PANTHER AND SPIDER
by Gunman
Disclaimer: I do not own Evangelion, Black Panther, Kid Arachnid, or their related characters.
Summary: Shinji Ikari and his best friend Miles Morales join forces to stop a new threat to their world.
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The Avengers Quinjet flew through the air, high above the tree-tops of the African jungle.
"Get ready." Captain America shouted. "We're almost there."
The dark-garbed cat-man was poised and ready. His muscles coiled as if ready to strike.
"You know, you would think that people would stop trying to invade Wakanda. AIM, Hydra, and just about everyone under the sun has tried and failed." Hawkeye said as he piloted the ship.
"Even Dr. Doom knows better than to try something this reckless." Wasp said.
"That's because he has a trade agreement with Wakanda and Symkaria." Iron Man said.
"ETA to drop zone: 20 seconds!" Black Widow shouted from the cockpit.
Night Panther took a deep breath before crossing his arms and stepping up to the ship's human-bomb hatch. A silly name, but Iron Man did have a penchant for naming things.
"We're directly over target!" Black Widow shouted.
"Go, Go, Go!" Captain America shouted.
Night Panther let himself drop out through the hatch.
"Package away!" Ant-Man shouted.
The dark-garbed cat-man landed soundlessly in the jungle, quickly leaping from tree branch to tree branch, watching and listening to everything and anything around him.
He quickly came to the campsite, where the mercenary force known as The White Gorillas, led by the imposing brute called M'Baku the man-ape, were making preparations to deliver their cargo to their newest employers.
M'Baku was worried, though. They were very close to Wakandan territory. While he wasn't all that worried about T'Challa, he was concerned about losing their cargo. The Panther had a talent for disrupting his activities. He had defeated T'Challa before, but that was one time, and he had several of his White Gorillas, and Klaw, with him as back-up. 20-to-1 odds were not good, even if The Black Panther was one of the most formidable and capable warriors in the world. M'Baku had also brought with him a special sonic-weapon to use against T'Challa, and it had worked, albeit for a brief moment.
That victory, however, had been short-lived, as The Avengers soon arrived and pushed back the White Gorillas and Klaw, allowing T'Challa to once again challenge the Man-Ape and defeat him.
But no, M'Baku wasn't worried about T'Challa, it was this other Panther he had heard about. This... Night Panther! He didn't know who this new Panther was, and that put him at a disadvantage.
"Where is Fooma?" M'Baku suddenly asked one of his men. "He's been gone a while."
"Securing the cargo, sir." the White Gorilla merc said.
"Go check on him. The buyer will be here soon." the Man-Ape ordered.
"Yes, sir."
While the mercenary went back to the largest truck, he found himself pausing when he noticed that something was amiss. Fooma was nowhere to be found.
"Fooma? Fooma! Where are you?" the merc asked as he flipped open the flap to the truck and saw Fooma lying inside, unconscious and tied up, and the cargo missing. "Oh, hell-ACK!" he cried out as his head was suddenly pushed into the side of the truck by an unseen force.
Night Panther appeared behind the man as three children appeared from underneath the truck. He put his finger up to his mouth, making sure they understood to be quiet, as they moved into the jungle.
"SIR! THE CARGO IS ESCAPING!" a shout from one of the mercenaries sounded.
Night Panther turned towards the mercenary as he ushered the children, two boys and a girl, into the nearby forest. He quickly raced to the side of a nearby truck, as the merc raced to the other side to try and cut him off. However, the Panther had disappeared.
"What?" he gasped as he looked around and was suddenly punched in the face, dropping to the ground. Unconscious.
Night Panther de-cloaked and looked around, seeing several other White Gorilla mercs advancing on him. The cat-man crouched down and then sprang into the air. He leapt up onto the truck and then leapt down at the mercs.
Night Panther was not one to just hurl himself into a fire fight as if he thought himself invincible. No, his plan was much simpler. Attack from above in the dim-light of the night.
The mercs shouted in pain as they were punched, kicked and slashed by what they thought was 'the night'.
Night Panther then turned to see the large and imposing Man-Ape standing over him. He stared down at the Panther as if analyzing him.
"Are you The Black Panther, or this new Night Panther I have heard about?" the Man-Ape demanded.
Night Panther said nothing.
"You do not speak? It matters little. I'll tear your head off." M'Baku growled as he advanced on the Panther.
Night Panther stepped to the side as casually deflected the charging Man-Ape. M'Baku groaned as he stood up and charged again, swinging wildly at the Panther, who suddenly disappeared from sight. M'Baku then felt a series of strikes on his arms and legs, before Night Panther appeared before him and delivered a series of uppercuts that connected to M'Baku's face. His claws penetrated the thick hide of his White Gorilla outfit, and into his skin. He then leapt into the air and threw a strong kick to the Man-Ape's head, striking his ear and stunning his equilibrium enough to allow the Panther to throw a roundhouse kick that knocked M'Baku to the ground.
The Night Panther then pulled out something from his belt, a small injector of sorts, and jabbed it into M'Baku's neck.
The Man-Ape was out like a light.
Without saying a word, The Night Panther went back to his intended targets.
The two boys and one girl emerged from the forest, relieved that they had been rescued.
"He saved us! The Black Panther saved us!" the taller of the two boys shouted happily.
The Panther could have corrected him, but thought better of disappointing him, or scaring him if he knew the truth.
The group looked up and saw a strange transport ship appear overhead and land near them. They were relieved when they saw a pair of female warriors, the Dora Milaje, approach them.
"You are safe. Your families have been worried." Okoye said to the children.
The other Dora Milaje, Nakia, smiled at The Night Panther.
"Excellent work. The transport is waiting." she said to the Panther.
Night Panther ushered the three children towards the transport, as the two Dora Milaje flanked them.
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(Royal Palace of Wakanda)
The Night Panther escorted the three children into the main throne room, the pair of female Wakandan warriors behind them, where T'Challa was seated on his throne, and several tribal leaders stood around the room.
Immediately, the children rushed away from the Panther and into the arms of their parents, who were overjoyed to see them.
T'Challa smiled as he stepped down from his throne to greet The Panther as the parents hugged and kissed their children.
"Was there any trouble?" T'Challa asked The Panther.
"No, sire. The young heirs to the tribal chiefs are unharmed." Night Panther said in a hushed tone.
"Disgraceful. That M'Baku would try to sell them off to some terrorist group just to make a profit. Or worse, to try and get them on their side, against Wakanda." T'Challa groused.
"He and his mercenaries have been dealt with. The Avengers will assure he is transferred to Wakanda for... punishment."
"Thank you, my friend." T'Challa said as he placed his hand on Night Panther's shoulder with a smile. "Again, you have proven your worth."
"Thank you, your highness." Night Panther said with a bow to the Wakandan king before turning around and walking out of the throne room.
As the Panther strode out of the throne room, one of the children turned to watch him leave.
"Papa. I am confused. I thought King T'Challa was the Black Panther." one of the children asked his father, who was overjoyed to see him alive.
"He is." the tribal chieftain said to the boy.
"Then... who rescued us?" he asked.
"He is called The Night Panther. Trained by T'Challa himself."
The boy watched The Panther walk out of the large throne room until he was gone from sight. He wondered, would he see him again.
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(New York City, two hours later)
Night Panther stepped into his personal quarters at the Avengers Tower and removed his helmet, which revealed himself to be a young Japanese man with short brown hair and blue eyes. He looked to be about 21 years of age, and had a couple small scars on his left cheek. The scars on his body, however, were slightly more extensive.
Shinji Ikari just looked at himself in the mirror, barely recognizing himself any more.
He was taller and more muscular than he had been when he arrived in this universe.
He was also more 'mature' and adult, something that he seemed upset about. Like he had lost his childhood a second time.
Shinji had arrived in this universe about three years ago, and phased through the heroic Avenger called Black Panther, gaining not only his strength and skill but also his intellect and knowledge. He also physically aged to 17 years from 14 years of age. Which everyone thought was odd.
T'Challa, the hereditary king of Wakanda and the current Black Panther, took this as a sign. He gave Shinji Wakandan citizenship and personally trained him for an entire year, before giving Shinji his place on the Avengers team. This freed up more time for T'Challa to take care of his people.
Shinji had been educated not only in the many fighting styles that T'Challa had learned, but was also taught the history of Wakanda, its people, and what it meant to be a Panther.
Now at the age of 21, Shinji had become a full-fledged member of the Avengers, and he hoped a good substitute for the Black Panther.
Having gained all of his skills and abilities from T'Challa, Shinji was naturally overwhelmed by what he was now capable of. It took T'Challa a full year to effectively train the young man in how to master his new skills.
As Night Panther, Shinji possessed enhanced senses, greater than normal clarity and could see farther than a normal human. His vision even extended into the ultraviolet and infrared areas of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing him to see in near-total darkness, and retain the same level of clarity. His hearing was similarly enhanced, enabling him to detect sounds normal humans couldn't, and even hear at much greater distances. He also found that he could discern the difference between thousands of scents, even recognize people and objects by scent, even if they were hidden. He was taught to track a target by scent and to their exact location, he could even smell fear and detect if someone was lying by change in body odor. His sense of taste was also enhanced, which Shinji enjoyed since it helped in his cooking. Which Shinji found a relaxing hobby.
Shinji was trained to be a master tactician, strategist, hunter, tracker, marksman and even found that he could speak dozens of different languages with ease.
But Shinji had also gained an enhanced intellect as well from T'Challa. The Wakanda King was a polymath genius and had an eidetic memory. Shinji wasn't stupid, he just never had anyone to teach or encourage or even challenge him. (Something he was sure his father had planned to make him weak)
T'Challa was considered one of the eight smartest people on Earth, possessing accomplishments such as a PhD in physics from Oxford University, and was able to combine alchemy with science to create a new scientific field called Shadow Physics, a dangerous discipline which he created mostly to track Vibranium on a quantum level, craft weapons which would be specifically effective against Vibranium and was useful in creating an unstable teleportation device, which at the time of its creation could rip apart anyone who didn't have an enhanced healing ability.
This was something that Shinji was working on in his spare time to fix.
T'Challa's genius enabled him to create any kind of device with special properties when needed. He could also duplicate any other technology after learning how they work or just by glancing at the designs.
But it was his physical abilities that shocked and amazed Shinji more so than anything else. Mostly because he had been considered a weak and scrawny teenage boy.
He was now able to dead-lift approximately 800 lbs. with ease. He would run at 40 mph, was able to attack faster than the human eye could track, which was especially useful at night. His stamina enabled him to exert himself at peak capacity for several hours before fatigue toxins began to build up, though his body could eliminate said toxins at a faster rate than a normal human being.
He found that he was far tougher than a normal human being, but he could still be hurt. Therefore, he realized the importance of speed and agility. Even though his healing abilities were also now higher than normal, he wasn't reckless with his new abilities.
His agility, balance, flexibility, dexterity and bodily coordination were enhanced to level superior to any Olympic-level athletes, or even that of certain Super Soldiers. As such his reflexes were also enhanced, enabling him to dodge multiple gunfire with ease.
And then there were the fighting skills. T'Challa had been groomed as a warrior from birth. He was an expert in practically all forms of armed and unarmed combat, and a master of all martial arts, including from Africa and dozens of other countries.
Shinji was shown videos of T'Challa's battles against various opponents such as Captain America, Daredevil and even Wolverine. While Shinji didn't have any foreknowledge of these people, he was nevertheless impressed with the Wakandan King's fighting abilities. To make sure he was worthy of these new abilities, Shinji trained hard with both T'Challa and members of his personal guard, The Dora Milaje.
Shinji had removed his suit and placed it on the small hook and stand that he used to keep them and his weapons well maintained.
Stark had been kind enough to equip Shinji's room with a small lab and maintenance station so that Shinji wouldn't have to keep going back to Wakanda to get it repaired.
Though some of the Avengers, especially Black Widow, did warn Shinji that this was mostly so that Stark could keep tabs on him and his Wakandan tech. Something that Stark adamantly denied.
The suit itself was the latest creation from Wakanda. The lenses of the mask cut glare and enhanced the Panther's natural night vision, and allowed him to see in infra-red and other visual spectrums. It was made of a Vibranium Microweave Mesh, that rob incoming objects of their momentum. Bullets didn't ricochet off, but simply fall to the ground when they hit his suit. This also meant that the Panther couldn't be stabbed, unless the attacker slashed along the uniform's grain.
The claws in the gloves are made from specialized 'Anti-Metal' that can break down basically all metals at the molecular level.
The special Energy-Dampening Boots enabled the Panther to land soundlessly without any injury from heights of 50 feet, which is a result of special energy regulators which create varying fields from the Vibranium in the molded soles of the boots.
Shinji found that, given enough momentum, he could also scale walls or skim across water. The field can be also used offensively to shatter or weaken objects, or defensively to rob incoming objects of their momentum. Shinji had seen a video of a monster throwing a car at The Black Panther who used his boots to stop the car from crushing him when he kicked at it.
Shinji had been so impressed that he found a secondary hobby trying to enhance this technology for use in various defensive measures.
This suit also came equipt with a special cloaking device that temporarily bent light around him and enabled him to become completely invisible.
Though this was a prototype device that T'Challa and his sister, Shuri, had recently developed.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Shinji opened the door to reveal a tall and athletic figure in a black suit with red webbing around his head, shoulders and chest, and a pair of white lenses staring back at him.
"Miles!" Shinji smiled.
"Hey, dude! What's up!" Kid Arachnid said as he bumped fists with the Panther warrior.
The pair bumped fists as Shinji let the current webslinger into his room.
"Heard about your mission to Africa. Wish I could have gone." Miles said as he removed his mask to reveal an African/Hispanic teenager with short black hair and eyes.
"Well, someone had to take care of Peter's rogues since he went missing." Shinji said as he went back to his worktable.
"Yeah, but it's not the same as keeping the peace in the world."
"It wasn't that glamourous."
Shinji and Miles had become friends two years ago. Shinji was still being trained on how to be a Panther from T'Challa and the Dora Milaje, and Miles had just gained his spider-powers and was being educated by Peter Parker, the Spider-Man. They pair met about a year later during a cross-dimensional crisis, in which an evil team of Avengers lead by an evil version of Iron Man were attempting to conquer other dimensions and extend their rule.
This evil team of Avengers, however, hadn't counted on Night Panther or Kid Arachnid being there to help the hero Avengers in defending their realm. Even with an army of Ultron-like drones and some of the worst weapons one could imagine.
Since then the pair had been best friends, even with the obvious age-gap which no one seemed to mind all that much.
Shinji was now 21 years of age and Miles was fast approaching his 18th birthday.
The pair had proven to be an effective team against all kinds of threats and villains.
This was especially true when Peter Parker mysteriously disappeared and essentially left the city of New York to Miles to protect.
And like Miles, Shinji had inherited his own Rogues from T'Challa.
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(Alternate Plane of Existence)
The two gods were sitting quietly and playing what appeared to be Chess.
Bast the panther god, is one of the Ennead, the child of Ra himself, and one of the elder Gods of Africa.
Anansi the spider god is one of the Vodu, a race of extra-dimensional beings still worshiped by the tribes of Africa as Gods and by modern-day practitioners of Alton tradition.
"I have to say, our champions are doing well." Bast said to her friend.
"You had doubts?" Anansi lightly ribbed.
"I had doubts that Shinji Ikari would accept his role and live up to his potential."
Anansi nodded his head.
"True. The boy has been through a lot before coming to this universe. But T'Challa and Peter have been a great help to the boy. And now we have a new Spider in Miles."
"Yes, the two have proven to be quite the team."
Bast and Anansi laughed when they realized that Hela would be completely and totally upset having lost one of her best warriors.
Hrimhari, descended from the Great Wolf Fenris, had the power to shape-shift into a full wolf or a wolfman.
He and the mutant Rahne Sinclair (Wolfsbane) had a brief but passionate relationship and she ended up pregnant with his unborn child. But when Hrimhari made a deal with Hela to save Rahne's life, he was bound to her undead army as one of her warriors. The Avengers and the X-Men were able to free Hrimhari from Hela, by offering up the soul of another unique individual: Aleksei Sytsevich, a.k.a. The Rhino, when he was impaled by a Vibranium Dual Blade wielded by one of T'Challa's Dora Milaje bodyguards, and Shinji made him an offer, to take Hrimhari's place in Hela's army and thus live. Hela accepted the much stronger Aleksei and exchanged Hrimhari for him.
Aleksei didn't like the deal at first, but eventually became one of Hela's chief enforcers. A position he considered a great honor.
Hrimhari and Rahne were grateful to Shinji and Miles, though they did complain that their reunion was brought upon by a cat and a spider.
"I only hope that they are ready for what is to come." Anansi said.
"So do I." Bast said with a small sigh.
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Authors Notes:
Just a little something I wrote up in response to the new Black Panther movie that comes out today.
Hope everyone likes it and leaves a review or two.
I haven't thought beyond this idea, so any suggestions are welcome.