Present
Wakanda
Despite their joy at T'Challa's recovery, the weight of their situation couldn't be held at bay for long. It was therefore a much grimmer group who gathered in the centre of M'Baku's throne room as Nakia reported to a warmly wrapped up T'Challa.
"Killmonger has the full support of our military. And…" her voice wavered for only a second, "he burned the garden of the Heart-Shaped Herb."
T'Challa's brows furrowed before he glanced to the side as Everett piped up, "Of course he did. That's what he was trained to do."
At T'Challa's questioning look, Everett stepped forward and he elaborated, "His unit used to work with the CIA to destabilize foreign countries. They would always strike at transitions of power, like an election year or the death of a monarch. You get control of the government, the military..."
"Our resources." T'Challa breathed.
Everett nodded. "Right."
"The Great Mound." T'Challa murmured, looking to Shuri next. His sister nodded.
"Our vibranium, all of my designs."
T'Challa's mind was clearly already moving quickly as he worked out Killmonger's plans. "He will send our weapons all over the world."
Rising to his feet, T'Challa looked at Nakia again.
"You must get them out of Wakanda safely."
"What?!" Ramonda cut in sharply while Shuri's jaw dropped.
"What about you?" She demanded of her brother incredulously. T'Challa shook his head.
"The challenge will have to continue."
Ramonda strode forward then. "T'Challa, we will not leave Wakanda."
"It is my duty to keep you safe." T'Challa reminded his mother, only for Shuri to cut in.
"If he gets control of our technology, nowhere will be safe." Shuri pointed out.
She then reached into her pocket and from beneath the blanket she still had wrapped around her shoulders, she drew out a thin black necklace with silver claws dangling all around the edges. Talia recognized it from the neck outline on T'Challa's Black Panther suit and somehow she knew it was his suit. As soon as T'Challa saw what his sister had managed to smuggle out from her lab, he smiled triumphantly. There was also a level of fondness in his expression as he accepted the necklace his sister placed over his head.
Shuri stepped back with a satisfied smile as she looked from the necklace armour to her brother with determination shining in her eyes.
"The Black Panther lives. And when he fights for the fate of Wakanda, I will be right there beside him." She said firmly.
T'Challa smiled at his sister's bravery before his eye was drawn to his lover as Nakia stepped up next.
"As will I." Nakia swore.
"We're in, too."
The Wakandans looked over at Talia in surprise. The woman herself remained rather expressionless but Everett looked almost amused as he gave them a wry grin from beside his daughter.
"What? You're gonna need all the help you can get." Everett pointed out.
T'Challa slowly smiled back, but the moment was ruined by a loud yawn from behind them.
"Are you done?" M'Baku demanded, staring at the group with a rather unimpressed expression.
"Are-are you done?"
Talia felt her annoyance flare and she did nothing to hide it as she shot the Great Gorilla a dirty look that he returned. But T'Challa was much more neutral as he requested of the group at large, "Could you give me and Lord M'Baku a moment?"
There was a pause before everyone left, some more reluctantly than others. Talia was all too happy to get away from M'Baku, whom she had a feeling she was never going to see eye to eye with - or like, period. Still, even she couldn't deny that they needed him and only T'Challa had any hope of swaying the isolated lord.
Once they'd left the throne room, the group drifted slightly apart. Nakia remained close to the doors, waiting for T'Challa, while Ramonda and Shuri moved toward the far side of the corridor where a window looked out over the snowy mountain side they were perched atop. Talia and Everett remained somewhere in the middle when Everett touched his daughter's shoulder and drew her aside. Talia followed him easily as Everett drew them against the far wall to get in a private word with her before what was surely going to be a civil war.
"You do know you don't have to come with, right?" Everett asked. Talia snorted.
"As if I would leave you on your own." She hesitated before adding slowly, "Besides, it's… the right thing to do."
Everett glanced at Talia.
"Now, how difficult was it for you to say that? Honestly?" He teased and Talia scoffed.
"I always do the right thing."
"But you don't always jump into things you should."
Talia's expression shifted slightly, growing a fraction darker. Everett noticed, but before he could comment on it or potentially apologize for hitting a little below the belt, Talia spoke briskly.
"Well, I can't ignore things this time. Especially not when a world-wide war is at stake."
Everett nodded. He couldn't help but think he should point out that Talia was purposefully avoiding the main point of his statement; that she was intently ignoring the elephant in the room. But as he had for the last 7 years, Everett just sighed to himself and let the subject go. He suspected that with prolonged exposure to T'Challa and the other Wakandans, Talia was going to finally learn to harness her powers and actually use them. He hoped as he watched Talia stare into space with grim determination that this war would finally be the turning point for her to stop running from herself. That was, if they didn't all die first.
That thought dimmed Everett's mood and he cleared his throat, catching Talia's attention again. She gazed at him with curious, light brown eyes and Everett peered down at his daughter seriously.
"You know I love you, right? That no matter what, you're my daughter?"
Surprise flickered over Talia's face before she ducked her head in embarrassment. This was nothing new to Everett. Talia had always been very shy in the face of his honest feelings, not that he shared them often. Or perhaps, that was why she never seemed to grow out of her awkwardness when he did express how much he cared about the girl he'd taken in at first out of pity and then grown to genuinely love. Either way, her silence was as unsurprising to him as her insistence on calling him 'sir' most of the time.
But Everett was in for a surprise as Talia suddenly squared her shoulders, lifted her head to meet his gaze head-on, and with only the faintest pinkish hue about her pale cheeks, said, "I love you too… dad."
Everett's mouth parted in shock despite himself as he stared at his daughter. Her courage seemed to flee then and her head dropped again as her cheeks flamed with embarrassment. So Talia missed the wide smile that stretched across Everett's face as her words - the first time she'd ever said them to him - sank in.
Knowing she was unlikely to say it again (at least, not anytime soon) and that it was likely her own worry about what the day would bring that had driven Talia to finally express her heart, Everett simply wrapped his arm around Talia's shoulder. She fell into his embrace willingly and Everett squeezed her against his side as he murmured softly, "Thanks, Tal."
November 2009
Los Angeles, USA
What was supposed to be a fun Thanksgiving trip had turned into utter pandemonium and Everett had never wished more to be back in New York than he did at that moment. An iron suit or something was flying about fighting a giant robotic machine in the streets of LA outside Stark Industries. Meanwhile, people were running around screaming as the two metal men dueled, sending cars flying and causing minor explosions that erupted into flames that licked anything and everything in reach.
Unlike the general public, however, Everett was running not away from but toward the fight. And for once, it was not because of his job; instead, his eyes searched wildly for the sixteen year old girl he'd lost somewhere in the ensuing chaos.
"Talia!" Everett yelled, hoping she would be able to hear him with her superior hearing. He himself could barely hear his own voice amidst the screams and cries of the crowd around him.
Everett, pushed through another couple people as he searched again and again for that familiar face he'd grown accustomed to seeing across his dinner table over the last few years.
Talia had become an unexpected constant in his life after their impossible meeting during a short mission he'd been on in South Africa. Once she'd calmed down from the traumatic experience, Talia had confirmed the lack of any other family as her parents had run away in their youth to get married during a time when interracial marriages had still been highly frowned upon in South Africa. At first, he'd taken her in out of pity. Here was a supernatural girl with no parents after clearly having lost her birth parents as well. But it was only now as Everett faced the very real possibility that Talia was among the dead lying on the streets that he realized just how much he'd come to love the somewhat withdrawn but bluntly honest girl.
And if he lost her now…
"TALIA!"
Still, there was no answer; but now, as he got closer to the edge of the duel, there were less and less people. And at last, he spied dark brown hair near a dark alleyway. Everett ran toward the alley, praying and hoping it was his daughter. But his heart almost stopped when he recognized Talia lying in a heap at the edge of what had clearly been a miniature explosion site.
"Talia!" He screamed as he pushed himself faster toward his daughter sprawled over a man on the ground - a stranger.
There was blood all over her and at first, Everett feared the worst; then he saw her shoulders moving and realized she was shaking as she bent over the stranger.
"Talia?"
Everett slowed, his fears subsiding slightly as he realized his daughter was at least alive but he had no idea what she was doing over the strange man. Talia lifted her head and Ross's heart clenched when he saw she was crying uncontrollably. Never had he seen her like this since her adoptive parents' death.
"Tal-?"
"I killed him." Talia croaked out, before she wailed in despair. "I killed him! I didn't mean to - but I killed him!"
Everett could only stare as Talia broke down. His brain was trying to make sense of her words as they collided with and contradicted what his eyes were telling him.
His eyes took in the copious amounts of blood that streaked Talia's whole front and his mind screamed that she needed a hospital immediately. The largest injury appeared to be a head wound under her hair as he saw tracks of blood going from above her hairline and down the side of her face. He also suspected her flesh must be torn along her ribs as the blood smeared across her shirt seemed to originate from that point although he couldn't see an actual wound at the moment. All of this, his mind told him, said Talia should be barely breathing: and yet, she sat perfectly upright as if she were right as rain aside from her terrified panic as she bent over the strange man.
Unlike Talia, the man looked completely uninjured despite the blood that was smeared across the side of his face and across the front of his shirt. Talia's blood, Everett guessed as his eyes flickered over the matching pattern on Talia's shirt and the blood stained on her hands that she had apparently wiped across the man's face. Looking back at the man again, Everett couldn't put it together. Talia looked like she should be on the brink of death, not the stranger. In fact, if not for the man's grey complexion, Everett would have even thought he was sleeping. It was like he'd suddenly dropped dead of a heart attack or something, with no outward signs as to the cause of his death.
"Tal, what do you mean?" Everett asked at last. "Are you okay? You look like you've just brushed against death, how could you have possibly hurt-?"
"I didn't mean to."
Talia sobbed, curling in on herself in a manner Everett had come to realize meant she was deep in self-loathing.
"He was only trying to help me; and I killed him."
Present
Wakanda
Talia ducked low as she followed Nakia and Shuri deeper into the Great Mound while Everett came up behind her as T'Challa created a distraction outside. A very loud, grand distraction, she might add.
At least it had worked and all the focus had turned quickly toward the Wakandan King, giving them the window of opportunity they needed. And they needed everything they could get, especially since they didn't have M'Baku's help. Talia scowled at the mere thought before she forced her focus back on her task. And as all the guards ran out at Killmonger's orders, the four slipped into Shuri's lab unnoticed.
As soon as they were safely inside, they dropped the colourful blankets they had wrapped around their heads and shoulders in disguise. Everett and Talia shrugged further out of the black balaclavas they had worn to disguise their lighter skin while Shuri unearthed the weapons she had kept hidden in her kinetic sand storage. Luckily, it seemed no one had had the time to figure out how to steal her latest designs and Shuri handed Nakia a pair of ring blades even as she spoke to Everett.
"Nakia and I will get control of the Royal Talon with this." She held up a small device she'd picked up from her tools before tucking it into her pocket.
"So what do I do?" Everett asked blankly as Shuri moved around the storage table.
"You'll have to fly it." Shuri answered grimly, pushing a beaded bracelet like the ones all the Wakandans had worn onto Everett's wrist.
"What?" Everett gaped.
"You were a great pilot." Shuri pointed out as she grabbed some tiny dots and passed them around to the wider group. "Don't worry, I'll guide you through it."
Talia took the dot and, after glancing at Nakia for guidance, she pressed it to the point just behind her ear. Her brow shot up as the comm unit instantly connected - it seemed wonders would never cease when it came to the advancement of Wakandan technology. Shuri meanwhile was still comforting Everett's nerves.
"It's just like riding a Hoverbike."
Both Talia and Everett paused and then turned to stare at Shuri.
"What? You guys have hoverbikes?" Everett asked but Shuri was already moving on.
She handed Talia, who had picked up a couple throwing knives (the only weapons she was familiar with from the available spread), a spear-shaped blaster before gesturing to two sets of red clothing that looked not unlike the Dora Milaje's uniform.
"Hey, Nakia, take that. Talia, you should be able to fit into that second one." She instructed.
Talia grabbed the outfit but Nakia resisted. "I'm not a Dora."
"Just put it on, it's armour!" Shuri replied in exasperation. Nakia made an irritable face and Talia noticed.
"Better than being stabbed." Talia shrugged.
"Barely." Nakia grumbled but she grabbed the armour Shuri had indicated.
Shuri was already running out of the lab, her arms full with her own armour and gauntlets, and she yelled over her shoulder, "Good luck, Agent Ross!"
"Yeah, I don't know what I'm doing-" He started in protest but Nakia called over him as she dashed out behind Shuri.
"We're counting on you!"
"Don't worry, sir, you'll do fine. It's like firing a gun - it'll come back to you under pressure." Talia patted Everett's shoulder before she also raced out behind the other two women.
Everett grimaced as he was left alone and he looked around the lab that suddenly looked so much bigger than it had before.
"Great."
May 2016
Berlin, Germany
Talia slowly regained consciousness only to grimace as she felt like a hammer was whacking her skull like an anvil. Shaking her head, Talia groaned as she forced herself up onto her knees. Slowly, the pain in her head subsided and she became aware of a commotion around her while Colonel Rhodes' voice sounded faintly in her ear.
Lifting her head and trying to clear the last of the ringing in her ear, Talia paused at the sight that met her eyes. For a moment, she was sure the whack to her head had made her very, very loopy. Because the small guy who she thought was called Scott… had gotten big. He had gotten very, very big.
She realized she wasn't hallucinating when she heard Rhodes's voice in her earpiece. "Tiny dude is big now. He's big now."
It was only as she heard the man's voice that she realized War Machine was caught in the now not-so-tiny man's grasp. It seemed he was unable to pull himself free as the, for lack of a better word, Giant Man waved him around like he was a dragonfly in a child's grasp.
"Give me back my Rhodey." Stark ordered as he stared up at the scene before him. Only to be knocked off his feet once again as Sam charged him while Giant Man tossed Rhodey away like he was an annoying flea.
"I got him!" Spider-Man yelled as he chased after Rhodey to save him from crashing into an airplane.
The now giant meanwhile didn't stop there as he kicked a passenger bus, sending it crashing back where it barely avoided flattening T'Challa when Vision appeared to blast the vehicle in half. Talia meanwhile avoided being the next victim as Giant Man broke off the wing of a nearby plane and swung it at her. She ducked as she skidded across the asphalt, just managing to keep her head still attached to her shoulders.
Giant Man meanwhile tossed the broken wing at Iron Man as the man escaped Sam's grasp, and Stark narrowly avoided being crushed while the engine still attached to the broken wing blew up in a ball of flames.
"Okay, anybody on our side hiding any shocking and fantastic abilities they'd like to disclose, I'm open to suggestions." Stark called over their comms as he escaped the fire and resumed his chase of Sam.
Talia grimaced; Stark's words struck a little too close to home. But she didn't trust most of these people, who had turned on each other quite viciously at an apparent drop of the hat. And even if she did, it would be doubtful if she would come clean. Besides, her greatest surprise offense was useless to the two people they needed to catch most as they would now be on guard against her.
As the thought crossed her mind, she spotted T'Challa in the distance giving chase to said two most wanted people, only to be blocked by Barton.
"We haven't met yet." Barton's voice carried over T'Challa's comms. "I'm Clint."
"I don't care." T'Challa replied flatly, before he blocked Clint's attack as the archer whirled his bow around like a baton.
Talia ran over to help the Wakandan king as Spider-Man and War Machine took on Giant Man and kept him occupied. Seeing her approach from the corner of his eye, Barton whirled around and extended his baton once more to fire a few arrows at Talia. Talia leapt to the side to avoid the explosive arrows and she rolled onto her feet before springing at Barton. He was caught against T'Challa, barely keeping the Black Panther's metal claws away from his face as he used his baton to hold T'Challa at bay.
Barton tried to dodge Talia but she managed to get her legs around his waist and she spun them around violently. Using the moment he was caught off guard, she grabbed Barton's head. Forcing him to look directly into her eyes, she ordered in her mesmerizing voice, "Sleep."
Instantly, Barton collapsed, unable to disobey the honeyed voice. Meanwhile, T'Challa took after Rogers and Barnes as they raced for the hangar with the quinjet, using the distraction Giant Man and Clint had provided. Rhodey was ahead of the Wakandan king but Wanda stopped them both as she flung vehicles into their path and almost crushed them. Talia looked up as she heard a strange humming sound and she saw Vision flying high above and firing a laser beam at the watchtower right near the quinjet hangar. The structure collapsed under his attack and it started to fall right into Rogers and Barnes' path - only to be stopped in midair by Wanda.
The two supersoldiers increased their pace, rushing to make it into the hangar in the window Wanda had provided.
"We need to stop Maximoff!" Talia barked into her comms as she ran forward in a belated attempt to stop the escaping Avengers.
Rhodey heard her and he fired a sonic blast at Wanda. The telepath screamed, dropping her hands to clutch at her head as she was overcome by the sudden pain in her head. The watchtower collapsed at once with Wanda's attention no longer on it. But Talia saw Rogers and Barnes managing to slide underneath and successfully into the hangar which was now semi-blocked by the rubble. T'Challa still chased after the pair, but Talia hesitated as she saw Vision distracted by Wanda's cries.
The android sped off to help his friend, leaving them one short as Giant Man continued to wreak havoc around them. T'Challa launched himself up high and he managed to climb over the collapsed watchtower with his advanced physical strength. Leaving him to it for the moment, Talia instead turned her attention to Giant Man as Spider-Man abruptly called over their comms while he hopped about just out of Giant Man's reach..
"Hey, guys! You ever see that really old movie, Empire Strikes Back?"
"Jesus, Tony, how old is this guy?" Rhodes asked dryly.
"I don't know, I didn't carbon date him. He's on the young side." Stark retorted. The kid ignored the banter as he continued to pitch his idea.
"You know that part, where they're on the snow planet, with the walking thingies?"
Talia had no idea what the teenager was talking about, having never seen the movie he was referencing. But it seemed she was the only one confused as Stark said enthusiastically, "Maybe the kid's onto something."
"High now, Tony. Go high."
Rhodes flew up as he called to his friend while Stark called, "All right, Sixteen, you go bottom left."
"I hate you, Stark." Talia muttered but she was on her way as she saw Spider-Man swing around Giant Man's knees, catching the giant with his webbing.
She wasn't sure but she had a feeling she knew what the others were planning. As the two metal-clad men flew up and punched Giant Man in the face, Talia sped across the runway to get a good run-up before she launched off the asphalt. She used all her weight to slam her feet into Giant Man's tied knees, knocking them back in the opposite direction. Completely thrown off balance, Giant Man fell over while Spider-Man crowed excitedly.
"Yes! Ha ha-!"
The boy was cut off as he was whacked in the face by Giant Man's waving arm. The teenager was sent flying back right into a pile of crates. Talia barely avoided the same fate as she dodged about, avoiding the giant's arms and legs as he came crashing down just behind her. The force of his landing shook the earth so much Talia was knocked off her feet and she rolled across the ground before she finally stopped in a crouch, her hand slammed down in front of her as she stood poised like a predator. She was still breathing harshly from the exertion, having never expended this much energy on her powers before.
But there was nothing left for her to fight as the battle moved to the sky where Stark and Rhodes took off after the escaping quinjet and Sam Wilson. Seeing this, all the energy seemed to seep out of her as the adrenaline subsided. Suddenly she was shaking with exhaustion until finally, her body just couldn't take it anymore. As Giant Man shrunk back to his regular human size, Talia collapsed into a heap on the ground with a groan.
'Who the hell thought any of this was a good idea?'