THE FLIGHT TO WAKANDA gave Y/N and Banner time to catch up. The two sat beside each other as the scientist gave the story on his time on the planet Sakaar and how he reunited with Thor there. It all ended with how Thanos intercepted their ship and attacked them.

"I'm very sorry, Bruce." Y/N apologized, the fact of hearing how he witnessed half of the Asgardians die made him shiver.

"He just killed them. I tried to stop him, but he was too powerful. He handled the Hulk like a rag doll...", Banner dropped his head, "...now Thor's probably dead."

Y/N didn't want to believe that Thor was really gone, there was no way the God of Thunder can die, right?

"Even if he is, they sent you back to Earth for a reason. Without you, we wouldn't have been prepared for this." Y/N explained.

Bruce nodded, still facing the floor. He then turned to face the Avenger, "And you? The last three years treated you well?"

Y/N chuckled before replying, "First year after Sokovia went well. The New Avengers were formed with the addition of Wanda, Sam, Rhodes, and Vision. I got my powers—"

"I heard about that. How'd that happen?" Bruce interrupted.

"An explosion at a HYDRA base. They were trying to acquire an Infinity Stone and we stopped them. I got hit with its radiation, kind of like you."

Bruce laughed, "Yeah, I don't think that's the same." He then glanced over at Wanda speaking with Natasha by the front of the jet, "I've also noticed you and Maximoff..."

Y/N nodded and gave a light chuckle, "Uh-huh, and what do you infer, Doctor?"

"I would have never thought the two of you would be an item. Especially after what happened in South Africa."

Y/N knew what Bruce was referring to. The time when Wanda mind-controlled the Hulk into causing collateral damage in the city still didn't sit well with Banner. But the young Avenger wanted him to know that she had changed.

"I know that time left a sour taste in your mouth, but Wanda has changed. She's a hero. She's an Avenger."

Bruce listened as Y/N continued to speak, "She changed my life. I wouldn't have understood my new abilities without her. Even these last couple years on the run...it wouldn't have been the same if she wasn't with me."

Bruce understood now. The way Y/N felt about Wanda reminded him of how he felt about Natasha, even of how the Hulk felt about her. She was the song that calmed the rage inside him.

"You're lucky to have her, Y/N."

• • •

THE QUINJET DESCENDED ONTO the landing pad and the airstair opened. There stood King T'Challa and the Dora Milaje in formation beside him.

Steve and Natasha walked out first with Bruce and Rhodey following close behind. The doctor was fumbling with his coat.

"Should we bow?" He asked.

"Yeah, he's a king." Rhodey replied.

Nearby, Y/N smirked at the exchange. He looked over at Wanda beside him, who also understood that the colonel was playing a prank on him.

The Captain and Black Widow walked up to T'Challa and greeted him.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something." Steve said, and the two shook hands.

Bruce cleared his throat and bowed in front of the king. Rhodey looked at him in confusion, "What are you doing?"

T'Challa faced Banner and didn't mind the outsider's mistake, "Uh, we don't do that here."

Bruce looked back at Rhodey with a glare, and the colonel chuckled at the moment he witnessed.

"So how big of an assault should we expect?" T'Challa asked as the group began to walk back to the palace.

"Uh, sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault." Bruce called out from behind.

"Banner says this guy has the biggest army in the universe." Y/N chimed in.

"How we looking?" Natasha asked the Wakandan.

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa pointed ahead, and they saw a familiar looking man with a new vibranium arm walking up to them.

Bucky Barnes.

"And a semi-stable 100-year-old man." Barnes spoke.

Steve was happy to see his old friend again. With the Winter Soldier programming now erased from his mind, he was now back to being Sergeant James Buchanan Barnes.

Steve hugged his friend, "How you been, Buck?"

Bucky smiled, "Uh, not bad, for the end of the world."

• • •

IN THE LAB, T'Challa's sister, Shuri, was running scans on Vision who was laying on the table. The team stood in the room awaiting her plan. Through her beads, she projected a hologram of the Mind Stone.

"The structure is polymorphic." She stated.

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce replied.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"

Vision glanced at Banner, the young genius was already proving to be way smarter than even Stark himself.

"Because we didn't think of it." Banner shyly answered.

"Yeah, you and Tony just went straight to building Vision before we even arrived." Y/N added.

"I'm sure you did your best." Shuri told Banner.

"Can you do it?" Wanda asked her.

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." Shuri explained, then turned to T'Challa, "It will take time, brother."

"How long?" Steve asked.

"As long as you can give me."

Suddenly, Okoye's Kimoyo beads trilled. The alarm in the tower also sounded, and she summoned a projection from her wrist.

"Something's entered the atmosphere."

Sam and Bucky were outside. Through his earpiece, Y/N heard Sam speak to Steve, "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."

There's distant rumbling, and soon after projectiles start crashing into the earth outside of the dome. They all looked out the window and witnessed it.

The Black Order had arrived.

"It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now." Vision pleaded as he started to get up.

"Vision, get your ass back on the table." Natasha rebutted.

"We will hold them off." T'Challa said, and started walking off with his soldiers.

Steve turned to Wanda, "Wanda, as soon as that stone's out of his head...you blow it to hell."

"I will."

"Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses." T'Challa turned back to Steve and pointed at him, "And get this man a shield."

Steve nodded, then turned to Y/N, "Let's get moving, L/N."

He gave a nod as the Captain walked off. Y/N faced Wanda and Vision, speaking to the synthezoid first.

"When that stone is out of your head, we're going to the jewelers and putting a diamond instead."

Vision let out a light laugh, then Y/N turned to Wanda.

"Come back to me, all right?" Wanda stated as she got closer. The two kissed, and Y/N nodded. The battle could go either way, but he was adamant that he'd get back to her no matter what.

"I promise."

• • •

SPECTER FLEW IN THE AIR, following the transport carriers holding the many soldiers and fighters of Wakanda.

Bruce, in the Hulkbuster armor, was running alongside them. That was before he tripped on a boulder and stumbled in front of the many fighters. He'd be back though.

War Machine and the Falcon flew beside Specter. Rhodey looked through his HUD and saw something in the distance.

"I've got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line."

It was Cull Obsidian and Proxima Midnight.

The transport carriers let out the warriors, and they lined up several hundred yards away from the force field barrier. Steve, Natasha, and T'Challa went to go speak to the Black Order members.

Y/N descended near the line of warriors and landed beside Bucky. The soldier held his rifle and glanced at him.

"L/N." Bucky greeted.

"Barnes. I see you have a new arm."

"New me, new arm."

"New you, huh? After this you and me should grab a drink...bond over World War II history."

"Only if you're buying."

Suddenly, there is distant rumbling as the Black Order pods that landed start to open. Steve, Natasha, and T'Challa run back and join the line.

"They surrender?" Y/N asked Cap.

"Not exactly."

Black Order aliens started to charge towards Wakanda. T'Challa began to chant in Xhosa, and the soldiers joined in.

Thousands of the alien hounds started to come out of the tree line. Bucky was in awe, "What the hell?"

"Looks like we pissed her off." Natasha remarked, mentioning Proxima Midnight.

Aliens tried to pry their way through the force field, but many were killed in the process. It didn't stop them, though.

"They're killing themselves." Okoye said in disgust.

Despite this, several of the alien hounds were able to make it through. The Border Tribe activated their shields and raised their staffs.

T'Challa shouted in Xhosa, and the Border Tribe started shooting at the incoming hounds. Bucky joined in and fired his rifle. Specter hovered above and shot energy blasts from his hands, taking down any hounds that came close before coming back down.

Sam flew by and shot at them as well, "You see the teeth on those things?"

"All right, back up, Sam. You're gonna get your wings singed." Rhodey replied, and flew over to a group of aliens and carpet bombed them.

Banner noticed hundreds of hounds running around the dome on the side of them, "Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get behind us there's nothing between them and Vision."

"Then we better keep 'em in front of us." Steve replied.

"How do we do that?" Okoye asked T'Challa.

He looked at Okoye, "We open the barrier."

T'Challa looked ahead at the force field and spoke into his comms, "On my signal, open North-West Section Seventeen."

The people at the Dome Control center were appalled, "Requesting confirmation, My King. You said open the barrier?"

"On my signal."

M'Baku looked ahead as well, "This will be the end of Wakanda."

"Then it will be the noblest ending in history." Okoye responded.

Steve activated his new Wakandan arm shields. T'Challa continued to chant in Xhosa before walking ahead of the line.

Y/N stood beside Natasha, Steve and Bucky. He clenched his fists and was ready to take flight again.

T'Challa crossed his arms into an "X", and activated his mask.

"Wakanda forever!"

Everybody shouted, and the soldiers raised their weapons and began to charge. Both sides were about to clash.

The Battle of Wakanda had commenced.