Chapter Seven
Steve looked around as the various tribes of Wakanda formed. The Jabari were chanting with their leader, M'Baku, who shook hands with T'Challa. Natasha and Bucky were standing beside him as Bruce walked up wearing the Hulkbuster suit.
"Thank you, for standing with us," T'Challa told M'Baku.
"Of course, brother," M'Baku replied.
"I think we should go pay our friends a visit," Steve said to Natasha.
Natasha nodded and she and T'Challa followed Steve to the border of the smaller force field the Wakandans had put up around the city. On the other side of the force field, Proxima - the female hostile from their encounter in Edinburgh - was testing the strength of it with her sceptre.
"Where's your other friend?" Natasha asked. "Last time I checked, there were four of you."
"You will pay for his life with yours," she answered. "Thanos will have that stone."
"That's not going to happen," Steve asserted.
"You are in Wakanda now," T'Challa told them firmly. "Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood."
"We have blood to spare," the female responded. She threw her weapon to the air and four large ships revealed themselves from behind the trees.
"Okay then, have it your way," Natasha said as the three walked back to the armies.
"They surrender?" Bucky asked.
"Not exactly," Steve replied. He glanced up at the building holding the laboratory. He hoped that Shuri had made a substantial progress so that they could destroy the stone before they could break through the force field.
The ships opened up and hundreds, if not thousands of creatures scurried out frantically towards the force field.
"Yibambe!" T'Challa called.
"YIBAMBE!" the Wakandans responded.
"Yibambe!"
"YIBAMBE!"
"Yibambe!"
"YIBAMBE!"
As the creatures emerged from the trees, the only words that could come from Bucky's mouth were, "What the hell?"
"Looks like we pissed her off," Natasha commented.
The creatures clambered at the force field, trying to break through. One just about managed, only to be sliced in half.
"They're killing themselves," Okoye observed.
However, a few managed to break through unscathed. The armies prepared their battle stances and T'Challa ordered for them to shoot at the creatures, Bucky and Bruce included. Sam and Rhodes flew over their heads and began shooting.
"You see the teeth on those things?" Sam commented.
"All right Sam, back up. You're getting your wings singed," Rhodes replied. He dropped some grenades around the area where the creatures were penetrating and they exploded. However, the creatures were on the move around the perimeter.
"Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us there's nothing between them and Vision," Sam told.
"Then we better keep them in front of us," Steve replied.
"How do we do that?" Okoye asked T'Challa.
T'Challa thought about it for a moment. He knew the city had been evacuated, so civilian life would not be endangered. The only way to stop them from getting to the laboratory was to fight them where they were standing.
"We open the barrier," he said. "On my signal, open North-West Section Seventeen."
From the laboratory, Wanda could see what was going on, and she could feel her anxiety growing. It was only going to be a matter of minutes before they all broke through the force field and everyone would have to fight them.
"Shuri, I don't want to rush you, but-" she began.
"I know. I'm working as fast as I can," Shuri interrupted as she frantically continued.
Wanda then saw everyone start charging towards the force field, Steve, Natasha, Bucky, Bruce, T'Challa and Okoye included, and a section of the force field opened, letting the creatures through.
"What are they doing?" she whispered. She lost Steve in the chaos and her heart started to pound.
They heard T'Challa ask through the coms, "How much longer Shuri?"
"I've barely begun, brother," she answered.
"You might want to pick up the pace."
'There isn't enough time,' Wanda thought. "Shuri, they're through the barrier."
"Are the armies holding them off?" Shuri asked.
"I don't know. There are thousands of people on the ground."
"Well, they are going to have break through a load of Wakandan armies to get to us."
On the ground, the fighting ensued. Bruce was stomping around in the Hulkbuster suit, Bucky was shooting around, as was Rhodes. Both were knocked to the ground. The creatures were now starting to overpower the army.
"There's too many of them!" Bruce yelled as they attacked the Hulkbuster suit.
At that point, a bright light blasted to the ground, knocking some of the creatures away, and then something that looked like Thor's hammer flew out and started taking out some of the creatures. Only it looked more like an axe than a hammer.
"What the hell?" Sam commented.
"It can't be can it?" Natasha asked.
The light dissipated, and Thor stood strong, accompanied by what looked to be a walking tree and a racoon wielding a gun.
Steve could not help but grin as he got to his feet. Bruce yelled, "HA! You guys are so screwed now!"
Thor ran towards the opening in the force field and bellowed, "BRING ME THANOS!"
The racoon and the tree followed him and with one strike of his new axe, he decimated a load of the creatures. Wanda grinned brightly. It actually looked as though the battle could be turning their way.
"Come and get some, space dogs!" the racoon yelled as he shot his gun. Bucky, who was standing by him, saw an oncoming assault, picked the racoon up and began spinning around so the two were shooting from all angles. "Come on! Get some! Get some!" When Bucky put the racoon down, he asked, "How much for the gun?"
"Not for sale," Bucky answered.
"Okay, how much for the arm?" Bucky glared at him and then walked off. "Oh, I'll get that arm."
In the meantime, Steve and Thor met each other on the ground. Steve observed Thor's length of hair and asked, "New haircut?"
Thor smiled and retorted, "Noticed you've copied my beard." At that point, the walking tree impaled several creatures in one arm. "By the way, this is a friend of mine, Tree."
"I am Groot," Groot protested.
Steve's head was not sure what to make of this. A talking tree and a racoon would usually be a weird thing to comment on, but under the circumstances, it was the least weird thing he had seen today. He replied, "I am Steve Rogers."
Inside the laboratory, Wanda's feeling of nerves came back. She looked back at Vision and while it looked like the separation process had progressed, there was still too much to do. She looked back, outside. There seemed to be something moving through the trees and then it moved under the force field.
"I think there is something incoming," she said through the coms. It burst through the ground and a humongous machine with blades for wheels began to stream roll anything in front of it. "Oh no."
"Fall back! Fall back now!" T'Challa ordered.
Wanda ran her hand through her hair. She whispered, "I need to get down there."
"Wanda, how is it up there?" Steve asked.
"Still too far away from being done. Shuri is working as fast as she can."
"Focus that fire on the left flank, Sam," Rhodes ordered.
"I'm doing it," Sam replied.
However, Wanda could see the machine head towards Natasha and Okoye, who were too busy fighting the creatures to notice the immediate danger.
"Shuri, I'll be back in a moment," Wanda said as she threw something at the window to break it.
She took a deep breath and flew through the air, landed on the ground in front of the machine and used her powers to lift it in the air. She looked around, saw the oncoming assault and threw the broken part of the machine backwards, flattening the creatures.
Okoye asked, "Why was she up there all this time?"
"I need to get back up there. I've left Shuri defenceless," Wanda replied. However, she saw something crash through the window and the yellow cape indicated it was Vision. "No, no, no."
"Guys, we have a Vision situation here," Sam informed.
"Somebody get to Vision!" Steve yelled.
"I got him," Bruce said.
"On my way," Wanda replied. However, before she could attempt to run, she was knocked to the ground and Proxima stood above her.
"He'll die alone, and so will you," she mocked.
"She isn't alone," Natasha said. Proxima turned and saw Natasha and Okoye stand on either side of her. She went to attack both of them.
"Guys! Vision needs back up now!" Bruce yelled.
"I'm on it," Steve replied.
A few moments later, they saw something explode in the sky, but the fighting still ensued. Wanda got off her feet and saw part of the machine still rolling. By this point, Steve was running and could hear one of the hostiles say, "I thought you were a formidable machine, but you're dying like any man."
Steve bolted and took Corvus out. He saw Vision try to get up and ordered, "Get out of here! Go!"
Overhearing that Steve was with Vision at least, Wanda lifted Proxima off the ground like she had done with Rumlow all those months ago, only this time she deliberately smashed her into the oncoming machine. Alien blood splattered onto Natasha and Wanda had to sit down a moment.
"That was really gross," Natasha commented. "Get to Vision. We'll keep you covered."
Wanda nodded and she flew across the battle towards the forest. Steve was fighting as hard as he could against the last remaining leader, only Steve was thrown to the ground and had a heavy foot pressed to his chest.
However, something impaled the creature above him and he was thrown aside. Vision then collapsed in front of Steve and Steve could see that the android was short-circuiting. Steve helped him up and said, "I thought I told you to go."
"It's for Wanda," Vision answered. "You're a good man Captain and she needs you."
Steve nodded and then placed Vision by the tree. Wanda then joined them, and she smiled in relief that both were okay. However, she stopped suddenly. The familiar feeling was back. Thanos now had five of the stones, and he was coming to Wakanda next.
"Wanda, what is it?" Steve asked.
"He's here," she answered.
"Everyone, on my position, we have incoming," he said into the coms. "What are we going to do? We could try getting him back to the lab."
"It's too late Captain," Vision said.
At that point, a blue light, similar to the portal from the Battle of New York appeared about three hundred yards from where Steve, Wanda and Vision were. Out came a purple being, with a gold gauntlet on his left fist and Wanda felt her heart pound in her ears.
"Cap," Bruce began, "that's him. That's Thanos."
"Okay, everyone," Wanda breathed. "I think we're going to have to perform Plan B. I'm going to have to destroy the stone while it's in Vision head."
Wanda was visibly shaking. She looked at Vision. He did give her a reassuring smile, "It's the only way, Wanda. It's going to be okay. I'm dying anyway, Wanda. This is our only option to save the universe."
"You sure?" Sam asked putting his hand on Wanda's shoulder. Wanda touched it and nodded. "Right, we'll keep him back as long as possible. Steve?"
Steve nodded. His heart broke for Wanda having to do this when they were so close to preventing it. He turned towards the rest of the team and ordered, "Eyes up. Stay sharp."
As the others began their assault on Thanos, Wanda sniffed and said, "Will it hurt you?"
"You could never hurt me," Vision answered.
"It's just not fair."
"I know. It will be okay. You have a life to move onto. It's funny. Now I know what it is like to be human."
Wanda's eye filled with tears and she held her hand up. The burning sensation in her hand began and she started blast all her strength into the Mind Stone. She could feel it burning her on the inside. Whether that was due to the pure strength she was using or the fact she was killing the source of her powers, she did not know. It hurt so much.
She did not notice the chaos around her. Bruce had been melded to a wall. T'Challa, Rhodes, Okoye, Sam and Bucky had been thrown aside like bowling pins. Natasha was trapped under rocks. Groot's roots had been broken. Wanda dared look behind her and realised that Thanos was getting too close. She extended her other arm and used the power in that to destroy the stone - and Vision - faster. She looked behind again. Steve had his hands gripped around the gauntlet, but Thanos punched him, rendering Steve unconscious on the floor.
Their last line of defence was her. She was putting all her energy into what she was doing, but she needed more time. She could feel how close she was. Wanda extended her other arm towards Thanos. He used the other stones to protect himself from her blast. He almost looked impressed at the sheer power. Wanda was in agony now. She was trying to focus most of her energy on destroying the Mind Stone but a lot of it was trying to protect herself.
She could almost hear Vision say, "It's all right."
And then she felt a force blow her off her feet. It took her brain a moment to adjust to what had happened, but when she opened her eyes, she saw pieces of Vision's body sprawled on the floor. Relief swept over her for a moment.
She had done it. She had saved the universe. Her whole body still hurt and she groaned as she pushed herself up. She looked around. Bruce was out of the Hulkbuster suit and helping Bucky get Natasha out of the rocks. It looked as though Steve had come to. Her heart leapt. However, Wanda's whole body went cold when she felt a large hand on her head.
"You remind me of Gamora," Thanos said. "All that raw strength."
"You going to throw me over a cliff as well," Wanda replied bitterly. She did not know Gamora, but she had known what Thanos had done. "You wasted her life for nothing."
"I suppose I could say the same thing about you and him." Wanda turned to Vision and then back to Thanos in a state of confusion. "You wasted all that energy, for nothing."
Thanos walked towards the android and held his gauntlet out. It was then that Wanda knew what the last stone was: it was the Time Stone.
"NO!" she yelled. She tried to use her powers to stop Thanos, but she had expelled all she could muster. He pushed her away violently so her back slammed against the ground. Thanos reversed Vision's death, took him by the throat and snatched the Mind Stone from the android's head, crushing it in the process. Vision slumped in front of her.
Steve had gotten to his feet and ran over to Wanda. He then saw a flash of lightning in the sky. Thor was their last chance. Steve got Wanda to her feet and out of the way so that Thor could blast Thanos with his thunder powers and hit him square in the chest with the axe. They saw Thor dig it in further.
"I told you that you would die for that," Thor growled.
"Is it over?" Sam asked coming up by Natasha, who was helping Steve hold Wanda up.
"I don't know," Natasha whispered.
"That should kill him surely," Bucky said taking Natasha's place by holding Wanda up.
Steve held his breath and then his blood went cold as he heard, "Fool, you should have aimed for the head."
They could just hear Thor yell, "No!" before Thanos snapped the fingers of the gauntlet together. He disappeared after a moment.
Steve let Natasha hold Wanda up again and went over to Thor, "Where'd he go? Thor?" Where'd he go?"
"I don't know," Thor said.
"Steve?" Bucky asked as he noticed that his non-metal arm was turning to ash. He broke away from Wanda and stumbled forwards, turning into ash as he hit the ground. Wanda, Natasha and Sam looked a combination of shocked and horrified at what they had just seen.
Steve could only stare at the ashes of his best friend on the ground and he dared looked around. Many Wakandan soldiers were also turning to ash. He turned back around and saw T'Challa reaching for Okoye.
"Up, General. Up! This is no place to die," T'Challa ordered only for him to disintegrate to ash right in front of her.
"Hezvo?" she asked in shock.
Sam, Wanda and Natasha looked to their right when they heard, "No, no, no, no! Groot, no!" the racoon, whom Steve had learned was named Rocket, yelled as Groot began to turn to ash.
"I am Groot," Groot whined before blowing away in the wind.
All of a sudden, Sam put his hand on his chest and his legs gave way.
"No!" Wanda yelled dropping to her knees by Sam. She took his hand. Natasha knelt by her, tears now pricking in her eyes. "Sam, stay with us."
"It was fun right? We had a good time on the run," Sam groaned as his body began to disappear.
"Please," Wanda squeaked. The feeling on her hand disappeared and he was gone. Wanda clutched the ashes in her hand and burst out sobbing, Natasha hugging her close. Natasha looked away, close to tears as well and looked at Steve.
"He's gone," Natasha choked.
Steve felt sick. Two of his best friends were gone, they had lost Wakanda their king, and worst of all, they had failed to stop Thanos from destroying half the universe. Thor, Bruce and Rhodes walked around aimlessly in shock. Rocket had his hands buried in his face. Okoye looked as though she was bordering on a panic attack. Steve dropped to the floor by Wanda and Natasha in the area between where Bucky and Sam had disintegrated. He reached for Wanda's free hand and squeezed it. She gripped it and turned to him. They were both still there, but it dawned on him quickly that they had lost.
"Oh god," Steve finally breathed.
End of Part Five
Well, happy Christmas.
Jokes, I am not going to leave it there.
Okay, the final point of annoyance: Wanda should not have been killed off. Okay, the issue is not the fact they killed her off but it is a microcosm of the issues that have plagued Wanda's character since the end of Avengers: Age of Ultron. The most notable being that the writers constantly throw trauma at her, but never actually think to address it or use it as meaningful character development. It's the reason that I started writing this fanfic because I just knew that what happened in Captain America: Civil War would just be completely ignored before I even saw the movie.
So, yeah, I spared Wanda but kept Bucky and Sam's death. Not to worry because they are still going to be there in spirit.
Just a few announcements:
1) The next chapter will be 13th January 2019. I have an assignment due that Monday so I will be dedicating my time to that. I have enough chapters to make it through to the premiere of Avengers: Endgame in the UK so I won't fall far behind.
2) I will have a holiday fic 'Fairytale of New York' up later at 6pm GMT. It will be far fluffier than this believe me. I also will publish chapter two of 'All is Merry and Bright' at around 3pm GMT. Final chapter will be published 9am GMT Christmas Day.
Anyway, happy holidays and I shall see you guys in the new year.