The Playground
Afternoon
After they were all caught up from Rhodey, the group of seven made their way to the lab. They entered and stopped and stared at the sight of Cisco and Bruce in a heated discussion.
"What are they saying?" Sam whispered to Barry, the scientists talking too fast for the others to understand.
"They're arguing about the stone," Barry told him.
Steve cleared his throat and the pair stopped, looking over at their audience with more than a little embarrassment.
"Cisco, Brue," Steve greeted amused.
"Hey Cap," Brue said awkwardly.
"Good to see you Bruce," Steve said warmly and Bruce nodded.
"You to," Bruce said before he looked over at Natasha. "Hey Nat."
"Hi Bruce," Natasha said awkwardly.
"This s awkward," Sam said and Barry and Wanda glared at him as Bucky simply looked uncomfortable.
"So, where are we with the stone?" Steve asked.
"We're not," Cisco said regretfully.
"I don't have the right equipment to remove the stone from Vision, not without killing him," Bruce explained.
"Cisco, you did it before. Can't you do it again?" Steve inquired but Cisco shook his head.
"What I did was put Vision into a coma so he wouldn't die when Alexei removed the stone, I wasn't even sure it would work. Even if I did the exact same thing, we'd need to put the stone back or Vision would just be comatose," Cisco explained.
"Then there is only one thing we can do," Vision said.
"No, we're not having this conversation again," Rhodey said to the confusion of the others.
"Someone want to fill us in?" Bucky asked.
"Vision wants Wanda to kill him," Barry said and there was a moment of stunned silence.
"What?" Wanda asked shocked.
"Thanos, he will not stop until he gets the stone. I think if the stone were exposed to a sufficiently powerful energy source, something very similar to its own signature, its molecular structure will fail," Vision repeated what he had told the others.
"And you along with it," Wanda noted sadly.
"It's the only way we can be certain Thanos will not get his hands on all the stones," Vision said certainly. "Thanos threatens half the universe. One life cannot stand in the way of defeating him."
"But it should," Steve spoke up. "We don't trade lives Vision."
"There are no other options Captain. Dr. Banner and Mr. Ramon cannot remove the stone without killing me," Vision pointed out.
"We need to find someone who can then," Natasha said as Steve had a thought.
"I know someone."
Unspecified location, 23 years in the future
Freya Allen walked into a library, lingering in the doorway. A figure stood in the room, his legs crossed as he levitated above the ground. He wore a golden helmet and a blue suit with golden symbols on it.
"Freya," he said, his voice echoing through the room as he lowered himself to the floor, standing up to face her. "I know where you have been."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Freya said her heart racing.
"Do not think you can lie to me. I know you went to the past," Dr. Fate said sternly as he crossed his arms. "You traveled back to the day your parents were married."
"I wanted to see them. Is that so wrong?" Freya asked defensively.
"No, it isn't. But you know that interfering in the past can have unintended consequences. The smallest change can have long lasting ramifications, you know this," Dr. Fate said firmly but not unkindly.
"I just want to see them," Freya said, tears flowing down her face.
"And you will," Dr. Fate said as he put two arms around her. "But you must be patient. We must wait to act. In infinite possibilities, there is only one in which we emerge victorious. We must make that one possible by not acting until we are needed."
Quinjet
Some hours later
Sam was flying them towards their destination as Cisco sat in the copilot seat, looking around at the controls in awe. As Bucky and Rhodey had a conversation about whether a missile or a gun had superior accuracy, Wanda and Barry showed Natasha and Steve pictures of Freya on their phones.
"She's beautiful," Natasha complimented as Wanda showed her a picture of Freya's first birthday party.
"Thank you," Wanda said as a beaming smile crossed her face.
As Steve looked at the phone, he stiffened as Barry switched the photo to one of Caitlin holding Freya. Barry noticed this, turning the phone off and pocketing it.
"You okay?" Barry asked and Steve was silent, staring off into space.
"How is she?" Steve inquired.
"She's good. Cisco made her head of her own department. She seems happy," Barry said honestly and Steve nodded.
"And is there…anyone?" Steve asked awkwardly, feeling a little shame at the relief he felt when Barry shook his head.
"She's gone out on a few dates but they never go past one. She says she doesn't click with them but…the truth is, although she'll never say it, none of them are you," Barry told him honestly.
Steve nodded, Steve the person disappointed Caitlin hasn't seemed to have moved on and Steve the guy happy she hasn't.
"Hey Cap, we're coming up on it," Sam called back.
Steve nodded, getting out of his seat and walking up to the controls.
"Drop to 2600, heading 030," Steve ordered.
"Hope you're right about this, otherwise we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to," Sam muttered as he followed orders.
The Quinjet flew lower, passing through the barrier that hide Wakanda from the outside world. Rhodey and Bruce looked at the city in awe as Sam flew the Quinjet towards the palace, where T'Challa and his guards were waiting. Sam brought the Quinjet in for a landing and lowered the ramp. Together, the group walked down the ramp and met T'Challa outside.
"I feel like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said in greeting, shaking T'Challa's hand.
Bruce cleared his throat, bowing as everyone looked at him weirdly.
"What are you doing?" Rhodey asked.
"We don't do that here," T'Challa told Bruce.
Rhodey grinned as Bruce shot him an annoyed look while everyone else turned back to T'Challa.
"Mr. Allen, Mr. Ramon, good to see you again, although I wise the circumstances were better," T'Challa said as he turned to the Earth-1 natives. "You as well Mrs. Maximoff. I apologize I could not make the wedding."
"It's okay," Wanda said as they began making their way towards the palace.
"How big of an assault should we expect?" T'Challa asked, getting down to business.
"Um, sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault," Bruce spoke up as they followed him.
"How we looking?" Natasha inquired.
"We will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, and the Dora Milage," T'Challa answered.
"I'm not sure that will be enough," Bruce said uneasily.
"It'll have to be," Steve said firmly. "Sam, Buck, Rhodey, you three stay out here, form a perimeter with the guards. The rest of us will head inside."
No one argued, finding Steve's order agreeable. The group made their way into the palace and into the lab, where T'Challa's sister, Shuri, was waiting for them.
"It is good to see you all again," Shuri said as she greeted The Avengers.
"This lab is everything," Cisco said in geeky awe as he looked around. "When the world's not ending, can I get a behind the scenes tour?"
"Let's not take up all of T'Challa's patience," Barry said quickly but T'Challa simply smiled.
"We shall see Mr. Ramon. But, at the moment, we have more pressing matters," T'Challa pointed out.
Everyone was quiet as Vision got onto the table and Shuri began scanning him. Once she was done, Shuri opened her palm and, to the surprise of everyone not from Wakanda, a holographic display appeared in her hand.
"The structure is polymorphic," she noted.
"Yeah, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Bruce explained.
"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Shuri inquired.
"We didn't have a lot of time…and we didn't think of it," Bruce added as an afterthought.
"Well, I'm sure you did your best," Shuri said with the arrogance of a teenager.
"Can you do it?" Barry asked.
"Yes, but there are over two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time brother," Shuri said as she looked over at T'Challa.
"How much time do you need?" Wanda asked.
"As much as you can give me," Shuri answered.
Suddenly, there was a sound that sounded eerily similar to a blaring alarm. Okoye raised her palm and a holographic map appeared in her hand.
"Something is entering the atmosphere," she said grimly.
"Thanos," Steve said darkly.
Suddenly, they heard an explosion. Everyone looked out the window, seeing something had hit the force field. But, thankfully, the barrier had held.
Outside, as he and Sam stood watching, Bucky grinned.
"God I love this place," he said.
"Don't start celebrating yet. Guys, we got more incoming outside the dome," Rhodey said over the Comms.
True to his word, several pyramid shaped ships landed outside the force field, causing a ripple in the ground. In the palace, The Avengers watched this, knowing it was time.
"It's too late. We need to destroy the stone," Vision said, starting to get up.
"Vision, get your ass back on the table," Natasha ordered, walking over and pushing him back.
"We'll hold them off," T'Challa said, turning and walking off.
"Wanda, the moment that stone is out of his head, you blow it straight to hell," Steve ordered and Wanda nodded.
"I will," she promised.
"Evacuate the city, raise all defenses! Get this man a shield!" T'Challa barked, pointing at Steve. "Mr. Allen."
A guard brought him something and T'Challa tossed it to Barry. Barry caught it, realizing it was a sword.
"In your language, it is called Lightning Strike. It has been in my family for generations. Use it well," T'Challa said before walking out.
Barry pulled the sword out of its sheath, revealing bright red steel. Barry swung it around, getting the feel of it.
"Cool," Barry grinned.