WAKANDA

The once-lush air was rank with the smell of cordite, blood and a strange, otherworldly scent as the plains echoed with the screams of warriors and aliens alike. Steve's new shields were light as paper on his arm, and he was grateful for the sharp edges as he turned them on Thanos' enemies. Three of the black, dog-like creatures lunged towards him, their maws gaping and oozing red-black liquid. He ducked the first one, dropped to his knee and turned, catching the one to his left across the side with the razor-sharp corner of his shield and making it drop with an inhuman scream. He fell onto that same arm, lashed out with his right foot at the other alien and kicked it eighty feet away from him, where it landed with a thud that shook the earth. The first one that had overshot him turned, clawed feet dragging up turf, and caught Steve's fist underneath its chin. His hand broke through and he felt the hot wetness of the inside of its mouth before he pulled back out and stood still for a moment, recalibrating himself before the next attack came.

"Guys," Sam said over the comms. "We've got a Vision situation here!" Before he could say anything else, there was a crash of flesh against armor and the line buzzed with broken static.

Steve lifted his hand to his mouth. "Somebody get to Vision!" he ordered. Taking advantage of his relaxed stance, two more aliens attacked before he could hear any reply. By the time those two were taken care of, it seemed that Banner had already got to Vision before immediately becoming distracted again. Damn. A few doctorates and Tony's bashed up XXL suit could only do so much; they could really use a Hulk right now.

Steve didn't think twice about what to do next. He took off at a sprint faster than he had ever managed before, moving too quickly to even be noticed by Thanos' army, let alone attacked. As he broke through into twisted jungle he could hear the sounds of fighting, along with an odd, high-pitched buzzing in his ears.

There! The massive, ghostly-white warrior they had fought earlier in Glasgow was crouched over Vision, who had obtained another gaping, glowing wound in his chest. There was no time to strategize, no time to come up with a plan. The thing was already drawing back his weapon for one final blow.

Steve leapt at it and tackled, sending them both flying away from Vision and rolling over each other on the ground. He kicked the monster away and turned to meet Vision's gaze for a moment, the robot still slumped weakly against a fallen tree.

"Get outta here!" Steve ordered, pulling himself up and spinning to catch a blow from the creature. He returned the hit and took a second to glance behind him. "GO!"

Steve struggled to force the alien away from his teammate, but it seemed that with each strike he was getting weaker, the enemy stronger. Steve caught the spear in both hands as it made a swing for his head, braced himself and shoved the creature away, then caught him with a haymaker on the chin that Bucky had taught him to do back in the Brooklyn days. He ducked another swipe, parried a blow with his shield, and the spear went flying. Yes! Now this bastard was unarmed, he had a chance of –

It caught his punch and then his neck, its gnarled hand clenching so tight Steve's eyes popped. He felt himself thrown with impossible strength and grunted as his back hit a tree, knocking all the breath out of him and rendering him momentarily useless. Eyes closed from the impact, all he could do was hear as it ran towards him and seized his throat once more. With his last ounce of strength, Steve's fingers scrabbled at the monsters, trying and failing to prise them off. He could taste blood in his mouth. This was it. Two more seconds and he would be dead.

Through the pounding in his ears Steve heard the shining noise of metal, followed by a small, confused noise somewhere over his head. The pressure vanished and his eyes snapped open, a black fog quickly receding to show the alien's face – eyes bulging, mouth moving soundlessly – be lifted away from him and into the air, the dropped spear protruding from its chest.

Vision, eyes glassy, knees shaking, dropped the shaft of the weapon and the alien mounted upon it. The buzzing sound was almost deafening now and he seemed to be flickering, like a computer screen moments before crashing. Then he dropped.

Steve crawled over, barely able to stand himself, and gripped Vision's shoulder. "I thought I told you to go," he panted.

Even with a hole in his chest, Vision still tried to resist Steve's support as they rose to their feet. Those strange, synthetic blue eyes gave him a look that was a mix of surprise and disgust. "We don't trade lives, captain," Vision said breathlessly.

Steve shook his head. "You got Stark's smart mouth," he said. "Although you're better at hiding it."

"Let me help," Vision insisted, his fingers like vice grips on Steve's arms. "I am of more use down here than I am stuck in that tower."

"Not a chance. We still need to get that stone out of your head."

That look again, but softer this time. More pitying. "I think we both know that isn't going to happen."

"Yeah? Well, I promised a gardener otherwise. And I'm more scared of her than I am you or Thanos, so get back up there."

"Steve." The stone glowed blinding for a moment, and Vision cried out. "Steve, please. He's getting closer. You must get Wanda. There is no other way. This – this is all we have left. I am sorry, but it is." His voice was shaking, now, although not from malfunction. The android was crying. "Please."

Steve closed his eyes for a moment and saw Eva Kresk stood in front of him: jaw clenched, pinky finger wrapped around his, skin wan beneath the tattoos. He thought of Bucky, falling from a freight train almost eighty years ago. The pain that he had felt then was incomparable. How could he knowingly inflict that on someone else?

He opened his eyes and met Vision's once more. "Please," he whispered again.

This was the choice. The terrible choice. It was easy to sacrifice yourself to save the world. The difficulty lay in letting someone else do the same damn thing.

Steve set Vision down again, as comfortable as he could make him. "Eva's gonna kill me," he murmured.

"She will forgive you. Go. And thank you, captain. For everything."

Steve straightened up, and saluted. "Godspeed," he said, as Vision returned the gesture. Then he turned and ran back into the fray.

"Wanda?" he said, into his comms piece. "Vision needs you. Now."

A/N originally I was gonna write all of IW from Eva's POV, but I realised I couldn't do that. And if there was ever a time that I could use someone else's perspective it's now, right? While they're still alive lol (I'm dead inside)