The first thing I felt was a surge of heat. But after god-knows-how-long in cryofreeze that's not surprising. It was a while before I could move at all, and as soon as I opened my eyes, I snapped them shut. I slowly forced my eyes open while adjusting them to the light surrounding me. Once I could keep them open for long enough, I looked around the room. I was still in the lab in Wakanda. My eyes landed on Shuri, working at a desk.

"Shuri?" I asked quietly. She looked up at me, smiling.

"You're awake!" she said excitedly. I chuckled and nodded. Pretty soon, I was sitting up in bed and looking at the screen in front of me as Shuri explained a bit of what she'd been able to do while I was out.

"Okay," I said. "I'm gonna be honest with you. I think of myself as a pretty smart person, but all of this is just kind of going over my head." Shuri laughed.

"It's okay," she said. "I don't blame you. I'm sure if I just woke up from being frozen I wouldn't be able to think quite straight either." I chuckled.

"Yeah." My smile dropped a bit, and I looked up at her. "Shuri...how long has it been?" She hesitated but sighed.

"Chris, it's...it's been almost...fifteen months." I froze.

"Fifteen months?" She nodded, and I looked down at the necklace around my neck. I had refused to take it off when we went under, and I grasped it now like it was the only thing holding onto my sanity. "Pietro, is he..." She nodded.

"He's okay. I called him as soon as you woke up. He's on his way back with Captain Rogers and Wanda now." I smiled.

"What about Bucky? Is he still under?" She nodded.

"Since Hydra never used you as an asset and your programming was only used once, it was easier to get out. It wasn't so set in stone. His wasn't so easy. It had been beaten into his brain for decades." She sighed. "It was difficult, but he should be ready to wake up in the next several months." I smiled and nodded. "I'll bet you're hungry and tired, so I'll let you go back to your room to try to get settled in a little bit. I can send some food if you like?" I sighed and nodded.

"Yeah, that'd be great," I admitted. "I mean, I haven't eaten in over a year." She laughed.

"Of course. You remember the way?" I nodded, and she sighed. "I am glad you are awake, Chris." I smiled, and she hugged me gently. "Okay. Go get settled in. I'll send something up in a bit." I nodded and headed back to my room. True to her word, Shuri brought me some food a while later, and the two spend a while just chilling in my room, watching movies, eating. The works. It was kind of nice to just hang out with another girl my age. For a moment I forgot that I was technically an internationally known criminal who was on the run.

A few hours after Shuri left, someone knocked on my door. I looked up at it, putting down the book I was reading, and opened it to see T'Challa with a grin on his face.

"T'Challa!" I said happily. I wrapped my arms around his neck, and he hugged me back, laughing.

"It is good to see you again, Chris," he said. I stepped back and nodded.

"You too."

"I did come to see you, but I also wanted to tell you, your friends will be here soon." My eyes widened. "Captain Rogers said they are about ten minutes out." I grinned.

"Thank you, T'Challa." He chuckled and nodded.

"I'm going to meet them out front when they arrive. You're welcome to join me." I nodded, and he left. I cupped my hand over my mouth and laughed happily. I ran around my room, getting changed and stopping in the bathroom. I froze in front of the mirror, gazing at the reflection I saw. I looked exactly the same as I did when I went under, and though I had been unconscious, I was a different person. I frowned, and my eyes landed on the scissors under the mirror. I barely hesitated before picking them up and cutting off the hair that had been growing for almost twenty-one years.

By the time I was finished, I finally looked more like the person I actually was. Gone was the young girl who was just trying to survive. In front of me was a more mature person. Someone who had been through hell and back, literally. Someone who had died for those she loved and been labeled a criminal by someone she trusted. Someone who was turned into a weapon but had still managed to come back. I was me.