Chapter 3
***Steve’s POV***
She was completely silent the whole ride back to the tower. She didn’t even look at Tony or me. She just sat against the seat completely straight with her hands in her lap. I wonder if she’ll even remember any of this. Bucky only remembered his Winter Soldier activities after we wiped the program from his brain. She’ll need to go through the same process.
Tony glanced over to me, then back at Y/N. He gave me a puzzled look, but all I could do was shrug him off because I had no other explanation for her behavior. Just that she was in mission mode. The car pulled up in Tony’s parking garage, and we got out, allowing Y/N to follow us from behind.
“Once we get to our floor you can relax.”
Tony looked at Y/N. Her expression gave nothing away, it was the same stone-cold look from before. He quickly looked away just as the elevator made it to our floor. She, once again, had us go first so that she could follow from behind.
I stopped and turned to her. I placed my hand on her shoulder and pushed her forward slightly.
“You can go ahead and sit on the bar stools.” I said while gesturing to the bar with my unoccupied hand.
She gave me a brief nod and walked over. She kept her posture as she sat down.
“I’m gonna go and grab everyone. Once we talk to everyone about the situation, we can get her to Wakanda tomorrow.” Tony spoke while walking to the stairs.
“Why not sooner? Maybe we could get her in tonight?” I pushed.
“It’s been a long day, Cap. Especially for her.”
“I can’t stand looking at her like this, Tony. I couldn’t stand it when Bucky was like this either, and it’s not fair what Nat or Fury did.”
“They did what they had to do.” He took a step closer to me. “She wouldn’t have come with us any other way. This is for the best.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
“We’ll get her in tomorrow.” He said finally.
I watched Tony walk away and up the stairs to everyone’s rooms. Once he was out of sight, I walked towards the bar. I couldn’t tell if she was even registering words or conversations. I sighed deeply and put my head in my hands. I barely had any time to register my own thoughts before there was a loud clap from the top of the stairs.
“So Y/N, not everyone is in today, but you can meet everyone from the other night.” Tony bounded down the stairs, followed by Sam and Nat. I guess the others aren’t back yet.
Y/N looked up at the two others. They started to analyze her while she sat motionless. Sam made his way over to me and turned his head to whisper something to me.
“Why’s she acting like that? She definitely wasn’t this calm the other night.”
“She’s under Winter Soldier orders. She’ll stay like this until we take her to Wakanda tomorrow.” I kept my head forward.
Natasha got into her face and cocked her head to one side.
“Does she remember anything?” Nat crossed her arms and looked at Tony.
“We don’t think so, but once she’s wiped she probably will.”
“Hopefully she doesn’t hold grudges.” Nat stepped away and behind the counter to get something to drink.
“Why’s she here?” Sam questioned.
“She needs supervision until she’s authorized. Fury has left her in our care.” I spoke up.
“To put it simply, she’s living with us.” Tony said as he walked over to Y/N. “Would you like to turn in for the night?”
She still stayed silent and Tony let out a string of curses.
“Okay, I’ve decided that you do. Let’s go, I’ll show you to your room.”
She got up and Tony motioned for her to follow him. They went up the stairs and out of sight.
I turned back to Sam and Natasha as they each sat with a cup in hand.
“Should we tell the others before they get here?” I sat on one of the stools.
“They should all be back tomorrow night. We can tell them then, plus, she’ll be better by then anyways.” Nat spoke while pulling the cup up to her lips.
Sam licked his lips before speaking up in response. “Do we think this will affect Bucky at all? With the whole Winter Soldier thing?”
“Bucky’s better.” I spoke firmly. “And if anything does happen, there’s places he can go to get away. We’re going to help this girl, just like we helped him.”
Nat placed her cup into the sink and gave us a yawn. “Let’s just figure this all out later, I’m beat. Let’s go to bed.”
“I second that.” Sam spoke while getting up from his sitting position.
The two left to their rooms for the night, leaving me alone in the common room. I cleaned the two cups in the sink before heading up myself. Once I was in my room and dressed for the night I was able to call Bucky.
I tried his and Banner’s cell but neither of them answered. They were working in a SHIELD lab somewhere in the country on vibranium and the serum. Last time I checked they had given up on studying the serum since there was no need to make any more samples of it. They had, however, been able to help SHIELD with their vibranium discoveries for weapons and tech and now they were ready to head home.
I set an alarm for 6 am the next morning. If we were lucky we’d be in Wakanda before 9. Y/N wouldn’t really be normal after the wipe, but she’ll have plenty of time to at the tower.
***
My alarm blared at precisely 6, just as I wanted it to. I got up and dressed quickly before waking everyone else up. Tony was displeased, to say the least, and Sam was unhappy at the wake-up call but didn’t complain. Nat wasn’t even in her room, which led me to believe that she was already downstairs, or was hiding. I didn’t bother with her, we really only needed Tony and I to be there.
Y/N was already downstairs when I made my way down. She was standing by the elevator for everyone to go in and I couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought of her being very impatient deep down.
“I hope you don’t lose that punctuality of yours, Miss L/N.” I moved to stand with her. “Tony! Sam! We’re waiting on you.”
“Calm down, Capsicle. It’s still early.” Tony strolled down while rubbing his eyes.
“I don’t even know why I have to come.” Sam lolled out.
“It’s good to start your days early, you can get more done. Y/N didn’t have a problem with it.” I placed my hands on my hips.
“Of course she didn’t.” Sam stepped up to us, waiting for the elevator.
Tony came and pressed the button to open it. Once we were all filed in, we headed up to the top floor with the helipad. A pilot was already up and ready with the plane we would be taking. Y/N entered the plane first and the way she climbed in was completely natural. Like she’s spent the last hundred years going in and out of planes. Once she was ready, she took everyone’s hands one by one to hoist them up.
Tony and Sam were asleep almost immediately, but I just wanted to have one decent conversation with this girl. I knew that I couldn’t until she was wiped, but I wanted to. I decided that I would make a list of things to ask her about or bring up when she got better. She’s from the same time as I was and as Bucky. I miss 1942 as bad as it was. I was hoping that she would be more comfortable with something that she truly knows.
***
Arriving in Wakanda was dangerous by plane. The barrier between this country and the rest of the world was hard to penetrate without actually having been or lived there. The pilot missed it a couple of times before we made it. I saw Y/N look out the window and onto the beautiful land.
We landed near the border where we were met with two Dora Milaje members. They didn’t speak, just led us to where we could find King T’Challa. Tony complained the entire walk, but we were quickly given a place to sit in the palace. We didn’t wait long before the King and his sister walked in.
“Steve Rogers and Tony Stark, a pleasure to be seeing you again.” He walked to us with open arms.
“The pleasure is all mine.” I shook his hand.
“What brings you here?”
“We have another Bucky situation.”
T’Challa looked around before his eyes met mine. “Where is the man?”
“It’s actually this girl.” Tony stepped up with Y/N/. “She’s also a part of the Winter Soldier program and we need her to be wiped.”
“Well don’t worry. It’ll be even easier the second time.” Shuri stepped to Y/N. “Does she speak?”
“Not right now.” I approached the two. “She will once she’s better.”
“Come along now.” Shuri grabbed her arm and pulled her forward. “I can have you wiped in a couple of hours.”
T’Challa looked at his sister and smiled. Tony and Sam followed the two into a lab, but I stayed behind.
“Thank you for helping us, Your Highness.”
“Anything to keep a danger out of the world.” He stated before walking into the same lab.