Natasha Romanoff climbed the stone wall, hurriedly reaching the top and pulling herself over the bridge just as the Quinjet arrived. Natasha looked to find Steve and saw him huddled next to what looked like Sharon Carter who lay prone on the street. Sam Wilson was standing guard before the both of them and Dr. Frost was currently preoccupied with…

“Is that…?”

“The Wakandans. Yes,” Agent Hill answered as she hurriedly approached Natasha.

Natasha turned. “What are they doing here?”

“I called them,” Nick Fury replied as he stood on the ramp, his gun drawn. “This is a threat, unlike anything we’ve seen before. The Wakandans have offered their services to the world and I made use of that offer.”

Agent Hill ran past Natasha to Steve. When he saw her relief crossed his features.

“Hill, she’s hurt,” he told Hill as she knelt beside him.

Hill touched Sharon’s pulse and her eyebrows furrowed. “This is bad.” She looked at Steve. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to help her.”

Steve nodded. “I figured. But I know somewhere that can.”

“Wakanda,” Sam guessed.

“It’s the only way,” he replied.

“Then let’s go,” Hill said, standing.

“Wait a minute,” Sam said. “Aren’t we going to help them?”

Their attention averted to the fierce battle that was taking place just several yards away as King T’Challa, Princess Shuri, General Okoye, and Nakia fought Dr. Frost valiantly.

“They seem to be holding up pretty well,” Hill said. “Besides. The longer we waste time the slimmer Sharon’s chances of living are.”

Steve scooped Sharon into his arms. “We have to go, Sam.”

Without another word, he ran toward the Quinjet where Natasha and Nick Fury were waiting. Hill placed a hand on Sam’s shoulder.

“They’ll be right behind us,” she assured him.

Sam nodded but he didn’t feel right leaving the Wakandans to fend for themselves. His attention averted to Wanda who was stirring by the gate.

“Go. I’m going to get Wanda,” he told her.

Hill looked at him for a second longer before heading to the Quinjet as fast as she could. Sam flew over to Wanda who still seemed dazed by the attack.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” he told her.

Suddenly there was a blast of power from the doctor that careened in their direction and Wanda was forced to raise a shield to protect the both of them.

The doctor, whose powers had been limited to levitating and using metal as projectiles, was now contorting wind into a deadly second weapon that was proving rather difficult for the Wakandans to handle.

T’Challa, with every leap forward, was sent flying back while Okoye and Shuri circled the doctor shooting blasts of vibranium energy to no avail as the doctor used metal to shield herself from the attack.

Nakia protected herself behind a fallen piece of metal that had once belonged to one of the fallen jets, her ringed weapons poised for the moment to strike.

Sam looked to see where Hill was and found her running up the ramp.

“We have to help them,” he told Wanda.

Wanda looked at him, a hint of a smile touching her lips. “Agreed.”

They ran forward, joining the fray. Hill, from the Quinjet, cried out.

“No!”

“We have to go!” Nick Fury told her, grabbing her arm. “They’ve made their choice. They have chosen to fight. We don’t have any more time to stand around here trying to save the day.”

He closed the ramp just as the Quinjet lifted from the ground. Natasha, who was piloting the craft, looked back at Steve.

“Do you know how to get to Wakanda?” she asked him.

Steve, leaving Sharon’s side, walked to the front of the Quinjet where he nodded. “First things first, head south.”

Natasha pressed the accelerator and they were off.

Meanwhile, Sam and Wanda’s aid in the fight had turned the tide. As powerful as Dr. Frost was she couldn’t withstand the pressed attack by the four Wakandans and two Avengers. But, like a cornered mouse, it was at this time that she became the most lethal.

With a defiant yell, her whirlwind of anger materialized into a spiral of wind and metal that sent Sam, Shuri, and Okoye careening down the block. Wanda shielded herself from the violent storm and Black Panther clawed his way into the street. He used his incredible strength to pull himself forward through the gusts of wind that clearly excelled a hundred miles an hour.

When he saw her feet through the blinding torrent he used the ground to propel himself through the air, his claws open for deadly impact. Dr. Frost turned and in that split second before he tackled her the creature that was inhabiting her body grinned.

A dome of purple energy exploded from his suit and the torrent ceased, allowing everyone to see. Nakia rose from her crouched position to find T’Challa lying prostrate on the ground. Dr. Frost, however, was still standing and seemed to exude even more strength.

“T’Challa!” she screamed.

Wanda gazed at the fallen Wakandan king with a gaped mouth. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be dead.

“You thought you could stop me?” Dr. Frost challenged. “You thought you could end my reign? Well, think again.”

Wanda and Nakia angrily bared their teeth in unison as they began their next attack. Dr. Frost sent a sharp slice of metal at Nakia’s head but she slid, evading the deadly attack while Wanda sent lethal balls of energy streaming at Dr. Frost with the intention to kill. Dr. Frost whirled, using the wind and the metal to stave off their onslaught with maddening ease. Nakia, however, was a trained warrior. As Dr. Frost became briefly preoccupied with Wanda’s relentless attack she threw her vibranium ringed weapon at Frost. Frost raised her hand in an attempt to stop it but she couldn’t, for it was crafted of alien metal. She was forced to whip her head out of the way but not before the blade sliced a thin gash across her cheek that made Frost gasp in pain.

Nakia then grabbed the weapon as it returned to her like a boomerang and began viciously attacking the HYDRA scientist. Dr. Frost was taken aback by the Wakandans’ fury as she desperately tried to defend herself.

Wanda, a few yards away, used her power to keep up the attack.

Frost’s confidence in her abilities began to falter as they battered away at her defenses.

Meanwhile, Shuri, Okoye, and Sam were coming to after being briefly knocked unconscious from the miniature tornado Dr. Frost had concocted. When their groggy gazes rose they saw Wanda Maximoff and Nakia pressing Dr. Frost more and more. They then noticed King T’Challa’s sprawled body lying on the street a few yards away from the battle and panic immediately spread through Okoye and Shuri.

My king, Okoye gasped in ixiXhosa.

“Brother!” Shuri yelled sorrowfully.

They shakily began to rise.

At the same time, Nakia pounded Dr. Frost with a relentless onslaught that sent the HYDRA scientist screaming with frustration. Wanda aided Nakia, her temples knotting as she sent a constant stream of red energy at Dr. Frost.

Frost screamed, “No!” as she felt their pressure building and building.

Nakia went for the final swing that would end the doctor’s life when suddenly she heard the unmistakable pop of a fired gun. A second later she felt a bullet tear through her body, rendering her immobile as the pain froze everything. And then she fell forward to the ground, unconscious.

Wanda turned, her eyes widening and for a split second she saw the previously unconscious Winter Soldier standing with his gun aimed at her. She raised her hand to shield herself just as she fired at her but Dr. Frost took the distraction and sent a heavy piece of metal at Wanda’s head. It collided with the back of her skull and Wanda also crumpled to the ground unconscious.

“Nakia!” Shuri screamed.

She was about to run forward when Okoye grabbed her arm. No. We must go. They are too powerful, Shuri.

No they’re not! Shuri argued, struggling against Okoye’s grasp. I can stop them. 

Okoye yanked her to look in her eye. Wakanda needs you Shuri. You can’t do anything foolish. Not now. You are all Wakanda has and I will not let you jeopardize that.

Even though Sam Wilson couldn’t understand what they had just spoken to one another he got the gist. He stood, using his wings to shield himself as he walked forward.

“Go,” he told them. “I can buy you some time.”

Dr. Frost and the angrier Winter Soldier were already fast approaching.

They looked at him. “Come with us,” Shuri said.

“Tell Cap I’m keeping Wanda company,” he finished before flying forward to meet his attackers.

With clenched jaws, Shuri and Okoye ran as fast as they could away from the battle toward their parked invisible Wakandan vessel around the corner. Sam meanwhile was doing all he could to take on Dr. Frost and the Winter Soldier but it became very apparent very quickly that he was no match for them. With a simple gust of wind, he was knocked off balance and straight into a car at bone-crunching speed.

Gasping for breath but still conscious he watched helplessly as the Winter Soldier walked toward him, his finger poised on the trigger.

Shall I kill him? the Winter Soldier spoke in Russian.

Dr. Frost shook her head. “No,” she said with a hauntingly distorted voice. “That time hasn’t come yet.”

Sam tipped over onto his side as everything turned black.

Dr. Frost heard the undeniable motor of a ship and when she turned she saw the Wakandan craft lifting off into the sky and turning invisible. A hint of a smile touched her lips.

“They can run like the cowards they are but it doesn’t stop the inevitable,” she said.

And that is? the Winter Soldier asked.

The conquering of every inch of this world, she obliged in Russian.