into their sheaths at her back. 'I'm finished here if you needed the room.'

  'You seem to have returned to good form,' T'Challa said, smiling at her.

  She returned the smile, nodding her head once to the Wakandan king. 'Why, thank you, I feel really good with where I am, considering where I was a few weeks ago. I could still do with some improvement though.'

  She smiled again, glancing at Bucky. She raised her eyebrows slightly and turned to leave.

  'One moment, I thought perhaps it might be a good time to test you, see how far along you've come with your recovery,' T'Challa said.

  Vielka stopped and looked from Bucky to T'Challa. She couldn't help but smirk a little, that's why Bucky looked anxious. 'Both of you?' she asked in surprise. 'Hardly seems fair.'

  'That's what I said,' Bucky muttered, seemingly annoyed with T'Challa.

  'We already know I can kick both your asses on your own, what's two going to test?' she added, smugly.

  Bucky's jaw dropped slightly, while T'Challa grinned. 'Ah, but you were armed last time. I don't think we can measure your recovery as well if you're armed. So it would be only one of us.'

  Her confidence wained slightly, at the mention of being unarmed. She looked between the two of them, Bucky had his eyes narrowed at her, obviously not taking her jab at their last fight too well.

  She weighed up her options. T'Challa was not enhanced, although his armour was powered in a way and that could make it seem like he was enhanced. It still wasn't a fair fight between them really, if she hit the suit in the right way, she knew she could cause it to malfunction.

  Bucky on the other hand, was enhanced, and had the added bonus of having a nearly indestructible arm. It offered more of a challenge to her. His speed was on par with her own, if not a little slower. No doubt the weight of his titanium arm having something to do with that. He was stronger than her, especially with that arm, but her gut instinct was telling her Bucky would be way more fun to fight.

  'Think you can actually fight without holding back?' she asked with narrowed eyes, looking at Bucky.

  He straightened and puffed out his chest slightly. 'Only if you think you can handle it, you've only just recovered.'

  'Now you're just making excuses. Scared or something?' she smirked, pulling her swords from where they clipped into the back of her bodysuit.

  He looked at her with a dead pan expression as she handed the swords to T'Challa, who turned and headed for the door.

  Vielka stretched her arms a little, she was actually glad to have some hand to hand. It had been awhile, so to get someone to spar with, without swords, was a good chance to get the cobwebs out, even if Bucky didn't put his all in. While she waited for Bucky to set himself, she made a mental note to put in some practice at the range as well.

  She was so focused on what weapons she would train with at the range, she wasn't prepared for Bucky to come charging at her. He led with his right, aiming a jab at her head which she only just dodged, before swinging with his left. She ducked underneath it, before spinning away, looking at him incredulously. 'What?' he asked, standing in a ready stance.

  'A little warning would have been nice.'

  'Oh, sorry, I take it anyone whose going to attack you is going to do that too?'

  She rolled her eyes and he lunged for her again, punching first with his left then his right again, which she dodged easily once more, before she aimed a punch of her own with her right. He turned his body slightly and her punched glanced off his titanium arm, but she was quick to recover, grabbing his shoulder with the same hand and bringing her knee up into his ribs.

  However, he managed to get his right hand up, batting away her knee before bringing his left elbow down. It caught her arm, and threw her slightly off balance. He took advantage, throwing another punch with his right, which forced her back slightly.

  He moved to kick out at her, but she read his move, as she managed to regain her balance, batting away his foot and hitting him with her own back spinning round house kick.

  He was thrown back, only just managing to land on his feet, but she gave him no chance to catch his breath, running forward and aiming to kick at his chest.

  She connected and he was thrown back. She landed and looked down at him, seeing him looking slightly bewildered, a smirk on her face as she turned away.

  She was caught by surprise when he was quickly back on his feet and ran at her. He grabbed her from behind, flinging her over his shoulder, although she landed on her feet, he followed with a kick that landed on her chest. She was thrown backwards heavily.

  'That was dirty,' she muttered, getting back up.

  He smirked but made ready again, giving her a coy smile. She raised an eyebrow, before lunging forward again. She faked to kick at his side, before switching quickly and hitting him square in the chest with a knee, but he caught her. 'Not today,' he said, and moved to pin her.

  He moved her to the ground, trying to maintain his grip on her bent knee, but she was able to get her free leg onto the ground, arching her back and forcing him to roll so he was now the one pinned to ground, although he still held her knee pinned.

  She began aiming punches for his ribs, still pushing pressure down on her free leg to stop him from rolling her back under him.

  He tightened his grip on her knee and she hissed, his titanium arm was working its magic and if she wasn't careful she would need to tap soon. Finally, she calculated a new plan, planting her free foot onto the ground and kicking off hard, tucking herself into a ball and using her leg strength to flip Bucky over her.

  His surprise at her move was enough to get him to loosen his grip and she kicked out with that leg now, connecting with his chest as they both rolled backwards, only she was able to stop herself.

  She stood up, smiling smugly, as he untangled himself from the stack of mats he had crashed into.

  He had been close to beating her, and he knew it, as he stood up, feeling that last kick still in his chest. She ran at him again, this time with a flurry of punches and kicks, which he either blocked or dodged.

  She tried to roundhouse him again, but he saw it coming this time, catching her mid kick and shoving her backwards. This time, she crashed into a set of stacked mats.

  'Ow!' she said as she untangled herself. He felt a pang of regret, but was careful not to let it show. She looked at him with narrowed eyes, pushing a stray hair from her face. She was angry now.

  Again, she launched a barrage of punches and kicks at him, and it was as if her speed had reached a new setting he hadn't experienced before. While he was able to block or dodge most, she was finding the smallest gaps in his guard and using them.

&n
bsp; She connected with his left cheek, before he caught an attempted uppercut, holding her right hand in his left. She tried to kick, but he caught her leg too. He was ready to finish their fight this time. He shoved her back, and while she tried regain her balance quickly, he charged at her.

  As she turned to face him, he crash tackled her, both of them sliding across the floor before they crashed into the furthest wall of the training room.

  He was winded as he lie on the floor, she had braced herself when he tackled her, and it had knocked the breath from his lungs as he hit her. He looked down to see she had landed on top of him when they'd skitted across the floor.