Black Panther and Storm in The Home Front

Previously in The Black Panther and Storm:

For over ten thousand years warrior kings called Black Panthers ruled and protected the isolated and unconquerable African nation Wakanda. In their isolation Wakanda became the most scientifically advanced nation on Earth. T’Challa was the latest Black Panther, and he believed that his great nation was obligated to use its resources to help the less fortunate; defenseless peoples of the world against tyranny, corruption, and megalomaniac super humans.

Black Panther later married Ororo ‘Storm’ Munroe the non-Wakandan mutant heroine.

 

Story: The Home Front

 

Kallus didn’t warn Soberk about the dangerous Asgardian artefact. Instead the sixty years old man placed the attaché case on the table and he opened it. Revealing the small alien artefact.

“Talasama,” said Kallus.

At the utterance of the command word, the weapon hissed like a copperhead snake  and it produced a green gleam. Then it opened. Kallus watched as a tongue of fire rose sharply from within the artefact.

The fire sensed Soberk’s magic; thus it attacked him. Yet the man held his ground, and he opened his arms invitingly.

The fire engulfed Soberk’s young, slender and athletic body. “AHHH!”

Kallus felt the heat from the blaze while he stood across the room. It was not the first time he saw a human burnt alive. He had burned a few men, women and children in his career. He was familiar with the painful screams, the melted flesh and the smell. But other than for the wretched screams, Soberk’s burning was very different.

Soberk was in immeasurable pain. A mask of flames covered his face; he was blinded. He breathed erratically. Soon he was unable to stand; consequently, he dropped on his knees. He clawed at the air like a wild animal.

But through it all, he concentrated on his father because of the misery that the man had caused in his life. After a while, Soberk was quiet as he channelled everything to the thought of ridding the world of his father.

Kallus was observing the burning man. The fire hadn’t burnt Soberk’s body in the normal way. Rather the thick flames rested on the skin. The flesh became brown and hard.

Kallus sensed the evil within Soberk. It was a sixth sense born from years of working with unsavoury people.

Therefore Kallus knew he had chosen wisely, since he realised that Soberk hadn’t cured the sick in refugee camps with his minimal magic out of kindness, it was for the glory. He enjoyed the world’s attention.

Eventually the fire subsided on Soberk, until it vanished. He stared up at Kallus.

“You have twenty four hours to master the magic. Afterwards we oust your father,” said the spymaster while he noticed that Soberk’s eyes were dark grey. Five minutes ago they were brown.

Kallus was glad that he got the assignment, because it had been a while since he last orchestrated a puppet government.

The Asgardian artefact closed itself; then Kallus shut the attaché case. He walked out the room with the case, and he slammed the door behind him.

Raven was outside. The telepath was thin and five foot six inches tall.

The young woman was concerned about the choice of Soberk. Kallus saw it in her green eyes.

“Walk with me,” he said.

Raven turned and went side by side with her ‘godfather’.

“He is hiding many things from you,” said Raven. “Whenever I scan his mind I find new secrets, hidden in what I can only describe as black boxes. It’s like the last assignment.”

“And like the last assignment, you’re going to open those boxes for me,” said Kallus.

“It took a long time to pick Fury’s brain. Can you really afford to use Soberk without knowing what he is fully thinking?”

“Yes. What of our sleeper agent in Atlantis. Has he stated that the target is destroyed?”

“I’m still trying to reach him, it’s like he’s dead.”

What’s going on down there? Kallus wondered. Could Namor have stopped him?

“By the way have you been paying attention to the virus outbreak?” asked Raven.

“Very much so,” he replied with a cunning smile as he swung opened the door to the helipad.

Besides the overthrow of the Aranzi’s dictator, Kallus had T’Challa and Ororo on his mind. He received word from Exon that they had visited her for information on him.

They have reached that far, thought Kallus.

Chapter

T’Challa checked the twin sleds at the back of the mini submersible. The underwater vehicles were seven feet long. The steering system was easy to understand. The rider lied on his stomach and piloted the sled with the control panel in front of him.

T’Challa shifted his focus to the scuba gear. He checked the tanks, which reconverted carbon dioxide into oxygen. Everything was in order.

Then he studied the reason Ororo and him were headed for Atlantis. Namor. No one had seen or heard from him lately. Thus they all assumed that the submariner had finally had it with the outside world and he now concentrated on his home front.

Could it have come to that? T’Challa pondered. He had known Namor for a long time and pitied him once. For Namor in his attempts to safeguard Atlantis from outsiders sometimes made alliances with the wrong people. Often it was difficult to discern whether Namor was a friend or foe to humanity.

He is too naïve at times, thought T’Challa. He really has not been able to grasp human nature, so the people he genuinely respects are those that are straight forward with him.

T’Challa ventured into the navigation section of the submersible. Ororo piloted the vessel. Also she sent out hails to Atlantis, but there was no response. She scanned the sonar sensors. There was hardly any major movement in the vicinity of the vessel. Her own awareness of the bio electricity in the ocean showed relatively little activity around Atlantis.

“The equipment is fine,” said T’Challa.

“I was thinking. Atlantis could help in finding a vaccine for the virus,” said Ororo.

“Sure enough.”

“Also if Fury doesn’t find anything on the code then we should double our efforts on tracking Exon.”

“Umba does resemble her in some ways.”

Ororo pondered for a moment on Shetani. She didn’t like thinking about him because of her great dislike for the deceased man.

“Probably Shetani was metaphorical when he told Umba his mother was dead,” said Ororo.

“That she was dead to him.”

“Exactly,” said Ororo. “So she is alive. I wonder how Umba will react to that and plus she is a criminal.”

“A criminal we have to capture and interrogate,” said T’Challa and he reflected on his words.

“We’re approaching the pillars,” said Ororo.

T’Challa broke his train of thought, and he peered at the Pillars of Atlantis. There were one hundred pillars that formed a ring around Atlantis. The thick pillars climbed from the Ocean floor towards the surface. At the top of each one was the seal of Atlantis.

The seals protruded the ocean surface and they stood fifteen feet tall. They marked Atlantis’s territory and warned off boats.

“This is where Fury’s team was attacked. We’ll get out and face the guards,” said Ororo.

T’Challa and her quickly got into the scuba gear. Both of them could remain underwater for extended periods of time without artificial assistance. However they used the equipment because of the unpredictably associated with the mission.

T’Challa placed his sword on the right side of his sled. Ororo strapped her knife on the lower left leg, and she rested the tracker for the flight data recorder beacon near the controls. She switched on the device and the signal pointed towards Atlantis. Then she placed her white hair in a ponytail.

The couple kissed. Afterwards T’Challa sealed off the section from the rest of the vessel. On cue, Ororo initiated the flooding process. The ocean water poured into the section.

T’Challa and Ororo mounted their sleds and tested the communication links in the divers’ helmets.

“Do you here me babes?” asked T’Challa.

“I here you loud and clear hon.”

Eventually the section was filled with the icy water. T’Challa opened the door way, and Ororo drove her sled out of the submersible. Followed by T’Challa.

No sooner had they travelled a few metres from the vessel Ororo sensed the bio electricity of several large creatures headed towards them.

Chapter

“Four at 12 o’clock,” said Ororo.

“I see them and they’ re coming in fast.”

Atlanteans were scientifically classified as the mermanus race. They possessed superhuman strength and were naturally fast in water. Added to that was their military expertise.

Therefore T’Challa and Ororo knew they had a slight disadvantage.

“I don’t think they’re going to stop,” she said. Her memory returned to the meeting with Nicholas Fury forty-five minutes ago. He had stressed that the retrieval of the weapon that went down with the S.H.I.E.L.D plane was of great importance to international security.

“This isn’t like Namor. Usually he would stand before trespassers,” said T’Challa.

“Your right,” said Ororo as she remembered the proud king. “We’ll defend ourselves and see if that brings him out.”

“Got it.” T’Challa pressed a trigger on the sword’s handle. The robotic sheath slipped rapidly from the blade and into the hilt.

Then T’Challa stopped the sled’s engine and he pushed himself off with sword in hand. He inhaled deeply and concentrated on the two attackers who propelled towards him. Eventually his hyper vision allowed him to time the attacks.

Both guards carried swords and they swung the weapons concurrently at T’Challa. He in turn was making a slashing arc above his head with the sword. His dark force energy blade sliced through enemies’ swords.

Meanwhile Ororo faced upward and she concentrated on the ocean’s thermocline and surface winds. Her was intention was the manipulation of a major upwelling. Her eyes gleamed white and the arms were akimbo. Instantly the  winds blew strongly on the ocean’s surface, churning the warm upper current. That triggered a natural reaction from the calm cold water that flowed at the bottom of the ocean. Suddenly the cold water rushed upward and into the path of the two attacking guards.

The cold water punched up like a beast and it slammed into the guards. The force knocked them unconscious.

Ororo stopped the strong winds on the surface, her eyes returned to the blue hue and she lowered her head to the defeated guards.

T’Challa swirled around, and he looked for his attackers. They had turned sharply to their left and were then heading towards Atlantis on a different route. Soon their speed took them out of T’Challa’s sight.

Ororo examined the two guards.

“T’Challa do these look like Atlanteans to you?”

He swam to her and he checked the guards’ faces. They were grotesque. Abnormal fin ears protruded from the side of their heads. The pigmentation was a mixture of black and grey. Their teeth were sharp like a carnivore and the fingernails were long and pointed. One of the guards had a necklace of skulls-two were human and the five others were mermanus.

“No.”

Chapter

Atlantis was a dead kingdom. A nation so isolated that one knew of its passing. An eerie silence pervaded the dark homes and avenues. The citizens and soldiers lied scattered about. In the mist of the Atlanteans were the others like the guards and they too lay silently with weapons in their hands. And it appeared that the situation was so for a long time.

“There was a battle here,” commented Ororo.

“From the looks of it nobody won,” said T’Challa. “It also shows that Namor was not being stubborn as usual when he didn’t answer Fury’s calls.”

“To think that if the plane hadn’t crash in Atlantis no one might have discovered this.”

T’Challa stopped his sled, and he surveyed the main metropolis.

“There is the throne hall. Namor might be in it.”

But Ororo looked at the beacon tracker and the time on the control panel. The flight data recorder beacon had a three-hour limit before it died. Normally a flight data recorder beacon lasted thirty days, but Fury had wanted the one in the S.H.I.E.L.D plane to last for a short period. His logic was if he couldn’t find it no one else should.

“I’ll locate the beacon and search for the weapon,” said Ororo.

Subsequently T’Challa headed for the throne hall while Ororo travelled east. The signal grew stronger and she sped up the sled. She passed over hordes of bodies and damaged buildings.

Eventually she found the plane wreckage; it was strewn about the top of a dome building. Ororo left the sled. She found the plane’s tail and the orange flight data recorder was inside of it.

Afterwards Ororo scanned for the weapon. Fury had described it as being small and oval. Engraved on the surface was Surtur the horned and demon like fire creature from the Asgard dimension.

She activated the communications link. “I have the data recorder.”

“Good. I’m entering the palace as we speak.”

“Any sign of the guards?”

“None.”

“Okay. I’ll sweep the vicinity of the wreckage for the weapon in the meantime.”

“Take care.”

“I will.”

Ororo studied Fury’s other suggestion. If T’Challa and her couldn’t find the weapon then they should immediately deliver the flight data recorder directly to him.

T’Challa entered the grand hall. The grandeur of Atlantis architecture was showcased in the palace. Like the Romans, the submariners went for the spectacular in their designs.

Nevertheless the hall was filled with bodies. It stank, because opened wounds had gone unchecked. While several Atlantians and the strange creatures were dead, others had apparently just collapsed.

T’Challa ventured further in and he saw Namor’s cousin and she had also frequented the surface world.

Then he spotted Namor slouched on the steps to his throne.

Chapter

Namor was pink skinned, because he was  half human-his father was an American sea captain and his mother was an Atlantean princess. Oddly enough pure blood Atlanteans were blue pigmented. His royal blood had probably saved him from being an outcast in the Atlantean society.

His body had benefited from a century of fierce combat especially in World War II when he fought alongside the Allies; thus, he had a lean and sturdy build.

T’Challa lifted the king and rested him on the throne. He opened Namor’s right eye; checking the pupil. Then he did the same with the left eye.

“He isn’t dead,” T’Challa muttered. The he called Ororo and told her the news. “It appears to be a coma,” T’Challa said. “Most likely the majority of them are like this.”

“You should take him to the warship for a better analysis. I’ll be alright down here.” The confidence in her voice erased any concerns T’Challa had.

Then he sensed movement behind him; hence he spun around. He came eye to eye with a six-foot bipedal organism that was neither mermanus nor like the guards.

The skinny organism floated back a few meters. The skin was pale yellow, three fingers on the hands and slanted shoulders. There were no visible gills. The face had no eyes, only one gaping dark hole in the cavity of the slender head.

“You shall not remove Namor from Atlantis,” said the organism.

T’Challa heard the guttural voice through the communications link. He wondered if Ororo also picked it up.

“Who might you be?” asked T’Challa.

“I have no name. You appear to be from the surface world that Namor spoke of.”

T’Challa straightened up. “Do you know what happen to Atlantis?”

The organism waved it hands around. “I did this.”

T’Challa tightened his grip on the sword handle. He surmised that Ororo was headed for the throne hall. Also he determined that the organism rode on the communication link radio waves.

“For what reason?” inquired T’Challa.

“Namor and I made a pact. That Atlantis could be reconstructed on my home as long as I’m not disturbed.” The organism waved his hands at the bodies.

And you were, thought T’Challa.

“But from the evidence here, Atlantis was attacked. I guess the battle disturbed you. But you can’t punish Namor and Atlantis for that. It might have been out of their hands.”

“Correct. That’s why I have done Namor a favour. He told me of his troubles with the outside world. I saw that it burdened him. So by putting him in eternal rest I have helped him. I have used the savages as guards to Atlantis so there are no more disturbances.”

Ororo entered the throne room on the sled. The organism was slightly startled by her arrival. She left the vehicle and soon joined T’Challa.

“You can undo this?” asked Ororo. She had heard the entire conversation over her communications link.

The organism pondered for a moment. “Of course.”

“There is another solution to all of this. Atlantis can move again. Awaken Namor and we’ll get him to agree,” said Ororo.

“What guarantees are there that the three of you will not turn on me?” asked the organism as it remembered that Namor had a violent temper.

“You have our word,” said T’Challa.

“I also had Namor’s word,” the organism said angrily.

T’Challa had a gusty idea, but it required Ororo’s approval. Thus he stared at her. The exquisite beauty looked back at him. His eyes transmitted that he wanted to take a bold chance. In response, Ororo held his hand and nodded slightly. Then T’Challa returned his attention to the organism.

“If Namor doesn’t agree or we attack, then you can put us to rest like the others,” said T’Challa.

The organism contemplated.

T’Challa turned to Ororo. “Your all right with this?”

“Perfectly,” she answered.

The organism interrupted. “You will risk your lives to help him. Why?”

“Because he’s a friend of ours,” replied T’Challa.

The organism took its time. “So be it,” the creature eventually said. Then with a simple hand gesture it awakened Namor. Afterwards the organism vanished.

Chapter

“ATTUMA!” shouted Namor as he opened his eyes and he clenched his fists. He stood sharply due to his warrior instincts. He breathed rapidly. Then he saw the battlefield that was his throne room. Thereafter T’Challa and Ororo.

“What? What are you doing here?” asked Namor as he controlled his breathing.

“We came to Atlantis on behalf of Fury and found this,” replied T’Challa and he opened his left arm to indicate the bodies.

“A creature that you made a pact with placed you and the attackers in a coma,” said Ororo.

A frowning Namor was descending from the throne. “The Ancient did this?”

“That’s what you call him?” asked T’Challa.

“He’s older than Atlantis even the one that once existed on the surface. I accidentally discovered him when rebuilding the kingdom here,” replied Namor.

“You have to relocate Atlantis. It’s the only way he’s going to revive the rest of the kingdom,” said Ororo.

But Namor had moved away before she had finished. He darted towards a specific non-mermanus creature. It was the largest one of them all- seven feet long and bulky.

“Attuma,” said Namor while he stared at his nemesis that wanted rulership of Atlantis. “I rather slay you in open combat than like this.”

Namor turned to Ororo. “I have no qualms in relocating to save my nation. But it will take time to find a new place.”

Yet Namor had an issue. His couldn’t allow his people to be scattered again. That had occurred when his renegade son destroyed the last Atlantis. It was a personal tragedy for him as both a king and a father.

The Ancient reappeared above the three. “Then time you shall have, but Atlantis will rest until then.”

Chapter

What do I tell T’Challa and Ororo? Nicholas Fury pondered.

He recalled his meeting with the contact from the US Department of Defence. Retired Major Richard Bradman worked as a consultant at the agency and he had outlined the situation to Fury.

“The organisation and I use the term loosely, that existed before S.H.I.E.L.D was never dissolved. Instead it went off reservation. Privately funded so no government subcommittee oversight nonsense and no drastic change in policies whenever a new administration comes in. Occasionally they get directives, but it’s mostly them calling the shots,” said Bradman and he pushed back the page that had the code T’Challa and Ororo had given Fury.

“Also they aren’t affiliated to any flag,” continued Bradman.

“So they don’t operate on behest of the US government?” asked Fury.

“Nope.” He stared at Fury. “These are the good guys no matter how they appear. They’re on our side.”

It was the ‘good guys’ term that bothered Fury on his flight to the navy warship Freedom. T’Challa and Ororo had discovered the code in their search for Wakanda’s Queen Mother kidnapper.

The organisation must have taken her for information, thought Fury. That was her value. But then they tried to kill her.

“That’s the difference between them and me, I have a conscience sometimes,” Fury muttered.

Still can I give up these people to T’Challa and Ororo? He wondered.

Fury was also intrigued by the organisation. While his own dealt publicly with superhuman threats the predecessor had operated silently in the background. At first the truth baffled him, because he believed that he knew everything about the spy business. His extensive knowledge was due to his slow ageing since the end of World War II. As a result, he was there when all the known spy agencies were built up throughout the world. He knew the backdoors, the contacts and the systems.

His ego was jolted when Bradman broke the news that there was an entity he was oblivious too. It also meant that there were spymasters like him in the organisation, and they would be equally experienced.

The plane approached the warship’s flight deck. Fury checked his watch.

T’Challa and Ororo should be back by now, he thought.

The plane taxied and halted. Fury disembarked and the deck crew stood at attention for the S.H.I.E.L.D Director. He had a forty-year-old appearance. His body was built like a commando for speed, stamina and strength. The hair was a mixture of black and grey.

Fury went directly to his office. He had given instructions that the office was off limits.

He opened the door. T’Challa and Ororo were seated at the desk and the flight data recorder was on it.

What to tell them? He asked himself.

Chapter

Ororo knew Fury from when S.H.I.E.L.D dealt with the X men in mutant affairs. She explained Namor’s predicament.

“No one else must know this,” stated Ororo. “With regards to the weapon. It was not there.”

The Ancient had helped in the search and he did not tamper with the plane wreckage.

“All right,” said Fury now eager to view the information on the flight data recorder.

“What do you have for us?” asked T’Challa.

Fury looked at him with his good right eye. The left eye was damaged in France at end of World War II; thus, a patch covered it.

“I didn’t get a name but he’s apart of a wider organisation. Non affiliated to any country. They are on our side. He might be a rogue element. The only way I see them handing him over is if you have something to trade,” replied Fury. He had added the last part so at least the couple had a chance.

“That’s all?” asked T’Challa.

“That’s all,” said Fury.

“And you can’t give us the contact’s name?” inquired Ororo.

“No,” replied Fury.

There was a brief pause.

“Okay Nick,” said Ororo, standing. “If anything else comes up please inform us.”

“Will do,” said Fury.

T’Challa rose, said something to his sword, and then the couple vanished from the office.

Fury quickly opened the flight data recorder, and a compact disc ejected from it. He took the disc and inserted it into his computer. He selected the recent footage and he pressed PLAY.

The Asgardian artefact was in the cargo area and four androids guarded it. Suddenly a masked woman teleported into the cargo area. There was a gunfight between her and the androids. The thief won. She held the artefact and then teleported out of the plane. Meanwhile the plane was damaged, and it began a rapid descent.

Fury stopped the video. He hit REWIND. Then he played it slowly.

His sanity had just taken a heavy blow, because only he knew of the plane’s existence. The artefact was the first item that was entrusted into S.H.I.E.L.D’s care when he was appointed director. The weapon stored a piece of Surtur.

As a result, Fury had placed the artefact on the computer piloted plane. The plane was never to land. It was refuelled by another computer piloted plane in mid air.

He scratched his forehead.

Whoever was responsible went through my mind and got the intel, he thought.

“So what else could they have uncovered?” he asked gravely.

Chapter

T’Challa just finished a video conversation with Namor where the king expressed his gratitude to Ororo and him.

Ororo entered the communications room. “Umba knows.”

A few minutes later, T’Challa and Ororo were downstairs in the living room with Umba.

The fifteen-year-old revealed the manner he found out Nakia Exon was his mother.

“My mother is as worst as my father, but at least he acknowledge that I was his son,” remarked Umba.

Ororo hugged him. “T’Challa and I will help you get through this. If ever you want to talk-”

“I don’t feel like talking about it,” said Umba.

“Still we are here if ever,” said T’Challa. His hands were clasped between the knees while the elbows rested on the thighs. He sat on the edge of the chair. He stared at his wife and ward.

Ororo glanced at him. She had remembered their earlier conversation about Exon. So did T’Challa.

Gradually Ororo released Umba. “I have to tell Enzi.”

“Okay,” said Ororo.

Then he left them and went in his room. Afterwards T’Challa reflected on the trials Umba had faced: the blindness, the super power he was given that was more a curse than anything else and the death of his father.

Now this, thought T’Challa.

He sat correctly in the chair and Ororo settled on his lap. Her arm was around his neck.

“We can’t bring along the next time we find her,” Ororo said.

“Your correct.”

Then they kissed.

In the next several hours the couple concentrated on the mystery virus. The epidemic had gripped the world. T’Challa and Ororo negotiated for a virus sample from the World Health Organisation for Wakanda’s virologists.

The scientists soon discovered the great complexity of the matter. Hours passed and the search for a quick vaccine became more a wish than reality.

T’Challa and Ororo left the Bio Hazard Division, and they returned home to rethink their strategy. Incidentally they made love. It was a quick noisy combustion of passion born out the frustration for the search of the mercenary contractor and the seeming futility of the finding a vaccine for the virus.

Chapter

The Capital of Aranzi.

The Great House

Alex Soberk stormed into his father’s house. Fire poured out of his hands and it incinerated everyone in his path. He repelled bullets with hand gestures.

 His target was his father-the dictator.

The old man was on the fourth floor of the Great House. Soberk sensed his location; he closed in for the kill like a predator. On his way, he murdered his elder and younger brothers who defended their father. The siblings cried out, as they were burned alive.

But before Soberk had killed his young brother, he had taken the man’s mobile phone and used it. Then he crushed the device in his hand.

Soon afterwards, he came upon his father. The bald man cowered at his son’s feet. In an instant, he was black ash blowing across the room and through the balcony doorway.

The flames died down in Soberk’s hands.

“Its finished,” he said.

Kallus and a masked woman-Glimmer-teleported near to Soberk.

“Well done son,” commented Kallus.

“I’m not your son,” shot back Soberk.

Kallus ignored it; he handed Soberk a document and a list. “The first one is the speech that you will give the nation and the world media. The list provides the actions you will take in the next few days. Curing the virus and healing the infected are the major priorities.”

Soberk smiled. “You have this all worked out.”

Kallus didn’t answer. He had Soberk right where he wanted him. The power boost he had given the man was temporary and addictive like heroin. Soberk would require more of the boost from time to time.

Kallus knew about the Asgard artefact because it was his father and an army team that retrieved it from the Asgard dimension. Therefore Kallus knew it was placed in Fury’s hands.

The spymaster glanced at Glimmer and the woman understood. Thus Kallus and her disappeared.

Soberk stared at the capital city from the balcony. Aranzi was now his country and his intended rule would be without outside help. He grinned.

“Whatever your real name is sir. You are a fool. You can pull my strings for now but it won’t be so forever,” he said.

Chapter

T’Challa stroked Ororo’s exposed back as he sat on the edge of the bed. She smiled at him. Then the kimoyo rang and he answered it. There was a text message that read:

My name is Alex Soberk. I require your urgent help.

Next Story: Soberk’s Ascension Part I

~ by blackpantherfanstories on July 1, 2009.