Chapter 32: Wakanda

A/N: Tony's out here making moves and we get a POV from a certain group we haven't touched on yet~

-x-X-x-

T'Challa hated politics. Unfortunately, he was the Prince of Wakanda, heir apparent to his father's throne and the current bearer of the Panther Habit and the title Black Panther. King T'Chaka, his father, had stepped down from the position of their country's protector two years ago now, leaving it up to T'Challa to handle from that point on.

As both the Prince of Wakanda and the Black Panther, T'Challa didn't have much choice… when he was asked to attend a council meeting with his father, mother, and the tribal leaders of Wakanda, he truly had no choice but to show up. To do otherwise would be an insult to his father, who never asked T'Challa to come to one of these meetings if it wasn't important.

That still didn't leave the Prince in a very good mood as he makes his way towards the throne room. He can't help but wonder what this is all about… especially when he runs into a familiar face on his way in.

"Nakia? What are you doing here? Do you know what this meeting is about?"

Nakia doesn't look surprised to see him, but she does look a little distressed. Finally, the beautiful War Dog simply nods her head as she bites her lower lip.

"Yes. But I don't know how much I'm allowed to say. I… it's about Klaue."

T'Challa's eyes widen at that. Ulysses Klaue! Suddenly, the Prince is very interested in what's going on here. Klaue was an arms dealer who had been a thorn in Wakanda's side since T'Challa's childhood. The man was Wakanda's greatest criminal, a thief who had managed to steal a quarter-ton of their Vibranium through underhanded means.

And he wasn't just their greatest criminal, he was the greatest threat to their safety and security. Only Klaue's own ego and antisocial nature kept him from spilling the truth of Wakanda to people around the world. If everyone knew about the massive mountain of Vibranium that lay under their country as Klaue did, Wakanda would find itself at war with the entire world, of that T'Challa had little doubt.

Before he can inquire with Nakia further however, the doors to the throne room open up and they're admitted inside. T'Challa frowns when he sees the solemn, withdrawn expressions on not just all of the faces of the Tribe Heads, but also his father and mother's faces as well. They all look… tense to say the least.

T'Challa's eyes, however, are drawn to the center of the room… where a white man kneels on the floor, a bag over his head and his pale arms restrained behind his back. Could it be? But… there was no way, right? If that was who T'Challa thought it was, then surely the mood in the room would be far happier and much more festive… right?

Moving to his father's side was is proper, T'Challa watches as Nakia hesitates in the wings, waiting to be addressed and called forth. Instead of doing so however, King T'Chaka gestures to Okoye, who stands at the ready.

"Remove the bag."

The King of Wakanda's order is followed without question, revealing that T'Challa's suspicions were in fact correct. Even still, the Prince can't help the widening of his eyes as he stares into the ugly, crazed eyes of one Ulysses Klaue. The man has indeed been captured and restrained and brought before them on his knees. The brand on his neck marking him as a thief is as good identification as anything else.

Immediately, Klaue's eyes lock onto T'Challa and the Panther Habit, which T'Challa is currently wearing. He half-sneers, half-grins before cackling madly.

"Ehehehe… think I'm scared just because you've got your precious Panther here now? Think he's going to intimidate me into talking?"

"Gag him."

Klaue barely has time for his eyes to widen before Okoye and two more of the Dora Milaje move forward to carry out the King's order. T'Challa glances down at his father, curious beyond belief now. Finally, once Klaue has been silenced, T'Chaka looks up at his son.

"My son. We have found ourselves in quite the quandary. As you can see, Ulysses Klaue is before us at long last. But it was not us who captured him. He was gifted to us… along with a letter."

T'Challa's eyes widen again at that. He'd been starting to wonder. The thought that there'd been an operation involving Nakia and the War Dogs but not him had been enough to have him steadily growing angrier. This however… this changed things. He still didn't quite understand why Nakia had been called back to Wakanda, but the idea that they hadn't been the ones to recover Ulysses…

"The Vibranium."

The words leave T'Challa's lips in a horrified tone, causing Klaue to start radiating smugness while everyone else in the room becomes all that more solemn and serious. T'Chaka nods his head, the King's expression grim and grave as he snaps his fingers.

"Indeed. The Vibranium was not returned with Klaue. Instead… well, read the letter for yourself."

Soon enough, T'Challa has the letter sent with Ulysses Klaue in his hands. The Wakandan Prince stares at the words, finding them all too… lacking.

Do what you will with Klaue. He's the scum of the Earth and nobody will miss him. Well, except for Erik Killmonger. You might want to look into that one before he comes looking for you.

It wasn't much. It wasn't nearly enough… and the arrogance permeating through the short note has T'Challa's jaw clenches as he looks to his father while handing the letter back to him.

"Who is this… Erik Killmonger, exactly?"

Shaking his head, showing just as much confusion, the King of Wakanda gestures to Nakia."

"War Dog, step forward and speak. What have you been able to uncover about 'Erik Killmonger' so far."

Stepping up to the plate, Nakia offers a bow to the assembled before straightening her spine and giving her report.

"We have managed to trace the name back to one man from America. Erik Stevens, an infamous United States Soldier. Born in Oakland, California, he was said to have been orphaned at a young age. From there, he has dedicated himself to the path of a warrior, as much as an American can. He is a renowned killer, even among-!"

Nakia is cut off as Zuri, T'Challa's chief advisor, suddenly lets out a gasp of remembrance. All eyes turn towards the shaman, who suddenly looks to be in significant emotional distress. T'Chaka furrows his brow and calls out to his old friend.

"Zuri?"

"My King… we journeyed to Oakland, California once before if you recall. To deal with… an issue. We may have left something behind, if you recall."

Something incomprehensible passes between the two older men. T'Chaka's eyes suddenly widen and he sits up in his throne in alarm, causing Zuri's eyes to close as he solemnly nods his head. The entire throne room is filled with shifting as people exchange looks and try to figure out if anyone outside of Zuri or the King knows what's going on.

Just looking around, T'Challa can tell that no one else does. Not even his mother the Queen, nor Nakia, nor even Ulysses Klaue who is watching the entire interplay with great interest. Finally, T'Challa breaks the uncomfortable silence that has fallen over the throne room.

"Father, who is this Erik Stevens, exactly?"

But T'Chaka… T'Chaka shakes his head and waves T'Challa off.

"It is not important. We will discuss it another time. Whoever has captured Klaue and taken the stolen Vibranium merely seeks to distract us from their crime. War Dog, the other half of your report please. Have we managed to uncover who exactly has done this?"

Nakia hesitates for a brief moment before pressing her lips tightly together and bowing her head.

"… No my King. We have scouted out Klaue's base in South Africa where he was originally taken, but whoever did the deed has covered up their tracks all too well. There are no traces to follow at this time."

T'Challa can tell that Nakia is incredibly frustrated by this failure. He can understand why. For someone to have somehow managed to not only capture Klaue and steal his stolen Vibranium, but also do so without leaving a trace of their coming and going? That was… that wasn't just strange, it was deeply concerning and thoroughly unsettling.

"Remove the gag."

T'Chaka's orders are once more followed without question, producing a surprisingly quiet Klaue who works his jaw for a moment and kneels there mulishly before them. Staring down at him, the King of Wakanda takes a second before finally speaking.

"You have an opportunity to be spared despite your crimes, Ulysses Klaue. Tell us who took the Vibranium and delivered you to our doorstep and you may live to see tomorrow."

Looking around at the solemn faces of the assembled council, the guards, and the King, Queen, and Prince, Ulysses Klaue seems to consider the generous offer for a moment before barking out a laugh and spitting on the ground in front of him.

"Like I'd tell you fucks anything."

The throne room erupts in outrage at the sheer disrespect. Okoye slams the butt of her spear into Klaue's back hard enough to nearly send him faceplanting into the floor. There are calls for his head from all over the room. Until finally, T'Chaka raises a hand and silence falls.

"Enough. This man is a coward through and through. If he knew anything about the one who delivered him to us, he would tell us in a heartbeat to save his own skin. He knows nothing. T'Challa, it is time."

T'Challa straightens up and nods to his father. Reaching back, he pulls the mask of the Black Panther over his head and becomes Wakanda's Protector rather than Prince T'Challa.

Everyone watches on as the Black Panther stalks forward, entering the center of the room and looming over Klaue's kneeling form. Grinning almost ferally, Ulysses Klaue sneers up at T'Challa.

"You know, my great-grandfather was killed by one of you kitty-cat fuckers back in the nineteenth century. Clan Klaue never forgot it either. I hope whoever fucking got me makes you choke on your shit before you die you piece of-urk!"

T'Challa carries out the execution with efficiency, one swipe of his claws ending Klaue's life right there on the spot. Blood pools out from under him as the corpse slumps over, but nobody bats an eye. Turning back to his father… no, turning back to the King, T'Challa bows low.

"Your Majesty. Allow me to join the War Dogs on the hunt for this newest threat to our people. I promise you, no matter where they are, no matter where they hide, I will find them."

There's a momentary pause and then T'Chaka speaks.

"Very well. I entrust this to you, Wakanda's Protector. Make me proud."

T'Challa straightens up to his full height, giving his father a nod. He wouldn't let the King down. There was nowhere on Earth that whoever this was could hide from T'Challa and Nakia. They would find them. One way or another.

-x-X-x-

Bent over his workbench, Tony sighs as he runs a hand down his face as the meeting in Wakanda comes to a close. He had, of course, been spying on it the entire way through. Shuri was still a tyke, meaning that Wakanda was still a bit behind on the times for now.

"Damn. Guess it was too much to hope they'd be cool about it, yeah? Probably should have just disappeared Klaue and taken the Vibranium, but no, I just had to play nice."

"Indeed, Sir. Their enmity is most uncalled for. After all, you are trying to save the world."

Tony snorts in amusement, glancing up at the ceiling before getting back to his work.

"You know J, I honestly couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or not."

"It was not, Sir. The Wakandans have little reason to hunt you besides their own wounded pride. You have delivered them their greatest enemy. In the end, they are letting their egos get in the way of themselves."

Humming, Tony nods at that. But J isn't done quite yet.

"Do not worry, Sir. It would seem that the current head of the Wakanda Design Team is as ill-prepared for dealing with Artificial Intelligence as SHIELD and HYDRA have both proven to be. The Wakandan Design Team under this… S'Yan individual has done a phenomenal job of advancing Wakandan Nano-Sciences and other Vibranium Based Technology, but they are still woefully behind when it comes to digital intelligences and the security needed to stop them."

Tony grins crookedly at that. It made sense, really. Wakanda had been too reliant on going under the radar for too long. When Shuri got a little older and took over the Wakandan Design Team by around 2016, then they would start to worry more about the growing threat of AI to their cyber-security. Specifically, after the Ultron Incident in the original timeline, Shuri had become convinced that they'd gotten lucky Ultron hadn't gone after Wakanda for THEIR Vibranium, and had started to truly lock down their systems.

By the time Tony had found out that Wakanda was even a thing, he'd already lost JARVIS and he'd never really made FRIDAY strong enough to go toe to toe with the technologically advanced country. FRIDAY was supposed to be JARVIS's replacement, but the truth was, he'd been afraid of getting attached again… and in the end, he'd never really taken off her training wheels.

In this timeline however, JARVIS was a lot stronger than FRIDAY had ever been… and with Shuri still too young to be taken seriously and the Ultron Incident never going to happen, Wakanda simply wasn't on the look out for an Artificial Intelligence, with more processing power than even they had with all their vaunted technology, slipping into their systems.

After a long moment, Tony sighs. In the end… he hadn't wanted to go this route. But alas, his encounter with Loki had forced his hand. He needed Bleeding Edge Technology. Technically, he'd had the capacity to create his nanotech armor from 2018 for a while now, actually. Extremis itself was based on nanotechnology see, so in the process of perfecting it, Tony had effectively reinvented and rediscovered most of the components he needed to rebuild the armor.

However, he didn't just want to remake Bleeding Edge. It wasn't enough to just recreate the Mark L Iron Man as it was. After all, the Mark L Iron Man Armor, despite being Tony's most advanced armor he'd ever made, had still failed against Thanos. It had still failed him on Titan, leaving him too weak to defeat the purple bastard once and for all.

Not again. This time, Tony was going for broke. This time around, he didn't care how many feathers he ruffled, or how many toes he had to step on. Let T'Challa and Wakanda's War Dogs run all over looking for their Vibranium. They weren't going to find it, not so long as they kept looking everywhere but the one place they'd never think to go.

Glancing away from the Vibranium Nanites for a moment, Tony looks out the window to his left, staring at the beautiful grey vista just outside of his Moon Base for a moment before glancing up out into space, where Earth can be seen in all of its bright blue glory. He smiles softly at his planet… and then he gets back to work.

After all, it wasn't going to save itself.

-x-X-x-

A/N: "Don't these idiots know Sir is trying to save the world? If I have to go Skynet on them and send them back into the stone age, I will. Don't force my hand." - JARVIS probably

Anyways, small sneak peek into Wakanda. Pretty sure I know what I'm going to do already with them in the long run, but curious what others think should/could happen where they're concerned.

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