Weeks passed, and we remained like this—living in peace. For once, we were truly happy, having found that elusive joy in each other.
On Bucky's harder days, when the flashes came or he simply needed me close, I joined him at the farms. I'd sit on a bale of hay with my laptop, working while he did the heavy lifting. Quite literally.
"White Wolf!" a voice called out.
We turned to see King T'Challa approaching, his presence alone enough to tell us something was wrong. He didn't visit without reason.
Behind him followed Okoye and two unfamiliar men, one carrying a large case. They placed it on a nearby wagon and opened it, revealing a new arm. Vibranium. Sleek and black, threaded with golden accents.
Bucky's eyes locked on it. His jaw clenched. We both knew this wasn't a gift. It was a request. A call to arms.
"Where's the fight?" Bucky asked, deadpan.
"It is coming," T'Challa said simply.
"Do we know what's coming?" I asked. Wakanda had the strength to fend off almost anything. What could have shaken the King enough to come here himself?
"I will explain, but we must move quickly," Okoye responded.
Bucky's hand reached for mine, pulling me protectively behind him. "She won't fight," he said firmly.
"She will not be on the front," T'Challa assured. "But Shuri will need her help."
His grip loosened, and I reached up to stroke his back gently. He turned to me, worry etched deep into his features.
"I'll be okay," I told him softly. "Let's go see what's going on."
Bucky grabbed the case, and we followed the guards back toward the city. As we walked away from our peaceful little home, I looked back, feeling, deep in my bones, that I might not see it again. An uneasy feeling thick in the air.
We had shut the world out for so long, that we didn't know what was happening in it. My work had been limited to economic and financial data, trade routes, pricing trends. But outside our barrier? I could've been asked if the world was on fire and I wouldn't have known.
Honestly, I thought, maybe it is.
Once at the lab, T'Challa and Okoye departed. The two guards stayed behind. Shuri immediately got to work, motioning Bucky toward an exam table. He was calmer now about these things, he'd been through it often, and I was always there beside him.
Shuri exposed the shoulder where his old arm used to be. "We need to attach a new vibranium base," she explained. "It has to sync with your nervous system. It will hurt."
Pain wasn't new to Bucky, at least this pain had a good reaon. He nodded.
As she worked, she told us what little they knew, about Thanos, about the infinity stones, about Vision.
Apparently, a cosmic warlord with a god complex was hunting the stones to wipe out half the universe. And Vision, with one of the stones embedded in his head, was the next target.
So, you know.
Just an average Tuesday.
"As for you, Elizabeth," Shuri said, "I'll need your help disconnecting Vision's stone. Your hands are nearly as fast as mine."
I turned to Bucky, his hand gripping the table's edge so hard I swore it would snap. If it weren't vibranium, it probably would have. And if he were still holding my hand, it definitely would've broken.
Eventually, Shuri finished installing the new base. Then came the arm, an easy attachment at this point.
He rotated his shoulder, flexed his elbow and fingers. Everything moved smoothly. But he stared at it, as if questioning it.
He gently took my wrist in his new hand. A puzzled look crossed his face.
"I can feel it," he whispered, staring at Shuri.
"I added features your old arm didn't have," she replied. "We'll go over them later."
"Feel what?" I asked.
"Your pulse."
I blinked. "Wait—what?"
"She gave you sensation?" I asked, stunned.
"Yeah. Not exactly like before… it's muffled. But it's there."
A smile tugged at the corners of his lips. For once, this arm, this thing tied to so much pain, had given him something good.
I guided his hand off my wrist and placed it over my chest. "Can you feel that?"
"Woah, not in my lab," Shuri said, turning away.
"Not like that, Shuri," I laughed. "My heartbeat."
His smile widened. "Yeah."
We stayed like that, forehead to forehead, soaking in the moment. For Bucky, this was more than a new limb, it was a piece of himself returned.
"It is time," Okoye said, entering the lab and tossing Bucky a change of clothes.
He suited up and left to help bring Vision in.
Shuri explained what she needed me to do, then handed me two vibranium wristbands. "They act as shields and emit a powerful blast. If something comes at you, use them."
They resized instantly to fit my wrists. "Thank you, Shuri. For everything."
"We will win," she said firmly.
The others arrived, Vision, Wanda, Bruce, Steve, Natasha, T'Challa, and Bucky. As Shuri examined the stone, Bucky pulled me aside.
"If things go bad," he said, gripping my hands tightly, "I don't care what anyone says, you run. Get somewhere safe. I'll find you."
"What about you?" I asked. "I'm not leaving you. Not this time. We fight or run, together."
I wasn't losing him again, if this was truly the end. I was going to face it with him.
"You choose. Fight or run?" I whispered, cupping his cheek.
"I have to fight," he murmured.
"Then we fight. But I swear, James Buchanan Barnes, if you don't come back to me, not even the Hulk will stop me from hunting your ass down."
He laughed, hugging me with both arms. We kissed, and it was the kind that tastes like maybe it's the last. The kind that says everything we didn't have time to.
"I love you, James."
"I love you, Elizabeth."
We leaned our foreheads together, clinging to that stillness before the storm.
"I have to go," he whispered.
"Just make sure you come back."
"I will. As long as you do too."
One last kiss, and then he was gone.
"Something's entered the atmosphere," Okoye said, holding up her Kimoyo beads to show a scan.
I went cold. Outside the lab windows, massive objects—like asteroids—were slamming into the barrier, exploding on impact. Others crashed beyond it.
When I turned back, it was just me, Shuri, Wanda, Vision, and a few guards. Everyone else had gone to the front lines.
Thanos had arrived.
Panic swelled in my chest like a scream that couldn't escape. Wanda stood next to me, watching through the glass. In her eyes, I saw it too.
Terror.
She is one of the strongest avengers.
If even she was scared, then I should truly be terrified.