The Archangel (Avengers Fanfic)

Chapter Thirty Six

I was back in the real world, my forehead still pressed against Bucky's. As soon as we had found each other in the ancestral plane, we moved to hold each other, to confirm that the other was actual there and present. But as soon as we connected, there was a bright light, and suddenly we were back and I could feel his heart beating next to mine. Somehow I just knew it was his, just as I now could feel his happiness, that he was still recovering from running so long in the ancestral plane, that his metal arm weighed so much more than his right, that he was growing hungry and so much more. I could feel him, everywhere, as if a phantom version of him were living inside me, sharing one body, and no doubt he felt the same.

Opening my eyes, I looked at my chosen partner with new eyes, it was as if I was seeing him for the first time. "I never realized—"

"—neither did I."

I threw my arms around his shoulders and hugged him close. It was odd, feeling exactly where I was touching him on me, like a hug from both sides, but I liked it.

Zuri stood nearby, and as soon as we had noticed him, he held out his hands and proclaimed, "you left this world as two separate people, now you return to it united in a bond unbreakable."

I felt a rush of love and joy overcome me and quickly realized that it wasn't all mine, that Bucky felt the same. With the ceremony complete, Bucky helped me out of the sand pit and tugged me along after him. When we left the temple, we realized that barely any time had passed at all, maybe a few minutes, maybe less. It didn't matter, our lives had unequivocally changed in such a short period that it meant nothing to lose that time.

We were left alone for a week after that, they said it was to let us explore our new bond—and explore it we did, if you get my drift. Let's just say that our neighbors knew not to drop in without invitation. After having your souls bound, you start to get to know your partner a bit better, but in this case we both wanted to travel around the world, we had enough language skills between us to really be able to do anything anywhere, so we made a deal that we would alternate destination choices and be the Avenger's roaming team. We hadn't talked to anybody about it yet, but if it was a choice between Avenging and traveling the world together, I knew exactly what I would pick. It was only after the week had passed that T'Challa called us back in for a debriefing. Though the meeting was professional, Bucky and I were still attached at the hip, not willing to separate for longer than necessary, and we both had difficulty suppressing smiles.

"I've always wanted to try one of those fruity drinks, you know? The ones with the little umbrellas in them?" I told Bucky as we made our way back through the palace. He just laughed at me, I had been trying to get him to agree to somewhere more tropical for days now, but he would just smile and shake his head, he—of course—wanted somewhere with snow.

Walking into the council chambers, even before I saw a hologram of Steve, Tony, and Sam around T'Challa's black sand strategy table, there was an air about the room that set me on edge, my wings turning to metal of their own accord. "What's happened, T'Challa?" I asked in Xhosa. We were still too far from the table for the holograms to pick up on our voices.

He responded in kind, though slowly so we could keep up, "Nakia returned the day after your ceremony and delivered her reports. We had our intelligence unit look into it, it's troubling news."

"What're we dealing with?" Bucky asked, also in Xhosa.

T'Challa gestured us to join them at the strategy table. The sand had already risen up from the table and formed a 3D image of a plane, a big one with several floors, the kind that isn't for passengers. Steve smiled at us, though we had exchanged messages, we hadn't seen him face-to-face in a while, "you two look good." Hearing English from a friend after so long was both a punch to the gut and a warm embrace.

"Heya punk," Bucky greeted, switching to English. Only now after giving greetings to our dearly missed friends—yes, even Sam—did I realize that we had developed a bit of an accent, barely noticeable but we had been speaking so much Xhosa and been so immersed in the language and culture of Wakanda that it was both difficult and a relief to transfer back. "Alright, talk to me, Steve, give us the rundown."

His expression abruptly turned grim. "I'm not gonna lie, it isn't pretty." Tony grabbed something from out of view and held it up, one of his tablet, and on it, an image of a man wearing military fatigues, why does he look so familiar? "Recognize this guy?" I gave a nod of ascent.

Tony took over with a minefield of information on the guy, "Turns out our chemical weapon buyer is actually Nigerian ex-military, Ade Akinjide, Cap insists on calling him codename Destroyer. He's been acting as a fence for the black market and is also responsible for that human trafficking ring that you had your run in with."

Bucky interrupted before he could say anything else, "wait, this guy is responsible for both me and Angel being at the scenes where we got shot?"

"Angel got shot?" Sam injected, apparently they hadn't been told about that particular incident. "I thought you were indestructible." He sent the sarcastic comment in my direction.

I simply rolled my eyes, "apparently not to vibranium bullets." That startled a laugh from Tony's and Sam's holograms, Cap was less than impressed. "I'm fine by the way, you know, in case you were wondering, just a bit dented, my pride's a little hurt too."

Steve interjected, in full captain-mode, "as much as I'm glad to hear that, it doesn't matter right now. What's important is that we know Akinjide's behind it and that he's planning something else, something big." Apparently he wasn't in the mood for any levity.

"Do we have intel on it?" Bucky asked.

"Yes, unfortunately we got it too late to do much, we're just too far away." Steve gestured to the holograms, all the Avengers lived in New York so that's where they were based out of, "We don't have anyone close enough to stop it, except you two. With your enhancements, you might be able to catch up to the plane in time to make a difference. We're still gonna try to be there before this happens, we can provide support from the jet but it'll be hours before we get there and we don't have that much time."

T'Challa nodded along with, "it's too far from Wakanda for me to go with, but I can send with some of the Dora Mila—"

"No," I cut in, "me and Buck will be faster on our own," switching briefly to Xhosa, "no offense, your majesty." He rolled his eyes but nodded anyway, I saw Bucky smirking out of the corner of my eye. Tony was doing something on his tablet when I activated my suit from the watch, I felt a weird sensation in my ear and then heard a static sound before voices came through. Apparently he wanted us to keep in touch. I put my finger to it to open the channel, "give us the coordinates, Stark, Cap can give us the rundown on our way there. No time to waste."

"Sending coordinates now." Stark said into my ear piece.

Bucky rushed out and I followed close behind, but turned back to send a brief salute to T'Challa after he wished us luck in Xhosa. Bucky burst through the doors to the outdoors ahead of me, damn his head start. I launched into the sky as soon as I was able and swooped down to grab him by the grips on his suit's shoulder pads. "Cap, fill us in before I go top speed."

There was a crackle in my ear, then I could hear Steve loud and clear, "the plane Akinjide is on is headed toward Dubai, Stark calculates it'll reach it in t-minus three hours and twenty three minutes. We suspect that he has an arsenal, he's already played his hand at chemical weapons, he may have something along those lines on board. He means to start a war of some kind and wants to drag Wakanda into it, that's the only reason that he would intentionally target their people."

"Got any numbers for us? Hostiles on board? What kind of weaponry they might have?"

"'fraid not, we're just as in the dark as you are." There was some muffled voices before Steve came through clear again. "Stark says you might be able to intercept before he crosses the border into Saudi Arabia. Board the plane, hijack it, make a soft landing if you can, anything to stop that plane, crash it if you have to."

I glanced down at Bucky, that scenario seemed awfully similar to what Steve had done all those years ago. "Got it, Captain, going radio silent until intercept, keep you posted."

Before I could turn off my com, Steve cut in, "this guy is dangerous, we don't know what he's got or what he's capable of, please be careful."

Pulling my helmet up so I could enter the speeds I was capable of, I smirked, "always am, Captain, always am."