by Liza Palmer
But there was much more to Wakanda than met the eye.
Wakanda was Earth's most technologically advanced city. Because it was built on top of a priceless stash of the world's most valuable and rare mineral. Vibranium, Wakanda had always chosen to conceal itself from the outside world in order to protect its precious resource. That all changed when the nation lost its monarch. T'Chaka. to a terrorist bombing at the United Nations. Wakanda now found itself under the reign of T'Chaka's son, T'Challa.
But T'Challa wouldn't serve the citizens of Wakanda only as their king. He'd also inherited the mantle of the Black Panther, and with it, had opened Wakanda's doors to the outside world at last, for better or worse.
Now, as King T'Challa strode across a field with Okoye. the general of his Dora Milaje, he was pretty certain Wakanda had entered the "for worse" part.
"The King's Guard and the Dora Milaje have been alerted."
"Send word to the Jabari as well. M'Baku likes a good fight. And what of this one?" T'Challa and Okoye approached a simple, humble hut where a one-armed man quietly worked m his fields.
"This one may be tired of war. But the White Wolf has rested long enough." One of T'Challa's Kmg's Guards set down an elaborate case, opening it up to show the now-advancing one-armed man.
James Buchanan Barnes looked at the case with an expression of acceptance and dread. Men like Barnes didn't get to be farmers, falling asleep night after mght to the quiet noises of the Wakandan countryside. No, men like Barnes heard the ticking. He knew this day would come.
When he fought at Steve Rogers's side he'd been a soldier for the Allies m World War II, but then he'd been captured by Hydra and brainwashed to be a soldier for evil. Whether he was Bucky Barnes or the Winter Soldier, he'd been fighting somebody else's war for over seventy years.
As Bucky took in the metal arm that rested mside the case, the weariness coursed through him like a disease.
"Where's the fight?" he asked, his mouth pressed into a hard line.
"On its way," T'Challa said, knowing the full weight of what he was asking.
To any other mind, especially an untrained one, panic would have set in and the person would have died instantly. The thousands of glass shards mere inches away covering their entire bodies would tear through them if they moved.
Fortunately, Doctor Stephen Strange possessed the most focused mmd in the galaxy. At the moment, all that meant was that he was perfectly still, staring down said blades.
"In all the time I've served Thanos," he heard Ebony Maw brag in his melodic voice, "I have never failed him."
Maw came into Strange's line of sight. The Child of Thanos's face hardened as he inhaled sharply. "If I were to reach our rendezvous on Titan with the Time Stone still attached to your vaguely irritating person, there would be... judgment."
Maw leaned m to Strange as a spike shifted via his telepathy, cutting sharply mto Strange's cheek with the merest touch.
"Give me the Stone."
Strange remained resilient. As punishment, more spikes began to pierce his body. He reached out with his mind to make contact with the Cloak of Levitation, which had managed to hide on Maw's ship undetected.
The Cloak floated to the deck overlooking the scene below; where Iron Man watched in horror mind racing to formulate a plan. He jumped when the Cloak tapped him on the shoulder.
"Wow, you are a seriously loyal piece of outerwear aren't you?" he asked: still in shock. More surprising was the voice that came from behind in response.
"Yeah..." whispered Peter Parker "uh, speaking of loyalty..."
"What the—" Tony's eyes flared.
"I know what you're gonna sav;" Peter started.
Tony cut m. "You should not be here." Tony had only continued onto the ship because he felt certain that he'd gotten Peter safely out of harm's way. With Peter here, very much IN harm's way, would he be able to fully concentrate on the task at hand?
Is this...oh, no...is this how it feels? To be on the other end of this? He owed Pepper an apology. He owed Pepper a lot of apologies. "I was gonna go home:" Peter started. "I don't want to hear it."
"But it was such a long way down and I just thought about you on the way—" "And now I gotta hear it."
"—and kinda stuck to the side of the ship. And this suit is ridiculously intuitive, by the way." "Dang it, kid:" Tony spat out.
"So, if anything, it's kmda your fault that I'm here." Peter rushed out the last words and braced himself. Both Torn- and the Cloak of Levitation looked up in incredulity at Peter's absolute presumption that this was somehow Tony's fault.
"What did you just say?" Tony's very angry face was in Peter's very embarrassed one.
"I take that back." Peter lifted his hands in surrender. "And now I'm here in space." Tony stepped toward Peter.
"Yeah, right where I didn't want you to be." Tony leaned in and m a concerned, borderline threatening whisper, continued. "This isn't Coney Island. This isn't some field trip. This is a one-way ticket. You hear me?" Peter tried to meet his gaze, but, fully chastised, he looked down. "Don't pretend you thought this through."
Peter looked up, his tone stronger as he dug deeper for the reason he'd risked everything to stow away. "No, I did think this through."
"You could not possibly have thought this through."
"You can't be a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man if there's no neighborhood." Peter waited. "Okay, that didn't really make sense, but you know what I'm trying to say." Tony was stuck. Peter was on this spaceship and that was that. So, he now had to save Strange and then get Peter Parker back on Earth safe and sound. But first things first.
"Come on. We got a situation." Tony sighed and pomted at Strange as the duo looked over the ledge, the Cloak hovering behind them both. "See him down there? He's in trouble. What's your plan? Go." "Urn. Okay...okay...uh..." Suddenly, Peter looked up and faced Tony. "Did you ever see this really old movie. Aliens?" Below, Maw was circling Strange, mentally pushing individual shards into various points on the mystic's body.
"Painful, aren't they?" he mused. "They were originally designed for microsurgery." Maw turned from Strange. "And any one of them could end your friend's life in an instant." He looked up at Iron Man, who was hovering above, lasers at the ready.
"I gotta tell you, he's not really my friend. Saving his life is more of a professional courtesy."
Maw moved away from Strange and lifted massive cargo pods with a wave of his hands. "You've saved nothing. Your powers are inconsequential compared to mine!" Iron Man shrugged. "Yeah, but the kid's seen more movies."
Tony angled himself toward the ship 's side and fired a missile at the hull, its explosion tearing it open. The cargo pods flew out of the hull. With a scream of disbelief. Ebony Maw was sucked into the coldness of space.
Chaos quickly followed. Other objects began flying out mto space, including the microsurgery needles, freeing Doctor Strange. Unfortunately, Strange also began moving through the air to the opening. Just as he was about to be sucked through, the Cloak of Levitation grabbed Strange's ankle with one end and a solid-looking structure with the other, holding the man in place.
Spider-Man found himself nearly sucked out when four mechanical arachnid-looking arms extended from his back like an exoskeleton. "Yes!" Peter exclaimed. "Wait. What are these?" He looked behmd him to get a better
view.
They, like the rest of the suit, acted intuitively, spreading out and gripping the hull's sides to keep Spider-Man from flying out. Peter shot a web and pulled himself and Strange to safety. With everyone safe from the hull's opening. Iron Man stepped m to weld the hole shut. Catching his breath, Peter retracted the pincers to his suit's exoskeleton and extended a hand to the Cloak of Levitation. "Hey, we haven't officially met." The Cloak considered Peter's extended hand and then floated away, toward Doctor Strange. "Cool."
"We gotta turn this ship around." Strange struggled to stand as Tony walked past. Iron Man suit disappearing as he strode.
"Yeah, now he wants to run. Great plan." Tony walked to the front of the ship, watching as the expanse of space spread out before them.
"No, I want to protect the Stone." The Cloak of Levitation encircled Strange's shoulders.
"And I want you to thank me. Now, go ahead. I'm listening."
"For what? Nearly blastmg me mto space?"
"Who just saved your magical butt? Me." Tony was losing his patience.
"I seriously don't know how you fit your head into that helmet," Strange marveled.
"Admit it, you should've ducked out when I told you to. I tried to bench you. You refused."
Strange gritted his teeth. "Unlike everyone else in your life, I don't work for you."
"And due to that fact, we're now in a flying doughnut billions of miles from Earth with no backup."
"I'm backup." Peter held up a single finger.
"No, you're a stowaway. The adults are talking." Tony was at his wit's end.
Strange looked bemused. "I'm sorry. I'm confused as to the relationship here. What is he, your ward?" "No." Peter stepped forward and reached out to Doctor Strange. "I'm Peter, by the way."
"Doctor Strange."
"Oh, we're using our made-up names." Peter cleared his throat. "Um: I'm Spider-Man, then." Strange didn't bother to shake Peter's hand as he passed, his attention focused now on Tony.
"The ship is self-correcting its course," Tony said gravely. "Thing's on autopilot."
"Can we control it?" Strange asked, concerned. "Fly us home?" Strange reiterated. Tony's eyes flicked back to Strange. He was getting further and further lost. "Stark?" The mystic was losing his patience. "Can you get us home?"
"Yeah, I heard you." Stark waved him off. He paused to propose a new idea. "I'm thinking I'm not so sure we should."
Strange was aghast. "Under no circumstances can we bring the Time Stone to Thanos!" He paused to collect himself "I don't think you quite understand what's at stake here."
"What?" Tony asked, stepping forward to square off against Strange. "No. It's you who doesn't understand that Thanos has been inside my head for far too long." Tony's voice was becoming more and more agitated as he spoke. "Since he sent an army to New York. And now he's back!" And then the real panic set in. "And I don't know what to do. So I'm not so sure if it's a better plan to fight him on our turf or his, but you saw what they did, what they can do. At least on his turf he's not expecting it. So I say we take the fight to him." Tony cocked his head as he looked at Strange. "Doctor, do you concur?"
There was tense silence in the room as the two men sized each other up and mulled their options. Strange raced through his mind, thinking of alternatives, wondering if Tony Stark's brash plan was possible. Tony waited, ready to stand his ground.
"All right. Stark," Strange said. "We go to him."
Tony began walking away, ready to put his plan into action. Strange wasn't done. "But you have to understand," Strange said, measured, "if it comes to saving you, or the kid, or the Time Stone, I will not hesitate to let either of you die. I can't, because the universe depends on it."
"Nice." Tony reached out and patted Strange's arm. "Good, moral compass. We're straight." Tony understood what it took to make the big choices and major sacrifices. He turned to face Peter.
"All right, kid." Peter braced himself for the worst. But instead, Tony tapped his hand on each of Peter's shoulders and mimicked knighting him. "You're an Avenger now."
Tony walked on, leaving Peter by himself. A second of disbelief passed, and then a wide, excited smile spread across his face before it dissolved into a far more resolute, serious expression. Peter nodded to himself as the honor Tony had just bestowed on him settled deep mside.
A quick blink as he pushed his shoulders back. Ready for duty. He was finally going to help make fewer bad things happen. He was going to do something meaningful with all of these powers.
He was gomg to make a difference.
Gamora stood in the throne room of the Sanctuary: IL the seat of Thanos's power and a place she was far too familiar with. She glared at the throne. Thanos approached, carrying a bowl of food.
"I thought you might be hungry," he said, handing her the bowl. Gamora looked down at the offering. She took it from Thanos, looked up at him defiantly, and threw the bowl of food against Thanos's throne.
"I always hated that chair," she spat, watching the remnants of the bowl's contents drip down.
"So I've been told," Thanos said drily. "Even so, I'd hoped you'd sit in it one day."
Gamora looked at him, fury in her eyes. "I hated this room. This ship. I hated my life!"
Thanos sat on the steps of this throne and looked at her, a sadness briefly flashing across his face. ' You told me that too. Every day. For almost twenty years." There was a beat of silence between the two of them. "I was a child when you took me," she raged. "I saved you."
Gamora shook her head. "No. No. We were happy on my home planet."
"Going to bed hungry, scrounging for scraps. Your planet was on the brink of collapse. I'm the one who stopped that." Gamora turned from him. "Do you know what's happened since then? The children born have known nothing but full bellies and clear skies. It's a paradise," Thanos said proudly.
Whippmg around, Gamora yelled, "Because you murdered half the planet!"
"A small price to pay for salvation," Thanos said.
"You're insane," Gamora growled.
"Little one, it's a simple calculation. This universe is finite, its resources finite. If life is left unchecked, life will cease to exist." He spoke calmly. "It needs correction." "You don't know that!" Gamora shouted.
Thanos sighed and looked to the heavens. "I'm the only one who knows that. At least, I'm the only one with the will to act on it." Thanos stood and descended the stairs toward Gamora. "For a time, you had that same will as you fought by my side." Thanos loomed over her now. "Daughter."
She looked up at him. Her gaze was cold. "I am not your daughter. Everything I hate about myself, you taught me."
"And in domg so, made you the fiercest woman in the galaxy," Thanos pointed out. "That's why I trusted you to find the Soul Stone."
"I'm sorry I disappointed you," she said, her voice emotionless.
Thanos's head dropped slightly. "I am disappomted. But not because you didn't find it." He bent down in front of her, just like he'd done that first day. His voice was a low growl when he next spoke. "But because you did." His eyes locked on hers. "And you lied."
Thanos led Gamora to a prison cell. Gamora couldn't hide the shock on her face when she saw who was there: Nebula. Her sister was suspended in midair; her cybernetic body was dissected mto slivers and held in place, making it look as though she had been stretched apart. The room echoed with Nebula's hard-earned wheezes.
Gamora and Nebula's relationship had always been strained, to say the least. Constantly in competition, the sisters battled for their father's attention, with Gamora always being his clear favorite. And now here was her father's prized daughter invited to come gaze at the chronic screw-up once again.
Gamora looked at Nebula's twisted body and their eyes met. She became haunted by Nebula's terrified and panicked gaze. "Nebula/' Gamora cried, running to her sister. Gamora turned to Thanos. "Don't do this."
"Some time ago, your sister snuck aboard this ship to kill me," Thanos started.
"Please don't do this," Gamora sobbed.
"And very nearly succeeded. So I brought her here. To talk." He flexed the Infinity Gauntlet and used the Power Stone to pull Nebula further apart, causing the would-be assassin to scream.
"Stop. Stop it." Gamora went to Thanos and placed a hand on his Gauntleted hand. Her touch was familiar and easy. She looked up at him. "I swear to you on my life. I never found the Soul Stone."
Thanos looked to a guard. The guard pressed a few buttons.
"Accessing memory files," a computer voice intoned. A flickering grainy hologram emanated from Nebula and played out like a nightmare in front of Gamor
a.
"You know what he's about to do. He's finally ready and he's going for the Stones. All of them." Nebula's voice from long ago filtered through the room.
"He can never get them all." The holographic Gamora stood brazenly, arms crossed.
"He will!" Nebula had screamed.
"He can't. Nebula. Because I found the map to the Soul Stone, and I burned it to ash. I burned it." Thanos stood over the very real Gamora as the hologram disappeared. She was collapsing in on herself as he began to speak.
"You're strong. Me. You're generous. Me." He stood behmd her now. "But I never taught you to lie. That's why you're so bad at it." Still standing behind her, he extended his Gauntleted hand past Gamora. His fingers lazily waved around as he spoke each word.
"Where is the Soul Stone?" he asked again. Gamora shook her head. She wouldn't. She couldn't.
Thanos curled his fingers into a tight fist. Nebula watched helplessly as the Stones shone bright. The ensuing pam was like nothing she'd ever felt. Nebula writhed and shrieked m pain as each second lasted a year and all she could do was wish for death.
Gamora watched as her sister thrashed against their father's punishment, weighing the cost of one life against billions. But it was her sister and she couldn't bear listenmg to Nebula's agonized howls for one more moment. Gamora remained quiet, keeping the Soul Stone's whereabouts a mystery from her father. Sensmg Gamora's hesitation, Thanos tightened his fist and the sickening sound of Nebula's body bemg stretched beyond its limits filled the room.
"Vormir!" Gamora yelled. Thanos relaxed his hand and Nebula's screams stopped, only to yield to her ragged heaving as she tried to catch her breath. Gamora walked over to Nebula and placed her hand on the side of her sister's tear-stained face. Nebula just shook her head, guilt-ridden that it was her life that Thanos had used to torture the Soul Stone's location out of Gamora. "The Stone is on Vormir," Gamora said more quietly.
Thanos smiled, opening a teleportation portal.
"Show me."
"I am Groot," Groot said, squirming in his chair.