TGS - #120.2

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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 completely bad. Nothing in New York was working anymore, no electronics, no cars, no electricity, nothing so Jarvis had flown in multiple drones to, first of all, transport any and all patients to working hospitals which included Tony as well and second, made a makeshift tent near the 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 screens in front of him. Jarvis worked fast, he had brought in essentially an entire office with all the necessary tech within the first hour itself, "No, no sign of change in activity. The Purple fire burns everything that it comes into contact with, even radiation that is directly incident on it, like the ones we were trying to use yet somehow, light is reflected back fine."

He sighed, the science of it flying over his head as he understood the basic gist. The purple fire around Jack was destroying everything around him, making it hard to understand what was happening underneath. 

He had woken up on the street, with the suit that was carrying him rendered inert. With injuries all over his body, he had somehow crawled out of the suit that was starting to feel suffocating on the inside. Thankfully, the crash landing meant 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 managed to get a few parts off the suit, including the now defunct Arc Reactor module, Jarvis' second wave of drones had arrived.

As soon as they arrived, the drones set up a massive communication array that floated above the city, moving in sync with the drones as Jarvis created a massive communication network above the city, coordinating rescue efforts, escorting first responders to the appropriate location, establishing contact between different squads of first responders and more.

He was sure that even now, there was a live stream somewhere, depicting the current condition of New York and what was being done to restore it. As he understood, anything that ran on electricity was gone. Unfortunately, while that would have meant a little inconvenience and annoyance when he was born, now it would basically mean the end of the world as the people knew it.

Nothing worked without electricity and the surviving members were very much devastated to realise that they would not be able to use their phones to post…cat memes? He did not know because according to Jarvis, the internet 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 can tell that the Purple Fire is sentient somehow or the more likely answer being that Jack is subconsciously using the Fire to remove anything that might come close and harm him," Bruce replied in between bites, the Taco finished by the time he completed 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 any sensitive data as the rest of them which were him, Romanoff and Clint rushed outside to deal with whoever had come 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 informing him about the people in the helicopter talking to someone in the Navy as well. 

3 Helicopters landed on the very uneven ground as multiple squads of armed soldiers covered the perimeter, around their tent as well as around Jack and the crater he was in. He stayed put because it would be pointless to make a scene right now since they knew that Jack would be safe from anything that the military could throw at him.

Out of the last 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 actions 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 flinching. He shrugged off her hand and ran to the general, ignoring the sudden clicking noise that 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 wanted to 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 even the jets, performing evasive manoeuvres. He sighed in relief that nothing had happened, for now, but he knew that with Tony unconscious and Jack out of commission, he would have to pick up the slack.

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

"Bruce? Can you set up a live broadcast, globally?" He sighed explosively and asked Bruce whose eyes widened in realisation as he nodded and rushed back into the tent. He knew that Jarvis was listening in on that conversation so he was not shocked when some of the mass of drones turned gears and launched 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 gone to the tent, presumably to help Bruce.

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

"And if the public finds you wanting?"

"Then you can come to Wakanda," He turned around, reflexively grabbing for his shield before giving up and aiming his gun at the Cat Man–T'Challa who appeared out of nowhere, a Jet becoming visible behind him. A squadron of women rolled out of the jet as well, creating a perimeter around Jack, looking at him with respect and awe instead of fear, jealousy, and hate.

He relaxed almost completely at that look, "What are you doing here, T'Challa? And what do you mean by that?"

T'Challa 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 can see us now," T'Chalal removed his helmet, a massive sign of trust from him. Bruce had peeked out of the tent before rushing right back in without even a moment's hesitation.

"And I meant that Wakanda will give you sanctuary. If the outside world finds your heroic actions to save the world, wanting, then Wakanda would gladly open its arms for you. We already host one of your teammates." T'Challa gestured behind him.

"Yeah, I lived there and still do, technically, live there with another lost soul. It is…nice, you will like it there," That was all Bruce said about his mysterious living conditions 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 needs to know and the heroes of today deserve to have their stories spread far and wide." Saying so, T'Chalal turned around and took sophisticated machinery from the jet, and approached the Crater's edge. 

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

"Ready?"

"We should be in a couple of minutes. Jarvis already had most of the equipment ready, we just needed to 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 screen at a dizzying pace.

___xx__

–T'Challa–

"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 strongest nation on the planet, and the most hidden as well.

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

His country was insulated from the effects but he was a bit disturbed by the prospect of hoarding 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 technological edge they had over the rest of the world.

"Yes, this is the wisest course of action Wakanda can 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 mean certain death and not even Bast would be able to save his soul, so no Afterlife for him.

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

The Dora Milaje wisely didn't question him since it was not their job to do so. They were simply the best weapons he had on hand and while treating them as tools was slightly cruel, it was not their place to make these difficult decisions.

It was his burden and his alone to do all of this.

"She is right, brother. What if we are discovered before we can manipulate any public opinion? Our plan 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 comms 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 need to worry about public opinion? Besides, now it is not a matter of scientists giving subtle positive interviews or positive internet reinforcement. Right now, all it would take to sway public 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 channel hijacks it," He ordered Shuri at the last moment, unsure if they could handle going against the entire world's governments who would no doubt be looking to stop the spread of information since it simply made them look too bad.

Especially the US government, two invasions in a couple of years, and all they had to show for it was a partially destroyed city and…nothing. The governments had nothing to show for it. SHIELD was gone, and SWORD was practically 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 enemy that had appeared on top of a major city, bypassing space completely.

Shuri snorted into the comms link, "Pff, please, way ahead of you, O' Mighty King T'Challa." He didn't deign that with a response as the drones had finally finished collecting 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 chunk of Vibranium you have on you right now." Shuri's words made him snap back to attention as his mind had already flown off to figuring out a way to efficiently deliver all the aid they could muster to the city.

"What? How? And how much VIbranium?"

"The Purple fire is just energy and Vibranium can absorb energy, up to a certain limit before it needs to expel that energy. Now, I think that a small block could absorb all that energy but due to its nature and volatility, we cannot risk an explosion because I don't think the city will be left standing after that. So, I propose a large chunk of Vibranium which should be done in your Jet in about 2 minutes, be used for that so that we can safely get all the energy out. I think once that weird Purple fire is gone, Mr.Sullivan will gain consciousness. Ofcourse, all of this is merely conjecture 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 chunk of processed Vibranium from all the devices they had around him, cannibalising non essential equipment.

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

"T'Challa, just because you have become King does not give you the right to question me at every turn. I still am, and always will be, much smarter than you," He could hear Shuri pouting through the comms.

"Alright, let's get this over with so that we can get your hero home."

"Yay!"

Word Count - 2604

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