Always and Forever || BUCKY BARNES [3]

[01]: The Threat

2018 ― Upstate, New York

BRUCE BANNER NOW STOOD REUNITED with half of the Avengers, Steve, Sam, Natasha, Vision, Wanda, and Rhodey. They were upstate at the Avengers facility. Wanda and Vision had been found in Scotland by Thanos' 'children,' but Steve, Sam, and Natasha stepped in to help and brought them back to New York.

The last two years for them have been rough. Staying underground but still helping people when they could. Banner, who had been sent back to Earth by Heimdall when Thanos attacked their airship coming back to Earth, explained everything to everyone else about where he was for the last two years and what happened. And then Wanda explained what happened in Scotland.

"So, we've gotta assume they're coming back, right?" Rhodey asked.

"And they can clearly find us," Wanda said.

"We need all hands on deck. Where's Clint?" Bruce asked.

"After the whole Accords situation, he and Scott took a deal. It was too tough on their families; they're on house arrest." Natasha said, which made Bruce's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"Who's Scott?" Bruce asked.

"Ant-Man," Steve responded.

"There's an Ant-Man and a Spider-Man?" Bruce asked, and then he sighed. "Where's Holland?" He asked because he also noticed she wasn't here, and he knew that Holland and Steve were a dynamic duo after New York; you never saw one of them without the other. Steve looked down at the ground and sighed. He missed Holland and Bucky a lot. It was weird for him to be away from both of them these last two years, especially since he and Holland have been together every day since he woke up from the ice.

"She's not available right now," Steve said. Everyone noticed how his mood shifted when Bruce brought up Holland, and they thought it best not to push him on the subject.

"Thanos has the biggest army in the universe... and he is not going to stop until he gets Vision's stone..." Bruce said.

"Then we have to protect it," Natasha said.

"No, we have to destroy it." Vision said. He was perched over by the window. He was injured badly, and he was still holding his side where he had been stabbed. "I've been giving a good deal of thought to this entity in my head, about its nature. But also its composition. 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." Vision said as he walked over to Wanda.

"Yeah, and you with it... We're not having this conversation." Wanda said as she shook her head.

"Eliminating the stone is the only way to be certain that Thanos can't get it." Vision said, and that's when Steve started thinking.

"That's too high a price," Wanda said. Vision shook his head as he laid both of his hands down in Wanda's hair.

"Only you have the power to pay it." Vision said. Wanda stood still before she walked away to a different corner of the room. "Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him." Vision said.

"But it should," Steve said as he was looking at the ground. "We don't trade lives, Vision."

"Captain, 70 years ago, you laid down your life to save how many millions of people?" Vision asked as he walked closer to him. If Holland were here, Steve knew she'd make some snarky comment about how Steve didn't let her get Howard on the line. "Tell me, why is this any different?" Vision asked.

"Because you might have a choice. Your mind is composed of a complex construct of overlays, Jarvis, Ultron, Tony, me, the stone. All of them mixed together, all of them learning from one another." Banner said.

"You're saying Vision isn't just the stone?" Wanda asked.

"I'm saying that if we take out the stone... there's still a whole lot of Vision left. Perhaps the best parts." Bruce said.

"Can we do that?" Natasha asked.

"Not me, not here," Bruce said. Steve looked over at everyone else as he started thinking. He knew a place where they could go to help Vision, and he'd get to be reunited with two of the most important people to him.

"Well, you better find someone and somewhere, fast. Ross isn't gonna just let you guys have your old rooms back," Rhodey said. Then Steve looked up and addressed the group.

"I know somewhere."

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T'Challa had been contacted and notified of the situation, so he was now on his way to get Bucky and Holland. He would present Bucky with a new arm, Holland with a new suit, and new guns. Stocked with poison bullets, he wouldn't take her signature away from her. But Shuri wanted to make her a new suit to fit her powers. Shuri made her suit completely fireproof so that she could wield her powers without ever hurting herself.

"The Kingsguard and the Dora Milaje have been alerted," Okoye said to T'Challa as they were walking to Holland and Bucky's hut.

"And the Border Tribe?" T'Challa asked.

"Those that are left." She responded.

"Send word to the Jabari as well. M'Baku likes a good fight." T'Challa said.

"And what of these two?" Okoye asked as they approached. Bucky and Holland were still inside, but Holland could hear voices inside her head, meaning that people were close enough for her to read their thoughts.

"These two may be tired of war. But the White Wolf and The Viper have rested long enough." T'Challa said. Bucky and Holland came outside as the guards put down the two boxes and opened them up. Holland looked and saw a new arm for Bucky, and then she saw a black suit along with two guns. The two of them looked at each other, and then they looked at T'Challa as Bucky spoke.

"Where's the fight?" He asked.

"On its way."

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I'm so sorry this was short, but another chapter is coming.

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xoxo.