BLACK PANTHER IN: "KUELEZA [ EXPLANATIONS ]"

The Azanian Supremacists never heard of or saw the lone Wakandan before he simply and brazenly appears in the center of their camp in Mohannda; a camp they strategically placed near to where the SuperMercs were to exit The Disputed Zone with Wakanda. They didn't expect any genuine problem with this operation, and were already prepared to airlift the precious cargo they were woefully stupid enough to think that they'd acquire.

"Azanian Supremacists," this lone, armored Wakandan called to the startled group of superhumans that fancied themselves to be his enemies. "I am Dr. Ithobo, a member of the elite Kifalme Shujaa Heshima...The Royal Warriors of Honor. I am offering you the opportunity to completely surrender to me, and survive."

The leader of the Supremacists...The White Avenger...swiftly rallied his team.

"Barricade, seize our unwanted guest. Harrier, Voortrekker, check the immediate environs for more idiot niggers like this one who might be cowering in the vicinity."

Harrier cybernetically triggered his supersuit and it flared into energy and life, glimmering like a tiny star aborning. He leaped soundlessly into the sky, leaving a wake of streaking violet white and blue light as he flashed into the air like a jet fighter climbing into the skylanes.

Voortrekker slid with smooth clean professional skill into the jungle dark, melding into the wild without a sound or clue that he was ever with the other Supremacists.

"White Avenger," Barricade's basso profundo voice rolled across the small clearing as he moved with bellicose visage and intent of great violence upon the comparatively slight Dr. Ithobo. "How did this monkey come upon us without your knowledge?"

And then Barricade would have fastened one massive, superstrong hand in what would have literally been a bone crushing grip upon Dr. Ithobo's right deltoid.

Would have been.

Dr. Ithobo simply and effortlessly eluded the lumbering grasp of Barricade with marginal movement. An elegant pirouette cleverly executed at Barricade's ankle height which rolled him to Barricade's back. To Barricade, it appeared as if the Dr. had literally disappeared then reappeared. Teleportation, maybe. Or invisibility. A super power.

Dr. Ithobo fixed Barricade with an impassive, but somehow menacing glare. And Dr. Ithobo intoned with a dreaded, lethal serenity:

"The coronary ligament, the triangular ligaments, and the falciform ligament will shatter with less than ten pounds of force applied at the right angle of impact, skillful targeting and harmful intent."

Barricade had nooo idea what Dr. Ithobo was talking about. That...combined with his uncertainty about whether or not Dr. Ithobo exhibited a superpower while avoiding his first lumbering grasp...froze Barricade in place.

The White Avenger...superhumanly strong, senses superhumanly acute...turned like a rabid white wolf upon the Captain of the Mohanndan platoon sent to be essentially their lackeys. "Send four smalls squads...one to each cardinal direction...to scour the land for a kilometer radius."

"There is no member of his inferior race that can come upon me unawares,"The White Avenger answered to Barricade as he gestured toward the impassive Dr. Ithobo when he mentioned "inferior race", "thus White superpowered groups must be in the vicinity. That is why we are preparing for the worst."

The White Avenger than turned his attention back to the Captain of the Monanndan platoon sent to accompany them. "You will certainly see evidence of the presence or imminent arrival of The Avengers or The Fantastic Four or England's superteam, any of the X-teams or any of the most elite supercapes in the world. Who are all White, like us. Only superhuman Whites have a chance to PERHAPS slink passed my ever keen senses."

Dr. Ithobo tried not to roll his eyes. Failed.

"White Avenger," the erudite Dr. Ithobo calmly explained, "I am alone. There is no one with me. I need no such accompaniment."

Captain Bokim...the ranking officer of the Mohanndan contingent...did as he was ordered by The White Avenger. He recognized Dr. Ithobo right away, and was distinctly unenthused at the prospect of getting on the wrong side of any Royal Wakandan.

As soon as he was done doing what The White Avenger ordered him to do, he ventured [ from a safe distance from The White Avenger, who'd been known to murder Blacks for no reason whatsoever ] to confirm what Dr. Ithobo stated.

"Sir! My troops could find no evidence of hostiles," Captain Bokim said with a salute.

"Your failure to find anything at all means nothing. You subhumans are incapable of competence," The White Avenger scathingly replied. "Even your capacity to speak is a result of the White Race's great intelligence, forebearance ability and willingness to teach monkeys to sign and mimic the language of true White humanity. Remain silent."

Dr. Ithobo noted that Captain Bokim carefully stopped his growing desire to kill all of the Supremacists from shining in his eyes, as he humbly averted his face and bowed to The White Avenger. Then retired.

"I recognize this subhuman," Barricade said as he glared contempt and homicide down upon Dr. Ithobo. "He IS one of the lackeys of The Black Panther."

"I recognized it right away," The White Avenger replied."It is what it said it is. A...'Doctor"... Ithobo. As if these creatures possessed the intellectual acumen to be anything other than grunting witch doctors." The White Avenger harrumphed. "It is clearly suicidal. It has by its own account come to us alone when we nearly defeated its greatest champion, TChalla the Black Panther, when we were younger, less experienced, less powerful, and less accomplished than we are now. In point of fact, we would have slain this ridiculous Black Panther outright if not for the intervention of some powerful mystic entity controlled by the likes of a Doctor Strange or perhaps Baron Mordo.

Once we determine that this subhuman is alone, we will decapitate it and send it to The Black Panther by way of letting him know what we shall soon do to him."

"You have never encountered my cousin The Black Panther," Dr. Ithobo calmly stated, "else he would have slain you long ago. Luckily for you, none of you were ever deemed worthy of Wakanda's time in any significant way. My cousin entered your country and left...having accomplished all that he wished...and you had no clue that he was even interested in you. He was already on to more pressing matters of state that were infinitely more engaging than beings as lowly and unworthy as you are. In fact, the only reason that you knew that TChalla had been in Azania at all is because he allowed his sister, his ally Black Axe and Black Axe's tech Mbosa to indulge themselves in a friendly wager.

You Azanians never battled TChalla. Instead you were engaging a Battle Cyborg that Shuri--at age 14--crafted. In less than a day. Laughing. You Azanians were and still are considered unfit for the attention of Wakanda, and in fact. Wakanda was going to allow you to stumble your way into whatever unfortunate doom your inescapable ineptitude had made inevitable for you...had Black Axe--ally of TChalla--and his tech infrastructure assistant Mbosa not amused themselves with the aforementioned friendly wager against Shuri.

They wagered a Gentleman's Wager...a bet without money or goods exchanged...that Shuri could not build a cyborg from scratch and have it dispatch of you Supremacists in 1 hour.

Mind you: Azania is 24,000 miles from Wakanda.

Shuri laughingly protested at first that sending one of her advanced units against you Supremacists would be inexcusable overkill and a waste of superior power intellect and resources; like unleashing a Celestial upon Hydra or AIM. After much laughing and back and forth, Black Axe and Mbosa finally prevailed upon Shuri to indulge them.

Shuri had the cyborg built and all of you dispatched in under 25 minutes.

And that powerful mystic being that intervened that you rather stupidly attributed to Dr. Strange or Baron Mordo? Was actually a different avatar of our Panther God. Far too powerful to be controlled by anyone. Much less the persons that you mentioned. And were Zawaviri here to observe you mention Baron Mordo? The very same Baron Mordo whom his apprentices and Elder Mendinao's apprentices have been drubbing for decades? He probably would have turned you into toad feces on the spot. And then apologized to the toad feces for insulting them with your presence.

The only reason that I am here is again as a result of the same imperative that mandated your previous brush with anything Wakandan: efficiency. I am on my way to meet someone that Wakanda expects. I am the best person in this sector for the job of meeting this person that Wakanda is expecting AND offering you all the opportunity to escape with your lives by immediately withdrawing from this Disputed Zone, and returning to what is unquestionably Mohanndan territory. Should you fail to heed this wisdom that I again strenuously urge you to acquiesce to, I am also the most qualified person in this sector for the job of determining which of you is best to leave alive to spread the story of the unwisdom of advancing upon Wakanda. I will also destroy your supply routes and communication apparatus, etc. Happily, you were inept enough to leave yourselves more or less in the way of the direct path I am taking to attend to slightly more pressing matters of State. So I will take care of you along the way to marginally more interesting matters...in the same manner that a man might pause to stomp upon a roach as he walks to the kitchen to get a cup of water. I am here to remove you from any hope or pretension of relevance in the coming days."

Captain Bokim felt sure that The White Avenger would have a stroke brought on by the limitless shock and affronted rage caused by the calm, vicious monologue delivered by Dr. Ithobo. Wordlessly, he signaled his Mohanndans to fall back and away from The Supremacists and Dr. Ithobo, because if he knows The Supremacists they're going to...

...Captain Blaze came streaking from the skies in a landing approach, confirming via comms: "The nigger's alone,"...

...Voortrekker signaled moments later:"Confirmation: No hostiles,"

..."Remember," Dr. Ithobo said in his civilized, erudite, patient tone. "I gave all of you two chances to surrender..."

...yep. They did exactly what Captain Bokim thought they would do.

Barricade took a rumbling, threatening step forward...and Dr. Ithobo spun away 180 degrees in the opposite direction and fired upon all the Supremacists excepting Voortrekker [ including Hungyr...the slinking, shadow cleaving bioenergy siphon that is essentially a biovampire feeding upon human life energies ] with a brilliant, golden Neural Net burst slaying all of them except Barricade and Voortrekeer [ these two weren't caught by the Neural Net ].

In the same flowing wind-like movement that he used to dispatch of the other Supremacists, Dr. Ithobo eluded Barricade's charging attack and struck Barricade upon his right flank with a devious, corkscrewing palm heel strike.

Barricade screamed once, and pitched forward to plow a furrow two feet deep into the ground. Dead as a door nail.

The coronary ligament, triangular ligaments, and falciform ligament...the ligaments that Dr. Ithobo specified to Barricade, and which confused him so...are the ligaments helping to keep the liver in place. Dr. Ithobo's blow severed those ligaments and ruptured the liver, causing instant death.

Dr. Ithobo looked at Captain Bokim.

"We request political asylum in Wakanda," Captain Bokim promptly and loudly stated. "All of us. Myself my platoon, our families and friends."

His cousin Shuri...the Queen of Wakanda...already assured him that these Mohanndan soldiers had zero loyalty to the Mohanndan government, and vested him with the authority to grant asylum when and where he deemed it feasible. Especially in the Disputed Border Zone, which is only "disputed" because international conglomerates like Cardinal Technologies have already despoiled Mohannda and...noting evidence of colossal untapped wealth in oil and valuable minerals so abundant in Wakanda that there is enough of the former to fuel the entire world for a decade with just the UNTAPPED resources and so much of the latter that the industries created by these mineral and other resources are essentially limitless and so are the energy sources that these minerals lead to...lusted after any opportunity to purloin these priceless resources from Wakanda.

"Granted," Dr. Ithobo promptly replied. "All accomodations are already made for you. Worry not, friend. What is your name?"

"I am Captain Bokim Njuwalini, Dr. Ithobo. 22nd Mohanndan Border Platoon."

"Very well, then. Make haste. We shall await you but no longer than 2 days. "

"Such an action by us will be most difficult, Dr. Ithobo. Cardinal Industries has gathered a group of Super Mercenaries they call SuperMercs and have sent them to penetrate Wakanda's borders. They plan to heist precious minerals from Wakanda...minerals valued in excess of tens of billions of Euros. Cardinal Industries and their even more mysterious and powerful business partners plan to leverage this profit for Oxala alone knows what misdeeds. Further..."

"...they monitor your progress and hold your family hostage because they have already occupied the villages of your birth and the villages of the family members of each soldier here," Dr. Ithobo finished for Captain Bokim. "Yes, I am aware of your straits. However, you will discover that my cousin and our leader, High Captain D'Ciggs, has already removed these threats to yourself and your village when you return. You will also discover that these threats will be most reluctant to return to your villages...even were they to marshal the resources to do so again. Which they can't and won't. As I said. You have 2 days. Bring your entire village, should you wish. High Captain D'Ciggs has received the authority from our Queen, The Black Panther Shuri, to furnish you with specific technologies which will greatly ease your transport. All of the villages in this entire "Disputed Zone" are now furnished with the wherewithal to become fully Wakandan citizens without moving an inch, should they wish."

"We obey at once, Karajaan." Captain Bokim used the Mohanndan honorific for "Royal". Immediately, he and his troops vanished.

"Voortrekker," Dr. Ithobo called, " I know exactly where you are hiding. Your presence is plain to me. I deliberately allowed you to survive because you are the one Supremacist that I deemed worthy of surviving this encounter and worthy of relating the relevant facts of these happenings to your employers. Your reputation as a honorable although not just mercenary precedes you. However, if you stay hidden? I will be forced to presume that you mean me harm or will attempt to flee without agreeing to the undertaking that I have for you. And I will be forced to kill you here and now. The choice is yours: appear before me now and survive. Flee and be executed. "

After a momentary pause, Voortrekker appeared in the ring of bushes forming a "U" shaped screen of foliage behind Dr. Ithobo. ..training a plasma rifle upon the back of Dr. Ithobo's armored neck.

Dr. Ithobo didn't turn or move, but responded to Voortrekker's presence. "Wise choice."

"Explain to me why I shouldn't kill you, after you murdered my comrades."

"Because I could have killed you, but didn't. Because I gave your comrades...twice...the option to surrender and survive, and they refused and sought to decapitate me. Because at no time did I have to give them and you freedom from the Wakandan jails in which you languished for 5 years, after The Black Panther and Queen of Wakanda Shuri's automaton defeated you. At no time did I owe you any favor at all, especially considering that your comrades have killed thousands of my fellow Black Africans at the behest of your detestable former government. The free Black Africans of the new State of Greater Zimbabwe...having absorbed the whole of its odious former neighbor, your Azania...are infinitely better off in every detail, now that you Azanians are gone. Ironically, the handful of Whites who stayed found that our singular humanity remains our most distinctive feature, and they too are far better off than at any time during the reign of your apartheid government. And lastly, you shouldn't try to kill me because you would fail and I would execute you on the spot. If none of the foregoing details of my response held sway, this last should at least give you pause. Self interest and survival are powerful motivators for mercenaries."

A moment passed while Voortrekker considered Dr. Ithobo's words. Then slung his rifle back on its sling slanting diagonally down his back. "Well argued," he acknowledged. "What of this task you have for me?"

"Simply return to your employers and inform them of the events of this day." Dr. Ithobo replied.

"What prevents me from saying that I will do such a thing in order to ensure my own survival, then reneging the moment that I am free?" Voortrekker asked. For unlike the other Supremacists, Voortrekker was quite clever and knew that these Wakandas were quite cunning.

"Two things. Your sense of honor, like I said, precedes you. So does the fact that you singularly are marked amongst The Supremacists as not only not being racist, not only being honorable, you are honest. You live by the Warrior's Code. Once you give your word, you have been documented in many instances as going to sometimes great lengths to keep your word. You even did so while you were a guest in our jails. Repeatedly. Caused our jailers to take special note of you. We Wakandans appreciate that."

"You said two things prevent me from reneging the moment that I am free." Voortrekker pointed out, not having missed anything. " What is the second?" Voortrekker was pretty sure that he knew what the second was.

"As you have no doubt worked out by now, we have followed your every exploit. We know where your employers are, where your loved ones are, and know every detail of what you have done since you thought you escaped our jails...when in fact, our Commander D'Ciggs simply arranged for you to escape, so that we could the more easily unearth facts of importance to us. We even know things that you didn't know; like Hungyr was mutated by Mr. Sinister's technology into the being that he was."

"Please excuse the interruption Dr Ithobo, but...who is Mr. Sinister?" Voortrekker asked.

"He is a mutant scientist who despises humanity. He...along with a bevy of his cohorts...will be dealt with before the fortnight ends."

"Thank you, Doctor. Please continue your train of thought."

"The last reason you will not renege upon your word...confirming your suspicions...is the fact that should you attempt such a thing? We will find you and summarily execute you within an hour of your decision to renege."

"I shall embark upon the task you have for me immediately," Voortrekker wisely proclaimed. And exited to perform this new mission.

Dr. Ithobo waited until Voortrekker was half a klikk away, then activated his TechnoPathic implant.

"Commander D'Ciggs," he called. "The Azanian Supremacists have been neutralized. Voortrekker has been tasked. We are in possession of that laughable claptrap that Cardinal Technologies deems to be advanced technology. I will be prepared to see The Diplomat soon as the first part of your plan."

"That would be the first part of Queen Mother Ramonda's plan, cousin." D'Ciggs corrected. "Royal plotting, counterplotting, contiguous plotting. Plotting on top of plotting. Typical Palace politics. I specified that in our pre-action tactical meeting this morning."

"Yes, you did. How absentminded of me. I must have forgotten." Dr. Ithobo said. Unconvincingly.

"Impossible for you to have forgotten anything like that, Cousin. " D'Ciggs laughed. "All Wakandans have eidetic memory. All Royals have superior eidetic memory, degrees of superior autobiographical memory, what Outworlders incorrectly call "Lamarckian Memory" and varying degrees of other forms of superior memory. You're just needling me."

"You deserve it. After that sinwa you tried to kill us with this morning during our pre-action tactical meeting."

Sinwa is a healthy, delicious form of Wakandan donut. Well. It's delicious if you are marginally skilled at cooking. Opinions of D'Ciggs' cooking skills varied widely. He considered himself to be a masterful chef. Others, however...

"That sinwa was delicious!" D'Ciggs good-naturedly protested.

"It was not," Dr. Ithobo responded. "The first batch tasted like yakk scrotum..."

"How do you know what yakk scrotum tastes--?" D'Ciggs began.

"...but that SECOND batch..." Dr. Ithobo continued.

"I never made a second batch," D'Ciggs said. Genuinely surprised.

"...was clearly an act of foul vengeance. I had no choice but to pronounce the whole mass to be a maximum level biohazard." Dr. Ithobo finished.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!! You are hilarious, cousin. How did you compel Voortrekker's obeisance?" D'Ciggs laughingly queried.

"I was going to threaten him with the simwa you made us, but I am too humane for such barbarities."

"Hahahaha!"

The two were interrupted by the bleep of Dr. Ithobo's BioGenetic Mapper [ BGM ]. It finished its analysis of The Supremacists.

"Hungyr was indeed one of a batch of 12 prototypes, 8 of which are still operational within Wakanda," Dr. Ithobo read from his BGM. "We have the exact whereabouts of Mr. Sinister's latest lab in Africa, and both exact locations and DNA tracers for each of the remaining 8 prototypes. The scope of this plan of our King is...well. It beggars the imagination."

"I had the exact same reaction when Uncle S'Yan first explained to me the brain boggling scope and range of our Cousin King's genius. I'm damn glad we aren't on his bad side."

"Seconded," Dr. Ithobo wholeheartedly agreed.

"Alert THE STRONG WARRIOR SQUADRON. Send them to deal with Mr. Sinister, as planned. Their itinerary is as full as our own." D'Ciggs commanded.

"Immediately my cousin," Dr. Ithobo acquiesced. "None of us will see extended rest for the better part of this year, it seems."

"Not 'it seems'," D'Ciggs corrected. "It's CERTAIN."

"I will save some of your simwa to hurl at the most odious of our enemies." Dr. Ithobo gravely intoned.

"Hahahahaha!"

*************************************************************************************************

At the very moment that Dr. Ithobo is offering The Azanians a chance to surrender, The SuperMercs are entering a cunningly selected and beautiful Barrow, faintly lit from without and within by diffused light. Its natural unworked walls seemed to be truly crafted of mated shadow and natural rock. The beautiful rock walls were occasionally lit from within by strobing, mysterious dim gloamings emanating from serpentine vines and unnamed, meandering mineral veins that striped the rock like uncoiling, writhing arteries. This kind of vine, rock and stone are unique to Wakanda, for the life juices of this vine are an admixture of Earth magic and a unique brand of radiation older than almost all life that ever lived upon or visited Earth. This same Earth magic naturally shielded the Barrow they entered from detection by most means; including psionics, magic and ka.

"It was hard work," Lady Bullseye notes, "but The Red Ghost's tech is as good as advertised. Let us pass undetected by the nonstop patrols and tech sweeps of Wakanda's Border Guards."

"Your ex-boss Wilson Fisk and Dr. freakin Doom thought they had the drop on Wakanda before," Omega Red stated brusquely. "Look what happened to them."

Omega Red spared a quick glare at everyone ,a glare that said that he didn't think that any of them were even as worthy as the animal dung they passed in the jungle'd up border to get here...including the simpering Wakandan captive, their ace in the hole. He was the senior executive assistant to the Wakandan National Bank,and after extensive torture he reluctantly gave them a portion of what they desired. The only reason he wasn't shot to death right now is because he could be worth something as a hostage if anything went south.

And then he noted the bone formation to his left. This bone formation was so slight...especially in the smothering, encompassing dark of the grave that choked every inch of this barrow...that usually only some form of enhanced vision like his enhanced mutant sight could have hoped to pick it up.

Lady Bullseye...to her credit...speedily espied the bone formation as well.

"It's not human..." she said. "Is it a form of..?"

"Not animal," Omega Red stated with utter confidence. "Not human. Or mutant. It's...something else. Probably extraterrestrial in origin. Perhaps mutated. High Evolutionary style. "

Omega Red stood up from the crouch he assumed to examine the bones.

" Everybody keep your eyes open." Omega Red admonished them. "Getcha courage up. Dig deep in your balls and Fallopian Tubes for whatcha need. Don't get twitchy or cocky.

Paladin?"

"Rear guard clear and clean. Wakandan Border Patroller two miles away, heading toward us. ETA 4 minutes and under. Let's get this thing fuckin done and let's go." The Paladin replied.

"If they get within a mile, cue Sabertooth to kill them all." Omega Red orders The Paladin. "Initializer activation..." Omega Red takes a silvery blue disc with strange carvings and a beautiful but foreboding gleam to it. "...now!"

Omega Red touched a strange glyph on the rune covered silvery blue disc he was given.

Immediately a sinister eccrue stream of glory laced with a cold blue strobing light spiraled into existence, somehow simultaneously banishing and thickening the shadows within the barrow. This sinister spiraling eccrue and azure eldritchfire swiftly sparked spangled coalesced and glittered into a single cruel shaft of light splitting the center of the barrow from shadow choked roof to unhewn floor. Although the maliciously dazzling, bone white column of brilliance was steady and unwavering, the shadows it spawned somehow...impossibly...flickered cavorted shifted leaped slid and shuddered as if being lashed by an entirely different light source.

Omega Red suspected that these shadows were both alive and hungering. Gathering around him and the 3 people in the barrow with him like predators anticipating the blood harvest of its prey.

If so? They'd find out the hard fuckin way that the only fuckin predator in this shitfest of a barrow was Omega muthafuckemdead Red.

"We did our part," Omega snapped at the light. "Where's our cargo?"

A thickly accented, snarling voice that sounded more animal than man...like one of The Red Ghost's supersmart simians...hissed a slavering reply.

"Fools! You did not follow the plan! You will not get your cargo!"

The utter contempt and scathing disrespect so heavily apparent in the voice's tone prompted Omega Red...the truly level headed and talented diplomat...to reply:

"Give us the cargo, we give you the money...or I hunt you down and rip yer fuckin heart out and make you watch me take a shit on it! Then I'll force feed your corpse your shitty heart! And fuck your light show! Dazzler is a hundred times better than you!"

The Paladin chimes in over the secure commlinks:"Wakandan Forces 1.8 miles and closing."

"Cue Sabertooth. 1 mile and in death zone." Omega Red promptly responded."Option Beta activated." Omega Red already palmed The Initializer, ending his connection with the voice. No matter. He was going to find the voice and do exactly what he promised to it.

"Option Beta activated." The Paladin replied.

"Option Beta activated," Lady Bullseye chimed in simultaneously. Within moments, she herded her captive quickly and efficiently out of the barrow and into the jungle perimeter where she promptly disappeared, precisely as her part of Option Beta required.

Whatever his shortcomings were as a diplomat? Omega Red was a brutally expert and feared killer, very seasoned and skillful soldier and talented small unit commander.

The Red Ghost's advanced tech had done its job yet again, triangling down to the millimeter the location of the energy signature of The Voice. The exact location on the screen said The Voice was located precisely...

...up Omega Red's ass?

"Yeah that was my idea," a deep, nearly baritone voice said. Omega Red looked about him as he quickly and professionally exited the barrow. Deadly energy rifle executing professional sweeps and arcs, missing nothing in the vicinity.

Right away he noted that The Paladin was visible, which wasn't good. In order for The Paladin in Sniper Mode to be visible, that means his holographic camoflauge armor[ which presented the illusion that he was invisible and perfectly melded into the background of whatever environment he's in ] had been detected and deactivated. Without his consent.

And there he was. On the ground. Arms akimbo. At his sniper perch. Clearly either unconscious or dead.

The Paladin was supposed to provide cover for first Lady Bullseye until she got to the jungle perimeter. Then Lady Bullseye would provide cover for The Paladin as he shifted his focus to providing cover for Omega Red's exit from the barrow. Omega Red would provide cover for Lady Bullseye as he exited the barrow until Omega Red reached the his Option B position. Then together all 3 would provide cover for The Paladin as The Paladin retreated to his Option B position
.
The Paladin and probably Lady Bullseye were probably taken out, already.

"That whole 'up Omega Red's ass' thing?" That voice continued. Omega Red began to identify elements of the voice. American. Black American. Seasoned. Used to giving and taking commands. Confident. Used to overcoming adversities.

"That was me. That was pretty funny, right? Yeah, thought so. I figured you'd appreciate it, because you were really funny with that whole 'rip out your heart and make you watch me take a shit on it' thing."

Omega Red cleared the barrow and quickly scanned the area. Within moments he found the person speaking. A powerfully muscled, tall large intimidating African warrior decked out in forbiddingly, stylishly ebony yet amazingly advanced tech body armor, helmet, glimmering body shield, and bristling with a variety of badass weapons of a seriously violent looking high tech nature, was boldly standing out in the open...an open space that had nobody within it for miles merely a second ago.

"My name's Battlestar. We've been monitoring you guys every step of your journey. Your guy in the barrow who answered your Initializer? Was right. You DIDN'T follow the plan. You thought your tech was secure. But we passed your tech many thousands of years ago."

"Bullshit...'Up The Ass' Man. The tech we got is top notch, from a guy who met your Kitty King and ran circles around him a few years ago..."

Omega Red snapped.

"The tech you got is from The Red Ghost. His tech...when compared to ours...isn't even worth the energy to use as adult diapers. Our King allowed your Red Ghost to escape, and sent us to track him. We know every bit of your operation, and we're dismantling it. That's why I am here now, having this wonderful interview with you. There is no place and no tech on Earth that we can't outmatch overwhelm outperfrom break into, etc.

So yeah...like Barrow Boy told you, Omega Red: you DIDN'T follow the plan. Not your fault, though. There is only one plan when it comes to Wakanda.

SEE WAKANDA AND DIE. So don't eff with Wakanda. That's the only plan there is that actually works. "

Keep this asswipe talking. Use it as distraction...thought Omega Red.

"Doc Doom kicked your Wakandan asses." Omega Red sneered.

Battlestar smoothly parried and riposted with: "He did such a good job of kicking our asses? That we encased him in a coffin of inert vibranium in front of the whole world. While he was kicking the crap out of the rest of the world, the one country that Outworlders keep claiming he beat--Wakanda--publicly stomped him with the flick of a switch.
"

"Fish boy Namor fuckin drowned your asses!"

"You ever wonder how Namor could throw a tidal wave at Wakanda..and no other country... when we're NOT located near the ocean, and there are a half dozen countries between the ocean and us? How did those countries NOT get touched by Namor's tidal wave and we did? You ever ask yourself that question? Your bosses ever ask themselves that question?

Here you are in Wakanda, which is dry, undrowned and undamaged.And here I am in Wakanda, dry undrowned undamaged and not worried about your 'Keep the Black guy talking' tactic. How you like THEM clapbacks I just gave you?

You figure out why I'm not worried about your ' Keep the Black guy talking' tactic, yet?"

Omega Red may be a lot of undesirable things, but stupid isn't one of them. He had indeed wondered about those very questions, and it sure didn't take him long to realize that Battlestar wasn't worried about Omega's tactic of keeping Battlestar talking because Battlestar was already successfully using the very ploy on Omega Red that Omega Red was trying to use on Battlestar.

"I see you activating the Team Alert transponder that you have. They can't answer. They've all been neutralized. Which you already suspected when you saw The Paladin stretched out like he is. Our Agayu Arachnid Adept neutralized The Paladin, Lady Bullseye and Mystique.

Your face expressions is going: "Wtf is a Agayu Arachnid Adept?!"

S'okay 'cause I never heard of that mess either, til I got here.

Okay. Basically? Take a person who is as adept with poisons, killing blows, and assassination skills as Moondragon is adept with psionics. Stack on top of that elite Black Widow training...which is really a massive step down from what she already has, but it's useful at times. Add onto that a bunch of deep mystic training and spiritual abilities. Our Agayu Arachnid Adept is a woman and she was mildly interested in the idea of meeting your Lady Bullseye. Our Adept wanted to know if your Lady Bullseye was as stupid as her friend Natasha...that's the Avengers' world famous Black Widow...said she was. She also wanted to witness Lady Bullseye's skills up close and personal. Before, you know, beating her brains out.

Judging by how quickly our Adept mopped your crew? She was right to be underwhelmed by anything that any of you have or can do.

And...yes. We know Mystique's been impersonating the male Executive Assistant to our female Wakandan National Bank President. We also know that our Executive Assistant is dead, because he willingly sacrificed his life as the true Wakandan hero he was rather than partake in any part of your ill thought out plans to invade Wakanda. Did you really think that we couldn't see through Mystique's attempted deception of us? Not surprising. The Skrulls thought they could pull off thee ole switcheroo, too. Those bones you found in the Barrow? That's all that's left of the Skrull invaders who came and died in this area.

And yes...I already successfully distracted you with my chatter. Your team? They're all gone. Including your auxiliary regular troops and The Azanians."

"So why the fuck are you still talking, nigger?" Omega Red challenged.

"Ooooo," Battlestar shivered in faux terror, "Not the lack of imaginative use of the N-bomb! Oh nooo! Anything but that!"

That's when Omega Red knew that Battlestar was baiting him and delaying him further, so Omega Red did the one thing that almost nobody would expect him to do.

He ran.

Omega Red is superhumanly swift and strong. He zoomed through the jungle about him at incredible speeds for a being of his size mass and girth. He expected that Battlestar was delaying him in order to ensnare him completely within a cordon of soldiers in order to kill him and...

"...There!!" a voice said in Wakandan accented English. A bevy of high tech battle armored Wakandan soldiers emerged from the jungle flora 50 meters to his left. Bolts of energy from from their Ion Rifle Cannons scorched at him.

And each bolt would have strafed him, were it not for his training and superhuman reflexes. Without stopping his headlong escape, he eluded the deadly fire and countered with a triple tap from his own Plasma Rifle. The scarlet hue of his energy beams contrasted starkly with the pure gold of the Wakandan weaponry, but his beams found their mark. The first bolt of his crashed into the belly armor of a Wakandan soldier, causing him to double over in pain. The second and third shots hit their target but were turned away by armor suddenly impervious to his fire.

Omega Red has seen this kind of tech before. He studied films on Nimrod the Sentinel and The SuperAdaptoid as part of his advanced tactical training, with the rest of Omega Clan. He didn't know that the Wakandans had this kind of tech. In fact..the Wakandans had vastly superior expressions of this kind of tech. Had he known that? He would have refused this assignment. Not from fear. As an elite professional killer, he knew how vital accurate intel is for any hope of success...most especially against a people like the Wakandans, whom had never known anything other than unmitigated victory in every battle skirmish encounter or interaction of any kind. This unbroken string of impossible success against hope crushing insanity inducing odds was due in large part to their imperishable obsession with detail, tactics, accurate intel; their indomitable warrior willpower, their immeasurable intellect ,their storied devotion, spirituality and more.

He'd broken free of the cordon being formed by the Wakandan soldiers. Through various spaces of the interwoven arms of trees and jungle vegetation, he can see them swarming after him. But he'd cleared the first 5 miles back into Mohannda, which basically meant that all he had to was make it to the emergency shuttle craft he stashed amidst a small natural clearing; and he's home free.

He clicked the button on his belt, dropping the Cloaking Device on his shuttle and opening the bay door. That same signal remotely ignited the engines, cycled through takeoff procedures and primed the ship's weapons in preparation for his hasty entry...

...only to see Battlestar walk out of his ship and down the ramp provided by the opening bay door.

"I can see by the look on your face that you're starting to mentally grasp just how screwed you are now," Battlestar. "I let you get out this far into Mohannda because I know that your employers...and the rest of the world...lack even the hope of making or possessing tech advanced enough to peer into the Wakandan borders/ But they do have tech fully capable of locking on you in Mohannda. Therefore, they will be able to see this...your last communique before they regrow you again in some lab that we will find and destroy.

We have already decided which of your crew of SuperMercs would survive this encounter with us, long before you arrived.

You're not one of the survivors."

"You think that YOU can kill ME, you sorry fuck?!" Omega Red was at his most lethal, his very best, when he was fighting hand to hand against a hated opponent with the sure knowledge that only one of them would survive. He was reveling in that dam burst of emotion now, that hyperalive feeling of unfettered aggression matched heartbeat by heartbeat, breath by breath, with the limitless thrill and stimulation of an impending battle to the death with no quarter asked and none given.

"You fucked up big time taking me on by yourself, Black Tarzan!! I'm Omega fuckemdead Red! And you're history!"

And Omega Red unleashed his Death Spores in a rush, his Carbonadium tentacles flashed in a slithering blood crimson skein of light from his wrists. Crackling and lashing like whips, like hungry cobras...like...

"You are not worthy enough to battle me," Battlestar pronounced.

He saw Battlestar's look of complete unconcern, and he reacted too late to the disintegration beam fired from hundreds of miles in space by one of millions of orbiting space cannon packing semi-sentient tech satellites that Wakanda controls. It hit him with pinpoint perfect accuracy, and utterly disintegrated him to nothingness; leaving only his gear gadgets and weaponry intact.

Battlestar casually strolled over to the pile of gear gadgets and weaponry that was all that was left of Omega Red, grabbed The Initializer that Omega Red used in the barrow. Confirmed it is what he needed. Then Battlestar picked up the comm unit linking Omega Red audiovisually to his employers. Balefully, Battlestar stared into it, knowing that they could drink in every detail of his merciless glare.

"By now, we have found you and are administering final justice to you," he said into the comm. He could see the utterly terrified, blanched looks on the face of the techs he was addressing. And he could hear his units beginning their assault on this particular lab. The sounds of combat was reaching down to even these lab rats in their own location as he spoke to them.

"The last words you will hear are these: SEE WAKANDA AND DIE. Amandla!"

Just before he ended transmission, he saw the distinctive gold color of a Wakandan Ion Rifle discharge cut down one of the lab techs that were staring at Battlestar as he pronounced their death sentences from their viewscreen. Battlestar saw the other lab rats turn at the fall of their colleague and behold the charge of the Wakandan squad into their lab. As one, the lab rats release a manic, terrible scream and try to flee to and fro as they were ruthlessly mowed down.

Battlestar had not one ounce of mercy for them. These lab rats were truly horrible people that created and unleashed biological agents upon millions of innocent Afrakans purely for the sadistic glee of watching deaths that they granted them statistically significant scientific data. These horrible lab rats were fully and gleefully complicit in the worldwide movement by Europe Saudi Arabia and America to exploit the massive mineral resources of the African continent for their own immoral gain...and to the perpetual detriment of Black African people. The swift death they received here was infinitely more humane than the lingering torturous horrors that these same lab rats unleashed upon Africa, the Mediterranean, India and South America.

Battlestar closely analyzed the Initializer, and then spoke into the TechnoPathic link [ TechnoPathy is the revolutionary tech that TChalla blending technological and limited telepathic communication ] he had with D'Ciggs.

"My Prince, your hunch regarding the markings and the final clue are indeed provided and confirmed by this Initializer."

"Excellent." D'Ciggs stated.

"We have the collected data found inside of their laughable technology. Although I still believe that using the Disintegrater Cannon is a waste...but it was better than feeding him that second batch of sinwa you made for us."

"I didn't make..." D'Ciggs began to protest.

"...That was cruel, D'Ciggs. That first batch liked to have scared the stomach lining out of me. But that second batch? I knew something was wrong with it when I saw Dormammu run in abject fright from it. I couldn't bring myself to torment Omega Red with it. Even HE deserved better than that second batch of sinwa."

"Hahahaha!"

Their banter was interrupted by the communique of a Wakandan sergeant at arms.

"Sergeant Chekuyo confirms that they have obliterated the laboratories and technicians that we have targeted in this phase of your plan."

"T'Challa's plan not mine, my friend. Okay then. Gather the rest of the KSH and meet me here in The Marsh Lands of Wakanda," D'Ciggs promptly replied. "We have a Salamander and something worse to catch."

Before Omega Red exited the Barrow, Lady Bullseye expertly herded her hostage toward the jungle. She noted that The Paladin was still invisible, hiding Godknowswhere in whatever sniper perch he selected.

Just as Lady Bullseye entered the first ring of jungle vegetation shielding the Barrow from sight...driving a reluctant hostage with her via painful wristlock...she suddenly noted two things happened simultaneously.

She could see The Paladin. He was flat on his back, arms akimbo, either dead or unconscious.

Lady Bullseye's instincts kicked in and she was already executing a swift, expert, intricate roll escape, drawing her sai and Pulse Pistol as she richocheted off the grassy sward, bush, jungle tree limbs, around thick jungle tree trunks, to a new more secure spot. She did this with such smooth professional grace that she did not excite the jungle animals or insects into giving away her position or attacking her.

Even as she moved? She drank in every detail of her surroundings.

Her actions came not a moment too soon.

Her captive said: "Wha--?" And looked about him at Lady Bullseye's movements.

She saw a quick, almost impossible to notice brownish blur maybe a half a millimeter long and a quarter millimeter wide flick just below the top of the jungle grass blades yet remain higher than the earth that formed the floor of the jungle. This brownish blur flickered through the place her right foot was just a splintered second ago.

Her hostage...seeing that Lady Bullseye was not near him...suddenly began to run, while shouting something like: "I am here! I am Wakandan! The Outworlders have me hostage!"...and he suddenly plunged face first to the grassy matted earth.

On the sole of his feet? A mass of earth and grass which are the results of walking through this trackless jungle gathered.

But Lady Bullseye's keen eye was not fooled. She immediately distinguished between the earthy grass and a tiny prick of grassy earth initially indistinguishable from the jungle grass and earth floor which protruded between the big toe and second toe of her captive's left foot.

Expert shot. Ambush.

"Lady Bullseye."

The voice was disembodied; but firm, melodic and feminine. African accent. Deadly cool. The voice held the unmistakable ring of a fully committed, zealous, stone cold killer.

"Although I am mildly displeased to discover that you are as stupid as advertised, I am glad that the stories of your skills are true. At least this encounter won't be a total waste for me."

Lady Bullseye thought: "Amateurs. Talking when they should be killing. She has no chance, and I am going to take my time torturing this one before I kill her."

"Who are you?" Lady Bullseye asked. And...just like the amateur she is...the unseen woman replied.

"I am one of the Agayu Arachnid Adepts..."

That's all Lady Bullseye needed.

While Lady Bullseye remained crouched and hidden from view in the dense jungle vegetation, she used her keen hearing to pinpoint the position of this Agayu Adept. With the fingertips of her left [ Pulse Pistol grabbing ] hand, Lady Bullseye snapped off the heads of several grass blades. Split the bottom of the grass blades and put tiny pebbles in them, giving each grass blade a slight amount of heft. Then...with a precise flicking and splaying of fingers...launched all of the grass blades simultaneously through the air yet via different routes to converge on the Adept from different angles but at the same time.

When the grass blades closed on the spot that she determined the voice emanated from, suddenly the Adept's speech was halted and that area was mercilessly slashed diced and pierced by grass blades that she had formed into the equivalent of bamboo shaken...single bladed ninja shuriken. For all the world, it looked like a particularly vicious, tightly localized shrapnel grenade had gone off in that location.

Lady Bullseye carefully focused on the area where the Adept's voice emanated from previously. Something was wrong.

The blow came from behind, expertly disarming her from her Pulse Pistol, one of her sai, and would have shattered her spine in the same single movement had she not torqued like a dragon spinning in on itself to avoid the most severe damage from the blow. In the same torquing evasive movement blunting the power of the blow aimed at her spine she used the much feared lightning draw from iaido to merge the blindingly fast unsheathing of her sword and her other sai directly into a spiraling, blurringly quick Interlacing Cross--a Kendo technique--merged with a devilish kosotogare from Judo,tenkan from aikido and lashing low hooking kick from karate aimed with flawless skill at the Adept's semitendonosis. In that same explosion of movement her upper body rippled and snapped like a banner unfurling into the wind into a beautiful, powerful rising Plum Flower Fist Block. The Plum Flower Fist Block from gungfu is quite adept at smothering most expected counteroffensives from skillful opponents reacting to the barrage that she just unleashed upon this Agayu Arachnid Adept . The skill she displayed in this combination movement marked Lady Bullseye as amongst the elite martial artists even amongst the supercape community.

The Adept dismissively checked off the Interlacing Cross with a masterfully crafted sword and slim staff crafted of some unknown but very hard metal superalloy, and in the same movement spun away from the kosotgare eluded the tenkan and executed a scissoring midair footlock with her legs that ensnared the lashing low kick that Lady Bullseye aimed at the Adept's semitendonosis. This lock would have snapped Lady Bullseye's foot off at the ankle had she not checked her kick just in time to extricate it before the lock fully closed upon her. Instead she was only partially entangled in the Adept's lock. Instantly Lady Bullseye used the principles of the Ikyo...an aikido wrist grab counter...for her ensnared ankle and in milliseconds, she was free. The pain was sudden severe but her powerful inner discipline allowed her to compartmentalize and thus reduce to nothing a pain severe enough to fell athletic men twice her size.

Lady Bullseye's biggest problem was that she'd never seen the fighting style that this Adept was using until now.

The Adept blocked Lady Bullseye's hip crushing punch which accompanied her Plum Flower Fist Rising Block using a highly effective but arcane countering roll of a move that sent Lady Bullseye flying twisting and flipping topsy turvy a good dozen feet.

Lady Bullseye instantly countered with a expertly thrown swarm of shuriken. She saw the Adept almost yawn as she languidly eluded the shuriken Lady Bullseye threw at her, once again using the sword and staff in that strange fluid unknown style. Lady Bullseye expertly righted herself and used the energy of the throw that the Adept executed upon her to ricochet off of trees and service her followup attack upon the Adept.

And Lady Bullseye's followup attack was skillful indeed.

Guileful feint. Heaven to Earth katana cut combined with Swan Hammer sai slash. Spinning elbow strike-horizontal sai slashing figure 8 attack at upper thigh height-double feint ashi footsweep attack-katana migi Gyakugesa-low back kick-retreating angular step out. Swift, clean lithe attacks. All of these were contemptuously eluded and countered furiously by The Adept. Lady Bullseye's retreating angular step became a series of angular backward steps lateral rolls and shuffles, frenetically executed to avoid a counterattack so cold and precise and furious that failure to elude block or escape any one of them would have resulted in her instant death.

But Lady Bullseye did avoid each and every attack. And Lady Bullseye is faster quicker more flexible and possessed of balance superior to Boomerang, Bullseye and Kingpin. But she possessed no physical advantage over this Adept. The Adept was driving Lady Bullseye to the very brink, the very edge of her skills. Even the tiniest mistake by her would result in swift, certain, agonizing death.

She met this ruthless assault with beautiful katanawaza and hiraki-ashi, parrying with only the slightest of energy; allowing The Adept's blade and stick to whirr by her with minimal effort applied to the block. Thereby exposing the wrist of the Adept to Lady Bullseye's severing blade's decapitating slash. But each slash of hers met either air or the cunning parry of stick or sword of The Adept, which served merely as a launching point for another withering assault from The Adept's strange, never before seen fighting method.

Moments later, Lady Bullseye was disarmed of all of her weapons. Her katana spun like a propeller blade and disappeared into the jungle green. Her sai soon followed, twirling end over end. Throwing off glinting winks of sunfire like a tiny moon.

The Adept...fully armed...saw there was no sign of surrender in the eyes of Lady Bullseye. With the fierce power speed and elastic, elusive dexterity of a bamboo whip, Lady Bullseye wove a series of attacks and diagonal movements into a cunning blitzkrieg that allowed her to get passed the daunting reach of The Adept's blade and engage in direct hand to hand combat. The Adept willingly obliged Lady Bullseye, and those watching the contest were treated to the sight of true warriors engaged in high stakes empty hand combat.

The Adept struck everywhere, following the areas of dominion of the orisha Agayu. She was a volcanic eruption of violence striking from literally the sole of Lady Bullseye's foot to the crown of her head; from every angle and curve. These were not separate movements but one continuous move, a sunbeam burst fractured by a prism of ingenious tactics into a prismatic spray of potent technique. The Adept threw dirt from the ground at Lady Bullseye, used the whipping limbs of the jungle trees against her, used the startled movements of birds snakes animals and bugs seeking to avoid their battle against her.

And Lady Bullseye turned those elements back upon her opponent with great cunning, closing with brutal punches of kyokushin karate. Each of her hard, nontelegraphic, snapping punches clove nothing but air as The Adept never even attempted to block these blows but instead eluded Lady Bullseye's strikes with her arms down, and a faintly condescending smirk on her lips. Seamlessly Lady Bullseye flowed into a devilish mixture of the empty hand ninjutsu techniques of Taijutsu predating the human minions of The Hand and Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan. The Adept countered with the alien genius of her unknown and unknowable fighting system, almost absentmindedly eluding every attack that Lady Bullseye tried. Lady Bullseye flashed through a wholly new, spontaneously executed flurry of silat djurus, Choy Li Fut, and Naban. Each was cleanly rebuffed by the maddeningly impenetrable defense of The Adept. Lady Bullseye followed with a withering assault drawn from Bando, some spontaneous things of her own that she crafted on her own, and Chinese Shuai Chaio. These too were repelled with insouciant ease by The Adept. Powered by clean hatred and unflinching determination, Lady Bullseye pulled off a weirdling mixture of Muay Boran, Hung Gar and Chin Na until she finally seized the left pinky finger of her elusive foe. Such was Lady Bullseye's skill, that even this slightest of grasps she immediately turned to her advantage. As only a expertly trained, heartless killer can do, Lady Bullseye innovated on the spot and executed a shoulder elbow wrist and finger snapping variant of a spine and neck wrenching throw with all of her power. In a thousandth of a second, blending judo's makikomi seionage with aikido's trademark irimi nage and aikijujutsu kotagaeshi, she threw her opponent with every ounce of power her body rage and soul could muster.

Lady Bullseye was fairly sure she heard The Adept laugh in derision as she turned all of these techniques against her and threw Lady Bullseye with her own makkikomi seionage-irimi nage-kotagaeshi invention.

Instantly Lady Bullseye countered The Adept with a clever application of BaguaZhang's Single Change in a nonstop expression of circular footwork and flow full of devious blows throws locks and unbalancing techniques. Her movements were blurringly fast, her hands and feet looking like hummingbird's wings flapping with speed so intense as to be nearly invisible.

"You have potential Lady Bullseye." The Adept suddenly pronounced. "You are not a Master, although you think you are. The Widow was right about you. You would be an excellent student if you possessed sufficient quality and strength of character. Unfortunately you lack both. Therefore this light workout...however educational...is over."

Lady Bullseye never saw the blow that felled her.

And she never knew the name of or had an answer for "Usiku Wa Manane Ghadhabu Ya Bast"...The Midnight Fury of Bast...The Wakandan Midnight Angel Fighting Style devised and sharpened under combat to defeat Doctor Doom's Mystic Vibranium enhanced Doombots...wherein no single technique is ever used twice.

The Adept activated her TechnoPathic device.

"It is done HIgh Prince D'Ciggs," she intoned. "Lady Bullseye is defeated."

"Did you learn from her what you sought?"

"I did indeed confirm that she was as mentally dull as Natasha advertised. However, her combat skills--while somewhat subpar--were not a complete disappointment. If they were? I would have fed her the sinwa that you tried to kill us with earlier today. That first batch of sinwa was barely palatable, but that SECOND batch, D'Ciggs..."

"I didn't make a second batch!"

"...Mmmmhmmm," The Adept's skeptical disbelief was obvious. "We all have shortcomings, D'Ciggs. Yours include crimes against humanity masked as sinwa."

"Hahahahahaha!"

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"We moved on the coordinates drawn from The Initializer that Battlestar took from Omega Red, " Ishanta said, "and I took into custody the lackey who was to meet the SuperMercs, along with half a gram of Ashe Matrix Diamonds. As you know, half a gram of the Ashe Matrix is able to power a city the size of New York going nonstop for 150 years. At which time the Ashe Matrix will still have power...just not enough to power the entire city nonstop for everything."

This was pretty much what D'Ciggs expected.

"Excellent, cousin. And?" D'Ciggs prompted.

"The lackey we captured is as...unusual...as you predicted. He...it...has been singularly uncooperative for the last hour."

"Did you expect anything different, Ishanta?"

"Not from THIS being. No. However, I think that I will be able to speedily resolve this matter. The last hour has produced enough information--however scant the information is--for me to formulate a plan."

"Very well, then Ishanta. Apprise me of events." D'Ciggs.

"There is another event that I should apprise you of." Ishanta said.

"I am listening," D'Ciggs.

"There was a sudden assault on the interior resources of Wakandan elite units," Ishanta--the business expert, one of the sharpest and most premier Wakandan financial leaders of all time--tended toward financial terminology in discussions.

"What happened?"

"Your sinwa left us with a major deficit of spirit and owes flavor unsupportable and in fact ruinous bill servicing."

"Did you just describe breakfast in financial terms?"

"No. I described how your sinwa accumulated negative credit in every profitable rubric. It should suffer sanctions in every way."

"Hahahaha!"

"And that second serving of yours.. ." Ishanta began.

"I didn't make a second..." D'Ciggs began

"While misdirection cunning guile and manipulation are to be lauded, dishonesty should be avoided. If one is suspected of or engages in dishonesty then one will create, feed and/or justify the perception that one will not honor one's contractual obligations. No one will do business with you. Your finances and corporation will collapse amid scandal controversy distrust and ruin your reputation amongst all movers and shakers. " Ishanta lectured.

"Hahahaha!"

The quiet melodic drum beat of the Wakandan multienergy analyzer finishing its job interrupted the cousins' banter.

Ahhh," Ishanta observed. "Time to get back to work, cousin."

"Indeed. Keep me informed." D'Ciggs ordered.

"Yes, my High Prince." Ishanta.

Ishanta ended communication, and turned his attention to his most unusual captive.

Large strong tufts of snow white hair covers the intimidating, mightily muscled frame of his captive. Even hunched over in the confines of the Wakandan Ward Major Matrix which entrapped it, Ishanta's captive stood at least 8 feet tall and more. Nearly a thousand pounds or so of life crushing power, jutting fangs springing like the blades of a medieval armory from its upper and lower lips. Its eyeballs were black as midnight, a truly disconcerting sight...especially with its large, luminous azure eyes staring intently, unblinkingly, and very intelligently at Ishanta.

It was a Warped White Baboon, of prehistoric size. Its massive dimensions were such that the few Outworlders who've seen it mistook it for a gargantuan Gorilla...thus, in the same way that Outworlders called The Silver Jaguar a White Tiger, they also mistook the great vicious brilliant cunning White Baboon for the White Gorilla. They also remained wholly clueless of the great religious significance throughout all of Wakanda--not just The Jabari Clan of the North--of the White Baboon. The honorable White Baboon is the specifically anointed animal avatar of Thoth, the judge. The honorable. The visionary. However the Warped White Baboon was he opposite. Perhaps not evil, but certainly malicious corrupted and unkind. This Warped Baboon is part of the pantheon of Set.

The Warped Baboon is a rare species in Nature, it was the natural enemy of the great ebony leopard...the black panthers...so revered in Central Wakanda. The White Baboon is revered by The Jabari Tribe and finds favor in numerous other districts and areas outside of Central Wakanda. It is a part of the pantheon to which Ishanta's God--Bast--belongs.

But this White Baboon possessed the intelligence to understand the spoken word. Of this, Ishanta is certain. And the multienergy analysis he just performed confirmed what he already suspected.

Ishanta spoke directly to it. "You volunteered to be experimented upon by The Red Ghost when he was near Wakanda. His super chimps could not have captured you," Ishanta stated with calm conviction."I know you have enhanced intelligence as a result. Therefore you understand my every word."

Ishanta paused. "I will let you free. As long as you give your word that you will not harm a single Wakandan for any reason as you trek across the country." Another pause. "You did an admirable job of covering your decision to murder me the moment that I dropped my WMM [ Ward Major Matrix ], but I assure you that you will neither succeed nor be granted an honorable death in failure.

If you take a single wayward step from the route I laid for you...complete with real time adjustments designed to ensure you make no contact with any Wakandan on your trek across this country...I will transport you directly to The Red Ghost's laboratory. After I lift every bit of tactical information from your brain.

I am certain you know how Red Ghost will react to such a cataclysmic failure on your part. Even worse? No honorable warriors make such a decision in the first place.

While you ponder these options, further consider the benefits of the offer that is on the table, so to speak, from me and weigh it against the merits and demerits offered to you by your clan and by Red Ghost.

I offer you the chance to make your way to The Jabari Tribe of the North. They venerate White Baboons, as you very well know. They are at war with Central Wakanda...in their minds at least...and you, too are often at odds with Central Wakanda as a whole. There you will be embraced, allowed to engage us in battle, and if you are successful? You will have regained all honors and alpha prominence in both your own clan and in the Jabari Clan. You will be a valued equal or superior to those such as as Red Ghost. You will be alive to savor in this glory and vindication.

Or. You can reject this offer, and by default accept the counteroffer awaiting you from all others: horrible death. And even worse? Betrayal of kith and kin that will reverberate and negatively impact them long after your death.

Do you see this device in my palm? It is a transporter. It will transport you to Red Ghost...along with a full scale holographic account of your capture by me and our conversation...to the laboratory that he currently inhabits. He will doubtlessly be overjoyed to note that you were captured and then apparently divulged the whereabouts of his secret lair in exchange for your life, thus imperiling whatever minor schemes beneath the notice of Wakanda that he hatches. Despite the fact that he is certain to believe that those same schemes we correctly assess as at best being minor exercises proving he is perpetually pathetic beyond any hope of succor, are what he is permanently convinced as being the height of nefarious genius.

See these numbers on the transporter? Yes. I see that you do and you have divined its purpose: it is a timer. You have 20 seconds prior to being transported to Red Ghost. I am certain that...upon learning the specifics of our discourse... he will volunteer you for numerous heinous experiments at his hands prior to your horrible and ghastly expiration.

You now have 15 seconds.

Your word, White Baboon. Your word and you are free to make your way to The Jabari Tribe and thence back to your own clan of White Baboons, should you choose.

9 seconds.

Good bye, White Baboon. It has NOT been a pleasure..."

"You have my word," the sentence was a basso profundo menacing rumble. Unabated, pure malice shone from eyes of wintry hatred glittering cerulean from orbs of the deepest black. Like a blue binary star shining in the black of space.

"Intelligent decision," Ishanta said as he released the White Baboon.

"Should we meet again," the White Baboon's voice was packed with massive bloodlust and echoed like a blast of wind gusting into a cavern." I will crush your skull, tear your head off your shoulders, and feast upon your carcass. Then shall I fertilize your grave with my excrement."

"Should I have the great displeasure of meeting you and your beastly body odor again," Ishanta smoothly responded. "I will first repel your stench with the lovely scents of various Wakandan incense. Then I will effortlessly and summarily execute you. Nothing more. You are not worthy of the effort of crafting a specially heinous death."

A near rabid glare of unfettered primal aggression clashes against the cool dismissive glance of carefully crafted Royal genius. No love lost or gained. They were still enemies.

And then the White Baboon was gone. Melted into the jungle. Just like that.

Ishanta waited until the White Baboon traveled 10 km, not deviating one iota from the path it was given. Then he activated his TechoPathic comms.

"The White Baboon is on its way to The Jabari Tribe, and is being tracked every step of the way by our forces. The very act of this negotiation today means that we will be able to negotiate with it later...and perhaps bring an end to the rivalry between White Baboons and panthers. Reduce the violence between the factions following Set and those of our Bast. Impact the fate of Gods. This plan of yours is...intricate genius, cousin."

"Not my plan," D'Ciggs corrected. "T'Challa's plan. Remember? I explained all of this at the meeting this morning. At least now we know part of the reasons why TChalla didn't wipe both them and The Jabari out long ago."

"You spoke about this plan impacting the gods this morning?" Ishanta queried.

"Yes, cousin."

"Forgive me then, my High Prince. Your words must have been drowned out by your sinwa's attempted hostile takeover of my stomach."

"HAHAHAHA!!"