Short one this time but we're back to Erik! Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Black Panther.
T'Challa came through. Erik is told to send instructions to the operatives he's requested via his tablet. Erik doesn't hesitate to do so. He's got 10 people working for him though he's not sure they know who they're actually working for. But that doesn't matter, not right now. All that matters is that they do what he wants. He's got them eavesdropping on some senators in various countries and he's got a couple watching known drop points for assassins. No need to start this of with T'challa getting assassinated, currently he's the only thing that's keeping Erik alive. He sends two more operatives to watch hackers who he thinks might be good enough to hack the Wakandan network.
Wakanda has never been taken in since its conception but this is different. Military isn't all what's needed. He puts the next part of his plans in play. He's been taught not only to sow dissent but to sow accord. He sends T'Challa a basic formula of posts for social media, from certain groups to other particular groups.
He plays with age, sex, location and education. He capitalizes on each of the factors, writing just what he needs, to get people in each focus group, to their side. People are more likely to listen if they think it's one of their own speaking. The wakandans just have to be clever when making the fake profiles to post from.
Then he sends his cousin a different stream of messages. These are also from the rest of the world, so to speak, but meant to turn them against each other. He sows hostility against people who are protesting against Wakanda. It's not just supportive like the previous messages but actively on the offense. Buts he's clever in how he words them. It's all reasonable argument but he dusts them with a bit of human passion and suddenly they could have written by a neighbor, a friend, a brother, a sister.
That done he sets off on his next bit of business. He scouts the internet for appropriate bloggers. He doesn't choose the popular travel ones but the ones that are lower down on the list, the ones that are actually interested in the culture and the people of a place. The idiot kinds that risk getting their organs black-marketed just to show the real vibe of a country. Erik then tells T'Challa to invite them in for a peek of Wakanda. It's up to his cousin to decide which areas are approved.
He grabs a couple of foodie bloggers too and tosses them at T'Challa as well. Food always brings people together and if it's one thing that people are accepting of from other cultures it's the food. Just look at how many Chinese and Thai restaurants litter America and they all get sale, even the SOBS that give you food poisoning or taste like shit just cause they're convenient. He thinks about his own Wakanda experience: Exotic dish- heart shaped herb- 1/10. Tastes like a bitch. Will eat again only because of the health benefits. Currently only barbecued version available.
Then he goes hunting for the normal. He searches for every cliché person he can find and drags them into files for the wakandans to peruse. He gets a barbie doll prom queen, a rich jock who was racist since the day he was born, one of those quiet nerds, one of the sassy nerds everybody seems to love these days, the patriotic wanna serve my country, whole family's been doing it for a shit amount of years kids, to join in the party. He tosses in a player of the male and female variety, plus a soccer mom or two and then sets about creating similar groups from the countries that speak out the most against Wakanda. He needs their word to spread. It needs to look like they're not hiding anything and he has no doubt that the wakandans can coordinate a country wide, spin-doctoring exercise.
But he needs those normal people to go back and talk. He needs them to offer their opinions and their photographs and their videos. It they bring in leaders people will know they're trying to shit them over which is why he's pulling on the normal. People don't like being told what to think so you've gotta trick 'em into it.
Then he starts looking for the celebrities. Where are all those do-gooders who adopt African babies to look nice to the world? Might as well get something out of them. He tosses them to T'Challa now with some suggestions. Ball's back in his cousin's court now.
In response to his spate of profiles he gets a link to Shuri's vlog. Its newly started and it's all about how wakandans do ordinary things. Which is actually to show that it's not that different. Its spin-doctored to hell and back but it's actually pretty subtle; the regular public won't notice. Erik makes some comments, things he thinks she should cut out, others she should add in and warns her about some of the footage in which she shows too much tech.
A few hours later he gets a revised version. He scans through it and gives it the okay. His reward for his help is to get candy crush downloaded to his tablet. It is at this point that Erik realizes that he's reached a new low because he's almost pathetically grateful. Although even flicking Tiffy is travelling further than him right now.
R&R Please!