Never Go To A Stark Party

Chapter 26

Meeting up with T'Challa did much to boost Steve's and the others' morale. After having been ambushed by aliens intent on killing Vision (who Steve and Natasha had gone to recruit, alongside Wanda, too), it was safe to say that the trio had lost some of their initial resolve. But coming face-to-face with T'Challa's massive army proved reassuring.

"It's great to see you again, Steve. It's a disappointment we couldn't meet again under better circumstances." T'Challa greeted the blonde male with a smile, his eyes glancing from Nat to Bruce as he nodded his head in greeting towards them too. Friendliness radiated from him, but there was a distinct aura of alertness too—as further backed up by the usual army behind him.

"Yeah, I'm sorry we keep meeting every time there's a fight." Steve laughed out apologetically. He was quick to get to business however—"But, uh, I'm sure you can see we're in a bit of a bind." He motioned towards Vision and Wanda, who were a few extra feet behind them.

The red headed woman was clearly worried and borderline frantic as she tried to tend to Vision's wounds, and so it didn't take even a second longer before T'Challa was sending a medic their way.

"We ran into some trouble...outer space trouble, as it'd seem." Steve continued his explanation as he watched the medic begin to examine Vision, then grow exasperated as they had no idea how to fix the problem with the gem in his head. "I'm sure you've seen it on the news. Aliens searching for the five infinity stones ambushed Vision and Wanda, and we barely got to them in time. It's big this time—worldwide, even."

It was easy enough to note the worry in Steve's voice as he spoke. Not only was he anxious about the literal world ending, but he was anxious about Bucky. He hadn't seen the man in almost 2 days, as he, Nat, and Bruce had to hurry and leave before he woke up. Obviously he would've preferred if his lover hadn't been knocked out, but... well, he couldn't always have everything he wanted.

He just hoped that he'd be able to go back home to Bucky soon.

"Anyway—" Steve shook the worried thoughts out of his head and made eye contact with T'Challa once again. He didn't have the luxury of worrying—any thought that wasn't focused on saving the world made him one step closer to the grave.

"Vision. He has one of the stones in his head. That's why those things attacked him. He thinks that if he's able to take it out, we can prevent Thanos from getting at least one more. But—"

"But he'll die!" Wanda suddenly interrupted. She quickly ran over once Steve began to talk about Vision's stone, unable to remain calm any longer. "T'Challa, please help us. Vision can't die. Y-you guys have the most advanced technology on the planet! You must be able to do something!"

Wanda was about to grab the older man's clothes in desperation, but before her fingers could even brush against the fabric, Okoye was stepping forward, placing her staff in between the king and the witch defensively.

"Mind your manners." She spoke calmly, her eyes narrowed at Wanda. And almost as if threatening Wanda and the other outsiders, the rest of T'Challa's followers, a whole army, essentially, pointed their weapons at them. One wrong move and they'd be killed, or at the very least sent right back to America.

"Of course." Steve spoke once again, an apologetic look on his face once more. He glanced back at Natasha, motioning for her to help with Wanda, before he looked back at T'Challa, who was clearly thinking the situation over. "I know she said it a bit...bluntly, but that is what we came here to talk about."

It took a few moments for T'Challa to say something, and each second was like hell for the others. Wanda was struggling to stay still given the fact that Vision was essentially bleeding out, and Nat and Bruce were simply stressed out from the situation. Everything was ok just yesterday—they were celebrating their new baby, when everything just went to shit.

Well, Natasha thought bitterly to herself, it's not like this is anything new.

It was clear to see that they needed T'Challa. So without a further word, the aforementioned man motioned Shuri over, who had been to his left and silently watching the events unfold. With one simple nod towards Vision, T'Challa silently approved the visitors' stay. Shuri and a few others helped to grab Vision.

"The only one equipped both intellectually and in experience to help Vision will be my sister, Shuri. We'll take him to a private room and begin work on him. Until then," he sighed out softly as he then motioned for Steve to come over. "We'll regroup. We'll get as many soldiers on our side as we can, and wait until Thanos comes to *us*. It'll give us the advantage.."

There was almost a collective sigh of relief from the visitors—thankfully, T'Challa agreed to help them. Now all any of them really needed to worry about was how quick they could get the fight over, and go back to their families. They could only hope that Tony, who was still in space, was at least surviving. That was all Nat or Steve could ask for.

...It wasn't long before Tony was easily overpowering Maw–who had kidnapped Strange, who he and Loki, and also Peter–who he had later found out had snuck on board the spaceship-- had gone to rescue. In layman's terms, Tony was now stuck in space with a dumbfuck teen, a shapeshifting backstabber, and an uptight wizard... with a heavy sigh, Tony, who was commanding the ship, face palmed as he scanned over his band of misfits.

There was no way in hell they were going to make it back to Earth, let alone control this fucking ship, so the only choice they could really make was choosing to at least attempt to find their way through the endless, dark vacuum they were lost in. And like always, that was easier said than done. Tony sighed hard and rubbed his eyes–everything was always easier said than done, life just couldn't hand the things you wanted to you on a silver platter–which many might describe his life as already consisting of, but right now Tony was sulking, so anyone who pointed that out would probably get blasted in the face. His father would probably smack him across the head for having that thought pass his mind.

Anyway, the iron-suited man shook the unnecessary thoughts away, and focused back on the task at hand. Getting somewhere, anywhere. And just as he was about to set their destination for...Knowhere? Weird name, but whatever, Loki grabbed the ship's reins from him. 

"I know where to go." He said confidently, though there was a noticeable crack in his demeanor... he almost seemed scared. Tony, having noticed this, chose for once to remain silent. Whatever the god was scared of (he had a guess--Thanos), he didn't want to know. 

Strange and Peter then came up beside him, and with one nod from Tony, they all watched as Loki led them to their destination. 

A/N: IM SO SORRY??????????/ IM SO SORRY OH MY GOD. i know its been forever but time literally flies by, and i have not had the inspiration to write at ALL lately--but still, im so sorry i kept you waiting for so long!! this chapter definitely isnt the best, but i hope you like it enough to keep waiting! things are finally getting to the boiling point! it'll be back soon to stucky, so just hang on a little longer, please!!!!!