against time.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN || wakanda

CHAPTER THIRTEEN, wakanda

☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ

SAM WAS SEATED in the Pilot's seat this time, Ivanna beside Steve and Wanda as Wanda tended to Vision. Bruce, Natasha, and Rhodey all sat in their seats. Steve had ensured that the proper coordinates would be used, and they were on their way to Wakanda.

"Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0," Sam called back, "I hope you're right about this, Cap. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."

The group sat silently as they passed through the force field and entered Wakanda. Ivanna rose from her spot and crossed the Quinjet, standing behind Sam to look at Wakanda as they flew through it.

"It's beautiful here," she mumbled.

Sam grinned and looked back at her, then nodded as he continued flying and then landed the jet. The group made sure they had everything of theirs, and then Ivanna moved to open the ramp. It lowered to the ground and the team walked out. Ivanna passed by Bruce and Rhodey as they were speaking with each other, wanting to walk beside Natasha to meet T'Challa.

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve smiled and shook hands with T'Challa. The king of Wakanda have just as happy of a smile and then turned to the two women standing beside each other, smiling,

"Agent Romanoff, Agent Niloleavna,"

Ivanna returned the smile as his gaze dropped, and turned her head back to see Bruce bowing.

"What are you doing?" Rhodey asked Bruce like he was crazy.

"Uh, we don't do that here," T'Challa spoke and waved his hand in the air to show Bruce that he had no reason or concern to be bowing to T'Challa, "So how big of an assault can we expect?"

The group began walking back toward the castle behind them, Bruce stepping forward to speak with T'Challa.

"Uh, sir," the scientist stammered, "I think you can expect quite a big assault."

T'Challa nodded and Steve spoke up, "How are we looking?"

"You will have my King's Guard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa cut himself short and turned his attention to the newcomer of the group,

"A semi-stable, 100-year-old man," Bucky spoke with a grin on his face as he walked toward Steve.

Steve returned the smile and pulled Bucky into a hug. Ivanna folded her arms over her chest and smiled softly, feeling a slight nudge on her shoulder that caused her to glance back. Natasha was watching Ivanna with amusement and titled her head toward Steve.

Stop making it so obvious, Natasha's thoughts interrupted Ivanna's head and she shook her head.

"Shut up, Romanoff," the blonde hissed.

"How you been, Buck?" Steve asked.

"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world,"

The two friends exchanged a smile once more before Bucky turned to Ivanna, and nodded in her direction. Ivanna returned the gesture and then the group was led inside by T'Challa and his guard.

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Steve stood by a window, watching as Shuri and Bruce looked over Vision while Wanda watched from afar. Ivanna stood only a few feet from Steve and turned her head in his direction. Dropping her folded arms, Ivanna walked toward Steve with concern written on her face.

"He's still going to come looking for that stone," she mumbled, "even if we get it out."

"At least we'll be closer to not losing anyone," Steve reassured Ivanna and she sighed with a nod. Steve knew how often Ivanna cared for every member of the team, always wanting to make certain that they'd be okay by the end of every battle they'd be involved in.

"Whoa," Shuri's voice pulled the duo's attention toward the table where Vision was laying, "The structure is polymorphic."

Bruce nodded, "Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially."

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" Shuri looked up at Bruce from her side of the table, and Vision turned his gaze toward Bruce as if to ask the same thing.

Bruce stared at the teen dumbfounded before responding, "Because, we didn't think of it."

Shuri smiled apologetically, I'm sure you did your best."

Shuri and Bruce went back to inspecting Vision, ignoring the hovering Wanda. Ever since the discussion at the Avengers Compound, Wanda had been on edge with the idea of this happening to Vision. But a lot of Wanda's anxiousness was hope that Vision would make it out of this alive.

Ivanna was fully aware of this and knew she'd feel the same way about someone she loved going through a situation like this. Wanda's thoughts were racing with "what ifs" and Ivanna also knew that Wanda was aware of Ivanna's peaking through her mind.

"Can you do it?" Wanda finally asked from her spot near the table.

Shuri nodded, her attention still on Vision and the screens around her, "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures," she turned her attention to her brother, "It will take time, brother."

"How long?" Steve questioned from beside Ivanna.

"As long as you can give me,"

"We can't guarantee much time," Ivanna informed Shuri, "all we know is that he will locate that stone. Whether it's out or not."

A light beep grabbed Ivanna's attention as Okoye began speaking, "Something's entered the atmosphere."

Sam's voice came over the comm, "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."

"God, I love this place," Ivanna heard Bucky say and furrowed her brows while glancing toward Natasha.

"This isn't good," she told Natasha who nodded slowly and moved to stand closer to Ivanna and Steve.

"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome," Sam told them.

Vision appeared beside Steve, Natasha, and Ivanna his eyes glued outside similarly to the three already there, "It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now."

Natasha spun on Vision, her eyes wide as she grabbed his upper arm and started ushering him toward the table, "Vision, get your ass back on the table."

"We will hold them off," T'Challa spoke up.

Steve turned his attention to Wanda, addressing her while Natasha helped Vision settle on the table, "Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head...you blow it to hell."

Wanda nodded, her eyes on Vision before she turned back to Steve and Ivanna, "I will."

Ivanna grabbed Steve by his wrist, "How are we approaching this one?"

Steve looked down at her, but made no movements to remove her hand from his wrist. His eyes lowered to the ground briefly and he sighed,

"I don't think we'll have a plan for this one,"

Ivanna remained silent and studied every inch of his face, wanting to peer through his mind but refusing to. She squeezed his wrist gently and nodded, understood the entirety of what was going to happen. Ivanna pulled away and focused on the sound of T'Challa's voice as he delivered more orders.

T'Challa started instructing his guard on what to do, leaving what Avengers that were present to wait for instructions for them "Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures," T'Challa stopped and pointed at Steve, "And get this man a shield!"