Wonder Woman ✧ T'CHALLA¹ [✓]

20 - The Inevitable

THE BATTLE CONTINUED TO RAGE ON. Diana did her best to keep up with the Outriders, but she could tell she was tiring. She slashed, hit, and whipped at them all, until her sword was stained and slick with blood, and her bracelets and arms mirrored her sword. Sweat lined her brow, and it slowly dripped down the sides of her head.

"Hey," Raevanna said to Diana when she noticed the Amazon's fatigue. "You alright?"

"Yes," Diana said, nodding as she deflected an incoming attack from the last Outrider. "Just..." She huffed. "Just a little tired."

Suddenly, Diana froze, chills going up her spine as the wind picked up. It felt... strange. Eerie. She didn't like it. 

"Everyone, on my position," Steve told them over comms. "We have incoming."

Diana looked at Raevanna, who looked absolutely terrified. It was then that Diana realized that even though Raevanna aged slowly, she was still so very young compared to Diana. This was most likely Raevanna's first real battle, and coming from a species who were mostly pacifists, she probably had no true idea what a war was actually like.

"Stay close to me," Diana told her. "I'll cover you."

Raevanna nodded, moving closer to Diana before they walked forward and joined Steve. Moments later, Natasha, Sam, Okoye and the T'Challa followed, and they all gathered around the former soldier as the eeriness grew. 

"What the hell?" Natasha said.

That was when Diana looked up, seeing the blue-black clouds of a Space Stone relocation several feet away. Then, a massive purple man with a golden gauntlet on his right hand stepped out of the clouds, and knew that it wasn't just another minion of Thanos. This had to be the mad titan himself.

"Cap," Bruce said. "That's him."

Steve nodded, his face calm but his eyes betraying his fear. "Eyes up. Stay sharp."

Bruce reached Thanos first, lunging forward fist-first, but Thanos simply used the Space Stone on him, rendering him immaterial until the Hulkbuster suit was half-buried in the stone of the cliff behind him, freezing Bruce in place. With Bruce incapacitated, Steve charged towards Thanos, but was sent flying by purple energy before he even got to strike a single blow. So Diana ran forward with Raevanna right behind her. Raevanna gathered magic in her hands and Diana drew her sword, but Thanos backhanded them both away, and they both went flying across the battlefield before landing hard on the ground.

Diana's head struck the packed earth hard, and she gasped as sharp pain shot through her body, making her vision blur and her head swim. With her ears ringing, she slowly pushed herself to her hands and knees, then raised one hand and put it to her forehead to try to steady it. Once her vision stabilized, she looked up and saw T'Challa leaping high into the air with claws extended, armor fully charged kinetically, only to have Thanos easily grab him by the throat and punch him to the ground, T'Challa's armor discharging violently.