A Small Display of Strength

I spent the day touring the amazing country of Wakanda. I was especially impressed with the strength of Wakanda's warriors. According to T'challa, there was no other army on the planet that could stand up to their battle expertise and technology. I grinned hearing this, knowing they would definitely be useful in my eventual conquest of this universe. We ended up back at Shuri's lab, where she was working on a pair of gauntlets. I strolled around the lab, taking note of all the different types of technology and weapons.

"So, Atreus. About your weapon…" Shuri couldn't contain her curiosity. I admired her eagerness for knowledge; she was much like my fallen padawan. 'In memory of him, I'll indulge her curiosity,' I thought to myself. Being open about things would lead them to trust me more anyways.

"A lightsaber. It's powered with a kyber crystal, which I doubt exists anywhere around here. Getting this crystal was part of my training as a youngling on a faraway planet. Anyways, the lightsaber draws power from this crystal, and the blade emitter concentrates this energy on either side of my hilt upon activation." Concentrating, I used the Force to detach the separate parts of my lightsaber as I described each part, each piece hovering in the air between the three of us. After summoning the parts back together I activated it, a purple glow washing the room.

"T'challa! I wonder if this can cut through vibranium…"

"Why not test it out?"

'That's right,' I thought. 'Vibranium is the strongest metal in this universe, if my lightsaber can cut through it, I should be near unstoppable. On top of that, once the Wakandans are fully part of my kingdom, I'll have control of the entire vibranium supply and make sure none of it leaves my possession.'

Shuri approached with a vibranium spear and impaled it through the desk in front of us. I struck the spear with my lightsaber, and to my surprise, the blade was stopped in its tracks. Deactivating the lightsaber, I leaned in close to the spear to observe. My blade had made it roughly halfway through the thick metal. 'Hmm,' I thought. 'So it isn't completely resistant to my lightsaber, but it'll take a little bit of effort to fully cut through it. Noted.'

"AMAZING!!! I've never seen anything capable of cutting through tempered vibranium!" Shuri exclaimed. I tossed the hilt to her, her eyes lighting up. She scurried off to another corner of the lab and immediately began to take note of all the different parts, T'challa looking over her shoulder and observing.

With my hands behind my back, I began wandering around the lab once again. I came across a black body suit with silver accents and feline features on a mannequin. One of the Black Panther suits.

"Shuri. Can I get one of these?"

They both looked at each other apprehensively, obviously worried of what I might do with their coveted vibranium. 'It was dumb of me to ask, they don't fully trust me yet,' I scolded myself.

Before either of them could reply, alarms began to blare. A holographic screen appeared in the center of the lab, showing a live video feed of an anomaly at their invisible shield. A section of the border was on fire, and a group of humvees burst through smoking trees.

"Klaue." T'challa and Shuri said in unison. T'challa immediately ran out of the room to suit up. 'Oh yeah, he hasn't gotten the suit that he can summon at will yet,' I thought to myself.

"Let me go with him, Shuri. You know I can help."

She looked around nervously, and nodded.

"Fine, but you'll need something safer to wear." She ran to a machine across the room and I followed.

"These are the clothes you were wearing when we found you. I'm going to infuse them with vibranium so you're not exposed out there." Seeing my black Jedi robes in the machine brought me a sense of peace. After a few seconds, the machine was finished and I force pulled my Jedi clothing to me. I sprinted after T'challa, putting on my clothes with the Force as I ran. 'This is a pain. I'm definitely making sure I get a suit that can activate and disappear at will.'

I caught up with T'challa on a helipad where he was getting ready to board a Wakandan aircraft. He didn't say a word to me, but I could sense he knew having me along would make the mission easier. As far as he knows, I'm some type of sorcerer.

I threw my hood over my head as we boarded the craft and quickly flew towards the smoke.

"There." I pointed at the humvees speeding through an open area. The aircraft caught up to the front vehicle of bandits, hovering high above it and matching its speed. An opening appeared in the center of the aircraft. T'challa grabbed his helmet to put on, and as he prepared to jump I smirked and saluted him before dropping down first. Somersaulting as I fell, I used the Force to cushion my landing on top of the humvee. Kneeling down, I willed the Force to flow through the vehicle and made the tires explode. I leapt off before they crashed, landing nimbly on my feet. The bandits were all screaming and scrambling like idiots. Those who survived the crash and the ones from the other armored cars raised their weapons at me nervously. Klaue's foot was stuck under the wreckage, and some of his lackeys were trying to lift it up.

"FIRE YOU WORTHLESS PIECES OF SHIT! KILL HIM IDIOTS!!!" They followed his orders and began to shoot at me, beginning to realize their lives may depend on it.

I sighed, lazily putting my hand out in front of me to create a shield with the Force. The bullets all seemed to stop at an invisible wall. The men fired until they had no more bullets, and stared in shock at the amalgamation of bullets floating in front of me. I dropped my hand and the bullets all fell to the floor. T'challa landed next to me. Knowing that he may not take kindly to me outright slaughtering them mercilessly, I reluctantly decided to give them a chance to live. I need him to trust me if he was going to be part of my conquest.

"Surrender now and you'll be spared, blah blah blah, all that good stuff," I said lazily. I could feel through the force that T'challa approved.

"WE'LL NEVER SURRENDER YOU IMBECILE!!! YOU THOUGHT THESE WERE ALL THE MEN I BROUGHT? THINK AGAIN!" Klaue's leg was now free, and he gestured behind him. A fleet of countless humvees burst through the trees and dozens helicopters flew overhead, the rest of his men ready for battle.

I rolled my eyes and flicked my hand slightly, the cars on the sides flipping over into the one next to them and exploding. The cars in the center and the helicopters were still hurtling towards me at full speed, with no intention of stopping. T'challa took a step back and braced in a fighting stance. I could feel he was slightly nervous about the sheer number of enemies.

"T'challa. I'm gonna handle this entire problem for you right now, but I'm gonna need something in return." He nodded, understanding that I may be the only thing stopping these enemies from getting away with even the smallest prize of vibranium.

"Stand back then."

He obliged, and I cracked my neck as I approached the army of bandits coming towards me. I thrust my hand out and took hold of two humvees through the Force. Closing my fist, I threw them at the lead helicopters at a precise angle so that they'd all crash into one another. I allowed one helicopter to survive, however. I had something special planned.

Turning my gaze back to the enemies in front of me, I stomped on the floor and made massive mounds of earth protrude from the ground and shoved them towards the armored cars that hadn't yet been destroyed. The unlucky vehicles either flipped dozens of feet into the air and crashed violently, or exploded immediately upon impact with the mounds of earth. T'challa watched in shock as I dismantled and destroyed the entire group of enemies.

"Forgot one," T'challa exclaimed as the lone helicopter was descending to pick Klaue up.

"Did I?" I smirked. I could tell Klaue was screaming profanities at us as he was trying to make his escape, but I couldn't hear him nor did I care. He leapt into the back of the helicopter and it immediately began to take off.

I could feel his fear. I loved it. But I needed to make a choice. If I killed Klaue now, I would be altering the future of this universe. If Klaue didn't escape with the vibranium, it would mean that in the future Ultron would never get a vibranium body, effectively changing the course of Age of Ultron, which in turn would change the fate of much more. After quickly debating myself in my head, I decided it didn't matter.

This universe is mine.

I decide the fate of these peons.

I activated my lightsaber and threw it, using the force to guide the spinning weapon towards the blades of the helicopter. It easily sliced through, the helicopter plummeting to the ground and exploding.

I summoned my lightsaber back to my hand and deactivated it, putting it on my hip.

"So, what's for lunch?" I asked T'challa. He stared at me unmoving, not knowing how to respond to what he saw. Before he could reply, strange orange sparks appeared in front of me. The sound was familiar…

The sparks grew and formed a circle, and inside the circle looked to be an old library. A bald, robed woman with pale skin walked through.

'The Ancient One,' I thought to myself. Of course. My emergence into this universe couldn't have gone unnoticed by a being this powerful.

"Hello, Ancient One," I waved. She didn't show it on her face, but I could feel through the Force that she was confused as to how I knew who she was.

"Hello… traveler," she said calmly. "Would you mind coming with me for a moment?"

I definitely didn't want to make an enemy out of the sorcerers of this universe, as they'd be essential in the future to conquering this reality. Knowing this, I nodded and walked up to the portal. I looked back at T'challa, who was bewildered once again. I couldn't help but let out a slight chuckle.

"Don't worry my friend, I'll be back eventually."

With that, I stepped through the portal and into Kamar Taj.

Or so I thought…