CHAPTER VIII
Almost immediately after arriving in Wakanda, Dr Bruce Banner had been taken to a large, underground workshop with two fierce-looking bald women stationed outside the door to guard and not talk to him. Hanging from the ceiling was a big, spider-like machine with every piece of engineering equipment imaginable attached to it on crooked, extendable arms that could be pulled down to reach anywhere on the big workbench. On this table was a vast pile of warped and battered pieces of metal, their red-and-gold paint half scuffed away from various hits it had taken.
"Hey, Veronica," he murmured, running his hand over the breastplate. "Me and you have both seen better days, huh?"
"You called her Veronica?" an unfamiliar voice said from the shadows. Bruce jumped back from the table and searched the room for its source. In one dark corner he could just about make out a figure.
"Tony Stark did, actually," he said. "He's got a thing for anthropomorphising stuff."
"Don't I know it, Doctor Banner," said the voice. It was female, American, with a Southern kind of twang to it.
"You, uh – you know who I am?"
"I know everything." The shadows moved and a figure emerged from them. The first thing he saw of her was her smile – a big, Cheshire cat grin smack in the middle of her face, with big yellow-brown eyes and a big, curved nose to match. Now she was visible, Bruce wasn't sure how he hadn't been able to make her out beforehand. If this woman – this woman with the pretty face and clothes of an ABBA backing dancer beneath her labcoat – was anything, it was noticeable.
"You're Athena," he said, pulling on a loose thread in his shirt cuff. "They said you were the person to ask about repairing Veronica."
"Why?" Athena asked. "Worried you won't be able to get the big guy down?"
"More like I can't get him up in the first place," Bruce said, and then hesitated. "Wait. That came out wrong."
"No sweat, doctor."
"If I'm gonna be of any use in this battle," Bruce continued, hoping she wouldn't notice the blush creeping out across his face, "it won't be because I have seven PhDs. I need to fight. I'm banking on me still having Hulk's muscle memory. All I need is the clout to carry it."
"When's the battle?" Athena asked. She wasn't even looking at him now: her eyes and hands were all over Veronica, pulling the suit apart with the same insouciant grace that Tony always had whenever he was working on some new tech. It must have been an engineer thing.
"It's already started."
"Merde," Athena whispered. "That must be what Bucky was drafted for."
"Pardon?"
"What?" the woman asked, blinking. "Nothing. I was just thinking… I can have this thing functioning in half an hour, I think. I downloaded the OG blueprints from Stark Industries which'll help, and he didn't have the resources I do. Yeah. Half an hour." She picked up the breastplate and licked it. "Titanium – no. Gold-titanium alloy. Figures. This battle – is it dangerous?"
Bruce was so taken aback by the sudden change of topic that he actually stepped away from Athena. "Let's just say that we won't be pulling our punches," he said with a nervous laugh. Athena didn't join in. Her grin was gone, now. While one hand was still resting on Veronica's breastplate, the other was raised to her mouth, which was whispering things he couldn't hear. Her eyes were completely unfocused, too. "Uh, miss?" Bruce added.
No reply.
Oh, dear God, he thought. She's insane. He took another step back, knocked against the work bench and sent one vast clenched, metal fist falling to the floor with a CA-CLUNK that echoed around the room.
Athena jerked back to the present. "Half an hour," she said again, turning away from him. "It won't be good as new, but it'll do."
"That's fine," he said. "Thank you so much."
"Don't mention it." She rose onto tiptoe, grabbed an arm of machinery from the ceiling and pulled it down to her level, before pulling a pair of welding goggles out of her pocket. She had stuck diamante all over them. "Just tell me one thing."
"Sure."
"What are the chances of you all making it out of this fight alive?"
Bruce had never had much of a poker face. He was glad she wasn't looking at him, because otherwise his expression would have answered the question before he could, and it would have been an answer he didn't want to give. A true one, but still. He had seen the truth of Thanos, and it was a carpet of bodies. He couldn't bring himself to tell this woman that. "I don't know," he ended up replying. "I really don't know."
"Fine. Then just one person. That's all I want. Bucky. The guy with the metal arm. He – he's like the captain, he's tough, but he's not invincible."
"Doctor, these people save the world for their day job. I'm sure that –"
"Just tell me!" A small hand slammed down on the table with such surprising force that the remnants of Veronica rattled against each other like startled birds. Athena was looking at him directly now, for the first time since he had walked into the room. Glaring. Glaring with such a force it almost burned.
Banner took a deep breath. "If you've got anything left unsaid between the two of you," he told her, "I'd get it said."
Athena's hand curled, painted fingernails scraping against the workbench. It clenched into a fist and she spun away from him, saying things beyond his hearing. Then her head rose and, still with her back to him, she said:
"Let's get to work."
%
Alvie hid from the other supers, waiting for them to leave for the front lines. Banner was stumbling around like a very big red-and-gold lamb in a battered-but-just-about-functioning Veronica, and Shuri had sent a message to say that the Vision was in her lab where they were carrying out some kind of complicated brain procedure on him. Alvie didn't ask questions. She didn't want to know. All she cared about was that two of them were being sent to the roof of the HQ, and should be heading straight past her little hiding place any moment now.
Bucky and Sam Wilson (Falcon) approaching. ETA: 38 seconds
She heard their voices before she saw them. "… and while you've been enjoying your holiday, I want you to know that us three have been hauling ass all over the planet, doing our best to keep the world safe and cleaning up a few of your messes along the way. So, you're welcome."
"Shut up, Wilson."
"Just because you're not Cap's favorite anymore, doesn't mean you have to get all salty about it, Barnes."
Alvie smiled instinctively as she heard Bucky's short sharp, laugh. "You wish, kid."
"Oh. We're playing the age card now, are we?" Wilson said as they rounded the corridor into view. Alvie barely spared him a glance as she hopped out of the alcove she had been nestled in and drunk the sight of Bucky in, noting the combat gear and the washed hair and the arm. Oh, the arm. It was beautiful. It was holding a semi-automatic loosely, as though it was something ordinary to be carrying around.
"You look… good," she said, before she could stop herself.
"Thanks," Wilson replied.
"She wasn't talking to you," Bucky smirked. He slung the strap of the gun over his shoulder, took her waist in both her hands and leaned in to kiss her. Oh, it had been a long time since he had been able to hold her like that. It felt good. So good, in fact, that for half a second she forgot what she had to say. "Nice work with Banner's new suit."
"Thanks," she mumbled, stepping away from him. "Sam, can you give us a minute?"
"Sure," said Sam. "But you're too good for him, y'know that?" he added as he sauntered away up to the roof.
Bucky had noticed something was amiss with her. "What is it?" he asked, taking her arm and leading her back to the alcove. One hand went to brush her hair, the other returning to her waist. "Did someone say something to you?"
"Why?" she asked. "What don't you want me to know?"
"Nothing. I just – I don't want you to worry," he said. "Which you obviously are."
"Bucky," she breathed. "I know this isn't just some ordinary mission. You might not all come back from this in one piece, and I – I just wanna make sure everything between us has been said, in case – in case you don't come back." Her voice started to tremble on the last couple words.
Bucky sighed. "I'm coming back," he assured her. "They haven't killed me yet. I doubt this will, either."
"You don't know that," Alvie insisted. "You don't. Even I don't, and I know everything, practic'ly. We gotta get unsaid things said, 'cause once you're out there you won't be safe anymore. I won't be able to keep you safe anymore. We need t'say goodbye, Buck. Just in case."
"Alvie," he said, his thumb going to stroke her cheek. She batted it away.
"No secrets," she said. "We gotta get it said. I've always told you everything, you know I have. But now you need to tell me stuff. If you got anything – any questions, any secrets – you have to tell me, mon cher. Now."
"No," he said. "I don't. Because it's gonna be alright, Al."
"Don't say that. Don't lie. God, Buck. Why are you so freakin' calm?"
"Because one of us has to be sane," he joked. By the time he realised his mistake, it was too late.
Alvie felt her heart drop. "I'm not insane," she whispered, pulling herself out of his grasp. "I ain't. Don't say that. Why would you say that?"
"Al, don't – I didn't mean it."
"Yeah, you did. Because ya didn't want to upset the crazy girl, right?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Bucky said, an edge to his voice now. He was annoyed. She had annoyed him.
This is your fault. He's gonna die hating you.
Shut up.
Why do you always have to make a mess, Kennings?
Shut UP!
"Alvie!"
She was back in her body again, with her hands pressed against her ears and her mouth still shouting the last thought that was supposed to stay in her head. She felt hands – one warm, one cold – wrap around her wrists and pull them down.
"I do have something I need to ask you," he said. "And I don't want to upset you. But I swear to you, Al, I'm coming back home. And then – when the job's done – I'll ask the question. Alright?"
She closed her eyes, pressing his palm against her cheek. "Alright."
"That's my girl." He kissed her forehead. "I love you. Stay out of trouble until I get back."
"I'm not making any promises," she mumbled, and heard him laugh. "Go. I'll be waiting for you."
A third kiss, this one on her cheek, and she opened her eyes he was turning away to go. She was just fast enough to smack his ass on his way out. He gave her one last look and a wink over his shoulder before he disappeared through a trapdoor, leaving her completely and utterly alone.
A/N sorry about the wait for this chapter - I've been focusing on getting the Infinity War chapters of Coffee Run out of the way. It took a few attempts to get this chapter right, too. Hopefully this time's the charm. Thank you all so much for sticking with me and showing your support for this fic, by the way. We're nearly at 500 reviews and that is INSANE. I love you.
