Wakanda
Cut to the Quinjet where Sam is piloting Rhodey, Steve, Shadow, Knuckles, Batman, Natasha, Wanda, and Vision.]
Steve Rogers: [Walking up to the pilot's seat] Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0.
Sam Wilson: I hope you're right about this, Cap. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to.
[The Quinjet passes through a camouflage force field into Wakanda's Golden City's valley and lands at the airfield outside the palace. King T'Challa and the Dora Milaje approach to greet the arrivals]
Okoye: [Walking with King T'Challa and a band of the Kingsguard to the landing pad] When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world... this is not what I imagined.
T'Challa: And what did you imagine?
Okoye: The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks.
[The occupants of the Quinjet disembark, Steve and Natasha leading, followed by Bruce and Rhodey, with Vision and Wanda slowly taking up the rear.]
Knuckles: Woah!
Shadow: Very impressive.
Bruce Banner: [To Rhodey] Should we bow?
James Rhodes: [Seriously] Yeah, he's a king.
Steve Rogers: Seems like I'm always thanking you for something. [Shaking hands with King T'Challa.]
[Bruce bows awkwardly to King T'Challa.]
James Rhodes: [Mock shocked] What are you doing?
T'Challa: Uh, we don't do that here. [He dissuades Bruce with a motion of his hand; Bruce shoots Rhodey a look, and is answered with a big grin] So how big of an assault can we expect?
[The group begins to walk back into the administrative building.]
Bruce Banner: Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault.
Natasha Romanoff: How we looking?
King T'Challa: You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and...
Bucky Barnes: [Smiling as he walks toward Steve, passing some Kingsguard taking Vision and Wanda to another facility] A semi-stable, 100-year-old man.
[The two friends share a hug.]
Steve Rogers: How you been, Buck?
Bucky Barnes: Uh, not bad, for the end of the world.
[In Shuri's lab, Shuri scans the Stone with her kimoyo beads while Vision lies on the examination table. She flips her hand over and studies the hologram projected over her palm.]
Shuri: Whoa. The structure is polymorphic.
Bruce Banner: Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially.
Shuri: Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?
[Vision looks at Bruce as if to ask the same thing.]
Bruce Banner: [Uncertainly] Because, we didn't think of it.
Shuri: [Reassuringly, with a smile] I'm sure you did your best.
Wanda Maximoff: Can you do it?
Shuri: Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. [To King T'Challa] It will take time, brother.
Steve Rogers: How long?
Shuri: As long as you can give me.
Okoye: [Her kimoyo beads chime an alarm; she flicks one bead into her palm, where it projects the globe with a pulsing location marker] Something's entered the atmosphere.
[Outside, Sam, Shadow, Knuckles, Batman and Bucky look up at the sky]
Sam Wilson: [Over the Avengers' comm] Hey, Cap, we got a situation here.
Batman: They're here Steve.
[The defense shield over the Golden City destroys one of the alien vessels when it slams into the field at full attack acceleration.]
Bucky Barnes: God, I love this place.
James Rhodes: [also outside, and now in full War Machine armor watching three more ships burn through the sky] Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome.
[The shock waves and debris from the ship landings destroy acres of forest and boil up against the dome. The lab has an excellent view of the landing sites. Captain America and Black Panther look at each other in concern over the scope of what they'll be facing.]
Vision: [Struggling to sit up and slide off the exam table] It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now.
Natasha Romanoff: [Moving toward Vision] Vision, get your ass back on the table.
T'Challa: We will hold them off. [He, Okoye and the guards head for the door.]
Steve Rogers: [To Wanda] Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell.
Wanda Maximoff: I will.
T'Challa: Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures. [He stops, turns, and points at Steve] And get this man a shield.
[Cut to Nivadellir where Rocket is in the pod, and Thor, without any environmental suit, jumps from the hull onto the ring surface with a cable in his hand attached to the pod.]
Rocket: I don't think you get the scientifics here. These rings are gigantic. You wanna get them moving, you're gonna need something a lot bigger to yank 'em loose.
Thor: Leave that to me.
Rocket: Leave that to you? Buddy, you're in space. All you got is a rope and a-
Thor: [Thor begins to swing the pod around him in a circle. Rocket screams. Thor builds up speed with three good loops then slacks his grip enough to send the pod shooting straight away from Nidavellir, trailing him behind it like a kite tail.] Fire the engines!
Rocket: [Rocket shakes it off and puts the proverbial pedal to the metal.] Nnnyah!
Thor: [As the pod skims over the surface of the next ring out, Thor reaches down and digs one hand into the surface, then both feet, finally getting a foothold against the forward motion of the pod. The ice-like accumulation around the ring axis crackles.] MORE... POWER... RABBIT!
[Thor commits bicep porn while Rocket accelerates for all he's worth. Finally the rings spin free, realigning into effective configuration as the star bursts back into life.]
Eitri: Well done, boy.
[Thor, clutching the pod's forward windows, points to the star.]
Thor: That's Nivadellir!
[Rocket gazes amazed at the blazing core. An iris on the cladding around the star opens, firing pure stellar heat through the ring portals and into the forge... until the damaged mechanism fails, crumbles loose and slams shut. The iris closes and the beam of light trails off.]
Eitri: Damn it.
Rocket: "Damn it"? What's "damn it"?
Eitri: The mechanism is crippled.
Thor: What?
Eitri: With the iris closed I can't heat the metal.
Thor: How long will it take to heat?
Eitri: A few minutes, maybe more. Why?
Thor: [Standing up on the pod hull] I'm gonna hold it open.
Eitri: That's suicide.
Thor: So is facing Thanos without that axe. [He leaps from the pod to the star's iris.]
[Cut to the Wakandan battlefield. Carriers hover over the ground with Wakandan soldiers and Natasha, Steve and Bucky on board; Rhodey and Sam keep pace overhead, and Bruce is in the Hulkbuster armor.]
Natasha Romanoff: How we looking, Bruce?
Bruce Banner: [Leaping jogging along, keeping up with the carriers, and utterly delighted] Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it. Wow! It's like being the Hulk without actually- [he stumbles on a rock, and a carrier goes by, from which Okoye gives him a dubious look. He stands] I'm okay. I'm okay.
Shadow: [Looks at Bruce with a look of disappointment.] Hmph.
James Rhodes: I got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line.
[The heat signatures are Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian.]
[The carrier pilots swerve into U-turns, causing their craft to tilt and allowing the practiced soldiers to slide over one side into a run, never coming to a complete halt. A Dora Milaje shouts a command nearby as the last Wakandans join ranks.]
Jabari Warriors: MIE EFFA! (Win them!) YA HU! MIE EFFA! YA HU! MIE EFFA! YA HU! MIE EFFA! YA HU! MIE EFFA! YA HU! [M'Baku, Lord of the Jabari, rallies his soldiers with a war chant. He stops as King T'Challa nears him.]
T'Challa: [Clasps wrists with M'Baku] Thank you for standing with us.
M'Baku: [Translated from Xhosa] Of course, brother.
[The Black Panther, Captain America, and Black Widow walk to the edge of the barrier, where Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian stand. Proxima tests the strength of the barrier by drawing her sword across it consideringly.]
Natasha Romanoff: Where's your other friend?
Proxima Midnight: You will pay for his life with yours. Thanos will have that stone.
Steve Rogers: That's not gonna happen.
T'Challa: You are in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood.
Proxima Midnight: We... have blood to spare. [She brandishes her sword with a snarl, and the ships behind her start raising their outer hulls to allow their "passengers" to disembark.]
[The three heroes return to the massed forces.]
Bucky Barnes: [A touch sardonically] Did they surrender?
Steve Rogers: Not exactly.
Batman: That's not surprising.
[The Black Panther leads the Wakandans in the war cry "Yibambe!" telling them to hold fast as the Outriders bound toward the barrier; Proxima drops her sword arm down in the signal to attack.]
Bucky Barnes: [Flatly, astonished at the numbers of Outriders] What the hell.
Natasha Romanoff: Looks like we pissed her off.
Okoye: [Horrified, as the Outriders bombard the force-field, squeezing limbs and bodies partly through only to be bisected.] They're killing themselves.
[As a few Outriders managed to squeeze through intact, the Border Tribe take a knee and raise their shields. The Kingsguard behind them level their sonic spears over their comrades' shoulders, and on Black Panther's command, fire at the approaching monsters. The Winter Soldier uses his M-249 machine gun, and Bruce fires the Hulkbuster's hand repulsors.]
Sam Wilson: [Sending Redwings into the fight as he flies, swooping to fire at them with his Steyr pistols] You seen the teeth on those things?
James Rhodes: Alright, back up, Sam. You're gonna get your wings singed. [He flies over the heaviest concentration of Outriders and drops a barrage of mines, all exploding fantastically.]
[Everyone notices a pack of Outriders starting to run around the force-field to the right of the defenders' position.]
Bruce Banner: Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us... there's nothing between them and Vision.
Steve Rogers: [Grimly] Them we better keep 'em in front of us.
Okoye: [To the Black Panther] How do we do that?
T'Challa: We open the barrier. [Putting his comm to his mouth] On my signal, open North-West Section Seventeen.
Dome Control: [Nervous and unsure] Requesting confirmation, my King. You said open the barrier?
T'Challa: On my signal.
M'Baku: [To Okoye] This will be the end of Wakanda.
Okoye: Then it will be the noblest ending in history.
[Captain America readies one of his Vibranium hand guards. The Black Panther shouts a command in Xhosa; the Border Tribesmen disengage their shields and stand, as the Black Panther walks out in front of them, never taking his eyes off the enemy.]
T'Challa: WAKANDA FOREVER! [He crosses his arms in the Wakandan salute and closes his Black Panther helmet, charging for the barrier. The heroes and leaders are at the fore of the charge. Halfway to the barrier, the Black Panther shouts into his comm] Now!
[The Outriders pour through, distracted from trying to find any other access. The Black Panther and Captain America pull ahead rapidly due to their enhancements, and literally leap into battle.]
T'Challa: [Over his comm] How much longer, Shuri?
Shuri: We've barely begun, brother. [A delicate and intricate construction of gold light hovers at her eye level; as she manipulates it, the waldo tools reproduce her commands on the Mind Stone itself.]
T'Challa: You might want to pick up the pace.
[Simultaneously, Thor prepares to open the iris of Nidavellir.]
Thor: Allfathers, give me strength.
Eitri: You understand, boy? You're about to take the full force of a star. It'll kill you.
Thor: Only if I die. [Takes deep breaths.]
Eitri: [Boggled] Yes. That's what... "killing you" means.
[Thor grasps the two levers and pulls them down and towards himself, slowly opening the iris. The stream of stellar energy blasts pasts him and into the forge once again.]
Eitri: Hold it! Hold it, Thor!
[Eitri watches the metal ingots melt while Thor is looking increasingly charred. Finally, Eitri is able to tip the cauldron, pouring the metal into the mold just as Thor passes out. The jet carries him into the forge, Rocket follows hastily and landing after Thor bounces limply off a structure to land on the floor. Groot finally looks up from his game at the thump Thor's body makes.]
Rocket: [Kneeling over Thor] Thor! Say something. Come on. Thor, you okay? [Thor looks far from "okay".]
[Eitri clumsily and urgently pulls the mold, still glowing red-hot, onto the floor, breaking it loose from its frame, then starts punching the mold itself with his metal fists to free the ax.]
Rocket: I think he's dying!
Eitri: He needs the axe! Where's the handle? Tree, help me find the handle!
[Stormbreaker's two sections - the hammer and the ax-blade - lay glowing on the floor. Groot looks sadly at Thor, then scowls with determination. He stands, and extends his fingers towards Stormbreaker, growing them at extraordinary speed. As he twines them around the two parts, he cries out at the burning pain but does not hesitate, slamming them together and locking them permanently into one structure. He raises it above his head, and with a mighty cry, chops his extended arm with his other hand to sever it at the right 's fingers twitch, and the new weapon levitates in a crackle of lightning echoed by the sparks between Thor's fingers.]
[The remaining Heroes and Wakandans are struggling against the Outriders. The Winter Soldier goes down, and fights off Outrider fangs snapping at his head. Captain America and the Black Panther still fight side-by-side. War Machine hovers over the breach, pouring ammunition into the flood of bodies until a huge hammer - Cull Obsidian's - knocks him out of the sky and to the ground. The Hulkbuster is dogpiled and pinned.]
Bruce Banner: There's too many of them! GYAH! AAAAHHHHH!
[Suddenly, a large beam of rainbow-hued light lands in the middle of the action, and an ax flies out of it, wreathed with lightning and tearing through the Outriders, freeing the heroes. It flies back to the light and into its master's hand just as the beam cuts out, revealing Thor, Groot and Rocket [The Avengers theme swelling triumphantly at their arrival] who chambers a round in his large gun. Black Widow, Captain America and the Black Panther pause in astonishment. Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian pause in apprehension.]
Bruce Banner: [Opening the Hulkbuster's helm and laughing with joy] AH-hahaha! You guys are so screwed now!
Shadow: [Smiles.] Hell yeah!
Thor: BRING ME THANOS! [He charges toward the hordes of Outriders, followed by Groot and Rocket, lightning gathering around him until he finally launches himself into the air, lands in the densest concentration of Outriders and makes a crater where they had stood.]