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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟗
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐍 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐎𝐍

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Hours passed before they finally found themselves in the Wakandan airspace. Charlie sat in one of the seats behind Sam with Pietro by her side as she and Steve gave directions to the Falcon. It wasn't long before they flew over the crystal-clear waters surrounding the hidden country.

"I hope you're right about this," the Wilson man announced as he punched in the coordinates Charlie just gave him, "or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."

Pietro did his best to suppress a laugh as Sam sped up the Quinjet. What felt like an eternity passed when they made contact with the holographic shield that hid Wakanda. A blue light flashed against the window in front of them before their destination came into view. A smug smirk immediately appeared on Charlie's face as she kicked the back of Sam's seat, earning an irritated look from the man. "When are you gonna learn not to doubt me, Wilson?"

The Falcon simply rolled his eyes in response to the girl behind him as he continued to fly through the Wakandan airspace. A wave of uncertainty suddenly washed over Charlie as they got closer and closer to their destination. She didn't know if Shuri would agree to help them considering everything else she was currently working on. Even if she did end up helping him, the Barton girl wasn't sure extracting the stone would work. She didn't want to give Wanda any false hope, but it seemed that was all she had been doing since suggesting they went to Shuri. And on top of all that, Charlie and Pietro snuck out of the country while they were supposed to be helping the Wakandan princess. That wouldn't help them convince the Udaku girl to assist them. Unknown to the Barton girl, Steve sent a message to T'Challa ahead of their arrival and Shuri already agreed to help them.

It wasn't long before they landed right outside the Wakandan castle. Charlie watched as everyone approached the Quinjet's exit before she and Pietro followed them. Their hands were still intertwined as they watched the ramp being lowered until they had a clear view of T'Challa and the Dora Milaje. What felt like an eternity passed before they started walking toward the Wakandans, no one saying a word as they went. At least, that was until Charlie overheard the question Bruce asked Rhodey.

"Should we bow?"

The Barton girl caught the hint of mischief in the Rhodes man's eyes from her spot behind them as he turned toward Bruce. "Yeah, he's a king."

A small smile instantly formed on Charlie's face as she turned her attention back to the scene in front of her. She wasn't surprised to find Steve approaching T'Challa before respectfully holding his hand out toward him. "Seems like I'm always thanking you for something."

It wasn't long after that before Bruce cleared his throat and bowed to the Udaku man, earning confused looks from everyone around him. Charlie let another second go by before she gently elbowed the Banner man in the side, drawing his attention toward her. "What are you doing, Bruce?"

"Uh, we don't do that here," T'Challa announced, trying not to make the situation more awkward than it already was. It wasn't long after that when they started walking toward the palace, determined to prepare for the upcoming battle. "So how big of an assault should we expect?"

Bruce didn't hesitate to rush forward to stand between Steve and Natasha before he opened his mouth to answer the King's question. "Uh, sir, I think you should expect quite a big assault."

"How we looking?" Natasha asked, not phased by the Banner man's words.

"You will have my Kingsguard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa trailed off as he gestured to the man approaching them.

"And a semi-stable hundred-year-old man."

A large smile instantly appeared on Charlie's face when she saw Bucky. It had been a few months since Shuri could get HYDRA's brainwashing out of his head. The Barnes man's mind was now entirely his own and Charlie had never seen him so happy. She felt terrible that he was getting dragged into this mess, but she also knew they were going to need all the help they could get. Steve and Bucky didn't hesitate to hug each other, taking in the small moment of peace. It wasn't long before their reunion ended and the Rogers man sent his best friend a smile. "How you been, Buck?"

"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world," the Barnes man responded before his attention fell on someone standing behind his best friend. The smile on his face did nothing but grow as he walked toward Charlie and pulled her in for a hug. Not even a second after that passed when he whispered into her ear, "how was Scotland?"

The Barton girl couldn't help but laugh as she pushed herself away from the Winter Soldier to send him a smile. "It was great...until the aliens showed up. We had more fun in Sweden."

It was Bucky's turn to laugh as he gave Charlie another hug before shaking Pietro's hand. After they finished their small reunion, they left the Barnes man and some of their allies by the Quinjet while everyone else followed T'Challa into the palace. The Barton girl couldn't help but smile as she watched Bruce look around in awe. After following the Wakandan King through a few more corridors, they found themselves standing in Shuri's lab. The Udaku girl sent them all smiles before forcing Vision to lie down on the table in front of her.

No one said a word as they watched Shuri do a full body scan of Vision with her Kimoyo Beads. They simply stood there for what felt like an eternity as they watched the Udaku girl look over the holographic of the Mind Stone. It wasn't long after that when Shuri finally broke the tense silence surrounding them. "The structure is polymorphic."

"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially," Bruce explained as he tore his eyes away from the hologram to meet Shuri's gaze.

"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?" the Wakandan Princess questioned with a small smirk on her face.

Charlie did her best to hide her smile after seeing the blank look on the Banner man's face as he continued to stare at Shuri. "Because we didn't think of it."

The smile on Shuri's face did nothing but grow before she opened her mouth to respond. "I'm sure you did your best."

"Can you do it?" Wanda asked, causing the smiles to fade from everyone's faces as they turned their attention toward her.

"Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures," the Udaku girl explained before her attention moved to the man standing near Vision's feet, "it will take time, brother."

T'Challa didn't use words to respond to his sister, he simply nodded instead. To Charlie's surprise, Steve was the one to vocalize a response to the Wankandan Princess. "How long?"

"As long as you can give me."

As soon as Shuri finished speaking, a faint beeping cut through the air. Pietro's hand instantly reached for Charlie's before he tightly wrapped his fingers around hers. Even though neither of them had ever heard that sound before, they both knew it could only mean one thing. Something big was coming.

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn to Oyoke when she opened up a holographic map using her Kimoyo Beads. Her eyes scanned over the picture in front of her for a long moment before finally opening her mouth to speak. "Something's entered the atmosphere."

It wasn't even a second after that when Sam's voice came through their comms. "Hey, we gotta situation here."

Charlie instantly exchanged a look with Steve before she dragged Pietro over to the window. Neither of them could hide their shock when they spotted what looked to be a meteor falling toward them. Their eyes stayed glued to the object as it continued to fall until it hit the forcefield surrounding the country, making it explode on impact.

"This place keeps getting better and better," the Maximoff boy muttered under his breath while keeping his eyes glued to the explosion in the sky.

"Don't get too excited," Charlie told him while keeping her attention on something in the distance, making Pietro follow her gaze. The Barton girl's blood ran ice cold as she watched more fiery objects fall from the sky. It wasn't long after that when she turned around to face everyone else in the room. "There's more outside of the dome."

As soon as the archer finished speaking, everyone in the room began crowding around the windows. No one said a word as they watched the objects continue to fall until they crash-landed in the forests surrounding Wakanda. A tsunami of smoke emitted from their landing spots until it hit the Wakandan forcefield, causing a bright blue light to emit from it. Chills ran throughout Charlie's entire body as Pietro tightened his grip around her hand. Both of them knew they weren't fully ready to face whatever was coming their way, but they also knew they wouldn't admit it.

"It's too late," Vision announced, drawing everyone's attention toward him to find him slowly sitting up on the table, "we need to destroy the stone now."

"Vision, get your *ss back on the table," Natasha ordered before walking over and forcing the synthezoid to lie back down.

"We will hold them off," T'Challa declared while walking across the room toward the rest of the Dora Milaje, "evacuate the city. Engage all defenses." The King of Wakanda stopped in the middle of the room before turning around and pointing at the Rogers man. "And get this man a shield."

Steve instantly sent a grateful nod to the Udaku man in response before his attention went back to Wanda. "As soon as that stone's out of his head...you blow it to h*ll."

"I will," the Maximoff girl responded in a tone that seemed as though she was masking her fear with determination.

It wasn't long after that when Captain America's attention turned toward Charlie and Pietro, who both went back to staring out the window. The conversation Steve wanted to have with them played out in his head before a silent sigh passed over his lips. He knew one of them was going to take what he was about to say a lot better than the other, but he also knew it had to be said. After all, Natasha wasn't the only one who promised Clint to keep his daughter safe.

Approaching footsteps soon filled the Barton girl's ears, causing her to turn her attention toward the sound. A wave of confusion washed over her as she watched Steve walk toward him. But the look in his eyes was all it took for her to meet him halfway, dragging Pietro along with her.

"What's going on?" Charlie asked as soon as they were standing a few feet away from each other.

Steve hesitated for a moment as he studied every inch of the young archer. The same girl who put her entire life on the line to help a group of strangers defeat a murderous robot. And the same girl who gave up everything to save one person. The Rogers man knew Charlie shouldn't be living a life that meant fighting to see the next day and he was fully prepared to make sure she got back to the life she deserved.

"You two are gonna stay here to help Wanda and Shuri with Vision," Captain America announced, earning blank stares from both of the heroes standing in front of him.

"What? Why?" the Barton girl asked while Pietro continued to silently study the man standing in front of them, "shouldn't we be down there helping all of you? By the looks of it, you could use all the help you can get."

"There's something else, isn't there?" the Maximoff boy asked, causing both Steve and Charlie to look over at him before he continued speaking, "it's not that I don't wanna protect my sister, I do. And I would much rather stay here than face whatever's out there. But why do you really want us to stay here?"

The Barton girl was surprised when she saw the Man Out of Time hesitate. She was expecting all this to be about Natasha and her wanting them to stay out of danger. After all, the Romanoff woman always knew that Charlie would listen to Steve more than she would listen to her. She would always see Natasha as her aunt while the Rogers man was her hero. So the Barton girl didn't even think twice about what this conversation was really about.

What felt like an eternity passed before Steve let out a long sigh. "You two have put yourselves in enough danger. We don't even know what's coming our way. I need you to stay here to protect Vision and the Stone."

Now it was Charlie's turn to hesitate. She couldn't help but think of her father as she listened to Steve's words. She missed him more than anyone could imagine and wished he was there with her. But for now, she would just have to hold onto hope that she would see him again someday soon.

"Okay. We'll stay here to help Wanda and Shuri," the Barton girl said just loud enough for them to hear before Charlie did something that surprised herself and Steve. She pulled him in for a tight hug. "But you better make it out of there alive."

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