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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story:  The Mists of Kun Lun

Prologue

The world can considered a very large laboratory and with the right mind along with money any number of things can be done. That was Shogen’s view.

He watched as the doomsday clock reconfigured itself as another hour passed. The clock in its original shape was a cube. There were no dials or digital displays. The clock was set through forces only Shogen understood. Once the clock was set it counted down by changing its features, turning its many blocks into different patterns.

Chapter One

Tibet

Maria Henkel was in a joyous dream. She was back in the Harlem public school she attended as a child. Her teacher Luke Charles was on the board and she hung on his every word. He wore a white and green African garb that hid his arms at times. His clothes were strange much like his accent.

Her attention was drawn to the advent of smoke in the classroom. She raised her hand to point out the situation to her teacher.

“Yes Henkel,” said Luke Charles.

“Smoke sir,” said Henkel and pointed to the door.

“You have to get up,” said Luke Charles.

Those words snapped Henkel out of her dream. She awakened in her bed that was inside the Dragon Saber monastery. There was a peculiar scent inside the bedroom and she found difficulty breathing. She went to the window and opened it.

The man appeared from nowhere outside of the window. A black mask covered his face and he wore a military helmet. Startled, Henkel moved back. Then she heard the shot from the rifle that the man pointed at her.

Meanwhile

Wakanda, the Administrative Building

“I will be straight with you Kana,” said T’Challa. “I want to bring the White Gorilla clan back into the thick of things and I want to use you to achieve that objective. Do you have a problem with that?”

“I figured as much when Shuri assigned me over here. I have no problem as long as you remain straight with me. I also think that you are a person who does not like ‘yes men’ around him and I was never a boot licker,” said Kana.

“You guessed correctly,” said T’Challa. “This is your office.”

T’Challa opened the door and walked inside the small office. There was the customary desk and computer.

“What is it I’m supposed to do here?” asked Kana.

“Paper work,” replied T’Challa.

Kana sat in his chair and rested his hands on the desk.

“What’s the first assignment,” said Kana.

T’Challa was impressed since he expected a little whining from Kana. The man was in his early twenties. He was an elite commando for last three years. He had the ability to throw almost any object with accuracy and enough force to be lethal.

“I’m putting you on a team,” said T’Challa. He was thirty five years old and well built.

“I thought that I was teaming up with you, Ororo and Shuri,” said Kana.

“Not right now. I’m putting you on a team with Franklyn Richards to gain experience at this level,” said T’Challa.

“Who is he?”

“He is a kid. But don’t let that fool you. Franklyn is an omega mutant with reality changing capabilities. He has travelled as far as the 41^st century as a both a child and as an adult. He is very experienced. The name of his team is Fantastic Force.

“You will run two missions with them afterwards I want detailed reports,” said T’Challa.

“Okay,” said Kana.

“He will be picking you up in the next two minutes,” said T’Challa

“Here?”

“Yes. His teleportation configuration has been cleared for the building,” said T’Challa. “Good luck.”

Then T’Challa left the office. He made mistakes before in trying to mend relations between the White Gorilla clan and his. Kana seemed like the last hope of any future unification of the once friendly clans. The schism between the two clans impacted negatively on the wider Wakandan society. T’Challa could not allow that to continue.

The Marsh Lands

The women slowly painted the spiritual markings on Ororo’s body. The yellow and blue circles and lines were intricately placed by skillful hands.

“We are done,” said one of the women.

Ororo opened her eyes and looked at herself in a mirror that was presented to her.

“They look beautiful,” said Ororo.

“Now you are ready for the meditation,” said another woman.

The group was inside the council room that was next door the mediation grounds. This was Ororo’s first time at the mediation ceremony that the Marsh Landers performed.

Normally there was tension between the government and the Marsh Landers, but Ororo wanted to understand these people better from the inside.

The Marsh Landers were mystics and the ceremony was a means for them to be in tune with nature. Ororo being a mutant weather manipulator relished the chance to perform the same meditation she did privately with the group.

The white haired and blue eyed Ororo was led out of the council house and into the meditation grounds. Men and women were seated together on the dry earth. The group had their legs crossed and eyes closed. Their bodies were also painted in the same manner as Ororo’s. The ground was shaded by the crowns of majestic Nemyan trees.

The thirty year old Ororo sat down with her hosts and meditated. She tapped into the rhythm of the Earth.

Tibet,

Henkel was grazed by the bullet and she fell to her side. She kept on the floor and crept to the pants that she had flung off before going to sleep. She thanked God for her untidiness.

She got to the pants and took out the small satellite phone. Then she speed dialed T’Challa aka Luke Charles.

Henkel heard noises behind her and she knew that the shooter had forced his way through the window. The rifle went off again.

Chapter Two

“Do you sense that?” asked Ororo.

“I do,” replied T’Challa.

The couple stood on a bank that overlooked the Xhinto Valley that was apart of the Kun Lun Mountain Range. Her focus was on the movement of the air currents that flowed down the side of the mountain. She knew that T’Challa was attuned to nature as she was. It was a commonality that they had.

“It has a graceful rhythm,” said T’Challa.

“Indeed,” said Ororo.

“Did you pick up the truck engines?”

“Of course?” replied Ororo. “And a small aircraft is headed this way.”

“It has an extremely small motor,” said T’Challa.

“Must be a spy plane,” said Ororo. “Here it comes.”

The predator spy plane flew across the couple who were in invisible commando uniforms. The plane looked like an innocuous model plane used for hobbyists. The transparent orb at the center gave away the plane’s true purpose. Several camera lenses moved around like eyes.

T’Challa scanned the source of the transmissions to the spy plane from the mini computer in his face mask. Then he told Ororo the coordinates.

“I will check that out,” said Ororo. “You go to the monastery.”

“All right,” said T’Challa.

The couple hugged each other and then separated.

T’Challa headed east. He made light work of the terrain that was made up of fields and patches of dry earth. The Dragon Saber monastery resided on the cliff of the Hanso Mountain.

An anti teleportation field was around the mountain so T’Challa could not use his time space sword to reach the monastery quickly. He made up for the hindrance by climbing the mountain side with the use of claws from his gloves.

Henkel’s connection to the military activity in the area made no sense to T’Challa. Henkel was just a nineteen year old woman from New York who came to the Kun Lun region. She was a straight A student in his class and had kept the characteristic throughout her life. Henkel being involved in anything wrong seemed preposterous.

From what T’Challa understood the Chinese secret service was behind whatever operation was being carried out. There was a communications black out in the area and only the government agency could do such a thing. If not for the satellite phone that Henkel used she would not have got in contact with him.

He considered Henkel a friend and she attended his wedding. That made T’Challa suspect that Henkel may have got herself involved with a local guy from the area and that was the reason for the trouble. Then again, that scenario didn’t seem likely for this level of response from the Chinese.

T’Challa reached the cliff and saw several masked soldiers outside of the monastery. There was another thing. A large satellite dish was in front of  the monastery and it made a constant clockwise sweep. The satellite dish was mounted to the tray of a truck.

T’Challa thought: “What is going on?”

He sniffed the air and his hyper sense of smell told him that there were other people within the monastery.

He made to move across the courtyard and enter through the side. Suddenly the satellite dish swung around and pointed at him. The guards became alert and drew their weapons.

T’Challa got a wave of transmissions over his scanner.

“It must be one of them,” said someone.

“Team One engage. Team Two remain inside the monastery.”

The guards pointed their weapons at him and fired. But something else had caught T’Challa’s attention. He felt strangeness in the air like it had been altered.

Chapter Three

The surveillance center was setup like a military camp. Tents and trailer trucks were bunched together and guarded by heavily armed men.

Ororo noticed that the satellite dishes around the surveillance center suddenly were focus on her. A spy plane came over her and then it hovered.

“Halt,” said a voice from the spy plane.

Ororo felt a sudden burst on the magnetic fields around her and then she realized that her uniform’s invisibility was gone.

“Hmmm. You are not one of them, how disappointing,” said the voice from the spy plane.

“Identify yourself,” said Ororo.

“You first,” said the mystery person.

“I came here for Maria Henkel,” said Ororo.

“Really now and if I hand her over you will simply go away?”

“Yes,” replied Ororo.

“If only we lived in such a perfect world,” said the person. “You are under arrest for espionage in Chinese territory.”

“I don’t think so,” said Ororo.

“You dear to address the Emperor’s son like that?” asked the person.

“I don’t care whose son you are,” said Ororo.

A gust of wind lifted Ororo above the camp and the spy plane followed her.

“Hold on. We may have a misunderstanding, come into my tent and we can discuss a peaceful resolution,” said the person.

“Which one?” asked Ororo.

“The large blue tent to the right,” replied the person.

Ororo hurled a bolt of lightening onto the tent and thunder cracked across the camp.

A commotion started in the tent as a fire was doused and several men ran out.

The apparent speaker on the spy plane came out of the tent and walked over to where Ororo hovered. He put up his hand to her catch attention. He was in his early thirties. His shirt sleeves were rolled up; he wore a tailor made pants and combat boots.

“That was uncalled for,” said the man.

“Who are you?” asked Ororo.

“Shogen, the Emperor’s Son.”

“Okay let me lay down the law. You will tell me everything and obey my orders or I will sweep you all away to Siberia,” said Ororo and thunder rumbled along the Kun Lun Mountains.

“Settle down lady,” said Shogen. “I still want to talk.”

“Speak. What are you doing here?”

“I’m on a quest to find the guardians to the Jade Emperor, my ancestor,” replied Shogen. “Unfortunately that cannot happen now since you would have drawn the attention of the national army. That means that I cannot stop what I needed the guardians for.”

“Tell me,” said Ororo.

“Sorry it is none of your concern. You may carry out your threats since they have no affect on the future right now,” said Shogen.

He called out a soldier and said, “Release the prisoners.”

“The rest of the soldiers will remain where they are until the authorities arrive,” said Ororo.

“That won’t do,” said Shogen. “You forget I’m a descendant of the Jade Emperor and you are just another super powered freak.

“It’s time to demonstrate my powers,” said Shogen and snapped his fingers.

Ororo waited for some kind of instant manifestation from Shogen.

“Well,” said Ororo.

“You here it now?” asked Shogen.

Ororo didn’t hear it but felt the movements in the atmosphere. War planes were headed for the area.

The guards brought the prisoners out at gun point. They were ten monks and Henkel. They appeared to be in good health.

“Take them,” said Shogen.

“I’m still handing you over to the authorities,” said Ororo.

“I own the authorities as you will see shortly,” said Shogen. “So what is your next move?”

Ororo lifted the prisoners on a gust of wind and brought them next to her.

“Sto-“ said Henkel.

“Shush,” said Ororo. “Are these all the prisoners?”

“Yes,” replied Henkel.

Eight warplanes flew overhead.

“Stay calm,” Ororo said to the group.

“The monks are kind of use to levitation,” said Henkel.

“I going to move us very quickly now,” said Ororo. “And rain is coming.”

Chapter Four

The sudden thunderstorm covered Ororo’s retreat and hampered the fighter jets. Henkel advised her on a suitable location where they could hide. The group went into a cave that was in the vicinity of the XhenValley.

“Is anyone hurt?” asked Ororo.

“No,” replied the group.

Henkel hugged Ororo.

“Thanks for coming,” said Henkel. “Where is T’Challa?”

“At the monastery,” replied Ororo.

The monks huddled together and spoke in a language that Ororo’ didn’t understand.

“What’s going on over there?” Ororo asked Henkel.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen them since I retired for bed,” replied Henkel.

“How is it that you’re in the monastery?”

“I come every year.”

The monks turned to the women. They all looked the same regretfully to Ororo. Then one of the monks spoke in English.

“Thank you for saving us,” said the monk, and he bowed to Ororo.

“What did Shogen want from you?” asked Ororo.

“The dragons from the stars,” replied the monk. “He believes that they make contact with us.”

“Do they?” asked Ororo.

“Not directly,” replied the monk.

“Can you be clearer?”

“We sense them at times. The legend of their visits to our world was passed down to us.”

“I have to return to the monastery to check on my husband. I’ll be back,” said Ororo.

“Be careful,” said Henkel.

“Stay put,” said Ororo, and then she flew out of the cave.

The thunderstorm was still present. Ororo flew as fast as she could to the monastery.

Ororo found the place vacant when she arrived. She scanned for bio electricity and found nothing.

She flew around the monastery to make sure and then went inside. Ten minutes later, Ororo emerged with no luck. She turned on the tracker in her kimoyo to locate T’Challa’s and there was no signal.

“Where is he?” asked Ororo.

Chapter Five

T’Challa was conscious but bounded to a stockade in the center of the plaza. A small city was around him. He smelt the strange odor of beings that were inside of the nearby buildings and felt their eyes on him.

He was tired for some reason like a parasite drained him slowly. He tugged on the stockade with no success in breaking free.

There was light in the grey sky. The peculiar color of the sky made him certain that he was not on Earth.

He just needed to be patient and wait on his captors to reveal themselves. Soon after, T’Challa felt a presence behind him.

A thirty feet tall reptilian creature came in front of him. It resembled a black dragon. The beast moved softly despite its size.

“Do you understand me?” asked the dragon in clear English. Its breath washed over T’Challa.

“Yes,” replied T’Challa. “What is this place?”

“Wrong question, a better one would be how longer do you have to live,” said the dragon.

“And what is the reason for my execution?” asked T’Challa.

“No fear is in your voice,” said the dragon.

“Does that surprise you?”

“Not really. You are a soldier. I want to know who you work for.”

“I’m T’Challa the Black Panther leader of nation the Wakanda. I’m a soldier for my people.”

“Leader of a nation, how odd so am I,” said the dragon. “Why were you at the monastery?”

“I’m on a rescue mission for a friend,” replied T’Challa.

“What does this friend look like?”

“A young woman, dark hair, brown eyes, she was staying at the monastery.”

“I’ve seen her,” said the dragon. “So you weren’t there for the elders?”

“I went to safeguard anyone that needed it.”

“I would have said the same thing if I was in your circumstance,” said the dragon and it faded away.

T’Challa believed he was in the city of K’un L’un that his friend Danny Rand aka Iron Fist spoke of. The mountains of Tibet were named after the mythical city.

The locks on the stockade opened and T’Challa fell forward from his fatigue.

“What is causing my weakness?” he muttered.

He heard footsteps and heartbeats. He looked up and saw that the city dwellers came out of their homes. The people were humanoid. There were children, adults and the elderly. Their clothes were made from light fabrics and varied in colors and styles.

T’Challa forced himself to stand upright.

The people formed a ring around him. He looked at them blankly and avoided eye contact.

“What now?” he asked.

Someone was pushed out of the crowd; it was one of the guards at the monastery. He was still in his combat attire. Seven other guards were tossed out of the crowd.

T’Challa felt the presence again and turned. The dragon looked down on him.

“Only one of you can leave and that will be the last man standing,” said the dragon. “To do otherwise will mean an eternity in the Ninth Hell.”

T’Challa scanned the guards. They seemed healthy and not weakened like he was.  They looked at each other and from their body language decided to take on T’Challa first as a group.

T’Challa glanced back for the dragon, but it had disappeared again. The crowd was quiet.

The guards formed a circle around T’Challa and edged closer. They waited on a signal. Then it came in the form of a grunt.

In T’Challa’s weakened state finesses was not an option for the battle. He needed swiftness and brutality. He inhaled deeply as the trap closed on him like the jaws of death.

His opponents were like snails in his eyes. He seized one and used him like a bat to knock the away the others. T’Challa tore into them before any re group could take place. His punches took all his will and they had to count.  Then T’Challa exhaled when the last guard fell.

The crowd remained silent and T’Challa wanted to know if he still was to be released. He looked for the dragon and saw a man in the beast’s place.

The man was six feet seven inches tall. A colorful three headed dragon tattoo was exposed on his barrel chest. A mask hid half of his face. The clothes he wore were made from a silky material.

“Who are you?” asked T’Challa.

“The Dragon Emperor.”

“Will I be released or is there some trickery involved?” asked T’Challa.

“You are free,” said the Dragon Emperor.

Several people from the crowd took up the guards.

“What’s going to happen to them?”

“Death,” replied the Dragon Emperor.

“I can’t allow that,” said T’Challa.

The Dragon Emperor was stone faced. He slowly glared at T’Challa.

“This is my world and the law states that unwanted outsiders are put to death,” said the Dragon Emperor. “The reasons for such a law should not escape a leader such as you.”

T’Challa felt like falling; he slowed his breathing to combat the urge.

“What did you do to me?” asked T’Challa.

“I wanted to know what you were made of thus the reduced the strength,” replied the Dragon Emperor. “I will take you to the citadel for healing.”

The emperor extended his hand and T’Challa cautiously held it.

Then the two men teleported into the chamber that reminded T’Challa of the insides of a spaceship’s hull. Only the emperor and T’Challa were there. T’Challa noticed that a giant Jade Tiger was painted onto the ceiling.

An emerald crystal turned slowly on a pedestal in front of the men.

“Touch it,” said the Dragon Emperor.

T’Challa did and he felt his strength return.

“Your chi is indeed strong since a weaker person’s hand would have been burnt by the crystal,” said the Dragon Emperor.

“More tricks,” said T’Challa.

The emperor smiled slightly.

“I need allies in your world.”

“I don’t know you that well,” said T’Challa.

“That can be improved upon,” said the Dragon Emperor. “Farewell for now.”

Then T’Challa vanished from the chamber.

Chapter Six

Ororo hovered over the monastery and was about to leave to head into the valley when T’Challa appeared.

“Where have you been?” she asked, and flew down to him.

“I believe it was K’un L’un the city,” replied T’Challa.

“Tell me more on the way,” Ororo said and lifted them into the sky. “We have to get back to Henkel.”

“How is she?”

“Shaken but fine,” replied Ororo.

They ran through their various exploits.

“Shogen capitulated too easily for all the trouble he went through to lock down this area,” said Ororo.

“There must be another part of this operation,” said T’Challa.

“What do you make of the Dragon Emperor?” asked Ororo.

“I couldn’t get a good reading on him, and why does he want allies in this world? I will have to discuss it with Iron Fist,” said T’Challa.

Ororo used her kimoyo to find out if the communications dampening field was still in the area and she learned that it was gone. She then told T’Challa.

The couple landed at the cave entrance. Henkel greeted T’Challa warmly and the monks bowed in respect.

“Ororo told me what happened,” said T’Challa.

“This is all like a dream to me because it is so unreal,” said Henkel.

“What are the monks going to do from here on?” asked Ororo while she turned to the men.

“We will return to our home,” said the leader of the monks.

“Is that safe?” asked Henkel.

“We have no choice but to carry on our duty. I doubt that we will be troubled again,” replied the monk.

“Well I want to return to New York right now,” said Henkel.

“Not a problem,” said Ororo.

Chapter Seven

Shogen watched the doomsday clock reconfigure itself as he flew back to Shanghai. His private plane was escorted by the fighter jets.

His plan to use K’un L’un as a safe haven was foiled.  The search for K’un L’un was the main reason that China wanted to keep Tibet as a province. Shogen’s ancestor the Jade Emperor was believed to have ruled the city.

The Chinese Premier would not like hear about the failure, still he would accept it since Shogen was respected by the state.

Time was running out so the experiments needed to be started as soon as possible. Shogen turned to his notebook and saw the heading of this next task.

Next Story: The Red Skull Diaries

Followed by: Wakanda Confidential

The Dogs of War

Story: The First Case

Book One

Chapter One

Boston Medical Center

“This way Mr. Tehaddiga,” said the helpful coroner.

T’Challa noted the layout of the coroner’s office, the type of doors used and the locks-the information would be necessary for the break in later.

The morgue was cold and smelt of the substance that they cleaned the bodies with. The room that held the refrigerated bodies was not very large and it felt like a coffin. The grey steel refrigerated doors were liked closed portals to painful horrors. Who knew what kind of mangled bodies rested inside the confines of the storage or the few that were not marred by violence but died peacefully in their sleep?

T’Challa’s acute sense of smell  picked up other things that added color to the otherwise dour environment like the faint scent of a chicken sandwich that had been eaten in the room. There was the crude trace of dried blood. The way the coroner tried to conceal a foreign accent. The way the light bounced off the polished handle bars of the refrigerator doors. Then the morbid excitement that caused the coroner’s heart to race.

T’Challa braced himself for what was to come next. The coroner and the detective escorted him to view the body.

T’Challa was not going by his real name and the deceased was not his kin. He wore a disguise with a voice modifier in the neck.

The coroner pulled the slab from out the refrigerator for the visitors. The body on the slab was that of a woman and she had been decapitated. The woman was identified as Onika Tehaddiga from the driver’s license found on her. T’Challa squeezed the small bag in his right hand that contained the other belongings that were discovered on her person. A bitter taste formed in the back of his mouth.

“Where’s her head?” asked T’Challa, shaken.

“We are still looking for it,” replied detective Harris.

“She was shot through the heart,” said the coroner, and he pointed to the exit wound.

“Shot in the back,” said the detective.

Visible tears welled up in T’Challa’s eyes.

“Why was her head cut off?” asked T’Challa.

“We don’t know,” replied Harris.

The sympathetic coroner rolled the slab back into the refrigerator.

“I’m taking the body back to Wakanda,” said T’Challa.

“Of course,” said the coroner. “We just have some paper work to go through.”

T’Challa followed the coroner’s instructions in order to sign out the body. Afterwards, T’Challa and Harris left the hospital.

T’Challa was twenty-one-years-old with an athletic physique. He wore light clothing for the spring weather.

Harris was a two hundred pound veteran detective. He exuded a quiet confidence in his stride.

“I need to ask you a few questions,” said Harris.

“No problem,” said T’Challa.

“Do you have transport?” asked Harris.

“The embassy has a car waiting for me,” replied T’Challa. He pointed to a blue car in the parking lot. The suited driver stood patiently next to the vehicle.

“It’s better that I take you down to the precinct,” said Harris. “The driver can follow us.”

“Thanks,” said T’Challa. He went over to the embassy’s car and told the driver of the situation. As instructed the driver acted normally with his head of state. Then T’Challa returned to Harris.

 The trip to the 64^th precinct was short and T’Challa took in as much of the city’s atmosphere as he could.

“Did your sister have any enemies?” asked Harris while he turned his green Ford car onto a new street.

“No,” replied T’Challa.

“Do you have any enemies?” asked Harris.

“No,” replied T’Challa.

“Is this your first time in America?”

“Yes,” answered T’Challa. He understood that the detective wanted to cover all possible angles in the case.

“Was your sister here legally?”

“Yes, as far as I know,” replied T’Challa. He felt that the detective believed him.

“Where are you staying?”

“The embassy has put me in the Emmitt Hotel.”

“I know where it is,” said Harris.

“Who found the body?” asked T’Challa.

“A guy from area, he uses the ship yard as a short cut to get to his work.”

“Will you catch her killer?” asked T’Challa.

Harris paused and then said, “I will.”

T’Challa sensed that the detective was on the level with him. But T’Challa intended to find the killer on his own.

“To be honest I have not heard much about your country,” said Harris.

“We are now slowly branching out to the wider world,” said T’Challa. “I think the embassy was established two years ago.”

At the precinct T’Challa noted the layout of the offices and where Harris kept Onika’s case file. All the while, T’Challa’s hyper senses bombarded him with information on the criminals and the officers in the precinct. He heard murmured swears, smelled fear on some of the criminals that passed in the corridors, and there was a thick foreboding feeling that swelled between the walls.

“Are you all right?” asked Harris. “You look a bit tense.”

“I’m all right,” replied T’Challa. His hyper senses were due to a ceremonial herb that altered his ‘junk’ DNA.

T’Challa signed a few documents and gave a statement to Harris.

“Have a safe trip to the hotel,” said Harris.

“Thank you,” said T’Challa.

Emmitt Hotel was in the medium price range. T’Challa didn’t want to squander Wakanda’s money on a luxury hotel. T’Challa had taken a room on the top floor. His five combination locked briefcases were tucked to the wall in the bedroom. He called the embassy to order the removal and preparation of Onika’s body for the flight to Wakanda.

T’Challa took it upon himself as Wakanda’s leader to find the murderer either with or without the police’s help. He couldn’t enterAmericaas a head of state for his plan to work. The State Department would have tied him up in bureaucracy. He needed to do the job with stealth. He cried in the morgue because of how Onika was butchered. He remembered photographs of Onika that showed a bright twenty six- year- old.

In a way, T’Challa wanted to escape from becoming a king disconnected from the feelings of the common man. As a teenager he once purposefully lived in the violent and poor regions of Africa. He knew what hardship meant and wanted to alleviate it whenever possible.

He never did formal detective work. He planned the undertaking as he would a hunt in the savannahs of Wakanda. Find the prey’s clues and follow them.

T’Challa peeled off the mask and he got ready for the night’s activities. He called the embassy for two janitorial uniforms. He then unpacked the ceremonial and light body armour Black Panther suit. He placed the suit in a travelling bag and headed for the car. Onika’s house was his destination.

An hour later, T’Challa stood in front of the suburban house on24 Hampton Lane. T’Challa looked at the blank two storey structure that had a white porch.

She wanted to escape, thought T’Challa.

He remembered Onika’s father stated that she left Wakanda to see the world. In essence she ran away from Wakanda. She lived in West Africa, the Far East and she then came to theUnited States.

“What did she want to escape from?” muttered T’Challa.

He opened the door with the house key taken from her belongings and entered. He went around the living room and the kitchen twice. There were no signs of forced entry. Then he went to the next floor. There were two bedrooms; one was unoccupied.

T’Challa entered the empty room anyway. He had to be thorough. He searched for hidden contraptions in the walls and in the floor. He found nothing.

The occupied bedroom was also devoid of hidden items. T’Challa went through the closets and anything else that may have contained something of importance to the case. Then he sat on the bed and pondered.

T’Challa noticed an oddity. Onika had no pictures of herself or any other person.

“She was alone,” said T’Challa.

He went downstairs and there weren’t any pictures there either. It was strange to him.

“She was totally cut off,” T’Challa guessed. “But why?”

He went to the telephone and saw the notepad that had the father’s phone number on it. That was how the police were able to trace the family.

Beneath the phone number were notes that dealt with the conversations with her father.

Probably for reference, thought T’Challa.

He went out to the back of the house and did an unsuccessful search. Then T’Challa left for the morgue and the precinct.

Chapter Two

In the soft moonlight of the ship yard, T’Challa used his hyper sense of sight and smell to analyze the scene. The police’s chalk out was still on the area where the body was found. Harris’s case file and the coroner’s report gave T’Challa an idea of how Onika was killed.

The coroner’s report stated that no bullets were recovered from the crime scene. It was believed that Onika was killed in the ship yard and not dumped there.

A possible bullet graze was on her left shoulder and it indicated that Onika ran away from her shooter.

“That’s two missing bullet,” muttered T’Challa.

The ship yard was the size of six football fields, enclosed and off the main road.

“A good place for hunting,” said T’Challa.

Harris speculated that Onika’s head was taken as a trophy and T’Challa concurred.

T’Challa followed the assumed trajectory of the fatal bullet. Harris’s report stated forensics found no shells and they had searched the majority of the ground.

T’Challa went from where the body was found to the very end of the ship yard. His eyes caught the faint glint of an object in a rusty metal beam. He took a pen-like laser from his suit and sliced the object out of the beam.

“Ah,” said T’Challa. He found the bullet.

The bullet was spire pointed and the end was carved out. T’Challa understood the meaning of the carving.

“Custom made,” he said.

A custom made bullet was the same as any custom made weapon. T’Challa knew this intimately due to his exposure to many weapons from swords to guns. And most custom made weapons were created to be admired by the creator and anyone he wished to impress. T’Challa surmised the creator of the bullet would keep his admirers very exclusive.

The fact that bullet still had its original shape meant that it was the non-expanding type, and T’Challa felt that the casing was relatively very light.

He left the shipyard and headed for the embassy.  When T’Challa arrived at the embassy he was presented with requested information from a computer analyst in his support team.

There were similar unsolved murders from London to Milan to Japan with the victims shot through the heart and later decapitated, whereas in the United Statesthere were hundreds of such cases. Some of the murders took place on the same night.

“That’s not much of a pattern,” said T’Challa.

He hoped to find a serial killer of some kind or a reason other than that Onika was randomly snuffed out. Her death brought a family grief and changed everything forever. A proper explanation for her death was required for the family to have closure.

The situation reminded T’Challa of his father’s assassination and the wave of change that it brought on him. An environment of emotional security was ripped to shreds and T’Challa faced the daunting task of being the man of the house and heir to the Black Panther clan when he had just entered his teenage years.

He asked the computer analyst to run a picture of the bullet against the products of all the bullet manufacturers in the world in the hope that something may come up. Even so, T’Challa expected better luck on the trace of the metals that constituted the bullet.

After a spectrum analysis on the bullet, T’Challa returned to the hotel with the projectile. He fell asleep with the bullet in his hand, and he dreamt about a headless corpse lying on a slab in a morgue.

He was awakened by instinct. The clock said five-o’clock. He placed the disguise on his face and headed for the embassy.

He was correct about the metals. One of the metals was a rare alloy that was sold to only a few businesses. Avan Arms Manufacturing Company Limited was one of the businesses.

“We’ll start with that one,” T’Challa told the analyst.

Later T’Challa ordered the embassy’s security attaché to place surveillance on the head of Avan and his family. Ironically the family lived in Boston.

Then he went to the airport to accompany Onika’s remains to Wakanda.

Chapter Three

“Good lord,” said David Portman, the newly promoted Chairman and CEO of Avan.

His youngest brother Dave was slumped in the sofa apparently from a drug overdose. The second youngest brother Richard was in a chair.

“Good you came,” said Richard. He lacked sleep and he was nervous.

“What happened here?” asked David, and he closed the front door.

“Dave murdered someone,” replied Richard.

“What?” David asked.

He stared at Dave. The brother was a thick muscled man in his mid thirties. His was hair was short and black. He wore combat body armour and hunting boots.

“Come with me,” said Richard. He walked briskly into the next room. David followed.

David stopped when he saw a woman’s head on a table and next to it was Dave’s samurai sword.

“Oh my God,” said David.

The woman’s eyes were wide open and they looked directly at him. The braided hair was sprawled on the table. David felt sick and saddened at the same time. He managed to walk out of the room.

“What are we going to do?” asked Richard.

“Stop, stop!” said David.

He bent and held his knees; trying to regain control of his senses. He was surprised that he even reacted in such a manner having seen numerous pictures of mutilated bodies due to wars. It was the shock that did him in like a blow to the face.

But he had to recover. This was a family crisis. His thoughts were on his parents. The situation would break their mother’s heart.

Think, thought David. He was a CEO. He managed a mini crisis everyday. The first thing that one needs in crisis management was information.

David inhaled deeply. “All right,” he said. He straightened and turned to Richard. “Tell me everything and don’t leave out the slightest detail.”

Richard cleared his throat and said, “I was calling Dave since the other day and didn’t get any answer so I came up here. I met him just as you see him there. I woke him up and asked him what happened?

“He said that he felt alive for the first time and some other stuff that didn’t make sense. Then he passed out. He has been waking up and falling back asleep since then.”

David rubbed his forehead. At forty one years of age, a father of two and with an international company to run, he didn’t need this kind of stress in his life.

“Did you tell anyone about this?” asked David.

“No. I swear,” replied Richard.

David didn’t have much to go on based on the information.

“Our first priority must be to protect mom and dad. They cannot have anything to do with this,” said David.

“All right,” said Richard.

“Then we’ll get the lawyer,” said David.

“The lawyer, are you serious?” asked Richard.

“This is a murder. For all we know the police might be outside the front door,” said David.

Richard shivered. David saw the panic in his eyes. Murder meant life in prison.

“Just that they know that I had nothing to do with it,” shouted Richard.

“Keep your voice down,” said David.

Richard returned to his chair and buried his head in his hands.

David went to the telephone and called 911.

“Hello I want to report a murder,” said David.

He heard Richard mutter, “Jesus Christ.”

Chapter Four

T’Challa was at the home of Onika’s father when news came of Dave’s arrest. The father’s name was Ngae. He was a bald fifty-five-year-old who spoke in a soft voice.

“I want you to do something for me my king,” said Ngae.

“What is it?” asked T’Challa.

“I want the head of my daughter’s killer on that table. Can you do that for me my king?” asked Ngae, and he pointed to a table that had an assortment of handcrafts on it.

T’Challa looked at him with non committed eyes.

“Depending on what I find then I will,” said T’Challa.

“Thank you,” said Ngae.

As T’Challa left the house he heard a telepathic voice in his head. The voice belonged to the unseen entity that dwelled in Wakanda.

“I don’t like your present course of action,” said the feminine voice.

“Bast one of my people has been murdered. I must avenge her,” said T’Challa.

“The path that you are taking is darkening your spirit,” warned Bast.

“I am the leader. I must ensure that my people are safe and I want to send a message that I can do it,” said T’Challa.

“So this is about your pride,” said Bast. “Your ancestors would not approve.”

“This is not about my pride,” said T’Challa.

“Then it’s political. You are trying to keep in touch with the common man,” said Bast.

“Are you reading my mind?” asked T’Challa.

“Of course,” replied Bast. “T’Challa I have seen retribution after retribution in my long years. The people cry for blood like dogs of war and in the end everyone suffers.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“You have to figure that out yourself young king. I’m just suggesting that you must consider all things thoroughly before charging head first every time a need for vengeance arises,” replied Bast, and her voice disappeared.

T’Challa considered Bast’s warning but the situation required his immediate action. He made arrangements for the preparation of a stealth mini jet for his flight to the United States.

Boston

Harris walked confidently into the interrogation room; he met a shackled Dave and a lawyer. A barely awake Dave leaned back causally in his chair. The high-end lawyer was more formal in body language. He reminded Harris of an eager guard dog.

Harris turned on the tape recorder that was on the table.

“Good evening gentlemen,” said Harris.

“Good evening,” said the lawyer.

Dave said nothing. He was looking blankly at the ceiling. Harris sat down in his chair and he rested his hand heavily on the table to catch Dave’s attention. Slowly Dave’s head craned forward and empty black eyes stared at Harris.

“Do you confess to the murder of Onika Tehaddiga?” asked Harris.

“Who?” Dave asked.

Years of experience made Harris keep his anger in check.

“Onika’s severed head was found in your house. A sword with your fingerprints on it was found and her blood was on the blade,” said Harris. “We pretty much have this case over and done with but the icing would be a sworn confession.”

The guard dog lawyer leapt to defend his client.

“Mr. Portman does not have to give any confession if he doesn’t want to,” said the lawyer. “Also there is the issue that the woman in question may be an illegal alien.”

Harris gave the lawyer an insolent stare. It practically asked how the lawyer could defend such scum?

The lawyer didn’t flinch and took the disrespect in stride.

“I killed her,” said Dave, and he closed his eyes.

The lawyer whispered in Dave’s ear briefly.

“I don’t care,” said Dave to whatever was said.

Harris leaned back in his chair. “How did you get her?” he asked.

Dave opened his eyes, smiled a bit and then placed his hands on the table.

“I was driving around looking for someone and she was on sidewalk,” replied Dave. “I stopped and asked her for directions. I took out a map and she came closer to the window then I zapped her with a taser.

“After that I carried her to the shipyard and setup my rifle. She woke up and I fired a single round at her. She didn’t know where I was. Then she ran and ran. All the while I had her in my sights. I was one with her movements. She was like a deer.  Then I shot her through the heart. I cut off her head as a souvenir. Whish.” Dave made a quick arc with his finger.

Harris shot another insolent glance at the lawyer and the same question was asked.

“That would be all,” said Harris.

He took off the recorder and left the room. He met the standing officer at the door.

“I got the confession. Lock up the son of a bitch,” said Harris.

The officer quickly entered the room.

Harris hated psychopaths because justice could never really be served on them. They were too far gone in their little worlds that nothing on the outside could penetrate it. What was even sadder was that Harris didn’t expect Dave to get the maximum sentence. The lawyer would probably get Dave into an asylum.

Harris heard a sound like a scuffle inside the room. Without thinking he opened the door and looked inside. The lawyer was slumped on the table with a bleeding wound to the temple. The officer was passed out on the floor.

A hard hand struck Harris’s throat and knocked the breath out of him. In fleeting seconds he was disarmed and struck down to the floor. He looked around and saw boots. One of which struck him in the mouth. His hair was pulled back and he saw Dave’s empty black eyes.

A moment later Harris’s neck was snapped.

Chapter Five

David was at the home of the parents when he received the news of Dave’s escape from police custody. He went to his father with the news.

“Dave killed two police officers and Jamerson,” said David.

The patriarch folded his arms and took two steps in the bright sunshine that flowed through the window.

“It goes from bad to worse,” said Thomas Portman.

David didn’t want to bring up the past on the issue since it would serve no purpose than to aggravate his father. But the family had foreseen the present trouble. Dave had a secret history that was kept covered by being the son of an important man. There were ‘accidents’ that Dave had caused and he had harmed others. The busy Thomas Portman saw nothing wrong or sought not to do anything about his sick son.

I have to stop Dave, thought David.

There were a handful of places that Dave could find refuge. David knew of one in the New Hampshire Mountains. The brothers had hunted there once.

The telephone rang and David answered it. The police were on the line.

“I was going to call you. I know somewhere he might be going,” said David.

The officer on the other end said something that surprised David. “Okay,” he said in a mellow tone. “But I think you should-“

The officer ended the call. A disheartened David looked up at his father.

“The police have called for a manhunt. They believe based on an eyewitness that Dave may be headed forNew York,” said David.

“Dear lord,” said Thomas.

“It’s best we tell mom,” said David.

“I’ll do it,” said Thomas.

As soon as Thomas left, David made a call to Chase Conrad, a close friend. Conrad ran a private mercenary company out ofMaine. David hoped that he was available. He got through on the line.

“David. What’s going on?” asked Conrad.

“Dave killed a police officer and the whole service is looking for him,” replied David.

“They are going to want blood for losing one of their own,” said Conrad.

“They don’t know how to handle Dave. We do,” said David.

“What do you have in mind?”

“There’s a mountain cabin I think Dave may try to reach. I want you to go there and lay a trap for him,” replied David.

“Not a problem.”

“Then I want you to kill him.”

“Are you serious?”

“You met Dave. You have seen what he is capable of.”

“Yes I recall that encounter,” said Conrad.

“Make the kill clean,” said David.

“But he is your brother there might be another way,” said Conrad.

“I’m doing him a favor by putting him out of his misery,” said David.

“Okay. I’ll do it.”

“Thanks. This is the cabin’s location,” said David.

He found a map in the desk draw and told Conrad the coordinates. By the time Harris rested the receiver down his palms were sweaty and his adrenaline was up. He signed his brother’s death warrant.

Chapter Six

At the embassy, T’Challa read David’s telephone transcripts and made a decision. He was going to Dave’s mountain cabin.

Somewhere in Massachusetts

Dave walked up to the man from behind and fired in two quick punches to the man’s kidneys. The victim slumped to the side. Dave held up the man swiftly as not to draw suspicion in the car lot.

The car door was opened and Dave took the keys. He slipped the man into the backseat and broke his neck. Two quick glances outside the window and then Dave drove off.

He placed Harris’s pistol in the passenger seat and turned on the radio to hear the news. Then he headed on the highway to his destination inNew Hampshire.

Book II

Chapter One

Twenty five years ago

The spring evening was cool in the Eden like forest. The New Hampshire air was fresh and it gave Thomas Portman’s city lungs an ease fromBoston’s air pollution and cigarettes.  The atmosphere also gave his mind a reprieve from making business decisions in his arms manufacturing company.

The stillness of the forest posed a challenge for Thomas as he sneaked up to the family cabin. His brother, Michael and son, Dave were inside. They left him and his two other sons to get additional supplies for the camp out.

Thomas’s hunting rifle was slung over his right shoulder; he wore a brown cap and traditional hunting apparel.

He was forty years old, healthy and connected with his war buddies whom had joined the political arena. Life was set and he was ambitious enough to go after his dreams.

He slipped up to the cabin that was in the family for three generations.  He and Michael fixed up the cabin the month before in preparation for the visit with the boys.

Thomas loved his bother and they were once soldiers together. Michael dropped out of the army after one tour and had gone into civilian work while Thomas went on for another tour. Both men were different in terms of their outlooks on life. Thomas was married and had three sons. Michael was a bachelor.

Thomas remembered that his wife wanted to introduce Michael to a girlfriend of hers. Thomas laughed at the idea.

Thomas eased up to the door. He was certain that he made no sound on the way to the door. He envisioned shock and surprise on his sibling and son’s faces. Then they would have a good laugh. He swung the door open and came upon a scene of pure horror…

When one commits murder in a fit of passion with your bare hands the emotional release is greater than if the act was done with a weapon.

Such a feeling was wrapped around Thomas Portman. He heaved and huffed over his brother’s dead body. But Thomas no longer viewed the man as his brother. What kind of a brother would try to molest his nephew?

Where was Dave? Thomas pondered. He spun around and saw his son scared stiff on the floor.

Dave was ten years old. His black eyes were fearful.

Thomas imagined the sight that the child had seen. He –Thomas-had walked into the cabin and saw the epitome of betrayal. In the spur of the moment, blood bonds were broken and Thomas raced over to his brother and snapped his neck. Thomas barely heard the crack of the spine.

He bent down to his son. Thomas realized that his next choice of words impacted on the future of the family.

“You’re safe now,” said Thomas. “You will not tell anyone what happened. Do you understand me?”

The boy was still frozen. Thomas held his shoulder firmly. The boy may have been scared but his body was burning up.

“Dave do you understand me?” asked Thomas.

The boy’s teeth chattered. “Yes daddy,” he said.

“Good boy,” said Thomas. “Now stay here. Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

Thomas lifted up his brother in the fire-man hold and carried him outside. His army service brain ran on automatic. It calmed his nerves and gave him clear thinking. He knew what he was doing and where he was going.

A gentle incline went down from the cabin into the spruce trees. Several years ago, small steps were made on the incline. Thomas rested his brother on the last of the steps to make it appear that Michael had slipped and broken his neck.

Thomas returned to the cabin. His thoughts were on his other sons David and Richard. The boys were camped out a quarter of a mile away. Thomas had spontaneously decided to return to the cabin for an additional item that he thought Michael and Dave might have overlooked.

Thomas got Dave out of the cabin and they headed for the campsite. On the journey Thomas pounded into his son to keep the murder and molestation a secret. What Thomas was unaware of was Dave’s internalization of the incident which would change his life completely.

Chapter Two

The Present

T’Challa groped through the foliage as he steadily headed to the incline. A lightless cabin was on the top of the incline. Above him the spruce trees rustled under the night wind. Crickets chirped in a loud chorus in the damp underbrush.

T’Challa’s lead hand suddenly brushed against a tripwire. The tripwire was at the level of his instep, and it was concealed by a row of plants.

Why would Portman have a tripwire? T’Challa pondered.

The Black Panther’s hyper sensitive eyes scanned the undergrowth for whatever the tripwire was connected to. T’Challa guessed that it was probably an alarm system. His probing eyes finally found the answer. T’Challa eased towards to the contraption that was camouflaged with leaves. On closer inspection T’Challa discovered that the device was an improvised explosive.

The revelation changed T’Challa’s entire perspective of Dave Portman.

“He is not just some insane man,” muttered T’Challa.

It also meant that T’Challa looked at the terrain in front of him differently. Other traps were probably out there and even in the cabin.

T’Challa contemplated his next move. Bringing the mini jet over the cabin was an option, but he wanted it more as a distraction for Portman than anything else.

“I’ll wait here,” said T’Challa.

He thought about climbing into the tress but he believed Portman must have booby trapped them.

“Why did he do this?” muttered T’Challa. “Unless Portman expected to be hunted down. That means he is definitely coming here.”

Conrad was another problem for T’Challa. Conrad was on a mission to kill Portman whereas T’Challa wanted to capture the man alive if possible and take him to Wakanda to face retribution.

           T’Challa’s mind was not made up on whether to allow Conrad to complete his mission or to stop him.

Bast’s warning that revenge sent one to extreme darkness weighed on T’Challa’s mind. Vengeance guided him for most of his adolescent years as he prepared his body and mind for the confrontation with his father’s assassin.

The Panther Goddess alluded that T’Challa’s judgment was clouded because of this new thirst for vengeance.

Could she be right? He contemplated.

He could allow Conrad to continue and if the man succeeded then the murderer would be dead. Yet that outcome seemed to cheat Wakanda out of its vengeance.

Wakanda should judge him, thought T’Challa.

Then there was the question of letting the American courts deal with Portman. Would a rich man from an influential family receive the maximum punishment for the murder of a random immigrant? T’Challa didn’t think so.

The murder of the detective crept into T’Challa’s thoughts. The deceased man also had a family whom wanted retribution. Could he deny them their legitimate right?

In order to clear his mind, he ventured cautiously away from the cabin and headed to the trail that led to the abode.

T’Challa’s Black Panther ceremonial uniform blended into the darkness. A mesh of vibranium metal was woven into the suit and acted as light body armour. Claws were sheathed in the tips of the gloves. On the belt were a mini computer called a kimoyo and a pair of manacles to bind Portman.  Black rope was wrapped diagonally across T’Challa’s back and chest.

The forest reminded him of the ones in Wakanda. He liked to mediate in those places when he had the time as a teenager. He no longer had the opportunity for such things now.

Chapter Three

Army vet Chase Conrad drove into New Hampshire from his base in Maine. He was a mercenary or CIA contractor for the last eight years. He liked the work, the excitement and the travel. He was born to do nothing else.

He met Dave Portman three years ago when Avan Arms Manufacturing Company showcased their ordinances to the government of a developing nation. Conrad worked with the leaders of the government in a revolt the year prior. That position made him the ‘go between’ guy on the business deal between the country and the company.  The Portman brothers came on the business trip with their father.

The group ran into bandits while on a tour of the country. Before Conrad was able to react, Dave ran out of his car, shot the bandits dead and chased after the last one. When the group caught up with them, Dave had peeled the skin off of the dead bandit’s face with his hunting knife.

Conrad was shocked by the barbarity and the look in Dave’s black eyes. As a seasoned professional Conrad knew when a person had completely lost their humanity and lived for the pleasure of murder. Such people were limitless in what carnage they could do and Conrad tried to stay far away from those individuals.

The car’s radio waves burned with news of the manhunt on Dave Portman over in Massachusetts. His murder of a detective in a precinct and his subsequent escape made sensational headlines. Conrad lowered the volume on the radio.

He hoped that killing Dave would be quick-someone had to put the mad dog down.

Conrad stopped in the town of Nakuta for gas and then he headed for the mountains. Based on his map the cabin was high up in the region.

An hour later, Conrad entered the pristine habitats of the New Hampshire forests armed with a silenced handgun, a knife, a map and a flashlight.

Conrad liked the mountains where bobcats and deer ran freely. The Alpine peaks were to the left. Spruce fir-forests resided to the right on the top of the mountains. Conrad heard stories about the numerous caves that dotted the landscape; probably the haven for a multitude of bats. He liked bats.

Hemlock-Hardwood-Pine forests were ubiquitous and Conrad passed through one on his journey. He hoped that visitors were sparse. He didn’t want to deal with witnesses.

The night trip reminded him of time spent in the jungles of South East Asia with various rebel groups. Conrad preferred rebel organizations than government employers. His last job was for a Balkan nation.

Conrad stopped and gazed at the peaks that ran to the horizon. The scene took him back to the beauty of the Balkan mountain range.

I don’t mind taking another job in that country, he thought.

He continued the trek; checking his compass and map on regular intervals to ensure he was on the correct path.  He moved with the quietness of a cat in the blackness. He learned the technique in the army. A mountain man consultant conducted the training. The consultant was trained by Native Americans so he knew his stuff. Conrad considered the training that he received in the course was vital to his survival in the field.

He heard a noise and he paused. A young bobcat scurried across his path and ran into the thicket. The beast disappeared like a ghost and made no other sound.

Amazing, thought Conrad.

He went deeper into the forest. The scent of smoke struck him. He followed it and came upon a small campsite. The sight caused him to curse in his mind. He counted three tents.

The cabin was a mile away yet experience told Conrad that people often wandered into places they shouldn’t have.

He left the fate of the campers to chance; it was all that he was able to do. Conrad pushed forward and melted into the forest.

Chapter Four

T’Challa was on the look out for Conrad. T’Challa heard the man’s voice from a taped telephone conversion which meant that he merely needed a voice-recognition to identify Conrad.

 T’Challa reflected on how Conrad was so willing to kill Portman based on a request from David Portman, the eldest brother.

Conrad must also believe that Portman cannot be contained, thought T’Challa.

Night crept by slowly as T’Challa settled in a concealed position and waited for anything.

At 3 o’clock a large cloud blocked out the half moon. At the same time, T’Challa sensed movement that approached from the southwest. He smelt the sweaty odor of a human. T’Challa looked around and finally saw the man.

The person was extremely quiet and he searched his path carefully with the dim flashlight to avoid dry twigs and leaves. T’Challa admired the level of skill that was on display.

The lean man practically came towards the crouched T’Challa. Then the person veered into another direction.

T’Challa saw the silenced gun and the knapsack.

Probably Conrad, thought T’Challa. What to do with him?

Whatever it was it had to be fast because Conrad headed for the booby traps. T’Challa erupted from his position and he locked his arm around Conrad’s neck. The mercenary fired the gun repeatedly into T’Challa; the bullets bounced off the uniform.

Patiently T’Challa waited for the oxygen supply to Conrad’s brain to diminish. T’Challa ignored the man’s gasps for air. Conrad’s heart thumped like a drum. T’Challa sensed rage and fear in the man. Rage for being ambushed and fear of death.

 Conrad pulled out his knife, but he couldn’t do anything with it. His body became limp and he passed out.

T’Challa carried Conrad further down the trail and tied him to a tree. He placed the manacles on Conrad’s wrists and feet. Then T’Challa disarmed the man and searched for identification. He didn’t find the identity information. T’Challa tore a strip of cloth from Conrad’s clothes to blind fold him.

Then with two quick slaps, T’Challa woke Conrad.

Conrad moved his head side ways and tried to peek over the blind fold. He struggled with the rope and grunted.

“Listen carefully,” said T’Challa, knowing the effect that his stern voice had on the captive. Conrad stopped his struggles and remained still. “There are explosive booby traps around Portman’s cabin. You cannot go there.”

“Who are you?” asked Conrad.

The voice was similar to the one on the taped call so T’Challa knew that he had the right person. He had no need to speak with Conrad further. He struck Conrad hard against the face and the captive was knocked unconscious.

Then T’Challa prepared for Portman’s ambush.

Chapter Five

Dave Portman was a mutant and he was unaware of it. Whenever his adrenaline rose so did his physical strength and senses to a higher than normal level. In puberty he used the strange ability to alleviate the mental torment of the incident in the cabin. Then he became addicted to the ability and did whatever possible to maintain it.

He got into the forest near Nakuta and it took him three hours to run towards the cabin. Portman felt like a wolf as he increased his pace.

The booby traps he laid were for the situation in which he found himself presently in-being hunted. Once he led his pursers to the areas around the cabin he would pick them off and follow his exit strategy.

So far no one was following him in New Hampshire. He drove passed a police car ten minutes after he entered the state fromMassachusetts. He expected a car chase, nothing happened- a pity.

He knew the forests like the back of his hand. He knew the human trails and the animal ones. He even left some weapons in selected areas in case they were needed.

He chose the cabin because his adrenaline was most heightened around it and it provided good therapy. Whenever he went to the cabin, he had flashbacks of the incident. To break free of the mental hold he did dangerous things and pushed his body to its limits.

For the majority of his adolescence and adult life he learnt various martial arts and received military training.

Now he had reached the point where he wanted the constant state of ‘peace’ as he called it-to feel alive. That’s why he murdered the woman. She was the start of the chain reaction that would take him to his ‘nirvana’.

He hated the trappings of wealth. His brothers were different. David the eldest was the business whiz and Richard was a mediocre person. Dave had seen the differences since he was a kid and how the siblings turned out in adulthood did not surprise him.

On the other hand, the relationship with his father was cold. They never spoke. There were moments when Dave wanted to speak about the cabin incident, but it didn’t feel manly to do so. As a teenager he was baffled as to why his father kept the murder a secret. As an adult Dave saw his father’s wisdom. Some things needed to be kept in the dark. Dave’s father saved him and he was grateful for that, but the emotional suppression that happened afterwards he could not forgive.

Dave passed a familiar landmark in the forest and knew that he was within half an hour to the cabin. Suddenly he got the scent of a human. He checked the wind direction and the scent came from the area near the cabin.

Dave dashed to the closes weapons cache. The cache was hidden in the root of an old spruce tree. He dug up the cache with his hands and took out a bag. Inside the bag were three grenades, a large sheathed hunting knife and two tomahawks.

Dave studied the Pennacook Native Americans-the original inhabitants ofNew Hampshire. Due to the studies he became attached to tomahawks. He liked the simplicity and the array of attacks that could be made with the weapons.

Dave got back to his previous path and took up the scent. Then he went hunting for the person.

Chapter Six

Daybreak and streaks of orange light lit up the sky and chased away the darkness.  The moon was still visible but had lost its commanding sway to the sun’s arrival.

T’Challa smelt a new person in the midst. Instinctively he went to find out the person’s identity. The person was headed for him as the scent got stronger. The person was silent like Conrad was.

T’Challa stopped as a six feet tall man emerged from the foliage and stood in front of him. He was drenched in sweat and had the build of a Marine. The tomahawks that the man carried and the deadly intent in his black eyes told T’Challa that this was mostly likely Portman.

The man gave a war cry and he charged. T’Challa was a bit surprised by the man’s speed-it reminded him of his peak human ability.

As the man positioned his body to swing the tomahawk, T’Challa took one stride and then somersaulted over the man. On the descent, T’Challa stuck out his legs which struck the man in his back and pushed him forward. The man lost his balance and fell.

T’Challa used his hands to brace his fall and he somersaulted onto his feet. He turned quickly to the man who rose slowly with the tomahawks held in an offensive stance.

“Dave Portman,” said T’Challa to see if the name meant anything to the man.

From the glare in the man’s eyes when the name was said, T’Challa surmised that this was the murderer.

T’Challa activated the claws in his gloves and the weapons shot out. He saw that Portman was puzzled and T’Challa used the moment of indecision to pounce at him.

Portman swung his tomahawks wildly and T’Challa’s claws sliced through them. Dave jumped back to reassess the situation. T’Challa waited and he too was puzzled.

He sensed that Portman was indeed at a peak human level from the rate of his heart beats and overall presence.

How is this possible? T’Challa pondered.

The man was moving. Two grenades were now in his hands and he threw them with venom at T’Challa.

T’Challa’s hyper vision slowed down the movement of the grenades and gave him time to choose where to hit them. He made a high sweeping kick with his right leg at the grenades. The grenades fell to the side and exploded; chewed up dirt and plants splattered into the air.

The force of the explosion knocked T’Challa sideways. In the haze of the confusion, he heard Portman’s accelerated heart beats.

Portman dropped on T’Challa and punched him across the face. Seeing that the punch had no effect, Portman stabbed the knife into T’Challa, but the blade broke on the uniform. Unfazed Portman slashed the broken blade across T’Challa’s eye slits.

Don’t kill him, thought T’Challa since he had the option of stabbing Portman with the claws.

Temporarily blinded, T’Challa pushed up and twisted sharply. He brought his legs together like a scissors around Portman’s neck and locked it.

T’Challa pulled his mask off to view his assailant properly. Portman’s eyes were closed and he gripped T’Challa’s legs. With the strength of a grizzly bear, Portman rose and he lifted T’Challa in the air. Then he lashed T’Challa onto the ground. The impact broke T’Challa’s leg hold.

Portman staggered backwards. T’Challa sprung onto his feet and drove a fierce kick into Portman’s mid section. Portman deflected the attack with his hands and countered with a high kick. T’Challa blocked it; then he dropped low and delivered a roundhouse kick.

To T’Challa’s amazement Portman leapt over the kick. Portman landed and swiftly somersaulted to his left.

He is superhuman, thought T’Challa. Then how do I end this?

Portman attacked him with a combination of kicks and punches at vital points. T’Challa blocked accordingly while he took two strides back. An opening appeared for T’Challa. He took it.

Holding Portman’s arms and falling backwards T’Challa tossed the man over his head. T’Challa turned on his heels and positioned himself at Portman’s side. Then shot a bladed hand into Portman’s throat. The force lifted Portman off his feet and onto the ground. T’Challa tumbled downward with an elbow jab into Portman’s face.

He heard an expulsion of air from Portman’s mouth and nothing afterwards.

T’Challa rose and looked at his handiwork. Portman was unconscious. The chaos was over.

T’Challa stared at Portman for a moment; he remembered Onika’s father distraught over her death.

Let him decide your fate, thought T’Challa.

T’Challa took out the kimoyo and called the plane. Two later minutes, the mini plane hovered over T’Challa’s location. The heads of the trees trembled from the wash of the plane’s hover rotor blades that were on the wings.

T’Challa gave the onboard computer a series of orders. The underside of the plane opened and a rope was lowered. T’Challa lifted Portman onto his shoulder and then he held the rope. The rope retreated into the plane and carried T’Challa with it.

Once inside the plane, T’Challa swung out of the cargo hold and into the cockpit. He got manacles from the emergency kit and bounded Portman’s hands and feet.

Then T’Challa went for Conrad. The rope lowered him down and T’Challa rushed to the captive. Conrad was still unconscious. T’Challa repeated the exercise he had done with Portman.

T’Challa figured that he would drop off Conrad inNew Hampshire’s largest city Manchester since it was on his flight path. He settled at the controls satisfied that he captured Portman.

Chapter Seven

Portman awoke due to the level of adrenaline still present in his body. He realized that his hands were bounded behind his back and his feet were shackled. He calmly looked around and noticed Conrad.

What is he doing here? Portman pondered.

The discovery startled him. He hadn’t seen Conrad in years.

Portman looked up at the pilot seat and he saw T’Challa’s back.

Who is this man? Why is he after me?

The one thing Portman noted was that T’Challa appeared to be African. The thought triggered a memory of the lawyer speaking about the murdered woman’s country. Portman couldn’t remember the name of the country. He didn’t care.

In a relaxed manner, Portman broke his right thumb and slipped his hand out of the manacle.

T’Challa turned sharply around to him. Both men glared at each other. The tension between them charged the small space that they were in.

Portman’s adrenaline rose and he heard T’Challa’s heart beats. The beats quickened and Portman knew that an attack was eminent.

What could he do?

I have a weapon, thought Portman.

He was thinking about the manacle on his left wrist. He could use it to punch T’Challa in a vital point.

T’Challa lunged at him. Portman dodged out of the way. He rolled forward and leapt for the flight controls. In that brief moment, he did as much damage as he could to the system.

The plane shook and went into a nose dive just as Portman intended. T’Challa had to choose between him and the plane. Then Portman could make his move during the state of panic.

T’Challa tackled Portman hard into the cabin wall. Portman punched his ears and bit his face. T’Challa lifted Portman upward and his head banged on the roof of the plane. T’Challa repeated the act three times until Portman released his face. Blood streamed from the wound Portman made.

Portman stared into T’Challa’s eyes and saw no fear of death, just the desire to stop him.

This man is crazy, thought Portman for an instant.

Portman glanced out of the cockpit window and he saw the top of a skyscraper. The plane clipped the skyscraper and the impact separated Portman from T’Challa. The plane turned over and crashed into the side of a building across the street and then skidded down into the street.

Portman scrambled to the cockpit window and he punched his way through the cracked glass. He broke the glass and crawled out of the plane. He tried to break the shackles on his feet but they were too strong.

I need a blow-torch, thought Portman.

A frantic pedestrian came to his aid.

“Are you all right?” the middle age man asked.

Portman looked at the man with disgust at first; then he noticed the man’s spectacles.

“Give me a hand up,” said Portman.

“Okay,” said the man. “What happened? What kind of plane is that?”

Portman punched the man in the stomach and took the spectacles. The Good Samaritan slumped to street and coughed.

Portman broke the arms off the spectacles and then he worked them into the manacle’s key hole. CLICK. The manacle fell off.

Then Portman ran and ran.

Chapter Eight

T’Challa was alerted when he heard Portman’s thumb being broken. Now he had crashed in Manchester. Scores of people were headed to the site. But he couldn’t allow the secrets of Wakanda’s technology to be discovered.

Conrad was awake and in fairly good shape.

“If you want to live then follow me,” said T’Challa. He grabbed Conrad and carried him out of the plane.

Then T’Challa activated the self destruct on the plane via the kimoyo. Acid built in the plane’s structure was released and the airship melted.

T’Challa ripped the bonds off of Conrad.

“You’re on your own,” said T’Challa.

Then he locked onto Portman’s scent and sprinted off.

Conrad was bewildered and curious about T’Challa so he chased after him.

Book III

Chapter One

Manchester City, New Hampshire

The city yawned and stretched its way into a new day. The morning sun crept over the landscape of townhouse apartments, churches, parks and office buildings.

Meanwhile, mission failure loomed for T’Challa. He was stranded in an urban center, chasing after a psychopath and his secret mission was at risk of being exposed. His ego could not stomach the embarrassment and he was certain that his countrymen would frown upon his poor performance.

The people whom T’Challa saw on the street were early morning workers and business owners headed for their offices. He paid little attention to them as he ran at full throttle after his prey, but the denizens of Manchester were curious about him and his quarry.

Vehicles screeched to the side of the one way street to avoid collusions with T’Challa. He in turn leapt over engine hoods and somersaulted over the cars that reacted too slowly.

The eye slits in T’Challa’s mask were damaged and that hampered his sight somewhat. The left side of his face stung from the wound that Portman inflicted on it. A hundred different scents bombarded his hyper sense of smell.

Blaring horns and yelling were ubiquitous. They weren’t all for T’Challa. Some of them were for Portman as he ran from T’Challa.

T’Challa was surprised that even in top gear he was still unable to close the gap between him and Portman. In fact, the gap was gradually widening.

The more I push him the faster he gets, thought T’Challa.

A police siren broke into the city’s cacophony and the black and white of a police car came into T’Challa’s view. The police car stopped across Portman’s path. The sight caused an agony in T’Challa’s heart because he knew what happened next.

Portman didn’t disappoint. The man was built like a marine and he easily subdued the two police officers. He dragged them out of the car and took their guns. Portman got into the driver’s seat; he aimed the guns at T’Challa and fired two shots.

T’Challa’s hyper vision caught the movement of the projectiles and he dodged them without a dip in his pace. Then Portman turned the guns away from T’Challa and he pointed at the sidewalk. T’Challa found that it was an odd move so he glanced at the spot. To his dismay a woman and a man cowered on the sidewalk; Portman was about to fire on them, but why? They were no threat to him.

T’Challa dug deep within himself to find the energy to reach the pedestrians in time. In four strides he was close, but not enough. He dived forward and shielded the pedestrians with his body. He felt slight stings from the bullets that were sent into his Black Panther ceremonial uniform. He skidded a bit on the sidewalk and then he lost momentum.

He looked up at Portman and the two made eye contact. Portman’s black eyes displayed a certain level of satisfaction like he gained valuable insight into T’Challa’s psyche. When T’Challa heard the woman’s screams, he realized what Portman learnt from the incident. That T’Challa had a weakness and it was his concern for the well being of innocent people. Portman now had an advantage over him. That’s the reason Portman had turned the guns on the pedestrians-to see how far T’Challa was prepared to go in order to catch him.

Other police sirens filled the air. Portman settled in the car and sped off.

T’Challa didn’t smell blood from the pedestrians so he assumed that they weren’t shot. He got up sharply and ran after Portman. It was a futile attempt as Portman smashed his way across a two lane street and chaos ensued. Portman’s car swung around a corner and was gone.

I can’t lose him, thought T’Challa.

In desperation he ran to a blue van. The driver was on the outside and he complained to another driver who almost struck him. The driver of the blue van was speechless when he saw T’Challa at first. Then he spoke when he realized T’Challa’s intention.

“Hold on, you can’t take my van,” said the driver in aNew Hampshireaccent.

T’Challa grabbed the driver by the front of his shirt.

“I have to stop the manic who drove through here else he is going to kill more people,” said T’Challa. It pained him to say those words because he blamed himself for Portman running loose in the city.

Still the man protested; T’Challa applied a finger tap to a nerve center in the man’s shoulder and he wilted onto the ground.

“I’m sorry,” said T’Challa, “but I have to do this.”

T’Challa learned something new about himself from the action. It was that even though he cared about the safety of others he was still willing to make compromises to achieve his goals. The realization made him remember the Panther Goddess’s warning about his clouded judgment.

He got into the van and the keys were in the ignition. He was familiar with the operations of non-Wakandan vehicles from his stay inEnglanda short time ago. He accelerated out of the street and followed Portman around the corner.

He saw Portman’s car mount the sidewalk at the far end of the street and it turned onto a west bound street. T’Challa punched the van forward.

 Where is he really going? I have to be careful because nothing that this man does is random, thought T’Challa.

T’Challa turned onto the new street and he was distracted by the bloodied body that he saw on the sidewalk.

Then he heard the groan of a large vehicle in front of him. He looked forward and by reflex swerved out of the path of an on rushing garbage truck. The truck nicked the van and sent it into a spin. The van slammed into a street light and the impact shattered the windscreen.

T’Challa was unhurt and he tried to restart the van without success. He got out of the vehicle with the intention of helping the person on the sidewalk. At the same time, the garbage truck slowed and stopped a short distance away. The loud and angry driver alighted from the truck.

At least you are okay, thought T’Challa.

“You there, help that person on the sidewalk,” T’Challa shouted and pointed to the spot.

The irate garbage man was shocked by the body when he saw it. With the man distracted, T’Challa ran off and he accessed his situation.

He required a map, a means of transport and accurate information on Portman’s whereabouts. The blare of police sirens and an ambulance caught his attention.

The police will know his location from their bulletins, T’Challa realized.

He needed access to the police frequency.

A security guard caught his attention. The guard probably came out the nearby office building due to the accident with the garbage truck. T’Challa noticed the walkie-talkie on the guard’s belt and it sparked an idea.

T’Challa charged into the guard. The frightful security officer attempted to flee into the building. T’Challa gained on him like a predator and brought down the chunky guard. Then he took the guard’s walkie-talkie.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” said T’Challa.

The guard said nothing and didn’t struggle.

T’Challa left him on the ground and headed for the alley next to the building.  He placed the walkie-talkie in his mouth, and then he unsheathed his claws. He stuck them into the wall of the opposite building and quickly climbed it.

Once on the roof, he opened the walkie-talkie and his mini computer-the kimoyo. He fused the two items together with a mini laser, and he boosted the walkie-talkie’s range with the power from the computer’s battery. His academic passion for physics made him a wizard with gadgets. The skill was also a prerequisite in his preparation to face his father’s assassin who was a physicist.

T’Challa was able to get the police bandwidth from his contraption. A female Dispatcher’s voice came over the air wave from the police control room.

“Suspect’s car has crashed into a building on Suffolk Avenue,” said the Dispatcher. “All units converge on site.”

That must be Portman, thought T’Challa.

“Any word on the next suspect?” asked a police officer over the frequency.

“The other suspect was last seen in a blue van and headed onto Adam Street,” replied the Dispatcher.

“Dispatch, this is Officer Wright on the scene of the crashed suspect. Suspect has crashed into Simon’s Gun Depot and has entered the premises. Repeat suspect is on foot and is inside Simon’s Gun Depot.”

I have to get there, thought T’Challa.

He still needed a map of the city and transport. The idea of a park came to him since most likely city maps were there for visitors.

T’Challa stood and easily located the green trees of a park five city blocks to his left. He fastened the invention to his belt, and then he ran off the building and landed on the brown gabled roof of the next building that was across the street.

He repeated the feat on the next buildings en route to the park. The leaps required a great deal of timing and concentration. The key to the exercise for T’Challa was breath control. T’Challa’s altered DNA granted him the gift of enhanced agility, but his breathing technique refined it. He experienced a sensation of gliding whenever he left one building for the other.

From the roof top of the last building, T’Challa located the park’s entrance. He leapt onto a street light and used it like a parallel bar to swing himself into the park. He ran to the entrance and all the while he encountered curious stares from the people whom were there. The stares turned to alarm when he broke a small city map out of a casing at the entrance.

A motor cycle police officer drove by on the street and then came back when he spotted T’Challa.

That’s my transport, thought T’Challa when he saw the motorcycle.

T’Challa bolted in the officer and high kicked him slightly in the chest. The motorcycle fell on its side as the police officer was launched from it.

T’Challa landed expertly, and he checked on the officer, the person was not hurt that badly. Then T’Challa commandeered the motor cycle. He locatedSuffolk Avenueon the map and headed for it.

Muscle fatigue crossed T’Challa’s mind because his body expended a great deal of energy in the last few minutes.

I have to reserve my strength for the fight with Portman, thought T’Challa.

He focused on the police bandwidth and it indicated that Portman was still in the same location.

Good, thought T’Challa. It hadn’t slipped T’Challa’s mind that Portman was arming himself, and T’Challa hoped that he would be able to get there in time before Portman attacked the police officers.

Chapter Two

The moment Portman realized that he was in Manchester he headed straight for Simon’s Gun Depot. The weapons store was a client of Avan Arms Manufacturing Company, hence Portman knew of the place.

A cool Portman listened to the police radio that he took from the police car. The information he got was that the police made a perimeter around the store. As for T’Challa, the police weren’t aware of his location; Portman wanted it to be kept that way since he relished a rematch with T’Challa.

Mentally, Portman went over the fight with T’Challa. He surmised that T’Challa won because he was better prepared.

His combat prowess was the same as mine. I merely need to break through his body armor or nullify it in order to beat him, thought Portman.

For that reason he required a flamethrower. Portman searched through the weapons racks in the storage room for the item. He found the flamethrower that was made by the family business. The weapon was not bulky and didn’t need a large tank like its predecessors from World War II. This one had everything built in into a large rifle-like machine.

With the flamethrower secured, Portman changed his clothes and he placed himself in kelver body armour along with a tactical face mask and gloves. He took a large bag and filled it with necessary explosives, rope, tape, ammunition, two semi assault rifles, and a few handguns. He strapped a knife to his belt which he intended to strike T’Challa’s eyes with. He placed a leg gun holster on his right leg and a pistol inside of it.

Portman enjoyed every bit of the excitement that the chase generated. He regretted that he needed to kill his pursuer because the person had given him the ‘high’ that he wanted.

But should I really kill him? Maybe I can catch him to find out why he is after me, thought Portman.

He replayed the pursuer’s African accent in his mind and he tried to recall if he ever saw a plane like the one that he crashed in.

He heard a police officer over a bullhorn. The officer wanted him to surrender immediately. Portman grinned because the police were easy pickings. Yet he believed that T’Challa was close by and he should focus his attention on that threat.

“I need a distraction to get out of here,” muttered Portman, and his eyes fell on the police car.

Portman walked over to the front of the car which had smashed through the store’s front door. He opened the hood and damaged the fuel line; the fuel poured into the engine and onto the ground.

Portman headed to the back of the store. With the pistol he fired several shots into the car’s engine when he was a safe distance away. Then he turned away and closed the door behind him. A moment later, the car exploded.

Portman packed up the flamethrower in a bag; then he exited the building from the back. He was ready for the officers in the back street and he threw two grenades to scatter them.

He ran through the carnage and looked a for get-a-way vehicle. The noise from a motor cycle engine caught his attention. He spun around and saw that T’Challa was the rider.

Too soon, thought Portman, because he needed time to think of a proper way to capture T’Challa.

A grey Ford pickup truck raced up to Portman and stopped. Conrad was the driver. He was dressed in black semi combat attire. His sturdy persona and cool eyes gave him a mystique of a general.

“Get in,” shouted Conrad, and he opened the passenger door.

Portman was perplexed. He last saw Conrad bounded in T’Challa’s plane. Why was he there? Portman pondered.

Conrad was a friend of the family. But more specifically, the mercenary was David’s friend.

“He’s coming,” shouted Conrad.

Portman tossed the bags into the pickup truck and he then fired shots into the motor cycle’s tire. T’Challa tried to dodge the shots but was unable to. The motor cycle wobbled and fell to the side.

Portman got into the pickup truck, and Conrad then floored the accelerator.

Portman looked over the mercenary. Can I trust this man? He pondered.

Chapter Three

Conrad lost T’Challa and Portman after the chase up the street. He never encountered humans who moved that fast. Their speed and agility reminded him of the Captain America films that he saw in army training.

The self destruction of the crashed plane did not go unnoticed by Conrad since such a move was a military one and it told him a great deal about T’Challa’s nature.

As much as Conrad was curious about T’Challa he still wanted Portman dead especially after he witnessed what the crazed man did to the pedestrians. In Conrad’s mind the best way to get close to Portman was to befriend him.

Conrad took a portable police radio from one of the officers that Portman had put down, stole the pick up truck and followed the Dispatch Officer’s messages.

He arrived in Suffolk  Avenue when the explosion in the store occurred. A hunch told him to go around the back. That’s where he saw Portman and T’Challa.

He picked up Portman to gain his trust. Once inside the vehicle, Portman went on a rampage with a barrage of questions.

“What were you doing on that plane?” asked Portman.

“The guy abducted me,” replied Conrad.

“Who is he?”

“I don’t know.”

Portman stared at him with steely eyes. Conrad remained loose and calm. He kept his focus on the road and stayed within the speed limit to avoid attention.

“You expect me to believe that?” asked Portman.

“Believe whatever you want,” said Conrad. “I saved you because I wanted answers about this guy also.”

“Saved me,” said Portman, and he smiled at the joked.

“Are you part of a government program?” asked Conrad.

“No.”

“Then what is with the speed?” probed Conrad.

Portman turned away and looked out of the window.

“It is just something that I can do,” Portman responded.

“You were born like that?”

“Yes,” replied Portman.

A mutant, thought Conrad. He heard about such people in his travels. He wondered if David and Thomas Portman knew about Dave’s condition. If so then David had set him up to kill someone who was out of his league.

Conrad returned his attention to Portman. He noted the man’s apparel.

“What is with the outfit? You should be looking to blend in,” said Conrad.

“I’m going to deal with this guy,” replied Portman.

“Really, I’m looking to leave the state,” Conrad lied.

“No,” said Portman, his eyes now trained on the road. “You are going to help me capture him that way we can get some answers as to who he is and why he is after us.”

“What do you have in mind?” inquired Conrad.

“The old Maxwell Dam is not too far from here. We’ll set a trap.”

“How will you get him to come?”

“I’ll think of something,” answered Portman, “just get us to the dam. I’ll direct you.”

Conrad complied and bided his time for a clear opportunity to put a bullet into Portman’s head.

Chapter Four

With precious seconds flying away, T’Challa noted the route the pickup truck had taken. He recognised Conrad as the driver.

He has turned on me, thought T’Challa and then placed it to the back of his mind.

The motorcycle was useless and police reinforcements were headed for the back street.

The Black Panther consulted his map and realized that he could in theory intercept the truck since it travelled on a street that had no turn offs except for at the end of it. T’Challa could run along the rooftops to reach the turnoff point before the truck.

In seconds, he nimbly climbed the first building and ran over the various rooftops. Slowly he felt the strain in his legs and arms. The strong north east winds affected him slightly. Still T’Challa powered forward.

He arrived at the last building just as the truck made the turn. T’Challa leapt off the building and landed in the tray of the truck. He unsheathed his claws and smashed the rear window.

Portman spun around and he fired a gun at T’Challa’s head. The truck came to a sudden halt and T’Challa lost his balance.

He scrambled to regain his stance. By that time, Portman had a new weapon in his hand. The weapon was the size and shape of a rifle. A small blue flame hissed from the tip of the nozzle. Then a tongue of fire erupted out of the weapon.

T’Challa dropped to his right but the flame caught his left shoulder. The truck was on the move again, this time at top speed. The vehicle swung violently and halted. The force pitched T’Challa into the street.

Machine gun fire echoed between the buildings. T’Challa felt several sharp pains about his torso from the bullets. He patted out the flames that were on his shoulder.

Two devices were thrown on both sides of him. They were explosives. T’Challa closed his eyes to protect them from shrapnel and he somersaulted out of his position, but it was too late. The massive bombs erupted and they knocked him onto the ground. Three more canisters of the explosives landed next to him.

He looked around for an escape route and he saw the cover to a storm drain. He leapt full stretch to the cover while the bombs exploded. Sharp stones and pieces of the metal covered him.

He lifted the cover to the storm drain and entered it. Once inside, he tried to find a passage way that could lead him to the back of his attackers. He was unable to do so and he turned his objective into getting out of the sewer quickly.

He went a short distance along a tunnel and came upon daylight that filtered through a man-hole cover. He climbed the rungs that were on the wall and lifted the cover slightly. He used his hyper sense of smell to detect any humans and there were none present.

T’Challa emerged from the sewer and he kept the cover since it was needed to counteract the flamethrower.

He surveyed the area that was a narrow alley. The distance between the two buildings that made up the alley was marginal. A large brown padlocked door held his attention and an idea came to him.

I can leave a false trail for Portman, thought T’Challa, as he assumed the man would come after him.

He kicked in the door and it opened with ease. But T’Challa didn’t enter the building.

He looked at the heights of the buildings. They were four storeys tall. T’Challa wanted to reach one of the roofs without leaving claw marks in the walls. Eventually, the means to do so came to him. He leapt at the opposing wall and bounced off it with an outstretched leg. In mid air he turned to the next wall. When he was near enough he kicked out at an angle and bounced off the wall. He went to a higher level and continued the zig-zag pattern to reach the roof.

He walked to the corner of the roof which had a view of the alley. He crouched and waited for Portman.

Chapter Five

Portman blazed the sewer’s entrance with the flamethrower. Once he was satisfied that it was safe to proceed, he jumped into the sewer. He slung the bag that contained the weapons over his left shoulder and carried the flamethrower in his right hand.

He believed that T’Challa was injured and it added to the thrill of the hunt.

“Dave,” said Conrad.

Portman stared up at the mercenary.

“Give me a gun,” said Conrad.

“No,” said Portman. “I don’t trust you.”

Sirens edged closer to the screen.

“Keep the cops off my back,” said Portman and then went further into the tunnel.

He was uncertain of the direction T’Challa went in since the sewer had two passage ways. Then he heard a metallic noise to his right. The sound came from down the tunnel and Portman followed it.

Eventually, Portman saw brilliant day light pouring into the sewer because of the missing man-hole cover. He surmised that T’Challa had returned to the surface. Portman dropped the bag since it would encumber him. He climbed the rungs with one hand and kept the flamethrower in the other.

Portman sprayed the flamethrower around the opening to avoid an ambush. He sniffed the air and listened for a heartbeat. Then he got out of the sewer.

The first thing he noticed was the broken door. That was his mistake.

Chapter Six

T’Challa seized the moment that Portman was distracted. The Black Panther shot from the corner of the roof and he leapt towards Portman.

T’Challa had the man-hole cover ready to block the fire from the flamethrower. A startled Portman fired the weapon instinctively when he sensed T’Challa’s presence above him. As T’Challa descended he placed the cover in front of him like a shield. He felt the heat on his fingers, but ignored the pain.

T’Challa smashed the front of the flamethrower with the covering. The weapon broke into half and an oily fire spilled out of the device, forcing Portman to drop it.

A relentless T’Challa swung the covering into Portman’s ribs, but the man’s quick hand reflex blocked the attack. T’Challa kicked his heel into Portman’s knee and the opponent fell slightly forward.

Portman rebounded and tackled T’Challa. At the same time, T’Challa slammed the rim of the covering into Portman’s back. The attempt had little impact on Portman’s challenge.

Both fighters fell onto the ground and Portman punched T’Challa rapidly in the chest. T’Challa felt as though he was being struck with a sledgehammer. Portman’s strength had doubled since they last fought.

T’Challa managed to throw off Portman and he got onto his feet. Portman rolled to the side and then stood. He leapt into T’Challa.

T’Challa swung the covering into Portman’s face. Then the unimaginable occurred. Portman punched the covering out his path and T’Challa lost his grip of the weapon.

Portman kept up the pressure and fired another punch at T’Challa. T’Challa barely swerved out of the way. He noticed that Portman’s speed had increased. Then T’Challa remembered his earlier observation that Portman grew stronger the more he was pushed.

T’Challa activated his claws and he swiped at Portman, inflicting minimal damage. Portman had sensed the attack and avoided it accordingly. Portman countered attacked with a right hand hook. T’Challa was floored by the punch that was too fast for him to react to.

T’Challa’s vision blurred and Portman kicked him repeatedly in the ribs and kidneys.

“Who are you?” Portman asked vehemently. “Why are you after me?”

He kicked harder as the silence from T’Challa prolonged.

T’Challa desperately tried to regain his focus. He couldn’t die like this. He had to complete his mission.

“Answer me,” said Portman.

T’Challa inhaled and he called up his memory of human arteries so he could slash the ones on Portman to impair him.

Portman went for the knife; suddenly he stopped and he raced down the alley. T’Challa rose sharply and he spotted the reason that Portman had left. A young woman stood frozen in fright at the end of the alley. Portman seized her and placed a hand over her mouth to muffle a scream.

T’Challa ran to them.

“Hold it,” said Portman. “Answer my questions and I’ll let her go.”

T’Challa had no choice. Fear gripped the woman’s brown eyes.

“I’m from Onika Tehaddiga’s country,” replied T’Challa. “Now, let her go and face me like a man.”

“So your country sent you to capture me, then that makes you some kind of secret agent,” said Portman. “Listen well. You will never catch me again. You will be chasing me forever.”

Portman snapped the woman’s arm and dislocated it from the shoulder. Then he threw her onto T’Challa and fled.

T’Challa caught the woman and rested her on the street.

“Please don’t leave me,” pleaded the woman in pain.

T’Challa feared that she would go into shock.

“I’m going to put your shoulder back in,” said T’Challa.

The blood ran from the woman’s face. “No, no,” she cried.

T’Challa ignored her and with a sharp motion he sent the arm into the socket. The woman screamed.

T’Challa left her and went into the street. He looked around for Portman but he had vanished although his scent lingered. The screams from the woman reverberated in T’Challa’s head. Portman had used his weakness. Would it always be like this?

A police car came around the corner and T’Challa ensured that the officers saw him then he returned to the woman.

“The police are on their way, stay calm,” said T’Challa.

He brought the woman onto the sidewalk and then he ran in the direction Portman had gone into.

 As T’Challa went along the street he contemplated on whether he should abandon his compassion for innocent people in order to capture Portman. One tenet of being a leader was to look at the bigger picture. If he had ignored the woman then he stood a better chance following Portman and probably saving countless lives.

How much can I compromise to get this killer? The question weighed on him.

Book IV

Chapter One

Manchester City, New Hampshire

The Panther Goddess’ warning and the dark awareness that he could sacrifice a few people to win a battle when his back was against a wall struck like two close keys on a piano and the dissonance rattled T’Challa’s brain. If he kept saving people thrown in his way by Portman then the killer would always escape. If he refused to aid the people then Portman scored a moral victory over him.

The clash of T’Challa’s sense of nobility and the practicality demanded for the situation was new to him. He rationalized that whichever way he chose it should benefit the greatest number of people. Eventually his mind buckled from the weight of the stress.

I cannot let innocent people suffer or die in order for me to win; I cannot do that, were the thoughts that reverberated through his mind.

At that point he considered his father, the late king who was a principled man. What would he have done in such a situation? T’Challa tried to filter through his memory for a wise quote from his father, but nothing came.

I have to make my own decision and live with it, he thought.

Portman was close by and a choice needed to be made immediately.

Apart from the elimination of a weakness, T’Challa still required a plan to deal with Portman’s fighting abilities.

He knows when I’m going to make my first strike, blocks it and counter attacks; I can get around that by feigning an initial move and masking my real intentions. Then I have to make my attacks count, thought T’Challa.

A trailer truck drove across the street; its horn blared like the call of a wild animal. T’Challa scrambled up the side of the trailer and went onto the roof. He spotted Portman just as the murderer bent a corner. T’Challa leapt off the trailer, landed and rolled on the sidewalk. He got up with a sprint and he turned the corner.

Meanwhile, Portman jogged to a parked car and smashed the driver’s side window. T’Challa increased his pace knowing fully well that the decision fast approached. The moment was like a hand that squeezed on his throat. A temptation in his mind yelled that it was for this time only; he could be principled later on, but he had to make this one off compromise.

Another voice told him that there would be no one off. That as king he will be in similar situations in the future and treating people as collateral damage would become the norm if he started here.

The grip tightened and T’Challa was faced with an anxiety.

Portman sensed him and turned around. There was a slight grin on Portman’s face. He took the gun from the leg holster and he aimed at a coffee house that was across the street and milled with people.

T’Challa felt as though his competitive ego was plunged with a knife. He would not be manipulated no matter what. Still part of him wanted to lift the coffee tables outside of the establishment and use them as shields against the bullets to protect the patrons.

Then in that great moment of indecision Fate intervened. The horn from a vehicle bombarded the street and its angry motor came closer. T’Challa didn’t bother to look at the vehicle that headed for his prey; on the other hand Portman glanced down the street. It was enough time for T’Challa to leap into Portman.

Portman was surprised and turned the gun on T’Challa. It was too late. T’Challa slammed into him. Still Portman kept his sense of position and he used the momentum to grab and turn onto the side walk. In that fluid motion T’Challa sank his claws into Portman and dragged the killer with him. They spun again in a death tango and they broke through a store window.

They fell on their sides. Portman broke free and scrambled away. T’Challa kicked the fallen gun to a safe distance. The constant beeps from the tripped security alarm in the store didn’t distract the two opponents. Office desks and equipment were ubiquitous in the store. A fresh minty scent tainted the air. Both warriors sprang to their feet. Portman went into a marital arts posture and T’Challa stood calmly.

“Just when it I thought I had you figured out,” said Portman. “You were going to let me kill those people, weren’t you secret agent? I saw it in your eyes.”

T’Challa felt sickened that he was in such a predicament.

“You’re wrong about that,” said T’Challa in his rich accent.

“Really,” said Portman with satisfaction, and he edged to the side.

“I’m not a secret agent,” said T’Challa. “I’m the leader of my country.”

“That’s a joke right? If you are the leader why are you running around in my country?” asked Portman, slightly amused.

“Because I needed to deal with you personally,” replied T’Challa.

T’Challa moved to his side as he and Portman circled each other. T’Challa heard the rapid heart beats and stable breaths of his opponent. He guessed that Portman sensed the same thing from him.

To say that T’Challa didn’t expect such a challenge would be an understatement. He thought Portman was merely a crazed man not knowing that the killer possessed such a variety of combat skills and cunning.

One thing was clear. T’Challa had to end this now since to do otherwise would allow Portman to test his compassion once more. T’Challa didn’t want to deal with that kind of indecision anytime soon.

Broken glass cracked under the weights of T’Challa and Portman. They pushed aside the desks that impeded them. Concentration was the key factor in this encounter as whoever attacked first would have an advantage.

Portman slid his knife out the sheath with the right hand and held it in the hammer grip.

T’Challa smelt the blood from the man’s wounds in the left arm and right side.

I have to keep him active long enough for the blood loss to take effect, thought T’Challa.

T’Challa held his ground and contemplated a combination of moves.

“So what changed your mind this time about saving the people?” asked Portman. The he shot forward in a flash.

The question was a ruse to catch T’Challa off guard. T’Challa relied on an old lesson he learned at a child- that he didn’t necessarily need to see his opponent rather sense the movements. The Black Panther did that and he blocked a left hook from Portman. Instinctively T’Challa sensed that Portman’s right hand approached his face. The tip of the knife reached for his eye. T’Challa shot up his arm and blocked Portman’s right arm from completing its swing into his face.

The result was that T’Challa had Portman’s arms at bay. Portman relied on his strength and pushed down his right arm; causing the tip of the knife to inch closer to T’Challa’s eye.

Now is my chance, thought T’Challa.

T’Challa lashed out his knee for Portman’s groin, but the killer blocked it with his knee. At that moment, T’Challa dropped his arms, went down, swiveled with his right hand in the air and the claws slashed Portman’s throat. Blood erupted out of the wound and splattered T’Challa.

T’Challa rose, snatched Portman’s head and drove it empathically through a desk and smashed the face into the floor. T’Challa stayed in that position and he listened as Portman’s heartbeats gradually decreased from like the rapid flow of a river to a trickle of a rivulet. He raised the man and sheathed his claws.

The police sirens closed in so T’Challa lifted Portman onto his shoulder. He looked out the broken window and he saw curious people headed for the store.

How am I going to get out of this city? T’Challa pondered, and then he headed for the rear entrance.

T’Challa broke the back door lock and he stepped into an alley. He met Conrad’s scent there. The smell triggered T’Challa’s memory of the horn that distracted Portman.

A confident Conrad stared at T’Challa. The mercenary was just a few steps away from the Black Panther.

“I assumed that you would come out here,” said Conrad.

T’Challa scanned him and noticed that he was weaponless. T’Challa didn’t trust Conrad and it crossed his mind to do something about him. Maybe he could permanently paralyze the mercenary and leave him unable to speak about what he saw.

“Is he dead?” asked Conrad as he coolly leaned against the wall with his arms folded.

T’Challa didn’t answer. He recognized that Conrad was attempting to put his mind at ease with the nonchalant behavior.

“I want to know what you are going to do with the body,” said Conrad.

Still T’Challa was stoic as he would not be lulled into a false sense of safety.

“You are not from America are you? And as much as Portman deserves his fate he has abilities that are beneficial military wise, and I don’t want that falling into the wrong hands,” said Portman. “So just me tell who you are and what do you need him for?”

T’Challa’s perception of Conrad softened a bit when he remarked that Portman deserved what he got.

“Stay out of my way and I will not hurt you,” said T’Challa, and drew his claws.

Conrad didn’t flinch and held his ground.

“I’m going to bury him,” continued T’Challa, “if that eases your mind.”

T’Challa ran towards a dumpster, leapt on it and pushed off onto the wall. He sank his claws in the wall and climbed with the momentum from the jump. He managed to reach the roof and he consulted his map. He spotted a church that was in the vicinity and headed over the rooftops to it.

T’Challa leapt from the last building into the church’s bell tower. There he rested Portman and he hid himself in the corner. Then he listened to his communications device to monitor the movements of the police. He was certain that Conrad was unaware of his location.

T’Challa looked at Portman’s butchered throat and was reminded of Onika’s headless body. Slowly Portman’s heartbeats faded away.

In reflection T’Challa brewed over the probable fall out of his jaunt in the city. He wondered if anyone had taken pictures of him. Diplomatic immunity protected him from the law so he could count on that if required. Basically he hunted down and killed a man in a foreign country. He could never do that again, not as a king.

A strong gust of wind pushed the church bell’s waist slightly and a soft melodic ‘cling’ ‘cling’ oozed from the lips of the hollow instrument.

Despite the risk of losing information on the police, T’Challa dismantled his invention so he could put the kimoyo back to together and get assistance from his embassy. Even though he longed to be at home in Wakanda, in the back of his mind, he was not looking forward to speaking with the Panther Goddess about the mission because she was right about him.

That brought up the issue of his relationship with the entity. Would he consult the Panther Goddess on everything or make his own decisions.

Chapter Two

Conrad slipped away from the alley. He did not return to the pickup truck since it was probably marked by then. He had managed to find Portman as he drove around the area. He blew the horn hard when he spotted Portman and came up the street. That’s was when the stranger grabbed Portman.

 Making a phone call to David Portman was the most pressing thing on Conrad’s mind. What will he tell him? That your brother was dead and an unknown person, probably a foreign agent took him. Yes. He would tell him exactly that.

Conrad got to a pay phone and called collect to the Portman mansion. Conrad doubted that no one in the family knew about Dave’s extraordinary abilities.

They were in the arms business for Christ’s sake and they weren’t aware of a living weapon under their very noses, preposterous; even the father should have known about it, thought Conrad.

A house servant answered and Conrad asked for David. Conrad assumed that his friend waited patiently for his call to hear if the mission went as planned.

David’s troubled voice came on the other end.

“Conrad is it done?”

“I didn’t do it, someone else did,” replied Conrad.

There was silence from the Portman for a moment.

“What happened?” David finally asked.

“Your brother and I were ambushed by an unknown. He appeared to be military, he wore body armour and a mask; and he took your brother’s body. Also both he and Dave were superhuman. Did you know that your brother was like that?”

“Superhuman, Dave, I was not unaware of that. Where is the stranger now?”

“I’m not sure. I’m inManchestercity. The plane that the stranger carried your brother and me in crashed here.”

“What? Why did he want with you?”

“I have no idea, but he was at the cabin.”

There was another pause from David.

“Go on,” said the intrigued on the other end.

“I was almost to the cabin; he took me out and warned that the area was booby trapped. He had an African accent. I’m thinking that he was a foreign agent.”

“Well I didn’t tell anyone else about the cabin. The person may have been monitoring Dave.”

“Possible,” said Conrad. “But back to your brother’s superhuman abilities. Would your father have known?”

“I’m not sure. What kind of abilities are we speaking about here?”

“Captain America like,” replied Conrad.

“Dave,” said the astonished voice. “And the stranger was the same?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll have to ask father then,” said David. “Where is my brother?”

“The stranger took him. He said that he’ll bury him.”

“Do you believe him?” asked David.

Conrad introspected for a second and then answered. “Yes,” he responded firmly.

“You have to tell me more,” said David.

“I’m heading back home and I’ll call from there,” said Conrad.

“Okay.”

Conrad ended the call. Then he realized something. David believed that his brother was the one who was monitored when it could have been the other way around. The possibilities were too much for him to wrap his head around. In the end, Conrad went in search for a car to take.

Chapter Three

Thomas Portman studied the customized bullets that he kept in a case. The bullets were apart of a private set. It reminded him of how he failed Dave because he caught his son stealing a few of the items and did nothing about it. He just walked away. It mirrored what had transpired for the last twenty five years.

Thomas barely coped with the fallout of the incident at the cabin and he was unable to deal with Dave when he started to act out.

His train of thoughts was broken when he heard his eldest son close the sliding door and walked out to the patio where he sat.

Thomas was in relatively good shape for his age. Years of taking care of his body had done that. So even though David was the young buck it still seemed as though Thomas could take him down in a fight.

“Dad we need to talk,” said David.

“Is there any news on your brother?” asked Thomas, and he wiped his grey mustache.

David sat and looked his father in the eyes.

“No,” replied David.

“So what is on your mind?”

“Do you remember if he exhibited any extraordinary abilities?”

Thomas knew where the conversation was headed. He knew that his troubled son was different physically with regards to athletic prowess. He kept his insights a secret since he didn’t want to expose Dave to any high degree of attention which might potentially reveal his crime.

“What kind of extraordinary abilities?” asked Thomas.

“Speed, strength, those kinds of things.”

“No. Why ask that?” was Thomas’s response.

“I was curious since he managed to escape from a precinct,” replied David.

He stood and took a step forward to leave. Then he turned back to Thomas and stared at him. It was a daring move. Thomas sensed that it took a great deal of courage .

“Why didn’t you do anything to stop him?” asked David.

Thomas frowned.

“Are you accusing me of something?” countered Thomas.

“I don’t want to anger you dad, but we cannot pretend that this happened over night. There were signs that he was cracking even as a teenager,” said David.

Thomas placed the case next to him.

“You’re saying that I’m culpable for his killings” said Thomas.

“Yes,” said David. “You could have tried treatment, instead you ignored him.”

“So when he is caught, I shouldn’t expect you to be at his trials,” said Thomas.

The statement seemed to have struck David deeply.

“Of course I would not have gone if there were to be any trials. As far as I’m concerned he is dead to me!”

Thomas knew David’s personality well, that’s why he entrusted the company to him. The patriarch picked up on David’s tone of voice and what it tried to conceal.

Thomas rose and approached David.

“What did you do?” asked Thomas softly.

“What are talking about?”

“You said if there were ever going to be trials. How would you know that? So I’m asking what you did.”

“You’re reading too much into it,” said David, but his eyes gave the silent satisfaction that something was rightfully and finally done.

Thomas understood. “Okay,” he said and capitulated.

David walked back to the house. Thomas returned to the chair and took up the case.  Life had gone full circle. He got rid of his brother and hid it; now David had done the same.

Chapter Four

It was one in the morning when a stealth Wakandan plane came to the church. The jet plane was invisible to the human eye due to bump-shaped mirrors on its skin. A side door was opened and T’Challa leapt into it with Portman’s body.

The pilot was the only personnel on the plane.

“Good night. Take us to Wakanda immediately,” said T’Challa.

“Yes Your Majesty,” said the pilot.

T’Challa secured Portman and kept an eye on him for the duration of the flight. There would be no more mistakes. Via a communications link, T’Challa made arrangements for an autopsy to be performed on Portman once they arrived. He wanted to know the source of Portman’s superhuman capabilities.

Hours later, the pilot indicated that they were in Wakanda. T’Challa peered out of the cockpit window and he saw the snow capped peaks of the Kanga Mountain Range. T’Challa could almost hear the wolf cries that usually echoed through mountains.

Moments later, the plane passed over theCrystalForestthat was an ecological wonder. The radiation from a vibranium meteor mutated the once normal rain forest in a crystallized form centuries ago. Since that time the every tree and plant in that area grew into the beautiful and haunting crystal sculptures that graced the landscape.

The plane flew over several towns and it came upon the metropolis Central City. There were sky scrappers, parks, and homes in the city. The city bustled with energy in the late afternoon. Two colossal black panthers stood in the center of the city. They appeared to be statues but were actually war robots.

On the outskirts of the city, the plane landed in the subterranean science and military base called the Techno Jungle. The Techno Jungle was a like labyrinth and it that had several levels that went deeper into the earth.

T’Challa alighted from the plane and placed Portman on a waiting medical bed that was brought by three doctors. Then he ordered that Onika’s father be brought to the Techno Jungle after the autopsy was completed.

T’Challa washed up in a private room and then did a mission report for his personal records. He thought about making an anonymous donation toManchestercity for the damages that were done. When he was finished, the autopsy report was ready.

The doctors found the X gene in Portman’s DNA.

That explains it, thought T’Challa and read on.

Portman had a hair line skull fracture, the right hand bones were shattered and his knee was dislocated along with an assortment of other injuries. T’Challa recalled his fights with Portman and looked at some of the injuries listed.

He must have not felt the wounds, probably due to an adrenaline rush, T’Challa speculated.

Thereafter, Tehaddiga arrived and he met with T’Challa.

“I have brought the body of your daughter’s killer,” said T’Challa flatly.

“Can I see it?” asked Tehaddiga.

T’Challa escorted him to the medical room and on a slab table was Portman. T’Challa heard the heightened rate of Tehaddiga’s heart as he approached the body.

“Thank you,” said Tehaddiga. “Her soul can rest now.”

“If there is anything else I can do,” said T’Challa.

“Yes there is, my king,” said Tehaddiga. “Can you please burn his body?”

Venom and steel was in the old man’s voice. The tone represented a generation that was influenced by T’Challa’s father. T’Challa gathered an even deeper meaning. He wanted to slightly open up Wakanda and the new generation under him would be witnessed to that. But how would the older generation respond to such a move.

Tehaddiga left the Techno Jungle, shortly followed by T’Challa. The Black Panther headed for the savanna in a mini jet. He chose a random spot and landed just as the sun transformed the savanna into a golden roll.

T’Challa sat in the shade of the plane and waited. Finally Bast’s voice came and the Panther Goddess spoke gently.

“You finally understand what I warned you about,” said Bast. “That the Dogs of War have no mercy or compassion just the objective of winning.”

“Yes. I found myself having to a make a choice between getting the better of my enemy and keeping my values,” said T’Challa.

“As king you will always be faced with such decisions,” said Bast.

“The sad part though is that I can see myself doing whatever it takes to win even sacrificing those around me.”

“That is unfortunate.”

“How did my father handle such things?”

“Your father belonged to a different time,” replied Bast. “I know in your heart that you want to use your skills to help the world and such a task will bring you into conflict with your values and role as the Black Panther.”

“I understand that,” said T’Challa.

“Do you really?”

Bast’s voice disappeared on the wind, and T’Challa looked up at a column of clouds. He thought about the titans of evil in the world that he had done research on like Dr. Doom, Magneto, Red Skull, A.I.M and HYDRA. What would happen if he met those individuals and groups? Would his values or dark side prevail in order to defeat them? He did not know, only time would tell.

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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story:  The Eye of Abyssinia

“Before Memnon the Abyssinian  king was slain by Achilles on the shores of Troy, he and I fought in a battle to save the world.” An excerpt from the Book of Kings and Queens written by King Malgenda.

Chapter One

How things have changed over the years. T’Challa remembered as a youth that he played freely in the White Gorilla clan sector, but at present he was hated by that group.

The White Gorilla clan sector was located behind Serpent Valley. The sector was so named after the apes that were mutated like most of the fauna in Wakanda when the vibranium meteor crashed into the land.

The Crystal Forest was the salient aspect of the White Gorilla sector. It was a tropical rain forest that was completely crystallized. Science explained the phenomenon. The skins of the flora were genetically altered by the meteor’s radiation and the mutation was transferred throughout the generations. The flora still lived off the photosynthesis process and they were pollinated by animals and insects.

The view of the Crystal Forest from above was spectacular; a flowing flickering of white light bouncing off the surface like the rays of  sunlight on a pond.

Adjacent to the Crystal Forest was a regular jungle that had a mystique all of its own; an ever winding tapestry of vegetation and the sometimes home of the giant White Gorillas when they migrated from the Crystal Forest when the seasons changed.

The White Gorilla clan settlements were on the savannah behind the jungle. The settlements mostly consisted of compounds that housed the various families. Cars were non existent. Subsistence agriculture was the norm.

T’Challa strolled through the area on his way to Kana’s house that was on the south side. Children clearly indoctrinated with the idea that the Black Panther clan were devils looked suspiciously at their leader as he passed them.

The older folks were more respectful as they greeted him, but there was the hint of silent protest in their body language.

What had gone wrong with between clans that were historically good allies? It was simply T’Challa’s fault. The White Gorilla clan didn’t want Wakanda opened to foreign influence and their leadership made it explicitly clear to T’Challa, and he in turn banished them. Eventually, T’Challa and the clan’s new leaders went to war until a truce was found. It was a very bitter truce.

Looking back, T’Challa could say that he made a mistake, but that made no difference now.

Kana had been kicked out of his father’s compound over some dispute and he lived on a piece of land that one of his uncles owned. When T’Challa approached the small conical dwelling, Kana was waiting at the door.

Kana was unlike most other men from his clan who were naturally burly and could carry a fully grown bull on their broad shoulders. No doubt Kana had the same  strength, but he lacked the giant size of his compatriots. He was fairly six feet tall and brawny. His hair was neatly trimmed and his face was smooth. He was in his early twenties like Shuri.

“Good evening,” said Kana.

“Good evening,” said T’Challa. “Can I come in?”

“Yes, sir,” said Kana.

“You can drop the sir,” said T’Challa, and he stepped into the house.

The place was not very roomy. On one side was an area that acted as both the living room and bedroom. Then there was the kitchen and bathroom.

 “Do you have the Eye of Abyssinia piece?” asked T’Challa as he looked around the house.

  “Yes,” replied Kana.

The piece had been given to Kana based on his family’s inheritance laws.

“Good. You’ll be accompanying Ororo, Shuri and me on this mission,” said T’Challa.

“Did Shuri tell you about me?” asked Kana meekly.

“Tell me what exactly?”

“I falsified my records to get onto her elite team. I thought that this mission was to repay that crime.”

“No she did not tell me,” said T’Challa as he focused on Kana.

T’Challa sensed no protest or insolence in the man. It was as though things were normal between the clans.

“We need to go now,” said T’Challa.

“My gear is already packed,” said Kana, and he pointed to the bags near the kitchen doorway.

“Then let’s get going,” said T’Challa.

“If I may ask?”

“What is it?”

“Why didn’t you just drive or fly up here?” asked Kana.

“I haven’t been in these parts for a while and I needed to see how the place has changed,” replied T’Challa.

“If you weren’t the leader of the nation they would probably dismember you,” said Kana.

“I know,” said T’Challa. “And I probably would deserve it.”

“So you admit that it was your fault,” said Kana.

“Yes. I had to keep stability in the country and I made a decision,” said T’Challa. “But things escalated and this is the outcome.”

T’Challa continued, “Why aren’t you like the others?”

“What makes you think that I don’t harbor ill will to you?”

“Your demeanor,” replied T’Challa.

“As a kid they told  me that you said that we were the recalcitrant minority”

“I did.”

“Another thing was that the Black Panther kings were able to use the heart shaped herb to enhance their abilities which helped them win the kingship battle tournaments, yet others were banned from eating the heart of the White Gorilla to give them the same powers as the Black Panther kings. Therefore all the contests were in favor of the Black Panther clan,” said Kana.

“That’s not true. My ancestors never took the herb when those contests were fought,” said T’Challa.

“Well that is not what the kids are being told,” said Kana.

“That will need to be fixed,” said T’Challa.

The Black Panther removed the time space sword from the satchel that he carried.

“Get your bags,” said T’Challa.

Then he and Kana were teleported to N’Dare harbor.

Chapter Two

Ororo went over the story of the Eye of Abyssinia from the Book of Kings and Queens.

“Having received word from our spies in Egypt that the pharaoh Apocalypse intended to steal the Eye of Abyssinia, I assembled a team of warriors to accompany me to Ethiopia to stop the plot. I appointed Lolb of the White Gorilla clan as my second in command for the expedition.”

Ororo’s attention was interrupted by the security warning that flashed on the dashboard before her. A computer screen showed Shuri as she boarded the ship.

Ororo switched the digital book off of her kimoyo and got up to meet her sister in law. She couldn’t help but think of Ethiopia or as it was called Abyssinia. The nation was far reputable than Wakanda in the ancient world. Ethiopia played significant parts in the history recorded in the Bible and the Quran. Moses’ tomb was believed to be there, and a replica of Jerusalem was built out of the mountains in one of its valleys during the 12^th century.

Shuri came on the deck and Ororo hugged her.

“You didn’t tell T’Challa about Kana?” asked Shuri.

“No,” replied Ororo.

“Thank you. I don’t think that I want to go through with it anyway.”

“Why not?”

“I saved the entire world once, on my own. I like Kana’s confidence, but I don’t believe that he is in my league,” replied Shuri.

“So him working with us will not be a problem?” asked Ororo.

“No it won’t.”

“On another note I’ve been going over the Eye of Abyssinia story,” said Ororo.

“I believe that my mother used that as a bedtime story once,” said Shuri. “I haven’t heard it since then. Who is after the weapon?”

“Renegade Atlanteans. They have a head start on us,” replied Ororo.

The onboard computer stated that a teleportation had occurred on the lower deck. Ororo knew that it was T’Challa since she sensed the ‘flavor’ of the energy used in the teleportation.

“Well let’s see who this guy is,” said Ororo.

T’Challa and Kana came quickly up the stairs. The first thing that caught Ororo about Kana was the confidence in his stride that Shuri spoke about. He looked like a leader.

Ororo glanced at Shuri and her sister in law had a calm expression. General civility followed and the expedition got underway.

The craft was submerged and into the Indian Ocean within a few minutes. Ororo showed the team their destination on a holographic map.

“The Eye is on the Mid Indian Basin, 12000 feet down,” said Ororo. “The Atlanteans number ten. In my estimation the curse on the Eye will incapacitate most of the Atlanteans leaving us with the task of taking care of the rest. T’Challa and Kana will retrieve the Eye while Shuri and I will deal with the surviving Atlanteans.”

“One question,” said Kana. “What is the chain of command in our team?”

“It’s simple. There is no chain of command with Ororo, T’Challa and me,” said Shuri.

“So I’ll be following either one of you,” said Kana.

“Correct,” said Shuri.

“Kana are you aware of the full story behind the Eye?” asked Ororo.

“Only the role that my ancestor played,” replied Kana.

“We can give you the full details if you want them,” said Ororo.

“I’ll appreciate that,” said Kana.

Chapter Three

Kana and Shuri checked the scuba gear and weapons while T’Challa and Ororo stayed in the helm.

“Did you get my message?” asked Kana.

Shuri paused a little and replied, “Yes.”

“T’Challa stated that you didn’t tell him about my case,” said Kana.

“You are under my jurisdiction so I didn’t have to inform him on such a minor matter,” said Shuri.

“Back to the message that I sent, do you want to talk?”

“Not now, we are working,” said Shuri.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to do it right now, maybe later,” said Kana.

“Why are you doing this?” asked Shuri.

“What?”

“Pursuing me,” said Shuri. “You are not my type, so let it go.”

Kana didn’t respond and then he continued his work.

Meanwhile, in the helm, T’Challa discussed his trip to the White Gorilla Clan sector with Ororo.

“There was no incident which was a good thing,” said T’Challa.

“Still what?”

“Still I want them back on the council,” said T’Challa. “I hoped that Kana had good standing in the community so that we could have used the history of the clans as a means of repairing the damage that was done. As it turns out, Kana’s repute is very low in the clan.”

“What did he do?”

“It was a personal matter so it isn’t on the file,” said T’Challa. “And he doctored some of the information to get onto the commando unit so I can’t really trust everything that is written about him.”

“How did he do that?”

“Shuri knows. She didn’t tell us,” replied T’Challa.

“Well I hope that she has done something to prevent such a transgression from ever occurring again.”

“I don’t know if he was punished or not,” said T’Challa.

“I see,” said Ororo.

“I think that she likes him,” said T’Challa.

“How did you reach to that conclusion?”

“I know my sister,” replied T’Challa.

“What is your impression of him?”

“Smart, outspoken and shady,” replied T’Challa. “Do you have any?”

“A commanding presence.”

“That too,” said T’Challa in hindsight. “He also has the skill of throwing any projectile object with one hundred per cent accuracy and with lethal force.”

“That’s interesting. Is he a mutant?”

“No.”

“Speaking of mutants, I will have to look into the history of mutant activity in Wakanda,” said Ororo.

“Any particular reason?”

“The records aren’t centralized. I want that corrected.”

“Oddly quite a bit of mutants in the past came from the White Gorilla clan,” said T’Challa.

“On another note do you want to spend some time just by ourselves before I go back to the X Men?”

“Sure. Where do you have in mind?”

“Nothing definite as yet, we just need to make some room for it. My only disappointment is that I won’t be able to finish the story in the Book of Kings and Queens. I rushed to end that’s how I knew about the curse.”

“Let me finish it for you,” said T’Challa and told what he remembered from the story.

Chapter Four

The use of roving spies by Wakanda was started by Malgenda’s mother the former queen. When the Malgenda learnt of Apocalypse’s plan, he went to Abyssinia and contacted the spies that operated in the kingdom.

Then Malgenda officially met Memnon the king of Abyssinia. They had a long and at times heated discussion over the Eye. Memnon was suspicious of Malgenda.

“How would I know that it is not really you who wants the Eye and this threat from the pharaoh is only a ruse to reveal the Eye to you?” asked Memnon.

“We are both warriors and honorable men,” replied Malgenda. “You cannot know for sure that I speak the truth unless you see me for what I am.”

“You are from a distant kingdom that I have never heard of,” said Memnon. “And travel with strange weapons. You may very well be an imposter or sorcerer. Put yourself in my position. Would you trust such a person?”

“No.”

“Exactly,” said Memnon.  “I will put you and your followers under watch as long as you remain in my kingdom. But you will not roam freely. You shall be housed and shall stay there until you are ready to leave.”

“Thank you,” said Malgenda.

Later in the noble house that Memnon had given, the Wakandan king and his warriors prepared for the night. The rest of the citizens in the capital called Aksum were probably asleep on the warm night. The capital itself was a major trading base that had ties to Rome, China and India.

Giant obelisks were prevalent in the city and acted as markers for underground burial chambers.

Malgenda had heavy thoughts on his mind. He had to convince the king that the plot was real and then he had to return quickly to Wakanda since the country had never gone without a ruler for such a long period.

He contemplated for an hour and then came to a decision. Then he went to his warriors whom numbered twelve.

“We will take the Eye tonight,” said Malgenda.

No one objected to the king’s plan and so they planned their escape from the Abyssinian guards.

The two storey house was monitored on all sides by watchers and two guards were posted at each of the three entrances and exits. A high perimeter wall bordered the house.

Malgenda overcome the difficulties through his abilities. All the lights in the house were doused and the windows closed. Then the window on the south was opened and Malgenda leapt out like the wind. He reached the wall in a single bound and then was onto the nearby house where a watcher was stationed. Malgenda located the watcher by scent and subdued him quickly and silently.

Malgenda bounded the watcher and took his garments. Malgenda disguised himself in the clothes. Then he went around the other houses and took out the watchers. The guards on the east exit were next.

He opened the doors for his warriors and they came out silently. Then they ran towards the Obelisk of Aksum that stood over the hiding place of the Eye.

The Wakandan spies had indicated that the entrance to the underground tunnel was through the fifth house away from the obelisk. However, the spies had found an alternative route was also in the vicinity.

The new route started underneath the garden of a noble’s house. Malgenda and his warriors got to the place and subdued the guards that were there. Four of the warriors disguised themselves as guards and remained in the garden while the others entered the tunnel through a hole that was camouflaged with potted plants and a metal cover.

The sound of battle came to Malgenda’s ears after a few minutes inside the tunnel. He urged his warriors forward soon after they came upon Memnon in a battle with six robed creatures.

“What is going on?” asked Malgenda’s second in command. “I cannot see a thing even though I hear the noises.”

“Memnon is being attacked,” replied Malgenda who saw everything due to his abilities.

The sound of his voice stalled the fight between Memnon and the creatures. The creatures realized that they were out numbered and fled.

“They have the Eye,” said Memnon.

Malgenda joined him in pursuit of the thieves.

“How did you get here?” asked Memnon.

“I knew of the Eye’s hiding place,” replied Malgenda.

“Then why didn’t you take it instead of coming to me?”

“Because you are the king and I must show respect to you.”

“You must understand my position,” said Memnon.

“I did,” said Malgenda. “What does the Eye look like exactly? I only know of its existence.”

“I don’t trust you fully,” said Memnon.

The creatures vaunted through the door that led to the house. Malgenda noted that his men were not able to keep up with his and Memnon’s pace.

The two kings erupted out of the house and saw that the creatures had taken flight into the sky. Memnon made an astonishing leap about the height a house and caught one of the creatures.

Malgenda made a similar leap and grappled another fiend. The creature’s body felt reptilian underneath the brown robes. It hissed and spat at him.

Then Malgenda drew his chakram and threw it at the four other creatures. The sharp hooped weapon sliced through the creatures.

The creature that Malgenda held onto scratched him across the face. Malgenda turned the creature into the path of the returning chakram and the weapon buried itself into the creature’s head.

Malgenda positioned the creature so that it would take the brunt of the fall. The duo crashed through the roof of a house and caused a great commotion for the family that resided there.

Malgenda grabbed the creature and darted out of a window. While falling, he saw his warriors emerge from the first house. He landed and went to them.

“Did you see anything else in the chamber?” asked Malgenda.

“Nothing,” replied Lolb, the second in command. “What manner of beast do you carry my king?”

Malgenda took the hood from the creature’s head. The beast was wrinkled like an aged man. Ghastly canine teeth protruded out of his mouth.

Then Malgenda sniffed the air for Memnon’s scent. His search was interrupted when the homeowners came onto the street and looked out the windows to find out what the noise was about.

“Go back inside,” shouted Memnon as he came out of an alley with the corpse of a creature on his shoulder. “So says your king.”

Immediately people retreated into their homes and heads went back from the windows.

Memnon held a sword that dripped with red blood. He walked swiftly up to Malgenda.

“You have great skill,” said Memnon.

“Likewise you,” said Malgenda.

An hour later, the two kings met once more in private council in the palace.

“Do you know the full history of the Eye?” asked Memnon.

“No,” replied Malgenda.

“Many years ago, the Eye was created as a gift for the Lemurian Empire. But Lemuria was destroyed so the Eye remained here. But it is not the first time that someone has tried to steal the Eye. They didn’t get this far though,” said Memnon.

“Then you need to hide it somewhere else or destroy it,” said Malgenda.

“The Eye cannot be destroyed,” said Memnon. “Finding a new hiding place has been on my mind for quite some time. As long as it exists people will try to get their hands on it.

“Tell me something, did you come by the Andigan Pass on your way to the capital?” asked Memnon.

“Yes.”

“It is a beautiful plateau isn’t it. What if I told you that a mighty mountain once stood there? A mountain so tall that snow wrapped around its peak. The Eye was tested on that mountain and the outcome became legend,” said Memnon.

Malgenda was left speechless.

“I am going to die,” said Memnon. “I know the date, the hour and by whose hand. I cannot protect the Eye anymore and I have lost confidence in my compatriots to guard it when I’m gone.”

“What do you have in mind?” asked Malgenda.

“I think you have shown honesty and honor enough to be entrusted with the disposal of the Eye,” replied Memnon.

“But you said that the Eye cannot be destroyed.”

“It cannot but it can be placed where no man may ever dare find it and if so, only your bloodline and another’s could open it.”

“You will not regret this trust,” said Malgenda.

“Of course I won’t,” said Memnon with a grin. “We will drop the Eye with weights into the ocean near India and the bowels of the Earth will hide it. You and your chosen person will undergo a ritual that will bond you to the Eye. Only you and the chosen’s descendants would be able to move the Eye. But it must be done in unison. My council came up the idea during our deliberations.”

“How soon are we to do this?”

“Immediately,” replied Memnon. “And this is what the Eye looks like.”

Memnon placed a small gold cube on the table. It looked innocuous. Then the cube unfolded and melted. A cylinder the size of a small vase was constructed from the flowing gold metal. A small green crystal glowed on the top of the cylinder.

“Imagine that something so small can create so much horror,” said Memnon.

“Indeed,” said Malgenda.

Chapter Five

“So that was how Kana’s ancestor got involved,” said Ororo.

“Yes. Malgenda chose his second in command,” said T’Challa.

The ship’s computer gave off two warnings; one for the arrival at the Eye’s location and the other for a vessel in the vicinity.

Ororo called Shuri and Kana to the helm. Then Ororo got the specs of the vessel on the screen. It was an Atlantean ship.

“It is not a royal cruiser,” said Ororo. “Probably only carrying light weaponry. We’ll tell them to stand down. If not then we’ll chase them with fire from our side.”

“Sounds good,” said T’Challa. “I’ll get ready with Kana.”

Then he went out of the helm. Ororo heard as he met Kana and told him to turn back around. After that, Shuri came on the helm.

“I’m preparing the weapons system. You can hail the Atlantean ship in the meantime,” said Ororo.

Shuri got on the communicator. She identified herself and asked the same from the Atlanteans.

“Have you come for the Eye of Abyssinia?” asked a coarse and angry voice.

“What do you know of the Eye of Abyssinia?” asked Shuri.

“That it killed my brothers,” replied the voice.

“Well what can I say,” said Shuri.

“I want their bodies,” said the voice.

Ororo shined the ship’s spot lights on the ocean floor and it showed the large decorated box that contained the Eye. Seven bodies were around the box and they were stuck to the floor.

“We’ll give you the bodies,” said Ororo.

T’Challa and Kana came into the picture as they went to the box. They were in high pressure dive suits. They held up their respective keys for the box’s scanners. A green light shot out of the box and scanned the keys. Then T’Challa and Kana went closer.

The pair inserted their keys into the box at the same time and turned the locks; thereby deactivating the security system. Then T’Challa and Kana lifted the box that was the size of a man and carried it back to the ship.

“You can get your dead now,” said Shuri. “But you will be destroyed if you pursue us.”

“Thank you,” said the voice in sincere manner.

Ororo sent the ship on a return course to Wakanda. Then she and Shuri went to the loading bay.

T’Challa and Kana had opened the box by pushing back its two sides. The Eye of Abyssinia was in the center.

“Are we returning it to Ethiopia?” asked Kana.

“No. We’ll keep it,” replied T’Challa.

“So there isn’t anyone in Ethiopia who can handle this responsibility?” asked Kana. “Have we  checked?”

“He said that we will keep it. Don’t push it,” said Shuri.

“Actually he is right,” said Ororo. “We should inquire.”

Chapter Six

The Eye of Abyssinia was taken to the Vault in the Kanga Mountains for the time being. T’Challa returned Kana home and then he went to Shuri’s house.

Shuri took the opportunity to voice her concern over Kana’s behavior.

“I think it was a bad precedent that he was allowed to speak like that,” said Shuri.

“He gave his opinion and we will look into it,” replied T’Challa.

“Still,” said Shuri.

“What happened between the two of you?”

“What do you mean?”

“There is something going on. Did you discipline him for doctoring the files?”

“I gave him an earful and I have not decided on a suitable punishment as yet.”

“Well don’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because I want to work with him some more,” replied T’Challa.

“What for?”

“I have my reasons,” said T’Challa and then he left.

Next Story: The Mists of Kun Lun

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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story:  To Kill A Raven Pt II

Chapter One

Greenridge, Ghana

The bricked wall did little to muffle the sound of the well that was on the other side of it. The trickle of the water was musical as it flowed strongly and then weakly at close intervals.

Mushrooms grew out of the few cracks in the eight feet wall and they gave the grey concrete some color. That could not be said for the rest of the catacombs. They were dour chambers that held centuries of dust, save for one. Long ago, these catacombs provided a base for Wakandan operatives in this part of Africa. There was a sense of history that struck a visitor.

That feeling was in Shuri as she dragged Raven to the prisoner’s chair. How many other prisoners were carried blind folded from the surface to the chambers to be interrogated or instructions given?

Shuri strapped Raven in the chair that looked as though it came from the execution room in a prison. Shuri placed a computerized helmet on Raven’s head that was meant to nullify the telepathy. The helmet resembled a cap that was silver and smooth. Wakanda’s research and development program had supplied the device.

Shuri checked the band around Raven’s neck that locked the face mask down. There were inscriptions from a language unknown to Shuri on the band and the inscriptions changed when Shuri’s fingers neared them.

The other major item on Raven was supposedly a teleportation device that had little weight and fitted in Shuri’s palm. It had a dull silver color. The controls were in another strange language.

Shuri had no doubt that she  had the right person. She could not prove it at the moment, but she felt correct in her bones. This was the person who had caused her family so much grief. Shuri held back the urge to slap Raven hard across the face to wake her.

Word in the criminal underworld and political corridors was that Raven’s reputation had quadrupled because of the incident with T’Challa and Ororo. The myth of Raven had been established. Who was she? What did she look like? Shuri was not sure about those answers at the time. T’Challa and Ororo had briefed her on their past dealings with Raven still it was nothing substantial. The most that Shuri knew was that Raven had freed Soberk.

Then Shuri thought about the difficulties in dismantling or carrying on Raven’s organization. Finding a replacement as Storm wanted would be time consuming and stripping the organization’s assets like T’Challa suggested seemed a waste.

Where could the middle ground be? Shuri pondered.

Frankly, Shuri was tired both mentally and physically. The forger’s suit had been heavy and awkward. She had a new understanding for the obese. Then the mental projections were hard to keep up after the first hour of waiting for Raven.

As usual T’Challa had a firm grasp of hiding his thoughts from telepaths and it was expected that Shuri would follow the example. She had forced herself to meet the expectation in the classes conducted in Wakanda’s psi division.

Speaking of Wakanda, she had to wonder if the country had become an after thought to T’Challa and Ororo since they were outside on missions so often. As the former ruler of the nation, Shuri felt incline to have a say in how it was being run.

Sometimes Shuri had wondered what it was really like to lose your memories of your homeland especially if you led it. She expected that T’Challa and Ororo would learn from the lesson and embrace Wakanda even more strongly. To walk with the people and understand the culture that was changing.

One of the roles that Umba played was that he was like the couple’s ears to the ground. He soaked up a lot of information when he mingled with the regular people and passed it onto T’Challa and Ororo. Now where would they get that valuable information from?

Shuri sighed. There were a lot of variables in life and change being the only constant. She looked at Raven. This was a woman who was brainwashed as a child and was unable to break free from it. So much that Raven deemed that she was correct to behave in the manner that she did. T’Challa said that he had offered an olive branch to Raven and she rejected it. Life was funny that way. Raven had brought her present fate on herself.

There was a chamber waiting for Raven in the Vault. She would remain there forever.

A sudden flash of golden light came and went in the right corner of the catacomb. Shuri knew who it was. The iconic stance of T’Challa and Ororo appeared in the thin light. Then the couple stepped out of the dimness with a sense of satisfaction on their faces.

The couple was dressed in black. Ororo had feathered earrings and a gold necklace. Her hair was in one and her beautiful eyes looked over Raven. T’Challa had the time space sword on his back and it made him look like a barbarian warrior from a pulp fiction novel. His brown eyes narrowed on Shuri and then the prisoner.

How they have longed for this moment, thought Shuri and she was delighted as well.

T’Challa sniffed the air.

“It’s Raven,” he said grimly.

“What happened in the house?” asked Ororo.

“It went as expected. The Life Decoy robot got shot in the process and I used an electromagnetic pulse on Raven before I brought her here,” replied Shuri and continued. “The booby trap is around her neck so the mask cannot be taken off and I presume that her teleportor is safeguarded in the same manner.”

“And the forgers?” asked T’Challa.

“Wrapped up tight in Tuso. Look we are running out of hiding places for these types of jobs,” said Shuri.

“Point taken,” said Ororo.

“And how are you emotionally? Did Raven get beyond the projections?” asked T’Challa.

“I feel fine for now and I don’t think that Raven knew that it was setup,” replied Shuri.

“We can never tell,” said Ororo as she inspected the band around Raven’s neck. “Can you break this?” she asked T’Challa.

“It will take too much time,” he replied.

“So we run the mission?” asked Shuri.

“Yes,” answered T’Challa.

“We should use a robot to remove the mask,” said Ororo.

“Then we will mark and tag her,” said T’Challa.

Chapter Two

Africa was a vast continent of various cultures, people and ways of doing things. With those details in mind, Soberk broke up his superhero group into regions.

The events in Washington D.C. several months ago catapulted the entire group onto the world stage and the core team soon dealt with global emergencies on a regular basis. Soberk incorporated live video feeds during missions to the world to entrench the team in the minds of people.

The Ghanaian branch was a data gatherer and information relay operation that supplied the other branch teams. T’Challa and Ororo sent falsified information of a HYDRA base in the central Sahara desert.

Like clockwork, the core team members were alerted via video cards. At the time Soberk was at the United Nations Building in New York for the Security Council meeting. Still he followed the events on the low key with his palm held computer.

The team members who were closets to HYDRA’s location numbered five and they were all flyers.  Soberk liked to look at the response times of the various teams. On this mission the team took fifteen minutes to assemble, ten minutes to formulate a plan of attack and ten minutes to fly to the target’s location.

The live feed to the international news channels started five minutes after the team arrived at the base.

The base was camouflaged by a sandy colored tent. HYDRA agents were easily identifiable due to the octopus insignia on their clothes.  Ordinary people viewed the organization as a remnant of the Cold War period when world domination by a few was the craze. However, HYDRA was known to a few others as a centuries old vehicle for mayhem.

When the team attacked, the HYDRA agents outside of the base fled inside. The team broke in and met a red haired woman in her late twenties along with four HYDRA agents.

Soberk’s eyes narrowed when he saw the woman.

Raven, he thought.

There was a short skirmish and then an explosion on HYDRA’s side. Soberk jumped out of his seat much to the astonishment of the Security Council members. He left the chamber without speaking and teleported to the HYDRA base. There were barely any remains of the base when Soberk arrived.

The team safely escaped the blast and they were glad to see their leader. He ignored them and flew to the centre of blast zone.

She cannot be dead, thought Soberk. If so then I’m truly alone.

One of the team members went next to him and inquired what was wrong.

“Nothing, you did an excellent job,” said Soberk.

 Chapter Three

A burning sensation on Raven’s right cheek woke her. Then she felt the weight of the helmet on her head. She looked around and saw her captors. She smiled. The smell of hot metal caught her attention and she saw the remnants of the robot next to the chair. It was clear to her what the purpose of the robot was for. She concluded that the burn on her face was caused by the combustion of the robot when it tampered with the magical band around her neck.

“First thing,” said T’Challa. “Thanos gave us our memories back.”

Raven’s smile turned to a frown. Then she glanced around the rest of the room. The trickle of the well stood out. She tried to move her hands and feet without success. Then the pain on her cheek returned.

What has happened to my face?

 “Soberk will come after you,” said Raven.

“You died yesterday,” said T’Challa.

“As far as Soberk is concerned it was his team that killed you,” said Ororo.

“So this is the part where you seal me up like you did Soberk?” asked Raven.

“Yes,” replied Shuri.

Raven looked at Shuri intently. It was the first time that they had met and it showed how T’Challa and Ororo outwitted her. She was so focused on the couple that she didn’t see the use of Shuri in their plans.

Raven assumed that she still had a few moments left before the double spell from the band would teleport her out of the room.

“You think that you’re so smart, always a step ahead of the enemy, but I’m you’re equal maybe even superior,” said Raven.

Then she vanished out of the chair and the helmet.

The spell took her into the quarantine block of her headquarters. She immediately took off all her clothes and threw them into a disposal unit. Then she went into the electromagnetic pulse cube that zapped her body. Her heart got a twinge like a mild heart attack from the magnitude of the shock. Afterwards, Raven went into the next section which was a chemical shower.

She touched her right cheek and felt the torn flesh. What is that? She thought and turned to the mirrored left wall.

“They didn’t.”

The Black Panther seal was etched into the cheek. She remembered the carved mark on Soberk’s chest that he believed Storm had given him.

Raven dashed out of the shower and went to the medical unit to find a healing laser. Probably she could repair the damage in time. But she spent ten minutes trying to fix the problem with no avail. She took a seat and accepted the fact that the mark was permanent. She decided that her hair could conceal the mark if necessary.

Then she remembered that Soberk believed that she was dead.

He must be devastated, she thought.

She got into a combat pants and jacket and then she teleported to the hut. She followed the routine and waited by the bed.

Seconds later, a bewildered Soberk appeared. They went through the protocols quickly, and when Soberk was sure that it was Raven he hugged her protectively.

Raven felt the comfort from the hold and something else which was love. It was not romantic love, but the kind that was between dear friends. She had not felt that way since she was a teen.

“What happened?” asked Soberk.

“T’Challa and Ororo used Shuri to get to me.”

“The sister,” said Soberk absentmindedly.

“Are you hurt?”

Raven broke away from Soberk and she showed him the mark. Soberk touched it gently.

“Did they do it while you were awake?” Soberk asked with guarded anger.

“I was unconscious and it’s permanent.”

“I will expose this sham to the world and bury T’Challa and Ororo with it,” said Soberk.

“What do you mean? How exactly did they fake my death?”

“It was on international television. The whole world has seen it. There was a HYDRA base in the Sahara. My team went there and you appeared, then there was an explosion.”

“They went through all that trouble because they knew that you would go to them if I disappeared,” said Raven.

“Clever bastards,” said Soberk.

“Leave them,” said Raven.

He held her face tenderly.

“Search my mind. Feel the pain that I went through last night having believed that you were gone. Then you’ll understand my need to punish T’Challa and Ororo,” said Soberk.

“I can read the pain in your eyes,” said Raven. “They got very close on this occasion, fine, but we cannot react on impulse.”

“I cannot promise that I will not do anything.”

Raven stroked the side of his face.

“I hope that you don’t. I’ll handle everything. I have to go now,” said Raven.

“Wait. How will I know if something bad happens to you on one your missions?”

“You just won’t.”

They kissed warmly and she departed. She returned to the headquarters with the intention of informing  the agencies that she was still alive.

Chapter Four

Raven had no idea how it happened. There was a pinch to her neck and then she slumped to her knees. She was aware of her surroundings, but her body was paralysed. Two people landed from the ceiling next to her. They were T’Challa and Ororo.

“We didn’t finish our conversation,” said T’Challa, and he manhandled her left arm.

He lifted her body and placed her in the chair that Ororo brought from the desk.

How? Raven asked herself.

“Twice in the past we underestimated you. We weren’t going to make the mistake a third time,” said Ororo.

Then Ororo went to the computer on the desk.

“The thing is that we did not know where you came from and your connection to Soberk. Then it dawned on us that the only way you would have known Soberk intimately was if you were on the team from your organization that dealt with him,” said Ororo, and she typed on the keyboard. “And the leader of the team was of course Kallus.”

Raven panicked as Ororo typed the name into the computer’s password protection. A delighted look came on Ororo’s face.

“I now have access to your whole organization,” said Ororo triumphantly.

T’Challa leaned against the desk, folded his arms and stared at Raven.

“By the way,” said T’Challa,” the reason that your telepathy and other body functions aren’t working is due to a serum we specially blended for you.”

“The secret to a good con is to make the opponent believe that they are in control of the situation. Isn’t that what you did to us?” asked Ororo. “Only thing is that we were playing it with you which returns us right back to what we are going to do with you.”

Then Ororo pocketed the map to Kun Lun that was on the desk.

“It is only fair that we state your punishment even though you didn’t afford the same treatment to us,” said T’Challa. “You will be frozen alive and kept in hibernation.”

“Don’t worry we will handle the organization’s business from here on,” said Ororo.

“Any questions?” asked T’Challa.

Raven’s vision blurred and she passed out.

Chapter Five

Ororo explored the headquarters while T’Challa had taken Raven back to Wakanda. The couple had tracked Raven through the Black Panther mark. Then they hid their thoughts to avoid Raven’s telepathy. T’Challa used his mental skills to mask his mind while Ororo used a ring of electrical current around her head.

Ororo had sensed the teleportation of the incoming Raven and the couple went to the ceiling to lay a trap.

Ororo was concerned about where Raven had returned from.

Possibly she contacted Soberk, thought Ororo.

She greedily went through the files on the computer that were accessible. She searched for items on T’Challa and herself. She came across biographies and a write up on Wakanda that interested her. Raven had deemed that it was better to have T’Challa and Ororo as the heads of Wakanda because of their open objectives than for someone else from within the country that would be more secretive and harder to track and manipulate.

“Oh,” said Ororo.

There was another detail. A current mission file on the couple and Ororo opened it. The file contained a log of the couple’s movements outside of Wakanda for the last months. The means of the tracking was shown in a small picture.

“Where have I seen that before?” Ororo asked aloud. Then she glanced at the next table and saw the soul tracking instrument.

She pointed a finger at it and concentrated. A bolt of lightening left her finger and knocked the instrument over. She felt happy that T’Challa and Ororo were justified in thinking that Raven monitored them.

Then Ororo scanned the files for a prize that was bigger than Raven and Soberk put together. Then she found it, the Balthazar file. It was truly like opening a door and not knowing what to expect.

Ororo read the file and was intrigued. Balthazar was formerly the ‘god’ Makli who volunteered out of a council of ‘gods’ to be transformed by the Five Lights into a being that would guard against the Cosmic Serpent.

Balthazar was made from the very fabric of existence and formed a ring around the Earth. Soberk learnt of Balthazar’s existence through his clan and divided him into several pieces with the main piece being the one that resided in Aranzi.

“That’s all well and good but what are his weaknesses?” asked Ororo as she read further and found nothing to answer her question.

Then she went to Soberk’s file. It stated basically that Soberk followed a Machiavellian philosophy and he was useful in influencing global political changes. Another tidbit was that Soberk was actively trying to recreate his clan.

“That might mean trouble,” said Ororo, since hers and T’Challa’s next objective was to take down Soberk.

Ororo looked for a diagram or layout of the headquarters. She remembered that Wakanda’s spy satellites had taken photos of several potential land and buildings that Raven may have operated from. Ororo anticipated that she was in one of those locations. However, she was not. A diagram of the headquarters showed that it was situated underneath a scrap yard.

She became concerned that Balthazar may appear because he swore to protect Raven once she was in Aranzi. She called T’Challa and told him the situation. Then he came for her. Before she left, Ororo took photos on her kimoyo of the information on Raven’s computer since she believed that Raven’s computer had a barrier to downloading data.

Once they had teleported back to Wakanda, Ororo told T’Challa what she had learnt.

“Do you still want to find someone to run the operation?” asked T’Challa.

“Yes,” replied Ororo. “My first choice was Nicholas Fury. Also Raven’s operation is far greater in scope than we estimated. She has nine missions currently running. Dismantling everything does not seem prudent.”

Ororo continued, “And it appears secret service agencies from around the world supplied Raven with work.”

“I thought that it was only America,” said T’Challa. “We really need to sit and go over this again.”

“Indeed,” said Ororo.

“Do you want to bring Shuri into this?”

“Yes.”

“On another note, none of Soberk’s team members were injured in the operation,” said T’Challa.

“Thank God for that,” said Ororo.

Then she went further. “With regards to those current missions, one struck me it was called the Eye of Abyssinia Operation. The name seemed familiar.”

Alarm came on T’Challa’s face.

“The Eye of Abyssinia was disposed of by one of my ancestors. You must have read about the story in the Book of Kings and Queens,” said T’Challa.

Ororo showed him the snap shots from her kimoyo.

“We have to get on this right away,” said T’Challa. “We will also need Shuri and the White Gorilla clansman who is the descendant of the warrior who accompanied my ancestor in the quest for the Eye of Abyssinia.”

“Why do we need the White Gorilla clan?”

“Because he will have a piece of the puzzle to deal with the Eye of Abyssinia,” replied T’Challa. Then he accessed the country’s data files on the White Gorilla clan from his kimoyo and found the name he wanted.

Chapter Six

Shuri’s short sleep was interrupted by a phone call. She jumped up and snatched the knife that was underneath her pillow.  She dropped her head back on the bed when she realized that it was the phone that made the noise.

“Let the machine get it,” she uttered.

The phone’s answering machine took the call and a message was left. It was from the guy who intrigued her.

“Hi Shuri this is Kana. I like that chat that we had the other day. Can we meet again?”

Then the message ended.

Shuri took a moment to go over what she just heard and the real consequences of getting into a relationship with an enemy clan member. The factor that weighed the scale towards the relationship was that Kana was almost like an outcast from the Gorilla Clan. He was a rebel and was thrown out of his father’s compound. Somehow he managed to hide his clanship and got into the commando division as a weapons specialist until she found out.

Another aspect was that Kana’s bloodline was tied to the Black Panther clan due to a deed his ancestor did. Such things were cast aside during the current feud.

Her kimoyo rang and it was T’Challa on the line.

“Hello,” said Shuri.

“Shuri are you rested?” asked T’Challa.

“Somewhat. But I’m ready for anything.”

“Good because we have a deep ocean mission to go on,” said T’Challa.

“For what?”

“The Eye of Abyssinia. King Malgenda dropped it in the Indian Ocean with weights to hide it. Raven had a crew trying to retrieve it.”

“Okay I’ll get ready.”

“Also we will have the descendant from the White Gorilla Clan coming along. Is that all right with you?”

“Who is it?”

“His name is Kana. I am going to the White Gorilla clan sector to speak with him.”

Concern came over Shuri.

“All right.”

T’Challa went offline and Shuri held her forehead.

“This is going to be a mess,” she muttered.

Next Story: The Eye of Abyssinia

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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story:  To Kill A Raven Pt I

Chapter One

Hong Kong,

Abraham Hunter aka White Wolf  knew that he was being followed in the dense Temple Street night market. Bargain hunters sauntered shoulder to shoulder in the narrow street to buy produce and cheap general items from brightly lit stalls. The smell of hot foods wafted in the air. A sea of constant chatter rolled over the street to the brown iron arch gate at the Jordan Street intersection. The neon lights bonanza rivaled that of Times Square. Somehow the wind from the Kowloon waterfront made it to Temple Street and cooled the buyers’ market. And a cool head was needed when haggling with tricky vendors.

Apart from being Caucasian, White Wolf was six feet three inches which made him very noticeable. He wore a brown jacket and worn jeans. Ordinarily he would be taken for a tourist.

But this section of the night market was controlled by a Triad Hong Kong off shoot. What made this branch of the Triad special was that it was run by a ninety three year old called the Abbot. The Abbot was rumored to be meta human and deadly with his hands even at his old age.

White Wolf had an appointment with the Abbot to purchase a map to a place called Kun Lun. Kun Lun was to said to contain several legendary weapons that White Wolf was interested in.

The Abbot operated out of a general store called the Xao Dragon; it was nothing fancy, just a black building with golden dragons on the windows and incense smoke that swirled inside of it. A middle age man was sweeping behind the counter when White Wolf entered. The place was cramped for space and White Wolf moved sideways to get down the aisles.

White Wolf approached the gentleman and smelt the gun oil that resided behind the counter.

“Good night,” White Wolf said in good Chinese.

“Good night,” said the man and he eased up to the counter.

‘Click’ was the soft sound like a whisper that played on White Wolf’s hyper hearing; the safety catch was unlocked from the gun behind the counter.

White Wolf took a broken coin from his pocket and placed it on the counter. The coin was from the Xhung Dynasty and piece of the emperor’s head was visible in the brown metal work.

The man pressed a button underneath the counter and a door opened next to him.

“Go down the corridor,” said the man.

White Wolf peered into the area the man pointed into. A dim red florescent blub lit the way. He smelt cigarette smoke at the far end. Then he smelt fresh blood, lots of it. He looked suspiciously at the man.

“Go, go on,” said the man.

Never a coward, White Wolf walked down the corridor. He wanted to see what was on the other end of the mystery. He came upon a wooden door that was half opened. He pushed it gently and the scent of blood grew stronger. He glanced back at the front store man who beckoned him to continue.

Well this is interesting, thought White Wolf.

He ventured further and a flight of stairs appeared by the door. The place was so quite that the sound of the boots boomed on the stairs. All the blood and body scents were centered in the room that was at the top of the stairs. The doorway was ajar. White Wolf kicked it with the toe of his boot.

Five dead bodies were inside of the room. The Abbot was on a prayer mat next to a wall and he had a gaping gunshot wound to the forehead. His henchmen carried similar wounds.

Then White Wolf sensed another person in the room, on the left side in the shadows. Two silenced shots came from the area. White Wolf lunged forward and in the same motion drew his handgun from the holster in the jacket. Then he fired at his attacker, making sure to bunch his shots for the upper torso.

The attacker was struck and made an escape through a door that seemed to appear out of nowhere to White Wolf. In fleeting seconds, he was on his feet and gave chase. A minute seemed to pass as he scurried down a narrow staircase and then ended up on the sidewalk. The assailant had vanished, but he still had the scent. He holstered the gun and made to move into the crowd when an elderly woman held his arm.

Then another stranger came from behind and grabbed his throat. At first White Wolf thought that they were undercover agents, but more ordinary people were attacking him and he realized that they were being mind controlled. They meant to kill him.

White Wolf tore his arm away from the old woman and fired the gun into her chest. He slipped a small knife from his waist and slit the throat of a man on his left. Then he mule kicked with his right boot the groin of the attacker behind him. With the limited space, he activated the teleportation system on his watch. He slid his finger on the touch screen and he vanished.

He reappeared on the building across the street. He was certain that the person behind the mind control was in the vicinity and he found the scoundrel. The person was crouched in an alley that faced the spot where the crowd had attacked.

White Wolf studied the bulletproof skin suit that the person wore. Moreover, the person was a female. A playful smile formed on White Wolf’s face. He placed the knife back into his belt and then he leapt off the building. He landed silently next to the woman and locked her head in his arms.

“Don’t move sweetheart,” said White Wolf.

He assumed that she had taken the map to Kun Lun and had waited to kill him in order to tie up loose ends.

“The map or your life,” said White Wolf.

The woman slowly opened a pouch on the left leg and took out a flat triangular object. Bronze dragon scales decorated the object which appeared antique.

White Wolf snatched the item from her.

“Now what’s your name?”

Bang! Bang!

A burning sensation came over White Wolf’s left shoulder. He instinctively stepped away from the woman and fired in the direction that the shots came from. He saw a police officer firing at him, undoubtedly the officer was mind controlled. White Wolf steadied himself and shot the officer in the throat. Then he returned his attention to the woman, but she had disappeared. He noticed that the map was not in his hand, it must have dropped.

Fuck, thought White Wolf.

He touched the wrist teleportor and it took him to the apartment suite that he rented in upscale Hong Kong. He took off the jacket and examined the shoulder wound. He was lucky that the bullet didn’t damage his collar bone. The bullet missed all the vital areas and exited his shoulder.

White Wolf patched up the wound quickly. Then he relaxed on a sofa and contemplated on what had happened in the last thirty minutes.

Who was that woman? He asked.

Chapter Two

Raven’s attitude mirrored T’Challa’s and it caused a moral dilemma for him. Committing what others may consider evil acts was not new to T’Challa. The most evil thing that T’Challa ever did was to crash the world economy so that he could get the better of an enemy. On another occasion he threatened to destroy Wakanda and was even willing to sacrifice Ororo. They were cold and difficult decisions that were done to safeguard a larger number of lives. The only difference between him and Raven was that sacrificing people was the ultimate last resort for him whereas it was the first option for Raven.

T’Challa suspected that Ororo also saw the connection with Raven.  Ororo had also killed a few innocent people in pursuit of a greater good.

Thankfully Shuri had never made such a decision. T’Challa hoped that it would remain that way.

Another issue with Raven was that she operated an organization that defended the world from threats. That situation made going after her even cloudier.

T’Challa looked up from the table and he studied Ororo and Shuri as they watched the flow chart that was on the table. The three of them were in a private room in the Administrative Building.

“For the sake of clarity,” said Shuri, “we should state our objectives. Do we want to kill or capture her?”

“Capture is the priority,” replied Ororo. “I know what you are getting at. Why are we doing this when she does not pose a direct threat to us?”

“Don’t get me wrong. She had tried to kill you and a measure of vengeance should be administered and I’m ready to help. But the goody part of me still has doubts,” said Shuri.

“As do I,” said Ororo. “Yet the overriding feeling is that Raven can’t be left on the loose.”

“Well that settles it,” said Shuri.

“Not really, we have not decided on what becomes of the organization,” said T’Challa.

“That is a problem,” said Shuri and she bit her lip.

“I was thinking of finding someone suitable to replace Raven but T’Challa wants to strip down the organization’s assets,” said Ororo. “We have not reached a consensus as yet.”

“That’s so odd. I have to take a moment to digest that you have a disagreement over something,” said Shuri.

“We disagree all the time,” said T’Challa.

“Really when was the last time you disagreed on something of this magnitude?” asked Shuri.

T’Challa stared blankly at her.

“I didn’t think so,” said Shuri.

“We will cross that bridge when we get to it,” said T’Challa.

“It’s worst than I thought,” said Shuri with a smile. “I hope that the council doesn’t pick up on this schism,” said Shuri.

“So this entire discussion just got shifted to our relationship,” said Ororo. “What about your relationship with-“

Shuri shot her a sharp stare and pouted for Ororo to hush in a playful manner.

“Relationship with who?” asked T’Challa as he eased forward.

“Nobody,” replied Shuri. “Ororo was just talking.”

T’Challa looked at Ororo.

“My lips are sealed,” said Ororo.

T’Challa’s watched beeped; it was the alarm he had set for the council meeting.

“Keeping secrets me from all right, I’ll take it,” said T’Challa.

He packed up the flow chart and rose.

“Ororo was just playing around. Weren’t you?”

Ororo drew back her snow white hair from her left eye. “Sure I was,” she said.

Two minutes later, T’Challa and Ororo strolled over the pathway to the Council Hall.  Lances of the sunlight came through the transparent ceiling and they fell on the short palms that bordered the pathway.

T’Challa read through the daily security tidbits on his kimoyo. The strangest bulletin was about a known Triad leader in Hong Kong being murdered. It appeared that one of his bodyguards did the deed and then committed suicide. There was a shooting outside the leader’s hideout in downtown Hong Kong where a policeman was severely wounded, but there were no eyewitnesses. The report stated that it was odd that the meta human leader would be killed by a mere bodyguard.

T’Challa put the kimoyo away and rested his hand on Ororo’s forearm. Their arms were locked as they walked stride for stride. Ororo wore a blue dress with an exposed stomach. Her mind seemed to be somewhere far.

“Anything the matter?” asked T’Challa.

“I was thinking about Umba,” replied Ororo.

T’Challa didn’t know how to respond. He shouldn’t downplay her concerns since it had only been a few days since Umba left and he respected her thoughts. In the end he made a sound that acknowledged her statement.

A moment of silence passed.

“Well aren’t you going to say something?” asked Ororo.

“We have to adjust,” T’Challa said.

“I’m starting to think that Umba going away is affecting me more than it is you,” said Ororo.

“No because he is also on my mind,” said T’Challa gently.

Something else was also on his mind; it regarded White Wolf and the fragmented memories that surrounded him. Eventually T’Challa would have to tell Ororo that White Wolf was somehow his symbolic brother. From what T’Challa gathered there was a supernatural ceremony that had taken place.

The revelation made T’Challa feel odd about his past. When he had his memories restored he thought that it would make him whole again, instead it raised speculations about his old life.

Chapter Three

The council hall was filled with anticipation as always. The twelve councilors were seated at computerized desks: six on the left and six on the right. There were four council women for a change which Ororo liked.

The chamber reminded Ororo of the leaders council in the X Men which she was apart of. The restored memories also made it known that there was a time when Ororo questioned her leadership skills. She had had several back to back disappointments based on her decisions and they reflected poorly on her.

Presently Ororo accepted that she was not perfect; that all the long term plans and strategies might deviate. It was how they were dealt with that would determine the legacy of her tenure as leader of Wakanda.

As for being a foreign born person in charge of Wakanda, Ororo looked at Ramonda as an example. The first time Ororo came to the council meeting Ramonda spoke to her in private and told her how to handle the understandable hostility that would be there. Ramonda was an outsider also. She was South African born and T’Challa’s father had married her after his first wife died.

“The council meeting will begin,” said T’Challa, as he sat next to Ororo.

Then Ororo took over.

“T’Challa and I have good news for the council and the rest of Wakanda. Our stolen memories were restored,” said Ororo.

“That’s good news,” said the majority of the council and they clapped.

But one council woman raised a point. She was about fifty and her hair was plaited.

“What have you done to the ones who stole the memories?” she asked.

“One was last seen drifting into space and the other, Raven, she is currently being pursued,” replied Ororo.

“Will she be tried in court for her attack on the Heads of State?” asked the council woman.

“There will be no trial,” said Ororo flatly.

“Why not? The people deserve to see action taken against those who harm the state,” said the council woman.

“Based on the information that we have on Raven it will not be prudent to run her through the law system. She has to be dealt with as a special case,” said Ororo.

“But with all due respect, shouldn’t the council know the details of Raven since we are the representatives of the people,” said the council woman.

Ororo would not be baited into an argument.

“Raven is a criminal to us and a protector to others. What she did to us was an attack on Wakanda, yes, nevertheless we have to keep an open mind as to how to treat with her for the benefit of the wider international community,” said Ororo.

“I see,” said the council woman and she dropped the matter.

Chapter Four

Shuri cleaned up and got ready for the mission. It would be the most difficult one yet since it would not require her physical abilities but her mental ones. All her thoughts had to be arranged in a particular manner. She had undergone a crash course in managing mental projections in the last three days. It was grueling stuff.

All her rage issues, mother daughter problems and love life had to be walled up for the mission. In doing so she needed to deal with certain thoughts that were recently on her mind that pertained to her love life. That’s why she confided in Ororo the details about someone who interested her.

The one major problem with the guy was that he was from White Gorillas sect, apart from that he was reasonably okay. The whole relationship if it ever got off the ground would be scandalous since the Black Panther clan and the White Gorillas sect were enemies. Things were so bad between them that the White Gorillas refused to have a council member until a non Black Panther was in charge of the country.

“Now here I go again messing things up,” muttered Shuri.

She packed her gear and headed for the private military airport in Onesa. From there she would start her world trek according to T’Challa and Ororo’s plan.

Chapter Five

Somewhere in the African nation Aranzi,

One does not associate vacuum cleaning the office with the head of a lethal clandestine organization, but that was just what Raven did as the chief cook and washer. On hands and knees she cleaned underneath her office desk with the mini portable vacuum.

She took a seat when she was done. She loosened her pony tail and allowed her flaming red hair to fall onto her shoulders. The map of Kun Lun was on the desk in front of her. The job came to her because the Chinese secret service was debarred from touching the Abbot.

That was the type relationship she had with all the intelligence services of the major countries. The cases were usually in the supernatural and meta human departments although the occasional normal political job came through.

Her organization was the ‘off the reservation’ service that kept the agencies with their hands clean. She used contractors for jobs when necessary, and she personally did the bigger jobs.

On the left of the desk was a computer and it finally discovered the identity of the man who she encountered in Hong Kong. The file said that he was Abraham Hunter and was involved with the Vatican. He was classified as an adventurer. She made him a third level priority and sent it out to the various agencies.

Then Raven felt sick again. She sucked her teeth and cracked her fingers. She could suppress her emotions and memories, but one emotion constantly riled up from deep within her. It made her feel weak and scared because this was the one thing that brought down powerful people like politicians and ruined careers. She had seen the crash and burn scenario so many times and had even been involved in the setup of one in her junior years as  an operative by implanting the thought of cheating into the mind of a happily married politician.

But before she dealt with the sickness she had to check on T’Challa and Ororo. She was prepared for any counter measure that they could attack her with. She used a supernatural portal that locked onto the souls of the T’Challa and Ororo so she could pinpoint where they were in the world.

The portal was circular and rested on the next table in the office. The device was innocuous because it was a just brass band that stood on a stand.

“Where are T’Challa and Ororo?” Raven asked.

“In Wakanda,” replied the portal.

Raven had most of T’Challa and Ororo’s memories taken away because the couple had learnt about hers.

With her curiosity satisfied, Raven left to satisfy another need. She teleported to the hut in the mountains where she made the deal with Soberk.

She peeped through the small openings in the boarded up windows while she made a telepathic scan of the surroundings. There was no one around. Then she called Soberk from a transmitter.

She sat down on the bed and wondered how long she would have to wait. In boredom her eyes wandered around the tidy hut. The bed was the only piece of furniture and there was no food in the cupboards. The hut smelt of old wood.

A ball of fire appeared near the front door and Raven got up. Soberk appeared out of the flames. He had firmed up over the months and it sent Raven’s pulse racing. Still she had to ensure that it was him. They had a secret pattern to verify each other. Without a word being said Raven rested her hands on his shoulders and scanned his mind. She saw the graveyard in the south of the country that held Soberk’s ancestors. That meant it was him. She kissed him on the left cheek to say that it was okay. Then she backed away.

Soberk remained quite and he slipped off his shirt. The Hausa word for liar was carved into his ripped chest. A gold amulet was around his neck and it kept his human form from turning in the burnt green eyed person that he had become.

“How are you?” he said lowly.

“Fine,” said Raven and pulled off her top. Then she stripped off the rest of her clothes. The need had reached the surface and she couldn’t wait any longer. “Were you busy?” she asked. She assumed he was because he was the president of Aranzi and the leader of a superhero team.

“I’m always busy, but I make an exception for you,” he replied in a matter of fact tone.

She liked that Soberk was not in love with her as they were friends with the benefit of not being in a committed relationship.

They were both naked and kissed each other. The first time that they had slept together had been an accident of Raven’s part. She thought that the primal need was under control, but Soberk said that he understood and that it was okay.  Since that time, she would call him whenever necessary.

He pressed his body against hers. Somehow they made it to the bed. As usual Raven straddled Soberk. She rode him while he held onto her hips. In the midst of the pleasure Raven took the amulet that she had given to Soberk and she put it around her neck. Soberk transformed instantly. His skin turned brown and hard. The eyes blazed with a green light. She felt the great magical energy that dwelled in him.

The change excited Soberk and he turned her onto her back. He stared down at her. Raven placed the amulet’s pendant between her teeth and stared back at Soberk. The sight invigorated him more and Raven bit the amulet hard as her body was rapturously pounded. Then they came together.

Soberk rolled off her and said, “I’m going on a trip soon.”

“Where?”

“I have to see my future,” he replied.

Raven sat up and returned the amulet to Soberk. She had to admit that there was something wrong with her for finding Soberk’s bizarre form erotic in bed than his human form.

“Why now?” asked Raven.

His brown human eyes looked at her. “I can’t wait any longer. I have to see if my plan will work, if my clan will be restored,” he replied.

“It will be alright,” said Raven.

“I suppose,” he said. “What about you know who?”

“T’Challa and Ororo haven’t done anything yet.”

“They are plotting as always, but the lesson that you taught them is that there is someone who can do it just as well as they can,” said Soberk. “And if they do touch you, then Balthazar and I will go after them.”

“Thanks,” said Raven.

“Don’t mention it,” said Soberk. “That’s what friends are for.”

Raven reflected on how their friendship had grown from being adversaries to partners. Soberk owed his life to her and his power and influence backed her up.

“So what good have you done in the world lately?” asked Soberk.

Raven tapped his arm playfully and replied, “I can’t tell you that.”

Then Raven lay next to him.

“What happened in the recent Security Council meeting?” she asked.

Soberk grinned and said, “Russia will not sign the intervention bill because it will lead to instability in the wider region or some nonsense like that.”

“They are right, you know,” said Raven.

“Tell that to protestors being gunned down in the streets. When I wanted to get on the council I thought it would be different. That having been on the side of seeing the on the ground outcomes of their decisions that I would be the one making the decisions, what I realize is that these people are clueless,” said Soberk.

“They aren’t clueless they just have agendas that stymie their decisions,” said Raven. “I thought that you were after the prestige of joining, why the concern about what they do?

“It is a bit of both.”

“Don’t lose sleep over the council members.”

“How about you, is running the organization everything you dreamed about?” asked Soberk.

“Actually it is terrific,” replied Raven.

“Stopped any big threats?”

“One or two.”

“Don’t you get over stretched?”

“I have things in place for that.”

Soberk got up and started to dress.  Then Raven did the same.

Soberk hugged her and said, “Take care of yourself.”

“I will,” Raven said.

“One of these days we should have dinner here. These flings feel tacky. You deserve better.”

“No need to. I don’t need a normal relationship,” said Raven.

Soberk kissed her forehead. Then he stepped back and disappeared in a sudden flame.

Chapter Six

When Raven returned to her base she found four bulletins waiting for her. The bulletins dealt with the deaths of four men from the underworld. They were supernatural forgers. The bulletins came separately from four agencies.

Then the shocker came. The killer had left a note behind that said that Raven committed the murders. The agencies wanted to know what was going on.

“I want to know that too,” said Raven.

She ran a search of all the forgers in the world and found that one remained; he lived in Geneva. His name was Luken.

Raven quickly suited up in her combat gear. She consulted the portal on T’Challa and Ororo and they were still in Wakanda. Then again T’Challa and Ororo would not go out and kill people just to get her; it was not their modus operandi.

“Then there is someone new who wants to draw me out,” said Raven.

But why forgers? They were capable of replicating the powers of a few supernatural objects.

Raven teleported to the forger’s location. Luckily forgers because of their powers were obese and rarely left their homes.

Luken lived in a high wall two-storey house on Beowulf Avenue. Raven teleported to the front door and kicked it in. A security alarm blared and she sensed two minds inside the house.

She scanned one of the minds and sensed fear while the next mind was blank. She heard footsteps that came from the staircase. A lean man hurried down with a sub machine gun. He was probably the caretaker and bodyguard. His mind was the blank one.

“Psi shields,” said Raven as she shot the man in the shoulders and knees. She raced up the steps and pinpointed the next mind.

Luken was not far down the corridor and he was behind a closed door. Raven peeked into his mind and saw a handgun pointed at the other side of the door. She tried to reach into the mind to turn it off, but couldn’t.

She adjusted the teleportor and then kicked in the door. Luken fired wildly while Raven teleported next to him and kicked the gun from his hand. Then she placed her gun to his head.

He was about four hundred pounds of nervousness. Sweat rested on his large brown eyebrows. The face was long and creamy white while freckles covered the rest of his body. He was bare back and sat in a bed. A movie was playing on the large screen television on the right side of the room.

“Is your name Luken?” asked Raven.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Someone is after you and I’m here to protect you,” said Raven.

“No shit.”

“Watch your language,” said Raven.

“Where is Christian?”

“Downstairs. He’ll live,” replied Raven. “Now stand up, we don’t have much time.”

Luken managed to get out of the bed.

“Get some clothes on,” said Raven, “and pack a bag.”

The alarming irritated Raven.

“What is the deactivation code for the alarm?” she asked.

“One, six, four, four.”

Luken moved slowly to the closet while Raven turned off the alarm at the panel that was next to the door. Suddenly Raven got jarring images from Luken’s mind. She glanced turned back to him.

An electrical surge knocked Raven onto the ground.

Chapter Seven

Luken came over Raven and kicked her gently. She did not move. Then Luken stuck his fingers into his neck and he peeled off his face to reveal Shuri’s head.

Shuri pressed a small button on the neck and the rest of the body fell off. Shuri bent down and checked the mask on Raven’s face. Then she cursed under her breath based on what she encountered.

Then she called her brother over the kimoyo.

“I got someone but I can’t verify that it is her because the person’s suit is booby trapped,” said Shuri. “I’ll take her to Greenridge nonetheless. I’ll meet you there. You can verify her scent.”

Now came the trickiest part of the plan: getting Soberk’s superhero team to kill Raven.

Next Story: To Kill A Raven Pt II

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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story:  Bonds That Break

Chapter One

“Umba don’t go soft on your girlfriend,” said the team leader Aneesa, and she struck the top of my helmet. The rest of the team had a short laugh at my expense.

Enzi’s sharp voice came to my mind from a conversation that I had with her earlier.

“So are we breaking up or not?” asked Enzi.

“No we’re not. I have not made up my mind on whether to live with my mother,” I replied.

“You do know that I want you to stay and I hope that you continue to live with T’Challa and Ororo. It may sound cruel since you love your mother, but that is how I feel.”

“I’m glad that you are honest.”

“And what does Shuri have to say about it?”

“ A lot actually.”

“You like her, don’t you?”

“What?”

Aneesa struck the helmet again. “Stop day dreaming,” she said.

The noise from the crowd in the arena came back to run through me. The anticipation of the Laser Tag finals swirled around us. Our school had not won the competition in years and that had been iterated by the principal and teachers throughout the week. “We’re counting on you, but no pressure. Just go out and have fun,” they said with beaming smiles.

No pressure. What a lie, they wanted to win and such hopes rested on our young shoulders. I had the most to bear as the best player on the team and the fact was that I didn’t even like laser tag. The coach picked me because of my reputation.

The tunnel door opened and the arena lights poured in.

“Okay Hornets here we go,” said Aneesa.

All thoughts about my relationship with Enzi and my mother went to the back of my mind as I ran out behind Aneesa. She was fifteen years old like me but a few months older. Although I’ve never seen her my visor described her features for me.  She was pretty as I supposed all the girls were in Wakanda. Her hair style was a complex web of braids. Also she was tall; I always felt as though she spoke down to me. She had the kind of aura that gave the impression that great things were in store for her in the future.

The rest of the team consisted of two other boys and three girls. They were good friends and didn’t give me any special treatment because I was the ward of the Heads of State.

“Hornets this is it,” said Aneesa. “Take your positions.”

I went next to Aneesa while the rest of the team got into an apex formation. We wore protective apparel and running shoes. It was the kind of get up that I used on my missions which lately had been with Shuri.

Our objective was to obtain the next team’s flag that was on the  other end a soccer size pitch. The opposing team and an obstacle course stood in our way. We had three minutes to get the flag per round and there were three rounds in all. The players carried a semi circle tagger on their wrists that when pointed at an opponent gave off a signal and the person was eliminated from the match.

This was the kind of culture shock that I adjusted to when I came to Wakanda having lived all over the rest of Africa. They had all these gadgets when the most high tech game I ever played was on a Gameboy.

My team’s tactic was that at the start the five members ran from behind the front two and took on the opposing team, drawing the initial fire while the first two pushed through the defense to capture the flag. It sounded simple but it was not and with me being blind made it doubly difficult.

I formed a mental map of the terrain that was described by the visor. The visor itself was programmed to provide the distances between the players and the obstacles.

The whistle was blown and Aneesa said, “Go, go, go!”

I don’t remember breathing when it all started. The player on my left brushed against my shoulder as he overlapped me.

“Umba it’s time for us,” said Aneesa.

I ran out onto the pitch and heard a cheer from the crowd. The visor spoke into the ear piece rapidly as my head turned to different angles.

I tasted the refined air of the closed arena on my tongue. The smell of the helmet grew stronger and the suit was warm.

I controlled my breathing as I headed for the first obstacle and counted down the paces until I got to it. I somersaulted onto the barrel shaped obstacle to the enjoyment of the crowd and from there I somersaulted again to the stand-alone wall that was after the barrel.

“Get him,” shouted one of the opposing players.

I landed behind the wall and dropped completely on the ground. I spun on my back with my shooter pointed upward. The visor warned of two opposing players who came around the wall and I eliminated them in one revolution; that made the crowd cheer.

I sprang up and ran around the next obstacle. Within moments I was deep within the enemy territory and the obstacles were much closer.

The Last Stopper was my only concern since I was certain that the rest of the opposition was eliminated along with my teammates and Enzi was that person.  She had transferred from my school to the district in which she lived with her uncle Taku.

I remembered Aneesa’s warning. Then I turned off the visor and concentrated on my environment like T’Challa had taught me. I picked up Enzi’s movements and somersaulted out of the danger zone. She came from behind an obstacle and fired, missing me. I landed on my hands and fired my tagger at her. The crowd cheered wildly.

I turned on the visor and got to the flag.

Chapter Two

Four Days Later, Kenya

The Kenyan Valley still had secrets after so many centuries. One such secret was the ancient clan that lived in it. Occasional visitors may have believed that clan was one of many such settlements that existed in the country. But they would have been mistaken for weather manipulating mutants lived in that clan and they were called the Rain Queens.

Central to the clan was the Great House of the Queen. The house could have been mistaken for Kitum Hotel in Nairobi due to its size.  But the size was not what made the abode special it was the history that it contained of a people. There was sense of magic and mystery that emanated from the building. The conical roof was the salient aspect of the house since it resembled a black hat. Potted plants bordered the wide walkway to the house. Colored stones lined the steps to the front door.

Ororo led her family and Nakia Exon along the pathway to her grandmother’s house. She remembered the first time she saw the house; it was when she decided to accept T’Challa’s marriage proposal. Her heritage was wrapped up in the house and it seemed like a place that she could take sanctuary  if ever needed.

The visit was two-part; first it was to celebrate the restoration of Ororo and T’Challa’s memories and secondly it was for the meeting of Exon and the grandmother. The latter concerned Ororo the most since she didn’t know how it would unfold. Her grandmother was very testy about Exon abandoning Umba.

Exon was ten years older than Ororo and she carried a professional demeanor. Her hair was cut to the neck, the eyes were brown and she had a round face. She wore a long skirt, flat shoes and a traditional top.

Also  making the trip for the first time was Shuri. Shuri had only spoken with the grandmother over the video phone and was eager to meet the woman in the flesh.

Shuri was in her early twenties, very pretty and had a medium cut hair style. She chose to wear soft jeans that hugged her hips and a small white tee shirt. The attire was more for combat readiness than style since she could not fight in a skirt if the need arose.

The grandmother was at the door. Her five feet seven inches frame fitted into a somber traditional dress.

“Ororo,” said the grandmother.

“Granny,” said Ororo.

They hugged each other. It was like touching wisdom in the flesh for Ororo.

“So all the memories are back?” asked the grandmother.

“Yes, every last one,” replied Ororo.

“Darling you don’t know how hard it was those last months. I was preparing all the documents for you to go over.”

Ororo knew that she was heir to the vast depositories in the house and so too Umba.

Ororo released her grandmother and fixed her dress that was disrupted by the enthusiasm of the matriarch. Then it was T’Challa’s turn to get a loving hug. He bent slightly forward to receive it.

“Grandma,” he said.

His powerful arms went gently around her and the small woman was almost swallowed up in the embrace.

“My boy,” said the grandmother as her face pressed into his shirt.

Ororo turned around and ushered Umba away from Exon.

“I brought your other boy,” said Ororo.

T’Challa opened his arms and the grandmother was quickly out and she went over  to Umba. She kissed his forehead.

“My grandson.”

“Hello grandmother,” said Umba.

“Glad to see you again. My, my you are growing. What are they feeding you?” the grandmother said as she held his broad shoulders.

“This is his mother Nakia Exon,” said Ororo and gestured to Exon.

The grandmother’s expression changed from joy to seriousness in a snap. She held her mouth slightly open as she looked at Exon from top to bottom.

Exon extended her hand for a handshake.

“It is nice to meet you,” said Exon.

“Nice to meet you too,” said the grandmother and she shook the hand limply.

Ororo took charge of the awkward moment and introduced Shuri.

“Here is someone I know you are also happy to meet. Shuri grandmother, grandmother Shuri,” said Ororo.

The sunshine smile returned to the grandmother and she hugged Shuri.

“I finally get to meet the great lady,” said Shuri.

Ororo glanced at Exon and she saw the disappointment on the woman’s face. For a moment, Ororo felt sorry for Exon because she was trying her best to make up for her past and to be treated in such manner was a major let down. Then in a flash Exon had covered up her wounded pride and returned to the confident poise that she had kept so far.

The group filtered into the house and the grandmother led them into the garden. They sat in the shade of a patio that was surrounded by rare plants.

“I want to speak with you Exon. Ororo and T’Challa can stay if they like,” said the grandmother. “Umba you can show Shuri around the house.”

“Yes grandma,” said Umba.

“We’ll stay,” said Ororo, and she pulled a chair. She wanted to mediate incase the meeting became heated.

Shortly after, the old lady got down to the business of cross-examining Exon. She stared intently at her guest.

“I’ve heard so many versions from everyone else as to the reasons that you left Shetani and Umba, so I want to hear your side of the story,” said the grandmother.

“To put it succinctly, I was not prepared for a long term relationship with Shetani or the rearing of a child at the time,” replied Exon. “I’m ready to raise Umba now.”

“That’s the problem I have,” said the grandmother. “Umba is fifteen. You will have three years until he is considered an adult. What values can you instill in him that hasn’t been already done by Ororo and T’Challa?”

“I don’t think that statement is fair,” said Exon.

“Parenting is a very difficult endeavor. You cannot just one day flip a switch and say that I’m a parent. Take Shetani for example. I gave him all the love in the world and yet somewhere in his mind he came to despise me because of my gifts. Then he hated his ancestry and he left this valley for a life of criminality. Was I a bad parent? I honestly don’t know.

“You want to take Umba from a stable environment that he has now got accustomed to and place him into an experimental relationship with you. I find that to be wrong. You are too late and your time to be a parent has passed.”

“Excuse me,” said Exon snapped. “He is my child and he wants to be with me.”

The grandmother leaned forward slowly.

“In this valley Umba is everyone’s child. He has the blood of ages running through his veins, divine blood. Someday he will have to take up a role in this valley,” said the grandmother.

“I’m aware of the long line of mutants in the valley. Ororo told me. I’m also a mutant. I may not have royal or divine blood but I’m a person nonetheless. I have a right to raise Umba.”

“You gave up that right darling,” stressed the grandmother. “You are a criminal on the mend. So you have your demons to deal with and on top of that you want to manage the needs of a teen. That is double the pressure. Can you really handle it? Will you abandon him again when you succumb?”

Ororo folded her arms since the grandmother raised some interesting questions.

“I find that is selfish of you to take Umba,” continued the grandmother.

“Selfish that a mother wants to know her son, that is nonsense,” said Exon.

“Do you love him?” asked the grandmother.

“What?” asked Exon.

“Do you love Umba?”

“Of course I do, what kind of a question is that?” asked Exon.

“If you really love the boy then you’ll let him stay put. You can visit him from time to time,” said the grandmother.

“With all due respect, you cannot run my life,” said Exon. “I understand that Umba has this large family on his father’s side and that you think of me as a problem, still it does not give you the right to determine anything in this matter.

“I came to this meeting to get to know you not to be condemned,” said Exon and she turned to Ororo. “Did you know that this was going to happen? Was this the plan?”

“No,” replied Ororo. “We had no intentions of ambushing you.”

“Ambush, that is the correct word for this,” said Exon, and she returned to the grandmother. “Let Umba decided if he wants to stay with me or you.”

“You would turn him against his grandmother,” said the matriarch.

Exon saw her mistake and lessened her tone.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” said Exon.

“Then what did you mean?” asked the grandmother.

“You are twisting my words,” said Exon.

“Fine,” said the grandmother.

“And where is your husband?” asked Exon, trying to turn the tide of the battle.

“He died,” replied the grandmother.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” said Exon.

“Sentimentality will not waiver me dear,” said the grandmother.

“Look-“said Exon.

Ororo spoke up. “We should stop talking for a while and get some refreshments. Then we will return. T’Challa help grandmother while Exon and I will catch up with Umba and Shuri.”

“Yes dear,” said T’Challa.

Chapter Three

T’Challa escorted the grand lady into the living room.

“Most men would be pissed that there wives ordered them around in public, but you are so at ease with it,” said the grandmother.

“I had a tough mother so I’m used to being directed by a woman,” said T’Challa.

The grandmother laughed. “I can only imagine,” she said. “Do you think I’m being mean to Exon?” she asked.

“No. You are looking out for Umba’s best interest out of love.”

“So do you want him to go?’

“A part of me doesn’t but I don’t want to get in his way.”

“Even if it leads him to ruin,” commented the grandmother.

“I wouldn’t go that far. Ororo and I have done an extensive background check on Exon and she seems to have cleaned up her act,” said T’Challa.

“It can all be an act,” said the grandmother.

“I don’t think that Exon is that sly and untrustworthy,” said T’Challa. “What could she get out of it?”

“She is a geneticist right. Umba’s eyes are very valuable because they kill living organisms,” said the grandmother.

“Exon would not dare,” said T’Challa.

“How would you know if she exploited the boy?”

“I would.”

“Don’t be too sure of that,” said the grandmother.

T’Challa had picked up on an early response by the grandmother during the conversation with Exon. He decided to drop his assessment of it on the grandmother.

“You want to avoid Umba turning into his father,” said T’Challa.

The grandmother paused for a moment and reflected.

“Yes,” she admitted slowly and sadness crept over her.

T’Challa hugged her.

“We will not allow that to happen,” said T’Challa.

“Then keep Exon away from him,” said the grandmother as her head pressed softly in his chest.

T’Challa understood everything now about the dislike the grandmother had for Exon.

“Now it is you who is being selfish,” said T’Challa in a diplomatic manner.

The grandmother broke out of the hug slowly and stared into his eyes.

“I feel that you are right,” she said.

Chapter Four

Ororo scanned the house of the electrical signals of Umba and Shuri and she located them.

“They are on the third floor,” said Ororo and she started up the stairs.

Exon followed close behind her.

“You are on the side of your grandmother,” accused Exon.

Ororo spun around at her. There was a great deal of hurt in Exon’s voice.

“I was impartial to the discussion,” said Ororo.

“Sure and I’m suppose to believe that you were not moved by her words,” said Exon.

“Why are so paranoid?” snapped Ororo in a low voice. Then she realized that Exon was scared.

“I’m not paranoid,” said Exon in equally low tones. “I’m out numbered and I want to know where I really stand.”

“T’Challa and I already told you that it was up to Umba as long as you keep clean,” said Ororo. “What more do you want?”

“You don’t have to speak to me that way,” said Exon.

Ororo stepped down to her.

“This has been stressful for all of us. When Shetani told me about Umba I didn’t know what to think about it at first. Would he be like his father or would I be able to take care of him responsibly?”

“The first few weeks were tough as I got to know him and I had to improve myself to deal with his needs. Eventually I came to love him. Now he is on the verge of leaving and how do you think that makes me feel? Every time I get lost on a mission I think of about him and it gives me added strength to return.

“So you are not the only person in pain with all of this,” said Ororo.

“Thanks for your honesty,” said Exon. “I didn’t know that you were that attached to him.”

Ororo could have laughed at the use of the word attached. Umba was her blood relative and their relationship was solidified in battle.

“I pity you Exon,” said Ororo. “You have a great deal of learning to go through with Umba. If you fail then I don’t know what will happen.”

“I will not fail him. I’ve promised myself that,” said Exon.

“When?”

“Ever since I made the decision to spend more time with him,” replied Exon.

“I’ve interacted with a lot of reforming criminals, some have been genuine and others were lying to themselves. Right now I’m leaning on the side that you are honest so please don’t disappoint me,” said Ororo.

“I appreciate that,” said Exon. “But what about your grandmother? I want to have a friendly relationship with her. Can you put in a good word for me?”

“No.  You will have to prove yourself to her.”

“How can I when she will not give me a chance?”

“It will not be instantaneous,” said Ororo. “You will have to work for it.”

Chapter Five

Umba led Shuri to the wall that displayed the family tree. The brown wall had black lines that identified the lineages and the regions they settled in over time. The Rain Queens were highlighted with a small star above their names.

Shuri looked to the top of the tree to find out who started the line. The woman was Nyamebe and the man was Kse Kse. They had lived twelve thousand years ago in the region. Nyamebe was the first Rain Queen.

Shuri looked down at Umba; then she thought about Ororo and who would take over the clan if the grandmother died.

“What do think of my family line?” asked Umba.

“It’s impressive,” replied Shuri.

“I never knew that I was apart of something this large when I was with my father,” said Umba. “It is like your family history.”

“Yes,” said Shuri.

“I wonder what is on my mother’s side? That has been on my mind for a while,” said Umba.

“I can only imagine living with only knowing one half of your past,” said Shuri.

“Shuri,” said Umba, “honestly speaking, do you like my mother?”

Shuri pushed her hands into her pockets.

“No,” she replied.

“Why?”

“How could she have abandoned you like that and then when we ran into her she left you again to face a horrible fate. I think that it was evil to do such things.”

“But she has changed.”

“That’s what she is selling now,” said Shuri.

“And you are not buying it?”

“No.”

“Then what do you think she wants.”

“Another experiment, only that it will be your heart that she will be fooling around with,” replied Shuri.

“You’d kill her if she ever hurt me, wouldn’t you?” asked Umba.

“No. For your sake I would not,” replied Shuri.

“Thanks for being frank,” said Umba.

“You know that I don’t hold my tongue and that you understand that I care very much for you,” said Shuri.

“But look at it from my perspective. I believed for years that my mother was dead and now she has reappeared and I have an opportunity to spend with her. Wouldn’t you want to spend time with your father if he ever came back?”

“Absolutely,” replied Shuri.

“Promise that we will always be friends,” said Umba.

“I promise,” said Shuri.

She heard footsteps and turned to the corridor where Ororo and Exon strode up.

“He was showing me your family history, Ororo,” said Shuri.

“Remarkable isn’t it. I was awe struck when I first saw it,” said Ororo.

The sister in laws stood next to each other while Exon went next to Umba. Then she looked at the family tree.

“You come from a long direct line,” said Exon.

“Do you anything similar to show on your side?” asked Umba.

“No. But who knows we might visit my parents they will have pictures of my side of the family,” said Exon.

“I would like that,” said Umba.

“Grandma and T’Challa are preparing downstairs so we should head down now,” said Ororo.

The group followed Ororo’s orders. They found that T’Challa had the eating area prepared.

“He is a fast worker,” said the grandmother. “I’ll like to say a few words before we begin.

“Family is a bond that should never be broken. T’Challa and Ororo can testify to that in light of their recent incident. I’m glad that we all supported them in their moment of need, may such a bond in our family continue.”

Umba raised his hand.

“I have something to say,” he said.

“Go ahead,” said the grandmother.

“I have decided on whether or not to go with my mother and my decision is that I’ll go,” said Umba.

Chapter Six

Two Days Later

As Ororo packed the suitcase she remembered the first time she lay out the clothes for Umba upon his arrival to the house. Now he was leaving.

“Are you all right?” asked Umba. “You have gone really quite.”

He was on the other side of the bedroom and Ororo didn’t turn to him. She sat on the bed next to the suitcase.

“I’ll miss you,” she said.

“I’ll miss you too,” said Umba.

Ororo wiped a tear from her eye.

“Don’t be afraid to speak to me about anything,” she said.

Umba sat next to her and hugged her.

“I will,” he said. “I will not forget all the good that you have done for me.”

“What did Enzi say?”

“She isn’t sure if she wants to move on or wait for me,” replied Umba.

“I had a long distance relationship with T’Challa once?”

“Really?”

“Yes. He was on one side of the USand I was on the other. It was horrid at times, but we pulled through it,” said Ororo. “You and Enzi can do the same if you both want it to happen.”

“I want to because I can’t handle going back to just being friends with her,” said Umba.

“And why not?”

“It will be awkward and I really care about her a lot,” replied Umba.

“My young lover,” said Ororo and rubbed his head. “Now don’t go and have sex with Enzi when you meet her as apart of last minute dramatics.” Ororo felt hypocritical because of what had happened between her and T’Challa as teenagers, but she had to act responsibly as a parent.

“I will not,” said Umba.

“Promise me.”

“I promise.”

The Sanseng Tree

The oddest thing happened under the great tree where Enzi and Umba met. They didn’t argue, or cry. They had a great time with Enzi taking goofy photographs and videos of them; playing Wakandan chess, running down the slope to the wild savannah and then the moment came for the farewell kiss, and Umba forgot about his promise to Ororo.

As Umba kissed her the moment felt right. They lay under the tree kissing until Enzi broke off.

“This is stupid,” Enzi said. “What if I get pregnant then you’ll have come back to Wakanda.”

Umba scratched his head. “You’re right. We kind of lost our heads a bit there,” he said. “We should head home.”

Twenty Three Hours Later

South, France

The villa was in Provence and it had a view of the Mediterranean Sea. Exon showed T’Challa, Ororo, Shuri and Umba around the house.

Exon had told them that her new job for a genetics company paid the rent for the villa and that Umba would receive private tutorship.

“So how much time will you actually have with Umba?” asked T’Challa.

“I work from home and go into the office only once per week so I’ll have a lot of time with him,” replied Exon.

“Well this is it,” said T’Challa as he stood by the front door. Then he went to Umba. “Treat your mother well.”

“I will,” said Umba.

T’Challa shook his hand and then hugged him. Then Ororo and Shuri embraced Umba.

“We’ll be off now,” said Ororo.

Then the Three departed from the villa.

“This sucks,” said Shuri as the group strolled to the mini jet. “I need something to get my mind off of this.”

“I have just the thing you need,” said T’Challa.

“What?” asked Shuri.

“Ororo and I have a plan to get Raven and you will play a pivotal part in it,” replied T’Challa.

“I’m all ears,” said Shuri.

Next Story: To Kill A Raven Pt 1

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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story:  The Best There Is

Continued from BATMAN AND  WONDER WOMAN

Chapter One

Diana,

I was in labor and all my strength was focused on giving birth to my baby. The doctor and nurses coaxed me. ‘Breathe’, ‘You are almost there,’ they said repeatedly. I yelled and screamed as the pain intensified. I closed my eyes and gave a final push, then I heard my baby crying. I collapsed from the fatigue; the warmth of joy swept over my body. Tears poured out of my eyes. My baby boy was born.

I looked around the hospital room and in my heart I knew that it was not real. The cries from the baby and medical staff were not real. The emotions in my body were real at the time, but everything else was faked.

I realized that the setting was a memory from my life in Amalgamation. I had to wake up. I willed my mind to wake from the dream. In a fleeting moment I was sucked out of the illusion and into reality, if one could call it that.

I awoke to a ‘misty’ environment. I was alone.

“What is this?” I murmured.

I was on a hard surface that glowed in a medium white light. On closer inspection, the surface reminded me of a tree branch because of the shape. It was like the thousand year trees that grew in untouched forests. There were more branches all around me. They stretched out as far as the eye could see.

The ‘mist’ that greeted me was more an unknown vapor that made the environment hazy. I got up and looked behind me. The branch that I was on was laid out like a highway and I could not see the end of it.

In an odd way I felt whole again. I flexed my fingers and felt the super strength that surged through me. I had the gifts of Wonder Woman once more.

“Now where are my friends?” I asked. “Batman, Ororo, T’Challa,” I yelled.

I waited for about a minute for a response and none came.

“Diana, your name means divine,” said a modulated voice.

“Excuse me,” I said looked around and saw no one.

“The birth of your son was a divine moment.”

“It was not real,” I said.

“But you felt all the wonderful emotions that the moment created,” said the voice.

“Do you have a form so that I see who I’m speaking with?”

“Diana, I’m all around you.”

I looked at my surroundings in a new way.

“What is this?”

“The mystery that Darkseid and others like him sought to unravel,” replied the voice.

“Darkseid? Mystery?” I asked. “The only mystery that Darkseid was after was the Anti Life Equation.”

“And where did the Anti Life Equation come from?”

“Some believed that it came from the Source,” I replied and caught myself. “You are the Source.”

“It is a rather erroneous term to describe me. I’m a tool for my master,” said the voice.

“Hold on. I’m behind the Source Wall,” I said.

“Yes,” said the voice.

“Where are my friends?”

“I’m not ready for them as yet because I needed to speak with you directly,” replied the voice.

“On what?”

“The birth of your son.”

“As I said it was fake. The world I lived in was not meant to be.”

“Yet you loved your son and his father.”

I was taken aback by the statement. I had indeed loved them both. The father was Frank Castle. He was an ex soldier. He was filled with sorrow when we first met and I came to love him.

“Why does that interest you?” I asked.

“All life interests me because that is my purpose.  When a child is born, a new consciousness is created. I connect to that consciousness. The more perceptive entities become aware of my presence and desire to meet me, which I don’t want.

“You Diana experienced one of the greatest miracles in existence far more powerful than you can imagine. What adds more weight to the experience is that you are not even a real person.”

“I am a real person,” I said.

“No, you were created from raw earth not flesh and spirit. Still you have been molded into a champion for life, the lives of people who are far realer than you,” said the voice.

“How dare you? I am the reincarnation of an unborn baby whose mother was murdered by a man, the first such murder in history. I’m as real as anyone else,” I said.

“I’m not demeaning you. I am aware that the Amazons are reincarnation of women murdered by men,” said the voice. “I was trying to draw your attention to how close to the original plan that you are, born of clay and pure.”

“The original plan?” I asked.

“This is what I will do. I shall merge the two multiverses into one and remove all the impurities that plagued the sentiences. Only you shall have knowledge of this. I will use you and your companions as test subjects in my experiment.”

“Please don’t merge the multiverses. It is unfair to play with lives like that,” I said.

“It will appear unfair in the short term but the benefits will be seen in the long term. I will recreate the best possible world for you.”

“I beg you again. Put everything back to normal,” I said and then lost consciousness.

Chapter Two

Bruce Wayne rolled over in the bed and came into contact with a woman. She was on her side with her back to him. Her hair was coal black. The shoulders were broad. He placed a hand on the woman’s arm and the skin was soft and smooth. The woman stirred and turned to him. She had deep blue eyes, a slender face and a most perplexed look.

“Good morning, sweetheart,” said Bruce and he kissed her tenderly on the forehead.

The woman remained silent as her eyes went from him to the bed and then to the room. She was baffled by something.

“Diana what is wrong?” asked Bruce and he moved over her.

She pushed him off with all her strength. “No,” she said.

“Diana!” said Bruce.

“Just give me a minute,” she said and held her forehead.

“If you have a headache then you should have said so.” Bruce got out of the bed and went to the medicine cabinet. He found his wife’s behavior extremely weird. It was like she was unsure of her surroundings and even him. Everything was normal the night before or was it.

They ran into Bruce’s ex girlfriend Selina Kyle a few days ago at the mall. Diana had never met her before but it seemed that the encounter was over and done with.

He returned to Diana. She was playing with her wedding ring. He gave her the medicine and she accepted it.

“How do you feel?” asked Bruce.

“Better,” she replied.

He kissed her on the cheek. She felt cold to him.

Where is this coming from? He pondered. He decided to lighten the mood.

“Don’t forget that we need to choose the movie for tonight. We have ‘The Stormbot from Mars’ and ‘Letter to the King’. I think T’Challa and Ororo would like the first one.”

Diana’s eyes lit up when she heard the names.

“Yes, of course,” said Diana easily.

Bruce took the medicine back into the bathroom and by chance he glimpsed back. He saw as Diana got up and went to the window. The most that she would have seen in the African morning were the city buildings of the capital of the United States of Ethiopia.

Several minutes later, Bruce and Diana had breakfast. He checked the news of the world from his digital newspaper. The Inca States were in new trade talks with the Orient. The Northern Bloc elected a new president. Scientists in Antarctica had discovered an unexplored part of the continent.

Diana came over his shoulder as he read. That was strange since she didn’t like to read the news.

“May I?” she asked.

He handed the newspaper to her and then he got ready for work. When he was half dressed, he realized that Diana was still in the kitchen.

“Aren’t you going to work?” he asked.

“No,” she responded quickly.

“All right,” said Bruce.

In ten minutes, he was out the door and headed for the office.

Chapter Three

Diana looked over the photographs of her and Bruce. It reminded her too much of the relationship she had with Frank Castle. On that occasion she had sincerely loved Frank. But she regarded Bruce as a friend not a lover. She had to compose herself in the bedroom earlier for fear that Bruce would have thought that she was insane.

“I hate alternate realities,” mumbled Diana.

Then there were T’Challa and Ororo. Who were they in this reality? Then she found the answer in a group photo. A smiling Ororo had a Mohawk hairstyle and she stood next to T’Challa. He was a powerfully built man like Bruce.

How can I fix this? First I have to know exactly what I am dealing with.

Diana went to the laptop computer that was next to the sofa. She went onto the internet and searched for the ‘history of the world’. She learned that the Roman Empire never existed, Christopher Columbus never rediscovered the Americas, the Crusades didn’t occur and so too the World Wars. Instead the Incas and the Aztecs travelled to Europeand made contact. Japan, China and India formed the Eastern alliance. Eventually people moved freely amongst the borders.

Diana went over the vast information for the most of the day. Finally she became bored and then searched through hers and Bruce’s things. She looked at the wedding ring at intervals. She thought about how she would react when Bruce wanted to make love. Would she tense up or act naturally to keep up the pretence?

Diana came out of the closet and looked at her house. She was a wife. This was the best reality possible that was created for her. Really? She had a dozen other fantasies of the perfect world for her and none were like this.

“I can leave Bruce,” said Diana.

The plan seemed possible. She could break up with him and not have to live this lie. Where will she go afterwards? That would need time to figure out.

“I don’t think so,” said a man from behind her.

Diana spun around and saw no one.

“You cannot see me.”

“Show yourself,” said Diana.

“Diana you will stay with Bruce Wayne until death.”

“No.”

“Why do you fight this world? There is no crime. There is no need for vigilantes and heroes. You can live out your life in peace with someone who loves you.”

“I want to choose that person and not have him chosen for me,” said Diana. “Is everything in here perfect?”

“No. There are a few quirks to balance things out.”

“You disgust me.”

“You will thank me in the end. You just need time to adjust.”

“Never,” said Diana. “And why don’t you just erase my memory?”

There was a pause.

“It’s complicated.”

Diana’s eyes squinted. “What do you mean by that?” she asked.

“The arrangement I made to shape the multiverses required that I keep one person with their real memories.”

“Who did you make the arrangement with?”

“I have revealed too much already.”

“I will resist this sham of a world and my marriage.”

“You made that point before.”

“Well I want to remind you of it.”

“I’m willing to find a remedy for this problem. Do you have any suggestions?”

Diana leaned on the cabinet to think.

“I want to fight for my real world,” said Diana.

“A contest.”

“Yes. My friends and I will fight to get back the multiverses.”

“If you lose then will you comply with the world that has been given to you?”

“Yes,” replied Diana before she had a chance to think properly.

“Amusing. You want to return to an existence where pain and despair run rampant. Very well. I will return in twenty four hours. Hopefully by that time you would have changed your mind.”

A few moments passed and Diana realized that she was alone again.

Chapter Four

Ororo was a photographer like her father. He taught her everything about the art. She visited him and her mother regularly in Egypt.

She was married to T’Challa a software engineer. They met through mutual friends and had been married for three years.

Those were the details that Diana slyly got from her conversation with the couple. She noticed Bruce sometimes glanced strangely at her like he was aware of what she did. He had his arm around her shoulders as they sat in the sofa. T’Challa and Ororo were on the other side.

“This is a ridiculous movie,” said Ororo. “What is the name again?”

“The Stormbot from Mars,” answered Bruce. Then he took his arm from around Diana and took up the popcorn bowl. “Honey we have to get some more.”

“Okay,” said Diana.

She followed him into the kitchen and he closed the door.

“Why are you acting so strange?” he whispered.

“I’m not.”

“Yes you are. It started this morning, when I got home and now here in front of our friends,” said Bruce in a low voice.

His reaction caught Diana off guard. He was not the ‘goddam’ Batman but an ordinary man from a simple background. The watered down version displeased her. Bruce lacked the invigoration and depth that she was accustomed to.

“I’m sorry,” said Diana. “It’s just been a weird day.”

He kissed her and she generated as much feeling as possible when she returned the kiss.

They returned to the living room.

“You missed the best part,” said Ororo.

At least Ororo was still lively, thought Diana.

T’Challa and Ororo stayed a bit after the movie and then left. That meant that Diana had one more hurdle to cross, sleeping with Bruce.

They cleaned up and got ready for bed. Diana lay down first and she felt awkward waiting for Bruce. She reluctantly remembered Frank Castle.

Stop it, she thought.

A bare chested Bruce came and slipped into the bed.

“Do you still have the headache?” he asked.

“Kind of,” replied Diana.

“Okay,” he said and turned off the lights. Then he turned to his side and went to sleep.

Diana breathed a sigh of relief.

The next day Diana took another day off from work. She went into the heart of Central City.  There was a high degree of multiculturism as people of all walks of life moved about the city. Was it selfish of her to want the world back as it was? She went to the park to think about it more clearly.

She weighed up the pros and cons. She concluded that the people deserved their real lives.

As the evening settled in the voice came to her. No one else in the busy park heard it.

“Have you decided?”

“Yes,” replied Diana. “I will fight.”

“Are you speaking from your interest or for the people who had far worst lives before?”

“I have considered that,” said Diana. “It goes both ways. Look at Bruce, he is a weakling compared to the man I knew before. He was a driven man, mean at times still his heart was in the right place.”

“There is no need for such a person here.”

“Don’t you see that you have broken him? When I look into his eyes, I can see that there’s something missing in his soul,” said Diana.

“Then you will have your challenge.”

Chapter Five

The last memory that Ororo had was being on the ship in Hammer Space. Presently she woke up in a dim desert. T’Challa, Diana and Batman were also waking.

Ororo’s mind automatically plugged into the elemental forces.

“Where is Metron?” asked Ororo while she looked about.

“I have to explain,” said Diana and then she told them what happened.

“You did the right thing,” said Batman.

“I agree,” said Ororo and held Diana’s shoulder.

Ororo sensed an intrusion into the environment. Darkseid appeared next to the group. He had his hands behind his back in a causal manner. He looked at them passively. Then he spoke.

“Darkseid shall be your first challenge. If you survive then you will have only one more,” said the entity that was in control of Darkseid. “It begins now.”

Ororo reacted as fast as she could and super cooled the air around Darkseid which left him encased in ice.

“T’Challa, his eyes,” shouted Ororo.

T’Challa teleported in front of Darkseid’s face and slashed his eyes. Darkseid broke free and he held his eyes. Then he flew into the sky before T’Challa could cut him again.

“We only took out the Omega Beams,” said Batman, “he has telepathy and telekinesis along with the speed and strength of a god.”

Two energy beams shot down from the sky and they scattered the group.

“You forgot to mention that he can channel energy through his hands,” said Diana.

Ororo ignored the comments and concentrated on Darkseid’s movements. She had failed in her previous attempts to destroy him out right.

I’ll have to do it piece by piece. First I have to nullify his telepathy with a blanket of electrical current around us. Then I’ll use the magnetic waves to bring him down, thought Ororo.

Moments later, Darkseid plummeted from the sky and he slammed in the soft earth.

I’ll distract him with a pulse to the brain before he can summon his telekinesis.

Darkseid roared.

“Diana lassoes him,” said Ororo.

Diana pulled the golden lasso from a pouch on her belt. The magical lasso grew a bit and Diana flew to Darkseid. She flung the lasso around his body and it tightened.  Diana landed and pulled on the lasso to intensify the hold. Still Darkseid slowly rose and Batman ran to help Diana with pulling the lasso. They brought Darkseid down on his side.

“T’Challa, bury the sword in him. We’ll let it explode,” said Ororo.

T’Challa rushed into Darkseid and sent the sword through his chest. Then T’Challa told the computers on the hilt to release the blade. The dark force energy fizzed as it was released from its bonds and it became unstable. The computers turned into two gold orbs that circled T’Challa’s head.

“Diana release him and get out of there,” shouted Ororo.

Ororo created individual gusts that took her friends into the sky while she did the same.

Seconds later, Darkseid exploded.

Ororo lowered everyone back onto the ground and they settled around the crater that was once Darkseid.

“One down,” said Batman. “Let’s be ready for the second.”

“I have a guess on who that might be,” said T’Challa.

Ororo felt another twitch in the environment and then Yuga Khan appeared.

Chapter Six

“Batman do you know anything about him?” asked T’Challa.

“There are rumors that he can absorb planetary energy and life forces of individuals,” replied Batman.

“Almost like Galactus,” said T’Challa reflectively. “Computers,” he whispered and gave them coordinates.

The group was teleported to the horizon.

“This will give us time to come up with a plan-“

T’Challa was interrupted by Yuga Khan’s appearance.

“Computers again,” said T’Challa.

The group was transported the same distance but in another direction. They came upon Yuga Khan in the new location.

“He hopped along when we entered hypertime and overtook us,” said the computers.

“Concede victory now,” said the mind controlled Yuga Khan.

“No,” said Diana.

T’Challa’s body weakened as his life force was funneled out of him. Ororo tried to super cool the air around Yuga Khan. He emitted an energy wave that stopped her. T’Challa and the others fell.

“Concede,” said Yuga Khan.

“No,” said T’Challa.

T’Challa was on the verge of losing consciousness when his life force returned.

“The Creator has intervened on your behalf since you are willing to die,” said Yuga Khan. “The multiverses shall be restored.”

Batman glanced at T’Challa knowingly when the Creator was mentioned. T’Challa looked at Ororo. She held her head and got up.

“We won,” said Ororo.

“Just like that?” asked Batman of Yuga Khan.

“I was given a chance to change things, which have not worked out,” said Yuga Khan.

“What’s to prevent the multiverses from merging again?” asked T’Challa.

“That shall be handled,” replied Yuga Khan. “You will be returned to your respective multiverses.”

“I want to see the multiverses separated first,” said Batman, “with my own eyes.”

“Done,” said Yuga Khan.

Gotham City

The group was teleported to the darkened rooftop of an apartment building. A thin moon was above the city. The blare of a police siren came from the street below followed by gun shots.

“This is the real Gotham alright, I can smell it,” said Batman and he jumped off the roof. His spread cape filled up with the wind and became sturdier. He glided down to the shootout.

T’Challa also smelt the grime from the city. He went to the edge of the roof and Diana held him.

“Let Batman do it alone,” said Diana.

“Then we should be heading back,” said Ororo.

“I wish that we had more time to spend with each other,” said Diana.

“So do I,” said T’Challa.

They hugged each other. Then Yuga Khan took Black Panther and Storm away.

Next Story: The Bonds That Break

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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story: Batman and Wonder Woman

Continued from DARKSEID AND THANOS COMETH

Chapter One

The scent of the dead ‘god’ held T’Challa’s hyper sense of smell. Metron’s mutilated body rested on his equally dead teleportation chair the Mobius. The ‘god’s’ eyes were shut and his mouth partly closed. His arms were slung over the fat arm rests of the grounded chair that once travelled through dimensions. Metron’s skin was dark grey and wrinkled by age. T’Challa looked inside the body that had no organs, blood or a skeleton.

The body is more like a shell, thought T’Challa.

Batman moved behind him. T’Challa understood why. The Black Panther had broken the pregnant pause that started when he and Batman had left the Source Wall in Darkseid’s confiscated space ship. T’Challa knew that Batman was suspicious of him.

T’Challa turned casually to the man.

“What was inside of him?” asked T’Challa.

“Haven’t a clue,” said Batman in a forced gruff voice.

The effort that Batman placed to change his voice was one of the peculiarities that T’Challa picked up in his assessment of the stranger. It made T’Challa assume that the person under the hood and scowl was well known and his normal voice was recognizable.

T’Challa made other assessments such as the very human nature of Batman. T’Challa didn’t sense any superhuman enhancements, rather a peak human form. The eyes were fully alert and expectant. The body was ready to spring like a jack knife at any moment. Those were subtle observations that T’Challa made as overall Batman seemed a calm minimalistic person.

The rectangular view screen showed the streaming lights of the passing stars. There was a short alarm from the ship’s artificial intelligence computer that stated that they neared the Earth.

The floor of the ship was smooth and polished. Soft white light bounced off the surface. A grim atmosphere held the wide bridge firmly. A single throne elevated from the floor. This was the bridge of a conqueror. A person seated in the high throne looked through the view screen at conquest.

Darkseid the owner of the ship had disappeared in the Source. T’Challa reflected on his whereabouts. Then he remembered the equation that was mentioned to him.

“Can you tell me more about the Anti Life Equation?” asked T’Challa.

Batman shifted a bit.

“Not much other than from all accounts that only the surface has been scratched with regards to its origins and role,” replied Batman.

T’Challa folded his arms.

“Who are the Justice League?” he asked.

“As the name implies, it is a fellowship of upholders of the ideals of justice, equality and freedom.”

“It sounds like the Avengers from my reality,” said T’Challa.

Batman looked at him even more intently.

“Do you belong to that team?” asked Batman.

“On and off.”

“So you know of Captain America and Dr. Strange?”

T’Challa was surprised when he heard the names.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Funny. I didn’t see you with the Avengers when I encountered them,” said Batman.

“As I said I’m on and off the team at times,” said T’Challa.

“Ah hum,” muttered Batman.

“And how did you even meet the Avengers?”

“I’ve crossover to your multiverse before.”

T’Challa sensed a heightened tension between him and Batman.

“I’m not your enemy,” said T’Challa.

“Ah hum,” said Batman lowly.

He turned to the view screen. The ship suddenly dropped out of hyperspace and a space station appeared in front of it. The space station was rotund and large.

Batman took a step forward. T’Challa guessed that something was wrong. The ship stated the space station had attempted to communication with it.

“Put it through,” said Batman.

The space station’s uptight A.I computer came on. “Alien vessel stop at once, state your objective and declare your cargo.”

“What is the name of the space station?” asked Batman.

“This is S.W.O.R.D Tower,” replied the space station.

“Are the Justice League onboard?’’ asked Batman.

“No one by that name is onboard. Please stop your ship and comply else you shall be fired upon,” said the space station.

“Is there anyone onboard the station?” asked T’Challa; since he found it odd that a computer spoke instead of a person.

“No one is onboard. This is your final warning,” said the space station.

“Amalgamation must have begun,” said Batman. “Close the channel,” he said to the ship’s computer and it complied.

“The vessel has shields that we should use,” said T’Challa.

“Shields up,” said Batman to the ship.

“Any suggestions on our next move?”

“We go to Earth and my city,” replied Batman.

“Which would be?”

“Gotham,” replied Batman.

The space station fired a proton beam at the ship that was easily dealt with by the frontal shield. Batman gave the ship a new heading and the vessel turned its attention from the space station and went to the blue marble that was Earth. The top half of the planet stuck out like a head in the darkness of space.

The space station carried on with the proton attacks that proved futile in the end.

“S.W.O.R.D is an alien police force from my universe,” said T’Challa.

“That means with there is no Justice League and we are on our own,” said Batman.

“Except that my wife is still out there,” said T’Challa.

The ship passed through the sparse cloud cover and came upon an incomplete city.

“Cruise mode,” said Batman.

The ship leveled out.

“Panoramic view,” said Batman.

The ceiling and walls at the front of the bridge turned transparent. The new view showed a patchy landscape as large sections of the city were completely bare.

“It looks as though the process has stalled,” said T’Challa.

“You’re right,” conceded Batman. “So where are the people?”

“In Hammer Space theoretically speaking.”

“Care to explain.”

“It is the basis of my Shadow Physics. Hammer Space is where all matter including light are broken down and compressed. I believe that Thanos had a safe means of operating in Hammer Space.”

“The brothers must be in control of this Hammer Space,” said Batman. “Our presence in this unfinished reality must have caught their attention by now.”

“Do you have a means of getting them to cooperate?”

“I’ll think of something while we wait.”

“And if they don’t show up?”

“Then we have to find a way to get everyone out of Hammer Space.”

“Do you have knowledge of quantum physics?” asked T’Challa.

“Yes,” replied Batman.

“Good. We should get started then on travelling to Hammer Space. We need a laboratory. Any suggestions?”

“Teleport us into the street. I recognize one of the city schools,” said Batman.

Several minutes later, the Black Panther and Batman were inside the silent halls of a high school. T’Challa noted that the foundation stone said that the school was funded by Wayne Enterprises.

  T’Challa remembered his time as a school teacher in Harlem, New York City. In the vision he saw a packed classroom with eager young faces glued to his every word. It was refreshing to T’Challa to recall such moments again.

The two men found the science laboratory. T’Challa quickly drew a diagram on the white board to illustrate his theories on the amalgamation process.

“We have two multiverses with almost similar geographies and different people. In a way it looks like two experiments running simultaneously side by side,” said T’Challa. “Now, space and time are fluid, without a barrier between the two multiverses they are moving into each other. That should be catastrophic instead we are experiencing an intricate conjoining.

“Hammer Space is being used  as a holding station where matter, anti matter, memories, consciousness and reality are broken down, made over and redeployed. Meaning that right now you and I are not on your Earth but a completely new one,” said T’Challa.

“You mentioned that it resembles an experiment,” said Batman as he looked over the diagrams. “Do you believe that there is a creative force involved?”

“It’s possible.”

“But you left out the brothers. How do they fit in?”

“What are your thoughts?”

“We should have a strategy to deal with the brothers.”

“What do they look like?”

“They are formless but can inhabit the bodies of others.”

“Well I have a technique that usually rids my mind and body of an invasion,” said T’Challa.

“Me too,” said Batman.

“Okay then. Now to get to the Hammer Space safely we’ll need a portal, a vessel, a power source strong enough to get us there and protection from being torn apart,” said T’Challa.

“We have Metron’s chair and Darkseid’s hyper drive. The shields can be modified,” said Batman.

The duo returned to the ship and went to the engine room. T’Challa inspected the cylinder device that resembled a turbine. The engine was based on quantum fusion which T’Challa was familiar with.

“It will do,” said T’Challa. “I failed to mention the mystical elements required for the portal.”

“Like the Polmec symbols for interspace travel,” said Batman.

T’Challa smiled inside since the stranger was as knowledgeable as him. “Yes,” said T’Challa. “I will have to carve them into the ship.”

“With what?”

“My sword,” replied T’Challa.

“Is it enchanted?” asked Batman.

“No. It is technological,” replied T’Challa. He felt as though he had given away a vital bit of information to Batman.

I still have to be cautious, thought T’Challa.

They tackled the Mobius Chair next. T’Challa surgically cut through the tough metal skin with the sword. Underneath the skin was a smooth circuitry system. T’Challa took out his kimoyo and scanned the Mobius. Batman looked on intently.

“I’m not reading any energy signatures,” said T’Challa.

“It must be out of the Element X that powers it,” said Batman.

“That’s a set back,” said T’Challa. “Still we can use the parts for the engine.”

“I’ll get the maintenance tools from the ship and then we can start,” said Batman.

Chapter Two

Batman landed the ship onto six city blocks. Then he and T’Challa returned to the engine room. T’Challa drew up the schematics of the device that they needed to construct from the engine to open the portal to Hammer Space.

“We’ll reconfigure the ship’s teleportation system,” said T’Challa.

“I guessed that much,” said Batman. Then he ordered the ship to release the maintenance androids.

Seven androids appeared out the wall panels. They were seven feet in height, tentacles spooled out of their hands. Three yellow lights acted as eyes on their heads.

Secretly, T’Challa attempted to connect wirelessly with the androids from his kimoyo. He was successful and began to quietly instruct the machines.

“Let’s get started,” said Batman as he took two large tool boxes from a storage cabinet and opened them.

T’Challa looked over the tools that were a mixture of conventional and strange.

“By the way, what does your wife look like?” asked Batman.

“She is five feet nine inches tall, has long white, blue eyes, dark skin and was wearing black and gold uniform,” replied T’Challa. “Her is name is Ororo and code name Storm.”

Batman had a reflective look when he heard the name.

“I’ve encountered her before when I went over to your universe,” said Batman. “If I’m not mistaken I think the team that she was on was called the X Men.”

“Correct,” said T’Challa and was slightly annoyed with himself that he was unaware that Batman came to his universe. “What happened between you and the X Men?”

“We fought. The Justice League came over to even out the odds,” replied Batman. “Then we had a truce.”

“You never returned since then?”

“No.”

For the next hour, T’Challa and Batman worked on opposite sides of the engine. T’Challa kept his senses locked on Batman to ensure that he knew his every movement. T’Challa didn’t entirely trust the man. As a precaution, he programmed the androids to take action on Batman if necessary.

All the while T’Challa thought about Ororo. Darkseid had returned to the Source Wall without her. What could that mean? Was she dead as Thanos presumed? And what did Darkseid need her for?

Still T’Challa continued to have faith that Ororo was alive somewhere. He wouldn’t believe otherwise unless there was proof.

We have been through so much together especially after Thanos stole our memories and we made it through the twist and turns, thought T’Challa. It’s almost like we are invincible. I guess that we need to think that way or else we’ll lose hope, he continued.

He pondered on the citizens of Wakanda and how they really felt about the constant sudden disappearances of their leaders.

Eventually they may get fed up of it, thought T’Challa.

He knew that Shuri and Umba would be all right for the time being. Their mettles were also tested by the ordeal with Thanos and Raven.

Three hours passed and T’Challa barely spoke to Batman other than to ensure that they were progressing with the work. T’Challa was impressed by the level of Batman’s engineering skills. There were equations that required on the spot solving and Batman did them with relative ease. T’Challa added that insight to his profile of Batman.

Then a situation occurred that made T’Challa aware that Batman was a person who liked to do things his own way.

The situation arose over the determination of the sink-hole point for the portal. The sink hole was the depth at which the portal would open into another dimension. Batman disagreed with T’Challa’s calculations on the matter.

“We have to change it,” said Batman.

“There is nothing wrong with it,” said T’Challa.

“I’m telling you that it has to change based on my knowledge of Darkseid’s technology. “

“I have already accounted for the deviation,” said T’Challa.

 “We will be smashed to bits if we follow your numbers,” said Batman.

“Any further adjustments will throw out the alignment,” said T’Challa. “And my calculations say that we’ll make it through safely.”

“Listen,” said Batman in a take charge tone. “The fate of the universes can’t rest on your ego.”

“My ego,” said T’Challa. “I’ve been building portals for years. I know what I’m doing.”

“I can’t verify that, can I?” asked Batman aggressively.

“Look we are wasting time. The calculations stay,” said T’Challa.

“I’m still changing it,” said Batman.

T’Challa had to keep his emotions in check. He knew that he was correct but nothing he could say would change Batman’s mind. There was no way the device could be tested safely without the creation of the portal. By then the ship would only have enough power for the shields.

T’Challa even considered taking action on Batman to remove him, only there was a considerable amount of work to be done with a limited time window.

“You can either leave the ship or work with me,” said T’Challa.

Batman made no response and T’Challa left. They worked without speaking to each other until the modified engine was ready. Then they powered it up and all hell broke out.

Chapter Three

“Shut it down,” yelled Batman.

“No,” said T’Challa. “It is just adjusting to the transwarp fields.”

The ship vibrated uncontrollably.

“It’s going to tear the ship apart,” said Batman as he headed for the main switch.

T’Challa held his hand firmly.

“We’ll not get a second chance with the adjustments,” said T’Challa.

Batman’s free hand came from underneath the cape and it jammed a device onto T’Challa’s chest. T’Challa was certain that Batman didn’t have the device on him when they had met. On closer inspection T’Challa saw that the device was made from discarded parts of the engine. Batman must have constructed it during the time he was alone.

A magnetic force dragged T’Challa away from Batman and carried him to the wall. He tried to pull himself free with no avail.

“I assumed that there was a degree of metal in your armour and the magnetic force will disrupt any attempts to teleport,” said Batman. Then he turned to the switch.

“Batwing,” shouted T’Challa for the androids to hear.

The machines seized Batman with their tentacles and held him up in the air.

“I also devised a means of capturing you,” said T’Challa.

“For what?” asked Batman. “You’re going to kill us.”

The ship rocked and it seemed as though a force squeezed on it. The ceiling crumpled slightly.

T’Challa and Batman stared angrily at each other. One of them had to be wrong. The hull of the ship made a jarring noise.

“I told you, now it is too late,” shouted Batman.

Then the vibrations gradually subsided. Calm returned to the ship.

“You were saying,” said T’Challa.

“I was saying that we don’t know what the structural integrity of the ship is now from the damage done by the engine,” said Batman.

T’Challa had to concede that Batman had a point.

“We cannot continue like this,” said Batman.

“Truce?” asked T’Challa.

“A truce then,” said Batman. “Now release me. Then I’ll get the nullifier off of you.”

T’Challa considered if the gesture of goodwill was a trick. Still he had to relent.

“Release him,” said T’Challa.

The androids dropped Batman onto the floor. Then Batman went to T’Challa and removed the device.

Chapter Four

Themyscira was just as Ororo remembered it. A tropical rain forest rose out of a lagoon on the east side. The forest stretched out until it reached the Amazon settlement in the north.

The settlement was caught in a time capsule that portrayed ancient Greece. The houses and streets were rustic. The agora in the centre was the settlement was built with thick white pillars.

Ororo flew down to the agora. The place triggered memories that were buried deep into her subconscious. They were memories implanted from the false world that she now found herself in. She saw in her mind the Amazons as they filled the agora. They were a clan of female warriors ordained by ‘gods’. They lived for battle.

Still Ororo remembered a peaceful life on the isolated island. She recalled baths in the cold springs in the mountains, the songs of birds and the beautiful sun sets where vivid colors were splashed across the sky.

In this world she was raised as an adopted daughter of the Amazon queen. Her parents had died at sea and the queen had rescued her from the depths of the sea. Then her rivalry with the queen’s other daughter Diana started. It was rough. The sisters hated each other at times.

Ororo brushed her white hair from out of her blue eyes as she returned to the present world. She looked at the heavens.

“How do I escape from this?” asked Ororo.

She flew out of the agora on a gust of wind and travelled to the palace where Diana searched for others. Seeing Diana made Ororo happy. The ordeal in the false world had stirred a great of deal of angry emotions in them which they were able to reconcile.

As Wonder Woman, Ororo lived a virtuous life and had low expectations of the outside world.

She met Diana at the palace gate. The Amazon princess had piercing blue eyes, long black hair and a slender figure.

“Anything?” asked Diana as she held her hair in place from the winds.

“It is only us on the island,” replied Ororo.

“I checked the lower quarters and found nothing also,” said Diana. “We need to get to America and try to reach the Justice League through the station in Washington D.C.”

“And what if we can’t get onto them?” asked Ororo. “We need a follow up plan.”

“I’m all ears,” said Diana.

“There should be other artifacts like the World Tree in this reality. For instance the Cosmic Cube that existed in my world should be able to help us. They were placed in specific areas and some of those locations may exist here,” said Ororo.

“Okay,” said Diana.

Moments after, Ororo carried Diana into the sky on a cushion of warm air and then they shot across the Earth on a magnetic pulse. They eventually came upon a city that they presumed was Washington D.C which was half made. The usual landmarks like the White House, the Congress Building and the Washington Monument were absent.

“What do you make of it?” asked Diana.

“I don’t detect anything odd on the elemental level,” said Ororo. “Do you see the League’s building?”

Diana looked around and shook her head disappointedly. “No.”

“That leaves us with Plan B,” said Ororo.

Ororo felt a sharp pain her chest and she lost control of her powers.

“Ororo,” shouted Diana as they fell from the sky.

The pain travelled all over Ororo’s body and she was paralysed by it. Unconsciously she knew the pain was due to the manipulation of the Earth’s elemental fields.

“Sister,” said Diana over the high winds.

The pain went away and Ororo regained control.

“What was that?” asked Diana.

“We have to go south,” said Ororo. “There was a disturbance.”

Without waiting for a reply, Ororo darted into the direction. They travelled for a few minutes over an unfinished terrain. Then they arrived over a city.

“This is where Gotham should be,” said Diana. “Bruce!”

“Who is Bruce?” asked Ororo.

“A friend,” said Diana, “more commonly known as Batman.”

“I remember him,” said Ororo.

They flew around the city and saw the ship.

“That’s the alien spaceship that attacked me and T’Challa,” said Ororo.

“That’s Darkseid’s ship. He might be in there,” said Diana.

“How do we counteract his beams?”

“We can’t that’s the problem.”

“I’m sensing anomalies around the ship,” said Ororo. She swooped down to the ship and it became apparent that it was damaged.

Ororo and Diana slipped into the vessel through a small tear in the left side of the hull.

Chapter Five

Ororo and Diana moved cautiously along a tunnel when a golden flash appeared in front of them. T’Challa and Batman came out of the flash.

“Darling,” said T’Challa as he embraced her.

“My love,” said Ororo.

Ororo noticed that Batman was stoic as Diana held him. His response to her was lukewarm. For that reason, Ororo didn’t like  him a  little.

“Where have you been?” asked T’Challa.

“With Diana, you remember her from the Amalgamation. Wait, do you even have your memories back?”

“Yes,” replied T’Challa. He peeled off the mask and kissed her warmly on the lips.

In that moment, Ororo was able to finally remember the first time they ever kissed and other intimate scenes. It was as though a hole was patched in her heart.

“Ahem,” said Diana.

“Ah yes,” said Ororo as she looked at her sister. “T’Challa I want to reintroduce you to Diana.”

“Do you remember me?” asked Diana.

“Of course,” replied T’Challa.

“You two know each other,” said Batman.

“You sound stunned,” said Diana.

“That’s an understatement,” said Batman.

“I was a mercenary for T’Challa,” said Diana.

T’Challa returned his attention to his wife.

“Where have you been?” he asked.

Ororo related the events with Darkseid. Then T’Challa told her what had happened with him.

“So have you two boys been getting along?” asked Diana.

“More or less,” replied Batman and he glanced at T’Challa.

Ororo felt no tension between the two men, but there seemed to have been a disagreement.

“We were working on teleporting to the Hammer Space where the brothers will most likely be,” explained T’Challa.

“Where can Ororo and I help?” asked Diana.

“Right now we are doing repairs, but you can still see the device,” said T’Challa.

T’Challa teleported the group to the engine room. After the women inspected the device then the repairs were continued. In that time, Batman learned that Diana had lost her gifts.

Even though Ororo acted professionally, a part of her wanted time to speak with T’Challa privately about their restored memories.

With regards to Batman, she found him a bit too standoffish. Ororo sensed that he was still suspicious of her although he acted cordially. She decided to speak with Diana on the issue when they were alone.

“Is he always that skeptical of everything?” asked Ororo.

“Yes. It’s what makes him so effective,” replied Diana. “We have been friends for a long time and I trust his instincts even though I may not agree with everything he does.”

“I think that he and T’Challa had a spat,” said Ororo.

“I feel the same way too,” said Diana.

“What about their theory that the Amalgamation process has stalled?”

“We will not know for sure unless we get to this Hammer Space,” replied Diana.

The quiet moment was broken when T’Challa teleported to them.

“We’re ready to teleport,” said T’Challa.

They went to the bridge. Batman had two holographic control panels in front of him.

“We can operate the teleportor from here,” said T’Challa.

“Here goes,” said Batman and he touched an icon on the left panel.

The ship jerked and the view screen turned black. T’Challa went over to the controls and checked a few of the numbers.

“We are in Hammer Space,” said T’Challa.

“Panoramic view,” said Batman and the view screen widened. There was nothing visible.

“Can we move forward?” asked Diana.

“No. Propulsion was taken from the engine,” replied T’Challa.

“This is an omiunverse. We just need to be patient for while,” said Batman.

“So we’re like a small fishing boat in an ocean waiting for something to come along,” said Diana.

Suddenly, an object bounced the ship so hard that it turned to the right.

“What was that?” asked Ororo.

“It must be the brothers,” said Batman.

“Whatever it was it diminished the shields significantly,” said T’Challa.

The object struck the ship and turned it in the opposite direction.

“I’m sorry that I used the fishing boat analogy,” said Diana.

Ororo went to the control panel. “T’Challa,” she said.

“We lost the shields,” was all T’Challa was able to say as the ship was ripped into a billion pieces.

Chapter Six

The entity called the Source reconstructed the ship that had entered into Hammer Space. The formless creature entered the ship and he sensed the humans and Metron on the bridge. He came upon four unconscious humans. He recognized Batman and Wonder Woman from the Justice League. The other two he surmised came from the other multiverse. He noticed the deceased Metron. He took them all as they would be needed for his plan for both multiverses.

Concluded in the next story: The Best There Is

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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story: Darkseid and Thanos Cometh

Prologue

Whether wrongly or rightly I was called the Source by the higher sentient beings who sought after my power and insights into the universe like moths to the fire.

I dwelled at the edge of the universe in silence until those misguided beings came for me. I imprisoned them in a wall of ice as a warning to others; still no one heeded.

Some time ago, a phenomenon took place in the universe that caught me off guard. The phenomenon drew near again and I took the opportunity to study it, to see if I could influence it for my purposes.

Chapter One

The DC Universe, Justice League Headquarters

My name was Thanos. I craved neither power nor dominance, only her love. The more she shunned me the greater were my feats to win her attention, for Death was a hard woman to please.

Now in a few moments, she will have no where to run or hide from me as she will be forever in my presence.

The Justice League Headquarters was a space station that orbited the version of Earth that existed in this reality. The Watch Tower as the space station was called was needle shaped with a ring at the top. For all its technological sophistication it looked like a toy in my opinion.

My destination was the section called the Hall of Justice that was essentially the command center of the space station. A carefully laid plan had influenced the ‘Older God’ called Metron to meet with the Justice League to warn them of the impending merger of their reality and one that I came from. Metron was the bait to attract the two Justice League members I wanted.

I was not disappointed when I teleported into the Hall of Justice. My targets Batman and Wonder Woman were there. The two were alongside Superman, Green Lantern, the Manhunter and the Flash. A minor use of my telekinesis was all that was necessary to chain these beings. I telepathically invaded the minds of Batman and Wonder and made them unconscious. Then I teleported my prey to the Source Wall.

“Thanos,” said Metron while he moved around in his levitated intergalactic vehicle called the Mobius Chair. He was a slender being with an aged wise face. Normally he preferred to be an observer of events in the cosmos, but he was fooled into taking action on this occasion.

“The realities are merging once more and it must be stopped. Whatever scheme you have with Batman and Wonder Woman must take a back seat,” said Metron.

“Actually the merger of the realities is apart of my plan,” I said.

Unbeknownst to Metron was that I drained the cosmic Element X that powered the Mobius Chair into my skin. He tried to teleport after my revelation, but the chair was too depleted to respond.

In a nanosecond, I was up to Metron and in another split second, my right fist hammered into the being; knocking the chair onto the floor. I showed no mercy to Metron as I swiftly dropped harder punches on his torso until the “Older God” bled.

“Your knowledge of the Anti Life Equation is also needed,” I whispered to him.

Then he and I teleported out of the Watch Tower.

Chapter Two

The Marvel Universe,

Wakanda’s Airspace

I feared my father Yuga Khan and hated my mother Heggra still I thanked them for the invocation in me for conquest and domination of every sentient creature in all of the universes.

My birth name was Uxas that later changed to Darkseid when I killed my brother Drax and took his birth right the Omega Force. My stony appearance was due to the Omega Force’s transformation of my body. At first, I thought that it was a cruel curse but I saw the fear that the appearance invoked in my enemies and came to appreciate it.

As my ship drew nearer to Wakanda it was bombarded by electro magnetic pulses, cyclones and blasted by an array of weapons. The poor fools were unaware that my vessel travelled through the very hearts of suns.

The ship’s computer warned of a breech in the shields and then the main hull of the ship. Before I could ask for a specification of the intruders, the ceiling was pierced and a man and a woman leapt into the bridge.

The man wore a black uniform with an almost feline shaped mask. He was muscular and six feet tall. He carried a sword that had an energy blade. I saw two gold seals on the hilt of the sword.

The woman was five feet nine inches tall. Her hair was lily white much like her eyes were. She hovered in the air next to the man. Her black and gold uniform shimmered from the lightening that was wrapped around her hands.

The couple was my target and I made no hesitation in my next move. I fired the Omega Beams from my eyes. The twin scarlet beams latched onto the Black Panther. My second beams were aimed at Storm. To ensure a swift end to the confrontation, I fired several more Omega Beams.

The Black Panther blocked the beams with his sword, but his weapon disappeared when it made contact with my powers. The follow up beams raced into the Black Panther and he used his agility to evade them. However, my Omega Beams are like heat seeking missiles, they will follow you to the end. In no time at all, several of the Omega Beams caught the Black Panther and he disappeared in a cloud of ash.

Storm suffered the same fate as she flew away and tried to use plasma energy on the beams. She even fired a burst of energy at me. I didn’t feel the impact. My Omega Beams snaked around her until she was trapped and caught. Her body burnt into ash.

I ordered the ship to halt the descent and to teleport back to the Source Wall.

Chapter Three

Darkseid,

I fought Thanos when we had first met in what seems like centuries ago. We were evenly matched then as we were today. I admired Thanos’s bloodlust and the unbridled extremities that he will go to win. He was a being who leveled entire dimensions and broke great creatures at his feet.

One commonality between us was that we murdered our mothers. I killed my mother because she took the life of my only love. Thanos slew his mother in a fit of madness.

Just as Thanos had longed for Death, I have searched endlessly for the truth behind the Anti Life Equation. The equation was the mathematical proof that existence served no purpose. A rational sentient being became despondent and pliable once the Anti Life Equation was accepted into their psyche. That made it easier for me to dominate their life.

My enemies found a way to nullify the Anti Life Equation so I must create a new one. Batman, Black Panther, Storm and Wonder Woman were the keys needed to unlock the new equation.

My Omega Beams had transferred the Black Panther and Storm to the Source Wall. The Source Wall was on the very edge of the universe in my reality. My father and many others were obsessed with the great power that lied behind the wall, the Source. And like my father everyone who tried to break through the wall ended up being captured by it and trapped in ice.

The victims were in the thousands and the sight of them astonished even me at first. Imagine in the blackness of space, a wall of bodies and ships that stretched out on the horizon. From a distance the wall doesn’t appear that thick. When you got there then it became a different matter. Bodies that ranged from a mile long to giants like my father were plastered one on top each other. Their faces were swollen in eternal pain.

In between the mountainous bodies were gaps which Thanos and I used. A measure of atmosphere and gravity had been produced over the centuries.

The Source Wall was the only thing that remained unchanged during the last Amalgamation. Also the Source was where the Anti Life Equation came from if the legends were true.

From the Source Wall, Thanos and I could monitor and influence the Amalgamation process as it began.

I met Thanos in the heart of the wall. He possessed a regal presence since he was also a king. He wore the blue and gold uniform of his class. The body was chiseled from hardened hand to hand combat.

By a twist of fate, our camp was at the feet of my father Yuga Khan. He was frozen in his giant form. Two long horns came out of his helmet, the face was captured in scene of a battle cry; the eyes were like the blackest of nights.

Thanos caught me as I gazed briefly at my father.

“Why don’t you free him?” asked Thanos.

Thanos would have never said that if he witnessed the power of my father. Only my father and I have broken free from the Source Wall based on our strength. And my father was far stronger than I was.

“He will be a hindrance,” I said.

“Do I hear a hint of concern in your voice?” asked Thanos as he looked at Khan.

“Hardly,” I replied.

“Like father like son,” said Thanos.

“What do you mean?”

“He craved the Source until it captured him. And you are obsessed with an equation that evolves into something new.”

“You’re right,” I said. “This is how life has played out.”

“We try so hard to control the lives of others when we aren’t even in control of our own,” said Thanos.

“Pretending to be wise I see.”

“A momentary lapse,” said Thanos.

“He never called me son,” I said. “I have two sons and I have a moderate  feeling of love for them.”

“I don’t want children,” said Thanos.

“What if Death wants?”

“I’ll tell her no. Our love must only be directed to ourselves,” replied Thanos.

“You don’t know what you will miss out by not having children,” I said.

“Darkseid I am naturally evil. Imagine what my children will be like.”

“Nonsense. My son Orion was the epitome of good and he fought against me. My brother Drax was a hero to the weak. You can never know how your children will turn out.”

“Nonsense,” said an adamant Thanos.

“All is ready,” I said as I turned from my father.

Thanos pointed to the bodies of Batman, Wonder Woman and Metron that were dropped in a corner. Small breathing apparatuses were placed on the humans. I fired my Omega Beams at the spot and the Black Panther and Storm were reconstructed in the area.

“Excellent,” said Thanos. He went over to them and placed the breathing apparatuses on them. Then he rested his hands on their heads to restore the memories that he had stolen.

“Now we dissect Metron,” I said.

Thanos lifted the ‘Old God’ with a mental force and the body came between him and me.

“I found the radion on Batman as you expected,” said Thanos. “It was shaped into a blade.”

Radion was the only element that could kill my species that were called New Gods of which Metron was a member.

Thanos produced the blade over Metron and through telekinesis the ‘Old God’ was cut opened. The Life Equation that was stored in Metron’s body illuminated the dim surroundings as it emerged from the body. The equation contained abstract symbols that represented different aspects of the cosmos.

“I will return with the Tree of Reality,” I said.

I took Storm and Wonder Woman and teleported to Themyscira. In the meantime, Thanos would invade Black Panther’s mind to retrieve his knowledge of Shadow Physics. With the Tree of Reality’s power I would cement my position as ruler. Then I could test the new Anti Life Equation on Batman first because he stopped my last attempt to conquer reality.

Chapter Four

Ororo had started the day with a workout in bed with T’Challa that made its way to various parts of their bedroom. It was the kind of vigorous loving making that brought out another side from you and your partner.

The rest of the morning was spent in the Crystal Forest where she witnessed the birth of new species of crystallized flora. It was around eleven o’clock when she received a message from T’Challa that an alien space ship had bypassed the S.W.O.R.D space station and was headed for Wakanda at a threatening speed. T’Challa teleported to her location and explained his plan to intercept the vessel.

Presently, Ororo dreamt that she sank in the sea and then a childhood memory flashed in her eyes. Then she looked up and swam to the surface. The intimate memories increased as she neared the surface. She saw the sun and pushed harder to meet it. She broke through the surface and her mind was flooded by the memories that were lost to her.

Ororo awoke to a cold chamber that was lit by a flambeau. She checked her body for injuries and looked around the chamber. Another woman was not too far away from her.

She remembered the attack made by the alien and the transformation of  T’Challa into ash.

If I survived then he must have too, thought Ororo.

She stood and went to the woman who had long black hair and wore skin tight black pants and boots. Battle bracelets were on the woman’s wrists and a tiara was on her forehead. When Ororo saw the face, disbelief and surprise became one. She knew the woman.

“Diana,” said Ororo and shook her.

Diana was slowly roused from her sleep. Two blue eyes looked into Ororo’s face.

“Sister,” said Diana in a Greek accent. “How? But that would mean-”

“It means that our worlds have joined once more,” said Ororo.

Diana flexed her fingers and her expression showed that something was wrong.

“I don’t have my gifts,” said Diana while she stood.

“It has been so long,” said Ororo.

“Tell me about it. I was with the Justice League getting briefed on the merger of our realties when a strange foe appeared. His skin was purple, the eyes were like red lava and the chin had indentations like fissure vents in the hardness of his face.”

An image formed in Ororo’s mind and a name came on her tongue.

“Thanos,” said Ororo.

“You know him?”

Ororo held her forehead as her last memory of Thanos appeared. He had telepathically entered her mind and then she lost consciousness.

“He took away some of my memories,” said Ororo, “which I now have back. He must have a reason for that.”

“Indeed,” said Diana. “Why else would he-“

Ororo looked at Diana.

“What’s the matter?” asked Ororo.

“Look at the door,” said Diana and she pointed.

Ororo turned around at the door that she had mistaken for a wall earlier. The door was twenty feet high. A thick branched tree that was flanked by two ravens was carved on the door.

“That’s the doorway to the World Tree,” said Ororo unconsciously.

“I’ve never seen it before,” said Diana.

“The Amazons had shown it to me after I passed the ritual to become Wonder Woman in this reality,” said Ororo.

“What does the World Tree do?”

“It can alter reality,” replied Ororo. She faced Diana and continued, “Only I can open the door as Wonder Woman. Someone wants me to do it.”

“Then let’s leave this place,” said Diana. She grabbed the flambeau and sent the light around the chamber. A tunnel appeared. “There,” said Diana. “That’s our way out.”

Diana walked into the tunnel and Ororo followed.

“I hate alternate realities,” said Diana.

“How have you been keeping since we last met?” asked Ororo.

“It has been same- the ‘gods’, war, and more war, but I can’t complain. How about you?”

“A bit of the same as you and I’m married now,” replied Ororo.

Diana turned and hugged her. In that moment, Ororo was touched by the genuine connection and love that she had with Diana even though they were bonded in a fabricated world.

 “Congratulations. Who is the lucky guy?”

“T’Challa the Black Panther.”

“What?” asked Diana stiffly. Her eyes widened as she searched Ororo’s face. “I knew T’Challa from the last Amalgamation. I worked for him.”

“Is there a problem?”

“No. It’s just I didn’t expect to hear his name. I considered him a trusted friend,” replied Diana.

“What made you work for him?” asked Ororo as she continued down the tunnel.

“After I left Themyscira I needed to gain better skills. I headed for Africa and found myself in Wakanda. I did some wetworks for T’Challa.

“So in your reality was he still a king?” asked Diana.

“Yes,” replied Ororo.

“So we are both royalty,” said Diana.

“This is strange sharing the memories of an alternate life,” said Ororo.

“As I said before I hate these things but I’ve been messed up by them so much that it has become common place.”

“Also why did Thanos take you if I was only needed to open the World Tree door?” asked Ororo.

“Good question,” said Diana. “Does Thanos have any weaknesses?”

“None that I can think of,” replied Ororo. “And Thanos did not take me.”

“Then who did?”

“The person had a stony appearance. Red beams came from eyes and they followed me until I was caught.”

“That sounds like Darkseid,” said Diana, and then she cursed. “Thanos and Darkseid were one being during the last Amalgamation. I fought them. They must have got back together.”

“Then they must be monitoring us,” said Ororo.

“Definitely,” said Diana. She raised the flambeau. A small door was at the end of the tunnel.

“Do you remember this place?” asked Diana.

Ororo held her forehead and reflected for a moment. “No,” she replied.

“Then let’s see where this leads to.”

Diana went to the door and pushed it. The door refused to move. Ororo saw the disappointment that slightly appeared on Diana’s face as she realized her human frailty in the new reality.

“Let me help,” said Ororo.

“You’re the one with the Amazon gifts in this dispensation,” said Diana.

Ororo pushed on the door and it moved. A shining light slipped out from the other side. Ororo shoved the door aside and her eyes came upon the towering World Tree. The tree was a body of light and its branches held up the ceiling.

“This is impossible,” said Diana.

“We made a mistake,” said Ororo.

“No. You were simply tricked with an illusion like smoke and mirrors,” said Darkseid as he appeared behind them. “Now I have no further use for you.”

The women turned around and saw the red eyes that came hauntingly out of the darkness.

Ororo and Diana bolted out of the way as the Omega Beams snaked out the body of stone. Ororo recognized the beams were more lethal than the previous ones. Her only recourse was to bring down the chamber.

“I can’t without taking Diana out first,” muttered Ororo.

She flew to the right to avoid the ribbons of Omega Beams that followed her. Meanwhile, Diana back flipped to stay out of the beams’ path.

“Come to me Diana,” shouted Ororo.

Ororo flew as fast as she  could and she intercepted her sister. She headed upwards and felt the blast from the convergence of Omega Beams. But there were more of the scarlet predators that shifted sideways and went up and down in their pursuit like hunting dogs.

Ororo spotted Darkseid. His stony countenance seemed to be also psychological. Ororo was certain that he would not listen to her reasoning.

Darkseid touched the World Tree and it shuddered like a frightened child. Then Darkseid rose and he fired his Omega Beams at the World Tree. Apparently the Omega Beams drew the power from the World Tree and transferred it into Darkseid.

“Ororo look out,” shouted Diana as she clung onto Ororo’s shoulder.

Instinct made Ororo turn to her left and she saw the silent red killers as they closed for the strike.

“I’m sorry Diana,” said Ororo.

Ororo closed her eyes and concentrated on turning herself into a bomb that would destroy the chamber and stop Darkseid.

Chapter Five

T’Challa was in the Techno Jungle inventing a gizmo that came to him through inspiration when he was notified that the alien vessel was headed for Wakanda. Agent Brand contacted him briefly and then he went to Ororo.

Presently, T’Challa became semi conscious after Thanos telepathically entered his mind and he felt a presence in his mind that moved freely around his inner most thoughts.

“Who is there?” asked T’Challa.

“Don’t you remember?” asked Thanos.

Instantly, T’Challa saw a vision of a flat space ship as it took off and Thanos stood on a rocky terrain underneath the vessel. Then there was nothing except for darkness.

“I remember,” muttered T’Challa as more visions appeared that ranged from his childhood to adult life. “My memories are back, but how?”

“When I made my deal with Raven I wondered why she wanted certain memories erased. I speculated that they were valuable and would be a handy bargaining chip if I encountered her again so I kept them. Lucky for me since your wife’s and your memories are more valuable than anyone imagined,” said Thanos.

“Get out my head,” said T’Challa.

“But I have just begun. You possess the knowledge of a solution to a problem that I have. The field of science that you call Shadow Physics will help me deploy the Anti Life Equation during the Amalgamation process.”

T’Challa had snippets of the alternate life that he had lived during the last Amalgamation.

“You remember it,” said Thanos. “That’s the reason I gave back your memories so I will have the full power of your brain at my command.”

“Never,” said T’Challa and he tried to locate the unseen intruder.

“Fool I have already imprisoned your consciousness,” said Thanos.

T’Challa was now in a dream state. He saw his hands and legs. Then he realized that he was trapped in a box that rolled slowly forward. He pressed his hands and feet against the walls in a vain attempt to stall the motion.

“Where is my wife?” asked T’Challa.

“Darkseid took her. She must be ash by now,” said Thanos.

T’Challa muttered the name that was given. It was new to him.

“It was Darkseid who took us?” asked T’Challa.

“Yes,” replied Thanos.

“I will find a way to stop you,” muttered T’Challa, and he focused his thoughts on freedom. He pushed the walls with all his strength until his muscles ached. Then it occurred to him that whatever happened in the mind affected the physical body.

T’Challa looked at his right hand and balled it into a fist. Then he struck himself in the chest. His sight was covered by the wings of darkness and he no longer felt anything.

“What have you done?” shouted Thanos.

T’Challa had an out of body experience. His soul floated above his corpse. He saw that Thanos went over the body and tried to revive it.

Now is my chance, thought T’Challa.

He flung himself into the body and kicked out of Thanos’s reach. T’Challa broke out his claws from the gloves and he scampered up the nearest wall which was actually a frozen body.

T’Challa changed direction and he leapt onto another body. He nimbly climbed to the shoulder. Thanos flew behind him and fired a blast of energy. T’Challa narrowly missed the attack and he somersaulted onto the forehead of Yuga Khan. Thanos fired more rays of cosmic energy from his hands at T’Challa.

The rays missed and struck Yuga Khan in the face. T’Challa leapt off and headed for the narrow spaces behind Khan. Suddenly the statue of Khan moved forward. T’Challa turned back and witnessed the reanimation of Yuga Khan. Ice transformed to flesh as Khan flayed his arms and walked forward.

Then T’Challa’s eyes caught a human body that was near Khan’s feet. By reflex, T’Challa slipped down to the caped body. A bat symbol was on the chest of the body armour that the unconscious man wore. T’Challa placed the body on his shoulder and made to leave the presence of Khan and Thanos.

“You over there stand before me,” commanded Yuga Khan as he shrunk to an eight feet tall being and faced Thanos. “You have come for the Source. It is mine alone to have,” said Khan in a monstrous tone.

“I am not here for the Source,” said Thanos.

“Liar and for your forked tongue you shall perish,” shouted Khan.

T’Challa turned around to see the altercation. Khan and Thanos punched each other simultaneously. The speed and force of their attacks created a sonic boom and a sonic wave that shook the surroundings.

T’Challa stumbled as shards of ice fell. A long silence gripped the Source Wall as T’Challa lost sight of the combatants. T’Challa took the time to look over the man next to him. The person wore a mask that had extended points like bat ears.

Batman, thought T’Challa.

T’Challa touched the cape that was light weight, yet apparently it was sturdy enough to glide with.

A sound carried T’Challa’s attention back to Khan and Thanos. But only one of the beings stood and it was the horned figure of Khan. His ruby red eyes gleamed horrifically.

“You there,” Khan called out to T’Challa. “Come and stand before me. Your friend has fallen.”

“Sword,” shouted T’Challa.

The weapon teleported into his hand from the place that Darkseid had placed it  in the camp. The dark force energy blade emerged as the nano robots peeled off  into the hilt.

“Who are you to call upon the leader of Wakanda?” shouted T’Challa.

“I am Yuga Khan, king of Apokolips.”

Khan stepped forward ominously. “I have never heard of Wakanda. Where is it so I may bury them as I did their king?”

T’Challa weighed his chances of winning a battle against a being that had bested Thanos the Obliterator of Worlds with one blow.

I shall not run nor will I hide, thought T’Challa.

“It is I who will be sending your carcass to Apokolips,” roared T’Challa.

A boom tube opened a few feet away and Darkseid exited it.

“Father,” said Darkseid, stunned.

“Ungrateful Uxas,” said Khan.

Father and son attacked each other. T’Challa relied on his hyper vision because the beings moved so fast due to their ‘god’ speed.

Darkseid managed a punch to the left side of Khan’s face that pushed the parent onto the back foot. Darkseid’s Omega Beams blazed out of his eyes at his father. Khan blocked the beams with his right hand and pushed them back into Darkseid’s eyes. The father sent a sharp knee into Darkseid’s gut and the upstart dropped slightly. Then Darkseid responded with a tackle that lifted both of them into air and they crashed through the last of bodies that hid the Source.

An explosion of pure white light forced T’Challa to close his eyes. When he reopened them, Darkseid and Yuga Khan had disappeared. The entire wall shook violent as though great hands had seized it.

T’Challa saw that Thanos’s body was shaken free and it floated out into space.

“No,” said T’Challa, since Thanos probably knew where Ororo was.

T’Challa ran onto a jagged piece of the wall that extended out due to recent upheavals. From that vantage point, T’Challa shouted at Thanos.

“Where is Ororo? Where is Storm?”

It was in vain as Thanos spun uncontrollably into the blackness.

T’Challa sensed someone behind him and the sliver of ice he stood on moved. He turned around and saw Batman. The cape covered both the front and back of the man’s body. His broad shoulders and wide chest created an imposing figure. His eyes stared in judgment while his left foot was placed delicately on the ice that T’Challa stood on. Batman merely had to press harder on the ice for it break off from the wall and send T’Challa into oblivion.

“Start talking,” said Batman in a commanding and gruff tone. He pressed on the ice gently to drive home the point.

Chapter Six

T’Challa sheathed the sword and he magnetized it to his back. Then he whispered coordinates to the computers. Instantly, he was teleported a few meters behind Batman. The Dark Knight reacted swiftly as he realized what had occurred and he leapt with a high kick into T’Challa.

“Stop this foolishness,” said T’Challa, as he parried the attack.

Batman recoiled and he settled a short distance from T’Challa.

“Well?” asked Batman in a demanding tone.

“I’m T’Challa from planet Earth. My wife and I were taken by a person called Uxas or Darkseid. Thanos wanted me so that I could use my knowledge to administer something called the Anti Life Equation,” said T’Challa.

“First of all, I’m from Earth and I have never seen you before,” said Batman.

“I have never seen you before either,” said T’Challa.

“You must live under a rock then,” said Batman.

“You must be the one out of touch if you have never heard of me or my country Wakanda,” said T’Challa.

“There is no such country unless we are speaking about two different Earths,” said Batman.

“Then I must be in another dimension,” said T’Challa.

“Go figure since I’ve never seen Thanos before,” said Batman.

“What is this place?” asked T’Challa.

“It’s the Source Wall where deranged power seekers and adventures who believe in the Source end up-imprisoned.”

“Have you heard of the Amalgamation process?”

“It is the merger of my reality with another from a different multiverse. It has happened before.”

T’Challa searched through his memories which gave him a deep satisfaction.

“I recall such an incident. An alternate reality was created,” said T’Challa.

“It is occurring again. That’s what Metron was explaining to me before Thanos appeared,” said Batman and he pointed to the body of the Old God.

Batmen went over to the body and examined it.

“Who was he?” asked T’Challa.

“A Watcher of Events. He decided to intervene this time,” replied Batman. “We have to get back to my Earth and the Justice League.”

Batman went to the Mobius Chair that was wedge into a gap of ice. The vehicle appeared to be dead. Batman fiddled with a few of the controls and got nothing out of the Mobius.

Meanwhile, T’Challa searched around the area and then he saw Darkseid’s ship. There was a wide gap between the ship and the Source Wall.

“I found our way out,” said T’Challa.

Batman came down to him and he saw the ship.

“Great. Now we just have to reach it,” said Batman.

“I can teleport us,” said T’Challa.

“I’ll get Metron and the Mobius Chair.”

A few minutes later, they were on the bridge of the vessel- the last place T’Challa saw Ororo. As for Batman, T’Challa noticed that he always stood half a pace behind which improved his reaction time to anything that T’Challa might do.

“Do you know how to pilot this ship?” asked T’Challa.

“I’ve had experiences with them,” said Batman in a cold tone. He gave a code to the ship’s computer and the vessel took off into hyper space.

“The thing about amalgamation that doesn’t make sense is that universes expand away from each other. What drives our multiverses into one?” asked T’Challa.

“Metron explained that gatekeeper between the two multiverses had perished and that actually the multiverses are represented by two abstracts being called the Brothers. The brothers are the cause of the amalgamation,” replied Batman. “We have to find and stop the brothers.”

Chapter Seven

Diana slapped Ororo gently on the face to wake her. Ororo came through and saw her sister’s face and the over head sun.

“Where are we?” asked Ororo.

“Top side,” replied Diana. “You destroyed the chamber and protected us in an envelope of pressurized air.”

Ororo sat up. They were on a beach where the waves came peacefully into the shore.

“Where is Darkseid?” asked Ororo.

“I have not seen him or the World Tree. There is no one else on Themyscira. I thought that time in the sunshine would do you some good.

“As soon as you are ready then we’ll try to make contact with my friends in the Justice League, if they are still around,” said Diana. “Then we can fix this mess.”

“It is not all that bad. We’ve met each other,” said Ororo.

“True, sister, very true.”

Next Story: Batman and Wonder Woman

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 extraordinary mutant heroine.

Story: Our Land

Chapter One

Chedula,

The bright green and yellow flag was folded with pride and it was then tucked under the arm of the protestor. The young woman strutted out of her apartment with the flag, and she went onto the street that was glazed with a stream of young and old people, all headed for Merdy Square.

The young woman received text messages on her mobile phone from her friends who were already in the square. They told her their location; she replied that a lot of people were on there way and that effigies of the queen were ubiquitous.

The woman’s attention shifted to the patriotic song that was sung by the crowd as they marched. Some people punched the air in defiance.

The woman’s eyes fell on a person seated on a bus stop bench. The person seemed oddly familiar. There was a mark on the strange woman’s nose that indicated that a nose ring was once there; black shaded glasses hid her eyes and a blue cap was on the stranger’s curly hair; she was about twenty five years old. The stranger observed the crowd in silence and her mouth was slightly twisted in vexation. No one else seemed to notice her.

The protestor looked at one of the placards that carried the queen on it. The image of the queen was crossed out in red. The protester noted the nose and the chin of the queen’s image. Realization and excitement joined into one as the protestor returned her gaze to the bus stop bench since the stranger had a strong resemblance to the hated queen. But the stranger had disappeared.

The protestor texted her speculation to her friends and they mocked her for thinking that the queen would dare enter into the streets to view the people who were opposed to her. Still the protestor believed that she had seen Malice.

The crowd finally flowed into the square and the protestor found her friends. It seemed as though a sea of people were in the square. Television cameras and reporters stuck out everywhere.

The protestor unfurled the flag and her friends held a part of it.

“Anthros is our land,” they shouted righteously.

Chapter Two

Memories whether they are good or bad tell us about ourselves and our relation to people and events; strip those memories away and we become more susceptible to committing past mistakes that we aren’t even aware of.

Ororo headed into a world where her lost memories mattered most. She entered the impersonal palace of Chedula on a dry afternoon. The guards acted professionally towards Ororo, but she sensed that they felt dirty for being there. She knew that it was not her presence that caused the guards discomfort. Rather the ill feeling was directed to the queen of the country.

Chedulans carried the disgrace that their leader was a convicted mass murderer and was unrepentant about it. There was no pride when they sung their national anthem or looked upon their flag. Only when the queen was gone would joy return to hearts of the people.

Ororo was unaware of how deep the dislike for the queen resonated in the population because she was never in contact with them. On her flight into the country she had seen a beautiful island in the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the land was urbanized and there were only a few places that were dedicated for agriculture.  The modern houses were hemmed neatly in rows and it seemed a great deal of planning went into the establishment of neighborhoods and commerce centers. There were two main cities: Anthros in the north and the capital in the south.

The gem of Chedula was a mineral that only it produced and it was needed by most of the world. Chedula enjoyed the benefits of being a monopolist and the country prospered. Citizens from the Gulf  States visited Chedula regularly to bash in the wealth and high end goods that were synonymous with the nation. The royal family spent lavishly on soccer clubs in Europe, yachts and anything that found their fancy.

One peculiarity that stemmed from Chedula’s rich society was that menial tasks were done by foreign workers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, India and Indonesia, which meant that one saw armies of such people in the streets.

Chapter Three

Ororo expected more X Men to be at the palace other than Gambit and Malice.

Gambit was in his traditional brown trench coat that covered a light body armour suit. His fighting staff was tucked next to his left side like a lover. A tooth pick moved from side to side in his mouth. His red eyes exuded mysteriousness. A piece of his slick brown hair fell next to his right eye like a California surfer dude. But Gambit’s demeanor was all New Orleans. He carried the relaxed and at times dangerous culture of the “Big Easy” like a tag.

Malice was in a long gym pants and top. Her small gold nose ring shined a bit in the room’s lighting. Her exotic beauty was captivating. But she spoilt her beauty with an undignified scowl that she carried lately. She was slightly less than six feet tall and was rather in shape. A small tattoo symbol was on her right wrist. Basically Malice had taken her uncouth street mentality into the refined realm of kings and queens and couldn’t be bothered by anyone who didn’t like it.

“I guess that you and I were the only ones who took an interest,” said Gambit in a Cajun accent.

“Which is insulting,” said Malice,” I’ve helped out the X Men on too many occasions to be treated like this. Hell, my blood is what keeps the mutant species from being wiped out by the anti-mutant serum.”

“Your attitude is the problem,” said Gambit.

Malice snapped at him. “It’s only because we share a common past that I have tolerated your utterances so far.”

“What common past would that be?” asked Ororo. Her blue eyes fixed on the queen of Chedula.

“We were thieves and came from poor backgrounds,” replied Malice.

“Correction dear, I’m still a thief and I have nothing in common with you,” said Gambit coolly.

“What about the massacre of the mutants that you took part in?” asked Malice.

Ororo stared at Gambit and she irked internally at the monstrosity of the statement.

“You slaughtered mutants?” asked Ororo.

Gambit went to Ororo and held her hand.

“It’s not what it sounds like, Cheri,” said Gambit soothingly. “I made a mistake by leading some former associates. I had no idea what they had planned to do and I left them.”

“Still the blood is on your hands like it is on mine,” said Malice.

“Don’t you compare what you did to me,” said Gambit vehemently.

“Both of you settle down,” said Ororo. “Malice what exactly is the problem?”

“A separatist group in the north wants to form their own territory. I need that to be stopped,” replied Malice.

“Why not use your military forces to stop them?” asked Ororo and she raised her hand to make the point.

“My generals will not obey me,” revealed Malice. “Hardly anyone follows my orders in this country.”

“I wonder why?” muttered Gambit.

“If the separatists have legitimate concerns then you should hear them,” said Ororo.

“I’ve already heard their concerns. They claim to be historically different from the rest of the population both culturally and economically. I found that it was quite nonsensical. This schism must be stopped before it spreads,” said Malice.

“I have difficulty with the idea of coming down hard on these people,” said Ororo.

“Even if they are working with a criminal arms dealer by the name of Moses Magnum?” asked Malice.

“I’ve met him,” said Gambit.

“He’s supplying the separatists with weapons,” said Malice. “I cannot go in there with my powers and rip them apart because the UN is monitoring me.”

“Why do you care about them?” asked Gambit.

“They will put sanctions on the country and I don’t want any reason for more people to rise up against me,” answered Malice.

“You’re positive it is Moses?” asked Ororo.

“I saw him personally,” replied Malice. “I disguised myself and entered the city that the separatists occupy. It is only when I ran the picture I had taken through Cerebra that I learned his identity”

“Usually it is mutants who are involved in uprisings. I’m not sure about taking down oppressed people,” said Gambit.

“They are not oppressed. They are snobby people like the ones I met as a child,” said Malice.

“Is there a council in the government structure? In Wakanda we have one that lets all the groups have a voice in management of the nation,” said Ororo.

“No there isn’t,” replied Malice.

“Then you should make one,” said Ororo.

“Ororo, my people don’t like me and don’t care much for them either. I can transform  them into mindless deformed creatures if I wanted to.”

“You are one sick woman,” said Gambit.

“Malice I suggest that you find a peaceful means to resolving this issue. I will not take part in crushing demonstrators,” said Ororo.

“What about Magnum Moses?” asked Malice.

“Him we will deal with,” replied Ororo. “Do you know where he is?”

“Of course I do. He is in room 249 in the Grand Hotel in the separatists’ city,” replied Malice.

“We will plan an assault before we go in to get him,” said Ororo.

Chapter Five

Moses Magnum was falling in love with Chedula so much that he was seriously considering living there. The pleasant treatment that he received from his hosts intensified his need to make a decision.

The separatists seemed to know what they were doing. They had a council in place and an economic plan for the future. In terms of economic infrastructure there was the port and an international airport next to the city. The population was relatively small so overcrowding was not much of an issue.

The main problem was to keep the city intact for the transformation to take place. That meant all the imminent warfare that was expected had to be played out in the outskirts. There would be no Battle for Benghazi like  the one that occurred in a country not far away with a similar situation.

The need to keep the city safe was the reason Magnum was brought into the picture. He was glad that his business was sought after. Recent economic pressures had affected even the illegal arms trade. Moses had a remedy for that, he eliminated most of his competition. Only a certain White Wolf remained a major contender.

As for his hosts, their leader was Kabb. Kabb was a paternalistic figure. He was a judge and commanded the respect and loyalty of the city.

Presently, Kabb entered Magnum’s hotel room to negotiate a deal for weapons. Moses greeted the judge warmly and then they got down to business.

Kabb’s grey hair was thinning. His black eyes looked around the room at intervals. An active lifestyle meant that he moved very well for his old age.

“We will need these items,” said Kabb as he handed a list over.

Magnum read it and was a bit concerned that monies were wasted in unnecessary areas.

“May I make some suggestions?”

“Go ahead,” replied Kabb.

“I took the time to go over the layout of the city and its environs for the purpose of accessing your present situation and possible future scenarios.

“You don’t need tanks, rocket grenades and armed troops. You do need weaponized androids, two Sentinel robots, remote controlled air drones, and a mini nuke. These recommendations are based my fifteen years in this line of work and as a tactical commander.”

Kabb controlled his body language like a professional negotiator.

“What are the costs?” asked Kabb.

“95 million.”

“Why would we need a mini nuclear weapon?”

“As a deterrent. It will be totally safe in a cosmic force field,” replied Magnum.

“I will confer with the council and return with a decision.”

“Thank you for the consideration,” said Magnum.

When Kabb left, Magnum relaxed in a chair and checked the computer in his smart phone. Magnum was dressed in an Armani suit and expensive boots.

He prided himself on what he had accomplished from since his childhood days tending goats in Ethiopia to becoming a man who was even chosen by the mutant Apocalypse for great things. Arms’ selling was a passion for Magnum and gave him more satisfaction than the money he received.

Chapter Six

As Kabb left the hotel he received information from spies in the palace that the queen had visitors from the X Men, namely Storm.

Storm was popular in the country because of her role in capturing Malice and for her known contempt for the queen. That point made Kabb hope that Storm would be able to remove the queen once she saw how badly the people wanted it.

Kabb sent word to the spies to leave a message for Storm that stated a meeting point with him.

Later at the palace, Storm went through the Wakandan files on Moses Magnum on her kimoyo while Gambit looked over a city map of Anthros.

“Anything boss,” said Gambit.

“Why did you call me that?” asked Ororo.

“Everyone called you that as leader of the X Men.”

“Those must have been some interesting times.”

“Indeed. It was through you that I was introduced to the X Men.”

“So we were close?”

“Very.”

Ororo looked at him in a perplexed manner for him to explain his last utterance.

“Not in a romantic way, but as friends,” said Gambit. “We talked about everything together, love and life.”

“To be honest, you come across as being a rebel. I must have had a lot of discipline problems with you,” said Ororo.

“No. You are the only one other than Rogue who can bark orders at me and I will follow wholeheartedly.”

“Why do think that is?”

“It’s just the way you deal with people. You don’t mess around with their heads and I think criminals, even ex criminals have a special bond,” said Gambit with a sly smile.

Ororo smiled at the joke too.

“Sometimes I wanted to wipe my memories- take away the bad stuff,” said Gambit.

“I think the bad memories are useful. It makes our victories more fulfilling,” said Ororo.

“The harder the battle the sweeter the victory.”

“Exactly.”

Ororo’s kimoyo indicated that the silent alarm on her plane was activated.

“I have to check the plane. I’ll be back shortly,” said Ororo.

“Please come back quickly. I don’t want to be left alone too long with Malice.”

“She scares you.”

“She reminds me of Mr. Sinister’s unabashed heartlessness. I have to restrain myself from striking out at her.”

“Stay strong Gambit,” said Ororo as exited the door.

Minutes later, Ororo arrived at the jet and the kimoyo indicated that an object was attached to the underside of the jet. Ororo checked the spot and found a micro disk. She placed the disk in the kimoyo and it displayed a map to the meeting area with the separatist leader. Ororo was instructed to attend the meeting alone.

“What will I tell Gambit and Malice?” she muttered.

She thought about a few ideas and settled on one. When she got back to the room, Gambit was by the window that overlooked the capital.

“Monaco has nothing on this place,” said Gambit.

“I have to leave for a while,” said Storm.

“Where are you going Stormy?”

“I’m meeting the separatist leader privately. Don’t tell Malice,” replied Ororo.

“You’re the boss,” said Gambit. “I’ll try to find a pool table in this place in the meantime.”

“Thanks for understanding.”

“No problem,” said Gambit.

Ororo leapt out of the window and flew to the meeting place that was on a bluff on the north coast. Kabb was already there and he waited next to small blue car. Ororo came down next to him.

“Good day,” said Kabb, he bowed and gave his name. “I am the leader of New Anthros- that’s the name of the new country that my people will form.”

“I see,” said Ororo. “Will you be using Moses Magnum to accomplish that?”

Kabb was surprised that she knew that and it showed in his eyes.

“My people have been branded negatively by Malice. We will do what we must to remove ourselves from her reach even it means dealing with a person such as Moses Magnum,” said Kabb.

“You don’t have to. Malice cannot lift a figure against you publicly,” said Ororo.

“Still my people need a military force in case your words don’t hold water,” said Kabb.

“Then I will have no choice but to capture Magnum even if I have go through you,” said Ororo.

“I don’t want that. I’d prefer you remove Malice from power,” said Kabb.

“What about the royal family?”

“We have no problem with them,” said Kabb. “Malice is the cancer that was forced on us. She is not even a native of the country.”

“What does her birth place have to do with it?”

“Nothing,” said Kabb as he caught himself. “I’m sorry that I was insensitive.”

“But that is how you feel,” said Ororo. “Anyway, I cannot remove Malice from power without just cause. She has not done or prepared anything unduly for me to consider that option.”

“But you must,” said Kabb. “No one will accuse you of anything.”

“Who will take over then?”

“One of the princes.”

“You are certain that you’re people will not stage a coup or more revolts will not sprout in other parts of the country. You have shown the people that active defiance is achievable; others might be willing to go all the way when you are prepared to settle at this point. What will happen then?”

“I didn’t consider that,” said Kabb.

“I will speak with Malice about her stepping aside. You have to do two things for me. First you must stop doing business with Magnum. Secondly, you have to fully consider the consequences of the separatist movement in your country,” said Ororo.

She gave Kabb a few moments for the words to sink in.

“We will meet back here in four hours and you will give me your decision then,” said Ororo.

“Agreed,” said Kabb. “But I am not making any promises. Even if I must stand up against you for the sake of my people, then I will.”

“I hope that it will not come to that,” said Ororo. “Till we meet again.”

Ororo and Kabb shook hands and then the Wind Rider ascended into the sky.

Chapter Seven

Ororo met a pissed Malice at the palace. Gambit coasted next to a wall while the queen paced the floor and mumbled to herself. When Ororo entered the room, Malice shot an angry glare at her.

“You should have told me that you were leaving,” said Malice.

“I’m not under your authority,” said Ororo euphemistically. “I went to speak with the leader of the separatists. He and his people want you gone from power. That is all they ask for.”

“Face it Malice, you cannot continue to rule this country. The longer that you stay the worst it will get. It is best that you leave,” said Gambit.

“And go where? To live with the X Men under Emma, no,” said Malice. “I would rather commit suicide if it would not give satisfaction to those wretches.”

“You can also go back to jail,” said Gambit.

Malice stared at him and her eyes glowed. Skin grew out of Gambit’s lips and sealed his mouth. His nostrils, pores and ears were then covered in rapidly growing skin. He fell down loudly as his body suffocated.

Ororo got to him and noticed his closed mouth and ears. Gambit wiggled violently as he neared death. Ororo turned to Malice and shouted.

“Stop it. Reverse what you did now.”

The two women glared at each other like cats in a fight. Malice’s eyes glowed again and the extra skin on Gambit retreated back to the original state. Gambit gasped for breath and held Ororo’s arm.

“That crazy woman,” said Gambit.

“I have half a mind to strike you down right now,” said Ororo to Malice.

“Then we will end up killing each other then,” said Malice.

Ororo helped Gambit to stand, and he leaned against a wall to catch his breath.

“What if I found a place for you?” asked Ororo.

“I don’t want anything from you,” snapped Malice.

“Your reign as queen is over,” said Ororo strongly. “Accept the fact and make preparations to move on.”

“Leave me alone. I have to think,” said Malice and she left.

Ororo looked over Gambit.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I feel a bit strange otherwise I’m fine. Do you have a place in mind to keep her?”

“Not at this moment. I have to check what spare assets Wakanda has available.”

“She is a stubborn woman. I doubt that she will turn around,” said Gambit.

“In speaking with the separatist leader I told him about Magnum and he knew about his past.”

“That doesn’t sound like a good leader,” said Gambit.

“He has his people at heart and is willing to do anything for them,” said Ororo. “I told him that Malice cannot harm the separatists and there was no need for Magnum. Hopefully he will realize that he made a mistake.”

“So you have to call Wakanda to find out about the assets,” said Gambit.

“I’m doing that right now,” said Ororo as she took out her kimoyo.

“I’ll give you some privacy,” said Gambit.

“No you can stay,” said Ororo. “I’m going to ask T’Challa to look around for me. Did you have dealings with him in the past?”

“Not directly. Yet he got good marks in my book for funding the X Men.”

Chapter Eight

Homelessness scared Malice. It was the main sticking point as she contemplated her future. Her memories of living on the streets constantly came to her.

She was certain that no country wanted her and she cringed at the thought of living under the heels of someone after being queen for so long. She thought about suicide, but enjoyed life too much to go through with the act.

Malice entered her bedroom and shut the large chamber doors. Then she dived onto the bed and her eyes welled up with tears. She felt powerless because of the manner in which the circumstances strangled her.

“What should I do?” she muttered.

She stayed in the bedroom for an hour and then someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” asked Malice in a common manner.

“Ororo.”

Malice rolled up her eyes and dropped her face in her hands.

“I’m coming,” said Malice.

She fixed her hair and dried her eyes.  Then she opened the door. Ororo was straight face as usual in that there was no sign of concern or resentment.

“What do you want?” asked Malice.

“Have you decided?”

Malice bit her lip as she thought.

“It depends on what you have to offer as an alternative,” said Malice.

“Wakanda has ties to Lemuria. They are willing to give you an island all for yourself with no supervision or outside contact.”

Malice felt as though chains were released from her body.

“How soon before arrangements can be made?” asked Malice coolly.

“Just give the word.”

Malice stared intently at Ororo as a life decision played out in her mind.

“I’ll do it,” said Malice.

“Great,” said Ororo. “You have to give a national address to inform the public.”

Malice gave a puzzled expression.

“Have you ever done a national address?” asked Ororo.

“Not in a long time.”

“I would stay and guide you along but I want to catch Moses Magnum before he slips out of the country.”

“So what do you want me to say to the people?”

“That is up to you. Ideally it should be that you are stepping down as queen, end of story.”

 “Gambit is going with you?”

“Yes,” replied Ororo. “We will pick you up on our return.”

“Okay,” said Malice, and she closed the door.

She thought about her national address and the first sentence that came to her mind was:

“You stinking sons of bitches, I’m leaving you for better things.”

She snickered a bit and then called the manager of the palace to organize the address preparations.

Chapter Nine

The Wakandan Jet

Ororo found that Moses Magnum’s life story was interesting. He was born in Ethiopia, having betrayed his government he migrated to America and worked for the foremost independent weapons manufacturer; he then went into his own arms business and was later enhanced with the ability to manipulate the earth and cause earthquakes by Apocalypse.

Ororo had battled him before in her junior years in the X Men. That was when Magnum threatened to unleash a massive earthquake on Japan.

Ororo explained the details to Gambit.

“I met him when I was Apocalypse’s Horseman of Death,” said Gambit. “I never got why Apocalypse did not put him into the regular group of foot soldiers.”

“With that level of experience and powers we will need to be cautious in our approach,” said Ororo.

“Or a quick lightening bolt is all that is needed,” said Gambit. “We can’t be too over cautious.”

“I doubt that it will be that easy since Apocalypse enhanced him,” said Ororo. “He may have abilities that have not been documented.”

“What do the cards say?” asked Gambit while he shuffled through the deck that he drew from his trench coat pocket.

“You can interpret them?”

“No. I don’t believe in such things. A person makes his own fate.”

“I agree,” said Ororo.

She pointed to the bluff that the jet approached in stealth mode. Kabb waited next to his car.

“There he is,” said Ororo. “You’ll stay in here while I check things out.”

Moments later, Ororo landed next to Kabb.

“I have good news. Malice is resigning from office,” said Ororo.

“Splendid,” said Kabb. “I have decided not to work with Magnum again.”

“Take me to him and I’ll handle it from there,” said Ororo.

“I hope that he doesn’t strike back at my people for this betrayal.”

“I will ensure that he doesn’t.”

“Very well then follow my car,” said Kabb.

“I will meet with an associate of mine on our way to help capture Magnum,” said Ororo.

“Fine then,” said Kabb.

The judge got into his car and drove off. Ororo returned to the jet and told Gambit about the meeting.

“We might be heading for an ambush,” said Gambit.

“I trust him,” said Ororo.

“But you have only met him.”

“It is a gut a feeling.”

“I forget to tell you that when I was the Horseman of Death for Apocalypse I could sense Magnum because of the Celestial technology that was used on us. I’m not sure if remnants of that connection remain. If so then I will be warning Magnum that something is wrong,” said Gambit.

“Then I’ll go in first,” said Ororo.

She instructed Gambit on how to use the jet’s controls and weapons. She took a communication ear piece to stay in contact with him. Then she went to the back of the jet and picked out a jacket. Then she tied her long white hair into a pony tail.

“Just follow us and I’ll signal for you to join in,” said Ororo.

“Be careful, Cheri,” said Gambit.

“I will.”

Ororo alighted from the jet through a side door and she flew down to Kabb’s car. She knocked on side glass to gain his attention. He pulled over and she got into the car.

“Where is your friend?” asked Kabb.

“Around,” replied Ororo.

Kabb continued the journey that ended in front of the five-star hotel. It took half a minute to briskly walk through the courtyard entrance. There was a fountain near the door. Gold bands decorated the sides of the doorway. The roomy lounge was silent even though a large number of people passed through it.

Subtly security guards in business suits approached Kabb. He raised his hand in a slight gesture and the guards melted away. Ororo walked slightly behind him.

They entered an elevator and anyone else who tried to enter it was redirected to other elevators. Kabb and Ororo remained silent as the elevator headed for Magnum’s floor.

The elevator opened up to a chandelier lit hallway. Soft pastel colors on the carpets mixed with the light and exuded a premium atmosphere. The quietness was thick. Kabb walked down to Magnum’s room and knocked on the door.

“It’s open,” came the voice from within.

Ororo remembered the voice and she saw a picture of Magnum in her mind. She touched Kabb’s shoulder to indicate that he should step aside. Then she opened the door.

If Magnum was surprised he didn’t show it. His expression did reveal that he recognized Ororo.

The building was shaken by an unnatural tremor that subsided as quickly as it came.

“I’ve just locked the city in a pre earthquake state. If I become unconscious or harmed in any way then the city will suffer for it,” said Magnum.

Ororo searched through his words for a hint of falsehood and she found nothing.

“I have not seen you in the flesh in years,” said Magnum while he casually neared a window.

A stalagmite-like formation had been summoned by Magnum and the strange creation erupted from underneath the courtyard and extended to the hotel room. Magnum opened the window and he walked onto the formation.

“Ororo I have him in my sights,” said Gambit through the ear piece.

“Don’t shoot. He has the city wired for an earthquake,” said Ororo.

Ororo approached the window just as the formation swiftly returned into the ground. The result was a dark crater left in the courtyard. The broken pipes in the ground spewed gallons of water into the air.  Ororo flew out of the window and she went down into the crater. She found only rock and no tunnels. It seemed as though the earth had swallowed Magnum.

“Gambit he got away,” said Ororo.

“That sucks,” said Gambit.

Ororo returned to the hotel room to check Magnum’s belongings. An interested Kabb had ventured into the room.

“Magnum escaped,” said Ororo.

“How could you let him?”

“Did you know that Magnum can manipulate the Earth’s crust?”

“No,” replied an astonished Kabb.

“Well he threatened to destroy the city. There was nothing that I could have done,” said Ororo.

“So now what?”

“I’ll stay vigilant if I were you. Also you have to calm the situation down on the street before panic ensues,” replied Ororo.

“What happened on the street?”

“Magnus created a crater in his getaway.”

Ororo showed Kabb the scene at the hotel’s entrance. Emergency personnel were on site while a crowd of people gathered nearby to see the damage.

“I’m going to look through Magnum’s things to get some clues on his whereabouts. Then I’ll head back to the palace,” said Ororo.

“The foreign media is in the city. They will want to know what happened,” said Kabb.

“Dodge them any way that you can,” said Ororo. “Or take responsibility for dealing with Magnum and stand down from your position as leader.”

Ororo left Kabb at the window and she commenced her search. Kabb left shortly afterwards.

Magnum travelled with a few items and none of them had value.

He must keep his information on a smart phone, thought Ororo.

She ended the search and returned to the jet.

Chapter Ten

Foreign and local journalists fell over themselves to fit in the palace conference room as the national address neared. Ororo and Gambit were in the background as Malice approached the podium.

Malice was dressed in simple clothes and had her hair in a pony tail. Apparently she had memorized her speech as she carried no papers in her hand. Ororo was worried that Malice planned something drastic.

Malice stood at the podium and stared into the television cameras.

“I have good news for all of my enemies. I’m stepping down as queen as of tonight.  I hold no grudges even though I have the power to turn you all into stone. I only wish to be left in peace. I’m sure that my late husband’s brothers the princes are willing and able to lead this country or drain the treasury, whatever suits their needs,” said Malice.

The body of reporters rose like a tide and asked a multitude of questions. Malice ignored them and she walked away. She went to Ororo.

“I’m ready,” said Malice.

“The speech was very succinct,” said Gambit.

Malice rolled her eyes at him.

Three hours later, the living island of Krosos came under the radar of Ororo’s jet. Ororo flew around the island for Malice to have a view of it. A tropical forest covered most of the island like a crown and its beaches were pearly white.

“Looks homily enough,” said Gambit.

“It’s perfect,” said Malice.

Ororo landed the plane next to the beach house that Malice would live in. The group entered the two storey abode that was unfurnished.

“I’ll have time to fix her up,” said Malice.

“Speak directly to the Lemurians if you need anything,” said Ororo.

Malice opened a window and the sea breeze struck her in the face. Then Ororo saw something rare. A sense of happiness was on Malice’s face.

Chapter Eleven

The DC Universe, the Source Wall

The Tribunal Leader was the most powerful creature known to the ‘gods’ on both divides of time, space and reality. When the angel Moriarty destroyed the Tribunal Leader the gateway that kept two realms of reality apart was taken away. Ever since that time, the realities have been inching closer to amalgamation.

Amalgamation had occurred before and one of its dire consequences was the merger of the titans of evil Darkseid and Thanos into one entity. Both entities kept their memories of that time and it always lingered in their minds that they were unable to capitalize on such a union to achieve their goals. Now they have a second chance.

“There was a Wonder Woman called Ororo only she can release the key that lies in the belly of Themyscira,” said Darkseid.

“We will need to solve the new Anti Life Equation and I know of a person who can help us do it,” said Thanos.

“Likewise I have a candidate,” said Darkseid.

“We can use both of them,” said Thanos. “In my case, I will have to give T’Challa and Ororo back their memories.”

Next Story: Darkseid and Thanos Cometh