War

Chapter 13

The fighting below had begun. The barrier opened and the fighting only grew worse as the two sides met in battle. Raptor couldn't help but glance back at where Shuri had barely started on her work and while she was clearly working quickly with her skills, she wasn't anywhere close to being done.

Shuri's comm went off a few minutes later and T'Challa's voice sounded from the other side. Raptor couldn't hear what he was saying but Shuri's response wasn't encouraging. "We've barely begun, brother."

"I hope she can pick up the pace..." Raptor shifted and started pacing as she stared down at the fighting. "The battle hasn't been going on that long. Is it going that badly? It does look outnumbered. I should've gone to help... I'm such a coward. What if Pietro dies because I stayed behind to watch over a room they most likely wouldn't reach?"

She half considered leaving before taking a deep breath and standing firm. Wanda was strong but if anyone got to this point she might still need help. Vision was the priority here and he had to be defended until Shuri was done and could remove the stone without killing him. It still pained her to see their soldiers and her comrades falling under the army of Outsiders- Raptor wasn't even sure where Pietro was among the masses down there.

"There's so many... what if he can't use his speed enough with such a confide battlefield?"

"Look." Wanda's voice broke her thoughts and she turned to look in the direction Scarlet Witch pointed out.

A rainbow colored light fell onto the battlefield and Raptor watched with growing hope as a war axe with lightning crackling around it flew through the battlefield. "Thor's here!"

Two other figures stood by the Asgardian and several figures around the new arrivals paused to look over at them. However, the pause didn't last long, as Thor seemed to shout something before charging forward into battle. Raptor grinned at the crater he left upon landing and continued watching for a few more minutes before looking beyond where the shield once stood as a rumbling sound rose up from the battlefield. Spiked Threshers shredded through the tree line and onto the battlefield, causing the Wakanda army to fall back.

"They can't defeat that." Wanda stared down anxiously at Sam and Rhodey's attempts to find weak spots in the Thresher armor. "I-I have to go down there..."

Raptor turned to face her and nodded. "Go, I can guard Shuri and Vision."

Once more she hesitated before giving in and leaving Raptor alone to guard the stone and Shuri. Was this going to be a mistake? No one had made it here so far... "So far but what if they break through now? Can Shuri really finish this in time before that happens? Or before Thanos shows up to retrieve the stone?"

A growl rose in her throat as guards shouted outside the room before falling eerily silent. Raptor looked over at Shuri with worry, though the woman already seemed to know someone was coming considering how much faster she'd started working to finish up and disconnect Vision. She turned back towards the entrance and shifted forms in preparation for a fight. Moments later Corvus Glaive entered and Shuri sent a blast of energy at him before being knocked over the balcony and onto the floor below.

Raptor snarled. "They knew Wanda was guarding Vision... Guess they didn't realize it was still guarded."

She leapt at Glaive, giving Vision time to get up from behind her, and knocked him back before feeling his weapon catch her on the side of her neck before she could completely move out of range. Raptor screeched and shook her head but circled him, letting Glaive unwittingly line up in the perfect position for Vision to attack him. He went in for another attack against her once more but Vision blurred by before Glaive could reach her and Raptor watched as Vision crashed through the large window with the Black Order member.

"Guess I should join the fight then... Not much left here to guard." She began running through the building to get to the battlefield. "Will Wanda hate me for keeping Vision out of the fight? He still has the stone... he'll be a target on the battlefield."

She arrived in time for Vision to be stabbed through the chest by Glaive and slowed to a stop in horror. Had she been too late? Wanda would kill her- possibly quite literally. A familiar figure ran past her and she watched Steve tackle Corvus before looking back at her.

"Get him outta here!" He had to look back and focus on the enemy once more. "Go!"

Raptor hurried over to help the android but watched as he got up on his own. She offered her shoulder for him to lean against but Vision just shook his head and began going after Cap to help. "No, I don't trade lives. I'm staying to help."

She gave an annoyed growl, though she did admire his morals on the topic, but saw incoming Outsiders and ran to engage them, leaving Vision to pick up Glaive's fallen weapon to help Captain America. Seeing a flash of blue, Raptor gave a sigh of relief that Pietro was still up and fighting. After a glance back to make sure Steve and Vision were doing fine, she began fighting her way through the Outsiders towards Quicksilver; her own blood and alien blood was splattered onto her scales but with everyone on the field now it seemed they were actually turning the battle into their favor... Would it stay that way once Thanos arrived though?