he who hesitates is toast

T'Challa steps to Nakia's side as she shivers, reaching to put his arm around her. Beside the table, Bucky remains preternaturally still, watching everything with fierce intensity.

Shuri gestures at the screen, and pulls an image of Sharon's spine from the display into the space above her body. The young scientist pulls her hands apart, separating the vertebrae, and studies the map of orange lines that illustrates the damage done.

"She will live," she says, with assurance. "And she will heal completely."

Bucky drops into a crouch beside the table and lowers his head abruptly to his forearm, gasping in a long, relieved breath.