Re-Arm

"Everett, do you know what the penalty for stealing vibranium and selling it to the outside world is?

"Not really." Ross said. "We didn't even know you still had Vibranium until last year. But I'm guessing it's a pretty stiff penalty."

"You might say that." Nakia sniffed. "Treason, I suppose, would be the closest colonizer equivalent. Or a dishonorable discharge, if that meant getting fed to the lions and your entire family falling into disgrace."

Ross's brow wrinkled. "You feed people to lions?"

"Used to." Nakia shrugged. "Not anymore. We lost too many lions. Now we just make them drink ceremonial poison. Sort of like taking a cyanide tablet."

"Makes sense. Exile would just spill the secret." Ross said. "I understand it's a lot to ask. Especially since Shiuri probably can't spare the political capital it would take to permit it."

"Shiuri can't spare the poitical capital to breathe right now, Everett. It wouldn't even be up to her. It'd be a council decision, and the council is not… welcoming right now." Nakia sighed and took a long drink from the glass in front of her. "I'm pretty sure they're watching me, too. I suppose my ties to the outside world make me suspect."

"So that's a no?"

"No." Nakia pulled a briefcase from under the table. "I just want you to appreciate what I'm doing here."

Wong frowned at the visitors. "Trace the Time Stone."

Thor nodded. "We were hoping to find where it—and the other stones—are."

"You mentioned you swore a vow to protect it." Banner said. "You must have had a way of analyzing the energy—of finding it if it were lost."

"The Eye of Agomotto, yes." Wong said. "The Time Stone itself is beyond enchantment. It involves primordial energies from the dawn of time unable to be altered or manipulated by even the greatest…"

"Look, can you at least talk to the Sorcerer Supreme, see if he'll…" Banner stopped. "Who is the Sorcerer Supreme now, anyway?"

"Me." Wong did not look happy about it. "Of course, half the other candidates died, so it was a limited pool."

"Congratulations!" Thor beamed.

"Okay…" Banner seemed a bit confused by this news. "So… as Sorcerer Supreme, don't you have a duty to recover the Time Stone?"

Wong nodded. "Our mages have been working on locating it since the Vanishing." He said.

"The Vanishing." Banner thought this over. "Is that what we're calling it?"

"That's what we're calling it." Wong said. "We cannot permit the Time Stone to remain in the hands of Thanos. However, we can find no trace of it."

"Hang on, hang on." Banner said. "Tony thought Strange might have put some sort of spell on the Time Stone, could it have been…"

"We thought of that." Wong shook his head. "If he did, we can find no trace of it."

"Have you looked in space?" Thor said, stepping forward. "We're pretty sure he's in space."

Wong just looked at the Asgardian. "Yes." He said.

Banner seemed to be thinking hard. "So… you can't trace the stones. But you could trace a tool used to house them."

Wong's face changed.

"Like, say, a gauntlet."

"I do not understand, my Princess." The old attendant said. "This sanctum has been deserted since the Killmonger set flames in the flowerbeds and defiled its refuge. There is nothing to be found here."

"I know." Shuri said. She was walking along the paths, eyes tracing idly over the blackened soil. "I'm not really here to… get anything."

"Then… why are you here?"

Shuri took a deep breath and turned to the old woman. "I wish to undergo the ritual." She said. "I wish to commune with my dead… ancestors."

"My princess." The old woman looked astonished. "The ritual was designed for those with the strength of the Black Panther. One without that power…" She shook her head. "I do not know whether it would have any impact. Or indeed whether it would simply kill the participant."

"Then I shall be more directly communing with them." Shuri smiled. From her robe, she withdrew two vials and a needle. "This should enable me to survive the process. It will induce a deathlike coma. I will be barely breathing, so being buried should pose no problem."

The old woman chewed her lip. "And the other?" She said, looking at the deep red vial.

"My brother's blood." Shuri smiled. "Who knows but that the power of the Black Panther still lies within?"

The old woman nodded slowly. "It were best if you were to strip for the ritual, my queen."

"Tony, I don't want a suit. I have a suit."

Rocket snorted from where he was perched on the computer console. "If you call those full-length pajamas a suit."

"You have a Kevlar breathable weave." Stark said, eyes focused on the robots in the factory below. "Nat has a leather catsuit."

"I've moved on to Kevlar too, actually." Widow said.

"Ya morons realize we're going into space, right?" Rocket said, arms crossed. "Like Thanos, he's actually out there, in space? This Kevlar stuff, how well's it work out in space?"

"I thought the plan was for Thor to just use the bifrost." Nat said.

"Right." Tony gave a grimace. "Because things have been going so well according to plan so far."

"Tony." Cap stepped forward. "I'm not saying you're going overboard here. I'm not honestly sure that's possible, given what we're up against. But hear me out. Nat, Clint and I… we're not like you. We rely on our speed and agility. I can't move around like I need to if I'm wearing a space suit."

"Yeah? The one I made for the kid didn't slow…" Tony stopped and bit his lip.

Nat and Cap exchanged glances, and there was a short silence.

"Look." Tony said. "The point is, I can make these. And we might need them. Just… let me work, okay?"

"Stop working." Thor strode into the lab. "These tools are not sufficient to help you."

"Hey!" Rocket looked offended.

"Uh, sorry? This is the most advanced production facility on earth." Stark said, turning around, head bent at a defiant angle. "No offense to whatever that place you keep gushing about in Wakanda was like, but I doubt they had places designed specifically for this kind of weaponry. And anyway we can't go back there."

"Yes, my friend, your facility here is an excellent one." Thor clapped Stark on the shoulder. "For earth. But you have done all that is possible with the tools and material you have here. You require a far greater forge for your ideas."

"What did I just say?"

"Hang on, hang on." Rocket hopped off the console. "You're not talking about going back there, are you?"

"It seems we must return to the realm of Nidavellir to find and trace the workings of Thanos' gauntlet and find where he has stowed it." Thor said. "So yes. That is what I am talking about. Eitrii can no longer work his own forges, and his works would burn up the mind of a mortal in an instant. However, the forges themselves, and the tools, are still there, waiting for a capable craftsman..." He nodded to Tony, "...to put to use."

Rocket grinned. "Oh, yes please."

"Sorry." Stark said. "Nee-dad-velcro is what now?"

Thor looked at him. "Nidavellir is the realm of the dwarves and the great forge-world of Asgard where the great weapons of the cosmos are made. It was there that the Destroyer was created, there that Heimdall's sword was forged, there that the Infinity Gauntlet itself was shaped, and there that my hammer first was raised to the skies."

"Your hammer." Stark stepped forward. "Your big, magic, supercharged hammer that no one can lift or wield."

"My Thanos-killing Hammer." Thor smiled. "Yes."

Stark turned away. "I don't understand your hammer." He said, walking back to his desk. "I doubt I'd understand anything at this Nidavellir place, and I'm too busy for a field trip."

Thor considered this. "Then your current weapons are suited to fighting Thanos?" He asked.

Stark stopped. He lifted his hand, traced it down his cheek.

Glances were exchanged around the laboratory.

"Fine." Stark said, whirling on his heel. "I'll take a look at this place of yours, see what I can help them out with. Maybe work out some sort of melding of the tech."

A cough interrupted them. Agent Everett Ross was there, looking troubled. "Does that mean you won't be needing this?" He said, lifting the suitcase.

Tony's face lit up. "Everett, you big beautiful man." He said, bounding over. "This is almost definitely going to be 9 times more useful than Big Blonde's realm of the elves."

"Dwarves." Thor said. Rocket snorted.

"Worst-case scenario, we can use it to make Cap and Nat some decent outfits like Cat-Man had." Tony opened up the case. "Hm. Kinda was hoping for more. You sure this is all you can get?" He looked at Ross.

Ross frowned. "That's enough to buy several Southeast Asian countries." He said, crossing his arms. "And it was dangerous enough getting that. Trust me. That's all we're getting out of Wakanda."

"Where is your brother?"

Shuri turned, and her heart dropped. Before her stood a Totem-masked half-cat man. The whole world seemed like something sketched out on an old woodcut. Her own movements felt stiff and jerky.

But even so, she knew who she stood before.

"I had hoped to find him here, father." She said. "I wished to ask his counsel."

"But not mine?" The totem mask morphed into a frown. "He is not among us. But nor is he among the living. It is as though his very essence has been obliterated. How is this possible?"

"I do not know, baba." Shiuri said. "These are strange times in Wakanda, and in the world. That is partly why I wished to speak with him."

"Partly." The Totem Mask tilted. "What else troubles you, daughter?"

Shuri swallowed. "I do not wish to rule." She said. "I alone stand in line to inherit the throne, but I have never been prepared. I know nothing of the process of administration, or of diplomacy, or of war. And should I be challenged…" She shook her head.

Her father was silent. "This is my failing." He said. The hand he reached forward was long and gaunt, but it felt smooth on her cheek. "I should have prepared you better. I am sorry, little one. I never thought this burden would fall upon you."

Shuri gave a little laugh. "No one did. Some say it should not have."

"Men say all manner of things." Her father waved a hand. "Particularly of women. There are many things that should not happen, which do. There are many tasks which we do not want to do, but must."

"But… I do not know anything." Shuri felt her father wasn't getting the point. "I'm an engineer, baba. Not a… governor, or chief. I will get things wrong."

"A ruler can occasionally be wrong." The totem mask shrugged exaggerated shoulders. "So long as they are not uncertain. And you have learned already the first lesson, which is what you know and what you do not know." The mask tilted, considering her. "A wise ruler knows who to trust, and for what."

Shuri's eyes lit up. "You mean to delegate responsibility?"

The mask looked annoyed. "I have spoken to you about your fondness for colonizer expressions."

"But that's what you meant, yes?"

"Yes." The mask sighed. "Many a stupid king has ruled well by simply knowing who can do parts of his job better than he."

Shuri gave a little jump and clapped her hands. "Thank you, baba!" She crowed, darting forward and giving the totem mask a peck on its wooden cheek. "I know what I can do."

Siuri came up gasping through the sand, clawing it desperately aside.

"My queen!" The old woman was beside her. "Did it work? What did you see?"

Shuri waved her away. "Go." She said. "Call for General Okoye. Tell her I must speak with her."

She looked down as she spoke. There, in the blackened soil, she thought she could see a tiny purple blossom.