1:00am, Tuesday, April 9, 2013

"HENRY! HENRY WAKE UP!" Xander yelled at the top of his lungs.

"What's-" Henry took in his surroundings, they were in an alleyway, Ronnie was nowhere to be seen.

"I don't know where Ronnie is, the man took her" Xander was almost crying, much like Henry.

A large man came over to them. You didn't even need to take that deep a breath to know that he smelled like, alcohol, cigarettes, and drugs. He towered over the two scared children.

"Where is my sister?!" Henry asked, his confidence faltering at the end making his voice crack.

"You will see her again when we get what is ours. Jason owes us money and we intend to get it. That or your little sister gets cut up like a pound of bologna!" the man boomed, nobody heard so nobody came.

Xander and Henry were led into a bar and they went into a room. Ronnie was sitting on a chair, several cuts on her shoulder with a man approaching with a large dagger. The boys looked at each other, they knew that they had to help their sister so they ran forward...

And he grabbed a neck.

"Xander" she rasped out.

Xander realised that he was strangling his sister and immediately let up.

"Sorry"

"Don't be" She handed him a glass of water. "You had a nightmare, didn't want you to stay in there longer than you should"

"Thanks"

He took a sip of the water but it barely helped the burning sensation in his throat. Ronnie put on her slippers and chucked a blanket at Xander.

"Sis, we can't go out until the storm threat passes"

"I know, but your thoughts are really loud, they're going to wake up Henry" she whisper-yelled back as he stood up and put the blanket around his shoulders.

They crawled out of the small blanket fort, leaving a cuddling Shuri and Henry who had passed out in the middle of the third Harry Potter movie. Shuri wanted to understand all of the weird references the triplets made, well, she can try the impossible.

"Okay, that's freaking adorable" Ronnie pointed out. The door cracked open and the two snuck out.

The hallway was dark, with a soft purple light lining the ceiling. They stepped out onto the terrace on the front of their corridor. The door opened and both of them stepped through to the railing.

"It's beautiful," Ronnie looked in awe at the Wakandan city at night.

"And they say that New York is the city that never sleeps" Xander says and nudges her shoulder. When she doesn't respond, he knows what she wants, he doesn't even need telepathy for that. He nudged her again and she turned her head to him, a few stray hairs blowing in the wind. "It was about Jason and Cheryl"

Ronnie's eyes were even more widely opened, if that was even possible, neither of them had said those two names together in years. "Bozhe moi" she wrapped her arms around his waist. "They can't hurt us anymore, you know that"

"It's been seven fucking years and I'm still thinking about it. It's bullshit." "Language" "Sorry. I mean-I-it's just everything. I'm not cut out to be a protector. I'm not like Mom or Dad or T'Challa. I'm just a kid with a weird-ass family history story. I want things to go back to the way that they were. I put our family in danger because I didn't want my mouth to hurt. I wanted to learn about my history. I didn't even think about what Mom or Dad might've been thinking. What if they thought that I was trying to replace them? I took you and Henry out of school and now...I'm just so sorry."

"About what?" Ronnie looked into his dark brown eyes, filled with fear and regret.

"Everything"

"You have nothing to be sorry for" he shook his head down but her hand caught his jaw and made him stare into her eyes. "We want you to be happy. We wouldn't have made it this far without each other. We're with you to the end of the line bro"

Xander's eyes teared up and he kissed the top of Ronnie's head.

"I mean, unless you said you didn't like this hair style, that's a deal breaker" She tugged on one of her braids.

Xander let out a small laugh and wrapped his right arm around Ronnie. She leaned her head against his shoulder. They stayed like that for a while, they didn't exactly know how long since they were still getting used to the big time difference. Ronnie fell asleep again and Xander picked her up.

As they were leaving, Xander heard some loud rustling in the bushes.

'What's that?' he thinks before he remembers that a storm is coming their way and the magnetic field around the barrier is probably being tested. He opened the door and walked back to Henry's room. Shuri and Henry were still snuggled up on the floor. Xander put Ronnie on the floor where she was sleeping before but instead of going back to where he was sleeping before, he pulled out another pillow and curled up next to her. If he had another nightmare, he wanted to be woken up as soon as possible. He also needed to get enough sleep since he started fight training today and he had a feeling that T'Challa and the Dora Milaje wouldn't be going as easy on him as Steve did.

Outside, five minutes earlier

"Sir, I see the female" A short man says from behind a bush "They're heading inside, shall I pursue?"

"No, we need to wait, if the asset does her job, you will only be on surveillance."

"When will she be here?" Another man said, walking out from the forest.

"Three days. She needs time to recover from the storm today" the man on the line said.

"Klaue is many things, he's not a genius but even he will see through that" the shorter man said.

The two mercenaries heard a growl over the line that made them shiver. "I have a plan, do not question it or I will make sure M'Baku eats your bones for soup"

"Yes sir" the two say before signing off.

"What does Klaue have to do with this?" the taller man asks.

"The boss showed him vibranium to get him on board, now he wants it all" the shorter man answers.

They tricked around the building before heading back to the woods.

"What does he have planned for the children once his plan is complete?"

"I don't think anyone wants to answer that, but they're as good as dead."

I hope you guys liked it and I promise that the next few chapters will be more exciting.