Part I
Wakanda's secret service had tracked Baron all day. The spy satellites indicated that eight unidentified people were also inside of Baron's twin towers residence.
T'Challa and Ororo were unsure if the eight people were security or associates of Baron. The couple traveled in a mini two seated jet to the towers, which were on a mesa.
Suddenly the radar computer became active. An object closed in quickly on the jet. Ororo also felt the presence in the air currents due to her weather manipulation powers.
T'Challa took over the control of the jet from the auto pilot. But it was too late. The object traveled like a comet and it punched the small jet out of the air. Ororo's attempts to stabilize the jet with manipulated winds were useless. The jet crashed into the valley on the outskirts of Baron's towers.
The jet's vibranium skin absorbed the impact. The jet flipped over once, and then it became still. T'Challa killed the engines.
The radar computer indicated that the object was in the vicinity.
"It is returning," said Ororo.
T'Challa unfastened from the seat. Ororo was already out of her seat.
"Then let's return the greeting," said T'Challa.
T'Challa and Ororo kissed each other deeply and they pressed their foreheads together. "I love you," they said.
Afterwards T'Challa slipped the woven vibranium body armour mask over his face. He took up his sword. Then T'Challa opened the door and he exited. Ororo slipped out the jet with lightening bolts in her hands.
The couple scanned the starry night sky for their attacker. Suddenly T'Challa felt odd. He looked down at his feet and they were gone. Moreover, the rest of his body rapidly disappeared. He heard Ororo gasped.
T'Challa looked across at his wife, and he tried to hold her arm. But Ororo was almost completely gone, only her head remained and it also faded.
"Ororo," shouted T'Challa.
"T'Challa," shouted Ororo.
Then the couple vanished. T'Challa reappeared in a dim and cold realm. He called for Ororo, but it was futile. Ororo also appeared in a similar realm and she realized that T'Challa was not there.
T'Challa spoke to the twin time space computers that were on the hilt of the sword.
"Where are we?" asked T'Challa.
"A pocket dimension," replied the computers.
"Then get us out," said T'Challa.
"We have to configure the teleportation. It will take time," said the computers.
"How much?"
"We can't say,"
"Hurry," said T'Challa.
Meanwhile in the real world, T'Challa's and Ororo's prisons were two floating yellow spheres. The spheres flew into the hands of their creator. The creator resembled a fourteen year old girl. She was ebony. Her pupils were white and her hair shaved down. Chedula's symbol tattoo was on her right hand.
A sphinx landed next to the girl. The sphinx had the head of a lion, a hawk's beak, a monkey's tail, black feathered wings grew out of its back and its feet were like an eagle's. Yet the creature had human arms and upper torso. Chedula's symbol tattoo was on the left shoulder.
A hover pod screamed behind the girl and the creature. A robot piloted the hover pod, and Baron was the passenger. The hover pod stopped in front of the girl and the creature.
Baron resembled a rugged mountain man. He was forty five years old. He had a fiery red beard and a full crop of hair on his head. Baron stared at the slender girl.
"What's your name again?" asked Baron.
"Sphere."
"What will become of them?" inquired Baron.
"They'll die," replied Sphere.
A small smile broke Baron's hardened face. Baron gestured for Sphere to enter the hover pod. She understood and climbed the steps, which had emerged from the hover pod. Meanwhile, Baron gestured for the sphinx to return to the tower. The creature took to the air, and it disappeared in a flash.
The hover pod also sped towards the tower. Baron contacted Midas over the special communications device that was a small cube.
Sphere didn't pay attention to the conversation. Instead Sphere felt good about herself, because she had spared T'Challa and Ororo from the other creatures that waited in the tower.
Sphere detested bloodshed, hence she had volunteered to kill T'Challa and Ororo humanely.
Sphere estimated that T'Challa and Ororo would die within the next thirty minutes like the animals she had experimented on and then extracted from the pocket dimensions.
Baron's twin towers had fifty floors above ground and six below the Earth's surface. Five enclosed bridges connected the towers.
The hover pod halted inside the top floor on the second tower. The nine creatures waited in a group. Baron surveyed the group while he ended the conversation with Midas.
"You'll be rewarded for the swift outcome with some additional time outside the sleeping chambers," said Baron frankly.
The robot translated Baron's statement into the respective tongues of the creatures, although some of the creatures spoke the same language.
Sphere and the robot disembarked from the hover pod. Then Baron took control of the hover pod, and he flew to the first tower.
Sphere strayed into a room. The two orbs that contained Ororo and T'Challa followed her. The room's window viewed the sky. Sphere stood close to the window, and she stared at the sky, which she hadn't seen in centuries.
The robot asked if she wanted privacy.
"Yes," replied Sphere.
A metallic tentacle grew out of the robot's left side, and the tip of the tentacle touched a button on the wall. A door fell down from the ceiling.
Sphere resumed her search of the stars. She concentrated so hard on a constellation that she didn't hear T'Challa behind her.
Part II
T'Challa slipped his right hand over Sphere's mouth, and her shriek was smothered. T'Challa's left arm brought Sphere close to him, and he pinned her there.
"Shhhh," whispered T'Challa.
T'Challa heard Sphere's heart beating loudly. His hyper sense of smell didn't detect Ororo. T'Challa looked about the room. Then he saw the orb.
"Where's the woman?" whispered T'Challa.
Sphere pointed frightfully towards the orb.
"Did you put her in there?" inquired T'Challa in a low voice.
Sphere nodded a confirmation.
"Take her out," said T'Challa. Again he whispered with a measured amount of authority.
Sphere concentrated and the orb cracked in the middle. Then the orb broke into pieces. Instantly Ororo appeared.
"Are you all right?" asked T'Challa.
"Yes," responded Ororo in a whisper.
T'Challa focused on Sphere once again.
"I'm going to release you. Don't scream," said T'Challa. "All right?"
Sphere nodded her agreement quickly. T'Challa took his hand from Sphere's mouth.
"How many others are protecting Baron?" asked T'Challa.
"Nine," answered Sphere.
"Where is Baron?" quizzed Ororo.
"I don't know," responded Sphere.
T'Challa spotted the symbol on Sphere and it was the same symbol that was on the meta human that had massacred the millions of people.
"Where did you get this?" asked T'Challa.
Abruptly, a panel slid down the window. Immediately T'Challa's hyper hearing alerted him to the sounds in the walls. Crawling. Scraping.
An unseen creature bonded with the atoms that made up the walls.
T'Challa took the sword from his back.
"Traitor!" shouted the unseen creature.
A spear grew swiftly out of the wall and it was aimed at Sphere. T'Challa sliced off the top of the spear and he saved Sphere.
The sounds became louder in T'Challa's ears.
"The entire room is a trap," thought T'Challa.
T'Challa's instincts told him that a full attack was imminent.
Thus T'Challa scooped up Ororo in his right arm, and he held Sphere. T'Challa leapt towards the door. Ororo instinctively created an air pressure to knock over the door.
Concurrently, spears quickly extended from the walls. Similarly spears extended from the floor and ceiling. As a result, the spears crisscrossed the room. There was a wicked laughter from the room during the attack.
A metal spear struck Sphere across the side of her head and she lost consciousness. Another spear stabbed Sphere deeply into her shoulder. Ororo also received scratches to her body.
The door flew down. T'Challa's leap carried the group into a small corridor. Then the Black Panther became aware that they were not alone. Creatures stood in both directions of the corridor.
"Told you that she wasn't alone," said the sphinx.
Ororo fired plasma energy from her hands at the two groups. But two force fields blocked the plasma energy. A woman with Chedula's tattoo on her forehead created the force fields.
A green pigmented woman fired a disc like energy projection at Ororo. T'Challa's reflexes sprang to action. T'Challa swung his sword into the energy projection's path, and he parried it with the sword's dark force energy blade.
The energy projection was deflected and it struck the wall. Then the energy projection returned to the green pigmented woman's hand like a boomerang. The energy projection left a dent in the wall.
T'Challa's hyper vision saw through a crack in the dented wall, and he noticed another room. T'Challa told the sword to teleport Ororo, Sphere and himself to the new room's coordinates. The sword obeyed. The group vanished from the corridor and they reappeared in the new room.
T'Challa and Ororo took out their kimoyoes-palm held super computers. The kimoyoes were linked to the spy satellites.
"We'll take out the body guards and find Baron," said Ororo.
"Yes," replied T'Challa.
"I noticed the symbol on the guards. Evidently Baron was behind the killings," said Ororo.
T'Challa heard the scrapping in the metallic walls and then the pain of metal twisting to the commands of a master.
"The first attacker is back," said T'Challa.
Ororo decided that T'Challa should handle the creature, since he could sense it.
"Give her to me. I'll meet you lower down," said the wind rider.
T'Challa handed over Sphere. Immediately Ororo manipulated the air currents and created a thermal rise. The thermal air currents lifted Sphere and Ororo and the pair flew down a corridor.
Meanwhile, the room turned into a weapon against T'Challa. The metal walls grew thick spears that violently shot out at T'Challa. All the spears struck T'Challa about his upper body. But T'Challa was protected by the Black Panther body armour.
Nevertheless, the extended spears from the walls lifted T'Challa from the floor. Moreover, T'Challa's arms and hands were hampered by the crisscrossed spears. Therefore, T'Challa was unable to fight with his sword. But his legs were untouched by the spears.
The creature slowly extended itself from the walls. It laughed in a sinister manner. The mouth was toothless. The skin was grey and Chedula's tattoo was branded on the chest.
"Sacrificed yourself for them. How heroic, but otherwise foolish. Since I can take control of your armour," said the creature.
The creature was close to T'Challa's face.
"Before I go at least tell me what the symbol on your skin means," said T'Challa.
"I don't think so."
"That is too bad."
T'Challa released the sword from his hand. He caught the sword's handle in-between his ankles. Then T'Challa acrobatically shot his feet upward. The sword was thrust into the creature.
The creature made a death sound. T'Challa released the sword. The spears receded a little and T'Challa fell on his feet.
T'Challa took his sword from the creature, and he attempted to follow Ororo down the corridor.
A harpy flew through the wall. The harpy had orange and white hair on its head. The human face was disfigured. The rest of the body was like a hawk. The harpy was three and a half feet tall. The Chedula tattoo was on the right side of the neck.
"Harp!"
The harpy flew into T'Challa's body and it snatched his soul with its feet. The harpy exited T'Challa's body with almost half the soul.
T'Challa briefly glimpsed his body from the outside. The harpy's talons were buried deep into T'Challa's soul and it pained. Still T'Challa struggled with the harpy. The harpy was relentless and it pulled T'Challa's soul roughly.
Nonetheless, T'Challa's soul clung onto his body. T'Challa felt like he was being torn in half. Eventually, T'Challa's will provided the strength he needed. T'Challa pulled his way back slightly into the body. Then he regained his body's motor skills. Thus T'Challa swung his sword wildly at the harpy.
There was an explosion of feathers as the sword struck its mark. T'Challa's soul slipped completely back into his body. T'Challa dropped on his knees. His body burned and it felt strained.
"Ororo," said T'Challa.
He stood and continued down the corridor quickly.
Meanwhile, Ororo noticed that Sphere bled. Therefore, Ororo stopped and she rested Sphere on the floor. Ororo attached the kimoyo to her belt.
Then Ororo cut a strip from out her wind flap with the small knife, which she kept in her belt. Then Ororo bandaged Sphere's wound.
Ororo raised her head and she spotted a security camera, which was focused on her.
Ororo glimpsed the kimoyo and it indicated that two persons had closed in on her.
The wall on the left of Ororo opened like a door. Two women stood there and they were protected by a force field.
The first woman had the Chedula tattoo on her forehead. The second woman had no lower forearms, hence stubs dangled from the shoulders. Yet a green demonic arm and a clawed hand shot out of the woman's left stub. The new appendage became larger than the woman's body. Then the demonic appendage became elongated and it reached Ororo.
The hand caught Storm's entire body in its grip. The fingers were like a boa constrictor's coils and they lifted Ororo to the ceiling.
Ororo grimaced and she heard bones crack within her body from the pressure. Moreover, Ororo was unable to breathe due to the strain on her lungs.
The woman with the tattoo on her forehead planned to place a force field inside of Ororo's head and expand it.
Yet Ororo was determined to live. But she needed a tactic to the defeat the women despite them being protected by the force field. Thus Ororo concentrated and a bright flash of white light bombarded the immediate area.
Instantaneously, the two female attackers permanently lost their eyesight. The women screamed in horror. The amputee released Ororo and the demonic arm disappeared. While the tattoo on the forehead woman groped aimlessly. Both women screeched and complained.
"Bring it back," shouted the amputee.
Ororo fell onto the floor. She breathed heavily while she took stock of her environment. Sphere was still unconscious and T'Challa was running up to meet them.
Part III
T'Challa assisted Ororo to her feet. Then T'Challa's senses alarmed. Something hurtled down the corridor.
The sphinx bolted into T'Challa and Ororo. The creature grabbed T'Challa and Ororo by the throats. Then it crashed through the wall with its prey.
The sphinx emerged from the second tower and its momentum took it into the top floor on the first tower. The sphinx broke into a furnished room, which had taken up the entire floor.
Meanwhile a hover pod that contained the other creatures left the second tower for the first.
The sphinx halted in the center of the room and it produced a triumphant shrill. The shrill damaged T'Challa's hypersensitive inner ears. As a result he became disoriented.
On the other hand, Ororo shot a lightening bolt through the sphinx's beak and into the head, destroying it.
The sphinx dropped T'Challa and Ororo. But the body remained alive. Ororo fired plasma energy from close range through the torso. Yet the creature functioned despite the damage.
"Sword," said Ororo.
The sword teleported from T'Challa and it went into Ororo's hand. Then Ororo slew the beast with the sword.
Suddenly there was an explosion from the left side of the room. The floor ripped apart from the left side of the room towards Ororo. The attacker ran at such a speed that it seemed invisible and its feet destroyed the floor. Instinctively Ororo held the sword defensively. Then Ororo finally saw that her attacker. It wielded a battle-axe. The battle-axe struck the sword's blade as it came down.
The force of the impact pushed Ororo back until she reached the other side of the room. Ororo realized the attacker was in full body metal armour. Dragon heads were on the armor's shoulders. A helmet hid the face. The attacker was six foot seven and muscular. Thus the attacker used its strength advantage against Ororo.
Ororo manipulated the air around her and created a gust. Yet the attacker was not pushed away. Secondly Ororo tried lightening and it was useless.
The attacker pressed down the battle axe onto the sword. As a result, the edge of the sword inched closer to cutting Ororo's face.
Ororo used the attacker's strength against it. She dipped. The attacker leaned forward above Ororo. Meanwhile Ororo slashed the sword into the attacker's mid section.
But the attacker's mid section disappeared as the sword passed through it. Then the mid section reappeared after the sword was gone.
The attacker struck Ororo in the back of the head with the battle axe's handle. Then the attacker kicked Ororo forward. Ororo was knocked off her feet.
Part IV
T'Challa saw the commotion. He was still unbalanced. But T'Challa leapt fearlessly at the armored attacker.
T'Challa's metal claws came out the finger tips of his gloves. The claws could cut through most metals. Therefore, T'Challa dug the claws into the hand that held the battle-axe. The hand disappeared. But the battle-axe fell and it stuck in the floor near to Ororo.
Ororo noticed the Chedula mark on the battle-axe. Then a face appeared on the battle axe. The eyes were red. The evil soul trapped in the battle axe smirked at Ororo.
Ororo realized the truth. The battle axe contained the opponent. Hence Ororo stabbed the sword into the battle axe. The dark force energy blade eliminated the soul. Consequently, the armored attacker disappeared completely.
T'Challa struggled to stand straight. Ororo attempted to help T'Challa. As a result Ororo didn't notice the two new attackers at the room's entrance.
Part V
The first attacker was a sticky black substance that formed a humanoid body. The next attacker was the green woman. The woman fired two energy projections. The energy projections were aimed at T'Challa.
The energy projections caught T'Challa before Ororo reached him. The resultant explosion flung T'Challa into the air. The body armour save him from death. Nevertheless, T'Challa landed hard and face first on the floor.
Ororo was knocked back and the sword fell from her hand. Angrily Ororo turned to the assailant and she concentrated. Suddenly the green woman was not there. Instead a small tornado was in the green woman's place.
The next attacker melted to the floor and it moved like oil on the surface. The attacker quickly came upon Ororo who knelt on the floor.
The attacker stuck onto Ororo's skin. Ororo haplessly tried to pull the substance off her. Still the substance covered her eyes, her mouth, her nostrils, her hair and every other inch of her body.
Ororo began to suffocate. She tried an emission of powerful electrical current from her body, but it was futile. Then she tried heat and it was in vain. Eventually Ororo was close to losing consciousness. Nevertheless, she fought to stay awake.
Part VI
T'Challa steadied his hand as best as he could. He carefully made an incision into the substance with the tip of the sword's blade. The substance reacted violently from the pain it felt from the sword.
The substance rose sharply from Ororo. T'Challa swung the sword through the substance before it reached him. The substance died in the process.
Another attacker clung to the ceiling directly above the couple. The attacker was a shape shifter and it turned into T'Challa. The shape shifter dropped from the ceiling.
But the real T'Challa smelt the shape shifter. Consequently, T'Challa was guided by his sense of smell, and he stabbed the sword into the shape shifter as it fell. Expertly, T'Challa caught the deceased shape shifter and then he tossed it aside.
Ororo coughed.
T'Challa held Ororo in his arms. Suddenly the couple's life force drained from them. Additionally the sword's computers lost power because they were created with life forces.
Consequently T'Challa's and Ororo's bodies became limp. The life forces traveled into Baron. Thus Baron's durability and strength grew to immense proportions.
Part VII
Baron surveyed the wrecked room. Broken wood, shattered glass, shards and dust were everywhere. The antique furniture was destroyed and also the rare sculptures and paintings. Baron was infuriated by his loss of property and his trust in Midas's monsters.
Although the monsters had weakened T'Challa and Ororo they had failed to finish the job.
"I'll do it myself," said Baron.
Baron walked up to T'Challa. T'Challa held the sword in his right hand and swung it. Baron caught T'Challa's sword hand when the blade was inches from his face.
"Pathetic," said Baron.
Baron pulled T'Challa's sword hand while he kicked T'Challa under the right arm. Crack. The right arm was dislocated from the arm socket. Then T'Challa received an upper cut from Baron.
The sword slipped out of T'Challa's hand. The upper cut dispatched T'Challa to a few meters from Baron.
Then Baron turned to Ororo and he held her roughly. Ororo fought back. But Baron considered the resistance punitive attempts.
"My powers," muttered Ororo.
"They depend on your mind and body. All of which depend on your life force which I'm consuming," said Baron.
Ororo tapped into the energy of the Earth for strength. Still nothing enabled Ororo with the power to repel Baron.
Baron felt the surge of energy within Ororo and he absorbed it.
"Still don't understand. It does not matter how much power you have. It all comes to me. Your time has come," said Baron. "You may scream there is no shame."
Baron slammed Ororo into the floor. Astonishingly Ororo still breathed.
"Indomitable will," commented Baron. "Impressive."
Baron felt the sword's life force increase. The twin computers had tapped into the time space continuum for power.
Baron released Ororo and he concentrated on the sword. The sword's new power was like a well spring for Baron.
T'Challa contacted Ororo through their kimoyoes unbeknownst to Baron.
"Stop it," said the sword. "Without power we cannot keep the dark force energy blade from exploding,"
Baron was surprised the sword spoke. Yet he didn't chance the sword's warnings. Therefore, Baron left a minimum level of power in the sword's computers. Then Baron returned his focus on Ororo to end her life. But Ororo was gone.
Part VIII
Ororo had dragged herself away from Baron. Then Baron heard a noise behind him. He turned to the direction of the noise. T'Challa made the noise while he dragged himself along the ground.
T'Challa was moving away from Baron. The kimoyo was in T'Challa's good hand. Baron turned to Ororo and she had dragged herself further away.
"Futile," said Baron.
T'Challa estimated that Ororo and him were at a safe distance.
"Sword," said T'Challa.
The sword summoned its strength and it teleported from Baron to T'Challa. Baron snarled.
"Enough of -" said Baron and then he heard an engine.
The engine sounded like that of a plane. The sound grew louder and louder from the ceiling. Baron looked up at the ceiling.
The jet crashed through the ceiling and it collided with Baron. The jet and Baron plummeted through the floors. Baron's durability saved him from death. Eventually the jet and Baron reached the basement floor.
Then T'Challa activated the self-destruction of the jet. There was an explosion in the basement floor that destroyed the tower's foundations.
"Teleport us to Wakanda," muttered T'Challa.
"We can't. We only have sufficient power for one short burst," said the sword.
"Then the next tower," said T'Challa.
Instantaneously T'Challa, Ororo and the sword teleported to the second tower. They appeared in the corridor where Sphere was left behind.
Meanwhile, Baron survived the explosion. But Baron used most of his durability power. Furthermore Baron was cut off from the life force of others, therefore his durability and strength waned. Then the tower collapsed on Baron and he died.
In the second tower, T'Challa and Ororo lay face down on the floor. Both suffered from injuries.
"Honey are you still here?" asked Ororo.
"Still here," muttered T'Challa.
Sphere approached the couple. She was followed by two orbs, which contained the two blind women.
"Who is that?" asked Ororo.
T'Challa looked up.
"The girl," answered T'Challa.
Sphere looked at the couple. Sphere guessed that the couple had saved her life.
"They killed the other monsters and Midas's friend," thought Sphere.
"I'm free from Midas," she said aloud.
"What name did you just say?" asked Ororo while she stared up at Sphere.
"Midas," replied Sphere.
"King Midas?" asked Ororo.
"Yes. He sent us here," responded Sphere.
"I'll be damned," said Ororo.
Ororo and T'Challa laughed gingerly. Then the couple lost consciousness. Sphere was uncertain if the couple were alive. She checked and they still breathed.
"What now?" asked Sphere.
"Give us time to regain our full power and we will go to Wakanda," said the sword.
Therefore Sphere sat, and she waited patiently because she didn't know where else to go.
Part VIIII
Midas viewed his watch.
"Why are you doing that?" asked Malice.
Malice rested her hands on Midas's shoulders.
"Baron said he would call back after the Black Panther and Storm were done with," responded Midas.
"He hasn't called?" asked Malice.
"No,"
Malice sighed.
"This is our wedding night. It is not for worrying about enemies," said Malice.
"The Black Panther and Storm are coming."
"Let them come and we will destroy them," said Malice and her eyes gleamed.