Bulletproof ➙ Steve Rogers

Chapter Fourteen

King T'challa had led the Avengers into a tall building that had more windows than walls, to his sister's lab where she had a good chance of removing the stone from Vision's forehead. Regina stood with her back against a window, watching as Shuri scanned Vision's stone with a piece of technology, listening intently as the Avengers spoke about what this process would entail.

Regina felt like she was imposing on some sort of private meeting, not having a single thing to say about what was going on around her. She breathed a sigh of relief as she felt her cell phone start to vibrate in her pocket, slightly surprised that she even had cell service in the lab. The woman quietly made her way to the exit, carefully shutting the metal door behind her as she answered the phone.

"Hello?" Regina spoke into the phone after briefly checking the caller ID. It was her neighbor, Sienna. Regina had called her before leaving for Wakanda but didn't get an answer. The woman explained that she was out of town for a few days and needed someone to look after June, who was currently home alone and most likely awaiting her owners arrival any minute now. Little did the poor dog know, her owner was in a different continent for the time being.

"Okay, wait...slow down. What happened?" Regina's voice was filled with concern as she tried to understand was Sienna was saying. She noticed an open door and walked down the hallway, ending up in what looked like a conference room. There was a large glass table surrounded by chairs and a wall made entirely of windows. Regina walked around the table and sat down at the head chair, spinning it around so she could admire Wakanda through the windows.

"Take her to the vet, Sienna. This has happened before and her face will get really swollen." Regina instructed into her phone after being able to understand what her neighbor was saying. "Okay. Okay, thank you. Call me when she's home." The woman hung up the phone, sighing heavily as she leaned back in the chair.

"Is everything okay?" A man's voice spoke, causing Regina to spin around in surprise. Steve was standing in the doorway of the conference room with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyebrows knitted together in concern.

"June got stung by a bee. One got into the apartment, my neighbor is gonna take her to the vet." Regina explained, watching Steve as he walked over to the windows and leaned his broad body against them, staring out at Wakanda. Regina stood up out of her chair to join him as she tried to figure out how he was feeling. His face was blank but she could tell his mind was running faster than the Quinjet that brought them to Wakanda.

"I shouldn't have brought you here, I'm sorry." Steve mumbled without turning to face Regina as he stood up slightly taller, trying to choke back any sort of emotion.

"Don't be sorry. Just please tell me what is going on." Regina felt like she was being kept in this tiny bubble, unaware of what was going on around her. She tried eavesdropping on conversations that the Avengers had together but she was unable to put the pieces together because none of them made any sense. All she wanted was a tiny fragment of clarity, especially since Steve was doing a poor job at concealing how worried he was. The man rubbed his hands together and chewed on the inside of his cheek as his blue eyes slowly shifted to meet Regina's brown ones. She was calm, her face showing no signs of fear or concern. The placid energy that radiated off of the woman helped calm Steve down to a state where he was able to explain what was happening on Wakanda.

"There is a titan looking for six stones. They're called Infinity Stones, they have powers that are...unmatched...in the world. With all six of them, this titan could and will destroy life as we know it. Vision has one of the six stones. We came to Wakanda because Shuri might be able to destroy it." Steve explained all that he knew about Thanos and the Infinity Stones. Regina listened intently, never once opening her mouth to interrupt him. She could tell that it was relieving for Steve to finally be able to spill out all the details of his side of life that he had been hiding for so long.