Chapter Six
"When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world, this is not what I imagined," Okoye told T'Challa as they walked toward the landing quinjet.
"What did you imagine?" T'Challa asked curiously.
"The Olympics. Maybe a Starbucks."
T'Challa smiled and snorted in amusement as the ramp to the quinjet lowered. Steve was the first to emerge, his hand gripped to Wanda's. T'Challa rolled his eyes and said, "I'll pay you later."
Okoye could not help but smile smugly as the two came towards them. Wanda appeared to T'Challa and Okoye to be a little shaky for some reason. Still, she regained some composure when she stood in front of them. She was eternally grateful to T'Challa for granting them asylum when he did not have to. She knew a kind man when she saw one, and T'Challa's kindness could be seen from his eyes.
Some of the Dora Milaje went to Vision to get him to Shuri's laboratory as quickly as possible so she could assess what she would be working with. When they met, Steve held his hand out to T'challa and said, "Seems like I am always thanking you for something."
Behind them, Bruce bowed, and Rhodey asked, "What are you doing?"
"We don't do that here," T'Challa insisted. Bruce stood up and tried to shake off the embarrassment as the group followed T'Challa. "So how big of assault should we expect here?"
"Sir," Bruce said breaking through Steve and Wanda. "Sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault."
"How are we looking?" Natasha asked walking up beside Wanda.
"You have my King's Guard, The Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje and…"
"A semi-stable hundred-year-old man," Bucky said walking up to Steve with a large smile. Steve stopped short and took in the appearance of his best friend. Bucky had a twinkle in his eye. He had not seen that twinkle since the night they went to the Stark Expo in 1942. Wanda looked at Steve's face and saw how happy he was to see his best friend again.
The two men hugged and Steve asked as they broke apart, "How are you doing Buck?"
"Not bad, for the end of the world. So aside from this, what's been happening?"
"Quite a bit." Steve extended his hand out to Wanda and she went to take it again. "You remember Wanda right?"
"Yeah, you saved our asses a few times in Germany."
"We need to stop meeting when the world is in danger," Wanda replied with a smile. "You look really well."
"So do you from the last time I saw you." It only occurred to Wanda that the last time Bucky had probably seen her was when she was sedated after Steve broke her and Sam out of the Raft. He looked down to the intertwined hands of Steve and Wanda and asked, "So I guess that you and Steve are an item?"
"Yeah," Steve replied. "Nearly a year and a half."
"You finally got this knucklehead to settle down?"
Wanda laughed, "Nearly. When all this is over."
"Speaking of which, we should get to the lab," Steve said. "I will fill you in on everything later. Right now we need to see what we can do to stop this. You, Sam and Rhodey keep watch outside."
Sam went to stand by Bucky and the two exchanged a look. When the others departed inside, Sam said, "Can you give me some space?"
"No," Bucky replied shortly. Bucky did smirk. Nothing had changed that much in eighteen months.
The rest of the group walked to the laboratory where Vision was already laying on the examination table while Shuri was running programmes. Bruce, Wanda and Steve walked up to the table and Shuri asked, "So what do you need me to do with him?"
"We need to get that stone out of his head so that Wanda can destroy it," Steve answered.
"But we have to do it without killing him," Bruce added. "It's the only way we can stop Thanos."
"It is not the only way," Vision mumbled. Wanda frowned in curiosity as to why Vision was so eager to sacrifice his life. She guessed it had something to do with him knowing that killing him with the Mind Stone in his head was the simplest way.
Shuri ran some programmes and came up with a three-dimensional image of Vision's head and then she separated the components to get a clearer view of what she was working with.
"Woah," Bruce commented. He had never encountered technology this advanced on Earth, let alone in an African country who put on the pretence of having a third-world economy.
Shuri furrowed her brow as she attempted to decipher the hologram of Vision's head. She moved it around so it was facing her and removed the holographic stone away so she could get a clearer image of what lay behind it.
"The structure is polymorphic," Shuri observed looking to Bruce for answers.
"Right. We... we had to attach each neuron none... none sequentially." Given the rush that he and Tony were in when they were placing the Mind Stone into what would become Vision's body, they had not really considered the logical order of each of the neurons. Unfortunately, they were caught between trying to save the world from Ultron and preventing a future threat. With some hindsight, Bruce thought waiting for Thor's opinion would have been beneficial given the circumstances they were now engulfed in.
"Why didn't you just preprogram the synopsis to work collectively?"
At that point, Bruce felt the eyes of Steve, Wanda, Vision, Shuri and everyone else burn into his brain. He felt the blood rush to his face as he answered uncertainly, "Because, we, didn't… think of it?"
Shuri's smile was not patronising but reassuring as she stated, "I'm sure you did your best."
"But you reckon that you can get the stone out without killing him?" Wanda asked.
"And as fast as possible?" Steve added.
"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. I can get it done, but it is going to take more than five minutes," Shuri answered. "I'll need as much time as you can give me."
"Well, that depends on which stone Thanos wants first," Natasha commented.
At that point, the intruder alarms started blaring. Okoye, who was looking out of the window, announced, "Something has entered the atmosphere."
"Hey, Cap, we got a situation out here," Sam informed through the coms.
The others looked out of the window where they saw a large ship hit the giant force field surrounding Wakanda, only to not be able to penetrate.
"Thanos?" Natasha asked.
"No, looks like it's our old friends, and they brought company," Sam replied.
"If Thanos isn't here, we may have some time to stop them and get the stone out," Steve said to Shuri.
"It's too late Captain. We need to destroy the stone now," Vision protested trying to get off the table.
"Vision, get your ass back on the table," Natasha warned. Wanda looked at Vision and the nerves that filled her before they left the Compound filled her.
"I'll need to get to work right away," Shuri said preparing her tools.
"We will hold them off," T'Challa told.
"Okay, new plan. Wanda, you stay here, wait for Shuri to be done and when the stone is out, blow it to hell," Steve said. Wanda nodded. "Everyone else with me."
"Evacuate the city, engage all the defences and get this man a shield."
Everyone began rushing to his or her tasks, only before Steve could leave, Wanda grabbed his hand to stop him.
"Wanda, I-" Wanda cut him off by placing a passionate kiss on his lips. Her hands ran through his hair, and Steve forgot where he was for a moment as he wrapped his arms around her waist. When they broke apart after a moment, Steve whispered, "Well, if this is a goodbye then that was something."
"Marry me," Wanda said.
Steve smiled and replied, "I thought you would never ask."
Wanda grinned brightly and kissed him again as a confirmation of their engagement to one another. Wanda had not known what had come over her. She guessed given that they did not know what was coming that it was now or never. She did not know whether she or Steve would survive this assault. It seemed so irrational but she did not care as she felt the warmth of Steve's arms and the feeling of his lips pressed hers.
"Guys, this is really romantic, if we weren't about to face off against the cast of Lord of the Rings," Natasha commented through the coms.
"She does have a point," T'Challa commented as one of the laboratory assistants brought in a shield for Steve. Steve removed his arms around Wanda's waist and went to take the shield and put it on his right arm. "I think you'll find it does just as well as your old shield."
"Well, they're both vibranium," Steve replied. "The only downside is that I can't throw this shield."
Wanda squeezed Steve's hand as he began to walk away. She gave it one last squeeze and he and T'Challa ran towards where others were forming. She smiled sadly, scared that this would be the last moment she would see Steve, Natasha and Sam. They had formed such a strong bond in the last eighteen months that one of them dying would feel like losing a limb. Wanda ran her hands through her hair and turned back to Shuri and Vision. Slowly, she walked over to the table.
"How are you holding up?" Vision asked.
Wanda smiled a little He finally got what that meant. "Well, I just got engaged as the world is about to end, and I am scared that will be the last time I see Steve."
"Congratulations, or is this not the right time?"
"No, it's fine Vision. Takes my mind off everything a little."
"I probably should not be saying this, but those feelings I have for you have not gone away completely. I guess it is because I feel like I am going to die within the next hour so it is better, to be honest."
"I'm sorry for what I said to you in the interrogation room Vision. I was angry but I know you would never try to hurt me intentionally. I just could not try to process everything and I lashed out. So I am sorry if I hurt you."
"It was my fault. I did hurt you at the end of the day. When I say those feelings have not gone completely, I have come around to a few things. I obviously hurt you and you have your illness that I am not sure I have the capabilities to understand. I cannot give you children. You and I would not have been a good fit. Steve is much better for you."
"Well, you will be invited to our wedding. Though do us a favour: don't wear a suit."
Okay, final battle next week. Stay tuned and I will promise a happy holiday fic.