Mastermind - W. Maximoff

Chapter Three

"Seems like I'm always thanking you for something," Steve said to T'Challa as they stepped off the jet. He shook the king's hand, smiling.

"Your Highness." Alex turned around to watch Bruce bow and snickered. She knew Rhodey had been up to something.

T'Challa looked confused for a moment before shaking his head. "We don't do that here."

T'Challa was quick to move on, walking through Wakanda as the Avengers followed. "So, how big of an assault should we expect?"

"Uh, sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault." Bruce stuttered nervously.

"How are we looking?" Alex asked. She hoped there would be enough people that they wouldn't need her to fight with them. It probably wouldn't be safe to go out and do that while pregnant.

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and," T'Challa pointed forward, smiling silently as he saw the Avenger's faces light up.

"And a semi-stable 100-year-old man." Bucky Barnes finished, walking toward them. He hugged Steve, smiling as he saw Alex. He rushed toward her, picking her up off the ground and spinning her around. "I missed you so much, you wouldn't know."

While in Wakanda, Bucky had uncovered memories about himself and his past he had forgotten. Long missions with Alex, conversations through the wall at night. Everything HYDRA had done and everything they threatened to.

"How have you been, James?" Alex breathed, letting go of Bucky. She took a step back, unconsciously placing a hand over her stomach.

"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world." Bucky tried to keep positive, smiling at the team. He looked at Vision. "Let's get you upstairs."

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"The structure is polymorphic." A girl in space buns said, running a hand over Vision's stone. A hologram of the stone showed up in her hand and she studied it.

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce stood on the other side of the table, across from Shuri, T'Challa's sister.

Shuri looked at the hologram again, turning it around in her hand. "Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"

Bruce paused, not sure how to answer her question. "Because we didn't think of it."

"I'm sure you did your best," Shuri said, forcing a small smile onto her face.

"Can you do it?" Alex asked, looking at her best friend as he lay on the table. Only 24 hours ago they had been having the time of their lives, but not everything had slipped out of daylight.

Shuri was hesitant as she nodded. "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, brother."

"How long?" Steve asked. There would be an army coming any minute, and they needed to have the stone destroyed ASAP.

"As long as you can give me."

A beeping filled the room and a hologram lit up from Okoye's hand. "Something's entered the atmosphere."

They all watched as huge explosions rang outside of the dome. They were here.

Vision sat up quickly, shaking Shuri's hands off of him. "It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now."

Natasha's head whipped around. "Vision, get your ass back on the table. We will hold them off."