Chapter Forty-Six
"I bet you can't catch me!"
"I'll bet I can!"
Bucky's face lit up with a contagious smile as he chased his daughter through the wide open grass near the hut.
They had been together for a few months now, and Alya was adjusting beautifully. There were times where she would ask for her mother, especially at night before bed, but he was pleased that she was beginning to ask less and less. It meant her mind was being preoccupied with other things, she was distracted which made missing her mother a bit easier.
Alya squealed in surprise when his hand shot out and scooped her up, tickling her tummy, forcing a barrel of giggles that filled the air around them.
"I caught you!" He laughed. "Now, what should I do with you? Huh?"
Alya shrieked and tried to lean away from him when he nuzzled his bearded chin into her neck. Her laughs grew very silent and her limbs went limp as his fingers mercilessly dug into her ribcage.
"Why are you laughing?" Bucky smirked, pausing to let her catch her breath.
"You're tickling me!" She gasped.
"No, I'm not. You're being silly." But all the same, he set her back down on the ground with a playful love tap, giving her a funny look that only made her laugh harder.
It took everything for Alya not to fall down in a heap because of how weak she felt. Her need for revenge was stronger than that. She let out an adorable battle cry before she leapt at her father, who only had to sidestep her, throwing his arm out to catch her at the very last minute.
Unfortunately, their fun was cut short when the king and Okoye marched right towards them with the king's guard following.
Alya had met Okoye a few days after she touched down in Wakanda. She could genuinely say that she really liked her. After Shuri realized that she was in a bad mood, she spoke to the general about the problem. Okoye figured that Alya needed an outlet of some kind and escorted the girl to an open field, encouraging her to spar with her.
At first, Alya refused. The Dora Milaje were highly trained individuals. She was, too, but they were chosen to protect the king for a reason. She thought it was disrespectful to fight with anyone wearing the uniform.
But after a few nudges, Alya reluctantly threw the first punch. She held back, but she didn't think that the woman would notice. She was a kid; kids didn't fight.
Okoye swept her feet out from under her, sending her tumbling flat on her back, knocking the wind out of her. Alya actually had to blink a few times to clear her vision from the stars she was seeing.
After it cleared, she watched as the general blocked her view of the blue sky above. Okoye told her that if she kept holding back like that, the only thing she would accomplish was going to be learning how safely she could land on her back.
She knew how skilled Alya was and she didn't appreciate the insult she was receiving. The only disrespect, was Alya not giving it her best shot.
Alya learned quite a few things that day and she enjoyed sparring with Okoye. It was much different than doing it in the Red Room. No one was injured or bleeding profusely. When it got to be too much, she was allowed to stop without the fear of consequences.
She peered out from behind her father to see the king's guard opening up a case revealing the arm that Shuri made for him. She recognized it immediately, right down to the lack of the red star Bucky's other arm was designed with.
Her father didn't look as happy as she thought he would. She figured that spending two whole years without the arm was a little frustrating, but maybe he had a reason.
"Where's the fight?" All semblance of his joy was gone.
"On its way." T'Challa informed him.
"Papa?" Alya tugged on his right arm.
What were they talking about?
What fight was on its way?
What was happening?
Even hours later, Alya still wasn't quite sure what was going on.
She knew that there was some sort of threat coming. She knew that Tony had been taken up to space with Peter and a man named, 'Doctor Strange', or something. She knew that the rest of the Avengers were on their way.
She knew she needed to be ready. She was so surprised when she came out of the hut, clad in a stealth suit with all sorts of weapons, and her father didn't even so much as object. That's what pretty much confirmed how big this threat was going to be.
But what she couldn't wrap her head around, was the fact that an alien army was planning a huge, world altering attack. Sure, she had seen what an alien invasion could do, she was there during the attack in New York.
Maybe she just didn't think they'd come back.
She stayed comfortable, resting on her father's hip, absentmindedly playing with his shoulder length hair, watching while a familiar quinjet landed.
The hangar door opened, only to reveal the very people she hadn't seen in such a long time. Sam, Vision, Rhodey, Wanda, Steve, and her mother.
Alya was not yet at the stage where she thought being a mama's girl wasn't cool. So when she caught sight of her, she tried to wiggle down to greet her, but Bucky held firm.
What gave Alya pause, was seeing Bruce.
No one had seen Bruce Banner in nearly three years. The last Alya heard about him, he was the Hulk.
All the same, it was good to see him, too.
She giggled when the man bowed to show T'Challa some respect, but he was the only one that did so.
T'Challa looked highly uncomfortable at the gesture and put his hands up to get him to stop. "Uh, we don't do that here."
By the grin on Rhodey's face, Alya could tell that he was the one who tricked him into bowing in the first place.
"So, how big of an assault can we expect?"
"Uh, sir?" Bruce was still a bit timid and nervous as they began to walk with T'Challa. "I think you can expect quite a big assault."
"How're we looking?" Natasha asked. Alya noticed she had bleached and cut her hair again, leaving it in a bob that ended at her chin.
"You will have my King's Guard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and…."
"A semi-stable, 100 year old man." Bucky stepped forward, smiling at Steve before giving him a hug.
"How've you been, Buck?"
"Uh, not bad, for the end of the world."
"And you!" Steve practically snatched Alya from her father's arms and tossed her up in the air before giving her a big hug. "I missed you."
Alya wrapped her arms around his neck and squeezed, catching her mother's eyes. The woman's orbs began twinkling as soon as she saw her and she power walked over to the two, pulling Alya into her embrace.
"Oh, my baby." She whispered, cupping the back of the twelve year old's head. "My baby."
"Mama."
Bucky had seen Alya smile during her time in Wakanda, but this was different. She and Natasha had a very special bond and it was so beautiful to see them together again. Her face lit up and her eyes shined with a look she could only give Natasha.
"I missed you." Alya rested her head in the crook of her mother's neck, taking in the faint smell of her perfume.
"I missed you more." Was Natasha's response. "Has Papa been taking good care of you?"
"No." Alya looked back at Bucky with a mischievous grin. "I was cold and hungry, Mama. He made me sleep outside with the goats."
Bucky's jaw dropped as everyone else laughed at his expense. This kid had quite the imagination, didn't she?
"It wasn't so bad, but sometimes it rained and I got all wet."
"I see you're still telling tall-tales." Wanda stole a kiss from her sister. "Giving Papa a hard time?"
"Yes." Bucky beat Alya to the punch. "Absolutely, 100 percent."
"Welcome back to fatherhood." Sam clapped him on the back before playfully tugging on Alya's braid.
"Can Mama set you down?"
"No." Alya shook her head, watching Shuri tinker with her hologram, while holding Wanda's hand.
Vision had gotten hurt trying to protect the mind stone that was lodged in his forehead. Apparently, an alien named, Thanos, was trying to get that stone and five others in order to wipe out half the population.
They were trying to figure out how to get the stone out of Vision's head safely in order to destroy it. If they could destroy it, then Thanos wouldn't be able to succeed in his plans for universal destruction.
"I figured as much." Natasha didn't mind how clingy Alya was.
Their separation affected her, too. She was left in a pretty catatonic state after being pulled away from her at the airport and it took some time before she snapped out of it. Alya could stay right where she was for as long as she needed.
"Whoa." Shuri marveled at Vision's programming and the infinity stone in question. "The structure is polymorphic."
"Right." Bruce nodded. "We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially."
"Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"
Well, that was a simple solution and the question was a valid one. Even Vision looked at Bruce, with the same look of inquiry on his face.
"Because….we didn't think of it."
"I'm sure you did your best."
"Can you do it?" Wanda asked.
Before they got to Shuri's lab, Sam gave Alya the scoop on what had been going on between Wanda and Vision. The two had been writing each other secret letters and having little rendezvous until finally, they decided to act on their mutual feelings.
So the teenager was a little more worried about the sentient being than everyone else was. It was understandable.
"Yes." Shuri nodded. "But there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause of cascade of failures. It will take time, Brother."
"How long?" Steve asked.
"As long as you can give me."
But it seemed like she wouldn't get very much time.
"Something's in the atmosphere." Okoye warned, looking down at her kimoyo beads.
"Hey, Cap, we got a situation." Sam's voice crackled through coms from his place outside.
Alya's jaw dropped when she looked out the window and saw one of the defensive shields that covered the city destroy one of the alien vessels when it tried to penetrate.
She felt her mother's grip on her tighten as she moved them both away from the window as a precaution.
"I love this place." Bucky watched in awe right beside Sam.
"Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys." Rhodey told them. "We've got more incoming outside the dome."
Even though nothing was getting through, the aliens were still smashing up against the dome, trying to weaken it.
"It's too late." Vision grunted, pushing himself up off the examination table. "We need to destroy the stone, now."
"Vision, get your butt back on the table." Natasha leveled him with a glare.
"We will hold them off." T'Challa decided as he, Okoye, and his guards headed for the door.
"Wanda." Steve turned to the teen. "As soon as the stone's out of his head, you blow it to smithereens."
"I will."
"Evacuate the city." T'Challa ordered. "Engage all defense procedures." He stopped to smirk at Steve before saying, "And get this man a shield."
"Mama?" Alya began to panic just a little with all the chaos and urgency around her. She wasn't trained for this kind of thing and she didn't like it. She wanted it to stop.
"Everything is going to be okay, sweet girl." The blonde set her down and cupped her cheeks. "Mama's going to go with Uncle Steve and we're gonna help fight these things. I want you to stay right here with Wanda and help."
"I can?"
"You can." Natasha hoped that by giving her something to do, she would be less scared by everything going on in the background. "But I want you to listen to Wanda and do everything she tells you to do. No arguments, okay?"
"Okay."
"I love you." She pressed a kiss against the girl's forehead.
"I love you, too, Mama." Alya put on a brave face before Natasha let go and left with the others.
She could do this.
She had to do this.