Eminent Silence

by Tristan Carey

  Steve maintained his grip on Bucky, worried his friend might turn on the Wakandan King next, but Bucky's eyes softened and he looked downcast, taking his arm from T'Challa and running his hand through his hair.

  'No, she wouldn't.'

  Bucky glared at the now dazed Crossbones once more, before pulling his arm from Steve, walking a short distance away.

  He heard the others murmuring amongst themselves as he looked down at the scorched ground before him.

  He thought back to what little time he had spent with Vielka, getting to know her and understanding her better. He regretted not arguing more against the plan in Como, perhaps if he had, they wouldn't be here now.

  There wasn't much debris there, it looked like a lot of it had been blown outwards, what wasn't disintegrated by the heat of the blast.

  He considered that for a moment, before looking to where Crossbones had been thrown. He had been positioned in front of the power source, hence him being blown forward.

  He knelt down and looked into the opposite direction. There was debris all around him, but he noticed a pile that appeared to not have been thrown quite as far or widely spread as the rest.

  He moved forward, analysing the pile carefully. He kicked aside a piece of iron ceiling, revealing a shoe. A shoe he recognised as Vielka's.

  He felt his heart in his throat, but tried to quash his excitement, bending down to have a closer look. He moved some more debris, seeing that the shoe was still inhabited. He hurried forward, moving more debris.

  'Bucky?' Steve called, apparently noticing the commotion he was making.

  Bucky removed all the debris, to reveal Vielka's body. He stood up, taking a deep breath in awe as Steve and T'Challa joined him.

  'My god,' T'Challa breathed, staring down at Vielka with a distraught expression on his face.

  Her Vibranium thread bodysuit had been torn open in places, parts of her skin burnt and peeling while some of her hair was singed. Her face featured a large gash and burns, her lips bled from missing skin and possibly even internal bleeding, it was hard to tell with so much blood everywhere.

  Bucky fell to his knees, looking down at the beaten body of Banzai, suddenly feeling an overwhelming wave of emotion and clenching his fists as he stared down at her lifeless body.

  Something caught Bucky's attention as Steve bent down to check on her pulse. Although she still held the handle, the blade of her sword was gone, appearing to have melted or disintegrated in the blast. There was no blade left, just the handle, held tightly in her right hand.

  'Sam! Get over here!' Steve shouted suddenly, surprising Bucky and causing him to look up at him in confusion. Steve met his gaze. 'She's still alive.'

  Bucky stared at Steve before looking down at Vielka. He reached down and felt for her pulse at her neck, sure enough, although it was weak, there was the faintest pulse.

  Before Sam could get to them, he picked up her body quickly but carefully, beginning to walk through the debris.

  'What's going on?' Sam asked in confusion as they hurried towards him.

  'Fly her to the Quinjet, get her onto the life support straight away. We will get there as quick as possible,' T'Challa ordered, as Sam took Vielka's body carefully from Bucky.

  'You got it.'

  Bucky watched as Sam flew through the destroyed ceiling, soaring high into the air before disappearing from sight.

  It didn't take Bucky and the others long to get back to the Quinjet, nor did it take them long to return to Wakanda, but to Bucky it felt like an age as he sat and watched T'Challa and Natasha work on Vielka as best they could. When they finally got her back to The Facility in Wakanda, the medical team was already waiting on the flight deck.

  It didn't set Bucky at ease any, as he had watched them wheel her away. The whole time all he could think about was how he wanted her to survive this.

  He paced outside the medical wing, along with most of the others. T'Challa stood waiting outside the door, while Clint, Sam and Natasha murmured in a corner, giving fleeting glances to the medical wing door.

  Wanda soon appeared with Scott holding trays of drinks for them all, but still they waited for any signs of Vielka or the doctor.

  About three hours after their return from Austria, the doctor emerged.

  T'Challa stepped before the doctor immediately. 'How is she doing?' T'Challa asked, his voice was laced with concern as Bucky hurried to stand beside him.

  'Her pulse is all over the place, one second she's close to fading, next minute, it's strong, we are still trying to figure out why it is fluctuating like that,' the doctor began to explain as everyone gathered around him. 'We believe she should survive.'

  The news didn't do anything to improve Bucky's anxiousness for some reason.

  Clint must have felt the same way. 'I sense a but here.'

  The doctor glanced around at them nervously. 'Well, it's like this - something, uh, peculiar, has happened to Vielka's body.'

  Bucky looked from the doctor to T'Challa in confusion, hoping the Wakandan king might have a better idea of what the doctor meant, but the look on his face told him that T'Challa was as confused as he felt.

  'Explain?' T'Challa pressed.

  The doctor pursed his lips and rubbed his eyes with one hand. 'Well, it's like this, we can't get any fluids into her by IV. Her skin is impenetrable to any of our needles.'

  Bucky stared at the doctor for a moment before looking to T'Challa. The Black Panther's face held a look of concern. 'Then how are you managing to rehydrate her body?'

  'We aren't. We can't. We cannot get a needle into her. We've tried everywhere.' Bucky's heart sank. Without hydration, she was sure to be doomed. 'Can you tell me what she was exposed to?'

  'Some foreign energy source, that's the best we know for the time being,' T'Challa replied regrettably. The doctor nodded before excusing himself.

  Bucky pressed his lips together as he stared at the door to where they were keeping Vielka. He vaguely noticed Steve and the others stand to discuss the situation with T'Challa behind him.

  'Crossbones, we have to get it out of him.'

  'Or the Viscount.'

  The two thoughts had already crossed his mind, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the medical wing.

  Steve moved to stand next to him, looking quite glum himself, as he put a sympathetic hand on Bucky's shoulder.

  Before either could say anything, there was the sound of an alarm inside the entire ward, and a light began to flash impatiently outside the door to Vielka's room.

  The doctor came rushing back, followed by another doctor and two nurses.

  T'Challa hurried to follow them, as the doctor opened the door to Vielka's room. Suddenly, the doctor was flung backwards as another body was hurled through the door.

  Bucky and Steve both stared in alarm as the doctor and one of the male nurses landed in a tangled heap on the floor, both appearing bewildered but uninjured.

  'Vielka!' T'Challa exclaimed, hurrying through the door. Bucky and Steve moved to protect the remaining doctor and nurses, ushering them towards Natasha and Clint before hurrying to follow T'Challa.

  Inside the room, Vielka was standing beside the bed, leaning against it unsteadily. Her breathing was ragged and she was dressed only in a hospital gown.

  Bucky could see her wounds were bleeding at her face and arms, her eye was still closed and swollen. Her one eye that remained open looked around the room wildly, before coming to rest on them.

  'Vielka, calm down, the doctors and nurses are trying to help you,' T'Challa said calmly, trying to soothe the woman.

  'No... something is wrong,' she hissed, eyeing them off, panting. Bucky furrowed his brow, concerned by what she meant. 'There's something wrong with my body.'

  'The doctors are trying to figure it out,' Steve said, also trying to calm her.

  She narrowed her eye at them, before they widened, her swollen eye also opening slightly, and she bent f
orward, gripping at her body fiercely and releasing a gut wrenching scream.

  'Vielka!' Bucky exclaimed in horror, moving forward to try and help her, but T'Challa stopped him quickly.

  'I sense her body is trying to either fight or adapt to the changes,' T'Challa said narrowing his eyes, watching the Australian woman as she writhed in pain, turning to grip at the bed.

  'We can't leave her like that,' Bucky retorted, ignoring him and moving forward.

  He was within arm's reach of her when she held her hand up to stop him in his tracks. 'Don't.'

  'It's okay, Vielka, I'll help you.'

  'No.' She looked up at him, through pained eyes, and gritted teeth. 'Wait.'

  As he watched her, to his astonishment, the large burn on the side of her face slowly began to heal. The skin regenerated right before his eyes, Vielka squinting and wincing in pain every so often. Her swollen eye began to subside and the colouring faded, returning her eye to normal.

  'What the...?' He murmured in shock, as he saw the wounds on her arms begin to heal too.

  T'Challa and Steve moved to stand on either side of Bucky, also watching as her injuries healed themselves, the skin regenerating to a lighter colour than that of her normal skin tone.

  She eventually closed her eyes slowly, blinking once or twice. She turned back to face them, standing up straighter. 'It's over.'

  Bucky was about to ask what was over, when she began to fall forward. He quickly reached out, catching her in both his arms. Her body was still running incredibly hot, but she he could feel her heartbeat through her chest against his arm, as it beat at a steady pace.

  The End