Discimer - All the owners have their respective rights. I only own the characters that came from my addled brain (don’t worry, I am pletely sober).

  Manhattan, New York

  –Steve Rogers–

  “Bruce, anything, at all?” He asked Bruce, handing over the food he was able to get from a nearby food truck that had not yet gone pletely bad. Nothing in New York was w anymore, ronio cars, ricity, nothing so Jarvis had flown in multiple droo, first of all, transport any and all patients t hospitals whicluded Tony as well and sed, made a makeshift tehe crater where Jack was sleeping, or at least it looked like he was sleeping.

  Bruce took the tacos from him, shaking his head as he gestured at the holo ss in front of him. Jarvis worked fast, he had brought in essentially aire office with all the necessary tech within the first hour itself, “No, no sign of ge in activity. The Purple fire burns everything that it es into tact with, even radiation that is directly i on it, like the ones we were trying to use yet somehow, light is reflected back fine.”

  He sighed, the sce of it flying over his head as he uood the basic gist. The purple fire around Jack was destroying everything around him, making it hard to uand what was happening underh.

  He had woken up oreet, with the suit that was carrying him rendered i. With injuries all over his body, he had somehow crawled out of the suit that was starting to feel suffog on the ihankfully, the crash ndi that some parts of the hand and leg bracers had given out, giving him openings for airflow.

  Unfortunately, even that took almost an hour to do since he was still dizzy at that time. By the time he mao get a few parts off the suit, including the now defunct Arc Reaodule, Jarvis’ sed wave of drones had arrived.

  As soon as they arrived, the drones set up a massive unication array that floated above the city, moving in sync with the drones as Jarvis created a massive unicatiowork above the city, coordinating rescue efforts, esc first respoo the appropriate locatioablishing tact between different squads of first responders and more.

  He was sure that even now, there was a live stream somewhere, depig the current dition of New York and what was being doo restore it. As he uood, anything that ran oricity was gone. Unfortunately, while that would have meant a little inveniend annoyance when he was born, now it would basically mean the end of the world as the people k.

  Nothing worked without electricity and the surviving members were very much devastated to realise that they would not be able to use their phoo post…cat memes? He did not know because acc to Jarvis, the i was filled with cat memes, after Porn obviously.

  “So, nothing? We have nothing?” Romanoff asked Bruce who bit into his Taco, the stress making him hungry. Well, it was making all of them hungry.

  “No, I tell that the Purple Fire is se somehow or the more likely answer being that Jack is subsciously using the Fire to remove anything that might e close and harm him,” Bruce replied iween bites, the Taco finished by the time he pleted the sentence.

  Outside, he heard the sound of choppers as all of them realised the meaning of this unannounced visit, “Oh, no! Nononoo!” Bruce mumbled as he rushed to his stations, presumably to delete aive data as the rest of them which were him, Romanoff and t rushed outside to deal with whoever had e to take JAck, or at least try to do so.

  His eyes widened as he saw the Military arriving with not just helicopters but Jets flying overhead. His enhanced senses inf him about the people in the helicopter talking to someone in the Navy as well.

  3 Helicopters nded on the very uneven ground as multiple squads of armed soldiers covered the perimeter, around their tent as well as around Jad the crater he was iayed put because it would be poio make a se right now sihey khat Jack would be safe from anything that the military could throw at him.

  Out of the st helicopter, after the entire squads had taken their positions, stepped out him. He felt Burce beside him tense up at the appearance of General Thunderbolt Ross. The one person who should not be here and whose appearance, especially with all the fanfare, basically told them the opinion of the President and what as he supported in regards to Jack.

  Ross didn't even look at them before he stepped right at the edge of the crater. All of them looked at him, waiting to see what he would do. He stiffened as Ross took a gun from one of his squadmates and aimed it at Jack’s burning form. He was about to march up to him and tell him to fuck off when Romanoff held his hand, stopping him from speaking up.

  Before he could do anything else, there was a loud gunshot in the air that had him fling. He shrugged off her hand and ran to the general, ign the sudden clig hat filled the air as all of the soldiers removed the safeties from their rifles.

  “What the fuck are you doing? You could have killed him!” He took the gun from the man’s hand and threw it aside.

  “Well, Captain, I just wao see if the bullshit Stark’s AI had been peddling to the President was true or not. Now that I know it’s the truth, I’ll leave you to it. See you soon, captain, very soon.” Ross said and he could do nothing but stand and watch as Ross left with the military.

  Just in time as well as there was a massive gathering of Jarvis drones right above them, with some of them tailing eves, perf evasive manoeuvres. He sighed in relief that nothing had happened, for now, but he khat with Tony unscious and Jack out of ission, he would have to pick up the sck.

  Bruce was not yet well versed with his powers yet and they could not rely on Thor as he was busy off world.

  “Bruce? you set up a live broadcast, globally?” He sighed explosively and asked Bruce whose eyes widened in realisation as he nodded and rushed bato the tent. He khat Jarvis was listening in on that versation so he was not shocked when some of the mass of drourned gears and unched right up into the sky at top speeds, probably going to gather the things required for the broadcast.

  “Are you sure about this, Rogers? You would be making some very powerful enemies.” Romanoff asked him with Barton having goo the tent, presumably to help Bruce.

  His shoulder slumped as he replied, “Yes, I know that but there is nothing that be done aside from going fully public. TO let the public decide, to see if what Jack had done was right , to see that there truly was no other way, at least at that point in time.”

  “And if the publids you wanting?”

  “Then you e to Wakanda,” He turned around, reflexively grabbing for his shield befiving up and aiming his gun at the Cat Man–T’Chal eared out of nowhere, a Jet being visible behind him. A squadron of women rolled out of the jet as well, creating a perimeter around Jack, looking at him with resped awe instead of fear, jealousy, and hate.

  He rexed almost pletely at that look, “What are you doing here, T’Chal? And what do you mean by that?”

  T’Chal snapped his fingers as a small buzzing sound filled the air. He looked up as the sky itself rippled minutely before returning to normal.

  “No see us now,” T’Chal removed his helmet, a massive sign of trust from him. Bruce had peeked out of the tent before rushing right ba without even a moment’s hesitation.

  “And I meant that Wakanda will give you sanctuary. If the outside world finds your heroic as to save the world, wanting, then Wakanda would gdly open its arms for you. We already host one of your teammates.” T’Chal gestured behind him.

  “Yeah, I lived there and still do, teically, live there with another lost soul. It is…nice, you will like it there,” That was all Bruce said about his mysterious living ditions before entering the tent once more.

  “I will make sure that Jack is safe, even if it means exposing us. Be rest assured about that and be free when you speak the truth. The world o know and the heroes of today deserve to have their stories spread far and wide.” Saying so, T’Chal turned around and took sophisticated maery from the jet, and approached the Crater’s edge.

  He hesitantly turned away, heading bato the tent so that he could make sure that the message reached the masses before the people in the gover got any ideas.

  “Ready?”

  “We should be in a couple of minutes. Jarvis already had most of the equipment ready, we just o make sure that nobody could stop the broadcast in any way so we waited for all the stooges to leave with Ross.” Bruce replied as he quickly typed on the s at a dizzying pace.

  ___xx__

  –T’Chal–

  “My King, was that wise?” Ah, he was still getting used to being called the King nowadays. His father had officially abdicated his position to him and he was now the new King of Wakanda, the ruler of the stro nation on the p, and the most hidden as well.

  Though, looking at the level of destru all around him, he was both gd and a bit sad at the fact that this would have never happened in his try.

  His try was insuted from the effects but he was a bit disturbed by the prospect of h all that safety to himself, of making sure that all his loved ones were safe and could sleep a good night’s sleep without ever having to worry about food, water or aliens who would destroy their homes, and then turn around and say that he couldn’t help anyone from the outside world simply because they wished to hoard the teological edge they had over the rest of the world.

  “Yes, this is the wisest course of a Wakanda take at this point,” And he fell silent as the drones did their jobs, gathering data without getting too close to the Purple Fire. He could tell that it was dangerous, something in his very soul warning him that getting close would meaaih and not even Bast would be able to save his soul, so no Afterlife for him.

  That was a frightening cept, to never have the opportunity to go to the Aral Land and forever drift in the void or simply cease to exist.

  The Dora Mije wisely didn’t question him si was not their job to do so. They were simply the best ons he had on hand and while treating them as tools was slightly cruel, it was not their pake these difficult decisions.

  It was his burden and his aloo do all of this.

  “She is right, brother. What if we are discovered before we manipute any public opinion? Our pn is still in its beginning phase, we would need another couple of years before we are even ready to show ourselves to the world,” His s crackled to life as Shuri spoke to him, no doubt simultaneously also processing the data from the drones.

  He chuckled at that. Public opinion?

  “Shuri, look all around me. Look at him. Do we still o worry about public opinion? Besides, now it is not a matter of stists giving subtle positive interviews or positive i reinfort. Right now, all it would take to sublic opinion would be a single word from Jack Sullivan once he woke up, and when Captain Rogers would be finished with his broadcast. Speaking of that, make sure that it goes through and no el hijacks it,” He ordered Shuri at the st moment, unsure if they could handle going against the entire world’s govers who would no doubt be looking to stop the spread of information si simply made them look too bad.

  Especially the US gover, two invasions in a couple of years, and all they had to show for it artially destroyed city and…nothing. The govers had nothing to show for it. SHIELD was gone, and SWORD ractically crippled when it came to anything that dealt with Earth, which is why they could not interfere because the Carriers in space simply could not be turned around to face the ehat had appeared on top of a major city, bypassing spapletely.

  Shuri snorted into the s link, “Pff, please, way ahead of you, O’ Mighty King T’Chal.” He didn't deign that with a response as the drones had finally finished colleg all data before they were whisked into one of the Invisible Jets that flew into the air and shot into the air, right above, so it could reorient itself and fly back to Wakanda.

  “Also, I have found a way that might work but we might have to sacrifice a good k of Vibranium you have on yht now.” Shuri’s words made him snap back to attention as his mind had already flown off to figuring out a way to effitly deliver all the aid they could muster to the city.

  “What? How? And how much VIbranium?”

  “The Purple fire is just energy and Vibranium absorb energy, up to a certain limit before it o expel that energy. Now, I think that a small block could absorb all that energy but due to its nature and votility, we ot risk an explosion because I don’t think the city will be left standing after that. So, I propose a rge k of Vibranium which should be done in your Jet in about 2 minutes, be used for that so that we safely get all the energy out. I think ohat weird Purple fire is gone, Mr.Sullivan will gain sciousness. Ofcourse, all of this is merely jecture at this point.”

  He fell into deep thought as Shuri informed him that the broadcast from the Good Captain had begun, as he walked into the Jet, overlooking the mini workshop making a solid k of processed Vibranium from all the devices they had around him, ibalising non essential equipment.

  “I hope the stealth systems were spared from your striping spree.” He ented as he looked over the data and yup, it should work, the operating word being should. They were w with ic forces beyond the pale so nothing could be guaranteed.

  “T’Chal, just because you have bee King does not give you the right to questio every turn. I still am, and always will be, much smarter than you,” He could hear Shuri pouting through the s.

  “Alright, let’s get this over with so that we get your hero home.”

  “Yay!”

  Word t - 2604

  If you guys would like to support my writing - P*treon.