"This is insane." Donatella tried not to scream as they sped down the back roads towards the compound. She saw the giant ship touch down in New York, looking like a weird chrome donut, and she felt the fear ice in her veins. New York had barely survived the first alien invasion, so she had no idea what would happen this time.
"This has happened before?" Bucky demanded, glaring suspiciously out the windows as if they would get abducted at any moment.
"Yeah, probably like a few years before I met you. It was insane, we had to evacuate the city and everything." she frowned, slowing as they reached the gates to the compound.
"Were you okay after?" he shot her a worried glance. She gave a short nod, she hadn't been anywhere close to Stark tower at the time, but there was still citywide devastation. Some things still weren't completely rebuilt.
"And we'll be okay after this one. Tony can handle this, he handled the first one beautifully." she tried to give him an encouraging smile, but his worried look never left. She pursed her lips as she drove up the gravel road to the compound, a wake of dust appearing behind her as she sped up. They didn't have much time to waste. When she got into the parking garage, Steve, Natasha, Sam, and Vision were all waiting. She got out quickly, leaving the keys in the car as she strode over.
"Wheels up in ten, Wanda's on the jet already." Steve announced to them as they approached.
"What exactly is going on? Tony wasn't very descriptive." Donatella asked, and Natasha sighed, shaking her head, her newly dyed blonde locks framing her face.
"It's confusing to us all, but we have somebody that can explain." she gave a cautious glance behind her, and a new face stepped out. Donatella recognized him from his files and articles, her mouth dropping open.
"Dr. Banner?" she asked, and he crossed the room, a sheepish look on his face. Bucky said nothing, but she could see the curious look on his face. "How did you-where were you?" her eyebrows furrowed. There was no trace of him on earth, at all.
"He was in space. On another planet." Pepper Potts' voice called out as she approached. Her expression was gaunt, and she looked upset.
"What she said." Banner confirmed. "You must be Donatella, I've heard great things about you in the past fifteen minutes." he reached forward to shake her hand, but Bucky held her wrist back from him, giving the scientist a distrusting look.
"Buck, it's fine." Steve soothed his friend, clapping his hand on Bucky's shoulder. He released Donnie's hand and she managed to give the doctor a quick shake.
"So, can anyone tell me what's going on? Pepper, where is Tony? And Peter? Is he safe?" she pressed for answers, not knowing was driving her insane. Pepper's eyes flashed with hurt, and she felt her stomach drop.
"They're on the ship." she croaked, her eyes turning towards the floor. Pepper was usually very strong, very outspoken, but…
"What ship?" Donnie demanded. Steve's gave her a pitiful look, and she pressed her hand to her chest, stumbling backwards into Bucky's arm. "No, no, they can't be… those idiots!" she swore, pinching the bridge of her nose. "We've got to go after them!"
"We can't." Banner shook his head, and Natasha frowned at the back of his head. This was all too much, there was so much going on, and now she was worried for her friend. She knew that they hadn't parted on good terms, so this must be awful for the assassin. "Thanos is coming, I'm telling you. We have to get the gem from Vision so that Wanda can destroy it."
"And how exactly are we supposed to do that? We don't have the… Wakanda. That's why we're going to Wakanda." Donatella realized, and Natasha gave her a sharp nod.
"There isn't much time, Donatella. We need your help, Shuri's gonna need your brain." Steve sighed, giving her a pleading look. She felt her heart rate speed up at the severity of the situation, and she gave a nod.
"You said wheels up in ten? That was five minutes ago. Come on, Rogers, let's get on schedule." she gave a weak laugh, stalking off in the direction of the hangar. The rest of the group scattered, most likely grabbing weapons and other things that they would require. She knew the lab in Wakanda would have everything she'd need, so she boarded the jet first, giving a hesitant smile towards Wanda. The girl wasn't quite a girl anymore, she was definitely coming into her own. But this… she didn't deserve to have to go through this. She'd been through enough in her life.
"So, this is all kinds of crazy…" Wanda mentioned quietly, her eyes revealing her pain. Donatella came forwards, kneeling beside her. She wasn't that close with the woman, but they were still friends, they were on the same team for sure.
"We won't lose Vision." Donnie tried to smile reassuringly at the girl. "Believe me, I've lost Bucky more times than I'd like to admit, and I know how much it hurts. I know this is scary, that someone is out for the gem in his head. But Shuri and I can do it. Neither of us can do it alone, but as long as we have each other, we can do it." a determined edge glinted in Wanda's eyes, her irises rimmed with red magic.
"I need to be there for him." she whispered, and Don gave her a nod.
"Of course. Anything you need, Wanda, and we'll find a way." she smiled, and the rest of the team began to board. They had a few minutes before they would be ready to launch, and Bucky came over to help her up off her knees, buckling her into a seat before taking the spot next to her. He held back a groan as Sam sat on his other side, the man making a face at the Winter Soldier.
"This is gonna be a long flight." she sighed at Steve, who claimed the seat on her other side.
"Won't be too bad. Now, talk to me about the wedding plans so far." he gave her a reassuring grin, and she gave him an exasperated look.
"Steve, this isn't really the time. Tony and Peter are up in space, we're on our way to what's surely gonna be a horrific battle-" she babbled, nerves eating away at her stomach before Rhodey interrupted.
"Kid, just talk to us about anything other than the situation we're in right now." he sighed, giving her a look. She gulped, glancing around at the crestfallen expressions that every person on the ship wore.
"August eighth is the date, but you all should know that from the save-the-dates we sent out." she sighed, and nearly everyone nodded except for Banner.
"Oh, I, uh, didn't get one." he gave a teasing smile, and Steve chuckled at the doctor's joke.
"I'm sure we have a spare somewhere in the apartment." she shot him a smile, and Bucky tensed next to her. She tried to elbow him discreetly, but he shot her an annoyed look that everyone could see.
"Buck, find a suit yet?" Steve asked, and the man tensed, clearly uncomfortable about speaking in front of the entire group.
"Like he'd be able to go suit shopping by himself. He seems like the type of guy that needs his girl to get everything for him." Sam snorted, and she could sense Bucky's irritation flare, so she quickly placed her hand over his to calm him, trying to diffuse the situation.
"I've got one." Bucky replied through gritted teeth, and it went quiet again, at least until Wanda breached the silence.
"What about your dress? Did you get the one you were thinking of?" Wanda's eyes were wide and curious as she looked at Donatella, and she squirmed before shrugging.
"Well, I made an appointment at a bridal salon, I was actually hoping you, Natasha, and Pepper would like to come with." she gave the girl a small smile, and her eyes widened further, a happy look coming over her face.
"Wait, I'm not invited to go see the dresses?" Steve gave her a shocked look and Don rolled her eyes.
"No. You'd tell Bucky in three seconds." she felt herself beginning to relax as the conversation flowed, and the tense atmosphere began to ebb away. She wished Nat wasn't in the cockpit, she would be able to help the conversation along… but maybe it was a good thing that Natasha and Vision were away from the group, it seemed to keep the tension to a minimum. Especially with Banner present, and Wanda… well, she didn't need a reminder of what was about to happen.
"I would not!" Steve sounded offended at her reasoning, and Bucky gave a sharp laugh.
"Yes you would, punk." she sighed in relief as he relaxed into the conversation.
"You're still a jerk, Buck." Steve teased right back.
"I would like to say that I am also offended at not being invited to the dress thingy. Sitting in a fancy room with champagne? That's all me, baby!" Sam cracked a grin and she rolled her eyes.
"You are not seeing the dress before I am, Falcon." Bucky spat, turning to face his best frenemy.
"Yeah, definitely not, Sam." Donatella grinned at the man, leaning forwards so she could see the look on his face. It was fun to gang up on him with Bucky, though she definitely didn't hate the man in the same way Bucky did.
"Excuse me!" his mouth dropped open. "I've got style!"
"You lack class, buddy." she gave a small laugh, and Bucky smirked down at her.
"I do not!" he almost whined back, and Steve let out a loud laugh. Everyone was surprised, he wasn't the type of guy to sound so carefree, especially not in recent years. But it was relieving, to say the least. Everyone else had smiles on their faces, even Rhodey.
"So, wait, there's a lot that I missed." Banner frowned, glancing around the group, and everyone sobered again. "What exactly went on when the other guy took me on a joy ride through space?"
"Well," Steve cleared his throat, knowing he was one of the original members of Banner's group, and the only one present to be of help to him. "After you disappeared, we took in Wanda." he smiled softly at the scarlet witch, and she gave a hesitant grin back.
"Well, I figured that out." Banner gave her an encouraging look. "But, well, the compound? The new members? And what's this I heard about you guys breaking up? Thor filled me in a little."
"You've seen Thor?" Donatella frowned. When had he met up with the demigod? She'd never even met him, though she'd only been around for a year.
"Yeah, he's the one who snapped me out of it, there was a whole incident with Asgard and then our ship got destroyed by Thanos. But enough about that stuff, I'm completely lost here." his eyes were wide and slightly panicked, and she bit her lip as she watched his expression morph into something anxious.
"It's alright, Banner. We've got the whole flight to explain what's going on." Steve cleared his throat. "We'd been looking for Bucky for a while, Vision was a good help with that. But, well, there was this whole mess after Ultron. People didn't really feel… safe, anymore." Steve sighed, and she felt her heart ache a little bit. None of the blame should have been placed on them, but they all felt the weight of it from the rest of the world.
"They wanted us to sign a bunch of papers to restrict our actions. We would've been the watchdogs of the politicians." Sam huffed in explanation, and Steve gave a small nod back.
"It was the right thing to do at the time." Rhodey defended, and she winced.
"I think that this is a discussion for another time, guys. The Accords were meant to be good, but you can't deny that there were a lot of issues with them." Donatella said carefully, and Rhodey gave a slow nod, leaning back in his seat.
"So, anyways, during that time, Bucky was framed for a terrorist bombing." Steve explained, and Don winced, reaching down to grip Bucky's hand. He squeezed back, obviously still upset from the whole situation. "A man who lost his family was trying to lure him out, and, well, succeeded. Tony and the others took Buck into captivity, as well as Sam and I." Steve sighed.
"And Donnie. You guys arrested her too, for no reason." Bucky shot a glare towards Rhodey, and the War Machine held his hands up defensively.
"Hey man, we don't have any beef. She even fixed up my spine, remember?" Rhodey raised an eyebrow.
"What happened to your spine?" Banner whirled to face him, curiosity and concern clear in his expression.
"Doc?" Rhodey nodded to Donatella, letting her take the lead with the medical jargon.
"Ah, it was a partial paralysis. Nerve damage between two of his lower vertebrae, but we managed to-" she was cut of by Rhodey.
"You. You managed to fix it. It was all you, Doc." he nodded respectfully towards her, and she gave a sheepish smile.
"I managed to implement a device to bridge the synapse of the damaged nerves. As long as the Bridge is running, he's fine to walk." Donnie explained, Banner nodding along, understanding everything.
"So the Bridge, it's a repeater?" he sounded fascinated, and she wondered how starved for knowledge his brain was. He'd been gone for a long time, missing a lot of medical advances.
"More like a projector, if that makes sense." she corrected, and he nodded, understanding clear in his expression.
"Did I miss any more medical tech while I was gone?" he asked, glancing between the group.
"Belucci was busy, so we can get to the rest of those inventions later. For now, there's some more stuff you missed." Sam pursed his lips, continuing the conversation in a darker direction. "We had a big fight, everybody chose a side and we brawled it out."
"Buck and I followed the crazy guy to Siberia, where there were more winter soldiers." Steve continued. "But, he killed them before we got there, and he got away. He's in jail, now." Steve added.
"So you guys all kissed and made up?" Banner clarified.
"Sort of." Sam shrugged. "Tony and Don amended the Accords, got us back in good graces. We're still privatized, for now."
"That's why Bucky can be on the team." Steve explained. Donatella felt a bit of pride. She played a huge part in appealing the documents and helping Tony set up the Avengers new model.
"And the spider kid? He came to help Tony, I saw him for a minute." Banner explained, and Donatella tensed up. He saw Peter?
"Was he alright? Peter, is he okay?" she bit her lip as she asked the question, and Bucky squeezed her hand reassuringly.
"I-I saw him get beamed onto the ship, it was taking off with the wizard and Stark went up to get him. I think they're all still on it." her stomach sank. God, she had a little hope that they'd both be safe, but… where were they going? "God, I can't believe all that's going on on earth right now…" Banner shook his head, and Don gave him an encouraging smile.
"Hopefully all this will be over soon, and then we can get you completely caught up." she said to him, and he let out a sigh of relief.
"I think with you on our side, we might have a chance with the stone." Banner smiled at her, and she felt her ears burn at the compliment.
"She is the smartest Avenger." Sam nodded, and she rolled her eyes.
"I'm not an Avenger, Wilson." she joked.
"Honorary member." Steve appeased them both, and the group was quiet after that. She glanced over to Bucky. His face was contemplative, but his fingers were wound tightly with hers. His eyes were staring straight at the floor, and his teeth were gritted. She wondered what he was thinking? He didn't look happy. She wished that he had more time to recover from the night previous before he had to go out in the field again… this was too much stress. She squeezed his hand, and he snapped from his reverie, glancing towards her with a small, secret smile. She was surprised he was being as affectionate as he was in front of the group, usually he was uncomfortable with touching in public. Well, public was fine, he just wasn't okay with it in front of his teammates.
"How much longer, do you think?" Bruce asked Steve. He glanced towards the front of the jet, and she followed his gaze, seeing the plane diving down towards the trees.
"We're here." he announced, settling back while the plane made its descent. It was like they flew through a portal to a different world, one moment lush green was in front of them and the next the city was there. She smiled widely, it had been too long since she'd been there.
"I missed this place." she turned to grin at Bucky, and he gave a soft smile back.
"I missed being here with you." he replied quietly, and her heart skipped a beat. God, he could be so sweet sometimes. She squeezed his hand again as the plane landed smoothly, and the hatch opened to let them out. The only sound was everyone unbuckling, except for quiet whispering between Bruce and Rhodey. Natasha and Steve were of course the first ones out, and the rest quickly followed. They were greeted with what seemed to be a hundred Dora Milaje and T'Challa, Okoye right at his side. She barely spoke to the woman during her time in Wakanda, but she was strong and pretty badass. It felt good to have her on their side.
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something." Steve strode forwards, shaking T'Challa's hand firmly as Nat followed close behind. Bruce cleared his throat, and Don glanced at him curiously, holding in a laugh as he bowed awkwardly to T'Challa. She bit her lip and glanced at the king to see his reaction.
"Uh, we, we don't do that here." the king held his hands up peacefully towards the doctor, and Don turned her face into Bucky's arm to hide her smile.
"Don't deny it, T'Challa, I'm sure you appreciated the reverence." she composed herself and stepped forward, giving the man a small hug. He had become a good friend to her and Bucky. He gave her a wide grin before replying.
"I am quite sure that you are mistaken, Doctor Belucci." he chuckled, before his face turned serious. "So, how big of an assault should we expect?" T'Challa held his hands together and began to walk with Steve, the rest of the group trailing behind.
"Uh, sir-sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault." Bruce sped up as he spoke, trying to reach the man to explain the situation.
"How we looking?" Nat asked the king, her voice all business. Now wasn't the time to speak of it, but she wanted to make sure the woman was alright with Banner being around.
"You will have my Kingsguard," T'Challa began, "the border patrol, Dora Milaje, and, well, you're the one with the White Wolf."
"So, a semi-stable hundred year old man." Bucky joked, shooting Steve a smile. The friends shared a look, somehow T'Challa fit in well with the pair.
"How have you been, Sergeant Barnes?" T'Challa asked. He let out a puff of air, taking a deep breath before grinning again.
"Not bad, for the end of the world." he replied, and the king shot him a knowing grin.
"I've received the wedding invitation. Shuri is quite excited for the trip to New York." T'Challa glanced between her and Bucky. She smiled sheepishly back.
"Is she in the lab? We've got some work to do." Don shot a look towards Vision, and the king nodded.
"She's on the second floor workspace, the underground lab is not equipped for the procedure." T'Challa explained, and she thanked him before grabbing Bucky's hand, leading him to the entrance to where her friend would be.
"I thought I heard trouble approaching." the girl smiled at her as soon as she stepped in the room. The women embraced, wrapping each other up in a hug.
"I've missed being here, you know." Don laughed, glancing out the gigantic bay windows that overlooked the beautiful landscape.
"And we've missed having you. Many people have been asking about in the village where you and Sergeant Barnes went to. Explaining that you moved home has been a nightmare." the girl chuckled, and Donnie shot her a beaming grin. "Sergeant Barnes, how was the transition?" Shuri settled her concerned gaze on him.
"Not quite as bad as I thought." he admitted, reaching forwards to pull the girl in a quick hug. Shuri wrapped her arms around his neck briefly before stepping backwards, the rest of the group trickling into the lab.
"We have no time to waste, unfortunately." Donnie said sheepishly as VIsion stepped forwards.
"I'll go outside with Sam, we've got work to do." Bucky pressed a quick kiss to the side of her head before hurrying off out the door, leaving T'Challa and Steve in the room with them.
"Please, Vision, lie back on this table. We will begin in a moment." Shuri gestured to the examination table, and the rest of the group shuffled around uncomfortably. She moved to stand on the opposite side of the table as Shuri began her scan, Bruce stepping up next to her.
"Whoa." Banner gasped as Shuri used her beads to complete the scan, a holographic image of the stone appearing above her hand, revealing important information about it.
"The structure is polymorphic." Shuri nodded, clearly thinking hard about her next steps.
"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce nodded, staring at the image in awe.
"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" exasperation and amusement were clear in Shuri's tone, and Bruce gave her a meek look.
"Because… we didn't think of it?" he answered, but it sounded much more like a question.
"Okay, this might be harder than I thought. You really didn't think much about this, huh?" Don sighed, giving him a sharp look. "Tony's getting his ass kicked the next time I see him." she shook her head.
"I'm sure you did your best, Doctor Banner." Shuri gave him a sly smile, glancing back down at Vision.
"Can you two do it?" Wanda glanced between the women, and Donatella made eye contact with Shuri. She looked so sure, and determined, and Don knew that they could.
"Yes, but there's over two trillion neurons that we're going to have to work through." Donatella sighed down at the hologram, and Shuri winced.
"One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." Shuri said, almost as a warning. Wanda looked pale. "It will take time, brother." Shuri glanced over to T'Challa, who was standing off to the side looking pensive.
"How long?" Steve asked, and Donatella bit her lip.
"Long enough." she sighed, glancing down at vision with a sheepish smile. Okoye's kimoyo beads blaring gave her a start, and she jumped. Donatella looked over as Okoye held up a hologram of the earth, revealing the threat.
"Something has entered the atmosphere." she looked concerned, the most emotion she'd ever seen from the woman. Donatella felt a shiver run down her spine.
"Cap, we have a situation here." she heard Sam's voice say over Steve's comms device. She gnawed on her lip, turning to face Shuri as a large boom sounded outside. She jumped again, glancing out the window to see a smashed ship exploding just on top of the dome-shaped shield around Wakanda.
"Don't start celebrating yet, guys, we've got more incoming outside the dome!" Rhodey's voice was the next to come over the speaker, and that prompted Steve into action. He and T'Challa gave each other a look as they rushed to watch out the windows at the ships that slammed into the earth at the edge of the dome, and Vision sat up, clutching an injury from earlier as he panted.
"It's too late, we need to destroy the stone." he gasped out, and the yellow stone seemed to gleam from where it was placed in the center of his forehead.
"Vision, get your ass back on the table." Natasha was no nonsense, telling him exactly what to do.
"We will hold them off." T'Challa stepped forwards as Nat rushed from the room, going outside to meet Sam and Bucky.
"Wanda." Steve glanced over to the scarlet witch. "As soon as that stone's out of his head? You blow it to hell."
"I will." she nodded breathlessly, and everyone snapped into action.
"Evacuate the city. Engage all defences." T'Challa ordered, the guards around him rushing around to follow what he said. "And get this man a shield/" he turned back, Steve still standing next to the windows. She smiled slightly, knowing that Steve had still not gotten the shield back from Tony. It was a sore subject between the men, and hadn't been breached since the impeachment of the accords. Steve gave a determined nod, his lips pressed together in a thin line as Shuri pulled out her tools.
"You ready for this?" Shuri gave her a concerned look.
"I was born ready, baby." Donatella shot her a smirk and the pair got to work, carefully pulling and rerouting the neurons from the gem in Vision's head. Wanda stood close by, holding the android's hand to comfort him. She tried not to look outside, tried not to let herself get distracted, but she couldn't help herself. Bucky was down there, and she had to keep an eye on what was going on. There were thousands lined up at the edge of the dome, waiting for anything to happen. She sort of hoped it would end with nothing going on, but of course that would never be the case.
The weird ships that had landed earlier began to hum and move, panels opening up and releasing dog-like creatures against the dome. They were killing themselves trying to get inside, piling up and splitting through the field. Once in a while one would come through, but they would get taken down by a well placed shot or a quick maneuver. Soon, they began to circle towards the back of the dome, right behind the lab. She felt herself stiffen, scared that one would breach and make its way inside. More and more were making their way through on the frontlines, and she quickened her pace, not even close to finished with her portion of the neurons. Sure, they were making progress, but it wasn't enough.
"How are you guys doing?" Wanda asked, fear clear in her voice. Shuri glanced up, breaking her focus for a moment.
"We're picking up speed, but we need to be faster. Let's get going, Donnie." Shuri nodded to her, and she pressed her lips into a firm line, nodding back. They went even faster, but were still careful, making sure that they wouldn't cause any damage to the android. She tried not to listen to the battle outside, the shouting, the screaming of the creatures. A few loud explosions made her jump before she glanced over again. The barrier was being completely circled by the aliens, and she shuddered, delving back into her work and praying for a miracle.
She felt herself gasp as one section of the barrier opened, and Shuri looked up in alarm as well.
"What are they doing?" she muttered to herself, her face scrunching up in confusion.
"They're saving Vision." Wanda swallowed, hard.
"We're getting closer, come on, Shuri." she prompted the girl, and they went back to work, focusing as hard as they could on the task at hand.
"How much longer, Shuri?" T'Challa's voice rang out through the lab, and Shuri glanced over their map.
"We're nearing the end, brother." she replied, and Donatella sighed in relief.
"You might want to pick up the pace." T'Challa replied with a grunt, and Don nodded to herself.
"We're gonna make it, Shuri." she sighed in relief, there were only a few sections left to go. She made the mistake of glancing down towards the battle again, and her blood froze in her veins as she saw Bucky go down. "Oh god, no!" she all but shouted, abandoning her task as she stepped towards the windows.
"We don't have time to worry, Donatella!" Shuri sounded nearly hysterical as she regained Don's attention.
"You're right, I'm sorry." she gasped, tearing her eyes away from the sight of Bucky thrashing underneath those dog things. He would be okay. He had to be okay, because she didn't know what she would do if he wasn't. Another blast caught her attention, and she jumped, seeing some sort of light bursting into the ground. She glanced over to see some sort of axe flying over the battlegrounds, destroying a handful of the creatures. It was Thor, and… a tree? And… was that a cat? She couldn't tell, it was too far away. The man dealt devastating blows, lightning destroying the ground beneath his feet and wiping out hordes of the creatures. She felt herself relax, he had just bought them the time they needed.
"Last round." Shuri nodded at the panel in front of her, carefully moving everything around in order, but something rumbled in the distance, and huge wheels soon broke up from the dirt and tore up the ground, creating mass destruction. Wanda stepped towards the windows, looking back at the girls.
Suddenly, the scarlet witch was gone, flying off into the distance and making quick work of the machines. Shuri and Donatella stepped up the pace, going double time. Just a few more pathways… until there was a crash from behind them.
"Keep going, I've got him!" she shouted, abandoning the station and leaping at the alien. His staff had been knocked from his hands by one of the Dora Milaje, and she was able to activate her rings. He swung at her, catching her across the face, causing her to see stars. She struck back, punching him in the cheek and he stumbled before coming at her, but she leaped up and pressed her hands against his head, exactly the same as she had with her brother. She knew there was no other way she could stop him, sending pulse after pulse into the alien's skull, surely turning it into mush.
His eyes dimmed, slowly losing their life as his mouth dropped open, and he stumbled backwards, falling with a thud onto the marble flooring. He twitched for a few moments as she stood above him, the hum of her rings in her ears drowned out by the thumping of her pulse.
She'd killed once again. It wasn't Antoni, but that was all she could see. Her brother, her poor, twisted brother laying on the ground in front of her. His purpled face, bloodshot eyes, burned skin. She felt sick.
"Antoni. Antoni, I'm sorry." She whispered, kneeling down next to him. His head lolled over to face her, a sneer coming over his face.
"You don't deserve to live." He rasped out, blood staining his teeth.
"I'm sorry." Donatella choked out, her hands flitting over him hesitantly. She flashed back to the present, recoiling from the dead alien, flopping back onto her ass as she scrambled backwards.
"Donatella!" Shuri knelt down next to the girl, fingers pressing over her forehead. "What happened?"
"I'm good, I'm good, sorry." she croaked weakly, standing up with shallow breaths. "I just… got lost there for a minute. Is the stone out?" she glanced behind her towards the table, where Vision was sitting, an empty spot in the middle of his forehead where the infinity stone once sat. Donatella's legs almost gave out beneath her in relief. They'd done it.
"We must get Wanda back up here to destroy the stone." Shuri looked down at the battlefield with a frown. Donatella raced over to the comms device, leaning down and speaking into it.
"Wanda, Wanda we need you up here." she gasped out, eyes darting frantically over the battle to see where the scarlet witch was. A red burst of energy flared up, and Wanda was soon back in the lab, rushing forward to embrace Vision.
"Do it. Now, Wanda." Vision pointed at the stone, and she set her gaze on it with determination.
"We're in the endgame now." Donatella breathed.
I HAD to get an Endgame joke in there. Sorry not sorry, guys.