The team was ready to go within the hour and we all headed to the jet and took off. Sam is in the front flying the jet while the rest of us are in the back. Roy and I are now in our suits, ready for action. He's sitting right next to me, holding an ice pack on my nose like he was doing before. Natasha comes over to us.
"Aw isn't that adorable," Nat says.
Roy rolls his eyes. "Can't I just do something nice for her."
Nat smiles at how defensive Roy is getting.
"I like the blonde by the way," I say to her.
"I got a little inspiration from someone." She says as she looks over at Dad. "You know it was hard on him to leave you here, right? He never wanted to leave your side, but he wanted what was best for you."
"I know Nat. Besides, I had Tony, Roy, Vis, and Rhodey to keep me company. I was kinda hoping you guys would come back and rescue me, but I also knew that you wouldn't risk that either and I couldn't leave Tony. I couldn't ask him to take the cuff off either because that would get him in trouble. They kept me bound to the house for months. The only thing I could leave for was school, but then I went off to college, currently finishing up my sophomore year." I tell her.
"What're you majoring in?" She asks.
"Forensic science."
"Wow you really are becoming Barry Allen." Nat jokes.
Roy and I laugh. "That's the same thing Tony said," Roy says.
"What're you majoring in then, Roy?" Nat asks.
"Engineering. Tony's been helping me out with some of that." He answers.
Nat nods as Dad comes over to join the conversation.
"What happened to your nose?" He asks me.
"Squidward made me bash my face into a concrete wall," I mutter.
"Who's Squidward?" Dad questions.
"Please don't tell me you've never seen SpongeBob SquarePants." Roy groans.
"Yes I've seen SpongeBob." Dad retorts back with an eye roll. "I mean... is that the alien you faced?" He asks us.
"Yeah." I nod.
"I got to let Sam know the coordinates to take." He says to us. I nod and Roy and I get up to follow him to the front of the jet. "Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0," Dad says to Sam.
"You do realize we're heading right at some trees, right?" Roy asks worriedly.
"I hope you're right about this, Cap," Sam adds on to what Roy says. "Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."
"Oh come on, guys. Do you trust me?" Dad holds his hand out to us.
"Nope."
"Nah."
"Not a chance."
Sam, Roy, and I say in that order as I smack Dad's hand away. He fake pouts, but it's adorable because he looks like a puppy. Roy and I hold on to each other, preparing for impact when the jet goes through an invisible barrier. Roy and I stare in awe at the place and I see Dad smiling down at us.
"What is this place?" I ask.
"Wakanda." He answers.
"Really?" Roy asks, surprised and amazed at all of this.
"Yeah. Their technology is more advanced than ours so they should be able to help. Bucky stayed here after everything that went down two years ago. He wanted to try and get whatever HYDRA did to him out of his head."
"That's good for him." I smile.
I then realize Roy and I are still holding onto one another and he realizes too because we both let go immediately, looking at the ground to hide our blush. Dad laughs at our reaction. Sam lands the jet and we wait for the back hatch to open. Dad and Nat walk out first followed by Bruce, Rhodey, Roy, and I, followed by Wanda and Vision who take up the rear.
"Should we bow?" Bruce whispers to us.
Rhodey, Roy, and I share a look. "Yeah, he's a king," Rhodey responds.
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something." I hear Dad say as I watch him and T'Challa shake hands.
Bruce clears his throat and bows awkwardly to T'Challa.
"What are you doing?" Rhodey mocks him.
"Uh, we-we don't do that here," T'Challa tells Bruce, who gives us a look as we all smile at him. "So how big of an assault should we expect?" T'Challa asks as we follow him.
"Uh, sir—sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault," Bruce informs him.
"How we looking?" Nat asks.
"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa stops and points to Bucky who is walking towards us.
"And a semi-stable 100-year-old man," Bucky says, smiling at us. He and Dad hug one another.
"How you been, Buck?" Dad asks.
"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world," Bucky responds.
"Uncle Bucky!" I say and embrace the man and he hugs back.
"Uncle Bucky?" Bruce questions. "You don't call me Uncle Bruce and you've known me longer."
"I can if you want me to," I say to him as Bucky and I pull away from one another.
"I see you guys got the gang back," Bucky says, looking at all of us.
I smile. "Takes the end of the world to bring us together." I look at all of them.
We all start to make our way inside, Rhodey and Sam staying behind with Bucky to keep watch outside. Before we go inside Bucky says something to me.
"(Y/n), can I talk to you?" Bucky asks.
I look at Bucky then back at the team, who are waiting for my decision.
"You guys go on ahead," I tell them. They all go inside. Roy hesitates though, looking back at me. "Go," I reassure him and shoo him away. He follows after the team.
"You like him," Bucky says once everyone is out of earshot.
"What makes you think that?" I ask.
"You're literally staring at his ass right now."
I avert my gaze, not knowing I was staring. I look down at my feet to hide my blush.
"And now you're blushing." Bucky teases and smiles at me.
I look up at him. "Shut up," I say and nudge his shoulder. "Maybe I do, so what? It doesn't matter if it's only one-sided anyway."
Bucky shakes his head. "Everyone knows you two love each other, but the two of you. You're both oblivious to it."
"Yet you're the only one that actually says something. Everyone else just teases us."
"Because I'm tired of seeing you two gazing into each other's eyes and not saying anything."
"You only saw us together like twice."
"Exactly and I'm already tired of seeing it. Just tell him how you feel."
"I don't know, Uncle Buck. What if he doesn't feel the same way?"
"I know he feels the same way. Take it from the guy that used to get all the ladies back then. Come on. It's now or never."
I sigh. "After the battle."
Bucky rolls his eyes. "Fine, but you better tell him." He points a finger at me.
I start to walk away. "Whatever you say, Uncle Buck!" I call back to him as I run to catch up to the others. I get back in my spot next to Roy as T'Challa takes us to a lab, meeting T'Challa's sister, Shuri. She is going to be helping Bruce to see if they can remove Vision's stone if it was even possible.
"So what did Bucky want to talk about?" Roy whispers to me.
I shake my head and play it off. "Nothing much. Just wanted to check on his favorite niece."
"You're his only niece." Roy retorts and I just nudge him playfully.
We watch as Shuri scans Vision's stone as he lies on an examination table. She flips her hand over and studies the hologram she projected over her palm.
"Whoa," Bruce says.
"The structure is polymorphic," Shuri says.
"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Bruce says scientifically.
"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Shuri asks him. Vision looks at Bruce as if to ask him the same thing.
"Because, we didn't think of it," Bruce answers her uncertainly.
"I'm sure you did your best." She gives him a weak smile.
"Can you do it?" Wanda asks her.
"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." She tells Wanda before looking at T'Challa. "It will take time, brother."
"How long?" Dad asks her.
"As long as you can give me."
Roy leans near my ear and whispers to me. "Hey I need to tell you something. I've been holding this in for a while and need to tell you."
I look at him. "What's up?"
Okoye's bracelet starts to go off before Roy could say anything else. She flicks a bead and it projects the globe with a pulsing location marker. "Something's entered the atmosphere." She tells us.
"Hey, Cap, we got a situation here," Sam says over the coms.
We all look to the window and see something try to break into the barrier, but is destroyed on impact.
"God, I love this place," Bucky says.
"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome." Rhodey informs us.
We watch as more ships come and land outside of the dome. The impact reaching all the way to the barrier. Roy and I look at one another worriedly before looking at T'Challa.
"It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now." Vision says as he gets off the table.
"Vision, get your ass back on the table," Nat orders him.
"We will hold them off," T'Challa says as he, Okoye, and the guards head for the door.
"Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell," Dad tells her.
She nods. "I will."
I look at Roy. "What did you want to say?" I ask him.
He shakes his head. "I'll tell you after the fight." He says.
"Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses." T'Challa orders his people before pointing at Dad. "And get this man a shield."
—ASE715