The Black Panther
Kara wasn’t kidding when she said SHIELD had non-Framework related things to deal with. Not a day after disposing of the Darkhold did she receive word from President Ellis that Ulysses Klaue had robbed a British museum and apparently stolen a bit of vibranium. He saw it as an opportunity to bring Klaue to justice which is how Kara wound up sitting in a club in Busan, South Korea with CIA Agent Everett Ross. They were planning on buying the vibranium from Klaue so they could then arrest him. No sooner did Kara sit down did a man she distinctly recognized though was definitely expecting to turn up approach the table.
“Agent Ross.” T’Challa, the new King of Wakanda greeted Ross.
“Your Highness.” Ross replied.
“And I don’t believe we have met.” T’Challa said to Kara.
“I’d remember meeting royalty.” Kara chuckled. “Kara.”
“It’s good to meet you.” T’Challa nodded. “So you are buying from Klaue.”
“What we’re doing or not doing on behalf of the US government is none of your concern.” Ross chimed in coldly. “Now whatever the hell you’re up to, do me a favor and stay out of my way.”
“I gave you Zemo.” T’Challa stated.
“Didn’t I keep it under wraps that the King of a third world country runs around in a bulletproof cat suit?” Ross scoffed. “I’d say we’re even.” T’Challa raised an eyebrow and flitted his gaze to Kara.
“Relax I work for SHIELD we’re already aware of what you do.” Kara assured him. “We were aware of your father’s activities too.”
“Regardless who you work for, Klaue is leaving out that door with me.” T’Challa stated firmly. “You’ve been warned.” And with that, he turned to walk away. Kara turned her head and fixed Ross with a glare.
“This wouldn’t happen to be why The President asked SHIELD to take part in Klaue’s arrest would it?” Kara frowned.
“When we found out Klaue was selling Vibranium I told President Ellis we might need super powered backup and he called you.” Ross stated. “Since it was Vibranium related I had a hunch the Wakandan government might send someone to get him. After all Klaue stole from them about thirty years ago.”
“Well next time I’d really appreciate a heads up.” Kara snapped. “Cause SHIELD’s got a lot going on right now as it is.” They stood up and walked over to where T’Challa was now standing. As they did, Ross made contact with his men telling them T’Challa was present and he couldn’t leave with Klaue.
“Alright.” Ross said to T’Challa. “Vibranium from the attack on Sokovia links back to a person I’m not saying actually we’re here to make a deal with but that deal will not be called off. When the dust settles, the three of us can work something out.”
“I am not here to make a deal.” T’Challa stated bluntly.
“This’ll really go a lot smoother if we can work this out now before Klaue actually gets here.” Kara sighed. “Otherwise it’s gonna end up being a whole thing, we’re gonna botch each other’s operations, and Klaue is going to get away.”
“That is why I’m telling you to now to let me handle this.” T’Challa stated.
---
“You wanted to see me sir?” Garrett asked as he entered Leopold’s office.
“Yes.” Leopold nodded. “I want you to take a team to the Citadel. If Ophelia is correct then The Patriot is going to be launching a rescue mission to retrieve Doctor Radcliffe. Make sure that stepping foot in the Citadel is the last thing they ever do.”
“You got it boss.” Garrett grinned.
“I have something that might be of use.” Leopold added as he stood up. He picked up the cold gun and held it in front of Garrett. “Donnie Gill developed this before his untimely death. I had R&D study it and they were able to replicate the weapon. This is the original which I will be keeping.” Leopold held the gun almost tenderly in his hands and aimed it at a plant in the corner of the room. The cold flame shot out and the plant froze.
“Impressive!” Garrett laughed. “Oh that’s gonna be very useful.”
---
Daisy and Ward entered the hangar where the rest of the team was waiting. The team consisted of a lot of people Daisy recognized from the real world. There was Mace, Stephanie Malick, Lincoln, James of all people, Vijay Nadeer, and to her surprise, Trip, Isabel Harley, and Bobbi, as well as Phil, Ward, and herself. Even this world’s versions of Natasha Romanoff and Clint Barton were there. There were also a number of other agents coming along that she didn’t know. Ward raised an eyebrow when he saw Bobbi. Daisy noticed she looked pretty terrible.
“Can you give me a moment?” Ward said to Daisy. She nodded and went to join the others. Ward walked over to Bobbi and hauled her aside.
“What the fuck Ward?!” Bobbi exclaimed.
“What are you doing here?” Ward demanded.
“I’m going on the mission.” Bobbi stated.
“No you’re not.” Ward insisted.
“Mace already approved.” Bobbi snapped. “I’m going.”
“It’s a bad idea Bobbi.” Ward said. “You’re going to get yourself killed. Lance wouldn’t want you to do this.”
“I don’t care!” Bobbi exclaimed. “Lance is gone! That place took him from me! What would you have done if it had been Skye? You’d blow that building to kingdom come! There’s nothing you can say that’ll change my mind.” Ward sighed. He really didn’t want her coming along on the mission but there really wasn’t anything he could do to stop her.
---
The energy in the room suddenly shifted when Kara saw Klaue stroll into the lounge. His men were clearly armed despite the lounge’s “no weapons allowed” rule. With this many people, Kara was glad she’d picked up Lincoln’s powers for this mission as they tended to be more precise. And as she looked around the room, she could tell T’Challa and his entourage, two black women who’d been watching the doors, one of whom was wearing a wig, knew Klaue had arrived as well and were likely about to make their move.
“Well that is quite the entourage.” Ross said as Klaue and his men approached him and Kara. “You got a mixtape coming out?”
“Oh yeah.” Klaue laughed. “Yeah actually there is one. I’ll send you the soundcloud link if you like. Hey Dave can you get him the tape?” Ross frowned at this and stopped him.
“Please don’t make me listen to your music I just meant you got a lotta people with you.” Ross sighed.
“You think they’re for you?” Klaue chuckled. “Don’t worry. I can do a deal with you all by myself thank you very much. Who’s the lovely lady?”
“This is my wife.” Ross answered, gesturing to Kara. They’d gone over the cover before the meet so she was prepared for this. “She’s the one with the love of Vibranium.”
“Ah, love.” Klaue smiled, massaging Ross’s shoulder. “Gotta keep romance alive. You have the diamonds?” Kara noticed six more men entering the lounge. She could feel this situation was like a powderkeg waiting to go off. Ross nodded to a woman behind them with a briefcase.
“Vibranium?” Ross asked. At that, Klaue unzipped his pants and pulled out the package.
“Oh my god.” Kara sighed.
“Well I was gonna buy a fancy suitcase but I thought I’d save myself the money.” Klaue shrugged. Kara noticed a scuffle between one of T’Challa’s women and two of Klaue’s guards.
“Shit.” she whispered as one of them fell over the railing and onto a table.
“Wakandans! They’re here!” Klaue shouted, firing his gun at Ross. He and Kara dove behind a table where T’Challa was already in cover.
“You know I remember someone saying something about how we were gonna fuck up each other’s operations!” Kara shouted. She fired off two bolts of lightning, nailing two of Klaue’s men. In the chaos, Kara managed to disable several of the goons. She also saw Klaue fire some kind of plasma cannon at T’Challa, knocking him off the rail. Helping him up, the two of them ran out of the building.
“My sister is going to get us a car.” T’Challa stated.
“Oh so now you wanna work together?” Kara snapped.
“Just help me get to Klaue!” T’Challa sighed. A car drove up behind them. T’Challa took off running and a Black Panther suit materialized on his body. The car sped up on it’s own and T’Challa jumped on top of it. Kara meanwhile climbed on her bike which was nearby and they drove off in pursuit of Klaue’s SUVs. Kara swerved to the right when she saw T’Challa go left. She managed to catch up with the SUVs and shot off a lightning bolt at the wheels of one of them, causing it to flip and crash. A bald woman climbed out of the silver car also chasing the SUVs and extended a cylinder into a spear. The woman threw the spear right through the window of the back SUV which caused it to crash. Kara swerved through traffic and managed to catch up with Klaue’s SUV with T’Challa’s entourage close behind. She then saw Klaue climbing out the window and aiming his arm cannon at the silver car. The pulse fired and completely obliterated the car. The bald woman on top flipped through the air. Kara slowed enough to allow her to land on the bike.
“Thank you.” the woman said. “Don’t lose him.”
“Not planning on it.” Kara replied. “What’s your name?”
“Okoye.” the woman answered.
“Kara.” Kara replied. She drove them right up alongside Klaue’s car and Okoye thrust her spear into the wheel, causing the car to flip and crash. As Klaue crawled his way out of the car, Kara shot a bolt of lightning at his arm cannon.
“Get up you murderer.” Okoye snarled as she dragged Klaue to his feet and pushed him against the wrecked SUV.
“What the hell kind of weapon is this?” Kara frowned, examining the hand. The blue car T’Challa was riding drove up and T’Challa jumped off, rushing towards Klaue.
“Klaue!” T’Challa shouted. “Did you think we would forget?!”
“Hey Your Highness this isn’t really the time.” Kara stated. “Klaue where did you get this weapon.”
“Those savages didn’t deserve it.” Klaue laughed in T’Challa’s direction. T’Challa roared in anger and shoved him against the SUV.
“Look at me murderer!” T’Challa ordered.
“Oh mercy, King. Mercy!” Klaue pleaded.
“Every breath you take is mercy from me.” T’Challa snarled.
“King!” Oyoke shouted in Xhosa.
“The world watches!” the other woman who was with T’Challa hissed also in Xhosa as she rushed over, having apparently hitched a ride with Ross.
“Come on guys.” Ross said from inside his car. “Lets go huh?” Annoyed, T’Challa nodded and shoved Klaue into Ross’ car.
---
“I wanna thank you all for volunteering to come on this mission.” Mace stated to the crowd surrounding him. “This is a mission where we will infiltrate the Citadel and rescue the prisoners. But it is also a mission to capture that godforsaken hellhole and set free everyone who is trapped inside that prison. I’m not gonna stand here and pretend this is gonna be easy or that all of us are gonna make it back alive. In fact I can almost guarantee that this is a suicide mission which some of us will not return from. But that is a risk we have to take. That prison is a symbol of Hydra’s tyranny. If we can take it, we can show everyone that Hydra is not invincible and that they can be beaten. The plan is to infiltrate the prison and secure the command center so that our Quinjets can come in with our troops so we can secure the prison. If we don’t make it back, I just wanna tell you that it has been my honor and my privilege to serve with each and every one of you. Now mount up.” As Daisy and the rest of the team boarded the Quinjet, she couldn’t help but think just how alike Mace and his Framework counterpart were. All he’d ever wanted was to be a hero. And she knew for a fact that he was.