EVERMORE ─ marvel ⁷

IV. Uncertain Future, Unforgiven Past

Chapter Four
Soroya

The last of the citizens from D.C., London, and Beijing have been evacuated, they're all here in Wakanda. Some enhanced have come here for shelter too, but not many. Most want to fight. All the medical supplies, weapons, and troops are in the three cities, all the plans are made, the assignments given. Sam and I left D.C. to double check that everything is taken care of here in Wakanda, and it seems to be. All that's left to do is leave ourselves.

Rhodey, Everett, and Sharon, who has moved here to work at the institute as a teacher per my request, will stay here and look after the refugees. The other tribe leaders will stay here as well. Everyone else is leaving today to go to their assigned stations. T'Challa, Okoye, and Khari will be leading the Wakandan and Jabari troops in D.C., apart from a small battalion that will be sent to London under Nakia's command. Shuri, Ana, and Livy will be at the George Washington University hospital giving medical attention to those unfortunate enough to need it. Johnathon and Matthew will be in Beijing along with the other students attending the Institute for the Enhanced & Gifted. The other Avengers are going to be split pretty evenly among the three cities. Bucky, Alex, and the boys will be in D.C., as will Jo, who will be guarding the president and his staff from the inside.

Sam, Zy, and I will be in cloaked ship in the sky above the battle in D.C., out of sight, away from the fighting. As much as I hate not leading everyone into battle, hiding up in a ship while everyone else fights and dies to protect the enhanced, to protect me...I have to do it. When Thanos came we hid the infinity stones from him, kept them as far away from him as possible, swore to destroy them before he got anywhere near them. Well in this war I'm the infinity stones, I have to be kept away from the Kree or else the whole universe will suffer. It's worth staying out of the fight.

I haven't let myself think about being the Kree's target that much. I feel like if I do then I'll fall apart and I can't do that right now. I've never been one to hide how I'm feeling, I've never been afraid to be vulnerable, but right now I think it's something I need to do. This isn't like last time. Last time I wasn't a leader, I didn't have people depending on me the way they are now. And last time I wasn't the main target. I need to focus on not being caught, I need to focus on keeping everyone on Earth alive. If I live through this I'll allow myself to breakdown, to cry, to scream, to ask God why I keep being singled out to endure pain, suffering, and hardship. If I live.

We need to be in D.C. in a few hours to do the finalizations for the battle ahead. We only have less than forty eight hours until the Kree arrive, we need to make sure we're ready. I told the kids to pack some extra clothes, some bathroom essentials, and maybe something to entertain them, but nothing they're unwilling to lose. For the next forty eight hours we will be staying in a hotel just outside D.C., all of the Avengers are. Alex, Khari, and Jo are sharing a room right next to Bucky and mine, then across the hall Stevie and Liam will get a room, and next to them will be Livy and Zy. No one gets a room to themselves, everyone has to share it with at least one other person. Ana told me she's rooming with Okoye, and I'm slightly concerned that one or both of them will try to kill each other before the battle has begun.

I have my small bag already packed and slung over my shoulder. Besides the essentials, I packed two photos: one of Alex and I with our parents as kids, then one taken more recently of Bucky, Livy, Stevie, Liam, and I. We took this photo for our Christmas card, we're all dressed up sitting in our backyard, smiling, happy.

Having Liam with us for Christmas this year was fun because he's never experienced Christmas before since his religion doesn't celebrate it. Alex, Bucky, and I all grew up Catholic, but we're not very religious people. It's been very fascinating living with someone who is. One holiday the Hinduism religion celebrates is Diwali, which we are all very familiar with and got to celebrate with him. We've been celebrating that holiday for years because of Khari. The Jabari tribe worship the god Hanuman, who we discovered thanks to Liam, is also a god in Hinduism. We plan on celebrating more holidays with Liam, from his religion and ours.