T'Challa oversaw the examination of the Mind Stone. Vision was laying down on the table, while Shuri, the princess of Wakanda, analysed the hologram of the Stone. Wanda was stood by his side, her arms crossed, and her lips pressed together in a thin line. Sue stayed next to her, giving the emotional support that she knew the Maximoff needed. Natasha was on the otherside of the room next to Steve, and Bruce looked at the scan with Shuri and T'Challa. Rhodey was somewhere in the compoud suiting up in his War Machine suit. Johnny was outside with Sam and Bucky, the three catching up and keeping an eye on the sky.
'Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?' Shuri questioned. Everyone in the room blinked, while Bruce turned to the woman with an open mouth.
'Because we didn't think of it...'
'Can you do it?' Wanda pushed, glancing down at Vision on the table.
'Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures,' Shuri looked to T'Challa. 'It will take time, brother.'
'How long?' Steve asked.
'As long as you can give me.'
The science talk was beyond Sue, but from what she could gather, the Stone's removal was possible. She could see Wanda's tense shoulders deflate from the relief. Wanda's lips parted to let out a sigh and Sue put a hand on her shoulder. The scarlet trench coat crinkled under her touch, and Wanda looked to her with eyes filled with hope. Sue was glad to see that Wanda wouldn't have to lose Vision. The Maximoff had gone through enough with losing Pietro.
Sue stretched out her fingers as she lifted them off Wanda's shoulder. The glove that was once sleek in black leather had loosened from its years of use. The creases of Sue's palm and fingers were aged, showing where her digits would bend from underneath. Her right glove was the same, and Sue thought back to when she put on her red suit earlier in the day.
When the Avengers exited the quinjet, T'Challa showed them to some rooms where they could refresh and prepare. Sue had only brought the clothes she currently wore and her red suit in a duffle bag. When she went to pull it on, she noticed the scruffs and marks that covered the unstable moleculed-crimson. The last time she had worn it was when SHIELD captured the silver surfer. Then her and Tony officially said no more, as she was pregnant with Morgan and Tony was amid building the house in Maine. Since then, the suit had sat in the duffle bag to fester. Usually, Sue would have asked Tony to make some alterations to fix up the damages. But he wasn't around to do so.
Pulling the suit on felt strange. It fit like it used to and Sue was satisfied with the exercise she underwent to lose her pregnancy weight. But without Tony to suit up next to her, it felt wrong. As she zipped up the collar, her finger grazed over the button that sat in the middle of her collarbones. She remembered the adjustments Tony had made at Johnny's request. So much had happened since then that it felt like a lifetime ago.
'Something's entered the atmosphere,' Okoye's voice broke through Sue's trance. She jumped, her thoughts so enticing that she hadn't realised she was daydreaming.
'Cap,' Sam Wilson's voice came through the earpieces. 'We got a situation here.'
Everyone rushed to the window that displayed the city. The forcefield that encased Wakanda destroyed an alien ship that lowered from outerspace. But it wouldn't hold for long, as the ships that descended from the sky were equipped with technology beyond Earth. The vessels disappeared amongst the treeline where they would soon emerge with their occupants. The forcefield would allow the city time to prepare and evacuate its citizens, but the battle was inevitable.
'It's too late,' Vision said. 'We need to destroy the Stone now.'
'Vision, get your ass back on the table,' Natasha ordered, before running to head out of the room.
'We will hold them off,' T'Challa said to Steve, who then looked to Wanda.
'As soon as the Stone's out of his head, you blow it to hell.'
'I will.'
'Evacuate the city. Engage all defence procedures,' T'Challa then pointed to Steve. 'And get this man a shield.'
While T'Challa and Okoye left the room after their guards, Shuri headed back to the table where Vision laid with Wanda by his side. Steve went to head out but stopped when one person hadn't been accounted for. He looked over his shoulder and saw Sue who remained at the window. With her hand to the button on her collar, he could hear the quietest of voices come from her mouth.
'FRIDAY? Can you get an update from Pepper for me?'
'Sure thing, Miss Storm,' a moment happened. 'Miss Potts says Morgan is going down for a nap. Shall I put her on call for you?'
'N-No, that's okay. Thank you.'
Sue took a deep breath. The guards had begun the evacuation and Wakanda citizens could be seen making their way out of their homes. Sue looked down, seeing the streams of families following the soldiers and guards like ants to a feast. The city could be invaded, and precautions needed to be taken. If Thanos' army got through the fleets, there was no telling where they would go next. It was Earth's last line of defence, and Sue didn't want to think about a full-scale alien invasion.
'Sue,' Steve stepped behind the woman. 'I need you with me.'
'I-I am with you,' her voice wobbled.
'Are you?'
Sue asked herself the same question. The attack in New York where they lost Tony was just the taster for what was to come. If Sue struggled through that fight, would she be able to take this one? Without Tony, her confidence was hindered. There would be no jokes in her ear or sudden appearances from the Iron Man suit. Even though she had the team and an entire Wakandian army, she would be on her own. But she told herself that Morgan was at home, Pepper watching over her and probably off in dreamland. If Tony was truly gone, Sue had to get back to her. They vowed to never let Morgan grow up without both their parents, as they both had parts of their lives where their parents were taken from them. It was up to Sue, and she couldn't be sure that Tony would return from wherever he was.
'I am. I'm with you, Cap,' she repeated strongly. Steve saw how Sue's shoulders straightened, and she turned away from the window. When Steve saw the Storm again after her pregnancy, he noticed how different she was. But in this moment, she had returned to her roots of the strong, Invisible Woman that he knew she was.
'Right,' Steve nodded and headed for the door with a thumb jabbed to himself. 'With me, Storm.'
---
The army of Wakanda's tribes stood on what would soon be the battlefield. The day was still bright, the sun unaware of the bloodshed that was about to unfold. T'Challa thanked M'Baku, leader of the Jubari army for standing by him. With the strength and power of his people, they stood a chance.
Where the forcefield met the ground, part of the Avengers met with Proxima Midnight and Obsidian Cole. Proxima was female with eyes of amber. Black hair was pulled back from her face by the horns that grew from her temples, black covering her forehead and in a strip down her chin from her lips. Her armour was black and fitted to her figure, and she held a staff that resembled a trident.
Obsidian Cole was the official name of the alien Bruce, Sue and Johnny encountered in New York. It stood tall beside Proxima and sneered at the familiar faces in the team. Johnny's face twisted in disgust as he looked up at the beast. He had hoped the silver surfer would be present, but he was yet to be blinded by the alien's reflective board and body.
Sue stood anxiously with Bucky and Bruce, who was in a the Hulkbuster. The suit was originally part of Tony's Iron Legion and was built to contain Bruce whenever there was an unauthorised code green. But the Banner had chosen to suit up in it for this battle, as he still wasn't confident that he could bring The Hulk out.
'Did they surrender?' Bucky asked the four that returned to the frontline. Judging by their stone-like faces and the army that slinked through the trees, that was a negative.
'Not exactly.'
Johnny slipped into the space beside his sister to face the mass. Steve, Natasha and T'Challa did the same, the Avengers on the frontline and anxious for the fight. Sue clenched her gloved hands into fists, already feeling the surge of cold to her fingers. She willed the spheres of shimmering blue to stay at bay for now, but struggled when T'Challa let out a warcry, and the first line of aliens barrelled towards the forcefield.
Outriders, as they were called, were creatures that ran on all six of their arms. With large jaws and gruesome mouths, the aliens sacrificed their bodies for Thanos. They collided with the forcefield, and Sue couldn't help but flinch at the thuds of their bodies against the barrier.
'What in the fuck...' Johnny mumbled; his eyes stuck on the dying aliens.
'They're killing themselves,' Okoye stated, bewildered by the strategy.
'They can't get through that, right?' Sue looked across the line to T'Challa, but before he could answer, stragglers of Outriders made it through the faltering barrier. She gulped as they barred their large teeth and slicked their tongues around their lips.
Sam and Rhodey flew down from above and eradicated the Outriders inside the forcefield. Through their earpieces, Sam brought up the fact that they could circle their perimetre and could lead to the aliens getting into the city, therefore getting to Vision and the Mind Stone. Steve looked to T'Challa, and the king made the decision to open the barrier.
'In we go...' Johnny sang joylessly as his shoulders wafted with smoke. His flames began to burn through his blue suit, and he looked into the sky where he would join Rhodey and Sam.
Sue let the light blue encase her fists. As T'Challa ordered the attack, his mask fell over his face, and he took the lead in a sprint. Steve was the next to follow and Johnny broke into a run before he leapt into the sky, his inferno taking him high to fight from above. Bruce's suit barrelled next, its large feet rising and falling into the grass. The other Avengers caught up and the armies behind them did the same, their weapons at the ready and their hearts on their sleeves.
'Now!'
At T'Challa's words, the forcefield dispersed.