Two days later...

Chapter Twenty-Nine
Soroya

"Have there been any attacks since I've been healing?" I ask the room.

Bucky, Alex, Khari, T'Challa, Okoye, Shuri, Nakia, and Bruce all share a glance with one another, not saying a word.

Khari is the one to give in first, giving me a sympathetic look. "Four. Random, not with any messages. They're bigger, messier."

"She's angry," I think aloud, pinching the bridge of my nose. "She's doing this to try to lure me in again. She's using the people she murders to try to get to me."

"We have to stop her." T'Challa states.

"Well yeah," Alex says. "But how are we gonna do that?"

"By giving her exactly what she wants." I tell them.

"You're not giving yourself up again." Bucky says seriously.

I shake my head, leaning against Shuri's work counter and crossing my arms. "I don't mean that. When she had me captured, she revealed to me that she needed my blood for a cure. She wants to get rid of our her powers, so I say let's make a cure."

"If we do make it," Bruce begins. "How will we lure her into a trap to give it to her."

"She doesn't want me just out of necessity. She hates me. She blames me for what happened to her brother and that hatred drives her. If I make it known I'm going to be somewhere, she'll be there."

"I think we're all in agreement we're coming with you on this mission. The problem is that she'd be able to sense us all there though. She'd flee after getting within a mile of the location we pick." Alex points out.

"I could make something to solve that problem," Shuri suggests. "What if I make a temporary serum that will mask all of our scents. Then we can lure her into our trap."

"She probably won't take the cure we give her. She'll think we're trying to kill her. But even if she does, she'll probably try to kill you the moment she has what she wants." T'Challa points out.

"That's why we'll all be there; to make sure that doesn't happen." Okoye says firmly.

I shake my head. "I want you all close by, but you're going to let me deal with her. I'm going to reason with her, convince her to take the cure we make her. She won't hurt me. I'm going to help her find the peace she wants."

Bucky's jaw tightens. "She tortured you, she nearly killed you, and you still want to appeal to her humanity?"

I nod firmly. "This isn't like the other people we've faced before. As much as I don't like to admit it, she and I aren't that different. I could have easily ended up like her. You have no idea what it's like to have a fight in your mind and body between human and animal. She's been consumed by her animal side for so long that she has lost herself. She's desperate and hurt and lost."

"The moment she comes into the trap, we're going to arrest her and force the serum into her blood stream. I'm not going to risk you getting hurt." Bucky states.

"No," Alex says. All of us turn our attention to him. I'm shocked to hear what he says next. "We have to give her a chance to cooperate. Soroya's right, none of you know how she feels. I know more than even she does. I wasn't in control of myself for sixteen years, and without my extra serum I could have lost myself too. There were days I felt like I had. In those days of being HYDRA's mutt, I would have done anything to get rid of my powers. Maybe even killed. Lets give her a chance."

Khari grips Alex's hand tightly, giving him a look of pride. I feel the same wave of pride flow through me, seeing how far my brother has come. I never thought I'd see a day where he wants to help and show compassion to a foe.

Bucky closes his eyes, shaking his head. "Fine. Where are we going to do this?"

"The Siberia base. It's big and it's where all of this started."

"How will she know to meet you there?" Nakia asks.

I think on this for a moment, before an unfortunate idea pops into my head. "She told me she found us in Greece because she saw us mentioned on the news. You said there have been a few attacks? If I go to one of those places and leave a message for her, then she'll know where to go."

Bucky nods. "We'll have to find out which attack is getting the most press."

Shuri looks to Bruce. "We have a lot to do."

"Speaking of that," I chime in. "I know you have two serums to make, but Analiese destroyed my necklace. I need a new suit."

Shuri nods. "I'll make another one for you. Do you want to keep the same design?"

I pause for a moment, a pleasing smile going over my face. "I would love if you added a holster and gun on this new suit."

"I would have the last time but the nanites and vibranium won't shrink and grow mass like a gun. I don't have anything that will do that."

"You may not," I begin, already taking out my phone. "But a friend of mine does."

-

"Holy shit! This place is awesome. The rent it costs to live here must be ridiculous." Scott says as he gets off the ship. Okoye rolls her eyes at him, but underneath the annoyance she looks slightly amused.

As soon as Scott sees me, he runs over towards me, enveloping me in a large hug. I hug him back just as enthusiastically, happy to see my friend even if it's in a less than ideal situation.

"I'm so happy you're alright," He tells me as he pulls back. "Hope and I were helping look for you. I was asking around my criminal buddies to see if they had heard of anything. I didn't get anywhere though, I wish I could have done more."

I shake my head, gripping his hand and squeezing it. "I'm very grateful, to both of you. I'm just happy to see you. I'm sorry I didn't bring you up to speed on what's been happening. As you can imagine things have been chaotic."

Scott waves his hand in dismissal. "Don't worry about it. When we're done with this psycho animal chic, you gotta show me around this place. Everything is so pretty, so advanced. I feel like I've just entered into Coruscant. Do they have robots here? I bet they do. And holograms? They have to have holograms."

Okoye lets out a sigh, shaking her head. "An emergency meeting has been called. We are all going to attend. As soon as we are finished though, we will be back to the lab to help."

I give her a confused look. "Why was an emergency meeting called?"

Okoye begins to look angry. "The other tribes don't like that T'Challa has been so focused on helping you. They think that he should focus on his country, since he just came back from the dead. The Jabari feel the same about Khari."

Well I can see their point. He has a responsibility to his people, and I would never want to get in the way of that. It's as if Okoye can read my mind, because she shakes her head at me and gives me a pointed look. "Don't. You are a priority to all of us, as well as Wakanda. The other tribes have seemed to have forgotten that you've defended Wakanda for years now. They are repaying your loyalty with this nonsense."

I shake my head. "Okoye, I understand. I'm not Wakandan. T'Challa's focus should be on his people. They just got him back."

Okoye shakes her head, touching my shoulder gently. "You may not have been born here, but you are as much a Wakandan as the rest of us. As is Alex."

I grip her hand tightly, smiling at her. "Thank you, Okoye. That means a great deal. Will you tell me how the meeting goes?"

She nods firmly, making her way back onto the ship to fly towards the palace. Once she takes off, Scott looks to me, dropping his voice. "That woman scares me."

I let out a laugh, leading him towards the lab entrance. "Come on, everyone is waiting down stairs. Did you bring the Pym Particles?"

Scott brings out four viles of red liquid from his pocket. "Hank wasn't happy about it. He had no idea who you were, and when I explained it to him, he still wasn't happy about it. It wasn't until I drove in the fact that without your help he'd still be dust, that he relented and gave me the particles."

"Shuri and I want to use the particles to make it so I can have a gun attached to my suit that will grow and shrink with me."

"That's cool, but won't that look odd? Am I gonna see a monkey running around with a gun on its thigh?"

"First of all, why would I shift into a monkey? Second, Shuri has technology that will make it invisible when I shift, just like my suit does."

"Hey, don't diss on monkeys. Monkeys are the best."

"Not the best for fighting, Scott."

"Not true. Monkeys throw their shit at people. I bet you could take down many adversaries if you followed a monkey's example."

I shake my head, letting out a sigh as we make our way down the stairs. "You're really immature."

Scott winks. "You love me and you know it."

Shuri and Bruce are working hard at making the two serums we need for this mission; their figures hunched over microscopes and jotting down notes on various scraps of paper. Off to the side of their work space is a mannequin with an unfinished suit on it, identical to the one I had before.

Alex and Bucky have stayed behind in the lab, talking quietly to each other towards the glass wall. When they see us walk down though, they make their way towards us.

"Scott you remember Bucky Barnes. You two met in Germany all those years ago."

Scott smiles widely at him. "Yeah, it's great to see you again. I heard the U.N. got the guy who really did the bombing. You enjoying freedom?"

Bucky gives him a curious look. "I'm still a wanted man from my seventy years of being in HYDRA."

Scott shakes his head. "Well that stinks. But I guess if you're going to be hiding out you might as well do it in the real life Gondor. Seriously, the cost to live here must be ridiculous. I don't envy the mortgage bills these people pay."

Alex raises his eyebrows while pointing at Scott. "This is Ant Man?"

I nod, smiling at Scott. "This is my brother Alex. He's a shapeshifter like me."

Scott's face lights up. "That's awesome! There are two of you? Well technically three, but one's bad. Can you do everything Soroya can do?"

Alex nods, looking very amused. "I can also shoot fire from my my mouth and lasers from my eyes."

A look of shock goes over Scott's face, but I quickly glare at my brother and shake my head at Scott. "He's joking. Come on, let's go talk to Shuri."

Shuri greets Scott very enthusiastically. I can see the excitement in her eyes about messing with the Pym Particles. It's like giving a puppy a new toy.

"I really do appreciate this Scott, especially you coming here to bring them in person."

Scott wraps an arm around my shoulders, squeezing me tightly. "You were just held captive, I wanted to see you and make sure you're okay. Do you have a plan to get this chic?"

I nod. "I'm going to send her a message and tell her where to meet. Shuri and Bruce are making a serum to take away her powers and mask everyone's scents so we can surround her."

Scott nods firmly. "I'm totally in."

I shake my head. "Scott, are you sure? I wouldn't want to take you away from Hope or Cassie. Not when you just got them back."

Scott doesn't take no for an answer. "You're my friend. I got your back, no matter how big or small the problem is."

I wrap my arm around his waist, leaning my head against his shoulder. I then look to Shuri, still seeing that glint of childlike excitement in her eyes. "When will the suit be ready?"

"With the Pym Particles, maybe another day. We are already well into the serum to mask our scents, but the serum to cure your powers is very tricky."

"What can I do to help? Do you need my blood to test?"

A seriousness comes over Shuri and she adamantly shakes her head. "You just we're used as a test monkey, I'm not going to do that to you. I refuse."

I let go of Scott, grabbing onto Shuri's hand. "Will using my blood help get the job done faster? Just answer the question."

Shuri lets out a sigh, reluctantly nodding her head. I give her a serious look, saying with all honesty; "We need to do whatever it takes to get this serum made. I trust you with my life. This is nothing like Analiese. You won't hurt me."

Shuri still doesn't look okay with it, but then Alex appears at my side, nodding to Shuri. "You can use both of us. The process will go faster with two blood banks."

Shuri looks between the two of us, before rolling her eyes and setting the Pym Particles down on her work counter. "Alright, but there's gonna have to be some precautions. Bucky, I'm gonna need your help."

Bucky is immediately at my side, listening to Shuri intently. "I have no clue how long this will take, and unfortunately they're right; we need their blood to do this. They already have both serums in their blood, so it's easier than making both serums from scratch and working from there. While Bruce and I work on the serums, I'll need you to help me make sure they don't go into Hypovolemic shock."

Bucky nods. "What do I have to do?"

"I'm going to give you a set of Kimoyo Beads and you're going to use it to monitor their blood pressure and the amount of blood in their bodies. When Soroya was brought back here, she had lost 41% of the blood in her body, which is why it was so life threatening. Anywhere past losing 30% of your blood is deadly. You need to make sure they don't lose that much. The moment the beads tell you they've lost more than...let's say 20%, you tell me and we need to get liquids and give them oxygen masks. That will make sure their organs don't fail."

Shuri hands him a set of beads, then gestures to Alex and me. "Get out of your clothes and into the hospital gowns. We need to get to work."

"What can I do to help?" Scott asks.

"I think we'll be good down here. What you can do though, is start investigating the couple of attacks Analiese just did. We need to see which attacks are getting the most press or if there's any press covering them at all. I need to send her a message she'll see. Her seeing it needs to be guaranteed."

Scott touches my shoulder, nodding his head to me. "I'm on it."

I look over to Alex. "Call Khari and tell him to get back here. I don't want Scott to get lost."

Alex nods. "Good idea."

Bucky gives me a weary look. "I really don't like this, Lena. Are you sure—"

"Yes, Liebchen. I'm sure. It's the only way we're going to win."

Bucky looks down at the beads, wrapping them around his wrist, nodding his head firmly. "Alright then. Let's do this."