Trigger Warning: canon typical violence, major injuries, major character death.
Lots of pain and bleeding, no unnecessary gore.
I highly recommend a box of tissues, a warm blanket and a pillow for this one.
It's hurt/comfort right? This one's the hurt.
They stood in the middle of grassland, watching as the ships descended one after another with an earth-shaking crash on the rainforest just beyond the barrier.
Steve, Nat and T'Challa had walked down to speak to the delegation that waited just beyond the shimmering curved wall.
Korg was bored, swinging a club in one hand and his laser gun in the other. "Just three of them, eh? Must not have printed enough pamphlets, simple enough mistake really-"
Shay looked to her left past Loki and saw the rock-man shrug.
Loki spat on the ground, bitterness twisting the corners of his mouth. "Those ships aren't empty and their parley will be fruitless, the children of Thanos do not negotiate, they are merely using the time to assess our weaknesses."
Okoye scoffed at that from further down the line, and Shay barely heard her from where she stood. "They will find no weakness here, only blood and dust."
"They have blood to spare." Loki answered, rolling his shoulders and the golden horned helm materialized with his armor and a heavy sword.
Steve, Nat and T'Challa turned to walk back, faces grim.
Battle was coming.
Shay found her hand momentarily gripped in one made of black vibranium. Emotions that didn't belong to her, though she shared them, flashed through her.
"Don't forget, you made me a promise, Angel."
Then Bucky was stepping back into line beside Steve and the walls of the ships lifted away.
Beasts threw themselves from the ships to rush, mindless at the wall, crawling through even as the barrier burned their hide and severed their limbs. A few broke through and rushed at incredible speed for the center of the half circle of defenders, heedless of fear or pain.
They were gunned down easily enough, but more were beginning to spread across the great curve of the barrier, pushing through it in fits and bursts.
Steve voiced the problem first, "if they break through behind us, we'll be fighting on two fronts and there'll be nothing between them and Vision, we need to keep them in front of us."
"Open North-west section seventeen." T'Challa spoke into his earpiece.
"Ready your weapons."
Steve's voice echoed across the field and in Shay's earpiece. T'Kazu and N'Gazze stepped up beside Shay, and she mirrored their movements, pulling the kenté forward like a shield. T'Kazu's left hand on her left shoulder, her hand on N'Gazze's. The fabric stiffened and hummed with electricity the moment they connected. The front line dropped to a knee as one and gunners stepped up to aim their weapons over the shoulders and shields as the hordes rushed at them.
Wakanda was an advanced civilization, though many of their traditions may have seemed to belong to a time long passed, but they were not archaic. They did not rush wildly into the fray; the madness of battle did not disorder their troops.
They stood their ground, echoing M'Baku's chant in perfect time to the firing guns until the mound of bodies had dammed the stream below. They moved together as gunners alternated to reload. They would not break ranks until the effective distance of the guns no longer carried the advantage.
When the battle began there had been moments to appreciate the scope of the thing. the field of gleaming shields. Rhodes and Sam flying overhead dropping artillery. Targeted blades from Loki on one side and Nat on the other took down the leaders, tripping up three or four more as the first fell over webs slung low to the ground as trip wires.
Shay waited, watching the advancing madness, content to hold the shield wall for Azele, her gunner even as the blood rushed in her ears.
The flood of gnashing teeth lapped nearer the edge.
Now.
Her thumbs pressed on the little wings of her gauntlets and green light flowed from them. she reached for the nearest thing. That was the best word to describe what she found.
A true abomination. They had incredible strength and endurance, but there were no pain receptors, no consciousness, only blood lust. A creature made by Thanos for only one purpose: to kill and destroy, mindless and cruel.
All these things registered with her in a moment and the creature dropped mid-stride.
The line was broken as the creatures dashed themselves against shields and spears. Hulk leapt forward, landing with a shuddering thud among a dozen of them and swinging his arms to clear a path, Spiderman perched on his shoulder using the vantage point to shoot webs and throw grenades.
Shay glanced to her right one last time, Bucky and Steve where there fighting side by side. A heavy blow to her shield sent a stinging pain up her arm and she turned all her attention to what was before her. Green vapor traveled out like a tide to meet the crashing wave, the moment a clawed foot touched it the creature dropped dead.
The seven moved forward, a gold light connecting them to the woman at their head. They dropped their shields and raised their weapons in unison with Shays hands. she concentrated the flow to two strands of light that zapped from one enemy to another.
Still there were too many, and they got closer and closer as they fell.
The rat-tat of gun fire and canon blasts rang in her ears, blinding her eyes. She couldn't see any of her friends through the chaos and anxiety rose into her throat.
Shay paused only to be struck a glancing blow on the side of the head as one of the things leapt over their heads. Sinking to her knees momentarily stunned as a thin trickle of blood dripped down the side of her face. The seven closed the circle so all she could see was the wall of purple shields across their backs.
T'Kazu's voice reached her over the din. "Focus your gift Sisi, we will cover you."
Time slowed again as she breathed in deeply, leaning into the gift.
No holding back.
"Friday?"
"Yes, Miss Wilder."
"Filter the sound please, coms only."
The crash of battle was instantly muffled inside her helmet. Focusing in on the sound of her own breath, she began to glow, strands of threadlike light spreading in every direction, connecting her to every person on the field that she cared about. She drew strength from the beating of their hearts even as she took to herself the ache and fatigue they fought against.
Shay crumpled under the weight of it, and nodded. "Friday, I'm gonna need that first dose."
"Right away." Friday's crisp voice seemed just a little disappointed in her choices, but still Shay felt the pinprick of the needle as the first yellow packet was injected into her thigh. The relief was immediate and she felt as though the whole world melted away. It would cost her later, but only if she survived.
She sprang to her feet. Hands out, ready.
The defenders had been slowly waning but they gained new energy as the Angel illuminated the center of the field. Two strands of green light sparked across the field.
Still the horde rushed on, undaunted.
On and on, no rest, no pause for breath.
And the strength of the light was slowly dimmed until it was barely visible against the clouds of dust and smoke.
"Miss Wilder, your energy levels are dropping fast."
"How long have I got?"
"15 minutes if you keep using your powers this way."
"And if I don't?"
"Maybe 30."
Shay pressed the halos again, and she reached for the long knife at her back as the light at her fingertips died.
Through the coms she heard the sounds of the struggle across the field. They were losing momentum, the shear number of creatures simply too great to be overcome.
Peter's cry of pain sent a ripple of anger through the Avengers, but no one could answer, pinned down and fighting for their lives.
A strike of lightning crossed the sky, illuminating the heaving field. Three figures descended from the bi-frost. A furred animal carrying a gun, an animated tree and in the center... His eye glowed with the light of a dying star as electricity crackled across his breastplate and through his hands.
Shay saw the flying battle-axe return to the hand of Thor and heard Loki's shout.
Her joy became fear and pain as two men fell beside her. With a single stroke the head of the creature rolled away and Shay dropped to her knees.
Azele was bleeding badly from his leg. Shay was careful not to take more of his pain than necessary as she used his own muscles to clamp down on the bleeding and brace the bone. He was in shock, and didn't feel it yet and she couldn't bear much more, the meds she'd taken were wearing thin.
N'Gazze hoisted him on his shoulder and dashed up the hill dodging swiping claws as Shay turned her attention to T'Kazu. He'd been stunned, the body of the creature having body slammed him in the chest. Shay did what she could to help take the edge off his pain, he would bruise terribly but nothing critical had been hit.
"I can still fight, I'm alright sister, truly."
Her eyes met his. She nodded and they both returned to the battle.
In answer to Thor's arrival a war machine had been sent across the field. It rose out of the earth with saw toothed wheels destroying everything in its path.
Hulk grabbed the side of the wheel, dragging his feet to try and turn it and making deep ruts in the ground as it fought forward. Scarlet light flooded across the field as Wanda threw the machine back against another and its movement ceased.
On the field behind the battle lines a portal opened and several people stepped through.
"Thanos is coming, and he has five of the six stones. Stark is injured." Strange's voice called into the coms.
Quill looked alarmed, raising his gun as a wolf sprang out of tall grass and bit down on the shoulder of Tony's suit.
Tony raised his hands between the newcomers and the wolf, "he's friendly." And he grinned as he was dragged backwards into the grass.
"Is that normal on this planet?" Mantis asked, tilting her head at the waving grass.
"Definitely not." Strange answered.
Steve answered in the comms. "We need to fall back, regroup so we can face-"
Shuri's voice cut through his, the words breaking and crackling in Shay's ear.
"The lab has been- vision- out"
"Fighting- no time- destroy the-"
"Wanda, please." Vision's plea tugged at Shay's heart but she forced the walls up over her grief.
She was so tired. Too many of her knives had already been lost. Her and the five who remained stood as an island in an ocean.
The tide flowed blue across red sand.
Her legs grew weak and she was about to request another pain injection when she was thrown down, her helmet torn away.
T'Kazu lay across her. The severed claws of the creature he'd slain still embedded in his broad chest. Kamwele supported his head as the three remaining warriors created a dome of shields over them.
Shay slid out from beneath him just enough so she could sit up, cradling him in her lap, her hands scrambling frantic over the torn armor, light fizzling under her finger tips.
"No. no, no. T'Kazu. lay still. I can- just have to stop the bleeding, don't move, I can fix this."
There was no fear in his eyes, just a calm certainty. "My time has come."
"No, I saved you once, I'll do it again." The pain tore through her chest and she shuddered, refusing to believe what it was telling her.
"Two years." His voice was growing weak. "I was given two years… thank you."
"No, this isn't goodbye." She shouted shaking her head furiously, "this isn't the end for you."
"It is my time, I am ready. Shay, Sisi, my Angel… Carry me home."
She swallowed back her tears, giving him instead a gentle smile as she stole his pain, replacing it with the comforting warmth of a tender embrace. "T'Kazu, cousin, ubhuti, rest now in peace."
She didn't hear the pounding of mad creatures on the shields, didn't feel the shuddering of the ground under her as Hulk tore the pile of scrabbling things off of the dome over her. Instead, she felt the soft sigh of a man she loved, the peace that overspread his face as life left him. The gentle prick of a needle administering a second dose. The physical pain lifted even as the muscles in her chest strained against a wound she did not bear.
"Take him away, brothers, let no one disturb his rest." She answered their questioning faces with glowing eyes. "I will not need a shield now."
Voices in her earpiece broke finally broke through her pain. They were fighting Thanos in the forest west of the city.
There was blood on her sleeves, the tiny A's no longer crisp and clean.
Fifteen minutes.
The Avenging Angel rose above the shields, red smoke coalescing around her and rippling out like a wave, her fingers pulled the curved points from her hair and it sprung out in a halo of light around her head.
"Friday, take me to Thanos."
The AI stumbled, shocked. "Miss, the emergency flight capability is only designed to carry you to safety."
"Over-ride it."
"I'm not su-"
"If Thanos wins, there won't be a safe place left. So, the safest place for me to be is where I have a chance to stop him."
"I can't fault your logic."
The suit shifted and a pair of golden wings materialized across her back, each feather ruffling out to reveal a thousand tiny propulsor engines. Her feet left the ground.
"Shay-" Starks laboured voice cut into her earpiece, "you are not flying that suit towards the crazy maniac, I'm must be imagining that, right?"
"What can I say, wearing a Stark suit, got to make a Stark play." She half laughed as the battle shrunk away from her feet. "Don't worry, I'll make you proud." And she muted the speaker, not wanting to hear more objections.
Her heart skipped a beat as she saw the flash of scarlet light in the distance that meant Wanda had done it. The mind stone was destroyed. Vision was gone.
Time seemed to slow and she felt a strange energy pulse, followed by another flash of scarlet, and a scream.
Sam met her in the air, trying to steer her from the scene.
"He's got all the stones, he's too powerful. Veronica and Hulk together couldn't hold him. I can't let you-"
"Sam." The hardness of her tone stopped him. "You know how much I hate being told to stay out of a fight, and you won't stop me, just like I won't stop you. We said through fire, Sam."
A memory of that promise broke the last shred of Sam's resolve.
"Alright Angel, what's our play?"
"We light him up, with style Chickadee." Shay said matter-of-factly, grinning at him. "Friday?"
"On it."
Music thumped in her earpiece as they flew, wingtip to wingtip.
Ba-da boom, boom, boom, another one bites the dust,
Ba-da boom, boom, boom, another one bites the dust,
Ba-da boom, boom, boom, another one bites the dust.
Steve and Bucky were thrown back as the clearing came into view.
The music faded.
Sam motioned for Shay to come in from behind as he flew in low, firing the last of his ammunition.
Thanos tore off his wings with the flick of his golden wrist, sending him rolling across the ground.
Shay descended behind him at the same moment that Thor lodged Storm-breaker in Thanos's chest.
He didn't feel the points pierce his neck on each side, too preoccupied with the axe and taunting the man who held it.
"You should have. Gone. For the head." The purple face grinned for a moment before the expression shifted to one of surprise.
"She did." Thor said nodded at Shay, clinging to the giant's back, her wings still outspread. Green light coursed through the spikes in her hands into his neck, freezing him in place.
Shay felt Thanos's attention shift and though he couldn't see her, she felt as though she was being x-rayed.
"You think you can stop me? I am a titan. And you, you are weak." He spat the word and the gauntlet closed a fraction more. "Even now your pain overcomes you. Still, I value your bravery, but the price must be paid, you'll understand."
Friday whispered in her ear. "Your energy levels are at 3% you have less than a minute before unconsciousness."
"You won't kill me, little one, you don't have the nerve." Thanos chuckled darkly, mocking her as she slumped further down his back.
T'Kazu was dead, and how many more had fallen? How many would he destroy if she failed.
The light in her hands wasn't the green she used when fighting against an enemy. Nor was it the red of her rage or the natural self defense that usually lay dormant until her life hung in the balance.
The light in her hands was the pure gold of her halo reflecting off the wings at her back, the same gold that glowed under her skin and shone like pure light through the scars on her body, tracing their delicate patterns on the rich purple tapestry of her suit.
It was for love that she reached with the last of her energy towards the gloved hand.
Love that snapped the thumb and forefinger.
Shay fell and Thanos fell with her, turning to dust just before he hit the ground where she lay, her arms and wings spread wide.
The creatures and the ships they came from dissolved before bewildered fighters on the field of battle.
A silence fell, sudden and complete as death.
And in the silence, a breath was held as though the earth itself waited for an answer.
A long cry split the air.
A howl of grief.
The lone wolf's lament.
Notes:
I bled and cried for this chapter. It's longer than I usually make them, but I didn't want to chop up the battle into pieces just for the cliffhangers.
I really hope the outcome of this isn't disappointing to anyone, I tried to make it kind of... inevitable, or at least not contrived and unbelievable.
Love you!
