✓ | Porcelain.

chapter thirty

CHAPTER THIRTY: WAKANDA

"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0." Steve instructed Sam, who flew the jet with ease. Sam glanced at him warily, turning back to look ahead almost instantly.

"I hope you're right about this." He muttered, "or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."

I stood up, feeling a fiery pain in the pit of my stomach, but I was quick to ignore it. My eyes widened as Sam headed straight for the trees, doing what Steve had said.

"Hey," Steve put a hand on my shoulder, "it's okay. Watch."

And I did-what I saw amazed me. We went straight through the trees, but the trees morphed into a blue, hexagonal wall, that seemed to protect what was inside. We continued to fly with no problem, now over an open body of water. "Woah..." I mumbled softly, "that's cool."

Once the jet had landed, it opened to reveal a small group of people on the other side of the door.

"Should we bow?" Bruce asked anxiously, rushing to put on his jacket.

"Uh-"

Rhodey smacked my shoulder with a teasing grin, causing me to stop talking. "Yeah, he's a king."

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something." Steve commented, walking up to a man who stood at the front of the small group.

T'Challa.

Bruce cleared his throat, bowing at T'Challa. Rhodey let his eyes widen. "What are you doing?" He furrowed his brows, disbelief clear on his face. He was hiding his smile very well.

"Uh," T'Challa held his hands out. "we don't do that here." Bruce glared at Rhodey as we began to walk, but Rhodey only laughed softly. "So, how big of an assault should we expect?"

"Uh, sir," Bruce attempted to get closer to the king, "I think you should expect quite a big assault."

"How we looking?" Natasha asked.

"You will have my kingsguard," T'Challa glanced at her, "the Border tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." he pointed ahead of himself.

"A semi-stable one hundred year old man." A familiar voice rang in my ears, I turned to the man walking towards Steve and I.

My eyes widened as a smile grew on my face, "Bucky!" I quickly rushed forward, glancing at Wanda, who began to lead Vision away so they could figure out how to remove the stone.

"Hey, Hazel." He smiled at me, giving me a tight hug. I smiled even wider, happy that he was comfortable enough to call me that now. It'd been so long since I last heard him call me by my middle name.

"How you been, Buck?" Steve asked, giving the man a hug as well. His smile was just as wide as mine.

Bucky sighed, "uh, not bad, for the end of the world." He sent another smile Steve's way.

Shuri, who I had just met, scanned Vision's body with a bracelet of some sort. She flipped her hand around, and a hologram sprouted from the palm of her hand.

"Whoa." Bruce mumbled in awe.

"The structure is polymorphic." Shuri commented, looking at the hologram of the mind stone.

Bruce nodded, "right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially."

Shuri sent him a half smile, "why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"

Vision tilted his head at Bruce from where he laid, also interested in the answer. Bruce stammered, "because we didn't think of it." I chuckled softly-he was used to being one of the smartest people in the room, and now he was learning something.

Shuri's smile widened, "I'm sure you tried your best." She teased.

Wanda gripped my hand tightly, "can you do it?" She asked Shuri.

The girl looked up at her, slowly nodding. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." She looked over to T'Challa. "It will take time, brother."

"How long?" Steve asked.

"As long as you can give me." Shuri sighed.

I looked over to Okoye, who looked down at her kimoyo beads in confusion as they made a whirring sound. A hologram appeared in the palm of Okoye's hand, and she gasped softly at the sight. "Something's entered the atmosphere."

Everyone turned to the windows, watching in shock as large objects flew down from the sky. Some hit the barrier around Wakanda and smashed into pieces from the impact, while others landed safely outside the borders.

"It's too late." Vision groaned, attempting to sit up from the small table he was on, "we need to destroy the stone now."

Natasha whipped her head in his direction, "Vision, get your ass back on the table." She began to walk away, prepared to fight whatever was nearby.

"We will hold them off." T'Challa said confidently.

Steve sighed as he turned to Wanda, who's hand shook in my own. "Wanda, as soon as that stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell."

Wanda nodded slowly, "I will."

"Evacuate the city. Engage all defences." T'Challa ordered, pausing to look at Steve. "And get this man a shield." He pointed in his direction.

"Okay, I'll see you soon, yeah?" I turned to face Wanda, her eyes widened slightly.

"What?" Her voice was so soft, I almost didn't hear it.

"I gotta help the others," I frowned, "come on, I know you know that."

"But, wait-"

"You can stay here and protect Vision." I sighed, "it's your job, and it's the most important one there is."

"But... you could get hurt." Her frown deepened, "just stay. You're still healing from earlier."

"Wanda, they're gonna need all the help they can get." I pulled her in for a hug. "I'll be fine."

She sighed softly into my hair, "okay." She mumbled, "but make sure to check in on comms too... every once in a while, at least."

I smiled at her and nodded, placing a quick kiss on her lips. "I will. I promise."

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lizzie speaks...

uh... okay so somehow i'm almost done this movie and i guess i rly overestimated how much screen time quinn would have ???

also... HAPPY HALLOWEEN !!!!