Back with another chapter. This one is cutting back to Barry and the Avengers.
Let's get to it.
Chapter 9- Return to Wakanda
Steve walks up to the front of the Quinjet, looking out of the windshield. "Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0," he orders.
"I hope you're right about this. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to," Sam replies. This arrival to Wakanda is a lot different than being breached there by Cisco the last time they came to the country.
The Quinjet noses down, heading straight towards what looks like a hillside. Right as the Quinjet hits the "hillside", it passes through the barrier, and the capital city of Wakanda comes into view ahead of them. Sam pilots the Quinjet over towards the palace, guided by Steve.
At the palace, T'Challa, followed by the Dora Milaje, head towards the landing platform to greet the arrivals. As they do, Okoye pipes up and says, "When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world, this is not what I imagined."
"And what did you imagine?" T'Challa asks curiously.
"The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks," Okoye responds.
Right then, the Quinjet lands. A moment later, the ramp lowers. Steve and Natasha lead the way, with Rhodey and Banner behind them, and Wanda and Sam bringing up the rear, supporting Vision between them. As they walk down the ramp, Banner asks Rhodey, "Should we bow?"
"Yeah, he's a king," Rhodey responds.
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve says as he walks up to T'Challa. The Wakandan king smiles back at Steve as the two shake hands.
Behind Steve, Banner clears his throat before bowing to T'Challa. Rhodey looks down at him and asks, "What are you doing?"
"Uh, we...we don't do that here," T'Challa says. Banner looks in confusion at Rhodey, who grins back at him. Banner rolls his eyes.
As he leads the Avengers towards the palace, T'Challa asks, "So, how big of an assault should we expect?"
"Uh, sir. Sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault," Banner answers.
"How are we looking?" Natasha asks.
"You will have my Kingsguard. The Border Tribe. The Dora Milaje. And…" T'Challa says, gesturing with his hand right as Barry races up with Morris.
"And us!" Barry says cheerfully. Wanda races over and hugs her husband, the brief separation already having been painful for her after two years of separation.
As the two embrace, Steve walks around them to Morris and extends his hand. "Thanks for being willing to help, Morris," he says.
Morris takes the offered hand. "No problem, Captain. I owe you guys for getting me out of that prison anyway. And, if you want, call me Hydro Man," he says, finishing with a grin, which Steve returns.
As Barry and Wanda separate, Barry smiles. "Look at this. We're finally back in the place we got married," he says.
Wanda looks around in surprise, that fact just hitting her. Then she smiles and kisses Barry. "You're right. And that's still one of the happiest days of my life," she whispers. Barry smiles and kisses her.
"Alright, love birds. Let's follow T'Challa," Natasha says teasingly. Smiling, the two follow Natasha's order and follow the group as T'Challa leads them to Shuri's lab on the outskirts of the city. Morris, Sam, and Rhodey stand guard outside while the rest of the group heads inside.
Once they get to the lab, Shuri greets them all before getting to work. She brings Vision over to an examination table and lays him down on a handheld device, she scans Vision, ending with the Mind Stone itself. Turning her hand upright, a hologram of the Mind Stone pops up, showing a clearer picture of its structure, and the energy flowing from it.
"Wow," Banner whispers, impressed by Wakandan technology.
"The structure is polymorphic," Shuri says.
"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Banner explains.
"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Shuri asks. Vision looks at Banner curiously.
"Because...we didn't have a ton of time, and we didn't think of it," Banner replies.
"I'm sure you did your best," Shuri replies a little arrogantly.
"Can you do it?" Barry asks Shuri.
Shuri looks at everybody, more serious now. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, brother," she explains.
"How long do you need?" Steve asks.
"As long as you can give me," Shuri responds.
Right then, a beeping draws everyone's attention. Okoye reaches down and activates her Kimoyo Beads, which bring up a hologram of Earth, and a red dot above it. "Something just entered the atmosphere," she says chillingly.
High above Earth, a Q-ship releases multiple drop ships, which streak down through the atmosphere towards Wakanda. Outside the lab, the three Avengers standing guard look up and see one coming down right at the city. But, over a thousand feet over the city, the drop ship hits the force field and is blown apart.
"I like this place," Morris says with a grin.
Rhodey, who is now in his armor, says, "Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We have more incoming outside the dome."
Multiple dropships come crashing down in the forest outside the force field. A shockwave, bringing dust and rocks with it, radiates out from the impact spots, breaking against the force field.
Inside the lab, everybody can see this happening. Grim looks are shared as they realize the battle is going to come far sooner than they expected.
Behind them, Vision props himself up on his elbow and says, "It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now."
Turning back to face him, Natasha sternly says, "Vision, get your *** back on the table."
"We will hold them off as long as we can," T'Challa says.
Steve turns to Wanda and says, "Wanda. As soon as that stone's out of his head, you blow it h***."
"I will," Wanda says.
She then turns to Barry. He smiles comfortingly and says, "You got this sweetheart." She nods, and they share another kiss.
As T'Challa starts walking out of the room, he orders, "Evacuate the city. Engage all defences." Then, pointing at Steve, he orders, "And get this man a shield!"
As Barry starts to follow T'Challa, Shuri calls out, "Barry!" Barry looks over to her. She smiles and says, "I have built a new suit for you. Okoye can show you where it is."
Barry nods, then follows Okoye out of the room. She leads him to side room, where there is a single mannequin, with a necklace around the neck, holding the Flash symbol on the end. Barry smiles as he replaces his current necklace with the new one, eager to give it a spin.
And, I'll end there. I know, it probably doesn't make much sense to end there, but I thought a nice cliffhanger was overdue. You'll get details on the design of Barry's new suit next chapter.
In the next chapter, I'll start switching viewpoints during the chapters between Wakanda and Nidavellir, which will last until Thor, Oliver, Rocket, and Groot arrive in Wakanda. It should only be two chapters.
I actually already have the next two chapters written. I'm just going to wait so they're not all published so close together, and to give me some time to proofread and edit. I also want to work on some of my other stories a bit. But, the next chapter should be up by Monday night (US time) at the latest. Until next time, please review, and stay tuned for the next one!