› CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE ‹
Raleigh leaned his elbows onto his knees, his legs pushed into the cool ceramic of the closed toilet. His unfocused gaze was directed on the damp blue cloth clutched in his hands, while his mind raced with long and hurtful thoughts. Peter Parker and Tony Stark had been added to the long list of people he had lost within just hours and he wanted to cry and scream about them and Loki and Thor, but he didn't have time to direct on his feelings. He needed to focus on the fact that Thanos and his Children were going to come for the Mind Stone.
When Bruce got in contact with Steve Rogers, he warned the male about what was happening and that he needed to find Vision. Apparently, that wasn't going to be a problem for him, as he hung up on Bruce not long after answering the call. Now he was just waiting with Bruce and James Rhodes for Captain America and the team to arrive at the Avengers Headquarters.
He was also waiting for Trystan Dagher to come as Rhodey made a point to show he was going to call Trystan and inform him about his whereabouts. Though Raleigh knew the man would already know about him being back since the news caught a short video of him helping Iron Man before him and Spider-Man disappeared—fortunately for all of them, the video was taken from a helicopter and they could only see the top of his head. Raleigh refused the offer to talk to Trystan on the phone because he wanted it to be in person.
His fingers dug into the cloth when his thoughts flicked back to the looks Loki and Thor gave him as he was shoved through the gateway. Loki didn't show any guilt for his action, only a longing; like he wanted to reach out and take his straining hand. He couldn't tell what Thor was thinking, but if he knew Thor, then the man was relived his brother had saved him. They saved him over themselves...
...and now he was here to fight a fight against someone who wanted to destroy life as he knows it.
He flung the washcloth away from him and the weighted material crashed into a small standing mirror on the sink. It and the washcloth fell to the tiled ground and mirror shards slid across the bathroom floor. A large chunk of glass slid to his dirtied shoe and Raleigh stared down at it.
Staring back at him wasn't someone he recognized. Of course, the features resembled him, but the skin around his eyes were stained a dark red and his normally bright blue eyes were dull, showcasing the pain hiding behind them. His hair was disheveled and scrapes covered every other inch of his pasty skin. He hated whoever this person was because this person represented everything he didn't want to be.
He was Raleigh Ridley. He survived three powerful blasts and a plane crash. He lost two separate families and didn't let their deaths affect him longterm. When he learned he was the reason for their deaths, he still refused to let it stop him. Instead, he used the powers that killed them and used them for the greater good. He stopped crime with a smile on his face because he didn't want innocent people to be frightened. He remained peppy at school even when his bruised ribs were nearly killing him, even when he was getting bullied.
This wasn't him. This was someone who watched half of a population get murdered; someone who has lost too many people in such a short period and isn't able to process it properly. Someone who was in pain; who had lost five months of their life due to spending it in space. The same space he lost his best friend and mentor in. This was someone who was letting these things affect him negatively.
The only thing these two people had in common was the need to stop the villains before they spread any more pain.
Letting the mirror shard fall from his hands, he left the bathroom and the spare bedroom. Entering the hallway, he shivered from the silence. The last time it had been this silent was when Loki left him by himself in his apartment. It was weird to think he preferred that time over what was happening now. At least then, he could pretend everyone and everything was safe. Now Thanos was a global and universal threat and Infinity Stones were real, and they couldn't let the two intertwined anymore than the two are.
As he walked down the hallway, his footsteps echoed, making him hyper-aware of his movements. They were so harsh amongst the silence... deafeningly loud. The echo only faded out when he found muffled chattering, so he followed the sounds and as he got closer, he noticed a large door ajar. Light spilled out of the room and through the small sliver, he could see Bruce pacing. He was explaining the situation about Thanos and what happened before Tony was taken.
Then he heard the deep and rough voice that he and his classmates were forced to listen to about everything and anything informative.
He didn't let Steve Rogers finish what he was saying before he pushed open the door. The room went silent and everyone's eyes flew towards Raleigh Ridley; however, his own landed and stayed on Captain Rogers. It was immediately obvious that the year on the run from the government hadn't been good for him. Even though he still stood tall and proud, his navy suit was faded and torn up, and his hair had grown out along with a beard. As he looked around the room that the others that had sided with Captain America stood, he found Vision, the golden-yellow stone was still in his head, but he had obviously endured difficulties considering he was leaning against a breakfast bar, holding his stomach. None of their lives had been easy and the last hour had proved to be even harder.
"Um..." Raleigh's hands found one another. "Hi?"
Bruce sensed the tense atmosphere and attempted to clear it by introducing the teenager to the adults. "Uh, this is—"
"They know who I am." He cut the scientist off and moved to his side with a tight smile. His gaze found Steve once more. "Captain Rogers."
Steve let out a sigh. "What are you doing here, Raleigh?"
"Honestly?" Raleigh let out a sardonic laugh. "It's such a long story."
He was about to explain that his story didn't matter and that they needed to make a game plan, when thundering footsteps echoed behind them. He turned around just in time to witness the door open the rest of the way and a disheveled looking brunet standing in the doorway. His dark hazel eyes landed on Raleigh immediately and he didn't wait another second before pushing past Bruce and pulling the lost boy in a hug.
The familiar warmth brought tears to Raleigh's eyes and to stop himself from blubbering, he slung his arms around his guardian. The feeling of being hugged by someone he cared about, after everything that happened brought on a wave of emotions. His hands curled into his guardian's t-shirt and he pulled himself closer to the man he trusted. He dug his face into his shoulder and bit his lip to refrain from sobbing.
Trystan Dagher searched for answers, not understanding why the child he took responsibility for was holding onto him like he was his only lifeline. He knew about the aliens and about Tony and Peter's abduction, but that was about it since Rhodey had been cautious about revealing anything over the phone. Everyone watched them with pity, but the only one who seemed to hold the answers for Raleigh's distress was Bruce Banner. A man Trystan and the rest of the world had thought was gone forever. He narrowed his stare on the scientist, but before Bruce could try and calm down the angry adult, Raleigh pulled away from his guardian.
"I'm sorry—"
"I know you are." Trystan breathed. He clutched a plastic bag in his hand and handed it towards the teenager. "But when this is all over, you're grounded. I don't know from what or for how long, but you're one-hundred-percent grounded."
Raleigh glanced from the plastic bag to Trystan, carefully taking it. He pulled apart the handles and peered inside. The familiar gold and black spandex suit that Stark had made for him was scrunched inside.
"When Rhodey called and told me about what happened in New York, I knew you weren't going to turn away," Trystan explained and Raleigh's tearful gaze found his and he forced a smile on his face. He mirrored it and aimed a sharp stare to the rest of the heroes in the room. The stare only faltered slightly when it landed on Natasha Romanoff. "But I'm not leaving him again, so whatever's happening, I'm coming to help."
"No! You don't—"
Again Raleigh's words were cut short when Trystan turned on him. "You're not leaving my sight... not now."
Bruce steps forward, knowing they need to move since Thanos and his Children will be coming back for the Mind Stone. "Look... Thanos has the biggest army in the universe. And he is not gonna stop until he..." He glanced at Vision and then at the floor. "Until he gets Vision's stone."
"Then we have to protect it." Natasha pursed her lips.
"No, we have to destroy it." Vision gasped, still clutching his injured stomach.
The room went tense and silent at the super-bots words, and Raleigh shared the same uncomfortableness as them. He felt a bit like a hypocrite feeling that way when he had just told Doctor Strange that destroying the Time Stone was the best choice in their situation, but the Mind Stone was programed into Vision. He couldn't be sure how the stone was structured to coincide with Vision, because as much as he wished he was, he wasn't as smart as Tony Stark or Bruce Banner, but more than likely, destroying the stone would kill Vision. He felt revolted at that thought. Tony said he was evolving... he wasn't just an A.I. android, he didn't know if he ever was just that, but when he looked at Vision, he saw a person. He could tell Vision could feel pain and he could see he felt love just from the way he viewed Wanda.
It wasn't right to kill someone if there were other ways to go around it.
"I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also, its composition." Vision walked towards Wanda. "I think if it were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something, very similar to its own signature, perhaps... Its molecular integrity could fail."
"Yeah," Wanda uttered in disbelief, "and you with it. We're not having this conversation."
"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it." Vision argued.
Raleigh closed his eyes, heaving out a breath, realizing those were his feelings towards the Time Stone with Doctor Strange, and Tony's almost exact words.
Scarlet Witch shook her head. "That's too high a price."
"Only you have the power to pay it." Vision's expression softened and he gently grabbed the sides of her head. She pulled away from him and walked off, displaying her back to everyone. Vision didn't follow her and instead tried to convince someone. "Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."
"But it should." Steve Rogers said, his eyes diverted to the ground. "We don't trade lives, Vision."
"Captain," The super-bot with deep red skin walked towards Rogers, "70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people. Tell me, why is this any different?"
"Wait," Raleigh spoke up, keeping his gaze strong as everyone turned to him, "why is no one talking about alternatives? I know these stones are powerful and all but surely Mr. Stark didn't solely rely on that to give him life. And if the stone was programmed and connected to him just like everything else, then there should be a way to remove it without killing you."
"He's right." Bruce wagged his finer in Raleigh's direction and continued walking around the room. He stirred to his and Tony's creation. "Your mind is made up of a complex construct of overlays. Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another."
"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda sticks her hands in her pockets, a hopeful glaze crossing her features.
"I'm saying that if we take out the stone, there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts."
Natasha looks to Bruce. "Can we do that?"
He shakes his head. "Not me. Not here."
"You better find someone, and somewhere fast," Rhodey told them. "Ross isn't exactly just gonna let you guys have your old rooms back."
"I know somewhere," Steve said. "We leave in five." He started to leave but hesitated when he passed Raleigh and Trystan. "They're going to come back. Are you sure you're both up for a war?"
Raleigh didn't say anything, only crinkling his eyebrows and nodding. Was he really ready to face Thanos and his children again? He didn't even know the answer to that. He may not be ready to confront Thanos, but he wasn't about to let him or anyone on his side hurt or kill anyone else. He already took the Asgardians and two people he loved and looked up to, he wasn't going to let it happen again.
"—suit up, then." Steve finished whatever he was telling them and Raleigh watched him leave with Sam at his side. Wanda, Vision, and Bruce followed closely speaking to one another. Natasha and Rhodey approached Trystan and Raleigh peered down at the bag in his hand.
"I'm just gonna..." Raleigh gestured to the large door and Trystan let him know he heard, before turning to the two. He left them alone and made his way back to the spare bedroom he was in earlier, locking the door after him. He flattened his back against the door and pulled out the overly familiar clothing from the bag, letting the plastic flutter to his feet. The suit unraveled and revealed itself to Raleigh.
He gently hit the back of his head into the door and let out a deep breath.
"I can do this."
› › › ›
"You know I have your back, right?" Peter told Raleigh the same evening that Adrian Toomes got his final sentencing. The news had come out while they were in school and despite being happy that he was off the street, they both felt terrible for his life sentencing. He was a father and a husband long before he took to making and selling alien weapons. He was more then what he created, but his selfish desires created him.
Raleigh glanced to his friend. His Spider-Man mask was sitting between them, and he hadn't bothered to fix his hair after tugging it off his head. He was staring out at Delmar's Deli-Grocery, which had been recently been rebuilt thanks to the kind community who pitched in to help Mr. Delmar with the costs. People were racing in and out of the building, some leaving with sandwiches and others leaving with bags of overprices groceries.
"What do you mean?" Raleigh cocked his head, his blue eyes shining against the sunset. "I mean, yeah, but, where did this come from?"
Peter shrugged. "I was just thinking back to what you told me back before we faced Vulture. You said: we started this together, so we're going to end it together."
Raleigh kicked his feet, swaying them over the building. "Yeah, so?"
"I'm just—even if we didn't start something together, if you need me, I'll be there." He explained, turning to him with his crooked smile. "And I expect the same from you."
Raleigh rolled his eyes and lightly bumped his hand on his friend's arm. "Shut up."
› › › ›
Raleigh kept his eyes down as Sam Wilson flew the jet towards Wakanda. He knew the formerly hidden city possessed higher and advanced technology then the rest of the world, but he didn't expect for Steve Rogers to be keen on going there since their King had tried to kill Bucky Barnes. However, Steve worked to reassure him that King T'Challa was a good guy. Apparently, T'Challa learned who was really behind the attack that killed his father and saw a need to pay back for his mistakes, so he was hiding and protecting Bucky from the government within his private city.
"Are you sure your boy is alright?" Natasha sat down beside her former S.H.I.E.L.D. partner. Trystan glimpsed at the now blonde and at the teenager across from him. Raleigh was sitting with his body slumped forward, while his legs bobbed up and down. Trystan knew him well enough now to identify that he was holding back his anxiety and after being told what happened by Rhodey from Bruce Banner, he couldn't blame him. "I can't imagine being on that ship, with what Bruce has told us, hasn't messed with him."
"He's a strong kid," Trystan repeated the words Tony had told him when he first came to him about the teen's disappearance. "And I want to talk to him... I hate seeing him like this, but he's stubborn and won't talk about it until he wants to."
Natasha went quiet and moved her attention to her shoes and Trystan converted his to the ceiling. He blamed himself for what happened to Raleigh because if he kept a closer eye on him, he couldn't have been taken from Earth and would never have to face off this Thanos. Maybe he blamed himself too much because Raleigh makes his own decisions—as Tony had put it—but after watching his daughter die right in front of him, he came to let a lot of the pain rest on his shoulders. If he could take the pain the boy was suffering through, he would.
The two former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents weren't the only ones who noticed the silence on Raleigh's end. Steve Rogers stood beside his best friend, watching Raleigh carefully, thinking about how he could talk to the young teenager. He still remembered the ten to twelve-year-old who lived across the apartment. The same boy who gaped at him the first time they met, unable to find any words before Sharon—Kate at the time—told him to leave Mr. Rogers alone, because, he's a busy man.
Raleigh heard a motion from his right and when he glanced over, he saw Captain Rogers settling in the seat beside him. His eyes shifted to the thick beard on his formerly baby-face and before he could stop the words, they fumbled out of his mouth.
"So you, uh, you grew a beard?"
A light chuckle filled the quiet room and Steve's lips curved into a laugh. Sam Wilson shook his head. "I see you're still not good at small talk."
"That's a complete lie!" Raleigh argued back and Sam turned in his seat slightly and he caught the doubt on his face. After all, the last time he attempted to make small talk, he spoke to Bucky about how he killed Nick Fury, which at the moment wasn't really appropriate. At least, he wasn't saying anything like that. "Okay, maybe not a complete lie."
Sam laughed but narrowed his eyes on the land in front of them. "I think we're nearing Wakanda."
Steve left him and moved back to his friend's side. "Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0."
"I hope you're right about this," Sam told the Captain as he readied the jet for dropping. Raleigh got up and pushed forward in curiosity. "Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."
Raleigh squinted, searching for a city as they lowered from the fog above, but all he could see was water, trees, and mountains. His heart raced when Sam continued following Steve's orders, despite them traveling straight for a bundle of trees and rocks. His eyes widen. "Um, that's not—that's a mountain of trees."
Sam hummed in what he assumed was agreement as he continued diving straight for the mountain of trees. Raleigh grabbed onto the metal wall beside him expecting them to crash land among the foliage and rocks, but he was surprised when they phased through the mini-mountain and entered a landscape he hadn't seen previously. A large body of water covered much of the land and on the other side of the lake was a stunning golden city.
Raleigh flicked his eyes from all the different landscapes, taking in everything he could, and Steve felt a weight lift off his chest seeing the teen excited and distracted from the current problem. He patted the boys back and followed his gaze to Wakanda.
"It's to protect them from the outside." He dropped his arm and faced everyone. "We'll be landing in just a minute, buckle up and hold on."
He nodded to Raleigh and the boy gave one last look to the beautiful city and sat back down in his seat. He did as the Captain ordered and held onto the armrests. He met eyes with Trystan, who was watching him with concern and Raleigh swallowed back whatever he was feeling previously. He smiled at his guardian, letting him know he was feeling and doing okay, and looped back to the windshield, where he watched Sam and Steve lower the ship to the ground in front of the tallest building in the city.
The jet shook lightly as they parked and Raleigh sucked in a surprised breath. He continued holding onto the seat even when Steve passed him with Natasha and Sam. Slowly the back hatch lowered and bright sunshine flowed into the jet and Raleigh blinked to adjust his sights to the change of lighting. He mirrored everyone and trailed the three with Bruce and Rhodey just in front of them and Trystan to his side. Vision and Wanda remained at the tail end.
Looking past the ones in front of him, he noticed King T'Challa and a woman standing at his side. The Dora Milaje and other security remained behind the two.
"Should we bow?" Bruce whispered to James Rhodes.
"Yeah," Rhodey deadpanned, "he's a king."
Raleigh narrowed his eyes in confusion. As far as he understood, from the little he had recently learned in school and throughout articles, the Wakandan people didn't follow the same traditions as others with rulers and a similar political system. He studied Tony's best friend, noticing a tiny upward twitch of his mouth and he knew the man was lying. Trystan nudged him, wanting to know the same thing, so the teenager shook his head.
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said, shaking T'Challa's hand.
Bruce, heeding Rhodey's advice, started to bow until the said man smacked him in the arm. Feigning surprise and confusion, Rhodey questioned Banner. "What are you doing?!"
"Uh," T'Challa stopped Bruce, "we don't do that here."
Bruce shot Rhodey a look, which he responded with an amused grin.
Raleigh snorted silently and stepped forward. He opened his arms for the King of Wakanda to see. "Big Kitty!" The woman beside T'Challa glowered at the young boy, while the King just regarded him with mild interest. "You remember me? Did you ever get that yarn?"
Hand grabbed on either side of Raleigh's wrists and pushed them back down to his side. Trystan smiled apologetically at the King. "Sorry about him."
"It is alright," T'Challa spoke, calming down the woman beside him and easing Trystan's nerves. He nods at Raleigh and walks back to his building. Everyone follows him. "So how big of an assault can we expect?"
Bruce popped his head in between Natasha and Steve's shoulders. "Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault."
Natasha ignored him as she questioned T'Challa. "How we looking?"
"You will have my King's Guard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and—"
"A semi-stable, 100-year-old man."
A familiar face walked away from a group of men and the men took Vision and Wanda. Bucky Barnes grinned, happy to his old friends and teammate. His hair was longer, Raleigh regarded, but also more kept up. He had also grown a beard, although his was more stubbly compared to Steve's thick on. Rogers shared the same excitement as his best friend and drew him into a hug.
"How you been, Buck?"
Barnes looked around with a shrug. "Uh, not bad, for the end of the world."
› › › ›
Raleigh kept his arms wrapped around his body while he watched a young woman examine and scan his body and structure. She was T'Challa's sister, the Princess of Wakanda, Shuri Udaku. Wanda was right by her love's side and Bruce kept his hand close to his mouth, concerned over his creation and what dangers awaited them. Trystan remained by Raleigh's side in a camouflage bulletproof vest and gloves, looking around at the advanced technology that surrounded them in Shuri's workspace.
Using a beaded bracelet on her left wrist, Shuri scans the super-bots body. When it finished, she flipped her hand over and examined a hologram of the stone and its structure. It didn't take her long to understand what it was and how she would need to remove it. Though she was surprised on how they programmed it within his system.
"Whoa." She says. "The structure is polymorphic."
Bruce nodded. "Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially."
Shuri was quick to question him. "Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"
Vision looks over to Bruce as if he was wondering the same thing and Bruce, uncertain, answered her. "Because... we didn't think of it."
Shuri smiled in reassurance. "I'm sure you did your best."
"Can you do it?" Wanda asks her.
The smile she had faded as she nodded to the redhead. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures."
Raleigh eyes the bright yellow stone in the middle of Vision's forehead, tensing his arms around his abdomen as he spoke to the brilliant Wakandan Princess. "So... like defusing a bomb?"
"That's right." The woman gave a short nod to the teenager and turned to T'Challa. "It will take time brother."
"How long?" Steve questions.
Shuri glanced back at the stone. "As long as you can give me."
Suddenly alarms blared and Okoye—the woman who wasn't overly fond of any of them—lifted her wrist and a blue hologram of an Earth hovered into her line of vision. A small location marker pulsated on the globe, right above Africa. "Something's entered the atmosphere."
Raleigh's body tensed at those words and he shared a look with Trystan as the man slowly inched closer to the wall of windows. He kept one of his arms behind him, warning Raleigh to stay where he was while he searched for the descending threat.
Over the earpieces Captain Rogers had given them, Sam spoke. He was keeping guard outside next to their jet.
"Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."
Not even a second later a loud blast was heard and the forcefield around Wakanda sparked blue.
"God, I love this place," Bucky uttered more to himself than anything.
Rhodey, in his War Machine armor, marked three more ships burn through the stratosphere from a distance. "Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome."
Three ships crash just outside the forcefield dome. Their collision sent shock waves across the land, throwing trees and debris at the forcefield. More followed, continuing to destroy the forest and creating a large dust cloud over the extraterrestrial ships. It was obvious more than Thanos or his Children had come to take the stone. They were about to take on Thanos' army, Raleigh realized painstakingly fast.
"It's too late." Vision sits up. "We need to destroy the stone now."
Natasha marched towards the robot. "Vision, get your ass back on the table."
"We will hold them off," T'Challa states as he, Okoye, and the other guards moved towards the door.
Steve faced Wanda. "Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell."
She agreed and helped Natasha set Vision back on the table. T'Challa was ordering his men and women on what they needed to do and the Wakandans were running around the room. Everything was moving in a blur except for the dust cloud outside the dome. The dust was quickly fading and the full length of the ship was visible and he could easily calculate that hundreds of aliens could be hiding inside just waiting for the clear to attack and kill them. He swallowed a lump in his throat and watched T'Challa walk past him.
"Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures." The King commands, stopping and pointing to Captain America. "And get this man a shield."
Steve nodded to T'Challa in appreciation, before moving towards Raleigh, since he had noticed the sudden change in behavior. He gently set his hand on his shoulder to get his attention, but as soon as skin met suit, Raleigh flinched and Steve promptly withdrew his hand. Beads of sweat raced down his pale cheeks and his blue eyes were wide with fright.
"You don't have to fight," Steve told him. "Wanda and Shuri could use your help up here."
Raleigh rapidly shook his head. "I want to fight... Actually, I need to fight."
He had already talked himself in fighting whatever was coming. He feared Thanos... any right-minded person would, but he was also angry with the Titan. He had already taken so much from him and he couldn't let him do that to anyone else or allow them to hurt him any further. He needed to be out there, actively protecting the Mind Stone from getting in any of their greedy hands. After all, the only thing that would stop Thanos from his decimation is that stone.
He gritted his teeth and stared at Steve with a new sense of purpose. "I'm not going to sit around waiting for Thanos to get that damn stone." Trystan moved towards them and Raleigh glanced at him and then at the field in front of them. His hand subconsciously shifted to the daggers on his hip. "Anway, I'll be able to do more down there."
Trystan nodded to Steve. "He's right, he works better in open areas."
Steve studied Raleigh for another second and he didn't let his guard break and eventually, he agreed to let him fight alongside them. He turned to the teen's guardian. "Let's get you a gun, Soldier."
Authors Note:
I basically rewrote this entire chapter. Let me know what you thought of the flashback. I wrote it, meaning for it to be at the beginning of the chapter, but decided I didn't like it there. It's basically there to emphasize on the fact that the person he cares the most about and fights these battles with isn't there with him anymore; and since Raleigh isn't allowing himself to check his emotions right now, I felt it was nice to put it there. Meanwhile, Peter is on Titan doing magic kicks.
Also... SPIDER-MAN IS BACK IN THE MCU! (For at least one more movie in the Homecoming series, but still !!!) I was honestly thinking of how to continue the series by myself, so I'm happy they're continuing it! Though I'll be honest, my ideas were pretty creative, so I'm excited to see what they actually do to continue the story.
Next chapter is just a big oh boy. And while I'm here, here's Trystan in his gear, because, why not: