The Spider and His Tribrid

Chapter 3: Prepare For Battle

Hope's POV:

I gawk at the beauty that is Wakanda once the Quinjet enters the barrier of the hidden country. "Whoa." I breath. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Nat asks, coming to stand next to me. "Stunning." I correct. She chuckles before turning serious. "I'm sorry, about the kid. I heard about the two of you."

I nod. "It's fine, once all this is over I'm gonna smack him upside the head for not letting go of that web and leaving me, and then everything will go back to normal." She nods, a sad look on her face. "We'll win this. Ok?" I nod, not looking at her. "We have to."

The rest of the ride is silent and soon we're landing. When the back opens I see T'Challa standing with his King's guard. "Seems like I'm Always thanking you for something." Steve says as he shakes hands with T'Challa. What? What does he mean? Bruce clears his throat and brows. 

"What are you doing?" Rhodey asks. "Uh, we don't do that here." T'Challa assures him before turning and leading us towards the large building behind him. "So how big of an assault should we expect?" He asks. Bruce rushes forward. 

"Uh, sir, sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault." He informs hm. "How we looking?" Nat asks. "You will have my Kings guard, the Boarder Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." He trails off as Bucky Barnes approaches us. 

"And a semi-stable 100 year old man." He jokes before pulling Steve into a hug. "How you been, Buck?" He asks his friend as they pull away. "Uh, not bad, for the end of the world." He says, grinning. He then turns to me, giving Steve a questioning look. 

"Bucky, this is Hope Mikaelson. Don't worry, she's good." He nods and extends his normal hand towards me. "Bucky." "Hope." With that we follow T'Challa into what appears to be a giant lab. There are people rushing around doing things and then there's the person I assume is in charge. 

A girl about my age seems to be the one in control of this lab as she is ordering around several of the other people in the lab. When we enter her head whips around. She smiles at T'Challa, but then it turns grim when she sees the rest of us. "What is wrong brother?" She then sees Vision.

She nods. "Get him on the table." Once he's there, she scans him with her bracelet thing. "The structure is polymorphic." She mumbles as Bruce goes to stand by her and help as best he can. "Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." 

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" She asks, smirking slightly. "Because we didn't think of it." He says, furrowing his brows as Vision gives him a raised eyebrow look. "I'm sure you did your best." "Can you do it?" Wanda asks. 

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." She then turns to T'Challa. "It will take time brother." "How long?" Steve asks. "As long as you can give me." 

A beeping sound rings through the lab and we all turnt towards Okoye and King T'Challa. "Somethings entered the atmosphere." She says, a project of the earth appearing from one of the beads on her wrist. Both Sam and Rhodey confirm Okoye's announcement from outside. 

I can feel the vibrations and see the ships from here. Everyone is standing at the giant windows. "It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now." Vision says, climbing off the table. "Vision, get your ass back on the table." Nat demands, walking over and pushing him back down. 

"We will hold them off." T'Challa confirms. "Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head, you blow it to hell." Steve instructs. "I will." "Evacuate the city. Engage all defenses, and get this man a shield." T'Challa commands, speaking to his kings guard and the Dora Milaje. 

With those words we exit the lab and walk outside to where Bucky, Sam, and Rhodey as waiting. Outside ships are appearing with Wakandan warriors. Steve turns to me. "You sure you're up for this kid?" I give him a firm look. "Defeating Thanos is the only way I'm getting Peter back." 

He nods, accepting my answer. "Ok." With that we all climb onto the quickly filling ships. Once everyone is on we take off towards the boarder where Thanos' ships are. 

When we reach the rest of the warriors already near the border they are chanting something while we walk to the front lines. I'm standing between Steve and Nat. "You sure you're ok for this kid. I know the other kid means a lot to you, but you-" 

"I'm doing this Nat. I've spent most of my life hiding. The fight in Germany was the first time I tested what I can do. I'm special, it's about time I put my abilities to use instead of letting people protect me and die doing so." I tell her. She nods. 

"Just...be careful Hope. This life, it's dangerous. Not meant for kids." I nod. "I know, but I'm not just a kid. I'm the Original Tribrid. I was born to do great things." She nods, a sad smile on her face. T'Challa walks up to Nat and Steve. "Come on, let's try to resolve this." He says. 

They nod and Nat turns to me. "I'll be back." I nod and with that, the three of them head for the border, leaving me standing beside Bucky. "So this is where you've been all this time?" I ask, trying to defuse the tension. He looks at me. "Uh, yeah." I nod. 

"Tony told me everything about what happened. It's not your fault." I tell him. He furrows his brows in confusion. "What?" He asks. He looks utterly confused at why I'm even talking to him, let alone reassuring him. 

"Well, I'm assuming you blame yourself for everything Hydra made you do. It's not your fault. I got possessed one time by an evil witch ancestor of mine and I ended up hurting a lot of people. I then proceeded to get both my mom and dad killed. I had to learn it wasn't my fault." 

"Why are you telling me this?" He asks, confused. I shrug. "Well we're probably gonna die today. Might as well not have nay regrets or guilt. I figured you'd have the most out of everyone." He nods. "Thank you." "Sure thing." With that we go back to silence, waiting for the verdict. 

Finally Nat, Steve, and T'Challa return. "They surrender?" Bucky asks Steve as he appears on my other side. "Not exactly." With his words, hundreds of alien beasts appear, slamming themselves against the barrier. They're killing themselves trying to get through. T'Challa starts to chant. 

"What the hell?" Bucky asks as he gets a closer look at them. "Looks like we pissed her off." Nat mumbles. This is it. This is real. Step one, defeat these guys. Step two, defeat Thanos. Step three, kick Peter's ass for leaving in that ship. Step four, finally tell him I love him. 

Piece of cake...hopefully. Finally Okoye realizes what I realized. "They're killing themselves." She breaths. A few of the aliens get through The warriors in front along with Bucky shoot them down. "Fumée chaleur vicieux enfermé les vitres la bas." I mutter, raising a hand. 

A giant inferno engulfs all the aliens who made it through, turning them to ash.  Steve nods to me as more and more get through, the rest shooting them down. I notice them trying to find a weak point in the barrier. They're getting behind us. 

"Guys, if they get behind us there's nothing between them and Vision." I warn. "Then we better keep them in front of us." Steve mutters. "How do we do that?" Okoye asks. "We open the barrier." T'Challa concedes. He then raises a hand to his ear.

"On my signal, ope North-West section seventeen." A pause. "On my signal." "This will be the end of Wakanda." A man next to T'Challa says. "Then it will be the noblest ending in history." Okoye says with a clenched jaw. T'Challa walls to the very front. I wait in anticipation. 

"Wakanda Forever!" He yells, his helmet materializing around him. The warrior around me yell as we charge. Steve, T'Challa, and I are in the front, my werewolf speed allowing me to be faster than normal humans. 

We're about halfway to the barrier when T'Challa gives the signal to open it. A small section opens and the alien beasts flood through. "HOPE! SHIFT!" Steve yells at me. I leap into the air, shifting at will, landing on four paws. I'm now ahead of both T'Challa and Steve. 

When I'm in the right range, I leap into the air, beginning the biggest battle of my life.