"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0," Steve said.
The Quin had been flying over the vast continent of Africa for some time.
"I hope you're right about this, Cap," Sam started. "Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."
Steve leaned an arm against the ceiling, staring out the windshield. It looked like we were heading right for a mountain side covered in a dense layer of trees.
Still, Sam obliged, lowering the ships altitude.
My hand gripped my seatbelt, instinctively bracing for impact.
Just as quickly as it appeared, the hexagon-shaped forcefield blinked into existence then let the ship through, opening onto a sprawling city surrounded by water.
Skyscrapers stood tall in front of the backdrop of forested mountains. The city was shimmering in the heat, silver and shining. It was high-tech, that was for certain.
Sam guided the Quinjet to a landing pad with other jets already sitting out in the sun at the base of the city, just along the water's edge.
The back ramp of the ship descended, light streaming in.
Natasha and Steve exited the ship first, followed by Bruce and Rhodes, then Wanda and Vision, and finally, me.
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said to the king, shaking his hand.
He was a proud man, standing tall in his purple robe. T'Challa, I remembered his name, stood flanked by many women in fierce red armor, spears at the ready.
"So how big of an assault can we expect?" said King T'Challa.
We began to follow the king toward the city. Wanda and Vision split off from the group, escorted to a medical center.
"Sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault," Bruce began.
"How we looking?" said Natasha.
"You will have my King's Guard," said the king, "the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and—"
"A semi-stable, 100-year-old man," finished the man approaching Steve.
The man had long brown hair and light completion despite Wakanda's weather. He was already wearing a combat vest of sorts. He smiled as they shared a hug, raising a metallic prosthetic arm around Steve.
"How you been, Buck?" Steve started, patting him on the shoulder.
"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world," the man replied. "Who's the new kid?" he asked.
"Bucky, this is Eve," Steve began. "Eve, Bucky."
I shook Bucky's hand, the non-robotic one, though I really wanted to see just how the prosthetic worked.
"She's our good luck charm," Nat added.
I could never tell by her tone if she was being sarcastic or not.
Still, we followed King T'Challa led by the Dora Milaje toward the medical center.
"Fancy suit you got there," Bucky commented.
"Stark made it for me," I said. "Deflects hits."
Bucky only nodded, his face hard to read. "Weapon of choice?" he asked.
"Sword," I said.
"Gun," Bucky replied. "Are those..." he gestured vaguely to my wings.
"Real?" I guessed his question. "Yep. And I can fly with them too," I said seemingly guessing his next reply.
He nodded lightly. "Haven't seen anything like it in my 100 years, give or take."
Bucky was a rather soft-spoken person, I noted. His icy blue eyes looked as if he had seen perhaps a million things. Still he smiled, carrying on.
King T'Challa, the Dora Milaje, Steve and Natasha split off leaving me, Rhodes, Sam, and Bucky outside the lab keeping watch.
The sun was bright, warming my black feathers. I breathed in the hot air, not wanting to put up the mask of my suit just yet.
"Where you from, kid?" Bucky began. He had been given a gun.
"Upstate New York," I replied. "But I live in Queens."
Bucky nodded, turning side to side slowly with anticipation. He was keeping an eye on the sky. "I'm from Brooklyn. Me and Steve both are."
Then, I saw it.
Ten times bigger and brighter than a shooting star. Unfathomably huge and metallic, falling in a ball of fire straight toward the city.
"Hey, Cap, we got a situation here," Sam began into his intercom.
"Should we get out of the way?" I started quickly. "It's heading right for us!"
"Just..." Bucky held out a calm hand, his voice trailing off.
BOOM!
The ball of fire collided with the hexagon shield domed over the city.
"God, I love this place," Bucky mumbled.
"Don't start celebrating yet, guys," Rhodes began, suited in his War Machine armor, intently listening to his ear piece. "We got more incoming outside the dome."
In a blur of readied battle preparations, I was loaded onto a ship with Steve, Nat, Sam, and Bucky as well as many other Wakandan fighters, flown out across the rolling fields and dropped off at the edge of the forcefield. Groups of warriors were gathering in formation. I had found a spot next to Steve at the front of one.
His face was stoic but he kept looking over at me.
"Are you sure you want to fight?" he asked me at last.
"I would be a coward not to," I replied, shifting my sword in my hand.
"You—you've got your whole life still ahead of you," Steve chose his words carefully.
I was young. That was true.
"Not if there's no life to go back to after these guys have taken over Earth," I said.
Steve smiled for a moment. "Don't be afraid to leave the fight if you get overwhelmed," he said, stepping away with Natasha and King T'Challa. They began making their way toward two alien figures just outside of the border.
"Know when to fold 'em," Bucky echoed his friend's sentiment.
"Know when to walk away," I continued the song, a slight smile on my anxious lips. My heart was already pounding.
"And know when to run," the two of us finished the lyric.