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Silence was all that could be heard inside the large Quinjet, where the group was heading toward the hidden country of Wakanda. Some were sat on the back, others were supervising Sam in the cockpit, and (Y/N) was standing on her two feet with her back against the wall. To anyone else watching, it looked like she was just a reserved person that didn't like to socialize, but to this specific group of people, it was different.
Steve made a mental note to check up on her, but first he moved toward Sam sat at the controls. "Drop at 2600, heading 0-3-0."
"I hope you're right about this. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."
The protective barrier all over Wakanda opened up a small space, large enough to let the Quinjet fly through without problems. It swerved in the air as it flew up close to the capital, where dozens of modern buildings were lined up in a specific way. Meanwhile, Steve took a step back and moved to (Y/N)'s general direction. She, due to the lack of noise, heard his footsteps approach and lifted her head to stare at him.
"You okay?" was the first thing he asked, no matter how ridiculous he sounded.
(Y/N) flashed a sarcastic smile. "Totally."
"Sorry — I," Steve stammered and even though he had been on the run for almost three years, he didn't lose that sense of awkwardness. "That was a stupid question."
"Try again, then," she challenged.
"Why didn't you go after him?" Steve decided to just — go for it — as people now said, but he winced at how insensitive that must've sounded. "I thought you had. We all did."
"He told me that I should call you," (Y/N) pressed her lips on a thin line, eyes set on her boots. "Tell you what was going on. And he was right."
She realized her last words and she immediately thought of what his reaction could've been like. She hasn't realized how much he plagued her mind until now. "Just don't tell him I said that."
Steve saw the way (Y/N) kept staring at the ring on her finger, glimmering through the ray of sunlight that entered through the window. He could see all of her worry lines shape her face, and he didn't have to be a genius to guess what she was thinking of.
"Listen, we'll solve this and we'll get Tony back," he reassured. "I promise."
"I hope you're right."
There was a short period of silence between the two, as if neither of them was completely sure that this plan was going to work. It had to, she reminded herself. Because the other and last option was blasting the Mind Stone off Vision's head, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. That obnoxious, nerve wracking feeling in her stomach kept reminding her of that scary thought of never seeing Tony again, and she couldn't figure how what to react to it because she didn't even phantom the idea of never seeing him again.
"Hey, by the way, nice beard," (Y/N) broke the silence and patted Steve's shoulder in a friendly manner.
"Really? It feels kind of odd — "
"I was just trying to be nice."
A scoff of a laugh left Steve's lips, and he playfully shoved (Y/N) by the shoulder. She snickered too under her breath, but the playful part of their conversation was cut off by Sam's abrupt call, announcing that they were nearing the landing zone.
The jet carefully set itself on the landing platform, shutting down as fast as its wheels hit the ground and the wings closed themselves up. The rear hatch opened and everyone started making their way toward the ground. On the platform just a few feet away, King T'Challa and the Dora Milaje were lined up for their arrival. It had been a long time since (Y/N) had seen the king in person, especially after what had happened in the airport, but she hoped it wouldn't be awkward in this particular situation.
"Should we bow?" Bruce whispered to Rhodey with true curiosity as they took steps outside.
"Yeah, he's king."
At the same time, Steve and Natasha reached King T'Challa first since they were the ones on the lead of the group. "Seems like I'm always thanking you for something."
T'Challa took his hand for a shake. Bruce cleared his throat awkwardly and knelt down for his bow, but Rhodey stared at him incredulously as if he was committing a huge offense.
"What are you doing?"
T'Challa took notice of the bow and tried to get him to stop. "We don't do that here."
Rhodey laughed under his breath and (Y/N) hid her smirk behind her palm, meanwhile Bruce turned red because of the embarrassment. T'Challa's eyes scanned the rest of the group behind Steve and he nodded his head as a greeting in (Y/N)'s direction, to which she responded the same way
"So how big of an assault should we expect?" he questioned with his back turned to them, guiding them through the outside of his castle.
Bruce jumped in to speak. "Uh, sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault."
"How we looking?" Natasha asked him.
"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and — "
"And a semi-stable 100 year old man."
Bucky Barnes walked toward the group with a nervous smile on his face, quite anxious to be there in the first place. His hair was longer than the last time (Y/N) had seen him, and his metal arm was completely different than the cold, silver one. Steve immediately took a step forward to embrace his friend and also patted him in the back before pulling away.
"How you been, Buck?" he muttered to him.
"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world."
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The team was taken to the outsides of the city, where Princess Shuri's lab was located at. She had instructed Vision to lay on her examination table as she did a scan on him and his structure while the rest of the group watched from afar.
She placed her Kimoyo Beads to scan Vision's forehead, where the stone was placed. It took just a few seconds for the scan to be finished, and after that she opened her palm to see the results
"The structure is polymorphic."
"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Bruce explained, standing on the other side of the examination table.
"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"
Vision, still laid on the table, moved his eyes toward Bruce for an explanation, who just stumbled on his words, surprised to be caught in the crossfire. "Because we didn't think of it."
"I'm sure you did your best."
Wanda's worried eyes landed on the princess. "Can you do it?"
"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here," Shuri responded to her question. "One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, brother."
"How long?" Steve inquired in a serious voice.
She didn't quiver from the captain's gaze. "As long as you can give me."
Okoye, the Dora Milaje general's Kimoyo beads started making a blaring noise. It alerted her and her king, and she pressed on a button to stop the noise and check what it had caused it. A small hologram of the planet appeared on her hand, and there was a visible target on the globe.
"Something's entered the atmosphere."
Sam, who was outside in the pavilion with Bucky, spoke through comms. "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."
A large, strangely shaped spaceship was heading toward the ground at full speed, but just as it was ready to hit the city, it was stopped by its protective dome. The impact made the ship explode into a cloud of smoke, burning on the top of the city.
"God, I love this place."
"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome."
Just as Rhodey had stated, more spaceships identical to that one on the outsides of the barrier. All of them landed close to one another, and the impact was so strong that it lifted a large cloud of dirt into the air. By this point, the entire group shifted their eyes at the windows, where they could see everything from a certain angle.
"Do you know what they are?" Natasha's gaze set on (Y/N) standing a few feet away.
She shook her head, eyes not leaving the scene. "I've never seen anything like it."
"It's too late," Vision interrupted, his voice still strained from the stab he had received earlier on the day. He did his best to stand up by himself. "We need to destroy the stone now."
This made (Y/N) turn back to the synthezoid, and her tone turned strict. "Vision, sit your ass back down, now."
T'Challa exchanged a glance with Okoye before figuring out an answer. "We will hold them off."
He began walking toward the door of the lab with the Dora Milaje trailing behind him, just as instructed. Steve snapped his head in Wanda's direction just as he watched the king make his way out.
"Wanda, as soon as that stone's out of his head, you blow it to hell."
She nodded firmly. "I will."
"Evacuate the city," T'Challa ordered to his army, his tone serious because of the situation that could unravel at any given moment. "Engage all defenses."
"And get this man a shield."