-Real World-
Gamora stared at the sky in a daze, her eyes distant and unfocused. She never thought that Thanos actually loved her! The revelation shook her to her core, challenging everything she had believed about the Mad Titan who had taken her from her home world.
Star-Lord put his arm around her shoulders protectively and said with a bitter edge to his voice, "He loves you, but compared to his plans, you're still not enough!"
Nebula's face was filled with hatred, her jaw clenched tight as memories of torture and modification flooded back. "Yeah! He's even willing to sacrifice his loved ones for his own plans!"
Thor said sadly, his usual jovial demeanor replaced with somber reflection, "This only shows that in his heart, planning is above all else! In Odin's eyes, love is more important than anything else. That's why they made completely different choices."
Hela, sitting on the bed in her chamber, didn't expect that what Thor said was actually true. The Soul Stone really needs to sacrifice the soul of a loved one to obtain it. The ancient magic, the cruel price—it was all real.
Just as Gamora never thought that Thanos really loved her, Hela never thought that Odin, who imprisoned her for millennia, loved her. But at this moment, her past beliefs were shaken, like foundations crumbling beneath an earthquake.
But she soon regained her resolve, her eyes hardening once more. No matter what, Odin had imprisoned her for thousands of years—that was undeniable! Whether he loved her or not, it would not change her opinion of him! Actions spoke louder than any claimed affection.
-Broadcast-
Captain America and his crew were already on their way to Wakanda in a Quinjet. The sleek aircraft cut through the clouds, carrying Earth's last hope toward the hidden nation.
Inside the fighter plane, Captain America came up behind Sam Wilson, who was piloting the Quinjet with practiced ease. Steve placed a hand on the back of Sam's seat and commanded with military precision, "Drop to twenty-six hundred, heading zero-three-zero."
Sam glanced at the flight path, seeing nothing but dense forest and mountains ahead. He raised an eyebrow and said with a mix of trust and trepidation, "I hope you're right about this, Cap. Otherwise, we're gonna land a lot faster than you want to."
Following Captain America's instructions, Sam steered the plane straight toward what appeared to be a solid mountain face. The dense jungle grew larger in the windscreen, filling their view. Then, in the next second, the forest in front of them vanished like a dream dissolving in morning light. The plane passed through an advanced holographic barrier, and the illusion fell away to reveal a vast expanse of gleaming towers and pristine architecture. Before them lay Wakanda's true face—a technological marvel that made New York look primitive by comparison. Towering buildings of sleek design reached toward the sky, and the Golden City sprawled across the landscape in breathtaking magnificence.
"Oh, you guys are so screwed now!" Bruce Banner muttered from his seat, equal parts awed and terrified by what was coming.
Black Panther T'Challa, dressed in his royal robes rather than his vibranium suit, led his King's Guard toward the helipad with regal bearing. His sister Shuri walked alongside members of the Dora Milaje, the elite warrior women who served as Wakanda's most formidable protectors.
Okoye, the general of the Dora Milaje, followed close behind him. Her face showed barely concealed concern as she said with dry humor, "When you said we were going to open Wakanda to the rest of the world... this is not what I imagined."
Black Panther turned his head slightly, his expression calm despite the gravity of the situation. "And what did you imagine?"
"The Olympics," Okoye replied flatly, then added with just a hint of longing, "Maybe even a Starbucks."
While they exchanged words, Sam had already guided the Quinjet to the landing pad stretching out before them. The aircraft's thrusters kicked up wind as it descended, slowly touching down with barely a bump. The rear hatch began to lower with a hydraulic hiss.
Captain America led the way out of the fighter plane, his shoulders squared and ready for battle despite the weariness in his eyes. Bruce Banner, uncomfortable in his ill-fitting tactical suit, stumbled slightly as he disembarked. He leaned toward War Machine and asked in an uncertain whisper, "Should we bow?"
Rhodes, barely containing his amusement, blinked innocently and answered with completely false sincerity, "Yeah, he's a king."
Captain America walked toward T'Challa, his stride purposeful but respectful. As he approached, a slight smile crossed Steve's weathered face. "Seems like I'm always thanking you for something."
The two men shook hands firmly, and T'Challa returned the smile with genuine warmth despite the circumstances. "So, let us not be late for something."
Behind them, Rhodes gave a pointed cough—the signal. The gullible Banner, taking his earlier advice seriously, rubbed his hands together nervously and began to kneel before the Wakandan king.
Rhodes widened his eyes in mock surprise and said with feigned confusion, "What are you doing?"
Banner froze mid-kneel, suddenly realizing he'd been completely played. His face flushed with embarrassment.
T'Challa, witnessing this awkward display, quickly stepped forward with raised hands and said graciously, "Uh, we don't do that here." He made a casual downward gesture, a slight smile playing at the corners of his mouth.
Banner straightened up immediately, shooting Rhodes a withering glare that promised future retaliation. Rhodes just grinned back, completely unrepentant about his prank.
After this brief moment of levity in the face of apocalypse, T'Challa's expression grew serious. He turned and began walking, his royal guard falling into step around him. He looked back at Steve and asked the crucial question, "So how big of an assault can we expect?"
Bruce Banner immediately rushed forward, his scientific mind already calculating probabilities and running through worst-case scenarios. He said with grave urgency, "Uh, sir, I think you can expect quite a big assault."
Natasha Romanoff, her red hair pulled back and her eyes sharp as ever, looked at T'Challa with the expression of a veteran calculating odds. "How we looking?"
"You will have my King's Guard," T'Challa began, gesturing to the warriors assembled around them. "The Border Tribe." He indicated another group of fierce-looking Wakandans. "The Dora Milaje." Okoye and her sister warriors straightened with pride. "And..."
"A semi-stable, one-hundred-year-old man," came a familiar voice. Bucky Barnes walked forward from where he'd been waiting, a self-deprecating smile on his face. He was dressed in traditional Wakandan garb, his vibranium arm gleaming in the sunlight. His eyes met Captain America's, and the two super soldiers embraced—brothers reunited on the eve of battle.
"How you been, Buck?" Steve asked, genuine concern in his voice as he pulled back to look at his oldest friend.
Bucky tilted his head with that old Brooklyn charm, though his eyes held shadows of everything he'd endured. "Uh, not bad, for the end of the world."
-Broadcast-
In the advanced Wakanda laboratory, far more sophisticated than any facility Tony Stark had built, Vision lay on a medical bed. The synthetic being's body was still, but his mind was racing with calculations and concerns. Princess Shuri, T'Challa's younger sister and the brightest mind in Wakanda, moved around him with confident purpose. She activated her kimoyo beads bracelet, and holographic displays sprang to life around her hands.
She scanned Vision's body with practiced ease, her fingers dancing through the three-dimensional data. The Mind Stone embedded in his forehead appeared in the projection, floating above her palm in intricate detail. Its structure was revealed layer by layer, each neural pathway mapped in stunning clarity.
"The structure is polymorphic," Shuri observed, her eyes scanning the data with the speed of a computer.
Bruce Banner, standing beside her and feeling increasingly out of his depth, nodded in agreement. "Right, right. We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially."
Shuri raised an eyebrow, her expression somewhere between impressed at the ambition and puzzled by the methodology. "Why didn't you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively?"
Vision, still lying on the bed with various sensors attached to his vibranium body, turned his head to look at Banner. There was no judgment in his gaze, only curiosity about this alternative approach he hadn't considered.
Banner paused, his scientific pride taking a hit. He cleared his throat and admitted with remarkable honesty, "Because... we didn't think of it."
Shuri shrugged with the casual confidence of teenage genius. "I'm sure you did your best."
Wanda Maximoff, who had been standing protectively near Vision's bedside, her hands occasionally sparking with red energy from anxiety, looked at the young princess with desperate hope in her eyes. "Can you do it?"
Shuri looked up from her holographic displays, meeting Wanda's gaze directly. She nodded once, decisively. "Yes. But there are more than two trillion neurons here." She gestured at the complex web of data surrounding the Mind Stone projection. "One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures."
She turned to look at her brother, who had just entered the lab with the others. Her expression grew serious, the playful teenage genius replaced by Wakanda's head of technology. "It will take time, brother."
T'Challa gave a single, understanding nod. He knew what she was telling him—they would need to hold the line, no matter what came.
Captain America stepped forward, his tactical mind already planning defensive positions and fallback points. "How long?"
Shuri shook her head slowly, her eyes returning to the impossibly complex neural map before her. She had performed countless procedures, invented technologies that would seem like magic to the outside world, but this? This was beyond anything she'd attempted. "As long as you can give me," she said simply, honestly.
At that moment, Okoye's kimoyo beads chimed with an urgent alert. The general shifted one of the beads into her palm, and a holographic projection of Earth appeared, rotating slowly. Red indicators began appearing in the atmosphere.
Her voice was steady, but tension crept into her words. "Something's entered the atmosphere."
-Broadcast-
High above Earth, at the edge of space where the blue atmosphere faded to black, a massive ring-shaped spacecraft hung in low-Earth orbit like a mechanical planet. Its surface was scarred and ancient, covered in the marks of a thousand battles. This was a Q-Ship, one of Thanos's mobile command centers, and it had come bearing death.
The ring structure began to glow, energy building in its core. Then, like a hive releasing its swarm, dozens of transport ships began dropping from the mothership. They fell toward Earth like meteors, their hulls heating to orange as they hit the upper atmosphere. Each one was a carrier capable of holding hundreds of Outriders—Thanos's mindless, vicious shock troops.
Their trajectory was precise, calculated. They were heading straight for Wakanda, for the Mind Stone, for Vision.
Sam Wilson, who had been standing outside the palace enjoying the Wakandan architecture, noticed the streaks of fire cutting across the sky. He tapped his comms and said urgently, "Hey, Cap, we got a situation here."
The first transport ship plummeted toward Wakanda like a falling star, its descent creating a thunderous roar that echoed across the plains. But it collided directly with Wakanda's advanced energy barrier—the same shield that had kept the nation hidden and safe for centuries. The ship exploded on impact, shattering into millions of pieces that scattered across the dome like deadly rain. The fragments slid down the curve of the barrier, unable to penetrate the advanced technology.
Bucky watched the destruction with his rifle ready, a grin spreading across his face. "God, I love this place."
War Machine, hovering nearby in his armor with repulsors glowing, couldn't help but inject a dose of reality into the moment. He pointed upward with one armored hand. "Yeah, don't start celebrating yet, guys. We got more incoming outside the dome."
He was right. Dozens more transport ships were descending from orbit, their hulls blazing with atmospheric entry. After their first ships were destroyed by the barrier, the alien invaders had adapted. They weren't trying to land inside Wakanda anymore. Instead, they were heading straight for the vast forest beyond the barrier—landing just outside the shield's perimeter.
The ships came down like hammers of the gods. Each impact was accompanied by a deafening boom that shook the ground for miles. The shockwave from each landing flattened entire swaths of ancient forest, trees that had stood for centuries simply disintegrating under the force. Massive plumes of dirt and debris exploded upward, creating mushroom clouds visible from the palace. Those that landed in the nearby river sent walls of water surging outward, flooding the banks.
The shockwaves rolled across the landscape like earthquakes, hitting the energy barrier with tremendous force. The shield rippled and glowed at each impact point, absorbing kinetic energy that would have leveled cities. But it held firm—advanced Wakandan technology protecting both physical and energy-based attacks, successfully blocking the shockwaves from reaching the city itself.
But everyone watching knew the truth: the shield had kept the impacts out.
It wouldn't keep what was inside those ships from getting in.
-Real World-
The viewers across multiple universes watched in tense silence as Thanos's invasion force surrounded Wakanda. The final battle for the Mind Stone—and the fate of the universe—was about to begin.