Chapter Nine
Jade

Construction on the Avengers base and enhanced school has officially started. It's exciting seeing the bustling of construction workers, some from Wakanda and some sent from the government, all slicked with sweat, their expressions hyper focused, their hands building the foundation for the future of the enhanced people. Construction will go a lot faster with the help of Wakandan technology, all provided by Shuri and her amazing team. The princess thinks the two buildings will be done in six months, which is half of what it would take normally.

The construction workers aren't the only ones busy, all of us have been running around Wakanda trying to get the F.E.P members settled while assisting the enhanced newcomers we already helped settle. I haven't had a moment to relax since yesterday. Actually, with helping the enhanced, the party, and the entire world altering around us, I haven't relaxed in more than a week. Sam is just as tired, and once we finish with the last of the houses, we take a second to catch our breaths, with him muttering:

"After this is over, I'm going to sleep for a month."

"I don't think there will be an end to this, honey," I say with a soft chuckle. "Once this dies down, you'll be the new director, you'll have a full schedule."

Sam groans. "Work, work, work," He takes a step closer to me and kisses the side of my head, rubbing my lower back in soothing circles. "Don't you miss the days where we could stay in bed all day, eat left overs from the bakery, just be together?"

I do miss those days. Up until Alaric Hale showed up, Sam and I were taking less and less assignments. We were considering retirement in the next year or two, we focused more and more on the bakery, we spent so much time together, just the two of us. It was like being in our own little bubble, even when we would go on assignments it felt like that. It felt like we were living inside a dream, but now that dream is fading away, though not entirely. We will get that dream back one day, but until then we have to endure the waking nightmare that is the world right now.

"I miss it." Is all I say, which doesn't even begin to encompass how I'm feeling about all this. What we're doing is important, and besides my guilt making me feel obligated to help these people, I genuinely want to. I've always wanted to help people, I've always wanted to make people feel safe. But I want what we're giving these people here in Wakanda: a peaceful life. I want it more than anything.

"I miss it, too." Sam replies, knowing exactly what I'm thinking about, like he always does.

"I think I want to focus on the people still in jail," I tell him, having though of this for a while. "When you and Soroya are directors you'll be focusing on many different issues, as will Naomi. I know Naomi is presenting an amendment to the UN, but someone will have to take the reigns of the transition these people will go through. I want to be the one to do that."

"Really?"

I nod. "I owe it to the people we failed, as well as the people who are separated from their families. When that little girl told me she didn't know where her parents were...all I could think about was my parents. I had to grow up without them, I don't want that for her, or for anyone else."

Sam's hand stalls on my back, his face freezing for a second before melting into a wide, beautiful smile. It makes my heart palpate. "I love you more everyday, Jade Rosales."

I feel myself blush. "I don't deserve it."

"You deserve it more than anyone else."

"Might be a while before I believe that."

"I know," His hand now tightening on my back, pushing me against his chest, his other hand brushing my cheek then my lips, tracing the outline of them with his fingertips. "I promise to tell you that everyday until you do." He tells me tenderly, smiling once again before moving his hand away, placing his lips on mine.

-

Alex

We're all exhausted after another day of helping people adjust to Jabariland. There were even more people today, twice than what we had yesterday. By the time we got home we were practically dragging our feet, our limbs limp like rag dolls. We managed to find some pizza in the back of the freezer, so that's what we decided to eat for dinner. We're chowing down on the freezer burnt pizza now, too tired and hungry to talk or care about how bad the pizza is.

We're almost done with the pizza when Jo speaks, her voice timid and hesitant, very unlike my daughter. "I have made a decision."

Khari and I both set our gazes towards her. "A decision about what? Please tell me you don't want to get your tongue pierced, I thought we skipped that phase with you."

Jo doesn't even react to that remark. "I made a decision about Daniel."

That knocks the sarcasm right out of me, something I thought was impossible to achieve. In fact, I can't find anything to say, I just stare at my daughter stunned. Thankfully Khari says: "What's your decision?"

"I want to get to know him," She says quietly, her expression a mask of stone. "I want to learn more about my past, my birth family, where I came from. I've wondered for years about what those answers might be and I...I feel like I owe it to myself to get them."

"Of course you do," Khari says with a smile, a forced smile. I can always discern the difference, thankfully Jo can't. She looks relieved upon seeing his reaction. "If you want to get to know him, then we will support that decision. Tomorrow morning I will contact him through Zy and set up a meeting. Does that sound alright to you?"

Jo nods, her eyes flickering between the two of us, an urgency in her tone that worries me. "I don't want you to worry."

"About what specifically?" I ask, curiosity bringing me out of my speechlessness.

"About Daniel being in my life. Me wanting to get to know him-it doesn't, I mean...he'll never be my father," She says, frustrated at herself for not being able to coherently express her thoughts. That's very unlike her, she always has an eloquent response for everything. It's one of the many things I love about her. "I hate what he did when he thought I had been killed, and part of me hates him, but at the same time I want to get to know the man he was before he became a revenge filled maniac. It's very confusing. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about him. The one thing I do know is no matter how much I get to know him and how integrated in my life he becomes, he'll never be my father. It wasn't his fault that I was taken away from him, and as much as I regret how that affected him and what that caused him to do, I will never regret being adopted by the two of you."

Her eyes are lining with tears now, her bottom lip wobbling. "The last couple weeks have been stressful and I've been so angry with you, but I don't want you to worry about being replaced or anything, because it's not possible. You are my fathers, you mean everything to me, and I just wanted you to know that. I don't want you to feel jealous or upset because you have no reason to be."

Jo wipes at her eyes, staring down at the uneaten crusts of her pizza. Khari and I in unison get up out of our seats and kneel down beside her, with my husband rubbing her shoulders while I brush the bangs of her hair across her forehead. Jo smiles, her eyes red rimmed, her cheeks flushed.

"We knew all that, peanut, but it's still nice to hear." I whisper with a soft laugh.

"Do you want us to come with you for your meeting with Daniel? It's entirely up to you."

Jo ponders this for a second before replying: "Could you come but keep a distance? I want to be able to talk to him alone but if things go south I want you to be close enough to take me home."

"Whatever you feel comfortable with, my darling." Khari says lowly, leaning his forehead against her temple.

I nod, kissing her cheek. "Yep, whatever you want."

"You guys are being way more lax about this than I thought you would be." Jo says with a sniffle.

I shrug, sharing a loving glance with my husband. "We just want you to be happy, Jo, whatever that means. Will this make you happy?"

She hesitates slightly before nodding her head, keeping her lips pressed tightly together.

"Then we will be here for you every step of the way." I promise her.

-

Soroya

"Do you think the rug was a good idea?" Ana asks with a sigh, eyeing the embroidered rug she bought for her kitchen. She and I are sitting at her kitchen table eating some dinner, which consists of some steak and steamed vegetables. I am grateful for some food. It's been a long day.

I'm happy to help with the new arrivals, but there's so many of them and so few of us to assist them. Usually we would have more help, but with construction starting and Wakanda focusing on piecing our broken world back together, we have been left to deal with this on our own, just a handful of us. We're all exhausted. Stevie, Livy, and Liam immediately went to bed, not stopping to eat or talk to Bucky or I. My husband is having some dinner with Sam and Jade at their new house, he knew I had dinner plans with Ana and didn't want to eat dinner alone since the kids are all asleep.

As tired as I am, I'm happy to be here with my friend. It really does feel nice to spend time with her outside of a jail cell. I can tell she's really happy being here, but how could she not be? Wakanda is the greatest place on earth. I have a feeling she, Liam, and the other newcomers will soon come to think of it as home like I have.

I shake my head at Ana. "No, I think it's beautiful. We could go shopping again tomorrow if you want to trade it in or buy more decorations."

"Only if you have time."

"I have a little in the morning. Pretty soon the newcomers will be settled and I won't have much to do, not until the base is completed. We'll be able to take a lot of shopping trips in the next six months."

"You don't sound too happy about that."

"It's hard not to work," I confess, flicking my steamed broccoli around with my fork. "I've been fighting for so long, time off just feels wrong. I get so restless."

"I get what you mean," Ana says, crossing one leg over the other, taking a sip of wine. "I've been thinking about work myself actually."

"Really? I thought you'd want to enjoy life, take it easy."

Ana scoffs, raising an eyebrow my way. "Please, does that sound like me? I get restless too when I'm not working on some sort of project, and I think I know which one I want to do."

"What's that?"

"I want to work at the new enhanced school. Not as a teacher, god forbid, but as a scientist. I can administer the cure if anyone wants it, I can run tests on people and teach them about their powers, give them advice on how to control their powers. I don't know, maybe it's stupid, but...I want to help people. I spent most of my life hurting people. I experimented on them and tried to give them powers just like the people in PROJECT ENHANCED did. You should hear what these new people are saying, the stories they are telling about the torture they endured, the pain they feel. I used to be no better than Lorelei Clark or Theodore Fai. I want to be different, I want to help these people come back from what happened to them. This may sound ridiculous, but it feels like it's what I'm meant to do."

"Nothing about what you just said was stupid," I reply with a smile, which is growing by the second. "I think that sounds like an incredible idea. I'm so proud of you, Ana. Julian would be, too."

She waves me off, taking another sip of wine. "Don't go all sappy on me, I'm too sober for that."

"Then do you want me to wait to tell you some news?"

She pauses, her glass still up against her mouth. "What news?"

"The enhanced school will be named the 'Institute for the Enhanced & Gifted', I.E.G for short. The school will be made up of different wings, kind of like how a college is built. As one of the directors, and since I have a seat on the Wakandan council, I got to pick the name of one of the wings, the science wing. If you go forward with your plan to work at the school, that's the wing you would be stationed at."

Her voice is quiet and skeptical as she asks: "What's the wing called?"

"The Julian Remington Wing of Science."

Ana makes a choking noise, and it isn't from the wine, it's from a suppressed sob. She clears her throat and nods, her voice tight, rigid as she whispers: "He would be so honored."

"I hope so."

"Are you sure the king will allow me to work at the school? I'm not sure he's warmed up to me yet. No one has."

"I know he will, and even if he says no I'll persuade him. I'm his aunt, he trusts me and my judgment. As far as everyone else, it will just take time."

"Do you think people will even want to listen to me or want my help?"

"I think it will take people a little while to see how much you've changed," I tell her, reaching across the table to place my hand over hers. "The more you help them, the more you try, the more they will begin trusting you. You're a good person, Ana. In time the world will know it."

She smirks, though not at my compliment. "It's good to have you back."

"What do you mean?"

"You're giving me advice with a hopeful speech, you're sounding like yourself again."

I feel like myself again, which prompts me to give her a teasing smile. "Did you miss me?"

She narrows her eyes. "Don't make me say it."

"Oh, I'm gonna make you say it."

She sighs, a little annoyed, but mostly pleased. "I missed you."

I take my hand away from hers and curl my fingers around my glass of wine, clinging it against hers. "I missed you, too."

-

By the time I make my way back home, I see that our ship's engine is fired up and the ramp is down, with Wanda about to step onto it. She pauses though as she sees me approach, now gliding across the grass towards me, her graying hair blowing chaotically in the night's wind.

"I'm glad you made it back in time for me to say goodbye," Wanda says sorrowfully, extending out her hands, connecting them with mine. "It would have been a shame to have missed you."

"I'm glad I caught you, there's something I've wanted to ask you. Sam and I are now running the Avengers, as you know. He and I have both been talking about uniting the old and new Avengers, rebuilding the bonds we once had. It's been a long time since we have been a team, the UN saw to that. They separated us, sent us around the world whenever they felt like it. We haven't been a real team since Thanos died. You and so many others retired because of what the government was doing, but now we're changing things. We want you to come back."

I can't read Wanda's expression as she asks: "Who else are you asking to rejoin the team?"

"I called Rhodey, but he's getting too old to fight. He did say he would work at the new school and teach new Avengers how to fight. Hope is running her father's company, but Scott said he'd be more than willing to return. Valkyrie and Stephen Strange are already in, they helped make all this possible. Clint said no, but he is getting older as well and just wants to be with his family, so I understand. I even contacted Thor, the guardians, and Carol."

This makes Wanda raise a brow. "Really?"

Thor has been with the Guardians of the Galaxy since Thanos was killed. He's returned to earth a handful of times, mostly to see his fellow Asgardians. Ross and the UN frowned upon him visiting, so much so that they demanded that he and the guardians be tracked and put under restrictions if they intended on visiting earth more. Consequently they haven't been to earth in about eight years, that is until around two months ago. Bruce left a voicemail that he would be gone helping Thor for a while, then he just vanished. No one saw him leave or the guardian's ship arrive, no one saw anything. Daniel Fai was incredibly pissed off, but there was nothing he could do. As far as Carol, she's been too busy helping other planets in the universe to deal with our nonsense on earth. Her words. I don't blame her for staying away, she's got a point. Our problems on earth have been trivial and stupid compared to what she's been dealing with.

I nod, a smile curving onto my lips. "Well Bruce is helping Thor right now, so talking to him and the guardians was easy, it was Carol that was hard to contact, but I have my ways. All of them are more than willing to be apart of the Avengers again. With them all helping we can fix not just earth, but other worlds too. I remember after the blip, Carol said that there are a lot of planets out there who don't have heroes like us to protect them. I had hoped that that might change after Thanos was defeated, but that wasn't the case, but now it can be. What do you say, Wanda? Will you join the team again and help us rebuild what has been broken?"

I don't expect her to say yes. She has a comfortable life in Scotland, with a beautiful house, no one telling her what to do, and no danger reaching for her at every corner. She found peace, something I can't even fathom the feeling of. I love my life, it's filled with so much joy and hope, but it's not peaceful, never has been. I don't want it to be though, I can't imagine my life without the danger, the mortal peril I constantly find myself in. After all these years I find it thrilling, it excites me, gives my life purpose. Part of me envies Wanda and Clint for being able to live peaceful lives, but a larger part of me dreads the day I will become too old to fight, when I will be forced to retire, to live a peaceful life of my own.

"Okay, I'll do it on one condition."

"Yes?"

"You have to promise me that we will forge a better world."

My smile fades, my expression becoming far more serious. I squeeze her hands, still wrapped around mine, and nod my head, meaning it with every fiber of my soul as I say: "I promise."