Hey gang, long time between visits.

Apologies for taking so long to add another chapter, being back in retail means going flat chat right up until New news is I got a new computer for myself for Christmas/birthday so perhaps I will write more in the next few months. At least, until Endgame... then I might die...

Many thanks to go around:

Thanks to my reviewers AliceCullen3, ShigureAyameHatoriFanClub and jingerr.

Also thanks to my new follows/favourites Girlwithnosoul, ebarnea25, Cakewhiz, ShigureAyameHatoriFanClub, Chally88, , christoffer Mrch, jingerr, abbydobbie, BeautifullySarcastic22, bribri1300, Slyshy21, Emily01111, Spirit92, keliawb and Daisy96.

And a huge thank you to those that have been following since the beginning and are still hanging around, you guys rock too!

Enjoy

xo

Chapter 26

Knight In Shining Armour

As they stood atop the hill, watching over the tree line, the tree tops showed signs of being disrupted.

"Time to party, kids," Lex muttered, hoisting her new blaster into her shoulder and then looking through the scope towards the tree line.

There was a thunderous roar and growling, before the first group of hideous and gruesome looking creatures burst through the tree line. They looked like something out of a horror movie. Hairless creatures, with gnashing teeth, that ran on all fours. Their skin was slightly translucent, so you could see their veins pulsing through their skin.

"What the hell?" Bucky breathed in disgust, voicing what must have been everyone else's thoughts.

Natasha looked sideways past Bucky to Steve. "Looks like we pissed her off."

"SHIELDS!" T'Challa ordered, his Kingsguard immediately engaging their cloak shields.

Outside the dome, the aliens began throwing themselves at the energy shield, in an effort to break through. They piled atop each other, some managing to overwhelm the powered shield momentarily, but then being sliced in half as it regenerated around their bodies as they tried to climb through the gaps.

Okoye watched on in disgust. "They're killing themselves."

Sam soared overhead, flying along the interior of the shield and looking down at the throngs of aliens. "Have you seen the teeth on those things?" He began to fire on the creatures in an effort to slow them down.

"Alright, back up Sam, or you're gonna get your wings singed," Rhodey warned as he flew in closer. He flew by a section that had been breached by the aliens and dropped a barrage of small incendiaries, lighting up the inner edge of the dome. The creatures that had made it through paid no heed, continuing to try and breach the shield even as their skin was burning away.

Sam circled back, shaking his head in disbelief. "Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get behind us…there's nothing between them and Vision."

Lex, Natasha and Bucky all turned to see the creatures beginning to run along the outer edge of the dome, indeed appearing to try and flank them towards the other side of the city.

"Then we better keep 'em in front of us," Steve murmured, a discernible look on his face.

Okoye looked to T'Challa expectantly. "How do we do that?"

T'Challa glanced towards Steve knowingly. "We open the barrier." He reached up, putting his hand to his ear. "On my signal, open north-west section seventeen." He was quiet for a moment, as if listening to someone's response. "On my signal," he confirmed with a slight nod and sombre expression.

M'Baku leaned down to murmur to Okoye, who stood stoically beside him, watching as the aliens continued to bombard the shield. "This will be the end of Wakanda."

Okoye didn't look away from the aliens attacking, her expression changing to one of determination. "Then it will be the noblest ending in history."

Bucky grimaced slightly and glanced sideways to Lex, to see if she had heard.

She met his gaze and shrugged nonchalantly. "Mate, a century is a damn good run, be a good way to go, I say," she answered his unspoken question.

He looked to Natasha standing on his other side, to see her blink a few times before leaning forward to fix Lex with a look of chagrin. "That's extremely morbid of you."

Lex raised an eyebrow as she looked down to the smaller Russian spy. "You expected anything less, Romanoff?"

Bucky chuckled quietly to himself, as Natasha frowned slightly before nodding and turning her attention back to the situation at hand. He looked back towards the incoming alien attack.

"Wakanda Forever!" T'Challa shouted, crossing his hands over his chest as his armour helmet covered his face, before charging down the hill towards the barrier with his army close behind him.

Steve joined him, keeping pace with the Wakandan King easily, streaking far ahead of the advancing army.

"Now!" T'Challa gave the signal and the barrier was opened, a small section, only wide enough for maybe two humans to fit through, yet several of the hideous aliens tried to fit through at once, causing a jam. Those that made it through rushed towards the Super Soldier and Wakandan King.

"COVER FIRE!" Lex shouted, taking charge of the army left on the hill, firing her own blaster as she made the order. Her aim was true and hit a charging alien just before Steve could reach it. Steve slid to halt, staring in surprise at the burning mass in front of him. "You're welcome," she muttered with a smirk before continuing to fire on the incoming aliens.

Bucky and the remaining forces on the hill opened fire, including the Hulk Buster being piloted by Bruce Banner, trying to suppress the ongoing onslaught of aliens that continued to charge through the gap in the barrier. It was not easy, as the aliens started making their way towards those on the hill.

"PREPARE FOR HAND TO HAND!" Lex shouted to the Wakandan forces around them, continuing to fire at the approaching waves of aliens. The Hulk Buster charged past them, beginning to stomp through the mass of aliens, while Lex and Bucky both began to try and offer covering fire to him. It was starting to prove futile, as the mass of aliens was beginning to overwhelm them.

"There's too many!" Bruce shouted as his suit was overwhelmed by aliens climbing all over it, beginning to try and bite through the thick armour of the battle suit.

Natasha thrust her twin batons down, an electrical crackling emanating from them as several blue rings lit up down the shaft. She moved to run down the hill, but Lex was quicker, sprinting past the Russian and down the hill towards the Hulk Buster.

"Hang on!"

Bucky turned in time to see her, bringing his weapon around to aim towards her. "Lex, watch out!" he warned, beginning to offer cover fire as she tried to make her way down through the throngs of attacking aliens, ducking and weaving in an effort to avoid the alien attacks. She fired several rounds at the mass of the aliens attacking the Hulk Buster, knocking them away, but more seemed to take their place.

It didn't take long until she was surrounded. She eyed the aliens for a moment, as they began to circle her, gnashing their teeth and growling menacingly. "Well, now, shall we play a game?" she asked with a malevolent grin as she looked around. She slung her blaster to her back slowly, taking her stave from her thigh and activating it, the recognisable blue Vibranium blades shining brightly at the ends of the weapon.

The aliens leapt at her and she immediately began fighting them off, ducking and rolling to avoid their sharp claws and teeth, while slicing through their translucent skin with the small Vibranium blades of her stave. But even she was beginning to be overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of the attack.

"Lex!" Bucky shouted as he moved to try and reach her, but he was soon tackled by more aliens, piling on top of him and trying to tear at him, and each other, as they fought to bite into his flesh. All around the hills of Wakanda, the allied forces were struggling to make ground against the alien forces, the huge numbers of aliens with no regard for their own well-being, constantly pouring through the barrier seemed to increase rather than decrease.

Lex let out a yelp of pain as one of the aliens bit down hard into her shoulder, causing Bucky to fight with more vigour in a bid to help his friend.

"LEX!"

Natasha turned her attention to Lex, having heard Bucky's panicked cry, as did several of the Kingsguard, who also began trying to move to her aid, but all found their progress impeded by more aliens. There was a sickening crack, followed by the sound of gut-wrenching squeals. Bucky feared the worst as he tried to fight off the aliens piling on top of him, looking in her direction while still holding alien jaws at bay.

An alien's head was flung from the pile on top of Lex, as more were thrown back as she stood up, her eyes dark and face menacing. The aliens around her seemed to falter as they took her in, bloodied and menacing. She was breathing heavily, her eyes looked wild, although completely black as she looked around at all the aliens surrounding her, seeming to size them up.

Before anyone could take action, a large beam of light burst through the clouds, turning everyone's attention from Lex. It hit the ground nearby, and the Avengers and Wakandans who weren't currently fighting off a large pile of aliens stopped to look up in awe, as an axe flew out from the column of light, slicing through the air and electrocuting the aliens with the ebbs of lightning emitting from the weapon, or slicing them in half as it soared by.

The axe tore through the pile of aliens atop Bucky and the Hulk Buster, allowing them to get back to their feet and fight, as well as those surrounding Lex, who also leapt into action and began taking more down as the axe passed by. Bucky was quick to hurry to Lex's side, knocking down a few aliens as he made his way towards her.

"Lex, are you okay?" he asked her, as she spun her stave and sliced another alien across the throat with her back to him, slowing as he approached her. He was well aware that the extra component in her blood had obviously been activated and that she could be very unpredictable. She straightened slightly, before turning her head to one side to look at him. He could just make out her eyes behind her hair that had fallen loose from its binds, falling around her shoulders.

The darkness was easing within them, the brown of her eyes beginning to return. She was breathing heavily as she looked back at him. "Yeah, I'm okay." He moved closer towards her, as she turned around to face him. He noted she seemed to be favouring her left shoulder, clearly the armour Shuri had provided her had prevented the aliens from breaking the skin, but it hadn't stopped them from breaking the bones. He grimaced slightly as she spun her stave around in her hands as if to make a point. "Don't worry about me, we've got bigger fish to fry," she said, before throwing her stave and piercing through an alien as it tried to charge up behind him. Bucky looked back, smirking slightly as she strode past and pulled her stave from between the alien's eyes where it had embedded.

They all looked around as the axe returned to the column of electricity and light, which began to ease instantly upon the axe's return. A large man appeared, wearing armour of silver and black with a red cape, a creature that resembled a raccoon on his shoulder, and a tree that moved as if it were human by his side.

"Thor?" Steve murmured, noticing the missing Avenger. Thor caught his axe, electricity flowing around his body as he looked towards the alien ships with a grim determination.

Bruce retracted the Hulk Buster's helmet and began laughing manically. "Hah! Hah! Hah! You guys are so screwed now!"

Lex ran by Bucky, drawing his attention, as she tried to avoid an alien that had charged her, before leaping into the air and flipping backwards, all while swinging her stave. She sliced through the alien's neck, and it dropped to the ground at his feet with a thud.

"Gross," Bucky groaned as the alien's blood splashed onto his boots, stepping backwards.

"Pansy," Lex teased, before looking around. "Now, where did that blaster go?"

Bucky looked at her incredulously. "Really, you lost your weapon?"

"Uh, no…they stole it, thank you very much," she retorted, before slicing through another alien as it ran at her. She looked down at it as it gurgled its last breath. "Honestly, it wouldn't surprise me if I found it inside one of these things," she muttered, kicking at it.

Bucky shook his head before taking aim and beginning to fire his weapon again. "Just stay close to me."

"Aww, you gonna be my knight in shining armour?" Lex asked, turning her back to Bucky as he continued to shoot at the charging aliens, until more lightning and electricity shot across the battlefield.

He turned to look towards the source. "Uh, nope, he might though," Bucky replied as the lightning subsided again and Thor caught his axe. Lex turned to look for herself, appraising the Asgardian with a slight frown on her face.

Thor looked towards the gap in the barrier before charging forward with his axe raised and causing more lightning bolts to eradicate from his body. "BRING ME THANOS!" he cried out angrily. He charged toward the hoards of aliens, followed by the strange tree creature and raccoon, which was carrying a rather large and menacing looking gun that was almost bigger than he was.

"That's a little too cliche for my liking..." Lex said, before ducking as another alien lunged at her. She sliced at it as it turned to attack her again, taking first one leg, then another, before slicing it across the neck.

Bucky resumed firing at the aliens that made it past Thor and his friends, slowly making his way down hill, Lex sticking to his back and preventing any aliens from flanking him. They soon found themselves being circled by a rather large number of aliens, and somehow, the raccoon was trapped with them. Bucky continued firing his rifle, until he realised that if he didn't do something drastic, they would end up surrounded as all three began backing towards each other. He glanced at the raccoon who was also still firing. "Lex, get down!" he ordered, before picking up the raccoon by the back of his armour.

Lex dove onto the ground as Bucky and the raccoon both continued firing their weapons, while Bucky spun, taking down alien after alien.

"Come and get some, space dogs!" the raccoon shouted, puzzling Lex slightly as she looked up at Bucky and the creature from the ground. "Come on! Get some! Get some! Come on!"

Finally, all the aliens around them were felled, and Lex sat up as Bucky dropped the raccoon.

"I take it back," Lex sighed, as Bucky reached down to offer her his Vibranium hand and helped her to her feet with ease. He looked at her in slight confusion as she straightened. "About seeing a lot of shit?"

He recalled the conversation back atop the hill as they had been waiting for the start of the attack. "Yeah?"

Lex looked at the raccoon, that seemed to be analysing Bucky. "This…this definitely takes the cake." He knew what she meant. He had never seen anything like the raccoon before. But before he could ask the raccoon anything, it addressed him, completely oblivious that they had been referring to him.

"How much for the gun?" the raccoon asked, looking up at Bucky's light sub-machine gun as Bucky turned and fired at more incoming aliens.

"Not for sale," Bucky replied bluntly continuing to fire upon the creatures. Lex activated her stave again, ready to defend Bucky and herself again, as the raccoon continued.

"Okay, how much for the arm?" it asked. Lex raised her eyebrows and glanced sideways at the raccoon, doing her best to stifle a laugh, while Bucky stopped firing and shot a look of disdain at the raccoon. He walked away with a look of annoyance on his face, turning his back to the raccoon. The raccoon grinned malevolently. "Oh, I'll get that arm," he muttered aloud to himself.

"I wouldn't push your luck, raccoon," Lex replied, picking up a fallen spear and throwing it at an attacking alien, skewering it to the ground.

"Don't call me a raccoon!" the creature exclaimed indignantly as it continued to fire at aliens as well. "Quill calls me that all the time. I get the feeling it's not a nice thing to be called!"

"I wouldn't say that, they're rather cute and clever animals, if you ask me," Lex replied, slicing away at another alien attacking her. Once she had finished fending it off, she looked back to see the furry creature looking at her with a tilted head and curious expression on his face. "What do I call you, if not raccoon then?"

It seemed taken aback slightly but recovered quickly. "It's Rocket."

"Very well, Rocket," Lex said matter-of-factly, before her eyes darted to look behind him and a serious expression appeared on her face. "Duck."

He looked alarmed as she attached her stave to her thigh holster and then sprinted towards him, but he did as instructed, and she leapt high into the air over him, drawing two small blades from her wrists, before flipping and landing on one of the aliens as it tried to charge towards them, plunging the blades into the alien's shoulders. She clung to the alien, straddling it, before trying to cause the alien to turn by twisting the blades. The alien charged through its comrades, knocking them away from Okoye and M'Baku as she ploughed through.

"'scuse me! Coming through!" she shouted.

The alien started trying to buck her from its back, jumping wildly and throwing itself backwards, until she was thrown off and tumbled along the ground. She looked up towards the ugly creature, as it began stalking towards her as she struggled to her hands and knees, quick to push her loose hair from her face and eye the large alien. "Oh, boy."

She slowly began reaching for her stave at her thigh, trying not to provoke the alien, but it snarled and began running towards her with great speed. She was quick to draw her stave, activating the Vibranium blades, but before she could get to her feet and swing her weapon a broad back appeared before her, there was a flash of lightning and the sound of heavy metal striking through bone.

She raised her eyebrows in surprise as Steve stepped aside and looked back at Lex wearily. "You okay?"

"Never better, you?"

Steve sighed before motioning with his hand to the situation around them. "So, so."

"You know I had that, right?" Lex muttered, slicing nonchalantly through another alien that tried to run by her at Steve.

"Sure, that's what it looked like," Steve mocked with a tired grin.

She narrowed her eyes at him, before glancing past him to see Thor chopping through an alien with his axe. Steve turned to follow her gaze, as Thor happened to also turn to look at them at that moment. He nodded towards the pair in greeting. "New haircut?" Steve asked, motioning to the Asgardian's shortly cropped hair.

"Noticed you've copied my beard," the Asgardian replied, motioning to his own face. Steve grimaced and sighed before chuckling. "And you've got a new friend, I see?"

Steve looked back to the female super soldier who had her attention on the alien she was currently fighting off. "Oh, yeah, this is Lex," he said, motioning to her.

She finished off the alien before turning to nod towards Thor. "Pleasure."

"It's all mine, fine lady," Thor replied, grinning wide at her, an impressed look on his face. She raised her eyebrows and glanced sideways at Steve. He shook his head slightly, imploring her not to ask questions with the look on his face. Before she could say anything in response, the walking tree ran towards them, in the process of attacking several aliens at once, impaling them with his arm that grew to a great length with pointed end. Lex nodded approvingly towards it as it dropped the now dead aliens. "By the way, this is a friend of mine, Tree," Thor introduced, motioning to the tree.

"I am Groot!" it shouted, sounding somewhat agitated.

Steve moved his hand to his chest, looking at Thor's friend, Groot, meaningfully. "I am Steve Rogers."

Lex stared at the trio incredulously before shaking her head in disbelief. "I am out of here…" she charged away to attack another influx of alien attackers.

"I like your new friend," Thor commented, watching as she slid along the ground to avoid a lunging alien, the blade of her stave slashing through it as she slid by.

Steve sighed. "You think you like her now, just wait until you get to know her…"

Alrighty!

I'm hoping I will at least get to 'that' moment by the end of the month.

For those that enjoy this fic, you might also enjoy my other fic... "Forgotten" which I am updating with two new chapters in the coming hours.

xo

Krayzee