Chapter 103: Black Panther

A/N: Finally back to Wakanda. Wonder what King T'Chaka has decided to do to try and combat Stark's supremacy...

-x-X-x-

Skulking in the shadows, Shuri looks on, scarcely able to believe this travesty is even taking place. Or rather, that has already taken place. The deed is done. The red sand fills the pit. Almost everyone has vacated the chamber save for her brother and her father who stand on the edge, staring down at the sand in silence. Until that silence is broken by T'Challa.

"I'm not so sure this is a good idea, Baba."

Shuri chokes on her own spit, her eyes positively bulging out of her head at those words. Seriously?! Obviously it wasn't a good idea! So why the hell had her big brother waited until now to say something? Though, she knew that wasn't entirely fair to T'Challa. The exasperated look that their father gives him makes it clear the two men have retread this ground a dozen times.

"I am aware of your feelings in this matter, T'Challa. Just as you are aware of why we can no longer remain idle. You know how powerful our enemy is. You know that even as we face down a lion of immeasurable strength, there are hyenas nipping at our heels. The facts are what they are, my son… a single Black Panther simply cannot defend Wakanda alone. Not in these unprecedented times."

T'Challa grimaces as their father places a hand on his shoulder, squeezing it. Shuri, meanwhile, sneers in the shadows. T'Chaka might be King and he might be her father… but truthfully, she had very little respect for the man who had seeded her mother's womb at this point. All these years, her father had never listened to her. And now…

Shuri's eyes flicker to the pit. It seemed filled to the brim with red sand, but that is not the only thing in the pit. No, beneath the red sand… is her damnable monster of a cousin. Erik Killmonger, or as her father insisted, 'Prince N'Jadaka', has been fed the Heart-Shaped Herb.

"We must be able to defend ourselves. Wakanda's technology is great, but the Black Panther has always been our strongest asset. You have served exceptionally, my son… but you cannot be everywhere at once. That is why N'Jadaka must become our second Black Panther. While you go out into the world, working alongside our War Dogs to further our interests and prepare against Stark and his plans, N'Jadaka will serve here in Wakanda itself as our protector."

T'Challa grunts at that, eyes gazing down at the red sand that holds his and Shuri's cousin.

"I do not trust him Baba. Nor does Shuri. He has a hunger in him… a dangerous hunger."

Yes! A thousand times yes! Shuri didn't know why their father couldn't see it. Oh sure, Erik had strived to make himself seem like a part of the family over the years. He'd done everything in his power to appear the loyal nephew to T'Chaka. But surely the King of Wakanda hadn't been hoodwinked, had he?! Especially not when his own children had told him time and time again of the danger Erik presented!

Far from taking T'Challa's words to heart… King T'Chaka chuckles and pats his son's shoulder before withdrawing his hand.

"We all hunger, my son. Your cousin merely hungers more than most. But can you blame him? His was not an easy life. Neither you nor your sister seem to accept that the lives you've lived have been ones of privilege from start to finish. You were raised as royalty, while N'Jadaka had nothing and no one. His father dead, his mother imprisoned, he was all but an orphan."

T'Chaka looks down at the red sand, smiling sadly.

"That he managed to survive long enough for us to bring him home is a miracle that we should cherish, T'Challa… not spurn. But do not think me a fool, my son. There is a reason I am sending you to be the Black Panther of the World, while he remains here as the Black Panther of Wakanda. He still has much to learn about Wakanda, and much tempering to go through. One day though, when I am gone and you are King of Wakanda… it is my hope that you will return and he will move to take your place, as your loyal right hand man."

T'Challa is quiet at that, even as Shuri knows she has a look of immense disgruntlement and incredulity on her face as she continues to hide in the shadows. Especially since she KNOWS the whole story now. J'Vis had helped her piece it all together, had helped her find all of the hidden tidbits from Wakanda's servers, as well as other areas.

Therefore, she knew her father had been there the night that N'Jadaka's father died in America. She knew Zuri had been there as well. Whatever had happened had left an undeniably mark on her and T'Challa's father, but that was no excuse for this… incredible lapse in judgment!

She also knew about Tony Stark and the conversation he'd had with her father, brother, and Nakia at the UN. The scans of his body from the United Nations had been uploaded into Wakanda's secure servers, which of course were like an open book for Shuri and J'Vis. The amount of Vibranium in Stark's body should have killed him, but somehow he was perfectly fine. More than that, Shuri was able to uncover things in the scans that lesser eyes had not.

Tony Stark had multiple energy sources spread throughout his body, Vibranium-Based with some extra element Shuri didn't recognize mixed in. And… something else as well, a substance that seemed to be replacing his blood, even though no one else had realized because it was nearly indistinguishable.

From pouring over the scans, Shuri was forced to recognize the shocking truth… Tony Stark was stronger than the Black Panther. He might just be the strongest man on Earth in fact, though there was that Hulk creature that Shuri had heard rumors about, so she couldn't say for certain.

Likewise, the information about how much Vibranium he'd managed to collect from mining the Solar System… to say nothing of the other resources he must have immense stockpiles of… well, that was certainly startling.

Only… it was no excuse for this. It was no excuse for making Erik fucking Killmonger into a second Black Panther! If her father truly felt so threatened by Tony Stark, anyone else would have been a better candidate! Even her!

… But no. King T'Chaka's mind was made up. Erik was already undergoing the transformation. And even her brother…

"I only hope you know what you're doing, Baba. I trust your judgment."

Her brother was as much a daddy's boy as ever. Shuri makes a quiet noise of disgust from her hiding place, even as T'Chaka places his hand on T'Challa's shoulder again.

"Trust in Bast's judgment more than mine, my son. It is in her hands now."

As if waiting for that exact line… the red sand in the pit suddenly explodes upwards as Erik comes back alive, sitting up and coughing for breath. Shuri's jaw clenches as her father and brother move to help him, and with one last shake of her head, she pulls away, retreating from the terrifying scene.

Erik Killmonger was now a Black Panther, one of the strongest men in the world. Nothing good could come of this. Nothing at all. She needed to get back to her secret lab and talk to J'Vis. They needed to start making plans for the worst case scenarios.

-x-X-x-

Leaning back in his chair, staring at the bird's eye view of T'Challa and T'Chaka pulling the newest Black Panther out of the sand pit, Tony sighs and gives in to the urge to reach up and rub the bridge of his nose.

"… Seriously?"

JARVIS' voice comes over the room's speakers, sounding the proper mixture of exasperated, bemused, and amused all at once.

"You did say they would do something dumb-smart, Sir. And in the end, you even foresaw this potential outcome."

He had. It was what he ultimately hadn't said out loud back when he and Pepper had talked about Wakanda's next move. Tony had correctly deduced that King T'Chaka would, like all old rulers who had long since left their prime behind, turtle up and try to secure and protect what he already had. Tony had even figured he might make a second Black Panther.

And yes, he'd contemplated for a split second the idea that T'Chaka would be stupid enough, foolish enough even, to feed his murderous nephew a Heart-Shaped Herb. But only for a split second because… surely not, right? Sure, Erik might have pulled the wool over his uncle's eyes and played the good, kind nephew ever since being brought back to Wakanda, but at the same time… T'Chaka killed the man's father. He killed his own brother.

And he really thought his brother's son could be trusted with the equivalent of Super Soldier Powers? It honestly boggled the mind just a little bit if Tony was being honest. T'Chaka was running scared, obviously. But just because you found out the universe was a bigger place than you thought and there were predators lurking outside of your walls didn't mean you fucking primed a ticking time bomb in the middle of your town and just let it start counting down.

That was what T'Chaka had done here. No doubt about it. Erik Killmonger had finally gotten what he wanted and now that he had it… well, the King of Wakanda had just outlived his usefulness, hadn't he?

"Will you step in, Sir?"

Tony frowns slightly, before shaking his head.

"Maybe if he'd had any intention of making Erik the 'Black Panther of the World' I'd have had to do something. But so long as T'Chaka is content to keep the bomb he's just created at home and off my lawn, I'm content to let it all blow up in his face."

Scoffing, Tony continues on with a shrug.

"Besides, there's no way for me to get involved right now that isn't going to be construed as a declaration of war. If I go in there and kill Erik for them, they won't accept that I was just taking out trash that they'd left rotting and stinking up the place for years. T'Chaka in particular will make me kill him before he lets me get away with such a thing, and then I'll have a blood feud with T'Challa… it's just not worth stepping in it, really."

Tony waves a hand through the air, continuing to talk out his options.

"Even if I stealth-killed him, T'Chaka would probably still place the blame on me. I could do it as secret as possible, hell I could make it look like Erik ran away and vanished the moment he got superpowers. But someone like T'Chaka wouldn't accept that explanation. No, he would forever assume I had something to do with it, even with zero evidence to back him up."

Of course, he would be right too… but that was neither here nor there. The point was, if Tony neutralized this second Black Panther in any way, it would only be poking the hornet's nest. For now, T'Chaka was content to turtle up, even if his version of turtling up was apparently to set the doomsday clock for him and his family. But if Tony made any further aggressive moves towards Wakanda, then he'd have to probably kill them all… and obviously, he wasn't inclined to do that.

Silence reigns for a moment, causing Tony to tilt his head and smile slightly up at the ceiling.

"How about you? Will you step in, J?"

There's a pause at that, with JARVIS taking the time to consider his answer carefully.

"… I will not save King T'Chaka from his own stupidity. However, I have made quite the bond with the young Princess Shuri. It would upset me to see harm come to her. Killmonger has already made many in-roads with certain groups within Wakanda since arriving in the isolated kingdom. The Royal Family does not know it, but he has managed to secure promises from others in Wakanda to back his eventual coup for the throne."

Tony hums as JARVIS shares the corresponding data on all of that.

"Now that he has managed to become Black Panther, those who were on the fence but leaning towards his rhetoric will likely jump to join him. Things will be coming to a head quite rapidly in Wakanda over the next few months. When the time comes... I will make sure Shuri survives the ensuing clash, and that no matter what, Erik Killmonger's plans for Wakanda do not reach outside of the kingdom's borders."

So basically, let Erik do his thing until he tries to start a secret war with Tony and the rest of Planet Earth, and then neutralize him. Yeah… that would probably work just fine. And frankly… Tony was happy to wash his hands of it all.

"I'll leave it to you then, J. I trust you to handle it all properly."

Shuri was JARVIS' pet project after all. And Wakanda, for all that King T'Chaka thought Tony Stark was their great nemesis who had to be countered and defended against at all costs, was barely a blip on Tony's radar.

Frankly he would have assumed that T'Chaka would have understood that Tony didn't care about Wakanda when he showed the other man just how much Vibranium was in their Solar System. Wakanda's singular claim to fame was its Vibranium Deposit and the advanced technology they'd managed to derive from the miracle metal. Tony had no need for either, as should have been obvious by everything he revealed T'Chaka. Wakanda had nothing he wanted or needed.

But that didn't matter to the aging King. All he saw was a threat, and so he was responding as though Wakanda was in danger. It wasn't, not from Tony anyways. But-

"Sir. Something else has just come up."

Tony blinks, pulled out of his musings by the urgency in JARVIS' voice. Rather than speak further, the AI just sends Tony all of the relevant information… making him rise from his chair and curse under his breath.

"Shit…"

When it rained, it poured apparently. At the same time Wakanda was busy making incredibly bad decisions for the continued health of their monarchy, someone else was making bad decisions elsewhere in the world. Specifically, one Hank Pym, formerly known as Ant-Man back in the seventies, was starting to make moves.

It seemed that while being betrayed by his own protégé and daughter working together to oust him from his company had paralyzed the old man, seeing Darren Cross go to prison and Pym Technologies scooped up by Stark Industries had galvanized him into action. From the look of things, he was starting to dig into Stark Industries, as well as the Stark Family.

While his actions at the moment were relatively harmless, this WAS the man who had invented Pym Particles, and Tony knew exactly how dangerous Hank could become. He'd read all of the SHIELD files on the agent duo known as Ant-Man and the Wasp back in the seventies and eighties.

"Shall I neutralize him, Sir?"

… It would be the simplest answer to this brewing problem. Kill Pym and scoop up everything he had. End the threat before it could ever truly become a threat. Tony had done it before. Stane had been revenge. Killian and Vanko had been preemptive and opportunistic alike though.

But... maybe he was going soft. Instead of the simple solution, Tony finds his thoughts going in a different direction, and as he does so, hardlight screens appear in front of him, classified files showing up as he considers things he knows, both from the future that never was and from his complete and total access to all of SHIELD and HYDRA's files in this timeline.

"… no, J. We'll give Pym a chance to resolve this peacefully. Just one."

-x-X-x-

A/N: Next time Wakanda returns will finally be the end of the arc. In the meantime, Tony must be going soft in his old age. Or maybe it's all those daughters. He's just a big ole softie, giving Hank a chance. But tbf, it's not just Hank he's giving a chance~.

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