Lady Dangerous

20. Stay safe, my love

In Shuri's lab, Shuri scanned the Stone with her kimoyo beads while Vision laid on the examination table. She flipped her hand over and studied the hologram projected over her palm.

"Whoa. The structure is polymorphic" she commented.

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially" Bruce said causing the pair of genius friends to look at each other.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Ana asked as Pietro looked at her in awe. He didn't understand a word she said but she sounded smart. Vision looked at Bruce as if to ask the same thing.

"Because, we didn't think of it" He looked down, ashamed by it.

"I'm sure you did your best" Shuri reassured him with a smile. Her friend snorted so she elbowed her.

"Can you do it?" Wanda asked them.

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures" Ana replied with a sorrow face.

Shuri looked at T'Challa "It will take time, brother".

"How long?" The ex-leader of the Avengers asked.

"As long as you can give us" the princess answered.

"Something's entered the atmosphere" they heard Okoye say.

Outside, Sam, Tommy and Bucky looked up at the sky. "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here" the Falcon said.

The defense shield over the Golden City destroyed one of the alien vessels when it slammed into the field at full attack acceleration.

"God, I love this place" Bucky muttered.

Rhodes who was also outside, and now in full War Machine armor watched three more ships burn through the sky "Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome".

The shock waves and debris from the ship landings destroyed acres of forest and boil up against the dome. The lab has an excellent view of the landing sites. Captain America and Black Panther look at each other in concern over the scope of what they'll be facing.

"It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now" Vision said trying to get up but failing at doing so.

Natasha moved towards him "Vision, get your ass back on the table".

"We will hold them off" He, Okoye and the guards head for the door.

"Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell" Steve ordered to the witch,

"I will"

Pietro kissed his fiancée before heading outside with the rest "Stay safe, my love. We have a weeding to attend to, it won't be cool if the bride isn't there".

"Same for the groom. Stay safe" he nodded and pecked her lips again before running off. She sighed before getting to work, nodding to herself and mumbling that everything was going to be fine.

"Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures"the king stopped and pointed at Steve "And get this man a shield".

"Always one for dramatics" The girls high-five each other and worked together.

At the battlefield, carriers hover over the ground with Wakandan soldiers, Natasha, Tommy, Pietro, Steve and Bucky on board. Rhodey and Sam kept pace overhead, and Bruce was in the Hulkbuster armor "How we looking, Bruce?" Nat asked the scientist. Bucky watched with a raised eyebrow.

Bruce leaped jogging along, keeping up with the carriers, and utterly delighted "Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it. Wow! It's like being the Hulk without actually-" he stumbled on a rock, and a carrier went by, from which Okoye gave him a dubious look. He stood again with a nervous laugh "I'm okay. I'm okay".