Chapter Eleven: You Really Got Me

The kid she now knew as Peter was sent back home. Tony managed to pull some strings, getting her out of any jail time, since she never technically broke any laws and was not a superhero, just a civilian, she was able to obtain her two doctorates without any serious repercussions. Her only punishment was getting her Seoul position stripped away to be put under some sort of temporary house arrest after graduating, stuck in Tony's compound, working with what was left of the Avengers.

It was a shadow of something that was once great. Nobody seemed to be happy there, everyone seemed like a shell. No one had gone without losing someone in the split. Tony seemed to have taken it the hardest. She'd become sort of friends with him in her time in the compound, as well as the kid. And she spent a lot of time there. In the labs she had a full technical team of doctors, interns, and scientists that followed her every wish. She managed to complete her anti-seizure device and ship it out for testing worldwide. But what she was working on now was much more important.

"I'm calling it the Bridge." she explained to Tony as he checked in on her. He liked to do that, look in and make sure she was doing okay.

"I'm assuming not because there's a troll underneath it that wants me to answer riddles?" he peered down at the device that lay harmlessly on the table.

"It's a synapse projector. I made it for Rhodey." she replied softly, pulling up a diagram. "My first one is outfitted for the spinal column. We locate the damaged nerve endings and implant the chip between the vertebrae. Where the neural impulses get stuck, this will bridge the deadzone's gap and continue to pass the message along. It can potentially cure paralysis with multiple Bridge's implanted along each damage site."

"And it works?" he asked, uncharacteristically quiet.

"All tests have pointed to positive. I did them myself in local hospitals with paralysis volunteers, and short of any muscular atrophy they were able to walk again. I've been putting more resources into fitting the Bridge into usage for prosthetics and orbital sockets." Donatella wrung her hands together.

"And you made this for Rhodey, who dislikes you?" he spun to face her. "What's the game here?"

"Mr. Stark, there is no game." she replied coolly, unnecessarily professional with her mentor. "Nobody deserves partial paralysis for any reason. And I…" she squinted her eyes shut, taking a deep breath before finishing. "I feel responsible. If I'd have been there quicker, I could have examined the area, I could have fixed the damage before it-"

"Stop." he cut her off, striding forwards to put his hands on her shoulders, almost shaking her in his tight grip. "You are not to blame for anything that happened that day. You are not to blame for any of the actions within our petty little fight. You are not responsible for any harm that came to any of us. That's on us, not you."

"Then why didn't they come back?" her voice cracked. "I'm doing my best to fix this, he can come back now. Why won't he?" she pleaded, feeling her eyes well with tears. Tony sighed, taking a step back and rubbing his hand over his forehead. It was like he aged ten years in one minute. He looked so… defeated.

"I don't know." he replied quietly.

"Can you… bring Rhodey in? I want to talk to him about the implant. Ask him if it's something he'd want to try." she turned away, crossing her arms. He sighed, coming closer to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"Donnie, you did good work. You're doing more than I could have hoped for. Not just for Stark industries, but for the world. You're the best of us. Of all of us. Peter's personal hero, even." he mentioned dryly. He continued with a laugh. "I swear, that kid has a crush on you. But even so, its you. People like you who make the fight worth it."

"That's just it, Tony. There doesn't have to be a fight." she closed her eyes, shaking her head.

"There's always going to be a fight." he whispered. "And it's up to us to end it. Before it's too late."

"Tony…" she trailed off, turning back to face him. "Why did you want me to work for you? Why not just let me flounder after graduation. Lord knows nobody sane would've hired me after I joined forces with the Winter Soldier." she spat.

"Because when Peter was down, you came to help. You were literally standing across from him on a battlefield, but when the going got tough you didn't see him as an enemy. You saw him as a person. In that moment, you had the whole world pushing down against you. And you had this good inside of you that pushed right back." Tony replied. "We all need to see a little bit more of that in ourselves. Myself especially. I've driven half of my most trusted people out of the country because I couldn't handle feeling responsible."

"Thank you." she choked out, feeling the tears spill down her cheeks.

"I hate to leave you while you're down, but I believe Rhodes would like full function of his legs back as soon as possible. You'd better deliver." he called over his shoulder as he walked out of the lab. She sighed, sitting next to her work table. It had been four months. That long since she had last seen him. Since Steve and Bucky disappeared, since everyone was shipped off to prison, to be sentenced, at least before there was a breach and they were busted out by the Captain. There had been no sightings of Bucky with him. She knew everyone was probably okay, Clint was with his family, Scott with his own as well. Sam was probably with Steve, Wanda was… Well, Vision had been sneaking off to go see her, so she was fine for sure. And she was stuck here. With the recently annulled Accords looming over them, to be used as a 'guidebook' instead of the law. She was unaffected by them, but Tony had the original copy with a big red stamp over the top sitting proudly in his office. And yet there was still something that prevented the rest of them from coming home.

"Doctor Belucci." Rhodey was coming in, supported by his suit on his bottom half.

"Mr. Rhodes, thank you for coming in." she stood to greet him. "I have some good news for you." she sat him on an examination table, explaining her invention and the procedure to him at length. She wasn't going to force him to accept, but she wanted him to be as well-informed about his decision as possible. "It's the least I can do." she murmured, smiling tentatively.

"When can we start?" he gave her half a smile.

"As soon as you want. My whole team can be prepped and ready by tomorrow afternoon." she grinned, relieved this time that he had agreed.

"Will my insurance cover this?" he smiled, causing her to laugh.

"It's on the house." she joked right back. "On one condition." she added.

"What's that?" Rhodey asked.

"Change Tony's nameplate to 'Stank.'"

….

"Alright Rhodey, how you feeling?" she asked as she injected his IV stream with a relaxer.

"Very much good, thank you." he replied, already feeling the effects.

"Wonderful. I'll have the anesthesia ready in just a few moments." she beamed, gesturing to her anesthesiologist to come over. "Excited?" she asked as he hummed a song.

"Ecstatic." he sang. "I can't wait to kick Tony's ass again." he sighed as she came closer.

"I'm excited for that too. Okay, I'm just going to count back from ten with this, you ready?" she asked, putting the mask up to his face before twisting the knob to send him under. "Perfect." she murmured, removing the mask and gesturing to her team to put him on his side. She'd marked the spot where the nerve endings were damaged a few minutes prior, and so she was able to find the location quickly. Once she sterilized the area and created her incision, one of her team members handed her the chip, and she grabbed it with a tiny pair of tweezers, carefully inserting it. After knocking it home with a rubber mallet, she activated the chip, taking a small electrical current to shock the area as a test. When his leg twitched she beamed, closing the site and bandaging the area. They managed to prop Rhodey in his bed more comfortably before cleaning the room and clearing it.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the good doctor has cured Rhodey." Tony was waiting outside for her as she removed her gloves and mask.

"When he wakes up I'll perform a full physical, but preliminaries show he's good to go." she beamed, gripping him tightly in a hug.

"I am impressed." a heavily accented voice spoke, and she jumped back, peering around Tony to see the man behind him. "I was not aware that the medical community had the means to cure paralysis." T'Challa spoke.

"Oh, well, we just did it." Tony grinned. "Your Highness, I wasn't expecting you. Can I get you a diet coke? Maybe some blueberries?"

"I would actually like a moment alone with Dr. Belucci, if it is possible." her smile faded at his words. What was going on? Tony looked to her, and she gave a tentative nod before Tony patted her on the head, waltzing off and whistling a bright tune. The rest of her team had gone back to her lab, as they were no longer needed in the medical wing while the nurse on duty could monitor Rhodey. "Walk with me." he stepped beside her, placing a guiding hand on her back. She could feel his hand was warm through her lab coat, and felt indescribably uncomfortable with the situation. The last time she had seen the man he was trying to kill her boyfriend.

"What exactly is this about, Your Highness?" she asked, making sure to be polite to the King. "I'm sure that the technological advancements in Wakanda are at least thirty years ahead of ours."

"That is what is interesting to me, Dr. Belucci. We were quite far ahead with the use of vibranium in medicine." he slowed their walk as they got to a conference room. "Please, come inside." he ushered her in, shutting the door behind them. He went to sit at the head of the table, gesturing to the seat beside him. His advisor, Okoye, was already waiting for them, standing behind the chair he chose with her spear, at attention.

"Were?" she slowly sat down, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Were. When we heard of your seizure technology and how it was near flawless in preliminary studies, we were impressed. You created that as part of your thesis in graduate school, correct?" he asked, sliding forward a tablet with an article of her first widespread invention.

"Yes, it was inspired by my graduate advisor. He had debilitating epilepsy." she explained, glancing over the article. His hand moved over the tablet, swiping to another article on her.

"Throughout graduate school, you have spoken on biomolecular regenerative technology as an alternative to chemotherapy." he referenced her other portion of her thesis.

"That is correct, yes, but I haven't completed my tweaking on that quite yet." she rubbed her hand over her arm, uncomfortable with the amount that he had researched. "It's not going to be ready for testing for a few more months."

"See, only three years and you've led two very important medical breakthroughs." he leaned back in his seat. "And when I get here to speak to you of these breakthroughs, I discover you've cured paralysis in just four months. The Bridge is very intriguing, I might add, how you have managed to create a non-invasive procedure to fix something so complex."

"I wouldn't say the Bridge is anything complex." she tried to defend herself, feeling embarrassed at the attention.

"Dr. Belucci, I do not mean to make you uncomfortable. On the contrary, I am intrigued by how you have sped up modern medicine decades just in a few years." T'Challa leaned forward, causing her to lean back.

"It wasn't all me, I've worked with different teams-" his hand reached out to stop her from speaking.

"It was your brain that saw the possibilities. Your brain that fixed any errors, stopped any impossibilities. You have done more with such small resources in mere years that it has taken mankind decades to achieve. I am impressed." he smiled, and she gave an uncomfortable laugh back. Was he just going to sit here and tell her that she was impressive? Or was he playing at something else. "I have a challenge in Wakanda, my sister is quite the inventor but she has a lot on her plate at the moment. I'm here to proposition you."

"Excuse me?" she scooted her chair back, very uncomfortable now.

"A job proposition. For a few months, in the lab in Wakanda. My sister is quite impressed with your work as well, and would like to meet you in order to see what you think about a certain project of hers." he raised his hands non-threateningly, and she relaxed.

"Can I know anything about this project before I agree?" she asked.

"All that I can tell you is that she looks to you with great respect. Please consider my offer, she plans to begin her project within the next month. Once you've worked out the kinks in your near-flawless cure for cancer, I believe we shall speak again." he stood, Okoye standing at attention behind him. "Thank you for your time." he nodded his head, and she did the same to him. He left the room, and she sat there, slightly in shock. Of course she wanted to accept the offer, working in the most advanced lab on the planet? But she had work to do here first. And… she frowned down at her watch.

She had someone to find.

End

And that's just the end of book one! I'm almost finished with the next part of this series, so keep an eye out on my page for when that gets published! It should be up within a few days!

Here's a small piece of the first chapter of book two: Second Chances Won't Leave Us Alone

She really was alone, she realized. Nobody was around her. She no longer had Bucky. Sure, she constantly thought of him. Her heart ached at her memories of the time they shared together. When they first met. Of course, it was different then, they hadn't been so…

She would say close for lack of a better word. After that, it was hard to imagine life without him. Especially after they'd gotten together. But none of that… none of it was really real. She was sure that if they hadn't been isolated, if they had known each other in any other situation, then they would not have been together. Probably wouldn't have glanced at each other twice. But there was something… real, very real that she couldn't deny transpired between them. It was a true dependence, a true sense of love and trust. She'd gone through hell for him, and he left her stranded. What kind of person did that? Said they loved someone and then forgot about them. Was it possible he'd played her? That he'd… he'd just planned the whole thing to use her?

It hurt, but it was possible. She squeezed her eyes shut, taking a deep breath. It hurt, it really hurt to think that he'd done that to her, but it could be true. He was an assassin, nothing that transpired between them could have been legitimate. He knew how to keep deep cover. He knew how to get what he wanted, how to get people to trust him. And she trusted him so much, so deeply, so irrevocably so that she still doubted he could do something like that to her. But she had to move on. It was the only way to survive. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed. That would be something Bucky would say. Use others before they can use you. She pursed her lips, sniffling as she realized she was tearing up. She opened her eyes, blinking rapidly to diminish the tears as to not ruin her makeup. It would be nice to look at least presentable for her first visit to Wakanda.