Guys! Infinity War came out today, but I don't know if I'm ready for that heartbreak again...

Anyway... timing seems impeccable as we are about to enter the Infinity War stage of this fic. So, get it out of your system, watch it many times, so that you're ready when the inevitable happens...right? :P

Also, does anyone else have an addiction to those Otome apps? I've got serious issues, I swear.

Enjoy

xo

Chapter 24

The Reunion

Steve watched as Sam piloted the Quinjet towards a familiar mountain range. It had been at least a month since his last visit, but this time he was feeling much more sombre about returning. "Drop to 2,600. Heading 030," he ordered Sam. He leaned forward, holding onto an overhead rail attached to the fuselage.

"I hope you're right about this, or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to," Sam warned, watching apprehensively as they flew towards the mountain range spread out before them.

Steve grinned as the Quinjet hit the mark in the cloaked shield of Wakanda, exposing the true Wakanda that lay beneath it, Golden city shining against the Wakandan sun. He glanced at both Natasha and Sam, enjoying the looks of astonishment currently written across their faces. "Yeah, I think we're good."

Sam landed the Quinjet on the landing pad, Steve heading to the back of the Quinjet and opening the ramp. As it lowered, he heard his fellow Avengers form up behind him. He glanced behind him, noting the grim looks on everyone's faces. Sam, Natasha, Wanda, Vision, Rhodey and Bruce, all of them had been quick to volunteer to stop the impending threat and to protect Vision without a second thought.

When Steve had called T'challa and explained the warning he had received from Bruce, he had also been quick to offer his services. As far as he was aware, T'challa was rallying his own forces for the impending attack. Steve turned back to face the front, as the ramp finished lowering, seeing T'challa, his Dora Milaje and army awaiting them at the bottom of the ramp. Steve led the way down to greet the Wakandan King.

"Should we bow?" Steve heard Bruce whisper behind him. He heard Rhodey murmur a reply but couldn't quite pick up what was said.

Steve offered his hand to T'challa, who accepted it quickly, exchanging a firm handshake. "Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said with a smile.

Beside him, he saw Bruce start to lower himself to the ground, glancing over at him in surprise.

"What are you doing?" Rhodey hissed, and Steve had to do his best to suppress a grin. Rhodey had clearly set him up.

"We don't do that here," T'challa said with an amused grin at the scientist. The Dora Milaje surrounding the king looked less than impressed with the scientist as T'challa motioned for them to begin to follow him as he led them towards the palace.

"So how big of an assault should we expect?" T'challa asked gravely, as his Dora moved into wide ranks on either side of the newly arrived visitors.

"Sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault," Bruce replied anxiously as he hurried along behind Steve. He recalled everything Bruce had warned them about at the Avengers old headquarters when they had gone to retrieve him, in awe of the detail Bruce had been able to tell them of what to expect.

"How are we looking?" Steve asked, looking to T'challa as they walked.

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, we are contacting the Jabari as we speak," T'challa began to rattle off his available forces and then grinned as he looked past some awaiting Kingsguard. "And..."

"A semi-stable 100-year old man," a familiar voice interjected. Steve looked ahead as the Kingsguard separated to reveal a grinning Bucky striding towards them.

Steve was quick to move to Bucky, hugging his old friend. "How have you been, Buck?"

Bucky pulled back from the hug first, still grinning. "Not bad, for the end of the world." Steve gave a light laugh, his friend's warm grin brightening his day immensely as he looked around at the other assembled Avengers. He was about to take him over to greet the others when there was the sound of another jet soaring overhead, banking hard before beginning to lower to the ground. Steve noticed the other Avengers all looked rather nervously at the newly arrived aircraft, and turned to look at T'Challa, noting the King seemed to be grinning. That grin could mean only one thing.

Bucky and Steve began to walk towards the jet as the ramp lowered, both looking into the jet expectantly. Steve glanced at Bucky in the corner of his eye and couldn't help but notice his friend looked very eager as he looked to the jet. They both stopped a few feet from the ramp, waiting as a familiar figure appeared through from the shadows of the interior of the jet.

"G'day fellas," came the familiar Australian accent as she stepped into the sunlight. Her hair was no longer the extremely burgundy red colour it had been when she'd left, but back to a golden blonde, tied back into a high pony tail, tossing it over her shoulder as she stepped off the ramp.

"Lex," Bucky greeted as she walked towards them, smiling warmly at the female super soldier. Steve couldn't help but notice the way Bucky looked at her. He had never looked at anyone like that before, even when they were kids, and he was chasing skirts all over Brooklyn.

She stopped in front of them, grinning from ear to ear as the Dora major stepped off behind her, Lex looking back and nodded to her as she moved to fall into rank behind the General. Lex turned back to look at the pair. "I hear you guys needed some crazy," she said with a malevolent grin, raising her eye brows once.

Steve sighed, clearly she hadn't changed at all while she was away. "Good to see you, Lex," he said, offering her a handshake. She raised an eyebrow as she glanced at his hand. She seemed to analyse the hand for a moment before slowly reaching for it herself. He held her hand firmly, giving it a slight shake. "Glad to have you on the team, again."

"I never left, Cap," she replied with a crooked grin and a wink.

Her gaze slid to Bucky and her grin changed to something much warmer. "How you doing, Bucky?"

"Really good, I'm glad you're home," he said, before quickly stepping forward and pulling her into a hug. Steve raised both eyebrows at Bucky's straightforward approach to Lex. He couldn't help but knowingly grin at the pair.

Lex seemed just as surprised, but she eventually returned the gesture, wrapping her arms around him, her cheeks becoming gradually pinker by the second. He saw her eyes dart to look at him, but he quickly averted his gaze, glancing back to look at his fellow Avengers.

Those that had already met Lex were staring, mouths slightly agape and stunned by the interaction between the two, while Bruce just looked confused.

Lex was the one to finally pull away from Bucky, looking past him to the waiting gathering. "I suppose I should thank T'challa for the pick up."

"Yeah, might be nice. I imagine Shuri is probably waiting for us too," Steve replied, considering he knew how much the teen looked up to Lex, for some strange reason that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Heh, probably," Lex replied as Steve led the way back towards the others. "How's the arm she gave you, Bucky?" she asked, looking at his dark coloured prosthetic. Steve hadn't been able to have a proper look at it yet, but it was clearly made from vibranium and seemed sleeker than his old one.

"Haven't tested it yet," he replied before raising it up and making a fist to show her the new prosthetic.

She grinned in response. "I'll help test it, if you want," she offered, teasingly raising an eyebrow.

Steve gave her a warning look. "Not really the time for it," he muttered as they approached T'challa. Steve stopped by the other Avengers before T'challa.

Lex poked her tongue out at him before stepping in front of T'challa. "Your highness," she mocked, pretending to move to curtsy.

"Eh, already making fun and not even here five minutes," Okoye scolded her immediately.

"Would you expect any differently, General?" Lex asked pointedly. The Dora Milaje General looked at her with a serious expression, before a small smile spread across her face. She offered her arm to Lex and she returned the gesture by tapping her forearm against Okoye's. Lex looked to T'challa. "Thanks for sending Ayo with the jet."

"Thank you for answering our call," T'challa answered warmly, nodding to the tall Australian. "Shuri is expecting you, she has some new toys for you."

Lex grinned malevolently, a smile Steve was all too familiar with, before rubbing her hands together. "Oh, goody." She moved past him, heading down to the labs herself, while T'challa led the others down after her.

Bucky stood back, watching as Shuri greeted Lex with all the exuberance and excitement of a teenager, making his fellow super soldier look quite uncomfortable.

When Shuri stepped back and began gushing animatedly to the Australian, he looked her over again. She was wearing a pair of fitted jeans that hugged her curves, with a maroon top and a dark green leather jacket. Gone was the burgundy red locks, replaced with long blonde hair, similar to what she had when he'd first met her in Bucharest, and it was tied back into a high ponytail that draped down her right shoulder. She looked like she might have spent some time in the sun, her skin seeming to glow with a healthy tan.

Shuri handed Lex two black cuffs, causing Lex to look down at them in confusion. "Uh, not sure looking fly in the accessories department is gonna help me in the field, Shuri," Lex said looking sideways at Bucky with a cheeky grin. He smiled at her, shaking his head at Lex's usual light hearted attitude. He had to admit, he had kind of missed it.

"Oh, this will. It's the same technology as T'challa's armour," Shuri replied, taking the cuffs back off her and sliding them over her hands. She walked behind her, sticking a little clear disk to the back of Lex's ear, before holding her own Kimoyo beads up to her ear and pressing one of the beads, making the little clear disk, glow. "Okay, think about activating the armour."

Lex frowned, glancing sideways at Bucky, who moved to take a seat at one of the work benches, looking at her expectantly. She shrugged off her leather jacket, revealing her toned arms. "I've seen what T'challa's armour does to his clothes, I'm rather attached to this jacket, thanks." She tossed it over to Bucky, who caught it easily, tossing it across a work bench, before watching as she began focusing her gaze on a point straight ahead.

Within moments of her face becoming focused, a navy blue armour began to form all over her body. "Good god!" Lex exclaimed, jumping slightly as it continued to spread its way across her body. Bucky watched in awe as the armour sheared off the clothing as it spread, dropping pieces of fabric to the floor.

It took a few seconds to complete, but soon, Lex was completely armoured from feet to neck in navy blue armour, with black detailing. Bucky stared in awe at her in the figure hugging armour as she began to move her arms and legs, testing the manoeuvrability of the outfit.

"Wow," Bucky murmured. He'd never seen anything like it before, Shuri was constantly surprising him with her gadgets and knowledge.

"I'm not gonna lie, that was freaky," Lex said, looking slightly perturbed. Bucky chuckled at her reaction while Shuri scowled. "I mean, I'm not saying it's not great, it's just going to take some getting used to."

"Well, you'd better get used to it fast," Steve said, entering the lab with T'challa, Natasha, Bruce and Wanda holding up a struggling Vision. T'challa led Wanda and Vision further into the lab so that Vision could rest on one of the high tech medical tables that Bucky was so familiar with.

Steve stopped before Lex, appraising her for a moment, a small smile spreading across his lips. Bucky furrowed his brow at his best friend, feeling a slight annoyance at Steve for some reason, but he was quick to suppress it. It was a strange feeling, but the way Steve looked her over had Bucky on edge.

"You ready to play the good guy, again?" Steve asked, raising his eyebrows after looking her over.

"Ha ha," Lex sneered with an eye roll. "You've been waiting five months to say that to me, haven't you?"

Steve grinned back at Lex, shrugging his shoulders. "You know it's true."

"You've got your shining armour now, what more proof do you need?" Bucky chimed in, remembering what she had said to him about her being the dragon, seeing the perfect opportunity and taking it.

She pressed her lips together, narrowing her eyes at both super soldiers, making them both grin, before moving to walk away.

"Hey, I'm not done with you yet! Your armour also features magnets at the back to hold your weapons and a self defence mechanism that activates when it feels your heart rate either dropping or spiking," Shuri exclaimed, hurriedly pressing one of her Kimoyo beads and activating a sand table that revealed a black weapon, that resembled a rifle of some sort, and a small black rod. "You'll be needing these."

Lex frowned before picking up the short black rod. "This, I know." She attached it to her back without a second thought, before looking to the other item. "But what the hell is this?"

"Well, I know you're trained in weapons such as guns and rifles, I thought perhaps you would feel more comfortable having one for the impending fight?" Shuri replied, picking it up carefully and handing it to Lex.

The female super soldier hoisted up the rifle up, inspecting it. "Ammunition?"

"Not necessary, it's a blaster, much like my hand blasters, but much more powerful. Capable of firing thirty rounds in thirty seconds. Or if you flick this switch," she moved towards Lex and motioned to a button near the trigger. "It can fire a sonic wave that will hold an enemy for thirty seconds."

Lex looked impressed, glancing sideways at Bucky. He had to admit, he was impressed too, but he preferred the old school method, lead bullets, gun powder and knives. "Well, kid, you've outdone yourself," Lex praised the teen, hoisting the rifle onto her shoulder with a smile. Bucky watched as the teen looked proudly back at Lex, before turning to look at her brother who was returning from the furthest room. "Is he ready?" T'challa nodded, turning to walk back into the other room.

Shuri hurried away, while Lex looked to Steve. She glanced at his uniform, her eyes seeming to linger at his chest. She glanced at Bucky, shooting him a questioning look. He understood her confusion. Steve's uniform had changed, it was well worn, naturally, having been utilising it quite often since their fight in Leipzig. But the thing that he had noticed straight away upon Steve's return was that the once recognisable Stars and Stripes theme to the uniform, was blacked out.

Bucky had a feeling he knew why, but he had thought better than to raise the subject with his friend. Naturally, the change had been picked up by Lex immediately and Bucky watched as her eyes seemed to narrow slightly and she bit her lip, before hoisting her rifle to her back so it attached to the magnets at her back too.

"Where do you need me, Steve?" Lex asked, her eyes looking back up to meet the Captain's, a resolute and expectant look on her features.

Steve seemed to appraise her again, before looking to Bucky. He couldn't help but note there appeared to be a tinge of sadness in his expression, but for what reason, Bucky wasn't sure. He unfolded his arms and stood straighter, nodding to them both before turning and beginning to bark out instructions to everyone.

xo

Krayzee