Shuri continued to work hard, pulling apart and reconnecting synapses, her eyes looking at nothing but the hologram in front of her. A deep rumbling sound reverberated through the country and could be heard from Shuri's lab. Wanda looked down on the battlefield and saw movement through the blazing forest between the troopships and the dome. Claire joined her at the window, brows knitted together in confusion and her eyes glowing. Her wolf stirred in her mind, screaming at her that something wasn't right and that something big was coming. When the disturbance reached the edge of the trees, it turned into vast moving mounds of earth that easily bypassed the force field and emerged. Groups of Threshers cut through the earth, shredding everything in its path.
The Wakandan army and Avengers retreated at the entrance of these machines, and Wanda tensed. She needed to do something. There was no way any of them could fight against those things. Claire, who was still staring, turned towards Wanda, and pressed her lips against hers in a short, but passionate kiss. When she pulled away, she had a sad look in her eyes and her heart was heavy. She gulped and attempted to give her a small smile before she spoke.
"I gotta go," she whispered, afraid that if she spoke any louder she'd burst into tears. She was afraid; not just for the fate of the world, or her friends, or even Wanda, but for her. She had accepted the idea that if she went out there, she could very well die, but now that she was actively about to go out there, she was afraid. She didn't want to die; she was so young and there were things that she still never got to experience. But, she would do her duty, and she would do it well, even if it meant she didn't make it to see the end. She was a protector, and she had go out there and protect the world. "They need me."
She turned away from Wanda before she could respond and walked towards the door to the lab, but Wanda grasped her hand tightly, not letting her go.
"I don't think so," she said, tears sitting on the brims of her eyes. Wanda tightened her grip on Claire's hand as Pietro appeared in her mind. She blinked and she was back in Sokovia, standing in front of the core, pieces of dismantled robots laid on the ground in the church and at her feet.
"I'm not going to leave you here," he said
"I can handle this."
"You know I'm twelve minutes older than you."
"Go."
That was the last time she saw him. She remembered the feeling of each individual bullet piercing through his skin, killing him. It was her fault; she let him go, and he died. She blinked and shook her head. She was not letting that happen again; not to Claire. Vision was one thing, but if she lost Claire, she couldn't go on. She'd refuse.
"Wanda, let go. You know I have to out there."
"I'm not letting you go anywhere. Long ago, I let my brother leave myside in a battle, and I lost him. I refuse to lose you too." A tear fell from Wanda's eye and Claire's heart broke.
"Wanda, they need help."
"I know. But you're not going." She let go of her hand and kissed her cheek. "Watch Vision."
"Wanda, what the hell do you think you're doing?" Claire asked, but Wanda ran out of the room before she could stop her. Claire ran to the windows and watched as a scarlet flash flew into the air and landed in the middle of the path of a group of the Threshers. Claire's heart plummeted into her stomach as she watched, fearing the worst. Wanda used her magic and lifted the Threshers off the ground, and swung her hands down, throwing them behind her.
She breathed heavily as she turned towards Natasha and Okoye, giving them a subtle smile. Natasha smiled proudly at her while Okoye looked at her confused. They both stood up and Okoye gestured to Wanda with her spear while looking at Natasha.
"Why was she up there all this time?"
Claire breathed a sigh of relief at seeing Wanda unharmed, but it was short-lived when her hearing picked up on unfamiliar movement. Before she could shift into her wolf, the man that attacked their cabin—Corvus Glaive—burst through the door to the lab, beating through the guards. Claire ran at him, snarling. Her fangs and claws came out and her eyes were a bright lavender. He brought his spear up, using it to deflect and dodge her attacks. Shuri's attention and concentration were broken by the fighting and she became frazzled as she tried to work faster, hoping that Claire could handle him on her own. More aliens filtered into the room, tackling Claire, letting the man advance towards Shuri and Vision.
Shuri quickly shut down the program as he advanced. Claire groaned as she tried to free herself from the aliens, but they pulled her back down, their jaws snapping at her, almost catching her flailing limbs. Shuri picked up a blaster that sat on a table close by and fired at the man, but he easily deflected the blasts with his spear, and brought it up, striking her. She laid still on the floor, and when he turned around to collect Vision, he wasn't there. Vision appeared behind him and shoved them both out of the widow of the lab.
Finally finding leverage, Claire shifted into her wolf and ripped the aliens off her with a snarl. Once she was freed, she turned and snapped at them, catching them with her sharp teeth and ripping them apart with her claws. Soon their dismembered body parts sat in bloodied piles at her feet. Claire huffed and growled before trotting over to Shuri, nudging her with her snout. She let out a groan but didn't wake up. Claire softly licked her cheek before sprinting out of the lap, jumping through the broken window, following Vision's trail. Thanos couldn't get that stone.
○○○
"Guys, we got a Vision situation here," Sam said through the comms as he watched Vision fall from the window of the lab.
"Somebody get to Vision!" Steve yelled in a panic.
"I got him!" Bruce said and flew after Vision in the Hulkbuster suit. Wanda stood and placed a finger to her ear and spoke into the comms.
"On my way." A sudden wave of pain engulfed her as she fell into a ravine created by a Thresher. The woman from the cabin—Proxima Midnight—jumped down after her and stood over her as Wanda crawled to a stand, a blinding pain erupting in her head. Proxima Midnight rolled Wanda over with her staff and positioned above her. Wanda looked at her as she tried to focus.
"They'll die alone. As will you," Proxima Midnight growled as she started to bring her staff down.
"She's not alone," Natasha said from behind them. Wanda peered over at her as she and Okoye readied their weapons.
Proxima Midnight let out a battle cry as she advanced on the two women, using her staff to block their weapons. Proxima Midnight doesn't let up on her attacks, and she dished out heavier attacks on Natasha and Okoye while Wanda laid in the dirt, nursing her head wound. All three of them duck when a Thresher rides overtop of them. While Natasha is distracted, Proxima Midnight advanced and kicked her in the face, sending her to back to the ground. She then turned towards Okoye and grabbed her by the shoulder and threw her and her weapon a couple feet away.
Natasha took her joined batons and broke them apart and blocked Proxima Midnight's staff and knocked it from her hand. She growled as she used her fist and knocked Natasha back down and leaped on top of her, pinning her down. She produced an arm blade and brought it down, attempting to stab the Black Widow. Natasha used all her strength to push back against the blade, but ever so slowly, Proxima Midnight pushed the blade closer and closer to her neck.
Before the blade could pierce her skin, a familiar scarlet mist swirled around Proxima Midnight and hoisted her into the air into an oncoming Thresher, shredding her. Blue blood splattered on the two women, mostly on Natasha though. She looked up and saw Wanda sitting up in the dirty in front of her, panting hard, her hands still trembling with just the smallest hint of scarlet mist still twirling around her hands.
"That was really gross," Natasha muttered causing Wanda to scoff.
○○○
Claire followed Vision's scent into forest area of Wakanda, far away from the battlefield. She kept her nose in the air, searching for him. To her left, she heard the sound fighting and growling and she took off, hoping that she wasn't too late.
A little ways in front of her, Corvus Glaive grasped Vision's shoulders and used the leverage to plunge his blade into Vision's chest. Vision let out a scream of pain and Claire growled. Corvus Glaive pressed him into the ground and sneered over him.
"I thought you were formidable, machine. But you're dying, like any man." He yanked the blade out and Vision collapsed to the ground in pain. Corvus Glaive smiled and loomed over him once more, reaching down to take the stone, but was tackled by a running Captain America. As he was busy with Corvus Glaive, Claire approached Vision and nudged him with her nose. She quickly shifted beside him and tried to help him stand.
"Get outta here!" Steve yelled at them when he saw that Claire was here now. "Go!" Steve fights off Corvus Glaive, using the shields on his arms to parry against his attacks with his spear, but he's struggling. Corvus Glaive knocked him down and pinned him to a fallen log, his hand against the Captain's throat. Claire looked at Vision anxiously. She knew she had to get Vision out of there and away from the fighting, but she couldn't leave Steve. Vision, as if sensing her dilemma, nodded his head at her, encouraging her to go. Claire let out a growl and shifted back into her wolf before charging at Corvus Glaive.
Claire ran up behind him and used her claws to swat him away from Steve. While he tried to recover from the attack, Claire used the advantage, and pounced on him, tackling him to the ground before she viciously dug her sharp claws into his chest, piercing his armor. He groaned loudly in pain, and writhed under her, trying to free himself. Not giving him the chance, Claire snarled and snapped her bloodied jaws at his neck, cutting through his flesh and severing his jugular vein. Blood filled her mouth as Corvus Glaive sputtered, desperately clinging to life. Within seconds, he laid still in the grass and Claire released him and climbed off, shifting back.
Wiping her mouth, she groaned as the metallic taste of his blood lingered on her taste buds and said, "That was really gross." Steve looked at her and over at Vision.
"I thought I told you both to run?" he asked breathlessly.
"We don't trade lives, Captain," Claire said as she walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder.
After a few moments, Wanda landed in the forest a few feet from where Claire is standing. She ran over to her and aggressively pressed her lips against hers and tangled her fingers in her hair. Claire's arms came around her and pulled her close, deepening the kiss. When they pulled away they were breathless, and Claire rested her head against Wanda's.
"I was so worried," Claire mumbled. "I saw those things and I...don't ever scare me like that again." Wanda smiled as Claire kissed her again. Behind them, Vision flinched and groaned again in pain. Wanda broke away and ran over to him, checking him for any wounds.
"Are you okay?" she asked as he groaned again. "What? What is it?"
Vision looked around, fearfully as the wind started to pick up. Claire's wolf growled in her mind, and she shifted back into her wolf, sensing that the fight wasn't over.
"He's here," Vision said.