affliction

seventy-nine

yeah literally wrote this, pressed post, didn't realize I wasn't connected to wifi until the next day, then realized it never posted and deleted the entire thing <3333 so here it is round 2 LMAO

Bucky's POV

I wake up suddenly and shoot straight up into a sitting position. When I do so, I feel a pain in my right arm and look down, seeing an IV in it. Finally remembering where I am, I look around. Shuri is staring at me with a big smile on her face. "Guess what?"

I use my hand to rub my head. Metal. I jerk my hand down in front of my face and look down at the arm. I laugh a little. "You got the new arm on?"

She rolls her eyes. "Obviously. But guess what else?"

I squint my brown and look back at her. "I don't know. What?"

Her smile somehow gets bigger as she pulls up a hologram in front of me, showing a side-by-side picture of 2 brains. She points to the left picture. "Your brain before," she points to the right, "your brain now."

My eyes widen as I stare at it. "You got it out?"

She nods. "I think so, yeah. You were already knocked out for the surgery, so I figured I'd work in it before you woke up. We'll need to test it, of course, but I don't see any sign of it on here."

I scrunch my brows. "How long did all of that take?"

She makes an uncomfortable face. "The arm took a lot longer than we thought it would. It's almost been a full day."

My eyes widen. Beth must be going nuts. "Where's Beth at? Am I free to leave?"

She shrugs. "I'm not sure where she is, but yeah, you're free to go." She walks over and pulls the IV out of my arm and straps a bandage around it.

I stand from the chair and face her. "You're amazing." I kiss her on the cheek before walking to the door. "Thank you again."

She laughs. "You're welcome, Mr. Barnes."

I head to the elevator and speak once I enter. "JARVIS, where's Beth?"

"Her location has been blocked from you, sir."

Excuse me? No way she did that. "Um, by who?"

"Mr. Stark, sir."

Well, that's weird. "Where is he at?"

"His location is also blocked from you at this time."

Son of a bitch. "Alright, then. Where's Steve?"

"He's in the kitchen, sir."

Finally, a real fucking answer. I hit the button to take me to the kitchen and walk out the second the doors open. Once I enter, I see Steve, Sam, and Nat sitting at the table talking. Once they see me come in, they immediately stop talking. Steve's the first to speak to me. "Hey, Buck. How you feelin'?"

I lift my new arm up and squeeze the fingers. "Good, the arm feels way better than the last one. Where's Beth?"

His eyes dart towards the other two, none of them saying anything.

Weird. "I'm starting to get worried. Someone say something."

Steve stands up and walks towards me nodding his head towards the elevator. I follow him in and he presses a button to one of the lower floors.

"Steve, good god, speak."

He huffs and looks at me. "I had to wait until you weren't around anyone because you're probably going to get mad."