Sorry all my action chapters don't seem to be coming out as epic as I want them too these days. Still I hope you like. Thank you all for all the support you've given this fic! It means so much to me.
Disclaimer: I do not own Black Panther.
The Dora milaje radiate cold like they're Siberia embodied. Erik doesn't care. He has a hand on his ring and he's bent over the san table in the ship studying the layout of the building T'Challa is being held.
"The vent is here," Okoye tells him. "Once we start to rescue the prisoners, you get a few seconds to get into the vent before it shuts."
She hands him a handful of tiny kimoyo beads. "These will reflect the laser beams so they won't know they're being broken."
"Like foil," he says and she nods.
"Once you're in, you have to follow this path to get to him." She traces out a path in the schematics and Erik memorizes it, along with the rest of the schematics incase things go wrong. He takes note of the guards that they know about and mentally multiplies the number by five. This is going to be messy. Whoever they were, they knew who they had to hold and who would come for him and prepared accordingly.
"I didn't hear an exit plan," he said still studying the schematics. "I assume that means we're improvising?"
"Head for the nearest exit and get him out no matter what," Okoye says tightly.
"Improvising it is," he said looking up and grinning at her.
She looks like she wants to drive her spear straight through his heart. He knows she hasn't forgiven him for killing one of her soldiers. Erik smiles, letting the memory of that death fill his eyes and knows that she sees it.
"Sure," he says when her hands tighten on her spear, "I'll get him out."
She eyes him and then turns and goes to confer with another of the dora. Erik smirks and returns back to the schematics.
They land not too far from the compound and meet up with the dora who are waiting there keeping watch. They stay out of sight of the guards and confer silently. The dora at the compound give their update but it's basically to say that nothing has changed. A shift in guards had happened but it had been careful, switching out each team every twenty minutes. The guards were alert and they had infrared visors.
"How are we doing this?" asked the second of the dora who'd been keeping watch.
"As quick and as silent as we can," Okoye says. "We don't have time to be fancy. Get to the hostages and get them behind you quickly." She continues to give orders and then finally turns to Erik.
"When I give the signal to attack, you must be by the vent. Can you get there without being seen?"
Erik smirks at her. "No one sees me until I want them to."
"That had better be true," she said. "Now go." She grabs his arm before he leaves though. He pushes it off but she glares at him hard. "You will rescue him," she hisses, "Or I will flay you over an open flame and bury your ashes in white man's land."
Erik snarls at her. "I'll get your little king back safe and sound and if you ever touch me again general, you're losing the hand."
Then he triggers the suit and slinks off into the shadows.
Kidnapping, T'Challa decides is a particularly painful process. Well, not the kidnapping itself but the interrogation. They're using electricity, high voltages of it, as that's the only thing that can freeze the suit and hit him with a dose of pain at the same time.
His kidnappers are smart though. They are not in the same room as he is. They ask questions through an intercom and then shock him from nodes set up in the room. He is also currently suspended horizontally in the room, wrapped up like a burrito in chains, arms behind his back. A set of chains also anchor him to the floor and all the chains are always electrified enough to freeze the suit. When they want to really shock him the entire room comes alive with bolts of electricity.
It is, needless to say, very annoying.
They haven't managed to get the suit of him of course, which annoyed them very much but neither have they been able to get any information about the shields surrounding Wakanda, the properties of vibranium, any secret entrances to Wakanda, the true extent of their technology, the identities of their wardogs, how much wealth they actually have, the names of the shell companies that Wakanda has and operate in the outside world. They want passcodes and safe words, the secret to mining vibranium, Wakanda's plans to help the world, primarily, he guesses to be able to disrupt them.
They also know he's the king of Wakanda. Not that T'Challa's been hiding it, but it isn't actually well known to the rest of the world, so these guys have contacts. He uses the break times between questions to try and get some wriggle room in his chains. The suit freezes with enough electricity but not too badly and T'Challa's been putting his heart-shaped herb infused strength to work, by pushing out against his chains, trying to stretch the connections between the links and get them slack. It's working but slowly. They wrapped him as tightly as they possibly can and trapped his limbs so that it's difficult for him to get any leverage to work with. Luckily, they didn't seem to know about the herb which is why he making his way through the chains slowly.
Still he has no doubt the dora milaje would be here soon. He almost feels a pang of sympathy for his kidnappers.
There are floodlights surrounding the fence and faced outwards. They're meant to make it impossible to sneak in and usually they'll be correct. But Erik's done jobs like these a thousand times. Floodlights don't mean shit unless the guards are always alert.
The thing is though that these guards have been alert for ages, even with the shift change. They're highly strung and nervous. They know that they're up against Wakanda which means even they're not sure exactly what it is they're up against.
They're twitchy as hell and hyper-focused and that's really all Erik needs. Hyper-focused guards tend to focus on the place that they're sweeping so much that they ignore the things just outside of their field of vision.
It's takes some dancing around, some near misses but Erik reaches the fence and once at the wire he's under the spotlights and no one is ever going to see him coming. He's over the fence in seconds and slipping into the shadows on the building in the next moment. Easy peasy.
He accesses the map he memorized and makes his way cautiously over to the vent. He eases the cover open and rests the tiny kimoyo beads on the inside. The little things quickly roll over to where the laser trip wires are, shift to show flat reflective sides and then insert themselves right in the trip wires. The lasers hit the reflective sides and bounce back unaware that they've been interrupted. The beads roll towards the edges of the vent keeping the lasers contained and opening a clear path for Erik to wiggle through.
Erik starts the climb in, twisting painfully and really wishing for the first time in his life, that his shoulders weren't as broad as they are. He also has to be careful that he doesn't knock away any of the tiny beads that that keeping the lasers of off him. The whole thing makes him feel likes he's a contortionist mixed with a tightrope walker. He gains a sudden and new appreciation for the circus.
He's halfway into the vent when he hears Okoye give the order to go. It's good timing, he needs to get inside before the doors shut and the Dora needs to get to the prisoners before the kidnappers realize that they're under attack from the inside.
The dora milaje don't have his skills and at any rate there's too many of them to sneak up through the floodlights. But flicking Wakanda is Wakanda which means that Shuri devised a smaller version of the shield that hides their city. The tiny beads project a field around a person and then makes them disappear. It's less than half a minute before the dora are over the fence and then they're spreading out, situation themselves around the prisoners to best protect them before they shot once the dora start attacking.
When Okoye hisses for the dora to start the attack, Erik's almost completely in. There is the sudden sound of alarm, people crying out, guns shooting and general chaos ensuing. Erik gets his feet into the vent just in time before it snaps shut.
He wriggles painfully through the vents and by the time he knocks out the grate cover on the other side he's in a foul mood. He knocks out the three men who are in the room with vicious precision and then sets off for the room holding his cuz as fast as he can go. He isn't subtle, doesn't try to be because he knows the cameras will have already caught him anyway but he does his best to avoid unnecessary fights. No need to waste energy when you don't have a red bull handy.
He goes through two guards he remembers seeing on the map, crushing their guns with his hands and eviscerating one with a knife stolen from his partner. He slams the head of the other into the wall. The man drops unconscious but Erik's already halfway down the hall.
He hits a whole squad of guards next and it's child's play when you're in a bullet proof suit, with enhanced strength and speed. The next set of guards that come after him though, they are equipped with the same kind of guns that probably took down T'Challa.
He evades one shot and then another. But there's four guys and it's a narrow corridor. He knows he's gonna get hit soon. He would use the kinetic energy to get past them but they're trying to leave as little trace as possible which can go lead to Wakanda and that included tiny, contained explosions. He'd asked about the costume but apparently since they're so many people randomly showing up in weird suits, it doesn't matter unless they have a very specific skill, such as the kinetic energy, to link him back to Wakanda.
He calculates and then asks,
"Hey princess?"
"Yeah?" Shuri asks. She's been monitoring them but not cluttering up the comms.
"Did you get a read on how much those bolts of electricity are?"
"No but I can guess," she says. "Why?"
"Can I take them outside of the suit?"
"What?!" she asks.
"That shit freezes the suit, right? Can I handle them outside of the suit?"
"Are you crazy?" she asks. "It'll be like being tased. It would kill an ordinary person."
Erik considers, dodges another shot and then takes off the suit.
"You're crazy!" he hears Shuri shriek.
He makes it to the first two men and caps them out but the second and third men fire. He dodges one shot but gets hit with the other. It smacks into his tac vest and whatever Shuri made it out of, it kept the shock from spreading too far. It also didn't freeze him. Sure, his lungs froze a little bit and he sort of regretted wearing the chain with his father's ring, but breathing is for the weak and not moving is for the dead. He pulls a knife from one of the two men he just took down and threw it.
It hits his shooter in the throat and then he spins out of the way of another shot, grabs another guy's gun and shots the last man. He retriggers the suit and Shuri's voice comes in clearer. She's still shrieking at him.
"What are you doing?! Are you trying to die?! No dying before you save my brother!"
"Easy princess," he snarls. He takes the guns with him and the next squad he encounters before he reaches where they've held T'Challa goes down much easier. Then he's at the door and flicking out his claws.
It takes too damn long for him to literally claw his through but he gets through enough, using his augmented strength to push the doors apart.
"Get back!" T'Challa shouts and Erik leaps back as the room fills with actual lines of electricity flickering over everything. T'Challa shouts in pain and Erik takes a moment to savor the sound and then aims and shoots out the nodes which are realizing the electricity into he room. He gets which ones he can in this angel and then he's diving inside, twisting to avoid the bolts of lightening while shooting furiously at the nodes. Some of the electricity hits him and he wants to curse except his tongue feels numb but he manages to reel out of its influence and shoot out the node.
Finally, though the room is clear and he drops the gun which is approaching on empty anyway and heads over to T'Challa.
"Hey cuz," he drawls.
"This is a very bad dream," T'Challa says staring at him.
"Sorry to break it to you cuz, but some nightmares are real." He smirks at him and then slices through the chains. T'Challa drops but manages to catch himself before he goes sprawling on the floor. Erik shakes his hands as a light blot of electricity goes through them from the chains.
Huh, so that's why cuz couldn't get out by himself.
He watches T'Challa struggle to his feet then sighs and yanks him up and drags him to the door. He peers out and ducks a knife that's thrown at him.
"No really N'Jadaka, what are you doing here?"
"What does it look like cuz," he grunts, "Saving your black backside curtsy of the pushy little princess."
He props T'Challa on the wall and gets the knife that was thrown at him. He glances out again and then throws the knife back. A loud scream tells him that his aim hasn't suffered from his long captivity.
"I can't believe you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart," T'Challa says as they prepare to make a run down the corridor.
"Aww cuz I'm hurt? You don't think I have a heart?"
"I'm sure you have a heart," T'challa tells him as they plow into a mass of men. It looks like the supertasers aren't plentiful around here because none of these guys have them, Erik notes. "I'm even sure you have goodness in your heart," T'Challa continues after he's knocked out three men and stops for a breath, "But I'm not sure you'll just waste it on me when you more likely want to rip out my heart."
"Your little sister is a cussed bitch and she poisoned me," Erik says flatly. He breaks the neck of their last assailant.
"What?" T'Challa says blankly.
"She has the antidote," Erik says as he helps T'Challa down the corridor since his cuz is looking distinctly wobbly on his feet. Which, fair enough since he was getting tazed for a couple hours. Erik grudging admits it's a little impressive that T'Challa's even standing.
The reach another cordon of men and really how big is this place and how many people are inside it anyway?
"I don't know if to be impressed or horrified, "T'Challa muses.
"Better watch that," Erik says wickedly, "She may turn into somebody like me and then you'd have to lock her away too."
"I heard that," Shuri interjects. Erik ignores her for the express purpose that it'll piss her off more.
T'Challa snorts. "She couldn't be like you even if she tried. She'd just quote memes at the world until it caved to her demands."
Erik wants to protest but can't really. Instead he goes for the next set of men, T'Challa right next to him. They move in concert, T'Challa taking low and Erik going high. The first row of men goes down and Erik lands back neatly on his feet already swiveling to deal with the next person. T'Challa stands as he lands and they end up back to back. He cousin doesn't hesitate anymore than he does, whirling to face his next opponent. Surprisingly, they don't get in each other's way for all that it's a small, crowded corridor. T'Challa borrows his shoulders once and Erik borrows his back. They stop blows heading for the other when they can and they hold their own when other is too distracted, until the corridor is clear and they moving again.
Going through the vent of course is not the plan. Erik is pretty sure if he tries to fit in there again he'll break something and T'Challa isn't any more streamlined than he is. No, their exit is a side door that they're coming up to pretty quickly.
Two more encounters (and they must finally be running out of people because the groups are smaller this time) and then Erik rips down the door. T'Challa helps him to pry it open and then they're stumbling outside.
The dora are waiting for them, having neutralized their targets relatively quickly and they take T'Challa from him. Three of them also run back inside and Erik follows them. Whoever they meet are dispatched quickly and then they're at the control room. The three dora set to work capturing information and wiping what they can. Keeping Wakanda's involvement a secret is paramount. Whatever footage there is must be wiped. Erik leaves them to it and goes hunting for the next room that Shuri found that was shielded.
It's a bolt hole really and it's where he's sure he'll find the mastermind behind it all. He gets to the main rom and then searches the room for the little space that was hidden here. He uses his memory of the blueprints to target where the room should bee and sure enough, behind a lovely Rembrandt hanging on the wall is a secret door. The look is locked with a keypad, a card and biometrics. Erik smirks and claws his way through the door.
He manages to dodge in time from the electrified shot that comes at him through the hole he's opened up and flings a tiny paperweight through. It hits with a satisfying crack and Erik leisurely gets through the rest of the door to find a middle-aged man blinking dazedly at him. Blood runs down his head form where the paper weight had struck him.
"'Sup?" Erik says and smashes his fist into his face.
He hauls out the man and meets up with another pair of dora milaje who he points back to the room he came from. It's their job to use C4 to hide any incrementing evidence like a door ripped open with panther claws. They probably hate him right now because this is door number three he's given them but he really doesn't care.
He drags out his prize to the ship and throws him inside. T'Challa, sitting inside, lifts a questioning eyebrow.
"Head honcho," Erik says. "Kinda pathetic."
"And not smart enough not to tangle with Wakanda," T'Challa says. He tosses Erik some zip ties and Erik ties the man's hands and legs together and then collapses into eh seat next to T'Challa.
"Well ain't this fun," he says smirking at T'Challa.
"You need to work on your definition of fun cousin," T'Challa says leaning back his head on the headrest.
"And you need to learn the definition of fun," Erik retorts but it's not with too much heat. The adrenaline is still pumping and the satisfaction of the nights work is buoying him up.
In a few minutes there are small bangs coming from the building and then all of the wakandans who are going are back are on board and the ship takes off.
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