↱STEVEN↲
The larger man exhaled sharply, before leaving the room. He had a vague idea of where the woman was, but he wasn't sure he could see her without having any questions. He was well aware of Natasha and Bucky's former relations - but T'Challa had compared Victoria and another woman's relationship. But he knew she wasn't gay, because her and Bucky had been more than cozy during their stay in Wakanda. Sam had told him there was a word for that, but it wasn't like he could remember when he was this stressed about his best friend. But, he couldn't just - assume things about Victoria. She was painstakingly complex, something that was both infuriating yet accepted. He couldn't be mad with her, not after all she had went through. At the same time, there was his old self nagging at the back of his head, and the back of his head was soon becoming his main object of thought.

Steve was fast on his feet, despite the largeness of the Wakandan structure. He had practically memorized the route to where Bucky's chamber was, all the times he had quietly snuck in at the middle of the night. He was there in no time, foot falls silent as he approached Victoria's still frame. She knew how to be still, even when it was obvious she was crying; the Captain could see her water stained reflection in the glass of Bucky's tube. Yet, despite the tears that fell freely down her face, not a muscle in her body moved. Even her wings remained in check.

"Victoria," he choked out, not knowing what else to say. Her dark, pained eyes rose in the glass, taking in his appearance. "Steve," she responded, tone business like. The larger man sighed, approaching his best friend of decades. She didn't move, only losing herself in the patterns of the ice that prevented her from seeing Bucky again. Observing the small panel, his... Everything was normal, which was good, as Steve thought to himself. He supposed that was obvious, but he gave himself a break seeing as he hadn't gotten any sleep the other night.

"Who is Helena?" he asked, after a moment. He was unsure; the Captain immediately regretted the question as Victoria's eyes left the glass to meet his, full of something so pained that he had to look away. Steve made a mental note to never ask about Helena again.

"She was the 6th Soldier, the last one of Bucky's brood." A mirthless smile appeared, bittersweet. "But Zemo killed her, and I guess that killed a little part of me, too."

"You were close?"

"I trained her for years. Decades, maybe, I dunno. Bucky knew her, too - we were an elite squad, Natalia, Bucky, Helena, and me. We normally went on undercover missions, you know. A double date at a ball , four drunk friends who needed a ride. I was dutifully concerned about how well Natasha could act like a stupid drunkard, I'll tell you," Victoria reminisced. There was an odd lilt in her voice, which Steve could understand. Happy memories when she was a stone cold killer.

As the two stood in silence, the room dark as the sun had already set on the day, a loud beep alerted them. Victoria reacted first, her entire body moving to focus on the panel that read Bucky's vitals. Steve couldn't understand it for his life, but he figured Victoria could, because her skin became about 3 shades paler.

"Steve, Steve, get the nurses. His brain waves are erratic, and his blood pressure isn't-isn't looking so good," Victoria ordered, words trailing off into a whisper as she pressed buttons frantically. She at least seemed to know what she was doing, but Steve couldn't be concerned with how. He was out the door, yelling for one of the many nurses or someone from the advanced Wakandan medical team.

↱JACQUELINE↲

With her sharp hearing, the woman was out of her comfortable bed in no time. She slept in her boots, all too familiar with the feeling of running away from law enforcement in socks and a bra.

She found Steve, panicked and wild. He reminded of Shadowfall whenever he was spooked, which gave her some hope in calming the large man down. "Captain, Captain, what is it?" She yelled, voice just only rising over his own. He seemed to finally register that Jack was standing in front of him, although she couldn't really point any fingers seeing she was about more than 3 inches shorter than him.

"Bucky-there's something wrong," he breathed, and despite the fact that she had only been involved with the shitstorm of superheroes for not even a whole day, she felt her heart jump in her chest. T'Challa had (somewhat forcibly) required her to put his number on speed dial, and she had never been more happy about something as she whipped out her low-tech phone and dialed the King's number.

The phone rung only one before a rough, gravelly voice answered. "Jacqueline?" T'Challa asked, the sound of clothes rubbing against sheets in the background. "There's something wrong with Bucky-" There was a distant scream, which caused Jacqueline to turn towards the door at the end of the hallway and curse. She put the phone back up to her ear, muttering a quick "Just get the fuck down here, T'Challa," before hanging up the phone.
She glanced at the time, frowning as it said 12:37 AM.

"Come on, that doesn't mean anything good," she told Steve, who nodded in response. The two, Steve in his normal clothes, Jacqueline in a tank top and shorts that didn't even reach to her knees, dashed towards where the Soldier was frozen. Steve flung the door open, semi-protecting Jacqueline as the two stopped two feet into the room. Victoria was there, brown eyes impossibly wide as she started working on something they couldn't see.

"Victoria, what's going on?" Jack yelled, her voice the only thing drawing the woman's eyes away from what she had been doing.

"They have to take him out of cryo, now. I don't know how-I don't know how to do it." Her voice had risen to a yell, as the other woman was obviously panicked. Her large wings were twitching erratically, giving way to how scared she was. Compared to the strong, birdish woman that had helped take her down in the late afternoon, the Knight managed to get a glimpse of the weaknesses. Grimacing, Jack approached her. "Why can't you?" Steve questioned, following after the colored woman.

"They put a lock on the tank, to make sure no one would steal him away. Not even my powers could break it." Victoria demonstrated, streams of blue surrounding a smooth, black lock. It only rattled, before the blue faded away. "Nothing." Jacqueline frowned, opening her mouth to suggest something, but a perpetual stream of foot-falls in the hallways stopped her. Steve, Jack, and Victoria moved out of the way as the King bounded through the door, clothes disheveled from - presumably - sleep.

"He has to come out of cryo," Jack reiterated, which caused T'Challa's eyes to widen. "We don't know who we're waking up," the King argued, here still moving to begin the process. Victoria audibly sighed, crossing her arms.

"That's why all of you are leaving as soon as this tank opens," the Archangel said calmly. Both Steve and T'Challa objected - Jack reasoned she would be just fine, but then again, she'd never seen "Bucky" in action. "Victoria, no," Steve growled. "This is my decision, and mine alone!" the woman yelled, voice breaking. Jack, Steve, and T'Challa reeled back. Silence fell, the only sound being the occasional mechanical clink from the lock as the Black Panther disabled it.

Jack had done her research, after T'Challa had permitted her access to the Internet. Steve was wanted, as were the rest of his friends, but that was something she happened to share in common with them. T'Challa was well known as the King of Wakanda, but only after digging deeper had she learned of his protective role over the region he ruled.

"Fine," Steve gritted out. He was visibly upset, jaw clenched and blue eyes stormy. But it was easy to see the concern hidden there, how deeply he cared about her fate. She supposed decades of friendship had that effect. Soon after the lock came off, and T'Challa entered pass codes and fingerprints, the ice began to clear. Steve rested a hand on Victoria's shoulder. "You sure you want to do this?" He asked softly. She nodded, tilting her head and cracking her neck. Jack raised an eyebrow, which only went noticed by the King.

"It won't be the first time I brought back the man under the monster, Steve," she responded calmly. Steve's eyebrows furrowed even more, clearly intrigued about the story behind the sentence, but as T'Challa reminded, they didn't have much time. Jack threw the woman one more glance, her mind finally wrapping around the concept of what was happening.

T'Challa leaned close and murmured something in Victoria's ear, to which the woman didn't respond. They then resumed their walking out of the room, but stopped at the door as Victoria began speaking.

"If he comes through that door, I'm dead. Don't waste any time, Steve."

Steve mumbled something under his breath, before they all filed out of the large room. Jack heard the door close behind them, and could only exchange a look with T'Challa as the hissing noise of the tube opening sounded.

↱VICTORIA↲

The woman stepped away from the chamber, slowly inhaling the frosty air that billowed out. She closed her eyes, for a while, curling and uncurling her fist. Her blade was on her persona, her gun somewhere in her room. There were plenty of other things that could be used as weaponry, though, which somehow soothed her nerves.

When she opened her eyes again, the Winter Soldier was standing not 5 feet away.

A/N;
Me @/Bucky: HOE DONT DO IT
This chapter is super choppy, my apologies. I really need to work on pre writing so I don't leave u guys with these (amazing ass) cliffhangers