Second Sphere

Like always

It was like any other day. Bucky was tossing hay bales and I was playing with children when T'Challa and Okoye crest the hill and start heading towards us. I round up the kids sending them to their parents and go and stand next to Bucky.

One of the warriors takes a large case and sets it down, opening it and walking away. Bucky walks up to it, inside is a new arm. "Where's the fight?"

"On its way." T'Challa says.

I look between them all, I want to keep Bucky out of the fight. I know he's tired. That he wants to rest. And they know that as well. But if there was any other option they wouldn't be here.

Okoye walks over and hands me a spear, it looks newly made. "It's time you had one as well."

That was the closest thing to praise as I would get from her and the ghost of a smile rests on my face. The spear is amazing but I wish it were under better circumstances.

They bring Bucky and myself back to the main palace and give us space to get ready. I showered first and now it was Bucky's turn.

"You don't have to do this you know." I call out.

He comes out of the bathroom, towel around his waist. "You know that's not true."

I sigh, one could hope. When everyone starts to arrive Bucky and I go out to greet them.

We see T'Challa walking towards us with Steve, Natasha, and a few others. "You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and-" T'Challa gestures towards us.

"A semi-stable 100-year-old man and an overgrown bird." Bucky says.

Steve goes in for a hug with Bucky first and then myself.

"How you been, Buck?" Steve asks.

"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world." He says with a smile.

Steve looks to me, "And yourself?"

"I can't complain." I say.

We all in to Shuri's lab.

She scans Vision with her bracelet, pulling up a holographic projection of the stone.

"Whoa." Banner says.

"The structure is polymorphic." Shuri states.

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Banner says.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Shuri asks as if it's the most obvious answer in the world. All of this means nothing to me.

Banner seems taken aback, "Because we didn't think of it."

"I'm sure you did your best." Shuri says a hint of sarcasm behind her.

"Can you do it?" Wanda asks.

Shuri goes back to being serious, "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." She turns to T'Challa. "It will take time brother."

"How long?" He asks.

"As long as you can give me." Shuri says.

Okoye's kimoyo beads send an alarm and she pulls up another holographic image. "Something's centered the atmosphere."

That was our queue to go outside. Bucky was already outside with Sam. I run outside just in time to see something smash against an invisible shield. Large ships crash into the earth outside the barrier.

We all go to assemble in the large field outside the main city. Rhodey comes in on the radio, "I've got two heat signatures breaking the tree line."

I land next to Bucky. "Are you ready for this?" I ask him.

He looks at me and smirks, "Are you?"

I can feel my feathers ruffle, "Of course."

He leans over and whispers in my ear, "Your wings puff up when you lie." He swings an arm around me and kisses the side of my head. "We will do this together, like always."

"Like always." I echo back to him.