I'm Still Standing

VIII

[I understand the confusion this chapter. Rest assured that I will clarify in time. There's a scene in book 3 that directly addresses the confusion here.]

QUINJET

Sam was piloting Rhodey, Steve, Natasha, Wanda and Vision.

Steve walked up to the pilot's seat and said, "Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0."

"I hope you're right about this Cap," Sam stated. "Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."

The Quinjet passed through a camoflauge force field into Wakanda's Golden City's valley and landed at the airfield outside the palace. King T'Challa and the Dora Milaje approached to greet the arrivals.

Okoye, walking with T'Challa and a band of the Kingsguard to the landing pad, said, "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 asked.

"The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks."

The occupants of the Quinjet disembarked, Steve and Natasha leading, followed by Bruce and Rhodey, with Vision and Wanda slowly taking up the rear.

"Should we bow?" Bruce asked.

"Yeah, he's a king," Rhodey replied seriously.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said as he shook hands with King T'Challa.

Bruce bowed awkwardly to T'Challa before Rhodey asked in a mock shocked tone, "What are you doing?"

"Uh, we don't do that here," T'Challa told him. He dissuaded Bruce with a motion of his hand; Bruce shot Rhodey a look and was answered with a big grin. "So how big of an assault can we expect?"

The group began walking back into the administrative building.

Bruce said, "Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault."

"How we looking?" Natasha asked.

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa was cut off.

Bucky and Adalyn smiled as they walked towards Steve, passing some of the Kingsguard taking Vision and Wanda to another facility before he said, "A semi-stable, 100-year-old-man and 30-something woman."

The three friends shared a hug.

"How you been, Buck, Ada?" Steve asked.

"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world," Bucky replied.

"The world's ending, so what's new?" Adalyn answered.

Steve saw their entwined hands and smiled. "It's about time."

SHURI'S LAB

Shuri scanned the Stone with her kimoyo beads while Vision laid on the examination table. She flipped her hand over and studied the hologram projected over her palm before saying, "Whoa. The structure is polymorphic."

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Bruce told her.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"

Vision looked at Bruce as if to ask the same thing before Bruce said uncertainly, "Because, we didn't think of it."

Shuri, reassuringly with a smile, replied, "I'm sure you did your best."

"Can you do it?" Wanda asked.

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." She turned to T'Challa. "It will take time, brother."