Story: Fear
Chapter One
Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea,
The Democratic People's Republic of Korea aka North Korea was created from a clash between communist and capitalist ideologies after World War II. Imperial Japan ruled the Korean peninsula for most of the 20th century until the country was defeated by America in World War II. The Soviets (allies to America during the war) took control of the northern region of Korea and the US controlled the south. It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement until Korea returned to self rule. Unfortunately, the communist north wanted the entire region under the doctrine and took up arms against the south; thus started the Korean War. China, the Soviets, the UN and the US took part in the war that eventually led to the division of the peninsula into two countries buffered by a sea of land mines.
As time passed, North Korea suffered economically from the collapse of its main benefactor the Soviet Union and the creation and maintenance of a large army. A military government soon took over from the main communist party.
And the military rulers taught the citizens to fear the outside world with the doctrine that the foreign powers wanted to re-occupy their land.
With the acquisition of nuclear weapons, North Korea was like a bullied child who realized that he could hit back at his enemies however real or unreal. They threatened South Korea and the emasculated Japan (once the superpower that invaded China and dominated East Asia, but were left fangless after WWII). North Korea even defied an over stretched America.
Candice Canne was reminded of the greatness of North Korea when she spoke to General Jong in his office. Her position as a Public Relations consultant was the result of North Korea's desire to attract specific foreign investments to inject life into the sagging economy. She was instrumental in the establishment of HYDRA and AIM in the country. Success in such illegal affairs went to her head and she promised Wakandan military technology to the General which she could not deliver.
Candice was thirty six years old with auburn hair and a slender body. She held dual citizenship in North Korea and Great Britain.
General Jong was forty years old and he inherited his position as leader from his late father.
He didn't know what action to take after Candice explained the situation to him. They had slept together and he took that into consideration since he did not want to physically harm her. But she needed to be taught that failure came with a price.
"You will be escorted to your house and sequestered there until I say otherwise," said Jong.
"Please reconsider," said Candice in a British accent.
"You don't understand," said Jong, "I made arrangements and promises. You have embarrassed me, now go."
He signaled the two security guards in the background to take Candice. When they exited the office, Jong contemplated. He wanted the Wakandan technology as a bargaining chip to renegotiate his deal with HYDRA and AIM. The two terrorist organizations operated independently and were in separate locations in North Korea, although they knew of each others presence.
The money and military goods that Jong received as payment for the provision of a secure headquarters were transferred to the army. Jong had invested in a national electromagnetic shield that kept out teleporters; Sentinels to capture mutants and superhumans and an increased nuclear arsenal. He had other plans which he knew the terrorist organizations would reject it if they had no incentive to help.
"Now I have to make an about face due to her incompetence," said Jong.
Chapter Two
Wakanda, Secret Service Division,
Ororo read the hacked MI6 file on Abraham Hunter aka White Wolf. The file stated the he was involved in war profiteering. He sold weapons to countries that were under international sanctions like Northern Sudan. He was also wanted for questioning in several murder cases and disappearances.
T'Challa came into Ororo's office. His six feet tall body almost took up the door frame. Bulging muscles were barely kept back by his suit.
"I'm going to call Candice now," said T'Challa.
The woman's name brought back to Ororo's mind a picture that T'Challa had shown her of Candice. Candice was nineteen at the time and attended Oxford University with T'Challa and White Wolf. T'Challa speculated that Candice and White Wolf were still in contact with each other, and Candice may provide a lead to capture him since MI6 were unable to.
Ororo left her desk and accompanied T'Challa to the central station of the Intelligence services unit. A large video monitor was the most salient aspect of the otherwise standard spy station that had ten technicians each with a super computer in front of them and they frantically typed out codes and instructions to Wakanda's global spy network.
The spy network had tracked Candice to North Korea and obtained her cellular phone number.
"She is a Public Relations consultant for the North Korean government. They are trying to change their image," said T'Challa. His brown eyes focused on the information on the flat computer screen in front of him.
"What's sad is that some people will actually fall for the gimmickry," said Ororo. "But it reminds me of what we are trying to do for mutant kind in the X Men."
"Looking at the history of Korea I can see some similarities with Wakanda. The entire peninsula was once an isolated state until the Japanese, France and the US forced contact for trade purposes. Now half the country is open and the other is partly closed up," said T'Challa.
"I noticed that North Korea practiced a code of self reliance called Juche," said Ororo. "There is nothing wrong with it other than it transferred all the resources into sustaining a large army at the expense of the population."
"Makes me wonder what would have happened if Wakanda had gone down that path," said T'Challa.
"It might have led to revolt," said Ororo.
"You're right," said T'Challa, and he called Candice's number from the computer.
A real time map of North Korea came on the screen and it zoomed in on the location of Candice's phone. A red circle indicated the location of the phone and it was moving. Ororo increased the magnification and the screen changed. The image was now of a street with several cars and buses on it. A blue square zoned-in on a black car which carried the phone. Two other cars appeared to be escorting the targeted car.
Candice's phone rang until it went into voice mail. T'Challa hanged up and called again. This time he activated the phone hacking protocol that sneaked into its target and stole information. Once again Candice did not answer her phone and T'Challa ended the call. By that time the protocol had snatched the call logs, emails, messages and media data from the phone.
"Where should we begin?" asked T'Challa.
"The messages," replied Ororo.
T'Challa opened up the messages folder on the computer screen and left the satellite surveillance of the car on the main monitor.
Candice had unimportant recent messages that were mostly about meetings and news bulletins. Then a strange sequence of messages appeared and they read:
"I don't have the goods anymore."
"WTF. What am I going to tell him?"
"Sorry lol."
"This is serious. He could kill me for this."
"What do you want me to do?"
"Fix it!"
"I can't and I have a new project to take care of."
"Fuck you."
"I love you too sweetheart."
Ororo looked over the conversation again and drew her conclusions. The sender of the messages was anonymous and the number was withheld.
"I'm fifty per cent sure that was White Wolf," said Ororo, "since it falls into the time period that he had the weapons."
"It does," said T'Challa. "We have to speak with Candice in person. That means getting into North Korea."
"Don't we have a contingency plan for that?" asked Ororo, and she quickly typed a query for such an action plan.
The search returned a folder marked "DPRK Incursion One".
"This is it," said Ororo, and she opened the folder. Two more folders appeared. One dealt with an assault on North Korea and the other was an extraction exercise. Ororo accessed the extraction exercise and read the information that was there.
The exercise cited that due to the high level of North Korea's defense system that flyovers and sea drop offs were impossible without detection. It was recommended that the Sino-Korea Bridge between China and North Korea was suitable for undetected entry into the country. Since Wakanda had no assets or associations in the country its agents needed to commandeer local resources for transportation and shelter. The file went onto show with maps the locations of resources that could be hijacked by Wakandan forces.
"We will have to do this now," said T'Challa.
"Most likely we'll have to take Candice out with us," said Ororo.
"Then we won't bother to question her. It will just be a snatch operation."
"We will teleport into China and start the operation from there," said Ororo. "I'll gather the gear while you work on the logistics. We can meet back in the next ten minutes."
"Okay," said T'Challa.
Ororo looked at the large monitor. A woman was now in the center of the blue square and she left the car and entered a house. Seven officers alighted from the two other cars and guarded the house. The house was on a large property with a high wall and only one neighboring home.
"That doesn't look good based on the message that we just read," said Ororo.
"She might be on punishment," said T'Challa.
Ororo walked off.
"I'll meet you in hanger one," said Ororo.
The couple headed in opposite directions when they left the center. Upon regrouping, Ororo brought three camouflage commando suits that were capable of invisibility due to the mirror bumps that were on them and two survival bags.
The couple got into the suits then T'Challa explained the plan to Ororo and shared the information he had on his kimoyo with hers.
T'Challa got his weapons which were a teleportation sword that was powered by its dark force energy blade; two wrists scythes, a sonic canon, energy knives and a kimoyo that was designed to hack other supercomputers. He placed the scythes in a survival bag that was also coated with mirror bumps.
Ororo placed the spare suit in her survival bag and then the couple was ready for the mission. Eight minutes later, the couple teleported to the China North Korea border.
Chapter Three
The Sino-Korea Friendship Bridge, China
The Dandong port city was in the last weeks of a visit from a five month long winter, and the city was home to the Yalu River. The Yalu River that separated China from North Korea was a frozen sheet of ice that held mighty ships to its banks.
The Sino-Korea Friendship Bridge was 944m long and it was the great life line to the ailing North Korea. The bridge carried both rail and vehicle traffic. The trains sent food and supplies to North Korea on the behest of the Chinese government to its historical ally. Ironically, the bridge was constructed by Japan when it occupied both sides of the Yalu River.
The Black Panther and Storm were atomically reconstructed on the Chinese side of the river and they turned on the invisibly cloaks. They saw each other through the specialized eye lenses.
Ororo manipulated a wind tunnel that took her and T'Challa into North Korea. The couple went south towards the capital and on the route they saw the prison camps and dilapidated villages in the rural region. They also crossed over the various Buddhist temples.
Ororo used the Earth's magnetic flow to sling shot across the distance. The ploy gave the couple time before the Sentinel army discovered and locked onto Ororo's mutant signature.
Ororo dreaded meeting the mechanical monsters that were created to exterminate mutants because the model type and exact capabilities of North Korea's Sentinels were not known. The first models of Sentinels were easy for Ororo to deal with until the designs were improved and the killers became greatly sophisticated. Some Sentinels were even made from human hosts that allowed them to infiltrate mutant groups and massacre them.
Ororo's sense of location based on the rotation of the Earth guided her like a Homing Pigeon to Candice's house based on the navigations that she was given. In nine minutes, the couple entered Pyongyang and went over Candice's home. Ororo decreased her speed and the next phase of the plan commenced.
Ororo dropped T'Challa in the street on the left side of the property for him to ambush the Sentinels when they arrived. Then she emitted an electromagnetic pulse that depowered the electronic devices outside and within the house including her suit.
As the suit's invisibility died, Ororo shot down into the pool area and entered the house silently. She scanned the two storey house on a thermal level and discovered a high concentration of heat on the second floor. Ororo raced up to the spot which was the bathroom. She heard falling water.
She's in the bath, thought Ororo.
That meant that Ororo couldn't strike Candice down with a minor electrical shock without killing her.
Ororo walked carefully into the shower and she saw the woman's silhouette from behind the glass door. In a swift motion Ororo opened the door, punched a stunned Candice unconscious and caught the body before it fell onto the tiles.
Ororo lifted Candice out of the bath and dressed her in the spare camouflage suit. Suddenly the house trembled. A foreboding feeling raced up Ororo's spine since she suspected that Sentinels had arrived. She slung Candice onto her shoulder and hurried downstairs.
The sound of explosions like thunder told Ororo that T'Challa was engaged in a battle with the Sentinels. The ground shook like an earthquake as a giant Sentinel was felled like Goliath. Then Ororo felt the surge of an electromagnetic pulse that she didn't create.
It must be from the Sentinels, thought Ororo.
"My goodness, T'Challa's sword," said Ororo since the weapon's computers stabilized the dark force energy.
She assumed that T'Challa had ten seconds to escape from the blast of the unstable dark force energy. She decided to stay indoors since the blast could occur anywhere. She felt the intensification of the dark force energy on the outside; then the explosion came and it smashed all the windows at that front of the house.
Craning mechanical drones seeped through the silence that came after the blast. The drones made Ororo imagine giant robots that moved smoothly in pursuit of their prey.
A few steps away from Ororo's left side, an object crashed through the front of the house like a wrecking ball and it lifted up the furniture in its wake. At first, Ororo believed that it T'Challa who was thrown into the house. Blazing thrusters from the back and feet of the object changed her mind, yet Ororo believed that she saw a human form in the blur of movement.
The object flew through the adjacent room and broke down the wall at the side which led it to the back of Ororo. It went straight for her. Ororo saw the human flesh of a face, but that was where the organic form stopped as the rest of the body was silver and mechanical. Ororo sensed the ripple of nano robots that dwelled in the machine like a hive.
A Bio Sentinel, thought Ororo.
Ororo created a pressure dome instantly around herself and it flung the Bio Sentinel out of her sight. The front of the house was knocked down by the force of the dome and the full theater of the battle was exposed to Ororo.
There were at least seven colossal Sentinels on the ground and a visible T'Challa leapt from one robot to next; delivering savage strikes from the scythes that decapitated the machines. A Bio Sentinel swooped down from the sky like a Thunderbird fighter jet in an attempt to intercept T'Challa. He sensed the Bio Sentinel somehow and slashed it in half.
The house cried out from the strain of losing its frontal supports.
I have to move from here, Ororo said inwardly.
She flew out into the battlefield and she sensed the signatures from the ten Bio Sentinels on their flight over the city on their way to the house.
"Honey," said Ororo, knowing that T'Challa's hyper hearing picked up her voice.
T'Challa slipped down the side of a Sentinel and he ran into Ororo's flight path. She collected him in the cushion of a strong wind current. Ororo tapped into the magnetic force once more and bolted upward. The plan was to reach the outside of the anti teleportation fields and teleport to Wakanda.
The stench of dark magic gripped Ororo and she recognized a trap that was set up over the city. She decelerated and hovered.
"What's wrong?" asked T'Challa.
"There is a magical dome over the city. I cannot penetrate it," replied Ororo.
The Bio Sentinels arrived and formed a ring around the couple. The cyborgs made no attempt to capture the intruders.
The scent of magic that Ororo knew innately came closer to her. The magic was so close that she could touch it. She tested her theory with her hand and she was correct. The shape of the magic became apparent, it was a sphere.
"We have been captured," said Ororo. "A magical sphere is around us."
"That's the reason that they aren't attacking," said T'Challa.
A single Bio Sentinel approached slowly in a non threatening manner. The face was human and lifeless. Ororo doubted that someone would willingly accept to be transformed into such a weapon. The Bio Sentinel held up a hologram for the couple and it showed General Jong. He was dressed in military clothes that identified his rank.
"Good day leaders of Wakanda. I recognized the style of your combat uniforms," said Jong. "I want to have a word with you in private."
"Do we have a choice?" asked T'Challa.
"No," replied Jong. "My warriors will escort you."
The hologram disappeared and the magical sphere shot forward. The Bio Sentinels swarmed around the prison like moths to a flame.
"He recognised us," said T'Challa as he took Candice onto his right shoulder.
"I have a feeling that Jong has been researching us just as he we have him," said Ororo.
The sphere went into an underground tunnel that was near a park and disappeared from the world.
"Where are the computers?" asked Ororo.
"In my bag," replied T'Challa. "Do you have any schemes to get out of this predicament?"
"I'm working on them. What about you?"
"Same here," said T'Challa, while he kept an object hidden in his hand. Ororo sensed that it was electronic.
"Are you nervous?" asked Ororo.
"No."
"Me neither. It makes me feel like there should be some adverse mental affect on us due to the stress and danger we put ourselves through on a constant basis."
"You're saying that we should be crazy because of our lifestyle."
"Not in that broad sense," said Ororo. "More like unstable. I brought up the subject because of a report I read this morning on counseling for the Special Forces. I wondered if we should get counseling since we are on more dangerous missions. The X Men have psyche briefs with its junior members to ensure that they don't have mental problems due to the conflicts that we are embroiled in."
"We can use your grandmother in Kenya," said T'Challa.
"We require more professional help and preferably it should be with someone familiar with our line of work," said Ororo.
"We'll discuss it further," said T'Challa.
The tunnel lights grew brighter and the color turned from white to red. A platoon of soldiers ran uniformly to the sphere; there boots stomping on the ground in unison. The soldiers escorted the sphere into a chamber and left.
Chapter Four
Jong spoke with the two leaders of HYDRA and AIM simultaneously via a video phone link. He told them that the disturbance in the city was actually a security drill.
"Why weren't we notified?" asked the HYDRA leader.
"I provide protection to you and I needed to ensure that my forces were prepared for any surprises. The exercise was a success," replied Jong.
"In future notify us," said the HYDRA leader, and he switched off the screen.
"Likewise us," said the AIM leader sternly.
"Good bye," said Jong and terminated the link.
Jong took a deep breath and left his desk. He opened a secret passage way and entered an elevator.
He lied to his benefactors to avoid losing their trust and money. For the Wakandans to have reached that far into the country was a cause for concern. Still it provided him an opportunity to meet the representatives of the people whom he had studied.
Jong genuinely believed that Wakanda and North Korea shared a common bond in their self reliance philosophy and emphasis on the military. He became aware of Wakanda when he embarked on a project to find other countries that were similar to his. Jong's admiration grew when he read about the nation's exploits and defiance of the West.
He was one hundred percent sure that T'Challa and Ororo were his prisoners. He liked their ruthlessness since he guessed that the person they carried was Candice and they took her because she tried to obtain their technology. Such a display of forth rightness was commendable.
The elevator opened in a tunnel. A golf cart like vehicle was there and Jong drove it down the tunnel. He turned to the right and went to the military section that held T'Challa and Ororo.
A blast door slid to the side as the vehicle approached. Jong drove into a brightly lit room. A small contingent of soldiers stood at attention and the officer in charge waited respectfully for Jong.
After the military formalities were finished, Jong went to his prisoners. He was confident in the magic that held them since he controlled it. A black box attached to a neck chain was tucked underneath Jong's jacket. The black box contained the ancient magic that was unique to the Korean peninsula. Jong obtained the box from this father and its existence was not known by anyone else.
Jong entered the chamber and closed the door. He then surveyed his prisoners. T'Challa and Ororo still wore their masks. Candice was on T'Challa's right shoulder.
"Greetings," said Jong.
"Before we speak, remove the magical barrier," said Ororo.
Jong smiled and sharply reverted to a hardened expression.
"You mock my intelligence, Ororo," said Jong.
"What is it do you want to speak about?" asked T'Challa.
"Cooperation," replied Jong. "Our countries are much alike."
"No," said T'Challa.
"Yes we are. Both are military intensive and stand against foreign influence," said Jong.
"Wakanda didn't build its military at the expense of our people," said T'Challa.
"Not to mention the detention camps and famines in your country that were preventable," said Ororo.
"We built our army and gave an incentive to join its ranks. There's nothing wrong with that. In the West some countries create an income imbalance that causes poverty and then young people from those maligned communities are called to join the army to have a better life. Is that any different from us?" asked Jong.
Jong continued, "Fifty years ago, America invaded this city during the Korean War and hoisted their flag here. Now because of the might of my army the same America grovels to my demands in order to free their spies."
"You mean tourists," said Ororo.
"Spies," said Jong adamantly. "Even Japan, that once evil hand, now trembles in the face of North Korea."
"That's why you threaten nuclear attacks on the south and test weapons close to Japan, like an angry chest thumping brute," said T'Challa.
"But how long will that go on for?" asked Ororo.
"Until Korea is united and purged from foreign influences," replied Jong.
"United under military or civilian rule?" probed T'Challa. "Because I don't see you relinquishing power in pursuit of unification."
"Your perceptions have been colored by Western influence. Meet my people and they tell you of the good in our country under military rule. There is free medical health care for all and free education. It's a shame that you judge my country much like the West did yours," said Jong, and he pointed at T'Challa.
"Seriously Jong, we will never see eye to eye. You cultivate a fear of the world in your people," said Ororo.
"You are correct. But we can make compromises like two civilized nations," said Jong.
"What do you exactly want from Wakanda?" asked T'Challa.
Jong saw an opening.
"I want your expertise to alleviate the food shortages," replied Jong. "In return I will give you access to the experiments that the Japanese did here when we were their colony."
"Experiments?" asked Ororo.
"They experimented on the destructive force of Feng Shui which involved mystic science. Entire villages were used. My forefathers had the sense to hide the experiments from the Soviets when they arrived else who knows what would have happened if they had gotten their hands on such power," explained Jong.
Jong looked for any change in the body languages and got nothing. He felt more persuasion was required.
"Is this force field apart of those experiments?" asked Ororo.
"No. That is from a far older form of mystic power," Jong responded. "So are you interested in aiding my people?"
Chapter Five
T'Challa's gentler side was ready to aid helpless people, but he was unable to deal with a person like Jong. The offer of a new mystic science did not intrigue him.
Before the EMP blast from the Sentinels, T'Challa tried to hack their computer systems remotely from his kimoyo and reprogram them to protect him. He was unsure if it was successful. But his apprehension was alleviated when the fists of a Bio Sentinel pounded on the chamber's doors.
Jong turned to the door in shock. The sound proof room meant that he didn't hear the gun fire from his soldiers as they battled the rogue Bio Sentinel. The machine ripped the door apart and entered the chamber. Immediately the Bio Sentinel shoved Jong into a wall and in the process broke the hidden box.
The magical force field disappeared and T'Challa and Ororo were freed. Ororo was quickly onto Jong while the machined jacked him up to the wall. Ororo disarmed him and went through his pockets for any other weapons or useful items until she found his phone and the controller for the Sentinel army.
"You cannot kill me," shouted Jong. "My subordinates will believe that the South did it and attack them. War will be the outcome."
Ororo punched him hard in the stomach and he squirmed.
"You speak of war so easily. If it does break out then Wakanda will intervene and we will decimate your forces, handing victory to the South. Either way you will lose," said Ororo.
She scrolled through the phone's call log and saw the terrorist groups.
"You have AIM and HYDRA on your phone," said Ororo. "Are they in the country?"
Jong remained silent and Ororo punched him again.
"You are going to give up HYDRA and AIM to me. They will be destroyed. Then you will follow our instructions."
"She's speaking to you," said T'Challa.
Jong stared at Ororo and then nodded in consent. He then gave the location of the AIM and HYDRA bases. Ororo took control of the Sentinel army through the device that resembled an Iphone. She ordered the Sentinels to destroy the terrorist bases.
"What will you do with me?" asked Jong.
"It will depend on how cooperative you are," Ororo answered.
Wakanda,
Three hours after, T'Challa and Ororo returned from North Korea they interrogated Candice in the Secret Service headquarters. Candice was surprised to see T'Challa after so many years. The surprise turned to fear when Candice realized that she was shackled to a chair in an unfriendly environment.
"T'Challa what's going on?" asked Candice.
"Abraham Hunter, where is he?" asked T'Challa.
Candice's expression showed that the question made her aware of the reason that she was held and her crime.
"I don't-"
"Don't try to lie. We know that you were in contact with him," said Ororo.
"I swear I don't know where he is. I last met him in Sydney," said Candice.
"When?" asked T'Challa.
"Three months ago, at the Hilton," replied Candice. "What are you going to do with me?"
"For one, you are not going back to North Korea, and we have made some changes in that country," replied T'Challa.
"You'll work for us a source of information on Hunter. You will be monitored," said Ororo.
"This is illegal," said Candice, defiantly.
"Like when you helped AIM and HYDRA. Jong told us about your dealings," said Ororo.
A look of betrayal shot across Candice's face.
"Do you need time to think things over?" asked T'Challa.
"No and I'm sorry for trying to obtain your technology. I was not given details on how Hunter got his hands on them," said Candice.
"Do you know what he does?" asked T'Challa.
"He was an adventurer as far as I knew. He would call me at short notice for us to rendezvous somewhere."
"Where did he go after Oxford?" asked T'Challa.
"Everywhere. He came from a family that supplied the world with electronic components and that made him extremely rich," replied Candice.
"Tell me more about this family," said T'Challa.
"The grandfather was American and he migrated to England. There he started the company and co ran the company with Hunter's father. The father was pious and he had links to the Vatican. That's all I know."
"So you aren't aware of Hunter's other illegal activities?" asked T'Challa.
"No," replied Candice.
T'Challa believed her. Then he heard the low chime of Ororo's kimoyo. The ringtone was the one designated for the X Men.
Ororo walked to him and said, "I'll be outside."
She then exited the room.
Chapter Six
Gambit's suave Cajun voice came through the kimoyo. Then his lady killer face appeared on the screen. His eyes were naturally red and a tooth pick was at the side of his mouth.
"Stormy," said Gambit.
"What is it?" asked Ororo.
"Malice is in trouble and needs the X Men's help," replied Gambit. "She has to put down a separatist movement in her country. I'm already in the palace."
Malice was also a member of the X Men and was Storm's enemy.
"I'm on my way," said Ororo.
She ended the call and then informed T'Challa of the situation. Afterwards, Ororo headed for Chedula which was Malice's kingdom.