Shine Bright Like a Diamond
Cut to the quinjet where Sam is piloting Rhodey, Steve, Natasha, Wanda, and Vision.
Steve walks up to the pilot's seat, “Drop to 2600, heading 0-3-0.”
“I hope you're right about this, Cap. Or we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to.” Sam hopes.
The Quinjet passes through a camouflage force field into Wakanda's Golden City's valley and lands at the airfield outside the palace. T'Challa and the Dora Milaje approach to greet the arrivals.
“When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world...This is not what I imagined.” Okoye states as she approaches with the Kingsguard and her king.
T'Challa smirks, “And what did you imagine?”
Okoye shrugs, “The Olympics. Maybe even a Starbucks.”
The occupants of the Quinjet disembark, Cap and Black Widow leading, followed by Bruce and Rhodey, with Vision and Wanda slowly taking up the rear.
Bruce turns to Rhodey, “Should we bow?”
“Yeah, he's a king.” Rhodey very seriously says.
“Seems like I'm always thanking you for something.” Steve jokes as he shakes T’Challa’s hand.
Bruce bows awkwardly to T'Challa. Rhodes looks at him in mock shocked, "What are you doing?"
T'Challa gives him an awkward chuckle, "Uh, we don't do that here." He dissuades Bruce with a motion of his hand; Bruce shoots Rhodey a look, and is answered with a big grin. "So how big of an assault can we expect?"
The group begins to walk back into the administrative building.
Bruce walks up beside T'Challa, "Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault."
"How we looking?" Natasha asks the King.
"You will have my King's Guard, the Border Tribe, the Dora Milaje, and..." T'Challa trails off.
Bucky and Hecate walk up to their friends, smiling as they pass some Kingsguard taking Vision and Wanda to another facility. "A semi-stable, 100-year-old man and a goddess that's a smartass."
All their friends share hugs, Hecate rushes over to Rhodey and hugs him tight. "Hey, Rhodeybear."
Rhodey rolls his eyes and hugs back, "Hey, Catie." He says, laughing. "Have you been in contact with Tones?"
Steve turns towards the two friends, waiting to hear the answer, he's as disappointed as the rest of them when Hecate shakes her head. "No, I haven't but he's okay and on a different planet."
Steve shakes his head and turns to his best friend, "How you been, Buck?"
Bucky shrugs and smiles, "Uh, not bad, for the end of the world."
In Shuri's lab, Shuri scans the Stone with her kimoyo beads while Vision lies on the examination table. She flips her hand over and studies the hologram projected over her palm.
"Whoa. The structure is polymorphic." Shuri says, shocked.
"Right, we had to attach each neuron non-sequentially." Bruce points out.
Shuri raises her eyebrow, "Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"
Vision looks at Bruce as if to ask the same thing and Hecate smirks at Bruce's confused and surprised face.
"Because, we didn't think of it." Bruce stutters.
Shuri kindly gives him a reassuring smile, "I'm sure you did your best."
"Can you do it?" Wanda speaks for the first time.
Shuri nods, "Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures." She turns to T'Challa, "It will take time, brother."
“How long?” Steve interjects.
“As long as you can give me.” Shuri pleads the Captain.
Okoye glances down as her kimoyo beads chime an alarm; she flicks one bead into her palm, where it projects the globe with a pulsing location marker, “Something's entered the atmosphere.”
Outside, Falcon and Bucky look up at the sky as they watch the scene before them.
Sam comes in over the Avengers' comm, “Hey, Cap, we got a situation here.”
The defense shield over the Golden City destroys one of the alien vessels when it slams into the field at full attack acceleration.
Bucky grins over at Sam, “God, I love this place.” Sam grins back.
Rhodey is also outside, and now in full War Machine armor watching three more ships burn through the sky. “Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome.”
The shock waves and debris from the ship landings destroy acres of forest and boil up against the dome. The lab has an excellent view of the landing sites. Captain America and Black Panther look at each other in concern over the scope of what they'll be facing.
Vision, struggling to sit up and slide off the exam table, "It's too late. We need to destroy the stone now."
Natasha, moving toward Vision, “Vision, get your ass back on the table.” She demands.
“We will hold them off.” T’’Challa Okoye and the guards begin to head for the door. They pause when they hear Steve’s conversation.
Steve Rogers turns to Wanda, "Wanda, as soon as the stone's out of his head... you blow it to hell."
Hecate shakes her head, "It won't work with her magic."
Steve glances at her in question, "How do you mean?"
"Her magic is a type of chaos magic, the stone would barely even crack." Hecate says.
Wanda scoffs at her, " How would you know?" Her hands begin to be covered in a red mist, she glances in shock as they die down without her control.
Hecate immediately glares, "Careful, little girl. Don't forget who created your magic." She hisses, hands going green for a moment before turning back to Steve, already calmed down, "Anyway, I created these stones. I know what to do."
Everyone, even Shuri, stare at her in shock at the casual confession. "Anyway, I'll take care of the stone. It's easy when you know what you're doing."
T'Challa clears his throat and begins giving orders, "Evacuate the city. Engage all defense procedures." T'Challa commands. He stops, turns, and points at Cap, "And get this man a shield."
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Cut to Nivadellir where Rocket is in the pod, and Thor, without any environmental suit, jumps from the hull onto the ring surface with a cable in his hand attached to the pod.
"I don't think you get the scientifics here. These rings are gigantic. You wanna get them moving, you're gonna need something a lot bigger to yank 'em loose." Rocket rambles to Thor over their comms that we didn't know they had.
"Leave that to me." Thor says.
Rocket looks up at him, confused, "Leave that to you? Buddy, you're in space. All you got is a rope and a-"
Thor begins to swing the pod around him in a circle. Rocket screams. Thor builds up speed with three good loops then slacks his grip enough to send the pod shooting straight away from Nidavellir, trailing him behind it like a kite tail. "Fire the engines!" He calls.
Rocket shakes off the shock and puts the proverbial pedal to the metal.
Thor, as the pod skims over the surface of the next ring out, Thor reaches down and digs one hand into the surface, then both feet, finally getting a foothold against the forward motion of the pod. The ice-like accumulation around the ring axis crackles. "MORE... POWER... RABBIT!"
Thor commits bicep porn while Rocket accelerates for all he's worth. Finally the rings spin free, realigning into effective configuration as the star bursts back into life.
"Well done, boy." Eitri excitedly praises.
Thor, clutching the pod's forward windows, points to the star. Thor smiles widely, "That's Nivadellir!"
Rocket gazes amazed at the blazing core. An iris on the cladding around the star opens, firing pure stellar heat through the ring portals and into the forge... until the damaged mechanism fails, crumbles loose and slams shut. The iris closes and the beam of light trails off.
"Damn it." Eitri hisses.
Rocket raises his eyebrow at Eitri, "'Damn it'? What's 'damn it'?"
"The mechanism is crippled." Eitri states, frustrated.
"What?" Thor asks.
"With the iris closed I can't heat the metal."
"How long will it take to heat?" Thor says, formulating a plan that may or may not work, but hey, what does he have to lose?
Eitri considers, "A few minutes, maybe more. Why?"
Thor, standing up on the pod hull, "I'm gonna hold it open."
"That's suicide." Eitri says.
Thor shrugs and says matter of factly, "So is facing Thanos without that axe." He leaps from the pod to the star's iris.
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Cut to the Wakandan battlefield. Carriers hover over the ground with Wakandan soldiers and Natasha, Steve and Bucky on board; War Machine and Falcon keep pace overhead, and Bruce is in the Hulkbuster armor.
"How we looking, Bruce?" Natasha checks in.
Bruce, leaping jogging along, keeping up with the carriers, and utterly delighted. "Yeah, I think I'm getting the hang of it. Wow! It's like being the Hulk without actually-" He stumbles on a rock, and a carrier goes by, from which Okoye gives him a dubious look. He stands. " I'm okay. I'm okay."
Rhodey calls over the comm, "I got two heat signatures breaking through the tree line."
The heat signatures are Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian.
The carrier pilots swerve into U-turns, causing their craft to tilt and allowing the practiced soldiers to slide over one side into a run, never coming to a complete halt. A Dora Milaje shouts a command nearby as the last Wakandans join ranks.
"MAYEFA YA HU! MAYEFA YA HU! MAYEFA YA HU! MAYEFA YA HU! MAYEFA YA HU!" M'Baku, Lord of the Jabari, rallies his soldiers with a war chant. He stops as T'Challa nears him.
T'Challa clasps wrists with M'Baku. "Thank you for standing with us.”
"Of course, brother." M'Baku nods in Xhosa.
T'Challa, Cap, and Black Widow walk to the edge of the barrier, where Proxima Midnight and Cull Obsidian stand. Proxima tests the strength of the barrier by drawing her sword across it consideringly.
"Where's your other friend?" Natasha says, hiding her growing smirk.
Proxima Midnight snarls, "You will pay for his life with yours. Thanos will have that stone."
"That's not gonna happen." Steve stubbornly says.
"You are in Wakanda now. Thanos will have nothing but dust and blood." T'Challa calmly says, unknowingly predicting what is to come.
"We... have blood to spare." Proxima Midnight says as she brandishes her sword with a snarl, and the ships behind her start raising their outer hulls to allow their "passengers" to disembark.
The three heroes return to the massed forces.
Bucky, a touch sardonically, "Did they surrender?" He asks,
"Not exactly." Steve states, they were all expecting this.
T'Challa leads the Wakandans in the war cry "Yibambe!" telling them to hold fast as the Outriders bound toward the barrier; Proxima drops her sword arm down in the signal to attack.
Bucky, flatly, astonished at the numbers of Outriders. "What the hell."
"Looks like we pissed her off." Natasha says as the Outsiders, continue towards the barrier.
"They're killing themselves." Okoye says, horrified, as the Outriders bombard the forcefield, squeezing limbs and bodies partly through only to be bisected.
As a few Outriders managed to squeeze through intact, the Border Tribe take a knee and raise their shields. The Kingsguard behind them level their sonic spears over their comrades' shoulders, and on T'Challa's command, fire at the approaching monsters. The Winter Soldier uses his machine gun, and Bruce fires the Hulkbuster's hand repulsors.
Sam, sending Redwings into the fight as he flies, swooping to fire at them with his pistols, "You seen the teeth on those things?"
"Alright, back up, Sam. You're gonna get your wings singed." Rhodey say as he flies over the heaviest concentration of Outriders and drops a barrage of mines, all exploding fantastically. i love james rhodes
Everyone notices a pack of Outriders starting to run around the forcefield to the right of the defenders' position.
"Cap, if these things circle the perimeter and get in behind us...There's nothing between them and Vision." Bruce says.
"Them we better keep 'em in front of us." Steve says, grim and firm.
Okoye, to T'Challa, "How do we do that?"
T'Challa sighs before simply saying, "We open the barrier." Putting his comm to his mouth. "On my signal, open North-West Section Seventeen."
"Requesting confirmation, my King. You said open the barrier?" Dome Control clarifies, puzzled.
"On my signal." T'Challa commands.
M'Baku turns to Okoye, "This will be the end of Wakanda."
Okoye stands straighter and prouder than ever, "Then it will be the noblest ending in history."
Captain America readies one of his vibranium hand guards. T'Challa shouts a command in Xhosa; the Border Tribesmen disengage their shields and stand, as T'Challa walks out in front of them, never taking his eyes off the enemy.
"WAKANDA FOREVER!" He crosses his arms in the Wakandan salute and closes his Black Panther helmet, charging for the barrier. The heroes and leaders are at the fore of the charge. Halfway to the barrier, the Black Panther shouts into his comm, "Now!"
The Outriders pour through, distracted from trying to find any other access. The Black Panther and Captain America pull ahead rapidly due to their enhancements, and literally leap into battle.
"How much longer, Shuri?" T'Challa hurriedly says into his comm.
"We've barely begun, brother." Shuri responds, a delicate and intricate construction of gold light hovers at her eye level; as she manipulates it, the waldo tools reproduce her commands on the Mind Stone itself. Hecate and Wanda watch the scientist nervously.
"You might want to pick up the pace." T'Challa says.
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Simultaneously, Thor prepares to open the iris of Nidavellir.
"Allfathers, give me strength." Thor prays silently to himself.
"You understand, boy? You're about to take the full force of a star. It'll kill you." Eitri says, loud and clear.
"Only if I die." Thor shrugs, takes deep breaths.
Eitri, completely boggled, "Yes. That's what... "killing you" means." Thor continues on as if unafraid.
Thor grasps the two levers and pulls them down and towards himself, slowly opening the iris. The stream of stellar energy blasts pasts him and into the forge once again.
"Hold it! Hold it, Thor!" Eitri shouts, rushing about now, excitedly.
Eitri watches the metal ingots melt while Thor is looking increasingly charred. Finally, Eitri is able to tip the cauldron, pouring the metal into the mold just as Thor passes out. The jet carries him into the forge, Rocket follows hastily and landing after Thor bounces limply off a structure to land on the floor. Groot finally looks up from his game at the thump Thor's body makes.
Rocket, kneeling over Thor, "Thor! Say something. Come on. Thor, you okay?" But Thor looks far from "okay".
Eitri clumsily and urgently pulls the mold, still glowing red-hot, onto the floor, breaking it loose from its frame, then starts punching the mold itself with his metal fists to free the axe.
Rocket's eyes are wide, "I think he's dying!"
"He needs the axe! Where's the handle? Tree, help me find the handle!" Eitri shouts, desperate.
Stormbreaker's two sections - the hammer and the axeblade - lay glowing on the floor. Groot looks sadly at Thor, then scowls with determination. He stands, and extends his fingers towards Stormbreaker, growing them at extraordinary speed. As he twines them around the two parts, he cries out at the burning pain but does not hesitate, slamming them together and locking them permanently into one structure. He raises it above his head, and with a mighty cry, chops his extended arm with his other hand to sever it at the right length.Thor's fingers twitch, and the new weapon levitates in a crackle of lightning echoed by the sparks between Thor's fingers.