𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐬

𝐱𝐥𝐢𝐢

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐈𝐍𝐉𝐄𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 as Adelaide remembered it, with space and sleekness. She sat next to Wanda, her hand on her thigh as Wanda comforted Vision who would wince every few seconds in pain. Adelaide entered the synthezoid's mind to ease some of his pain, but after a few hours he longed for control over his mind again, so she left him alone. Pietro and Adelaide joked, talking of all manner of things she'd missed since she'd left, and what had happened to her in space.

She left out the bad bits: Thanos forcing her to serve her siblings as if she were a servant, letting them loose on her while she was bound, all punishments for not listening, or for not agreeing to things like using her powers. Instead, Adelaide told Pietro tales of when she was with Gamora and Quill, how they'd all get piss drunk after a "quest" and often Rocket would get into random bar fights. Pietro found it all hilarious obviously, and Adelaide smiled as she reminisced.

Pietro screwed his face up. 'Where are we even going?' He asked and Steve looked behind him to see the boy.

'Wakanda.' He simply answered, before retrieving the controls again. Pietro shrugged and carried on joking around with Adelaide.

A few hours passed, Pietro asleep on Adelaide's shoulder as she inhabited his mind and played him memories of when he was younger; it always helped him sleep in the early days of his residence in the compound. So while Pietro slept, Wanda comforted Vision, and Natasha, Rhodes, Bruce and Sam all talked over what they'd do when Thanos came for Vision's stone.

'You guys... might wanna look for this bit.' Steve called back, mainly aimed at Wanda, Pietro and Adelaide. The two of them got up (Pietro still asleep), Adelaide left a figure of herself in her absence for the boy. They ran to the front of the jet and gazed as Sam aimed the jet for a patch of trees.

'Uh what are you doing? Making us watch as you kill us?' Adelaide asked, half joking and Wanda laughed hollowly, and grabbed Adelaide's waist as they made their way straight into the green trees. But as Wanda closed her eyes, bracing for impact, she heard a chuckle erupt from Adelaide. 'Well fuck me.' The girl breathed, and Wanda opened her eyes to a large city, with mountains and forests and lands of cows and other animals.

'It's gorgeous.' Wanda sighed, eyes darting from each detail, from the palace to the people walking below. The jet landed close to the palace, and when they got out, Adelaide and Wanda both escorted Vision straight out. The king, T'Challa, gave them a brief nod, before escorts made their way to the three of them and showed them where to go.

There would be no sightseeing as they were taken straight to the laboratory, where a girl was waiting, around the same age as them, if a bit younger. She smiled when they walked in, noticing Vision and looking to the stone in his head. She scrambled around and then pointed to the table in the middle of the room, with a large window in front of it overlooking the courtyard.

'Lay just here, please. My name's Shuri, it's very nice to meet you guys.' The girl spoke, and Adelaide looked her up and down as Wanda smiled.

'Wanda.' She simply put, still smiling while nudging Adelaide to be nice, which she obeyed and smiled sweetly. Vision lay on the table, looking at Shuri with wide eyes.

'Are you aware of why we are here?' He asked, and she averted her eyes from Adelaide and Wanda to him. She nodded.

'Yes, I do. And don't worry, you're in the best hands.' She gave him a reassuring smile, which he did not return. The rest of the Avengers walked into the room, Steve laughing with T'Challa and Bucky and Natasha talking to Bruce while Rhodes and Pietro discussed something or other, to Adelaide's shock. They settled around Vision and T'Challa gave the nod to Shuri to do as she must.

Shuri looked delighted as something in her small bracelet lit up and she scanned across Vision's body, analysing it and finally the stone. The whispers got louder in Adelaide's ear as the stone had a once over, and after it was done the lingering presence of the stone's words echoed in her ear.

She's yours.

Shuri projected the stone's structure from a bead in her bracelet, and Adelaide was amused by the look on Bruce's face.

'Woah.' Bruce whispered and Shuri looked upon the projection in the same mystical gaze.

'The structure is polymorphic.' She spoke and Bruce nodded his head, the glasses he wore reflecting the projection.

'Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially.' Bruce looked to Shuri, who's face was filled with confusion.

'Why didn't you just reprogram the synapsis to work connectively?' Adelaide sniggered next to Wanda, and Pietro shot her a smile.

'Yeah why didn't you do that?' Pietro jotted in, his arms crossed and Adelaide laughing at his question before shooting in her own.

'Yeah, Bruce why didn't you do that?' Wanda snorted, and Steve nudged them all, urging them to be quiet. Bruce glared at them all.

'Because we didn't think of it?' He said, cocking his head slightly and Shuri smiled.

'I'm sure you did your best.' Adelaide and Wanda laughed audibly and Pietro whispered something to Wanda which made her laugh even more, but looking to Vision on the table she snapped back to the real task at hand.

'Can you do it?' She quickly asked. Placing a hand on the table Vision was on.

'Yes.'