First Light | Steve Rogers (Book Two)

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Not A Drill

We had all gathered in the meeting room that afternoon, since there was still no sign of Thanos' army. Shuri was still working on getting the mind stone out of Vision's head, but it was refusing to move. I was stood next to Steve, having decided not to say anything to him until after the fight. The last thing I wanted was to discuss such a thing, only for it to backfire later.

There was suddenly a loud beeping and Okoye held her wrist in front of her, projecting a 3D image of the globe from her bracelet. "Something's entered the atmosphere" she gasped, all of us tensing up at the news.

"Cap, we've got a situation here" Sam called through the comms.

A loud crash echoed throughout the vast room and I stared out of the window at the large ball of smoke that had gathered right above us. Blue energy was flickering around it and I heard Bucky sigh in relief, "God, I love this place"

"Don't celebrate yet, guys," Rhodes huffed, "We got more incoming outside the dome"

There were several more crashes, causing dust clouds to rise up against the invisible barrier. As another one hit, I jumped slightly and grabbed onto Steve's hand, continuing to look straight ahead. Vision grunted in pain as Wanda helped him up from the table, "It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now"

Nat span around to face him with a dangerous glare, "Vision, get your ass back on the table"

"We will hold them off" T'Challa sighed, leading Okoye and the rest of the Dora Milaje out of the room.

Steve's sky blue eyes met my own and I gripped onto his hand a little tighter, having to force myself to look away. He frowned slightly before letting go and walking away, "Wanda, as soon as that stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell"

"I will"

"Rory, you stay with them"

My eyes widened and I stormed towards him, "What? Absolutely not! I should be fighting alongside everyone else. If this is your way of protecting-"

"It's my way of protecting them. They'll be preoccupied with the stone, you have to keep watch. Do you understand?"

"Come on, St-"

"Do you understand?"

There was a stunned silence and I slowly nodded, "Yeah. I get it. Good luck out there"

The man nodded and began to walk away. He then paused, turning to give me an apologetic look, "You too"

He began to follow after T'Challa, who had begun to bark orders, "Evacuate the city. Engage all defences. And get this man a shield"

I anxiously stared out of the window, watching the scene play out. An army was stood to attention in large blocks, staying completely still an silent as they stared out at the four ships that had landed. Two figures were stood on the other side of the barrier, one was large and brutish, while the other was tall and thin with short, navy hair flowing with the light breeze.

Creatures began to scamper towards our army, a strange mixture of hyenas and lizards with at least six legs each. There were thousands of them, every single one hurling itself at the barrier. They began to try and rip their way through it, their bodies gradually piling up until some managed to get through.

"Are you okay?"

I turned to look at Wanda, giving her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine," I tried to sound as certain as I could, "Just can't wait for this to be over with"

Explosions broke through the earth, taking at least a hundred of them out. They kept coming. They didn't relent. They didn't even care that they would die.

The army began to charge forwards and I hugged myself, holding my breath as I desperately tried to search for my friends in the crowd. A hole opened up in the barrier and the creatures poured in.

The two sides clashed, immediately beginning to hack at each other. Even from a distance, I could see that things had started out brutally. I didn't want to know it would end.

A bright beam of multicoloured light shone down from the sky, crashing into the middle of the battlefield. I grinned widely, watching as the light faded to reveal three figures. One of them looked like Thor, but I was too far off to figure out what the other two were.

The sky began to grow dark as the three charged forwards. Blinding tendrils of electricity plummeting down from above and slammed into several of the creatures, sizzling them until they were almost completely gone.

Wanda joined me at the window and I held onto her hand, trying my best to give her some comfort. "I just want you to know that..." I cleared my throat as I turned to look at her, "I'm so proud of you"

She chuckled softly, "Thank you?"

"I'm serious. You've grown into such a remarkable person. I used to see so much of myself in you. But now... you're better than I ever could have imagined. No matter what happens today, just know that I-"

"Look!"

I frowned at her interruption, but turned to look out of the window again. Something was crashing its way through the forest, shifting the ground under the barrier as a giant drill emerged. It split into several smaller ones, which scattered across the battlefield.

The girl grabbed onto my arm, "You wanted to fight? Let's go"