The plane, or should he call jet, was luxurious. It definitely was fit for a King. Hank was rich, but he did not waste his money on luxuries such as these.
He tried his best to get comfortable on his seat as Hank looked around at his companions in the plane. They were all trying to awkwardly avoid him as much as possible. Scott seemed conflicted on who he should be hanging out with. Of course in the end he seemed to choose Wilson but he could not blame him. He was much too old ‘hang’ with Scott. He didn't even know why he agree to this. He could be spending this time to work on the Extremis in the lab.
It was when he had finally relaxed enough to think of problems and equations, the King of Wakanda decided to bother him.
'"octor Pym. I have heard a lot about you and Pym Technologies. I am honored to have you join us back to Wakanda." T'Challa held out his hand.
Hank stared at his hand for a moment more than necessary before he shook his hands. 'What I'm curious about is why you are helping the Winter Soldier.' Both men inspected each other closely.
T'Challa smiled. "Doctor. I am only trying to help the man I had unjustly blamed for my father's death." Hank Scoffed but T'Challa went on. "And if in the process we can acquire a way that might help us overcome Hydra's brain conditioning then more better for our country."
Hank glared. King T’Challa couldn’t even fathom how many liars Hank has met in his time as a world renown scientist.
So Wakanda did have some other agendas. Now, what that might be, Hank would figure it out the moment he entered Wakanda.
"Doctor Pym. Please have a pleasant trip." T'Challa left with that greetings.
Hank looked around and saw the others in the plane were trying to eavesdrop on their conversation. When he huffed loudly they pretended to be busy in whatever they were doing.
Imbeciles.
XXX
Rhodey was over the moon! He was back in his suit. Of course he was sitting on a chair in the control room. But He really felt as if he was flying the War Machine again. Peter explained to him about sound waves tricking his vestibular system into thinking his body was really moving but he really didn’t listen closely. He just had been excited to be back again!
"Earth to Rhodey. I know how awesome you think I am but get back to work." Rhodey heard Tony through the helmet.
"Whatever man. Give me just one more minute!"
"What did I tell you spiderling. I told you he’s like a kid in that suit."
"Colonel Rhodes! Show me trick!" Peter exclaimed while he looked at the screen showing the War machine making rounds around the compound.
"This is for you Petes! Yahoo!" Rhodey sped up and made complex turns and tricks. He felt so alive. Was it really not that long ago he felt like this everyday? He could hear from the intercom Peter’s excited yells and encouragement while Tony scoffed and told the young teen he could do cooler things.
"You wish Tony! You wish!" Rhodey laughed and continued to make maneuvers that would impress his spectators.
"Ok. That was enough fun. Time to get to work!"
Rhodey slowly descended towards a pile of things that laid on the ground. He saw the different types of stone and wood.
"All you need me to do is do my best to destroy them right?" Rhodey asked and locked on to his target.
"Yup! Give it your best Colonel!"
He smiled. Here he goes! Rhodey rained down his arsenal. Shots after shots made their way and landed on the different materials. He stopped shooting when the smoke from the rubble hindered his sight. There was a moment of silence from both scientist in control room. When the smoked dissipated it was clear to everyone that War Machine had absolute victory over his unsuspecting victims.
"Well... that was a failure." Peter spoke. H stood up and inspected the screen more closely. All the materials had been completely destroyed by the Colonel.
"Wait. Rhodey can you zoom in closer to the oak?" Tony stated suddenly. Peter followed his mentor and leaned in closer to that screen.
"That’s the one on the right?" Rhodey got closer and gasped. The splintered wood was coming back together. Not only were the splintered wood coming together the burnt parts of the wood were healing!
"Yes! It’s working!" Peter exclaimed as he watched in aw the work of Extremis.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"It definitely shows that the Extremis was created by experimenting on plants. It seems it took more liking to the organic material. Gentlemen great job. FRIDAY send the video file over to the old man. Rhodey bring back War Machine back."
Rhodey jumped when he felt Tony clap him on his shoulder.
Oh right he was not really flying.
XXX
Steve silently followed T’Challa as he guided Doctor Pym to the labs where Bucky was sleeping. Doctor Pym had been very different from the many scientist Steve had gotten to know in his lifetime. Scott had tried to appease both sides but even the energetic man was having trouble asking Doctor Pym to open up to the team just a little bit. In the end everyone decided to avoid angering the Doctor by giving him space. T’Challa had seemed interested in getting the Doctor to discuss Killian’s research but Pym did not budge on his first statement on not sharing the contents.
"Here we are Doctor. This will be the lab you will be using to do your research. The scientist in this lab will do everything to help you figure out a way that Aldrich Killian’s research might help Sargent Barnes." T’Challa started introducing his head scientist to Hank and the different parts of the lab. Steve noticed Pym was not listening but staring at the Tube in the middle of the room.
"That’s Bucky. He was brainwashed into killing innocent people for 70 years. Now he decided to go back to sleep because he was afraid of hurting more innocent people. I… I just wish he can finally live the way he wanted. A Hero." Steve turned to look at the aging Scientist. "I’m so grateful that you decided to help us Doctor." Steve noticed the subtle change in the constant scowl on the doctor’s face.
"Captain. I will help the Sergeant even without you trying to buttering me up." And Pym once again turned his attention to the other aspects in the Lab.
Steve smiled. Maybe he was imagining it but Steve thought the Doctor’s glare seemed to lighten.
"So when would you like to start? I would expect that you need to rest for the rest of the day." T’Challa asked when the group finished the tour. "I was also hoping you might share Killian’s research to a chosen few so that they can study it in advance to be more help to you."
"No. I will not be sharing with anyone. All I require is for everyone to vacate the Lab so that I can do my research in peace." Steve sighed. The Doctor really was stubborn.
T’Challa frowned a little. "I do hope you reconsider. Even for a genius like yourself, without the help of other researchers it would be very taxing for you to figure out the cure for the Sergeant’s condition. If you share the file you took from Tony Stark, our scientist can push the cure faster than you working on it by yourself."
"Let me rephrase. There’s no way for me to share the file with the scientists in Wakanda because I did not bring the research."
Steve went cold. In fact everyone in the lab seemed frozen.
"Why so surprised? Did you really think anyone could sneak out a file from Tony Stark’s encoded system?"
"Doctor Pym. I thought…" Steve couldn’t talk properly. "I thought you were going to help Bucky." He had to breath in and out slowly to not let anger rise.
"Why did you come to Wakanda if you couldn’t get the research?" T’Challa also seemed shocked with anger. So did all the scientist in the lab.
Hank closely watched the reactions of all the people’s reaction. The Captains anger was explainable. But the Wakanda King’s and the scientist in the lab… not so much.
"There was no need to for me to bring the research. I already have something different that might help the Sergeant." Hank easily replied.
Hank noticed hope flicker in Steve’s eyes and his shoulders relaxed just a bit. T’Challa on the other hand frowned deeper and tensed.
"Your Majesty. Why do you seem so tense? It seems you and your scientist were very eager to cure the Winter Soldier. I’m sure it will please to hear that I already have something that might help. Unless, of course, the thing you had wanted was the research itself…?" Hank smirked at the unrest of the people around him.
"Doctor Pym. Are you saying there is already a way to help Bucky?" Steve asked hesitantly. Hank noticed the Captain relax completely. He also noticed the unshed tears lingering.
"I came here to cure the Winter Soldier and that’s all I will do. Nothing more. Nothing less."
"Thank you Doctor Pym. Thank you." The Captain whispered.
T’Challa remained silent.
XXX
"How are you old man?" Tony was alone for the first time today. He and the rest of them were busy trying out the current capacity of the Extremis. Now that FRIDAY had sent all of todays result to Hank, he had waited for the call on his comfortable chair.
"Wakanda wants the research for a different reason." Tony sighed. Well he guessed there might have been a different reason why the people of Wakanda were helping his previous team.
"What? No pleasantries? Straight to business as usual ey?" Hank looked tired. His shoulders shagged and had blood shot eyes. "Old man. I don’t care for Wakanda’s ulterior motive. As long as you don’t have the files there’s really nothing they can do. Get some rest. You look like shit."
As usual of their conversation Hank replied with grunts. "I will be waking up the Winter Soldier tomorrow. We will finally see if B.A.R.N.E.S. will work."
"Do me a favor will ya? When you trigger him can you record him acting like a ballerina? I would love to have blackmail material." Tony smiled tiredly. Man he also needed rest.
Hank glared through the computer screen. "Like hell I’ll waste my time like that." But for the first time since he arrived at Wakanda, Hank smiled back. "So I saw the test footages. Like we thought the healing properties only work on living organism."
"It seems so for now. It’s a Symbiote. Extremis needs a host to replicate. Peter and I’m working to see how we can make it self sustaining."
"Are you working on my theory on using the Extremis to create stronger molecular bonds in different materials?"
"We’re looking into that angle also." Both scientist remained quiet as they looked over the results once more.
"Well I see Colonel Rhodes took flight today." Hank stated quietly.
"Yeah he did. Mark 4 test went smoothly. He’s been jumping up and down begging me to take him out again." Tony thought back to his best friend’s reaction. It really had been a great day.
"So is your other project going as well as the others?"
Tony hesitated before he answered Hank. "I think I found a way for the program to relay the senses of the leg back to the brain. But for now the chip I need to implant in Rhodey’s body is too large. I… I wouldn’t mind… If I could use your shrinking technology. But I’ll wait until you return."
"Stay away from my tech Stark" was Hank’s instant reply but it lacked the hard edges it use to have.
Tony laughed. "Be careful Old man. Don’t push Wakanda too hard. Remember you’re in their country. Just do what you need to do and come back safely."
Hank looked thoughtful. "We’ll see… We’ll see."