James Rhodes was in the living room, talking to Secretary Ross, who introduced himself through a hologram. Rhodey would have preferred to do something else like relax and watch movies. He was retired, after all.
But Thaddeus had insisted they have a meeting to discuss the situation with Vision as well as what had happened in New York. Rhodes had never been able to catch a break.
"Still no word from Vision?" Ross asked the colonel.
"The satellites lost him somewhere over Edinburgh." He replied.
"Along with five of the world's most wanted criminals." Ross retorted.
Rhodey crossed his arms. Steve, Natasha, Sam, Wanda and Hayden had been on the run for two years and Ross was doing everything he could to find them... to no avail. They'd done well to keep a low profile.
Rhodey was glad his friends hadn't been caught.
"You only know they're criminals because you chose to call them that, don't you, sir?" Rhodey retorted.
"Damn it, Rhodes. You talk more crap than I do." Groaned Ross.
"If it hadn't been for those Accords, Vision would have been here." Retorted the colonel.
Thaddeus rose from his seat and moved closer to Rhodey. The colonel looked straight into Ross's holographic form.
"I remember your signature on these papers, Colonel." He said.
Rhodey nodded.
"It's true..." He said, looking down at his legs, which were supported by Stark-tech suspenders. "And I'm pretty sure I paid for it."
"Do you have any doubts?" Thaddeus asked.
"Not anymore." Rhodey replied.
They heard a mechanical door open, and turned to see who it was. To their surprise, the fugitives Ross was determined to apprehend entered.
Steve and Natasha entered the room, followed by the others. Hayden and Sam were helping Vision with Wanda walking beside them.
"Mr. Secretary." Steve greeted.
"You've got some nerve. I'll give you that." Said the secretary.
"You could use some of it now." Refuted Natasha.
"The world's on fire. And you think all is forgiven?"
"We don't need forgiveness from a racist of people with powers." Hayden retorted, using his Sonic Screwdriver to end the call.
"You have no idea how glad I am you shut him up, Hayden." Rhodey said, smiling at the Time Lord. "Good to see you, Cap."
Steve approached Rhodey and shook his hand.
"You too, Rhodey." He said.
He also hugged Natasha, then looked at the rest of the team.
"Wow! You guys look really bad." Rhodey remarked. "Those must have been some tough years."
"Yeah, well, the TARDIS wasn't exactly five-star." Sam replied, earning a middle finger from Hayden. "But hey, at least it was free, and if we were spotted, we could move instantly."
Suddenly, a familiar face entered the room. Hayden looked ahead and was impressed to see an old friend.
Bruce Banner.
"Uh, I think you all look great." He said, fiddling with his hands in classic Banner fashion and let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I'm back."
Of all of them, Natasha was the most surprised. She'd spent the last two years wondering where he'd gone, and their plan to run away together was still lurking in the back of her mind. She never thought she'd see him again, and now here he stood.
"Hi, Bruce." She greeted.
"Nat."
There was silence in the room.
"This is awkward." Sam whispered to Hayden, Vision and Wanda.
--------------------------------
The team discussed the current situation in the office. A projection of Corvus Glaive and Proxima Midnight was displayed in the middle of the table.
"So we have to assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey asked.
"And they can clearly find us." Wanda added.
Bruce was pacing the room.
"We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?" He said.
Hayden leaned against the wall with his arms crossed as he answered.
"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott came to an agreement." Hayden explained.
"It was too hard on their families. They're under house arrest." Natasha interjected.
"Who's Scott?" Bruce asked.
"Ant Man." Steve replied.
"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Bruce asked, surprised.
"You missed a lot, Bruce." Hayden remarked.
Bruce shook his head, trying to understand the situation. He began to get serious.
"All right, look. Thanos has the biggest army in the universe and he's not going to stop until he gets... the Vision Stone." He says.
"Then we have to protect it." Says Natasha.
"No, we must destroy it." Said Vision from across the room. He leaned against the wall, one hand on the wound Corvus Glaive had inflicted on him. "I've been thinking a lot about this entity in my head. About its nature. But also its composition."
Vision climbed down from the wall and began walking towards Wanda. They all continued to listen.
"I think if it were exposed to a powerful enough energy source, something very similar to its own signature, perhaps its molecular integrity could fail." He explained.
"Yeah, and you with it." replied Wanda.
Hayden approached them, understanding what his close friend wanted.
"We don't do that, Vision."
"Eliminating the stone is the only way to make sure Thanos can't get it." He said.
"That's too high a price." Said Wanda.
Vision shook his head, looking at his two friends before staring directly at Wanda.
"Only you have the power to destroy it." He said.
Wanda walked away, not wanting to discuss it any further. Steve listened and bowed his head.
"Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of his defeat." Vision continued.
"But it should." Steve replied. "We don't trade lives, Vision."
"Captain, 70 years ago, you gave your life to save how many millions of people? Tell me, why is this different?" Vision asked.
"Because you might have a choice." Bruce tells her. "You're a complex construction of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All mixed together, all learning from each other."
"Are you saying that Vision isn't just the Stone?" Hayden asked.
"I'm saying that if you take away the stone there's still a lot of Vision left. Maybe the best parts."
"Can we take it away?" Hayden asked.
Bruce shook his head.
"Bruce shook his head. And if we knew anyone who could do it, we wouldn't have the equipment here." He said.
"Well, you need to find someone and somewhere fast. Ross isn't just going to let you have your old rooms back." Said Rhodey.
Hayden sighed and crossed his arms again. He thought back to his old room and wondered if his game consoles were still plugged in.
Steve looked down; he knew a place they could go that could help them. A place that was currently helping Bucky erase his programming. Besides helping Vision, it would be nice to find an old friend.
He looked up and faced the team.
"I know a place that could do that."
--------------------------------
The TARDIS appeared on Wakanda's runway and the door opened. Before them stood King T'Challa and the Dora Milaje in formation beside him.
Steve and Natasha came out first, followed by Bruce and Rhodey. The doctor fumbled with his coat.
"Should we bow?" He asked.
"Yeah, he's a king." Rhodey replied.
Nearby, Hayden smiled at the exchange. He looked at Wanda beside him, who also understood that the colonel was playing a prank on her.
Captain and Black Widow approached T'Challa and greeted him.
"Looks like I'm constantly thanking you." Said Steve, and the two shook hands.
Bruce cleared his throat and bowed to the king. Rhodey looked at him in confusion.
"What are you doing?" Rhodey asked confusedly, he couldn't have expected Bruce to take his joke seriously.
T'Challa looked at Banner and didn't care about the stranger's mistake.
"Uh, we don't do that here." He said.
Bruce glared at Rhodey, and the Colonel chuckled as he witnessed.
"So, what scale of assault should we expect?" T'Challa asked as the group began walking toward the palace.
"Uh, sir, I think we should expect a pretty big assault." Bruce shouted from behind.
"Banner says this guy's got the biggest army in the universe." Hayden interjected.
"That must be nothing new for you." T'Challa joked.
"What are you talking about?" Steve asked.
"Hayden came here a long time ago, when I was just a child. He told us about the Time War and the many armies that took advantage of it to conquer worlds, and how he thwarted them." T'Challa explained, turning his gaze to the team. "He never told you about it?"
"Not really." Wanda replied, giving her boyfriend an accusatory look, to which the latter could only scratch the back of his neck in embarrassment.
"How do we get organized?" Natasha asked the inhabitant of Wakanda.
"You'll have my guards, the Frontier Tribe, the Dora Milaje..." Said T'Challa before pointing a finger in front of them, and they saw a familiar-looking man with a new vibranium arm advancing towards them.
Bucky Barnes.
"And a half-stable 100-year-old man." Said Barnes.
Steve was happy to see his old friend again. With the Winter Soldier programming now erased from his mind, he was Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes again.
Steve hugged his friend. "How are you, Buck?" he asked.
"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world." Bucky smiled.
--------------------------------
In the lab, T'Challa's sister Shuri was running scans on Vision, who was lying on the table. The team stood in the room, waiting for her plan. Through her beads, she projected a hologram of the Spirit Stone.
"The structure is polymorphic." she declared.
"That's right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce replied.
"Why didn't you simply reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"
Vision glanced at Banner; the young genius was already proving far smarter than even Stark himself.
"Because we didn't think of it." Banner replied shyly.
"Yeah, you and Tony went straight to building Vision before we even got there." Hayden added.
"I'm sure you did your best." Shuri said to Banner.
"Can you take it off him?" Wanda asked.
"Yes, but there are over two trillion neurons here. One misalignment can cause a cascade of circuit failures." Shuri explained, then turned to T'Challa. "It will take time, brother."
"How long?" Steve asked.
"As long as you can give me."
Suddenly, Okoye's Kimoyo beads trilled. The alarm in the tower also sounded and she summoned a projection from her wrist.
"Something has entered the atmosphere."
Sam and Bucky were outside. Through his earpiece, Hayden heard Sam talking to Steve.
"Hey, Cap, we got a problem here."
There's a distant rumble, and shortly afterwards, projectiles start crashing into the earth outside the dome. They all looked out the window and witnessed it.
The Black Order had arrived.
"It's too late. We must destroy the stone now." Vision begged as he began to stand up.
"Vision, get your ass back on the table," Natasha refuted.
"We'll hold them off." Said T'Challa, and began to walk away with his soldiers.
Steve turned to Wanda.
"Wanda, as soon as that stone is out of his head... you blow it to hell."
"I will."
"Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses." Said T'Challa, before turning back to Steve and pointing at him. "And get him a shield."
Steve nodded, then turned to Hayden.
"Let's go."
He nodded as the captain walked away. Hayden made Wanda and Vision, addressing the synthezoid first.
"When that stone's out of your head, we'll go to the jeweler and put a diamond in its place." he joked.
Vision let out a slight laugh, then Hayden turned to Wanda.
"Come back to me, okay?" Wanda declared, moving closer. The two embraced and Hayden nodded. The battle could go either way, but he was adamant that he'd get back to her no matter what.
"I promise."
--------------------------------
Hayden was in transporters carrying Wakanda's many soldiers and fighters.
Bruce, in Hulkbuster armor, was running alongside them. That was before he tripped over a rock and fell in front of the many fighters. He'd be back, though.
War Machine and Falcon were flying nearby. Rhodey looked through his HUD and saw something in the distance.
"I've got two heat signatures crossing the tree line."
It was Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight.
The carriers let the warriors out, and they lined up several hundred meters from the force-field barrier. Steve, Natasha and T'Challa went to talk to the members of the Black Order.
Hayden stood next to Bucky. The soldier held up his rifle and glanced at him.
"Hayden." Bucky saluted.
"Barnes. I see you've got a new arm." He said.
"New me, new arm."
"New you, eh? After this, we'll have to have a drink... World War II history link." Hayden joked.
"Only if you pay."
Suddenly, there's a distant rumble as the landed Black Order modules begin to open. Steve, Natasha and T'Challa come running back and join the line.
"Do they surrender?" Hayden asked Cap.
"Not exactly."
The Black Order aliens began charging towards Wakanda. T'Challa started singing in Xhosa and the soldiers joined in.
Thousands of alien dogs began to emerge from the tree line. Bucky was impressed.
"What are they doing?"
"Looks like we pissed her off." Natasha remarked, mentioning Proxima Midnight.
The aliens tried to force their way through the force field, but many were killed in the process. That didn't stop them, however.
"They're killing themselves." Okoye says with disgust.
Despite this, several of the alien dogs made it through. The border tribe activated their shields and raised their sticks.
T'Challa shouted in Xhosa and the border tribe began firing at the incoming dogs. Bucky joined in and fired his rifle. Hayden hovered above and fired bursts of energy from his hands, felling all the dogs that approached before descending again.
Sam flew by and shot them as well.
"See the teeth on these things?" He said to War Machine.
"All right, back off, Sam. You'll scorch your wings." Said Rhodey as he flew toward a group of aliens and carpet-bombed them.
Banner noticed hundreds of dogs running around the dome beside them.
"Cap, if these things go around the perimeter and pass behind us, there's nothing between them and Vision."
"Then we'd better keep them in front of us." Steve replied.
"How do we do that?" Okoye asked T'Challa.
"We open the gate." He said, looking at Okoye. He then looked at the force field and spoke into his communicator. "On my signal, open section seventeen northwest."
The people at the dome control center were dismayed.
"Request for confirmation, My King. Did you say open the gate?"
"On my signal." He replied.
M'Baku was also looking to the future.
"This will be the end of Wakanda." He said.
"Then it will be the noblest end in history." Okoye replied.
Steve activated his new Wakandan arm shields. T'Challa continued to sing in Xhosa before walking to the front of the line.
Hayden stood next to Natasha, Steve and Bucky. He held his Laser Screwdriver tightly, ready to fight.
T'Challa crossed his arms in an "X", and activated his mask.
"Wakanda forever!"
Everyone shouted, and the soldiers raised their weapons and began to charge. The two sides were about to clash.
The battle for Wakanda had begun.