"So, what? It was too dangerous
for me to fight against Iron Man
and Black Widow last year because
I was too young and it was too
dangerous, but now some alien dude
wants to destroy the planet and I'm
suddenly totally cool to fight?"
Sequel to...
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CHAPTER SEVENTEEN | WAKANDAN TECH
__________
i am not a bird or a symbol. i am a woman burning.
-we grind ourselves out // katie longofono
__________
The jet ride to Wakanda was long and Bella was practically vibrating from all of her nerves. She didn't get why she couldn't just individually teleport all of them to Wakanda, but Steve and Ashara had made a big fuss about her keeping her strength up. If she was being honest, she still didn't get the point of that. What could she do, really, against Thanos and his army?
Still, she offered T'Challa and Okoye a wide, but tense, smile when she walked out of the jet and onto the landing pad. She knew Shuri must have been around somewhere — in the lab, probably. She'd spent a decent part of the jet ride texting the tech genius about everything except what was about to happen.
"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said, stretching his hand out to T'Challa.
"Do we bow?" Bella heard Bruce mutter.
"Duh," she replied, just as Rhodey said, "Yeah, he's a king."
Over Bruce's shoulder, she and Rhodey shared a smirk. As Bruce bowed, Bella clapped her hand over her mouth to stop from laughing.
"Uh, we don't do that here," T'Challa said, waving his hands to get Bruce to stop.
Bruce shot Bella and Rhodey a lighthearted glare.
"So, how big of an assault can we expect?" T'Challa asked, beginning to walk away.
Bruce cursed quietly and jogged up to the front of the crowd.
"Uh, sir— sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault."
"How we looking?" Nat asked.
"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..."
He trailed off and gestured to Bucky Barnes, as he approached the group. Eyes wide, Bella stared at the man. He looked way better than the last time she saw him and was still suffering from the effects of HYDRA's mind control. Silently, Ashara stepped back to stand beside Bella.
"And a semi-stable one-hundred-year-old man," Bucky said, a hint of a smile on his lips.
Ashara stayed by Bella's side and allowed Bucky and Steve to have their reunion before she greeted the man with an enthusiastic hug as well. Bella always forgot that Ashara had known Bucky and loved him just as Steve did. Seeing the three together made her heart soar. Maybe wild, far-fetched reunions were not as crazy to believe in as she thought. She had to hold onto the belief that if the three of them got to reunite, that she would see Peter again.
[ ... ]
In the depths of the Wakandan lab, Shuri had all but pounced on Bella. "It has been far too long since you visited," Shuri told her with a stern look. "And I hate that this is the reason you're here."
