Chapter Four
Soroya

The last of the citizens from D.C., London, and Beijing have been evacuated, they're all here in Wakanda. Some enhanced have come here for shelter too, but not many. Most want to fight. All the medical supplies, weapons, and troops are in the three cities, all the plans are made, the assignments given. Sam and I left D.C. to double check that everything is taken care of here in Wakanda, and it seems to be. All that's left to do is leave ourselves.

Rhodey, Everett, and Sharon, who has moved here to work at the institute as a teacher per my request, will stay here and look after the refugees. The other tribe leaders will stay here as well. Everyone else is leaving today to go to their assigned stations. T'Challa, Okoye, and Khari will be leading the Wakandan and Jabari troops in D.C., apart from a small battalion that will be sent to London under Nakia's command. Shuri, Ana, and Livy will be at the George Washington University hospital giving medical attention to those unfortunate enough to need it. Johnathon and Matthew will be in Beijing along with the other students attending the Institute for the Enhanced & Gifted. The other Avengers are going to be split pretty evenly among the three cities. Bucky, Alex, and the boys will be in D.C., as will Jo, who will be guarding the president and his staff from the inside.

Sam, Zy, and I will be in cloaked ship in the sky above the battle in D.C., out of sight, away from the fighting. As much as I hate not leading everyone into battle, hiding up in a ship while everyone else fights and dies to protect the enhanced, to protect me...I have to do it. When Thanos came we hid the infinity stones from him, kept them as far away from him as possible, swore to destroy them before he got anywhere near them. Well in this war I'm the infinity stones, I have to be kept away from the Kree or else the whole universe will suffer. It's worth staying out of the fight.

I haven't let myself think about being the Kree's target that much. I feel like if I do then I'll fall apart and I can't do that right now. I've never been one to hide how I'm feeling, I've never been afraid to be vulnerable, but right now I think it's something I need to do. This isn't like last time. Last time I wasn't a leader, I didn't have people depending on me the way they are now. And last time I wasn't the main target. I need to focus on not being caught, I need to focus on keeping everyone on Earth alive. If I live through this I'll allow myself to breakdown, to cry, to scream, to ask God why I keep being singled out to endure pain, suffering, and hardship. If I live.

We need to be in D.C. in a few hours to do the finalizations for the battle ahead. We only have less than forty eight hours until the Kree arrive, we need to make sure we're ready. I told the kids to pack some extra clothes, some bathroom essentials, and maybe something to entertain them, but nothing they're unwilling to lose. For the next forty eight hours we will be staying in a hotel just outside D.C., all of the Avengers are. Alex, Khari, and Jo are sharing a room right next to Bucky and mine, then across the hall Stevie and Liam will get a room, and next to them will be Livy and Zy. No one gets a room to themselves, everyone has to share it with at least one other person. Ana told me she's rooming with Okoye, and I'm slightly concerned that one or both of them will try to kill each other before the battle has begun.

I have my small bag already packed and slung over my shoulder. Besides the essentials, I packed two photos: one of Alex and I with our parents as kids, then one taken more recently of Bucky, Livy, Stevie, Liam, and I. We took this photo for our Christmas card, we're all dressed up sitting in our backyard, smiling, happy.

Having Liam with us for Christmas this year was fun because he's never experienced Christmas before since his religion doesn't celebrate it. Alex, Bucky, and I all grew up Catholic, but we're not very religious people. It's been very fascinating living with someone who is. One holiday the Hinduism religion celebrates is Diwali, which we are all very familiar with and got to celebrate with him. We've been celebrating that holiday for years because of Khari. The Jabari tribe worship the god Hanuman, who we discovered thanks to Liam, is also a god in Hinduism. We plan on celebrating more holidays with Liam, from his religion and ours.

I've loved having Liam live with us. Not just because he's introduced us to a beautiful religion and culture, but because of what an incredible young man he is. He's so smart, humble, so loving and kind, with so much passion and talent. In a very short amount of time we have all grown very attached to him. As of late, when I talk about my kids, I've been saying I have three. Bucky has, too. When we introduce the kids we call Liam our foster son, which he kind of is. In all honesty I would gladly call him just my son, but I feel like that would be disrespectful to his parents. We asked his permission first before we started calling him that and he agreed with a large grin. He has a beautiful smile.

That smile is completely absent from his face as he comes down the stairs, Stevie and Livy just behind him. They all look miserable, though Stevie attempts to smile at me once he and the others make it down the stairs and enter the living, where Bucky and I have been waiting for them.

"You have everything you need packed?" I ask the three of them.

They nod, each running me through the list of things they packed. Livy packed another outfit, her lab coat, toothbrush, hairbrush, her own personal medical tools, her paw necklace, and her phone. Stevie and Liam have similar things packed, though Stevie decided to bring a notepad and some pencils to draw with and Liam packed a necklace called 'Shiva's eye'. It's a white stone with a gold swirl. He mumbles that he thought about bringing his camera but he's afraid of a building crushing it. I agree that it's best not to take the risk.

After the kids finish talking about their luggage, they each look around the living room, like they're trying to take it in, memorize it. I did the same thing before Thanos came to Wakanda. I memorized my room, how the city looked, my friend's laughs, Alex and Bucky's faces. I was afraid I would never see them again, that every time I saw something, would be the last time I would see it. I needed to commit everything to memory just in case the worst happened. All these years later and the worst threatens to happen again. The kids think they're not coming back. Part of me thinks so, too. I don't tell them that though, instead I say:

"We'll be back soon. We'll all get through this and we'll all get through every other battle in the future, whether it's big like the Kree or small like a band of thugs," I gesture for the kids to come more towards us. Once they do, I link my hands with Bucky's and Livy's, then gesture for everyone to combine hands, so now we form a circle of sorts. "We're a family, the five of us. We will face everything life has to throw at us and we will do it together."

The kids look a little more relaxed, but not by much. I let go of their hands and nod towards the door, taking in a deep breath. "Come on, let's get onto the ship."

The kids pile out of the house first, then Bucky. I am the last to leave, and before I cross through the doorway exiting the house, I turn back and take one last look at it. It's the house Bucky and I got after we married, the house Livy and Stevie have grown up in, the house we made our home. I commit it to memory. I make sure every detail is catalogued in my brain.

"We'll be back." Bucky whispers to me from a foot away.

Without looking at him I nod, finally turning my head away from the house, and stepping outside. "I hope so."

-

Josephine

"We are done discussing this." Baba says in what I like to call his 'lord tone'. He and Dad are currently packing a small bag of essential items for D.C.; some clothes, toothbrush and toothpaste, some extra weapons, and some pictures of the three of us together. I already packed my stuff in a backpack with book quote pins littered over it. It's filled to the maximum capacity with my own essentials, which includes two books. Since I'm being sidelined I'd figure I'd bring some reading material. Dad warned me that anything I bring might be destroyed, so the books I'm bringing are paperback copies of ones I already have.

"A conversation goes two ways, Baba, and I'm sure as hell not done."

Baba turns to Dad. "How about you try reasoning with our daughter."

Dad sighs, turning away from their luggage to face me. "Peanut, you're being given a really important job-"

"Oh don't even start with me. Don't say that guarding the president and his puppets is an important job, it's no job at all. They'll all be in a titanium bunker that's fifteen feet below the ground, they don't need protecting. All this is is you trying to keep me off the battlefield."

"And so what if it is?" Baba says loudly. He hardly ever raises his voice, his booming tone makes me jump in my skin. "I know you are a great fighter, but you are still only fifteen. War is no joke, Josephine, it is nothing like you have ever experienced. I will not have my daughter subjected to such a traumatic event at such a young age."

"You can't expect me to stand by while all of you die out there!" I say, raising my own voice.

"I do expect it of you, in fact, I command it. You may be my daughter, but you're still a citizen of the Jabari tribe, and as your lord, I order you to stay in that bunker and to not come out unless I give the word."

I gape at my father, not believing what I'm hearing. "Are you really pulling rank on me right now?"

"If that's what it takes for you to stay out of this fight, then yes, I am. This is for your own good, my darling. You may not see it, but it's the truth."

I know they're just making me stay out of the fighting because they don't want me to get hurt. I get it. I understand. But what they don't understand is that I can't do nothing while they are out risking their lives, possibly dying. When Dad and Aunt Soroya were mine controlled, I felt overwhelmed when I was put at the center of the conflict because of my powers. I have the power to save everyone, to keep everyone from harm or danger. Part of me resents this power, resents the position it puts me in, but what I resent more is when I am not in that position, when I can't save everyone.

Uncle John is dead because of me. Everyone keeps telling me it wasn't my fault, but it was. I was so stupid, I wasn't thinking. I shouldn't have ran for him, that gave the Savage time to throw the knife, to render me powerless. I should have just created a force field and carried him towards me, then towards the ship. I should have done more. But I didn't. I left him. I let him die. I was powerless when I had all the power in the world. And now my whole family is in danger again, and I'm being forced to once again be in a position where I'm powerless to help any of them.

Yes war is terrible, and no I don't have any wish to be apart of it, but I can't be powerless like that again. Baba is asking me to do the hardest thing he could ever ask me to do. He might as well just rip my heart from my chest and chuck it out the window, because that's exactly how I'll feel being in that bunker. My body will be there, but my heart will be on the battle field, open, vulnerable, helpless.

"Okay." I all I say. There's no point in arguing further. My parents won't yield.

But neither will I.

-

Jade

I've never been to space before, I don't know what I had expected. The only one of my friends who has been to space is Soroya. She went to space to find Thanos after the blip. She was there when Thor cut off his head with his axe, after he had destroyed the infinity stones. She told me that it was one of the worst days of her life, the others being the day her parents died and the day Julian Remington died. She didn't go into space again after that, even though she could have several times to help on missions. She said every time she thought of going back, she would remember Thanos telling them the stones were gone, that she would never see Bucky or Alex again.

Besides the awful memories however, she told me space travel is very exciting. That's true, but she failed to tell me how terrifying it is at first. Lifting off the ground and shooting off into the sky in a spaceship is frightening to someone whose never done it before. It's like being on a roller coaster with no track. Naomi and I were clutching onto each other's hands the whole time, we've only just now begun to relax and that's after more than a half an hour of being up here amongst the stars.

The Guardians let us borrow their ship, and Carol is flying it, Kieran sitting in the seat next to her, with Naomi and I in the back. We haven't done much talking, I think we're all more than a little bit nervous, Kieran most of all. A Kree walking into a room full of Skrulls is sure to be tense.

Kieran is looking down at something in the palm of her new hand, the vibranium one Shuri gave her. Maybe I ask this question because I need a distraction, maybe I'm just curious, but I ask nonetheless: "How did you lose your hand, Kieran...if you don't mind me asking." I add that last part after a second.

Naomi looks just as curious as I do, but Carol doesn't. Something tells me she knows exactly how Kieran lost the hand. Actually I'm sure of it. Kieran shares a look with Carol before answering us, as if asking if she should divulge the answer. Carol nods, so Kieran holds up the hand to show me what she's been staring at. It's a pocket watch, or at least I think it is. It doesn't tell time like on Earth, and it's made up of a metal that is silver in color, with lots of scratches. She must have had it for a long time.

"This was my father's," she explains, staring at the watch sadly. "He was a captain in the Kree army, he died during one of their many, many battles. When I turned eighteen I decided to follow in his footsteps and join the army, I didn't even have to go through any training or tests. My father had a reputation for being an excellent fighter, and everyone knew he had passed on his knowledge to me. My first mission was to a planet called Yenvon, my legion was tasked in taking the capital city. It was there that I saw what cruelty the Kree were truly capable of. I saw my legion and other Kree legions slaughter innocent people, tear down governments that had been in place for centuries, and destroy people's lives. I decided then that I didn't want any part of what the Kree were trying to do. I didn't want to be like any of them, like my father. So I left, I deserted the army."

Carol shuts her eyes, a pained expression flooding into her face. There were many years where Carol was apart of the Kree army, she must know what desertion means, the price you pay for it. Kieran tells us that price a moment later.

"My mother was killed for my desertion. I was arrested and brought in before the Surpreme Intelligence. They said that since they didn't kill me, that I was to pay off my life by serving them, that I was indebted to them. They said that from that day on I was to serve as their personal assassin. To make sure I wouldn't desert again, they put a cuff on my wrist, one that would prevent me from disobeying them. If I did, I would die."

Oh my god. I glance at Naomi and find her eyes glued to Kieran, more specifically to her hand. "So, in order to come to Earth and warn us you-"

"Cut off my hand? Yes. It was the only way. I should have done it a long time ago. I guess I didn't because I was punishing myself for what happened to my mother, that I deserved to be a slave to the Kree for what I caused."

I know how that feels, more than she could ever realize. The guilt, the self punishment, the self hatred. "Your mother would have been proud of you for what you did. You did the right thing."

Kieran smiles sadly to herself. "That's true, she would have, but guilt has a funny way of maneuvering around what's true. Guilt swarms you like a storm cloud and refuses to let you go, because you yourself do not want to let it go. My guilt was a greater imprisonment than my cuff, it was my guilt that kept me doing the Kree's biding instead of moving on and cutting the cuff off. When I finally did cut the cuff off, I vowed I would not be a slave to the Kree or to my guilt anymore."

"How did you do it?" I ask, my voice coming out as a whisper. "How did you let go of your guilt so easily?"

"Easy? It wasn't easy, it was the hardest thing I've ever done. But when I heard of the Supreme Intelligence's plans to take the enhanced humans, I realized that if I wanted to stop them, I needed to stop punishing myself and swimming in my guilt. You can't forge a path to a new future if you keep living in the past. I needed to let it go. It was the only way."

Her words settle in me like a rock in a pool. She may bee speaking about herself and her own experiences, but I have never felt words resonate with me more than hers has, which is pretty astonishing. All of my friends have felt guilt before, some as much as I have, like Bucky. But none of my conversations with them have ever struck me as much as Kieran's has. Maybe it's because I know what it's like to carry the blame over a parent's death. I blamed myself for my mother and father's deaths for a majority of my life. That guilt went away when I confronted the HYDRA scientist responsible for creating me, but that guilt was quickly replaced by guilt for something else, and when that guilt faded, more took its place. It's been a never ending cycle, a loop I can't get out of. And Kieran's right, I don't want to get out of it. I want to feel guilty, I want to punish myself. I always want to punish myself.

"For what it's worth, Kieran, I think you are an incredibly brave and honorable person. Your parents would be very proud of you." Naomi says with a soft smile, clutching onto the locket her parents gave her. I almost forgot that Naomi knows about the pain of losing a parent also, the feeling of guilt, the vicious spiral it traps you in.

Kieran smiles at Naomi, holding onto her father's watch as tightly as Naomi does her locket. "I hope so. I hope their deaths won't be in vain, that none of this will be in vain." She says, anger, determination now filling her gaze.

I hope so, too.