Chapter Thirty-Three
Soroya
Chaos. I thought I knew what that word meant, but I was wrong. I had never known true chaos until now. During 'the snap' as we have now nicknamed it, Shuri also dusted away. We found that out when we searched the palace for her. Both of the Wakandan royals were dead now, leaving only their mother behind.
After the initial shock of the event blew over, Steve came up to me and held my face in his hands, saying to me through his own tears: "We are going to find him. I promise you, we will find him."
I nodded to him. My voice was raw from crying and screaming, but I forced the words to come out anyways: "When you find that son of a bitch, you call me. I need to be there Steve. I have to be there when you capture him."
Steve agreed to this, and I knew he would keep that promise. He and the remaining Avengers flew back to their base in New York. They offered to have me come with them, but I said I needed to stay here for a little while. The queen mother was about as shattered as I was after hearing of the deaths of both her children. I remember she fell into my arms and cried for several hours. She refused to talk to anyone but me for a few days. She knew I was the only one who knew what she's was going through. The only one besides her who had lost everyone. I wished I could comfort her, but all I could do was cry there with her and mourn T'Challa and Shuri together.
The first night I couldn't sleep. I just wandered around numbingly until I came to Bucky's farm house. I laid in his bed and cried into his pillow, holding onto a shirt of his that had been lying on the floor. It still smelled like him.
The next morning I knew I had to find Khari. It didn't take long; he had been lying in Alex's room, clutching one of Alex's shirts to his chest. I crawled into the bed next to him and held him as both of us continued to sob. When we grew too exhausted to stay awake any longer, we both fell asleep for most of the next day. Okoye found us and told us that most of the council had lived. Since M'Baku and Ramonda were still alive, Wakanda was in safe hands. All that was left was to hold a funeral for the fallen king and princess.
The Avengers came back to Wakanda to honor T'Challa and Shuri. We also held a separate funeral for the warriors who had died during the battle. After the ceremony, Steve pulled me aside and told me what was going on outside the barrier. World leaders were dead, people were confused, crashed airplanes, explosions, riots. The world had erupted into chaos.
I went to Okoye and Khari after Steve told me that and asked them what they thought I should do. Okoye assured me that Wakanda would survive fine without me and that I should go help the others. She said when things settled here she would join me. Khari agreed to this, saying the rest of the world needs Soroya Roberts more than Wakanda did. I hugged them both tightly before I left on the jet to go back to New York with Steve and the other Avengers.
The flight back there was quiet. The whole time Steve held my hand tightly, knowing precisely how I was feeling right now. When we arrived at the Avengers base, I couldn't help but take a moment to gawk at it. Never in my life did I think I would be here.
They took me to a room that is filled with some of the most advanced technology I've ever seen. There's a hologram of the earth with the number of people who died during 'the snap', and pictures of the people in our lives who perished. I see a picture of Bucky and Alex amongst these photos and I have to look away.
Steve informed me that they're currently trying to track Thanos down, but are having little luck. The other thing they're trying to do is figure out what an item Nick Fury left behind does.
"He had activated it right before he died," Natasha said sadly. "But we have no idea what it's for."
The item was behind a glass wall, being held on some sort of stand. I leaned forward and turned to them. "It's a pager."
"Yes," Natasha says. "But who is it paging?"
For the rest of the day, we made a public statement telling the world about what happened and why their loved ones were gone. I helped them send the videos out to several parts of the world, hoping the news reporters who are left would broadcast it. We were right. Within six hours the whole world knew who Thanos was.
That night Steve offered me the rooms of any of the fallen Avengers, but I felt too weird sleeping in a dead person's room. Natasha said I could sleep in her room and I took her up on that offer. She put a mattress on the floor in front of her bed and gave me pillows and blankets, which I really appreciated.
The next several days were filled with us trying to figure out the pager as well as helping the people who were also affected by the snap. We helped people who were injured during the snap or were trapped. We have started to talk with the leaders of the world to try and find a way to rebuild, but all this won't take a few days. What Thanos has done will take years to fix.
This morning I woke up to find Natasha gone. I forced myself out of bed and went down stairs, finding her and Steve starring at one of the holograms.
I walk up next to them and see they are starring at the final count of those who perished in the snap. It's four billion human beings. All gone.
"This is a nightmare." Steve mutters.
Natasha doesn't tear her gaze away from the screen. "I've had better nightmares."
I wipe a tear that falls down my face. "You know I've always believed that there's good in everyone. That even the most terrible souls had the capability for redemption...but what person with even an ounce of goodness in them could do this?"
Steve pats me on the shoulder, just as Rhodey, which is apparently what he goes by, walks in. "Hey...so that thing just stopped doing whatever the hell it was doing."
We follow him back into the room with Nick Fury's pager, finding Bruce already in there. We all stare at it; it's no longer beeping or showing the gold star with red and blue behind it. It's simply a blank screen.
"Whatever signal was sent it finally crapped out." He says, sounding slightly frustrated.
"I thought we bypassed the battery." Steve says.
"No, we did," Rhodey says. "It's still plugged in, it's just stopped."
Steve sighs. "Reboot it and send the signal again."
"We don't even know what this is." Bruce says.
"Fury did," Natasha sounding rather tired. "Just do it please. And you tell me the second you get a signal. I want to know who's on the other end of that signal."
Natasha and I turn to leave, but behind us is a woman. She has long blonde hair, a stern and confused expression on her face. I stare at her uniform and see a gold star surrounded by blue and red, I know the signal must have done its job.
"Where's Fury?" She asks.
Steve appears at our side, pointing to the pager. "That signal? It was to reach you?"
The woman looks to the pager and back to us, nodding her head. "Where is he?"
"He's gone," I tell her, crossing my arms. "Just like half of all life in the universe."
She stares at me in shock and disbelief, looking between Natasha and Steve like somehow they'll assure her I'm wrong.
"A titan named Thanos used something called the Infinity Stones to wipe out half of all life. He used a gauntlet to hold all of them and he still has it with him. We're trying to track him down now."
The woman nods. "Before I got the signal I watched people I knew and cared about disappear before my eyes. I'll help you find Thanos. I'll help you make this right."
I like her. I nod my head to this mystery woman, a smile forming for the first time in days. "What's your name?"
She smiles back. "I'm Carol Danvers. And you are?"
"I'm Soroya Roberts. This is Natasha Romanoff, Steve Rogers, Bruce Banner, and James Rhodes." I say, pointing to each of us individually.
Carol looks at Steve with raised brows. "Steve Rogers? Like Captain America?"
He raises his brows too. "You know me?"
"Every American knows who you are."
"You're from earth?" Bruce asks, eyeing her outfit.
"I am...I've just been gone for a while. I've been trying to look after several planets in other star systems, so it's been hard to come back and visit."
Steve is silent for a moment, before looking to Carol and asking: "There is something I would like you to do for us."
"And that is?"
"One of our team members is lost somewhere in space. We haven't seen him since everything with Thanos. Could you find him?"
"Whose your friend?"
"Tony Stark."
She raises her eyebrows again. "Howard Stark's son? The billionaire weapons maker?"
"We may need you to catch up on some things," Steve mutters. "But yes, it's Howard Stark's son."
She nods her head. "I'll find him. It may take a few days, but I'll return him to you."
I smile at her again, feeling the act to be taxing and taking a lot of energy. "Thank you, Carol."
Steve walks over to the table and grabs one of the communicators, the ones Shuri made that have unlimited range. Thinking of Shuri wipes the smile right off my face. I watch as Steve hooks her up, helping Carol place the communicator on her.
"Welcome to the Avengers." Steve says. She gives us a small smile, nodding her head to us as she heads towards the door. We follow her out and watch as her body begins to glow, shining like a star as she floats off the ground. She nods her head to us one more time before shooting off into the sky like a rocket.
"I am sure Stark is fine." I try to assure Steve.
He nods his head, looking away from the sky and at me. "I just hope he isn't dead. The Avengers aren't the same without him. Things will be a lot harder to repair if he's not here."
"I want you to know Steve, that I will not rest until the world can feel safe and happy again. I will do whatever I can to help you all repair what Thanos has done."
Steve pats me on the shoulder again. "Bucky once told me of your optimism and inner strength. He was right."
I really felt the weight of that compliment, not only because he's Captain America, but because he was Bucky's best friend. The fact that Bucky said that about me makes me feel like breaking down again. But I grip Steve's arm tightly and head back inside, hoping that once we track down Thanos, we can get Bucky and Alex back. I hope the chaos around us will disappear for good.