Disclaimer: The characters belong to Marvel.
The Gift of the Rabbit God
Chapter 1
Bucky had never seen T'Challa so agitated. He hid it well, maintaining a stoic poise. Someone who knew him less well might have missed it.
"Thanks for coming," he said across the table to Steve Rogers and Sam Wilson. "I know the Avengers are busy these days."
"The robot attacks are keeping everyone on their toes," Steve said, "but after everything you and your country have done for us, if there's anything we can do to repay you, we will. Besides, I knew you wouldn't call us if it weren't important."
"It is. As you know, whoever is behind the robot attacks has been kidnapping some of the world's top scientists. Roboticists, computer developers, genetic engineers."
"Yeah. We've been able to stop some of the kidnapping attempts, but we haven't been able to track down where they're being taken," Sam mentioned.
"Yesterday, my sister Shuri disappeared after attending a conference in Prague. Spiderbots were seen in the city the same night. I believe she is the latest victim."
Steve was struck silent for a moment, suddenly understanding the urgent tone of T'Challa's request. "I'm so sorry. How can we help?"
T'Challa brought up a hologram of satellite images. "A few hours after her disappearance, spy satellites caught something flying over a mountainous area in western China." He enlarged the image. It looked something like a helicopter, though it was clearly not a conventional aircraft. He swiped through a few images, showing the craft moving swiftly above the landscape. Then it was gone. "Switch to terrain view." Contour lines appeared over the satellite images. He went through the images again. This time it became apparent the craft was slowing, lowering, and navigating around mountains. It was aiming straight at the mountainside when it disappeared.
"It went into the mountain," Sam concluded.
"That's our conclusion. There's no way of knowing whether that's where they're holding my sister and the other scientists, other than going there and seeing for ourselves."
"I'm in," Steve said.
"Me too," said Sam.
T'Challa stood. "We leave now."