"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0." Steve instructed to his comrade Sam, who was piloting the Quinjet, the African country stretching out beneath us as we flew.
I sat in the back just staring over at Wanda and Vision. Their hands intertwined together, gazes locked. Their doubt far outweighing their hope. The love they had for each other running on "I'll miss you's", and "I'll die for you's". The impending thought that this might be everyone's last day the poison that made the emotion of love feel toxic, like a burden.
Bruce, Natasha, Rhodey... They were all quiet, caught up in the daunting thoughts which plagued their minds, and I didn't utter a single word either. The thoughts I too was having certainly no picnic.
This wasn't my first battle, sure. This wasn't the first time someone bigger and stronger than me was a threat to my very existence either. My whole life I've had to prove enemies wrong, and in a world of superheros it has always been hard to even keep up, but I've always been able to find a way.
Ever since I got out of the ice I've always managed to protect the one I loved, but now? It all seemed futile, and like the fight would just be to buy time instead of buy victory.
In this battle I felt useless, and I felt unable to keep my loved one safe. A worry I could plainly see cast across Wanda's and Vision's faces as they looked at one another. And, I knew that look all too well having experienced it first hand. The look of wanting to remember, wanting to savor every little detail, every personal quirk of your loved one such an easy giveaway.
I noticed Steve walk down into the cabin, a look of concern stitched across his countenance, and I forced a small smile.
"Hey, remember when the weirdest thing that ever happened was making your scrawny ass "Super"? Yeah, I want to go back to those days." I quipped under the guise of high spirits, taking a known habit I had watched my two Brooklyn boys do a number of times for myself.
Mask the fear and pain by creating a joke, and making someone, anyone smile.
Steve just rested his hand on my shoulder, him being all too keen on seeing past the mask, and he knew that trademark first hand, so it was pointless to use against him.
Once we soared within the Golden city past the barrier Sam landed us down onto the helipad. The Quinjet's landing gear skidding along the platform before the hatch was opened, and we were free to leave.
Us being greeted immediately by the King himself, the General at his side.
"How we looking?" Steve requested, the pleasure of simple formalities off the table as the looming danger continued to surge.
"You'll have my Kingsguard, the Dora Milaje, and..." The Panther began.
"A semi-stable 100 year old man." Bucky stepped in, appearing from within a sea of Wakandan guards. Suited up, his new silver arm gleaming beneath the scorching sunlight.
"How've you been, Buck?" The Captain asked, looking fondly at his bestfriend.
"Not bad, for the end of the world." Bucky said, smiling over at me before pulling me into a warm hug. He looked happy even now of all times because to us soldiers home wasn't a place, it's people. And, if Bucky had Steve and me he was okay, he was home.
And, I tightly hugged him back, already wanting this fight to be over. Because as for me I needed the man who I called my home to stay safe.
Without delay we all went into one of Wakanda's Medical Labs which sat positioned on the precarious cliff-side of Mount Bashenga. The highly advanced research laboratory stationed on the edge of the rocky Alps.
And, swiftly the genius Princess went straight to work.
"The structure is polymorphic." The young prodigy expressed, studying the detailed holographic scan of the Mind Stone in Vision's head.
"Right. We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce clarified.
"Why didn't you just re-program the synapses to work collectively?" The Princess commented, earning a dumbstruck look from the man with 7 PhD's.
"Because... We didn't think of it." He rebutted, at a loss for words. The red and silver android laying between the two Scientists, eyeing them back and forth.
"I'm sure you did your best." Shuri voiced, a hint of sarcasm webbed onto her tone, and I fought back a snicker. Having been in Wakanda enough times by now to know exactly when the Princess was mocking someone.
"Can you do it?" Wanda pressured, desperate for good news.
"Yes, but there are more than 2 trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, brother." Shuri paraphrased, turning towards T'Challa.
The sound of an emergency alarm alerting us, breaking the calm before the storm, and Okoye checked her Kimoye bead.
"Something has entered the atmosphere."
Like blazing comets streaking across the sky foreign objects began to descend from space, the barrier keeping the city within safe, for now.
The futuristic, near indestructible force field causing each metal vessel to come in contact with it to self-combust instead. But, that didn't stop the ones that still safely landed on the outskirts.
The alien containment ships smashed onto the tree-laden ground with enough force that we could feel the rumbling vibrations from within the lab. The dust clearing around the units after a minute of settling into the soil revealing just how ginormous the extraterrestrial shuttles were.
From the wall of bay windows we watched the pending battle begin, ready for it or not.
"We will hold them off." The King proclaimed, his guards already in action, moving like pawns at his command.
"Wanda. As soon as that stone is out of his head you blow it to hell." Steve told her, and she nodded.
"Evacuate the city, engage all defenses, and get this man a shield." T'Challa continued to command, looking over at Steve.
I took one more glance out the window, readying myself, before retreating out into the hall where the Panther was waiting for me.
"Mrs. Barnes, you can fly, right?"
"Yes."
"We built a special Warcraft for you. I had hoped it would serve no purpose, but..." He handed me a Kimoye bead bracelet. "Here, to help steer. The jet is outside ready for it's pilot."