Biting the Dust [An Avengers: Infinity War Story]

3 | Attempting to Save Vision

CHAPTER THREE | ATTEMPTING TO SAVE VISION

In the Quinjet, Sam is piloting as Steve, Bruce, Rhodey, Natasha, Wanda, Vision and I are sitting in the back suited up.

"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0," Steve tells Sam.

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

The Quinjet flies through a forcefield straight into Wakanda. T'Challa is accompanied by the Dora Milaje led by Okoye.

"When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world...this is not what I imagined," Okoye tells T'Challa.

"And what did you imagine?" he asks.

"The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks."

We all exit the Quinjet. "Should we bow?" Bruce asks Rhodey.

"Yeah, he's a king," he replies.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve says shaking T'Challa's hand. Bruce bows in front of T'Challa awkwardly.

"What are you doing?" Rhodey asks.

"Uh, we don't do that here," T'Challa tells Bruce with a hand motion. "So, how big of an assault can we expect?"

"Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault," Bruce answers. We all start to follow T'Challa.

"You guys, go," I told Wanda and Vision. "I'll catch up." She nods before they are both escorted by the Wakandan guard.

"How are we looking?" Natasha asks.

"You will have my King's guard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa trails off. Bucky, who's been in Wakanda since we were all taken to the Raft, walks up to us.

"And a semi-stable 100-year-old man," he says. He smiles as he hugs Steve.

"How you been, Buck?"

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

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

We all gathered in Shuri's lab with Vision on a table. I stood next to Wanda as Shuri examines the Mind Stone, trying to figure out a way to remove it from his head safely. Using her Kimoyo beads, she scans the Stone, showing a hologram.

"Whoa. The structure is polymorphic," Shuri says.

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

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

He stares at her for a second. "Because we didn't think of it."

"I'm sure you did your best."

"Can you do it?" Wanda asks with hope in her eyes.

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

"How long?" Steve asks.

"As long as you can give me."

Looking at her Kimoyo beads, Okoye sees a hologram of the Earth. "Something's entered the atmosphere."

"Hey, Cap, we got a situation out here," Sam says over comms. Flaming objects start to hitting the Wakanda border with no success.

"God, I love this place," Bucky comments.

"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys," Rhodey said. "We got more incoming outside the dome."

"It's too late," says Vision, struggling to get up. "We need to destroy the Stone now."

"Vision, get your ass back on the table," Natasha tells him.

"We will hold them off," T'Challa says.

"Wanda, Y/N, as soon as the Stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell," Steve tells us.

"We will." I agree.

"Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses," T'Challa demands. He points to Steve before leaving. "And get this man a shield.