You slowly wake up and open your eyes. It takes you a few minutes to realize where you are. You're in a private room in the Med Bay. The last thing you remember is being in the cell trying to fight the programming and failing.

You look around, noticing that you are alone; not even Bucky is there. You try to sit up a little, causing your IV pole to rattle. A hand quickly pulls the curtain back from one side of your bed.

"Hey, Sleeping Beauty." Tony's smooth voice says as he gives you his charming smile. It makes your heart skip a beat.

"Tony, you're here?" You say.

"Of course I am. I wouldn't be anywhere else. I learn from my mistakes." He sits down next to you and kisses your hand.

You try to smile at him as you pull your hand away. "What happened?" You ask trying to piece together the events.

"You're going to be Ok Jo. We made sure of it." He says as he tries to touch your face, but you shy away. "Jo, what's wrong?"

"I almost killed you, and I couldn't stop myself. I hurt everyone here." You say trying to hold back the tears.

"It wasn't you. We all know that. I know that, " he says with pleading eyes.

"That doesn't change anything. I still did those things." You sit up in bed a little more. "I need Bucky and the vibranium cuffs."

"What? Why?" Your request takes Tony aback.

"I can't trust myself. You shouldn't trust me either." You say with a sadness in your voice that rips at Tony's heart.

"Jo, Bruce, and Shuri helped me undo everything that Rumlow did. They can't control you, " he says, trying to reassure you.

"You don't know that for sure. I can never be truly sure until Alpha is completely removed from me. Please, Tony, I need you to get Bucky for me." You turn your head and look away from him, trying to hide the tears welling in your eyes.

Tony finds Bucky and tells him your request. Tony follows Bucky back to your room with the vibranium cuffs in hand. Bucky gives you a big smile as he sees your face, but it quickly disappears when he realizes that you've been crying. He sits down next to you while Tony stands at your feet. Steve walks in and stands next to Bucky. He gives you a smile, but something is missing from it.

"Joey, you don't have to worry. Alpha's gone, and they destroyed how Rumlow was controlling you." Bucky touches your arm.

"That's what we thought the first time. What's to stop them from trying something again? Please, I need to be locked up until I know she's gone for good. You need to put me somewhere I can't hurt anyone, at least for a while." You argue with them.

"Jo, that's not necessary." Bucky argues back.

"Damn it! All of you say you love me, if you really do then you'll do this for me." You yell out.

"Lock her up. It's what she wants...what she needs." Steve says solemnly as he looks at you.

"Thank you." You look at Steve, but he looks away from you.

All three of them walk you down, back in cuffs. Bucky walks into the cell with you and removes the cuffs. He looks at you one last time. "Are you sure this is what you want?"

"Bucky, I can't...I couldn't live if I hurt one of you. It's not forever, just until I know she's completely gone." Your voice breaks a little, and Bucky pulls you in a firm hug. "Thank you, Bucky."

He walks out and locks the cell behind him. Tony stands at the glass, watching you as you approach him. "I thought I had a date with some new scars, Lieutenant?" He gives one of his charming side smiles.

"I know Stark, but I need to do this. Even with my eyes open, the image of me crushing the ARC plays in my head." You say, barely able to look at him.

"Jo, please don't do this to yourself." Tony says as he puts his hand on the glass.

You look up at Tony with tears in your eyes. "Tony, I couldn't live if I lost you. I wouldn't want to." You place your hand against his. You don't see Steve let out a deep sigh as he shoves his hands in his pockets and slips out the door unnoticed.

You look at Bucky over Tony's shoulder. "Bucky, can you tell Wanda I need to talk to her, please?"

He nods his head. "Sure. Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, just that, please." You turn your gaze back to Tony. "You don't have to stay with me the whole time; you know that, right?"

"What else am I going to do?" He says with a grin.

"Actually, I need to be alone with Wanda for a while. It's something I have to do alone."

"I know she's on a short mission but should be back in less than 48 hours. I'll keep you company until then. How's that?" He says as he pulls up a chair.

"We can do that, I guess." You sit down with your legs crossed on the floor.

Tony spends a good portion of the next 48 hours with you. You talk about various things, play a couple games of chess, at one point he turns off the cameras and locks the door so you can play strip poker. He quickly learns you have an unbeatable poker face.

Bucky comes and talks with you and brings you meals. He tries to avoid anything that has to do with recent events. You spend a lot of time talking about growing up in Brooklyn. You laugh and cry a little. Bucky explains about the nanobots and your emotions. You hadn't realized that you had been feeling more. You were laughing harder and crying more. It also explains the butterflies you get when Tony walks into the room. You also notice that Steve hasn't come to see you at all. You ask Bucky, and he gives you a weak cover-up about a mission he had to take for Fury. Bucky may have been the best assassin ever, but you could still tell when he was lying to you.
You are lying on your bed and alone for once. You hear the door open. "It's about time you came to see me." You say before you open your eyes.

"I would have come sooner, but the job took longer than I thought." Wanda says with a smile.

"Oh, it's you, Wanda." You say with disappointment in your voice.

"I'm sorry. Not who you thought it would be?" She asks.

"I thought you might be Steve. He hasn't been down here to see me once, but I'm glad you're here, though." You say as you stand up.

"Explain to me why you're keeping yourself locked in here and why Bucky said you needed to talk to me about something important?" Wanda questions, very confused.

"Remember how you helped Alice break down the wall?" You say as you walk closer to the glass.

"Of course. Do you feel like the wall is back?" There is a look of concern on Wanda's face.

"No, but I need to ensure Alpha is gone once and for all. Would you be able to do that again.?" You ask.

"Yeah, what are you thinking of Jo?" She tilts her head a little, knowing the answer won't be good.

"I want to kill Alpha." You let out the breath you had been holding.

"It will definitely be easier because you won't be fighting it. I don't know what ramifications it could have on your mind, Jo." Wanda says as her mind starts to run through the scenario.

"I know that, but I have to try. I can't risk turning on my friends and family again." Your voice starts to crack but you pull it back in.

"All right, but have you talked to anyone about this yet?" Wanda asks.

"Not really but I suspect Tony has figured it out. The sooner we get this done, the sooner I will feel comfortable coming out of here." You plead with Wanda.

"Ok, but if this doesn't work, you can't live your life locked up in this cell." She looks you in the eyes.

"Fine. Can we do this?" You say, getting impatient.

Wanda unlocks the cell door and comes in. She pulls the chair over to the head of your bed and sits down. You lay down on the bed and close your eyes. Wanda's hands start to glow with her power. She places them on your temples, and the power spreads across your head.

You open your eyes to nothing. It's literally just black emptiness. You turn around, searching for anything.

"I know you're here; I can feel you. Just come out so we can finish this." you yell into the emptiness. You hear your own voice, but it's colder.

"Do you really think you can get rid of me? I'm a part of you, and I'll always be a part of you." Suddenly, a shape starts to form as it rises from the darkness under your feet. It takes the shape of your body, and the dark liquid continues to move and flow around it.

"You were a disease that was put in my head against my will. So I'm going to cut you out just like the disease you are." You hiss back.

The form takes a step toward you, and as it does, its form becomes detailed. You stand there facing a mirrored image of yourself. You finally see what every person you've hurt or killed saw in their final moments. It was cold, with nothing behind its eyes but blind anger.

"You think you can beat me? Ha, you can try, but you'll never win." Alpha says as a cold grin spreads across her face.

"I'm not going to beat you. I'm going to kill you once and for all." You rush her, kicking her in the middle of the chest, catching her off guard.

She stumbles a little but immediately regains her balance. She comes back at you, throwing punches left and right. You block them until you see your opening and start returning the punches, pushing her back a little as you go. You attempt to send another kick to the center of her chest, but she grabs your foot, swings, and throws you several feet away.

"I can't believe you actually thought you could beat me, let alone kill me." Alpha laughs as she speaks. "You thought I was rough on your precious Tony before there won't be anything but scrap metal left after I'm done with him."

Her threats fuel you even more, but she's in front of you before you can get up. She kicks you in the head, tossing you onto your back. She comes at you again, kicking you in your side. Before she can land a second kick to your side, you grab her leg and pull it from under her. As she falls to the ground, you kick up onto your feet and bring a knee to her face. Alpha falls backward but kicks back up to stand again.

She swipes her hand across her mouth. She brings it down to see blood.  "You bitch! You actually made me bleed." Alpha hisses.

"I'm just getting started." You say, egging her on.

She comes towards you. As she does, you hit her with a right hook, then a left, then another right. You repeat the pattern once more, then give her a roundhouse kick, sending her back several more feet. Alpha stands up, and she charges towards you. There is a mad rage burning in her eyes.

You run towards Alpha and wrap your arm under her shoulder, lifting yourself up and swinging your legs up around her neck. You use the momentum, swinging your upper body back up as you twist your body around hers. Your arm slides back around her neck, using the force to flip her to the ground. You land on your knees behind her, instantaneously putting her in a headlock, one arm wrapped around her neck and the other against her head.

She struggles to gain her footing but can't. She struggles to catch her breath as you tighten your hold around her neck.

"I'm the one that helped you, kept you safe through the darkness. You would have died without me." Her words drip with arrogance.

"You barely kept me safe and definitely not sane. It would have been easier for me if you had let me die. I wouldn't have to fight all the time." You say as you struggle to hold Alpha down.

"You can't kill me. You won't kill me, I'm apart of you." She hisses at you with a crooked grin.

You growl into her ear. "Wrong." You twist your arm and apply full pressure, snapping her neck. As you stand up, you let her limp body slide out of your grasp. You watch her body sink back into the black liquid void she came from.

Your eyes snap open as you gasp for a breath. "Shhh, it's okay, Jo. It's over," Wanda says in a calming voice as she smooths out your hair.

"She's gone, isn't she? Am I finally free of her? Of Hydra's hold?" You ask Wanda apprehensively as you sit up to face her.

"I can't feel her anymore. There's not even a whisper like before. She's gone." Wanda hugs you as tears fall from both of you.