Brianna remembered the countless nights Steve and her would lay in bed together and she would ask him to describe Wakanda to her. He often said it was the most beautiful place he had ever been to. None of his descriptions came close to actually seeing it in person. The rolling hills. Endless forest. The technologically advanced looking buildings that pierced the perfect blue sky. It was absolutely stunning.
The Quinjet landed on the platform and the hatch opened. Waiting for them was T'Challa with a large army behind him. She watched from the side as Steve and T'Challa exchanged pleasantries as if they were friends. From behind T'Challa emerged Bucky. His hair had grown longer from the last time she saw him. He had a new metal arm to replace the one Tony had blasted off him. After he hugged Steve, he gave Brianna the smallest nod.
Sam, Rhodey, Bucky and her stayed outside while the others went inside to figure out how to remove Vision's stone without killing him. She didn't mind being outside. It allowed her to take in the beautiful views of the country. A flash of light caught all four of their attentions. At first it looked like a meteor but the closer it got the more they all realized it was an alien ship of some sort.
"Hey, Cap, we got a situation here." Sam said into their coms.
Brianna jumped back slightly as the force field blew the ship to pieces. "Holy shit."
"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome." Sam observed.
She tightened the grip on her bow as more and more ships came into view. The Force field managed to deflect all of them, but she wasn't sure how much it could actually take. Moments later T'Challa, Bruce, Natasha and Steve appeared outside with an army in tow.
"We have a plan?" Brianna asked.
"We need more time to retrieve the stone. We have to do whatever it takes to make sure they don't get to Vision." T'Challa explained.
They boarded small transports that would take them down to where the dome ended. The closer they got to the edge, the more vessels came into view. She was nervous. She had to admit. Even with a whole army standing behind them and the world's mightiest heroes, it wasn't going to be an easy fight. She stood still as T'Challa, Natasha and Steve went to speak to the aliens.
One of the aliens raised her arm and more vessels appeared. She could feel her hope dwindling.
"Did they surrender?" Bucky asked as Steve, T'Challa and Natasha returned.
"Not exactly." Steve told him.
Creatures, that she could only describe as alien dogs with four arms and large, sharp teeth came barreling towards the force field. They were trying their best to get through. The ones that did manage to get through got themselves cut in half. They began to surround the perimeter of the dome even after Rhodey dropped bombs on them.
"Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us...There's nothing between them and Vision." Sam said.
"Them we better keep 'em in front of us." Steve told him.
"How do we do that?" Okoye asked T'Challa.
He was quiet for a moment. "We open the barrier."
Brianna's grip on her bow tightened. She withdrew an arrow from behind her. She had to be ready for anything at that point. Once the barrier opened, a war would start.
"Now!" T'Challa yelled.
The barrier opened and the creatures came pouring in. She began to fire as many arrows as she possibly could at the creatures. It seemed for like every one that was killed, a hundred more would appear. She shot at them. She fought them. She even attempted to stab them with the arrows. It's like they weren't even making a dent.
She felt something collide with her body and threw her to the ground. She landed on her stomach with a groan, but quickly flipped over coming face to face with one of the creatures. It had her pinned down with it's arms as she fought for an arrow behind her. It's teeth snapped at her while trying trying to fight it off. It let out a yelp suddenly and rolled off of her.
As she fought to catch her breath, she glanced to her left to see Bucky standing there with his gun raised. He lowered it only slightly and that's when she realized he had quite possibly saved her life. She scrambled to her feet and was about to thank him when a bright light caught their attention.
She had seen that light form and felt that power before. A knowing smile crept onto her face. Thor. She had thought he was dead after learning Asgard had been destroyed, but she was quite pleased to see him. He began to the creatures out by the hundreds with a raccoon, at least she thought it was a raccoon and a tree by his side.
"Who the hell are they?" Bucky asked. He swore the present time period got weirder and weirder.
"Thor is the guy with the axe. I don't know about the other two." She told him as she picked her bow back up.
"Oh my god." Bucky's eyes widened.
Brianna felt the ground began to shake before she noticed the giant plow looking vessel coming out of the ground. She turned around, wondering what Bucky was gaping at and that's when she saw it. She was frozen. If Bucky hadn't grabbed her, she would have remained standing. They both ran as fast a their exhausted legs could take them.
She noticed the plow ceased moving and then she saw Wanda. If Wanda was there, who was protecting Vision? Had something gone wrong?
"Hey guys! We've got a Vision situation!" Sam yelled in the coms.
"Someone get to him!" Steve yelled.
In the midst of the fighting, she attempted to search for him but she couldn't see a thing. It was just a flood of creatures and fighting. From her line of vision she could see Steve fighting one of Thanos' bitches as she likes to call them. Steve was actually being pinned down by him. Brianna could shoot well. Her father had trained her for years, but she didn't know if she could make a shot that far. Not without hitting Steve.
She leveled her arrow with the body of the alien with a shaky arm. She took a deep breath, slowed her heartbeat and released. She breathed again once she saw the alien fall off Steve. He looked around bewildered, wondering who saved him until he found Brianna standing in the field with wide eyes. She could see Vision lying on the ground next to him with what seemed a stab wound. A large one at that.
As she approached Steve to see if he and Vision were okay, she noticed the trees starting to rustle. A fine blue mist appeared and from the mist stepped out a large, purple...thing. The guy just looked evil. She could see the gauntlet on his hand with five stones in it. One more and he would achieve his mission.
"I guess I should thank you for saving my life?" Steve asked.
She shot him a daring smile. "Thank me later."
One by one, he began to take them out. She knew her arrows were powerless against him. The staff on the ground might be another story. It was heavy in her hand and she wasn't sure if she had the strength to throw it. She would try though. She started running and for a second she thought she just might be able to stab him until he caught her. Her body began to float from his power and he slung her against a tree.
She thought she was dead at first. Her vision was dark. She couldn't hear a thing. Then she felt hands on her. They were shaking her body profusely. She fought to open her eyes. Everything was blurry. She squinted and looked around. She could make out Thor standing in front of Thanos. Vision lying on the ground.
Steve? Where was Steve? A soft groan escaped her lips as she attempted to stand up. She felt a hand around her arm, helping her up. When her eyes finally fixated she that Steve stood in front of her with a worried look on his face. His hair was a mess. His face was covered in dirt and he had a cut on his bottom lip.
"Are you okay?" Steve asked frantically and his eyes landed on the cut on her head. "You're hurt. Pretty bad."
"W-What happened?" She asked, still disoriented.
"We lost."
"Lost?" She asked. "How long was I out for?"
He produced a bandage from one his side pockets and pressed it against her head. "I don't know. A few minutes. Thanos, he, he got all the stones. He snapped his fingers and people started turning to ash."
"Who's gone?"
"Uhh," even Steve was in a state of shock. "Sam, Bucky, Wanda, that tree thing, T'Challa. Countless warriors."
Brianna felt tears welling in her eyes when he mentioned Wanda and Sam's names. She was close to both of them. She almost fell to the ground again, but Steve wrapped his arm around her tightly.
"And Vision?" She asked. Part of her felt like she already knew the answer to that question. Steve didn't answer her. He just shook his head as he guided her to the quinjet.
"My dad, mom. I-I need to call them." Brianna said as Steve sat next to her.
He ran a hand over her hair reassuringly. "Brianna, let's just take a minute. Okay? We need to get you look at it. Then we'll go from there. Here, drink some water."
Brianna begrudgingly took the bottle of water from him. She didn't know how he was being so calm. She could see it in his eyes that he was just as upset as she was.
"Steve, are you okay?" She asked.
"Yeah." He lied.