"So, listen... I'm gonna have to cancel. I know I promised I'll meet with the new guy but something came up and…"
"Something came up," said Wong in a tone that told me I better explain myself.
"I have to go to radio silence for the afternoon. I have some… collateral damage to deal with."
"What's that supposed to..."
"I'll be digging graves, Wong," I snapped. "You just couldn't let me keep it vague…" I added, sounding more exhausted than anything else. That was the majority of what I was feeling. Exhaustion. With some anger on the side. "Fucking Erik…"
"What was that…?" came Wong's voice - not from the phone but from somewhere behind the nearest plane. I sighed.
"Over here," I called to help him navigate his way to me.
"What...?" he started on reaching me.
"Corpses, obviously. I don't dig graves just for training purposes. I usually have reasons. Ones that look like that," I said, pointing at the two bodies at my feet. "And before you go there, no, I didn't kill them."
"Who did?" he asked, having no trouble taking my word for it. That was adorable, considering he saw me in action. The fact that he believed me when I claimed that though otherdimensional monsters were fair game I drew a line at killing people made me think that maybe, just maybe, I may have been a little dramatic when I decided to cut off all contact with my former colleagues.
"Funny story. So there's this Wakandan prince on a revenge quest... And he took Klaue with him. Unless you stumbled over him on your way here…?" I said hopefully. Wong's impassive expression told me that was not the case. "Fuck. He was the only reason I actually bothered coming here."
"A friend of yours?" asked the sorcerer, trying to establish whether condolences were in order.
"Kinda. Remember how I got reprimanded over bringing guns to magic fights…? You must have wondered where they came from."
"He was your weapons dealer?"
"And a friend, so check the attitude. We all have to pay the rent somehow," I said in Klaue's defense. "And unlike you people, he actually had my back. When he felt like it," I added, since even as I felt fairly depressed by this new development I couldn't deny Klaue was... complicated.
"I'll tell the Sorcerer Supreme you have a personal situation you need to deal with first."
"You do that. But hey, if he still has his mind set on meeting me – whatever that's supposed to achieve – tell him to bring a shovel. I can dig and talk at the same time and I wouldn't mind the company. It's tedious work, you know," I smirked as he summoned a portal to get himself out of this crime scene and back to the safety of the Sanctum.
I was joking. I underestimated Wong's ability to understand the concept. Which is why about five minutes after moving the bodies to my favorite depopulated patch of Uzbekistan perfect for this kind of thing I found there was a shadow falling over me.
"Is that a fucking cape?" I asked the man as he closed the portal he came through. "No, scratch that, of course it is. More importantly - is that an Infinity Stone…?"
"Yes," he said simply.
"I'd love one of those. Especially today. I fucked up…" I said, returning to the work at hand as he stood over me, all dramatic and dignified. "I mean, sure, it can be argued that there's nothing I could have done. You don't tell people of the most technologically advanced nation on Earth what to do. Especially not when you're this white... Oh, I'm gonna have fun living under Killmonger's hegemony," I added under my breath.
"I have very little idea what you're talking about," said the new Sorcerer Supreme. I shrugged.
"Let's put it this way - while you were busy sorting out the other dimensions I broke this one," I said, not meeting his eyes. "There shall be some political upheaval in not too distant future. And I could have stopped it."
"Perhaps it would be best if you begun at the beginning," he suggested.
"Alright. But you're not going to like this," I sighed, and started bringing him up to date. It was surprisingly fun, because the more I spoke the more confused he became by the fact I was once a member of the same organization he now led. Everything from my casual association with criminals to how often I used the term muggle was telling him that I simply couldn't be what I seemed. I was just about to tell him about how my bad feeling about Erik crystallized into an actual premonition - or whatever you call a trippy dream full of hungry looking panthers - when it happened.
"Can you... smell... smoke?"
I collapsed to my knees in a fit of coughing before he could answer me. A wave of sensory information flooded me in a quick succession - smell of flowers that only bloom in the dark and weight of earth covering me and heat and... smoke finding its way into my lungs... "Oh, what the fuck did you do now...?" I said as I forced my way back into this moment, away from the events taking place thousands of miles away.
"That..."
"...just happened," I said, looking up at the Sorcerer Supreme, daring him to help me downplay it. Didn't quite work. It's hard to hold someone's gaze when you feel like coughing your lungs out.
"Are you well enough to...?"
"I'm not going to the Sanctum," I replied immediately, seeing where this was going. "I have graves to dig. They've made their point, they're going to leave me alone for a while now. To give me time to think about what I've done..."
"They?"
He was not liking the sound of it, I could tell. "The spectral panthers. I think they're dead kings or something... And apparently they blame me for not interfering in their family business which... pretty hard to credit, but that's what it felt like. Anger. Blame. Kind of look what you let happen vision," I said, still breathing heavily. "He burns a few flowers and they go mental..."
"Has this happened before?" asked the sorcerer, still frowning.
"This exact thing? No. But I think they might be more touchy about the stuff he does in Wakanda so... They'll just be getting worse," I said, and even as I spoke the words I realized I was right about that. "So that's me not sleeping for as long as I can. No way I'm taking any trips to the spectacular lightshow savanna when they're in this kind of mood."
"Why would they expect you to help them?"
"I know, right? There's no one less likely to have Wakandan ancestors," I said shaking my head. "My best guess? Convenience. I was around and I'm unlikely to freak out over a few ghosts because I've been punching elder gods in the face before Erik even got into creepy body art and... Anyway. They miscalculated. Being a huge fan of self-preservation I just stayed out of his plans. I didn't want to be the next scar. And now it's out of my hands," I said, looking down at them. There was something wrong with how little the sight of them blackened by grave dirt upset me. I shouldn't have been this resigned to this, disposing of someone else's victims because he didn't even have the decency to do that much for them. But then, death was a numbers game to him. "Fucking Erik," I said under my breath.
"I want you to come to the Sanctum when you're finished here," said the sorcerer, clearly not liking how quickly I transitioned from being severely haunted to being back to business as usual.
"I imagine you do. But, you know... You can't tell me what to do, you're not my real dad..." I said shrugging off that particular suggestion.
"It'd be for your protection."
"That's what that's for," I said with an offhand gesture in the direction of the weapon lying on top of my jacket a few steps away.
"Ghosts are notoriously bulletproof."
That made me freeze mid-motion and do a double take of the man. "You know, Wong told me you have a sense of humor. I didn't believe him, because how could he tell...? He's... Wong," I said with a smile.
"Would you like to know what he told me about you...? I'll be in the Sanctum in New York, whenever you feel like having that conversation..." he said before I could reply.
I just nodded to him to acknowledge I heard and went right back to what I was doing. Getting on with my life, pretending everything's going to be alright even if this was one of the days when I had really hard time forcing that kind of optimism. Oh well - I could always move into the mirror dimension permanently. That was the ultimate backup plan for if the things didn't work out in this one. And this really felt like the time to abandon ship. Time to... to...
"You know, it's only matter of time before that gets you killed."
I blinked as this moment followed the last one with a dreamlike lack of transition. I was in the London safehouse... no... back in the London safehouse. Back before everything that could have gone wrong went wrong.
"Meaning?" said Klaue sitting across the table from me.
"Don't you have a museum to rob...?"
"That's not until tomorrow," he said dismissively, going back to watching anime on his phone. Missing the way I rolled my eyes. His loss. It was rather epic. "Why? Do you have something you'd rather be doing? Like glaring at that building like you're trying to forcechoke it...?"
That almost made me drop the weapon I was cleaning. "Klaue...? Did you have me followed...?"
"Of course I did. That's what happens when you don't tell me where you're going when we're at such a crucial junction."
"I did tell you," I reminded.
"Right. You said you were headed for the aquarium," he said, pausing meaningfully, "to look at some cuttlefish."
"And I was. I got distracted. That happens. These new meds I'm taking..."
He just gave me a look that made me cut it off right there. I was not on anti-psychotic medication and we both knew it. Same as we knew he was only going to let me hang around and freeload if I didn't lie to him. I sighed. "Just out of curiosity - who did you send to shadow me? Because I didn't see anyone and I'm usually good at noticing suspicious types."
"Erik."
"He's good," I said grudgingly. "So I guess that's why we're keeping him around..."
"Want to translate that subtext for me...?"
"I have a bad feeling about him. And I can tell that you don't and that's making it worse."
"I'm sure that's just your new meds talking," he said dismissively.
I wanted to add something. I wanted to tell him about the dreams, the luminous sky, the hungry eyes full of warnings watching me from the shadows under the trees. I wanted to... but I didn't.
I woke up. Cold. Shivering.
It took me a second to shake off the disorientation and remember where I was. The sky was starlit, telling me I must have spent at least a few hours sleeping. In a shallow grave. Just wonderful.
"Thanks for that," I said, not entirely sure for who I was speaking to. "I know this is my fault, by the way. But if you wanted me to do something about this, you should have cut out the cryptic symbolism and just speak up. I'm not good with subtlety. It wouldn't kill you to go so we need you to put a bullet between his eyes before he gets the chance to claim the throne, you know," I said, still lying on my back on the cold earth. Feeling rather comfy, all things considered. I was content to just stay there, especially when the panther appeared, peering down at me, not solid enough to obstruct my view of the stars, yet very much here. It was in the eyes, mostly. They could see into my soul - I could tell by the disapproving expression on its face.
"Hey there, Bagheera," I said, smiling tiredly.
It smiled back at me, all teeth.
"Look, I'm sorry about your magic flowers. But come on, they're indigenous, there must be a few still growing in the wild. I'll help you look," I offered. "It's not like I have anything better to do."
The dark shape didn't reply. Not that I expected it to. "I really am, you know. Sorry," I said, closing my eyes. Hoping the dark shape would be gone when I next opened them. No such luck...
"Oh... I see," I said, sitting up. It was right there in those mirror-reflective eyes. That's why they came here, almost corporeal and somewhat demure for a cat that big. "We're trading apologies. You fucked up too."
The dark shape nodded almost imperceptibly.
I just smiled, letting them know that the apology was accepted for what it was worth and started feeling about for my shovel. Then I got to my feet and went right back to it, as though I just didn't take an unscheduled nap.
I wasn't aware when the embodiment of Wakandan spirits disappeared into the night. The air still carried the faint smell of night-blooming flowers when I finally finished, near dawn. I didn't bother saying anything over the graves. I've already done plenty just by making sure there were graves. It was only a gesture and it meant nothing to the dead. This was for me. An acknowledgement. Something to think of the next time I found myself wondering whether to interfere. My refusal to get involved had a deadcount too...
"Ah... We've been expecting you," was all Wong said when I stepped through the portal, leaving muddy footprints all over the place.
"Of course you were."