Blue || Bucky Barnes

36. We Have Blood To Spare

Rocket flies the pod over to the star's rings and Thor jumps off.
"I don't think you get the scientifics here. These rings are gigantic. You wanna get them moving you're gonna need something a lot bigger to yank them loose." Rocket tells him.

Thor looks up at the raccoon inside the pod. "Leave that to me."
"Leave it to you, buddy you're in space. All you got is a rope and- aaaaahhhhhh!!!" Rocket is cut off by Thor swinging the pod round with his strength.
"Fire the engines." Thor says as he jumps. Rocket grips the controls and the propellers blast. The pod flies through space and Thor catches his feet on the edge of one of the rings holding it tight.

"More... power... rabbit!" Thor groans. The rings start to move as Rocket puts more thrust into it. Eventually they align and Loki and Leia watch the forge light up.

"Well done boy." Eitri mumbles watching the scene play out.
"That's Nidavellir!" Thor exclaims crashing onto the roof of the pod. Rocket gazes amazed at the blazing core. The iris opens firing pure stellar heat through the ring portals and into the forge. But the forgotten motion causes the mechanism to break and the iris closes.

"What happened?!" Leia asks.
"Dammit." Eitri huffs.
"Dammit, what's dammit?" Rocket asks.
"The mechanism is crippled."
"What?!" Thor asks.
"With the iris closed I can't heat the metal." Eitri says.
"How long will it take to heat it?"
"A few minutes, maybe more, why?" Eitri asks.
"I'm gonna hold it open." Thor stands up heroically.
"That's suicide."
"So is facing Thanos without that axe." Thor states before jumping off the pod launching toward the iris.
"He's not really going to do it is he?" Leia asks his brother.
"This is madness." Loki watches his actions intently from the forge.

-

Back in Wakanda, carriers hover over the ground transporting Wakandan soldiers, Nat, Steve and Bucky, while Rhodey and Sam keep up overhead.

"How we looking Bruce?" Nat asks.
Bruce comes leaping by in the Hulkbuster armor. "Yeah I think I'm getting the hang of it. Wow! It's like being the Hulk without actually-" His foot catches on a rock and he flies into the ground. A carrier flies by, from which Okoye gives him a dubious look. "I'm okay. I'm okay."

"I got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line." Rhodey says as he flies. Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian stalk over to the edge of the dome.

The carriers pull up and the armies fall in line.
"MIE EFFA! YA HU! MIE EFFA! YA HU! MIE EFFA! YA HU! MIE EFFA! YA HU! MIE EFFA! YA HU!" M'Baku rallies his soldiers with a war chant. He walks over to meet T'Challa.
"Thank you for standing with us." T'Challa says.
"Of course, brother." M'Baku nods.

The Black Panther, Steve Rogers and Natasha Romanoff walk to the edge of the barrier where the two alien figures stand.
"Where's your other friend?" Natasha asks.
"You will pay for his life with yours. Thanos will have that stone." Proxima says.
"That's not gonna happen." Steve pipes up.
"You're in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothin but dust and blood." T'Challa says.
"We... have blood to spare." Proxima brandishes her sword and the ships behind her start raising their outer shells.

The three heroes return back to the masses.
"Did they surrender?" Bucky asks in an almost sardonic tone.
"Not exactly." Steve says.
Black Panther leads the tribes in a chant. "Yibambe!" The Outriders bound toward the barrier ready to attack.
"What the hell." It seems to be Bucky's catch phrase.
"Looks like we pissed her off." Nat remarks.

The Outriders bombard the force field, squeezing their limbs and bodies partly through only to be bisected. "They're killing themselves." Okoye says horrified.
Only a few Outriders manage to make it through the barrier and the Border Tribe take a knee and raise their shields. The Kingsguard behind them level their sonic spears and on T'Challa's command, fire at the approaching monsters.
Bucky raises his M-249 machine gun and fires it at the strangled monsters. His eyes narrow as he looks down the barrel at his targets. Hulk fires his repulsers taking a few down while Sam and Rhodey take to the skies using that to their advantage.