A/N* Suprise! Bonus chapter to make up for the shorter ones that have been coming out.
A chilly wind swept through her hair as she smoothed it and pulled the ash-blonde strands into a tight ponytail. Her wings flapped and jets whirred as the Atlantic Ocean rolled below her, it roared with power as frothy waves lapped at one another. The smell of salt permeated through the air and into her nostrils, the overwhelming smell making her slightly dizzy. Aubrey did a barrel roll before finding a slipstream and leveling out, using the natural airflow to boost her. Several hours had already passed and her Kimoyo Beads had trilled several minutes before, alerting her that the compound was nearing. The faint sound of a jet brought her back to her senses, rolling so her stomach faced the sky, she scanned the horizon for life. A black blob appeared, moving swiftly towards her. It was normal to run across planes but the jet was unlike the usual ones she saw. It looked almost like the Quinjet that Bucky and Cap had used to get to Siberia.
"Surely that's not…?" Licking her chapped lips, she watched as the aircraft sliced through the air, heading steadily towards her. Slipping upwards and out of the slipstream, the feather-like ring on her right pointer grew warm as the Nanotech bow formed and she loaded it with an electrical arrow. The jet was now directly below her. Aubrey's wings flapped as she lowered carefully onto the top. Tapping one of the Kimoyo Beads, she whispered a command and placed a palm onto the warm black metal. Static sounded for several moments before slowly voices became clear as the Beads played what they heard.
"Did Tony call you?" a raspy female voice asked. Immediately, Aubrey knew her suspicions had been correct.
"I think he tried to….Someone else got ahold of the phone and called.-" Cap was cut off before he could say more.
"He wouldn't have called unless it was something big-" She remembered Falcon's voice. "-and we would have been there sooner if someone hadn't turned off their transponder." He was clearly angry.
"It was my fault, I thought we were safe" Wanda spoke quietly and Aubrey heard guilt in her voice. She felt bad for eavesdropping but there was no clear way into the jet, the best thing she could do is hitch a ride to the compound.
Soon the coast of United States soil came into sight and soon...too soon, she saw the shine of the Avengers Compound, nestled beside the sea. Pushing off the top of the jet, her wings flared and Aubrey waited till the aircraft landed before landing smoothly beside it. The hatch hissed before lowering down and Aubrey turned to watch as Cap, Black Widow, Falcon, Wanda, and Vision came out, surprise working its way through each of them at the sight of her.
"This does not prove that your wings are better," Falcon grinned, coming to stand beside her.
"Whatever you need to tell yourself-" Aubrey retorted, before adding in a nicer tone "-good to see you, Sam".
"You too, although I'm surprised you left paradise to come back to normo town" they started walking behind Cap, who gave Aubrey a respectful nod as they went into the compound. At first glance, their little group looked good but she noticed that Vision leaned heavily on Wanda, clutching his side.
"Did you guys run into trouble?" her voice lowered but Sam heard her and nodded, responding quietly
"Yeah, it was pretty crazy. This dude that could've been Squidward's brother showed up with a couple of other aliens and it escalated from there."
She opened her mouth to respond but closed it as they turned down a long glass hallway. Secretary Ross's voice echoed down it and she couldn't help but feel anger rising up. The Avengers around her bristled with the same feeling.
"You having second thoughts?"
"Not anymore" War Machine answered, his head turning to them as they entered the workshop. Ross's snake-like eyes zipped to each one of them, resting on Aubrey a moment longer than she would've liked.
"Mr. Secretary" Always respectful Cap.
Ross scowled and prowled forward, she had never been so thankful that someone was on a hologram and not real life as he growled.
"You've got some nerve, I'll give you that.-" he started to go on but Natasha cut in, keeping her voice carefully neutral.
"You could use some of that right now"
"-The world's on fire and you think all is forgiven?"
"I'm not asking forgiveness, and I'm way past asking permission. Earth just lost her best defender-" at Cap's words, she gave Sam a worried look and he mouthed. "Tony went to space"
"What?!" she felt like growling at his stupidity but now was not the time.
"-So we're here for the fight-" Cap continued, stepping forward and right up to Ross. "-, and if you wanna stand in our way, we'll fight you too."
Disdain dripped from his voice as Ross turned to War Machine
"Arrest them"
Rhodey nodded "All over them" bringing his hand up, he swiped the hologram away, ending the call. A beep sounded in the background but Aubrey's mind was distracted, focusing on the machinery that enabled Rhodey to stand. It looked complicated but she was glad that Tony had found a way.
"It's great to see you Cap" he stepped forward as the two men shook hands and he exchanged a hug with Natasha.
"You too Rhodey"
"Wow-" he looked over them "you guys….really look like crap..must've been a rough couple of years"
"Yeah...well the hotels weren't exactly five stars" Sam smirked
"Uh...I think you look great" a new, familiar voice cut in. Bruce Banner wandered in from an adjoining side-room, nervously rubbing his hands "-Yeah...I'm back."
"Hi, Bruce" Natasha stared at her friend. A thousand things passed over his face and for a minute he said nothing. Finally, though, he whispered.
"Nat"
"This is awkward," Sam muttered under his breath. Aubrey watched the interactions with interest as they were corralled into the adjoining living room with leather fabric furniture.
"So we gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey was watching footage from the fight that had happened in New York hours before. Aubrey leaned against a dark-colored pillar, watching the blue-skinned woman battle Spiderman to the ground.
"They can clearly find us-" Aubrey cut in, glancing up from the footage. "- and beat us...We're gonna need more firepower."
"Where's Clint?" Banner asked. They were spread out around the room, some fiddling with knickknacks and others leaning on the furniture.
"After the whole Accords situation he and Scott took a deal, it was too tough on their families, they're on house arrest." Natasha picked up a shiny cube and tossed it from one hand to another as Banner's brows scrunched
"Who's Scott?"
"Ant-man" Cap crossed his arms
"There's an Ant-man and a Spiderman?-" Banner paused, shaking his head "-Okay look, Thanos has the biggest army in the universe and he is not gonna stop until he gets...Vision's stone."
"Then we have to protect it" putting the cube down, Black Widow paced forward.
Aubrey opened her mouth, they hadn't been able to protect New York, how would they protect the stone. But Vision turned from his spot by a window, meeting Aubrey's eyes as though he knew her thoughts.
"No, we have to destroy it. Ms. Cristo was wondering the same thing, I can see it on your face Aubrey. And I agree. I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head. About its nature, but also its composition. I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source-" Vision paused, moving towards Wanda as a pained expression lit her face. Aubrey realized what he was hinting at and swallowed. "-something similar to its own signature perhaps...it's molecular integrity could fail."
"Yeah and you with it" Wanda whispered. "-we're not having this conversation."
"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain Thanos can't get it"
"That's too high a price Vis" Wanda shook her head but Vision caught it gently between his red hands.
"Only you have the power to pay it,-" Wanda turned away at his words but he continued "-Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."
"But it should,-" Cap cut in, staring at the floor for a moment before meeting Visions gaze "-we don't trade lives Vision"
"Captain, seventy years ago you laid down your life to save how many millions of people? Tell me, why is this any different?"
"Because you might have a choice-" Aubrey pushed off of the wall, glancing at Banner as a theory swirled in her mind "- You aren't just the stone. Tony once tried to show me how he made you. Your mind, Vision, is made up of so many other overlays, Tony, Banner, Jarvis, Ultron, the Stone…..-" she trailed off
"-They're all mixed together, learning from each other" Banner finished for her, nodding along to what she had said.
Wanda pushed off of the counter as hope sparkled in her eyes. "You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?"
"I think..what she's trying to say is that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left, perhaps the best parts"
"Can we do that?" Natasha looked between them.
Banner shook his head "not me, not here"
"Well we better find someone and somewhere fast-" Rhodey cut in. "-Ross isn't just going to let you guys come in and have your old rooms back."
Everyone quieted and after a moment she knew where they would have to go. Her voice was quiet as she murmured,
"I know somewhere."
Aubrey leaned against one of the leather chairs in the Quinjet, guiding Sam as they flew. Cap stood nearby, nodding along to her words.
"Drop 2600, heading 0-3-0."
"I hope you're right about this, or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to" Sam muttered as he maneuvered the controls. The jet flew straight towards an upward slope that was covered in trees. But she knew the truth. As they neared the hill, the air in the Quinjet crackled with tension. When they should've crashed and burned, the hologram skittered away and the forcefield tore open, letting them through to they neared the landing pad, Dora Milaje, and various other guards filed out around King T'Challa, waiting as the ramp lowered. Aubrey and Cap lead the rest of the group out. He and T'Challa shook hands
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Cap murmured. Banner tried to bow but T'Challa waved him off
"Uh...We don't do that here, So how big of an assault should we expect?" He turned and started walking towards the palace. They followed but Banner pushed his way to the front
"Uh, sir, I think we should expect quite a big assault."
"How is it looking?" widening her stride to keep up with them, Aubrey met Ayo's gaze for a moment before focusing back on T'Challa
"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and-" he motioned with a hand as Bucky came around the corner. She couldn't keep the smile off of her face as she took in the dark blue uniform he was in, and the arm he had gained.
"And a semi-stable hundred-year-old man.-" Bucky strode forward and exchanged a brief hug before turning to Aubrey and giving her a grin. "- Told you I would be here."
"I'm glad you are-" she murmured before saying slightly louder "-New arm?"
"Apparently Shuri has been busy" he gave her another grin as they followed everyone else inside.
Shuri's Kimoyo Beads scanned Vision's forehead and brought up a hologram of the stone and the millions of neurons it connected to.
"Whoa." Banner mumbled, it took her a moment to remember that the others hadn't seen Wakanda and its technology before.
"The structure is Polymorphic" Shuri observed
Banner flashed her another look of surprise before answering "Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially"
"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively" They'd lost Aubrey after the first sentence but Banner's face slacked as he frowned
"Because….we didn't think of it"
Leaning against the glass beside Bucky, she watched Shuri's sarcastic side come out and couldn't keep a smile off of her face.
"I'm sure you did your best-" just as she was about to say something else, Wanda interrupted
"Can you do it?"
"Yes but there are over two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time brother" she looked to T'Challa, who stood nearby with a contemplative look on his face.
"How long?" Cap shifted from one foot to the other.
"As long as you can give me" Shuri met Aubrey's eyes for a moment and she realized how nervous the Wakandan Princess was to do such a large operation in so little time. An elbow gently bumped her side and she met Bucky's eyes, in them she saw battling emotions.
"Brie-" but before he could say anything else, an alarm went off and Okoye's Kimoyo Beads lit up with a hologram of the earth.
"Something's entered the atmosphere."
Sucking in a breath, Aubrey's words were whispered "the fight is here". Pushing off of the glass, she pushed past everyone, Bucky at her heels as they rushed out a side door and onto the landing pad. Sam gave them a look of concern as he stared at the sky, speaking into a commlink
"Hey Cap, We've got a situation here."
Rolling her shoulders and puffing a breath out of her lips, the Nano combat suit slithered from the necklace and covered her body. Moments later, the fifteen-foot wings (from tip to tip) sprouted from her back, glimmering in the sunlight. A fiery mass shot down from the atmosphere and collided with the forcefield that protected Wakanda from the outside world. It disintegrated, shrapnel flying through the air as the field sent blue waves rippling across the top.
"I love this place" Bucky murmured to her and she couldn't help the rush of warmth that rose in her stomach at the thought of Wakanda.
"Me too"
"Don't start celebrating yet guys, we got more incoming from outside the dome." Just as Rhodey's voice came from the commlink, several more masses hurtled down from above, smashing into the ground outside the dome. The earth shook beneath their feet from the force of the pods, dust rose up like a fog, traveling up the forcefield.
"Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses...and get this man a shield" T'Challa's voice reverberated from the comms. Straightening and glancing at Bucky, Aubrey's mighty wings flapped as the jets pulsed and she took off after Falcon, who was already headed towards the border.
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