20 years ago
Somewhere, South Korea
It was dark as a woman flitted through the shadows, carrying a dark lump close against her chest as she fled deeper into the woods. The woman's long raven hair flew out behind her, but there was an unusual flash whenever the strands caught the moonlight. Almost like they weren't naturally so dark… like they were much lighter underneath the disguise they were wrapped in. The woman's caramel eyes flickered back at the shadows behind her, seeking any signs of movement. But there was nothing, except for the faintest rustle of leaves that could be explained by the wind. But she knew and her nose twitched anxiously while her heart pumped fear through her veins.
Heightening her defenses, she ran on. It was when she was about halfway through the forest that her pursuers finally gave up all pretenses. Engines roared to life as motorcycles and jeeps suddenly shot forward more quickly, and tires crunched fallen leaves, leaving a trail of desecrated corpses smashed into the snow-covered soil. The woman's own steps quickened as she all but flew through the trees, weaving her way through like a gazelle zig-zagging across an African plain. But like any straggler from a herd, she was vulnerable on her own against the pack that chased her. And she knew that too.
As the sounds of her predators came ever closer, the woman suddenly darted into a tight cluster of trees. In the darkest shadows, she dropped to her knees quickly and tucked the child she had carried into the cover of the roots that crawled all around the tree's base like an intricate spider's web. Big amber eyes stared up at her as the little girl tried to reach up toward her mother once more, not understanding why she was being put down.
The woman shook her head quickly and she whispered softly, "Sun-Mi, stay here. Keep your head down and no matter what happens, do not be seen or come out until you are quite certain you are alone. Do you understand?"
"But Mama-" The little girl started to protest, but the woman cut her off sharply.
"No buts."
The little girl flinched and the woman's expression softened. Pressing a quick kiss on her daughter's head, she stroked her child's light hair gently.
"I love you, my darling daughter." The woman whispered before her fingers slipped away from her child reluctantly.
The child watched as her mother took off once again, fleeing into the distance; but not for long. Bright lights flashed and shouts echoed as a swarm of vehicles suddenly broke through the trees and circled the lithe female. The woman was forced to a halt as she was completely surrounded. Guns cocked and engines continued to run even as the vehicles screeched to a halt; and a figure stepped out of one of the jeeps. The man didn't walk too far, staying close to the vehicle he'd exited even as he addressed the woman he had finally caught up with. Almost as though he were afraid of getting too close to her; as though she was the dangerous predator.
Hidden in the shadows, the child watched from through the tree roots where she could just about make out the two figures in the distance. She heard the man call out to the woman, who replied in the same foreign tongue that the child couldn't understand. It sounded like what her mother had started trying to teach her lately (English, or something) but she recognized none of the words being spoken even if she uneasily understood the tone they were spoken in. The man seemed angry and almost afraid; her mother was defiant and sharp.
The young girl watched as the man waved his hand and said something in a curt tone. An ultimatum. Her mother raised her chin and this time the child understood what her mother said.
"No."
As soon as the word left the woman's mouth, everything moved quickly. The man said something; a gun fired and was quickly followed by others. The gunshots seemed to ring in the little girl's sensitive ears. And her eyes went wide with horror as her mother collapsed in a pool of red that stood out starkly against the white snow.
Present
Wakanda
Everett Ross slowly opened his eyes and he blinked against the white light. For a moment, he wondered if he was dead. But no, he didn't think he would end up in heaven - not after all the lives he had taken, whether it was right or not. As his eyes adjusted to the brightness, he realized he was in a medical facility or lab of some sort but he didn't recognize his surroundings. Recalling the agonising pain in his back and Talia's voice crying for him, Everett sat up quickly. He expected some pain as he did. But he felt nothing.
More than a little disconcerted, Everett glanced around quickly. He relaxed a little bit when he spotted the dark-haired figure beside him. Talia was fast asleep in a chair beside him, her head buried in the crook of her elbow as she slept bent over the side of his bed. It was more than just the sight of his adoptive daughter that soothed his nerves. Everett knew Talia would never have fallen asleep, let alone so carelessly while clearly unarmed, unless she felt absolutely safe.
But that still didn't answer where the hell he was.
Looking around again, Everett spotted a slight figure working at a lab table on the other side of this strange new room he found himself in. Getting to his feet, he crossed the room and demanded of the stranger, "Where am I?"
The woman jumped and spun around to face him, revealing a pretty young African woman.
"Don't scare me like that, colonizer!" The girl exclaimed, and Everett frowned.
"Colo-wh-what?" He sputtered before he corrected her, "My name is Everett."
"Yes, I know." The girl answered calmly now that she had gotten over her fright. "Everett Ross, former air force pilot and now CIA. Adoptive father to Talia Ross, formerly called Sun-Mi."
Everett's eyes narrowed; very few people should have had access to that name.
"Right." His unease returning, Everett glanced around again. Taking in the high tech lab and Talia's sleeping form once again, he turned back to the girl and he questioned warily, "Okay, is this Wakanda?"
"No, it's Kansas." The girl deadpanned.
Everett barely refrained from snipping back; instead, he asked with growing concern, "How long ago was Korea?"
"Yesterday."
Everett's eyes narrowed at the girl's blatant lie.
"I don't think so. Bullet wounds don't just magically heal overnight." He retorted, only for the girl to glance at him oddly.
"They do here." She answered with an almost condescending smile; but there was enough pride in her tone and expression that it came across more reverent than she maybe intended. "But not by magic, by technology."
Turning back to whatever it was she was working on, the girl added over her shoulder, "Don't touch anything. My brother will return soon."
Everett wasn't sure who her brother might be, but if she meant T'Challa, he realized he was in greater care than he'd realized. Noticing movement outside the lab's window, Everett moved to peer outside where he could see a wheel-less monorail speeding by inside the mountain cave. His eyes widened.
"These train things… that, that's magnetic levitation, right?" He asked, making the princess glance his way again.
"Obviously."
"Obviously." Everett breathed incredulously before he admitted, "But I've never seen it this… efficient."
The princess smiled slowly and she stood to come over to join him as Everett gestured toward the lights that lined the railways and glowed whenever the monorail passed by.
"The light panels, what are they?"
"Sonic stabilizers." The princess explained and Everett frowned.
"Sonic what?"
The princess grinned and she elaborated, "In its raw form, vibranium is too dangerous to be transported at that speed so I developed a way to temporarily deactivate it."
Everett reared back in shock. "There's vibranium on those trains?"
"There's vibranium all around us." The Wakandan princess revealed before she nodded at him. "That's how I healed you."
At Everett's expression, she laughed. "You look surprised. Don't worry, your daughter looked almost as surprised as you."
"My daughter did?" Everett repeated, taken aback and the princess nodded.
"Yes. She looked around a little while you healed. But she was too worried to stay away too long."
Everett shook his head at that. "I doubt it was because of me. She probably just didn't want to risk being in an unfamiliar environment while unarmed."
"No, she was very worried about you." The princess told him, looking puzzled as to why he would deny it. "She was very upset when you arrived and has hardly left your side since the surgery was completed."
Everett frowned slightly. That didn't sound like Talia at all. As long as he had known her, his adoptive daughter had worked to keep her emotions held closely in check. Only anger or irritation seemed to break through her walls with any frequency, but even that had lessened considerably as she grew older. To hear she was so openly worried that a stranger would notice… Everett felt oddly touched.
Glancing toward his daughter briefly, Everett questioned the Wakandan princess, "How did you know her name? Her Korean- that is, her old name?"
"I looked it up of course." The princess answered like it was perfectly normal to be researching someone's background. Because Everett knew it took more than just a simple search to pull Talia's old name. "You initially registered her under both names when you adopted her eleven years ago, but she changed her name legally to just Talia Ross when she was sixteen."
Everett observed the Wakandan princess silently. Just who were these people that had a mountain full of vibranium and had royalty who managed to crack CIA databases? But he withheld his questions for now as Talia stirred. Her eyes fluttered and focused on the empty bed; he saw her shoulders tense as she glanced around quickly before she relaxed when she saw him standing by the window.
"Dad?" Talia called in a half-wary, half-hopeful tone, and Everett's heart did a little somersault. She hadn't called him that in years; and rarely had it fallen so affectionately (at least, for her) from her lips.
"Hey, darling." Everett gave her a reassuring look and her shoulders lost the tiny bit of tension that they'd still held.
"You know, when they said you'd wake up in twenty-four hours… I didn't fully believe them." Talia admitted as she got to her feet with her typical fluid grace.
Everett shrugged. "I didn't believe her when she told me either."
He gestured to the princess who was watching them with amusement dancing in her dark eyes. Talia's eyes moved to the other young woman and she inclined her head.
"Thank you, Princess."
"No need to be so formal - just call me Shuri." The princess answered with a grin.
Talia nodded, when they were interrupted as Shuri's Kimoyo beads beeped. She held up a finger to the two Americans indicating they should be quiet before she answered the call and a hologram of General Okoye appeared above the communication bead.
"Where is T'Challa?" The general demanded without preamble. "His Kimoyo beads have been switched off."
"Well, we are not joined at the hip, Okoye-" Shuri began with a laugh, but Okoye cut her off sharply.
"A man showed up at the border who claims to have killed Klaue."
"What?"
The smile dropped from Shuri's face at once and incredulity replaced it while Okoye explained in the same sharp tone, "W'Kabi is transporting him, as we speak, to the palace! We need to find your brother."
Shuri shook her head, still hung up on what Okoye had revealed.
"An outsider?" She asked in disbelief even as she pulled up a security image of the man who had appeared at her country's borders.
"No, a Wakandan." Okoye answered.
Except, Talia knew the face that was now magnified on the screen in front of them. As did Everett.
"He's not a Wakandan." Everett informed Shuri. "He's one of ours."
Talia meanwhile continued to stare at the image of the savage brute of a man she had had the fortune of meeting only once before.
"Killmonger." Talia murmured.
Several minutes later
"Erik Stevens." Everett announced while T'Challa stared at the official CIA profile of the man who was headed toward his palace even as they spoke.
"Graduated Annapolis age nineteen, MIT for grad school. Joined the SEALs and went straight to Afghanistan where he wrapped up confirmed kills like it was a video game. Started calling him 'Killmonger'."
Everett flashed up a few additional images for the Wakandan king and princess while Talia watched from the side with her arms folded grimly.
"He joined a JSOC ghost unit; now, these guys are serious. They will drop off the grid so they can commit assassinations and take down governments." Everett finished and T'Challa stroked his chin thoughtfully.
"Did he reveal anything about his identity?" He asked, looking to his sister now for an answer.
But Shuri could only shake her head helplessly.
"He has a War Dog tattoo. But, we have no record of him." She admitted.
T'Challa turned back to stare at the screen, silently putting together the pieces of the puzzle only he had full access to. Grimly, he recalled the face of the man who had broken Klaue out from the South Korean CIA facility that T'Challa had barely caught a glimpse of behind the Dogon mask, and he remembered the truth that Zuri had revealed about T'Challa's deceased uncle and his secret son. T'Challa's cousin. And owner of the only other Wakandan Royal Ring, making him a rightful heir to the Wakandan throne.
May 2016
Berlin, Germany
Everett watched Talia with a frown. She had been odd, to say the least, ever since her return from the disastrous airport battle. This in itself was not strange. Despite having succeeded in arresting several of Steve Rogers' cohorts, including Wanda Maximoff and Clint Barton, the fight had ended with the near fatal injury of Colonel Rhodes and the escape of Rogers himself as well as Bucky Barnes and Arianna Rogers. By all accounts, the mission had been a failure. As General Ross was all too happy to announce repeatedly while he vented his frustrations about Barnes slipping through his fingers.
But Everett was almost certain that there was something else weighing on his daughter's mind. There was a tension in her shoulders and a permanent frown marred her expression when she fell into thought.
As they sat in a security room while agents combed global networks for any hint of where Barnes and Rogers might have gone, Everett finally pulled Talia out into a break room.
"All right, what is it?" Everett asked as soon as they were alone.
"Sir?" Talia asked, looking confused. Everett shook his head.
"Something's been on your mind since you got back."
Her expression closed off slightly, as Everett had come to expect. So he was undeterred as he coaxed, "Come on, you can tell me."
Talia hesitated for a moment, before she finally started to speak.
"It's just… It caught me off guard seeing the Avengers in person, that was all."
At Everett's raised brow, she elaborated albeit slowly. As if she were weighing each of her words carefully.
"They have these… enormous powers. Stark and Wilson, even Barton to some degree, they're at least regular humans. Strip away their tech and their weapons, and they're more or less harmless."
She hesitated.
"But the others… I thought I understood what I was up against with Rogers and Barnes. Supersoldiers are not that far off from superhumans. If anything, they are… less super. That is, they are without powers. And that makes them still manageable. But… Wanda Maximoff? Vision? They aren't limited, not the way humans are."
Everett was starting to see where Talia was going with all this but he let her continue, knowing she needed to put into words her emotions. Her fear.
"They're dangerous, but there's nothing we can do against them. Maximoff took people out like flies with just a flick of her fingers. And if she wanted, I think she could have taken us all out like how she did with the Avengers last year. And then, Vision accidentally almost killed Colonel Rhodes - entirely by mistake. What if he wanted to hurt someone? He has the power of Loki's scepter, who knows what that means. And if he wanted to use it against us, or worse, if he lost control..."
She trailed off. When Talia failed to speak for a good two minutes, Everett finished for her.
"You're afraid of what they are capable of. As you fear what you might be capable of."
Talia turned her head away but her agreement seemed to fill the air between them. Everett leant back and crossed his arms thoughtfully across his chest.
"You know, Tal, it's not power we should fear."
She glanced at him with a flicker of surprise and Everett elaborated, "It's not how much power someone has that's ever the issue. Kingdoms, governments, corporations - they can only grow with power, and it's the same with people. And ultimately what brings all of that down is not power, but the lack of control and supervision and greed for more."
Talia stood for a moment in thoughtful silence. And then she finally nodded, her shoulders easing at last.
"I understand, sir."
Present
Wakanda
She was pacing again. Everett watched Talia wearily as she walked ten steps exactly in each direction before spinning on her heel and walking back the way she came like she was determined to wear a perfect line into the floor.
"Talia." Everett finally called. "Sit down, you're starting to make me feel dizzy."
Talia stopped, but she didn't sit. Instead, she turned on her father with a clenched jaw that barely moved as she all but hissed through her teeth.
"We're being held here for who knows how long. On top of that, Killmonger is here. Why would he come here of all places? He had to know about Wakanda's stash of vibranium, there's no other reason a former JSOC agent would seek out an apparent farming country. And he comes with Klaue's body, mere hours after Klaue was broken out of our custody by unknown forces? It's all too big of a coincidence."
Everett refrained from letting out a weary sigh.
"I know all that too, don't you think I've thought the same?"
"Did you also see T'Challa's expression when he was told Killmonger had a War Dog tattoo?" Talia demanded in agitation as she started to pace again. "The king knows something about Killmonger and his motives, something he's not telling us."
This time, Everett did exhale deeply. While she was raising valid points, he knew the real reason his daughter was so on edge. And because he knew, he treaded lightly as he began to speak.
"I know you hate being back in Africa. But T'Challa and these guys, they're different."
"Not so different." Talia shot back as she stopped in front of Shuri's workstation once again. "The princess called you 'colonizer'."
Everett shook his head. "We owe the Wakandan King, Talia. He saved my life, risking all of this in the process."
He waved his hand vaguely to indicate the opulence they were sitting in.
"What happened to not trusting anyone in this line of work?" Talia sniped.
"I don't trust them, yet. But this isn't about trust, is it?" Everett retorted. Talia turned her head away angrily but Everett warned her gently, "You have to let go of your anger. Life isn't meant to be lived alone or filled with hatred."
Talia appeared to ignore him as she glanced over Shuri's high-tech computer. Everett knew she was too stubborn to listen in her current mood so he let the subject drop. Even if he didn't think it was healthy. But sitting in the middle of potential enemy grounds was not the best time to create discord either.
Talia meanwhile brushed some keys absently as she bit back her frustrations, when something on the screen caught her eye. A document had been brought up as a result of her absent actions. The whole thing was written in Xhosa, which might have been why Shuri had left her notes so unguarded. But Talia could distinctly see amongst other things, the words 'James Barnes' written right in the middle.
"Uh… sir?"
Everett looked over at Talia curiously at her tone.
"What is it?" He asked. In answer, Talia pointed to the screen.
May 2016
Berlin, Germany
Their plan was in shambles, like a large segment of the airport was now. Rogers's team had all gathered out on the runway, racing toward the hangar where Stark's team had hidden the quinjet earlier. Talia grimaced - she should have known that was what Rogers was after from the start. It explained why his team were all scattered, other than the obvious tactic that splitting up meant it was harder for them to be caught at once.
Luckily (or not?) it was at that moment that he decided to appear. Vision. So aptly named because he was born of several visions not the least being one of the God of Thunder's. But Talia had read his file too in preparation for meeting the Avengers when Barnes had bombed the UN. And she had to admit, if there was one person on the Avengers team she feared most, it was this android (and maybe Maximoff) that no one really knew anything about besides his origin. And as Talia believed she was testament of, origins often meant very little in defining someone.
Still, he added one more to their headcount as Stark's team managed to get assembled across from Rogers's team. Rogers and his crew had been delayed thanks to Vision arriving before they could make it more than halfway across the airport runway to the quinjet. And so now they stood, seven against six, across from the literal line separating them thanks to Vision scorching the airway in front of Rogers' side.
Unfortunately, the odds didn't deter Rogers in the slightest. Instead, after a moment of staring at each other from across the line, the captain strode forward. His team quickly fell into line behind him while Talia's jaw clenched with answering determination.
"This is gonna end well." Romanoff muttered from beside her shortly before their side started forward as well.
Across from them, Maximoff took to the air to face off against Vision while the others steadily picked up the pace. Talia matched her pace to theirs, as did the rest of her side.
Only Spider-Man seemed alarmed as he called anxiously, "They're not stopping."
"Neither are we." Stark replied grimly.
With that, he and Rhodey also took to the sky and Sam opened his wings to meet them. And then Iron Man smashed his fist down on Captain America's shield, and the duel of the century started with a vengeance.
Present
Wakanda
Talia and Everett were still gathered around his former bed, absorbed in quiet conversation, when Nakia burst into the room.
"What's wrong?" Everett asked, both he and Talia instantly on alert as they registered the woman's grim determination which did nothing to hide her pain.
"The king is dead." Nakia announced, stunning both Americans. She flung two blankets at the pair. "Come with me, unless you want to join him."
Talia and Everett didn't hesitate. Throwing the cloth over their heads, they quickly followed their saviour out the door even as their heads reeled with the news. T'Challa was dead. How? Talia's blood chilled in her veins as the answer easily came to her.
Killmonger.