Chapter 19
"So, Hogwarts is real?", Ned asked Peter in amazement.
"Yeah, basically," his friend replied, "It's really cool! You've got all these guys doing magic, opening magic portals and other dimensions! They kickass! Literally. They kicked my team's ass."
"Whoa, dude, do you think there's a chance I could be a wizard?"
"If you want, Mr. Strange could probably add you to his class."
"OHMIGOSH!", Ned gleamed, "Could you imagine me as a wizard? 'Ned, get me those files!' Right away, Mr. Osborn! Then, boom! Open a portal! Get those files! Mr. Osborn adopts me!"
"Yeah! Wait, what?"
"What?", Ned quickly ignored what he just stated a second ago, "Hey, so, how's Mr. Osborn been doing by the way? New job and everything?"
"Yeah, he's been doing good. Real nice. He's been able to come up with a bunch of great ideas that saved our lives."
"He's pretty amazing, right? God, he's...he's kind of like Tony Stark in a way, right?"
"Ned, Mr. Osborn's cool and everything, but no one's ever gonna be Tony Stark. He was one of a kind," Peter shook his head, chuckling, "You really like this guy, huh?"
"I mean, yeah! He's helping me get through college. He's nothing but nice to my family."
"And the paychecks don't hurt, I'm guessing?"
"Yeah," Ned nodded wistfully, "It's just...after Rand Corp, Hammer Tech...Even Stark Industries. After all of them denied my applications, Mr. Osborn brought me on. Carried me under his wing. He's even teaching me a lot about how to survive in the business world."
Peter turned his head, noticing something, "Wait, Stark Industries turned you down? Why didn't you tell me?"
Ned sighed, "Peter, you're my friend and all, but I can't ask you for favors all the time. The Guy in the Chair must become the Man in the Chair sometimes."
"Man in the Chair doesn't have the same ring to it," Peter tried to joke, but he couldn't help but feel a little hurt that his friend didn't come to him for help, "So, Mr. Osborn's really someone you can trust?"
"C'mon, Peter, it's not like he's Mysterio or anything," Ned chuckled.
Peter started to slow his pace, Ned's words starting to sink in. He couldn't lie, a part of him couldn't help but think of Quentin every time he spoke with Mr. Osborn. How Osborn complimented him, joked around with him, it felt a lot like Beck. But at the same time, the stuff Peter found online about the man…
"Hey, you alright, dude?", Ned turned, a concerned look on his face before he realized what he just said, "Oh shoot, man, I...I didn't mean to bring up-"
"Nah, man, it's alright," Peter shrugged it off, "Look, I'm happy for you, man. Working with Oscorp. Moving up in the world."
"Thanks, bro," Ned smiled, grateful, "Hey, I've got a question."
"Shoot."
"You're friends with King T'Challa, right? You think I could get a Panther suit?"
"In your dreams!", Shuri laughed, looking up from her workspace, "Does every American boy want a Black Panther suit?"
The two boys shared a quick glance before looking back to the girl, "Yes."
Suddenly, Peter's back straightened, as he felt the hair on his body stand on its edges.
"GET DOWN!," he shouted as he leaped off the floor, grabbing Ned and Shuri in his arms.
An explosion blasted through the windows of the laboratory, glass, and rubble flying everywhere as the children ducked behind a table in the middle of the room.
Peter tightly clutched onto the two as Ned began to hyperventilate, "Oh god! Oh god! Oh god!"
"How did they break through the glass?!", Shuri yelled, trying to regain her focus.
"First question: Who is 'they'?!", Peter shrieked, ripping off his sweater to reveal his costume.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
"Oh crap," Peter mumbled, hearing the glider slowly enter the lab.
The three children slowly looked over the table to see three Green Goblins, all with orange bombs in their palms and malicious smiles on their faces as they began inching closer on their gliders.
"Well, well, well," the creature at the front smiled, "A spider, a little princess, and a human potato. You should make good target practice."
"Wow, this guy's a dick," Ned whispered to Peter.
The Goblin tilted his head, "Well, I know who I'm killing first."
"NED, GET OUT OF HERE!", Peter yelled, pushing his friend out of the way before jumping towards the floating freak.
The Goblins soared at the boy, one of the Goblin's claws wrapping around Parker's throat. Peter stretched his arms out and fired his webs at the Goblins flying past him at his sides. The white strands hit their backs and pulled them off of their hovercraft.
Shuri grabbed Ned's coat and pulled him up, rushing the boy out of the lab, "Come on, boy! We need to move!"
A swift kick to the green creep's face and Peter flipped back to the ground. All three Goblins slowly rose back to their feet and lit up their Goblin bombs, ready to strike the boy.
"Okay," Peter mouthed numbers as he counted the number of villains, "Three against one. Uh, bit unfair. Can, like, two of you fly away, maybe?"
One of the Goblins chuckled, "Oh, I cannot wait to see what color you bleed."
The three began rushing towards them, a flurry of green claws and flaming bombs. Peter ducked and leaped over each swipe. As one bomb was thrown at his face, he ducked out of the way and shot a web at it, slinging it back to detonate in his adversary's face.
Two of the Goblins swiped down at Peter at the same time before he kicked them away. They slid across the floor on their clawed feet and chucked their orange weapons at the boy.
"OH SHI-!", Peter yelped. He leaned as far back as possible as the bombs flew over his body, crashing right into one of his opponents and missing the other.
"Okay. One out of two. Not bad," the kid panted, ready for the fight to continue.
Meanwhile, Shuri was dragging Ned towards the exits, hoping to get the boy to safety.
"Move your legs, Mr. Leeds!", Shuri yelled, "This way!"
Ned was putting his finger to his earpiece, panting heavily, "Hello, this is Ned Leeds! The lab is under attack! Mr. Osborn? ANYONE?!"
As she darted across the building, the princess looked back to see the Goblin's gliders flying towards them.
"GET DOWN!", she yelled as she grabbed Ned and pulled his head down, one of the three gliders soaring over them and quickly stopping to a halt before them.
The hovercraft swiftly launched itself back towards its owner, crashing right into Ned and dragging him away, screaming.
"HELP!", the boy shouted as he gripped onto the thing for dear life.
"NO!", Shuri yelled as she tried to help him.
Two of the gliders, however, flew right at her. One of them sliced at her arm and the two machines began pushing up against her, trying to crush her. She spotted one of her vibranium gauntlets on the floor and tried to reach out to it, but the gliders kept pushing up against her
"Yes," the last Goblin standing grinned, the smile causing Peter to swivel his head around.
Peter quickly avoided the thing as the Goblin jumped up and landed right on top of it at the perfect second. It took a moment before Peter saw his friend clinging to the board, shrieking for a hero.
"PETER!", Ned screamed, his hand stretching out for his friend.
"NED!", Peter shouted, "Hang on, I'm coming!"
Unfortunately, the two Goblins still there decided to attack. As fast as Peter was, Peter-Tingle included, the creatures were just as swift, stretching his arms away from his body and forcing his hands open so he didn't fire his webs. Their feet began crushing down his legs as Peter's senses were going haywire.
"Ooh, a stowaway!", the flying Goblin smiled down at Ned, whose face was covered in sweat and whose fingers were growing quite sore.
"Please. Please," Ned gulped.
The beast lifted his foot up and quickly slammed it down on one of Ned's hands, "Hm. No super-strength. No tech. I'm gonna guess you can't fly either."
With one twist of a heel, the sound of Ned's fingers cracking was heard.
"Adios, kiddo," the green being smiled as he kicked the boy off the glider.
"HEEEEEEEEEEELP!", Ned screamed as his body plummeted down the vibranium mines.
"NED! NOOOO!", Peter screamed, tears welling in his eyes as his friend fell out of his sight.
For a moment, Spider-Man stopped struggling, horror coursing through his veins.
However, before he could react, two massive blasts took down the Goblins holding Peter and another managed to destroy the two gliders trying to turn Shuri into a Wakanda sandwich.
"What the-?!", the last Goblin could barely get a word in before a massive laser blew him out of the air.
"Uh, is now really the time to mourn, Webs?"
The two teens felt a wave of relief as they saw Norman Osborn floating before them in his armor, Ned being carried in his arms.
Ned clutched his chest, hyperventilating, "Holy shit *gasp* Holy shit *gasp* Holy-!"
"Shit?", Osborn finished the statement, "Did I get it right?"
The entire area shook as the heroes turned to see a fleet of Goblins flying towards them, ready to slay.
"Patriot to all fronts. I need back-up down in the mines!", Osborn placed a call to his workers before looking to Peter and Shuri, "Alright, I'm gonna get the Boy Wonder out of here. My team's on the way. Think you can hold 'em off 'till I get back?"
"We're on it!", Peter nodded, "Ned, hang tight!"
"Yeah, not planning on doing anything else," Ned gripped tighter onto his boss's armor.
"C'mon, Ned, not in front of the maniacal green men," Norman rolled his eyes as his helmet covered his face and he soared out.
Shuri covered her hands with her gauntlets and pushed one of the beads on her necklace, vibranium armor covering her body.
"That one of your brother's suits?", Peter asked.
"Prototype. Not all of us can fit our super-suits under our clothes."
"Yeah, it's not exactly comfortable. Looks nice on you."
"Tell me, are we really 'on it'?"
"Yeah, no. Not at all."
Shuri smiled, lighting up her tech, "Well, no use wasting time here!"
She dashed out the window and fired down under her, the blast propelling forward towards the battle.
Peter sighed as he tugged his mask down, "God, I miss Queens."
He sprinted out the window and began swinging towards the oncoming fleet.
…
Carol groaned, brushing the dirt off of her face. Around her was rubble and darkness, the sound of flames and debris crumbling down being heard.
"What the hell?", the blonde looked around, trying to get an idea of what happened. She remembered a massive blast crashing right into the building and her and the Asgardian falling through the floor.
She looked up, realizing that a certain king wasn't next to her, "Valkyrie? Valkyrie, where are you?"
The captain quickly rose up, lighting up her fists in order to get a better view. She squinted her eyes and only a few feet away from her was Brunnhilde, her body pinned under a massive hunk of rock.
The king grunted, trying to pick the enormous piece of rubble off of her body, "I...am going to destroy those green bastards."
Carol trudged over, cracking her knuckles, "Need a hand?"
"Oh no, I'm very comfortable lying down here, thank you very much," Brunn sarcastically replied.
"Yeah, yeah, hang on," Carol rolled her eyes as she grabbed the giant rock and began lifting it up, allowing Valkyrie to crawl out.
Carol reached out to grab Brunnhilde's hand and pull her up, but the king instead swatted the hand away. She may have freed her but it was only a few seconds since Valkyrie was about to turn the blonde into an Infinity Stone-powered Shish Kebab.
"Where are the others?", Valkyrie asked, trying to regain her senses.
"I don't know," Carol admitted, "Come on, we need to get to them before Yon's army strikes again."
The moment she said that, another explosion shook the building.
"Just had to say something," Brunnhilde noted.
"Okay. Go out and find the others. I'm gonna take down Yon's goons out there."
"Oh, you're giving me orders now?"
"Oh, so you know how to wipe out a whole fleet of warships with your bare hands?"
Valkyrie sighed before whipping out her sword, "Off to war we go."
As the Asgardian leaped back up and darted down the ruins of the halls, the intergalactic warrior cracked her neck and sighed.
"Yon, here I come," she muttered to herself before launching straight into the air and through the window.
She flew out to see five warships, all of their guns locked on her. With her fists stretching out forwards, Carol aimed herself at the spacecraft and began slamming right into them. Fire and smoke covered the woman's eyes but she persisted.
…
T'Challa's army marched outside as quickly as possible, the king and his future queen leading the charge with the general and the two ex-soldiers.
Sam touched his earpiece, panic in his eyes as he ran over the courtyard, "Danvers? Brunnhilde? This is Wilson! Where the hell are you guys?! Shit's about to go sideways and it would be nice to have Miss A-Bomb and the sword-wielding badass over here!"
"We've got company! Yon's fleet's attacking south side of the palace!", Brunnhilde yelled.
"How did they even get past our shields?", Okoye asked.
The earth trembled once more, sounding as though a massive vibration passed over everyone. The army looked up to see something pierce through the force fields protecting Wakanda.
An Accuser ship entered the nation's airspace, slowly floating towards the army menacingly. It slowly hovered over the city and edged towards T'Challa's troops.
"You know, you'd think I'd be used to giant armies from space by now," Bucky noted, worry slowly growing.
"The city?", T'Challa asked Nakia.
"Everyone is being evacuated as we speak," Nakia answered.
Out of nowhere, Carol crashed down next to T'Challa, the king's attention still focused on the oncoming threat.
"Valkyrie?", T'Challa spoke, wondering where the Asgardian was.
"Off looking for Strange and Maximoff," explained Carol.
"You said these guys were after vibranium, right?", Sam asked Carol.
"That's what Talos told me. Know where they can find any?"
T'Challa's eyes slowly widened with horror, Nakia and Okoye turning their gazes to him as they all shared the same thought.
"The mines," Okoye answered.
"Shuri," T'Challa whispered fearfully.
Sam once again tapped the device in his ear, "Rhodey? What's your status?"
"Sam, we're heading your way. We think we've got something that can level the playing field!", the War Machine replied.
"And my sister?", T'Challa joined the conversation.
"And Parker?", Carol included herself as well.
"Osborn and his crew's got them covered," Rhodes answered.
"Alright, I'm sending Danvers over to back you guys up," Sam decided.
"No," T'Challa disagreed, "Captain Danvers, we need you at the forefront. Cover the troops. Give us as much time as possible for us to prepare. Okoye, take the Dora to the mines. Get Shuri and Parker out of there and defend our mines. Spread the word. Everyone else, we board our ships and protect this nation to our dying breaths! Understood?"
"Yes, my king," Okoye saluted, her and her team proceeding to march towards the jets.
"On it, boss," Carol nodded before blasting off into battle.
"Everyone...TO ARMS!", T'Challa yelled.
His soldiers raised their weapons up and gave an energized yell, heading off towards their own battleships.
Sam stood there for a moment in stunned silence, amazed by the king's leadership qualities. No one even hesitated to follow T'Challa's orders. They quickly fell in line and trusted his leadership.
"Makes you wish you were king, huh?", Bucky joked.
"Funny," Sam bluntly replied before his wings sprung out from his pack, "Try to keep up, old man."
As Wilson jetted away, Bucky exhaled, "I need to get me one of those."
…
"Uh, you mind speeding up a little, man? We could kind of use a bit more thrust here," Scott tried to get the War Machine's attention.
"Backseat passengers don't get to complain, Short-stack," Rhodes replied.
Scott and Hope were holding on tightly to Rhodes's back as they soared as fast as they could over the city.
"You sure this gadget of yours will work?", Rhodey asked, concerned about the tech that was now kept within his armor.
Scott nodded, "Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure. 95-percent sure. Um, 70-percent. A good 65-perce- Hope, help me here."
"Look, the device should glitch out the Goblins' tech", Hope explained.
"Kind of makes me wish we did a test run before we got out here," the colonel sighed.
A loud humming noise signaled Scott to turn around, causing him to gulp with fear at the sight of what was behind him, "Uh, we might get that chance right now."
All three looked back to see scores of Goblins flying towards them, all cackling.
"HANG ON!", Rhodey warned the two.
He began to swerve to the left, hoping to evade the oncoming fleet, but it would take a lot more to get away from these gremlins.
"Alright, no more Mister Nice Machine", Rhodey groaned.
"You got a plan, Metal-Man?", Hope asked.
"More like a spontaneous decision. Hang tight!"
Rhodes spun over and lifted up his arms, guns coming out of his arms and massive cannons appearing from his back.
He began firing all he had at the Goblins, blowing up their gliders and causing them to plummet to the ground.
"Behind you!", Hope yelled out.
Rhodey turned and was quickly able to avoid a giant billboard in his way. He was now forced to narrowly avoid bridges and signs and whatever else came in his way, which was extraordinarily difficult when one was in a large suit of armor.
"Okay, keep it steady, Robo-Man. Ant-Man and the Wasp to the rescue," Scott looked up, whipping out a few shrinking discs.
"Uh, the Wasp and Ant-Man, thank you very much," Hope raised an eyebrow, readying her stingers.
"Okay, we'll talk about the branding later."
The Wasp released her grip and let her body be dragged away by the wind. Her wings popped out of her suit as she propelled herself towards the armada. She fired her blasters to distract a few of the beings before growing back to normal size, her feet slamming into their faces. She continued to shrink down and expand as she jumped back and forth to destroy each of the Goblins.
"She can fight," Rhodes spoke in awe.
"Yeah, she's a badass," Scott smiled wistfully, "Alright, let's see what ants Africa's got up its sleeve."
He jumped off the metal-clad hero and was quickly caught by a flying drone ant, an entire swarm following right behind him.
"Alright. African ant. Let's see," Scott patted the animal's head, "How about Tarz-Ant? Or Shak-Ant Zulu? Or-!"
"Scott!", Wasp yelled through the earpiece, exasperated.
"Right! Here we come!"
The swarm began covering the Goblins. They weren't able to pierce the armor, but they provided a good enough distraction. Scott began tossing his discs around, firing shrinking discs to take down the Goblins and growing discs at his ants. The ants would grow larger and weigh down the Goblins, causing them to fall.
Rhodey saw how some of the massive critters used their mandibles to crush their enemies, "Okay! Wow. Seeing a LOT of stuff I never wanted to see before today!"
"Yeah, I did not ask them to do that. These guys really like biting," Scott admitted.
Suddenly, a clawed hand grabbed Lang's throat and another grabbed his arms, preventing him from shrinking down, prepared to fillet the ex-con.
"Scott!", Hope yelled.
However, before she could jump in and save the man, the Goblin tilted its head as though it heard something. It tossed Scott away, the man quickly grabbing onto one of the passing ants.
The Goblins began to fly upwards, letting the heroes go and escaping.
"Whoa, did the device actually work?", Scott looked around, amazed.
"Hey, I didn't use it," Rhodes pointed out.
"Something else summoned them away," Hope realized.
…
"STRANGE?! MAXIMOFF?! Where are you?!", Valkyrie called out for the two, the side of the palace she was on in flames and barely holding together.
"VALKYRIE?!", cried out Maximoff's voice.
"Maximoff?! Where are you?!"
"Over here! Help!", the mutant once again yelled.
Valkyrie was able to get an idea of where the voice was coming from and began dashing off into that direction, "Hang on! I'm on the way!"
"Hurry! I can't hold on any longer!"
As the Asgardian drew closer to the source of the voice, she noticed that each yell for help sounded...odd. Almost sounding...glitchy.
Once she turned the corner, Valkyrie came face to face with three Goblins and three Kree soldiers, one of the green villains holding up some sort of audio device. All of them were standing in front of a massive pile of rubble, creating a large blockage in the hallway.
"Nice little gizmo, eh?", the Goblin with the device smirked.
The king glared, her grip tightening on her sword's hilt, "You have no idea how much I want your blue blood over my sword."
"Take your shot!", another Goblin interjected.
The Kree soldiers advanced, firing at the woman. She spun her blade as fast as possible, almost like a propeller, deflecting the blasts and slicing a few limbs off.
As Valkyrie skewered as many of her enemies as she could, the last remaining Goblin in the room prepared to fire at her when someone decided to join the fight.
A red tendril erupted from the rubble, stabbing the villain straight through the back. It screamed as red energy flowed through its veins, torturing every fiber of its being. It dropped to the ground, motionless.
"Bloody Hel?", Brunnhilde looked at the fallen Goblin, stunned by the horrific act she just witnessed.
Slowly, the pile of rubble began to move, the same scarlet energy pushing it away. Through the remains of the halls floated Wanda Maximoff, her pupils glowing brightly and her coat flapping through the breeze.
An amber portal opened behind her, Stephen Strange rising through it.
"Quite the display," Valkyrie tried to joke, but she was starting to grow a little terrified.
"Where are the others?", Strange asked, concerned.
"We've got Kree warships coming in. T'Challa and his men are heading off to face the Accuser ship. The bug boy, princess, and rich idiot are fighting those flying monsters in the vibranium mines."
"Alright. You two, find T'Challa," Strange ordered as he began opening a portal over the Wakandan grasslands.
"And what are you going to do?", Valkyrie asked.
"The Kree are after the vibranium and those three are going to be highly outmatched, even with Osborn's crew backing them," Strange explained.
Wanda nodded before reaching out to Brunnhilde, red mist swirling around the Asgardian warrior.
Brunnhilde gave a suspicious glance to Maximoff, clearly remembering that trip down memory lane the mutant took her on, before being carried off by the mist through the portal, Wanda flying right beside her.
…
Peter yelled with both fear and glee as he swung through the mines, leaping off Goblin after Goblin and knocking them off their gliders. He shot his webs at two Goblins and allowed himself to be dragged off by them like he was riding an invisible flying chariot, the webs acting as his reins.
"Okay! Here we go!", he screamed as he dug his heels into the cavern's walls.
He tugged hard at the webs and pulled them off of their gliders. The two villains were caught in the back of their necks by the web-head and were smashed together by Peter.
"Shuri?!", Peter looked around, fearful for his new comrade.
"WOOOO-HOOOO!", the princess yelled as she turned the power up on her gauntlets so high that she was blasting herself forward through the air. A single blast could tear apart the hovercraft of the flying menaces.
At one point, she began to quickly descend, plummeting towards what appeared to be a railway.
"HANG ON! GO LIMP!", Peter yelled, kicking off one of the Goblins to gain momentum and reach the girl on time.
He spread his arms out and began gliding over to her. With a flick of a wrist, Peter's webs caught Shuri's back. A flick of his other wrist and his webs hit one of the tall sonic stabilizers on the railway.
The two sprung back with the web acting like a bungee cord, soaring through the sky and over the rails. As they passed by another stabilizer, Peter grabbed hold of it with one arm and held onto the web sticking to Shuri's back with the other.
"THIS IS SO MUCH MORE FUN THAT DISNEYLAND!", Shuri cheered as she fired her gauntlets at more Goblins, the web keeping her from flying too far forward.
"Okay! I've got an idea!", Peter shouted at her.
He took a small jump off the stabilizer and let himself and Shuri fall to the ground, the princess being pulled back by the web still stuck to her body. He shot a web right underneath the railway and the two swung right beneath it like a pendulum.
"WOOOOO!", the two screamed as Shuri fired her blasts at any Goblins coming towards them.
Once they reached the top of their swing on the other side of the railway, they hovered in the air for a moment, right in front of one of the Goblins.
"Uh, hi," Peter awkwardly waved before firing a web-bullet at the monster's face, the thing growling in anger at the distraction.
Shuri chuckled as she swiftly pulled the device on her wrist and snapped a photo of the foolish fiend, "Ha! Classic!"
Before they could descend once more, another blast from Shuri's hands sent the two heroes flying back, crashing onto the railway.
"Why can I never just land on my feet?", Peter moaned, his masked face on the ground.
"I swear, if T'Challa does not invite me to join you people, I will put on a costume and make my own super team!", Shuri laughed, slowly rising back up.
"HAHAHAHAHA!"
The two looked over to find one of the fallen Goblins lying on his back a few feet away from them. His ears were busted, his left shoulder-plate was gone...
And his emerald mask was off.
Peter and Shuri shared a glance before they slowly began creeping closer to the fallen soldier. Shuri had her gauntlets ready and the lenses on Peter's mask squinted. With a trembling red-gloved hand, Peter reached out to get a better look at the thing under the suit.
"HAHAHAhaha..Ha... -...Help me," the thing weakly said.
A worried look was traded between the princess and the spider as they edged closer.
Peter gulped, "H-Hello?"
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Peter's senses suddenly tingled. He and Shuri quickly backed away when an orange bomb suddenly crashed into the fallen Goblin, exploding on impact.
The two teens peered up to see a green figure in a purple hooded cloak slowly hover down from the sky on his massive glider, his smile flashing brightly and his yellow eyes staring down at them.
"My, oh my!", the head of the Green Goblins grinned, "The fun we're going to have together."
…
The Kree's army hovered over the kingdom, a massive shadow blotting out the sun. The Wakandan troops arrived on the scene on their massive airships, Sam flying right above them.
"Bast, protect us," Nakia whispered as she eyed the gigantic vessel.
"It is not too late to turn around", T'Challa told her.
Nakia pondered for a moment before smirking, "What type of a queen would that make me?"
By the Goddess, I love this woman , T'Challa thought to himself.
"If you lovebirds are done, we've got a country to protect here," Sam spoke on the comms.
"Really love ruining the moment, don't you, Wilson?", Bucky replied, raising his weapon.
The jets eventually came to a halt in the middle of the city, a wide area with only some trees and grass. Right in front of the Wakandans was the floating figure of Carol Danvers, who was staring suspiciously up at the ship.
T'Challa's jet slowed down right next to Carol. The king and queen walked closer to the Infinity-powered hero while his army began to exit the craft and march on the ground.
"Nothing so far," Carol spoke, her eyes scoping the area.
The Falcon descended, staring at the vessel, his goggles enhancing his vision, "Not picking up anything."
"They the type of aliens who like making an entrance?", Bucky asked, firearm in hand.
Suddenly, a beam of light came from the ship and, just like with Kamar-Taj, Yon-Rogg appeared from it. This time, his Star-Force buddies decided to join up with him, all of them with looks of rage on their faces.
"So this is where it all happened," the Kree commander's eyes darted over the African nation, almost relishing the moment, "Where trillions of lives were wiped out with a mere snap...I remember that feeling. Watching my comrades fall down before me. Feeling my own skin become dust to be swept away by the wind."
"Yay, a sob story from the psychopathic alien," Sam interrupted, "You're not the only one hit by Thanos, asshole."
Yon couldn't help but smirk, "So brazen. A part of me admires that in your species."
"Yeah, that's a load," Carol chuckled without humor, "What was it you told me? 'Our emotions are a weakness?' 'Never let them take control of you?'"
As hard as he tried, At-Lass let out a short laugh, only silencing once given a glare from Yon.
"You guys seem to be doing great," Carol noted, "Love the new look, Minn. Really brings out your eyes."
"Crash and die in your own flames, Vers," the sniper coldly replied.
T'Challa stepped forward, looking Yon right in the eyes, "You are aware of the history behind my nation? Then, you should know that the Mad Titan himself was only a mere hindrance to my people. You will leave this planet and you shall not return if you value your own safety."
Yon took a few steps forward, hoping to intimidate the Wakandan, "And if we don't? If we decide to raze this land to the ground and show your world who's truly in charge?"
Carol stepped forward and lit up her fist, a bright flash erupting from it and surge of warmth passing over everyone. Yon's soldiers took a few steps back, concerned, but Yon stood his ground.
"Then we'll just have to remind you why you don't mess with Earth," she smirked, clearly ready to put this man in the ground.
Yon stared her directly in the eyes for the moment, his expression hard to read. It was as though he was deeply contemplating something. After a moment, he made a decision, "We only wish for your vibranium. In one hour, my army will be given access to your vibranium mines. If we do not receive this access within the hour, we will strike."
Minn-Erva looked to her commander, confused, "Sir, that wasn't-"
"One hour," Yon sternly repeated, "Better make a decision fast."
The Kree were beamed back up to their ship, leaving the Wakandan army to make a decision.
"Shit," Sam muttered.
…
"What the hell do you think you're doing?", Minn yelled Yon, confused and exasperated.
"Watch your tone," the commander stated, walking through the halls of his ship.
"The orders were to attack without hesitation. Wipe the city away immediately," Bron-Char argued.
"Change of plans."
"You speak of disobeying the Intelligence?", Att-Lass asked, concerned
Yon swiftly turned to the three, the furious look on his face silencing them.
"Keep the ship's cannons focused on the city. If they strike before the hour passes or fail to meet our demands, then we scorch this place and take what's ours."
"Yes, Commander," the three nodded, marching back to their stations.
Before she left, however, Minn turned around, curious, "Why give them time anyways?"
The commander was silent for a moment before answering, "What is a Kree but honor-bound."
"...You know she's not coming back, right?", she stated.
Yon paused for a moment, thinking over the sniper's statements before heading off, preparing for attack.