Sorry for the long wait guys. When I finally did get started on this chapter, it took me awhile to write it. I still have no idea how it came out. Also I ended this in a quote war.
*- it's a quote.
Disclaimer: I do not own Black Panther.
Shuri is waiting for them when they arrive. She pounces on her brother the moment he makes it off the ship and begins barking orders to people to get him to her lab. T'Challa shares an amused look with Erik at Shuri taking charge and then has to fend of his sister's insults.
"I build you a high tech suit, bullet resistant, nanotechnology, with stealth mode and you still get caught?!"
"You're the one who tells me everything can be improved," T'Challa shots back.
"Yes brother but there's a point when it's not the hardware but the user who is at fault. Clearly this is a user problem."
"How is this my fault. You're the one who hasn't made the suit shockproof."
"I know you actively expect me to do the impossible, brother, but really there is a limit to things I can do," Shuri retorted even as T'Challa is being helped into the lab. "I cannot cure your stupidity."
"How is it stupid to think that all the victims might be, oh, victims?" T'Challa responds.
Shuri flips him the bird and Erik stifles a laugh as he follows them down the hall.
Queen Bitch is there at the lab and her eyes tighten at the sight of Erik but she ignore him in favour of moving toward her son.
"T'Challa," she says.
"Mother," he says. "I hope I have not caused you any distress."
"Of course not," she said taking his hands. "They cannot hold the Black Panther. But I am relieved to see you well."
"I'll be the judge of whether or not he's well," Shuri says. "He's always like 'I'm fine mother, I'm good mother, this ripped muscle is a mere inconvenience mother, I've been gored by a rhino mother but by force of will alone I will not die mother.'"
"Hey," says T'Challa. "I am not that bad."
"Of course not," Shuri says voice dripping with sarcasm.
"Not that this family reunion ain't sweet and all," Erik interrupts, "But Princess and me have got a deal."
"You sit there and wait your turn," Shuri says to him.
"Thought you'd be giving me the antidote in the cell," he says cocking his eyebrow at her.
"I am,"she replies impatiently. "But I can't check you over for injuries and heal you in the cell. So sit right there. When I'm not with my brother I will attend to you."
Erik blinks. Check him over for injuries?
Before he can say anything though Shuri has returned her attention to T'Challa who has finally stripped off the suit and is sitting on Shuri's med-table as she scans him. While she does that the ex-queen leaves the room.
Shuri eyes what the scans have said and grimaces at a few results. Intrigued because he's never seen Wakandan medical technology at work, Erik stalks forward and hovers over her shoulder. She glances at him but doesn't actively stop him as his eyes flicks over the scans.
He almost whistles. The technology is incredible. Already Shri has all the area of T'Challa's body that have been hurt and they're all sorted into minor, major and fatal. Most of his cousins injuries are actually minor, the suit buffering him for most of it but there a few burn marks where energy transfer from the electricity has made its way through. Shuri tapped a few things on her kimoyo bead display and then waved at T'Challa to lie down.
His cousin huffed, no doubt thinking it overkill to be treated for such minor injuries but he does as his sister wants and reclines on the bed. A small dome of light engulfs the bed and Erik abandons Shuri's side to go over by T'Challa and look down at him.
It would be so easy to just reach down and choke him right now, jab his fingers into his neck and smash his trachea into so many pieces even Shuri couldn't put it back together fast enough. The temptation is strong, stronger now because Erik's few hours of freedom are coming to an end.
T'Challa can see it of course. His dear cuz knows what he'd thinking. Not like Erik is trying to hide it or anything. He waits to see T'Challa's response. It's not long in coming. Cuz lifts and arm and wraps his fingers around the wrist closest to him.
Erik tenses but the grip on his arm is not meant to restrict, it is, he realizes after a few moments, meant to reassure.
"Thank you," T'Challa says and Erik almost laughs.
"Don't thank me, Cuz" Erik says, "I didn't do this for you."
"I know," T'Challa says. "But thank you anyway. I appreciated your presence."
"Now that's a straight up lie Cuz," Erik says, snorting.
"No," T'Challa says simply. "I may not have appreciated it at first but I do now."
"Smooth," Erik says. "Real smooth cuz." The edge of T'Challa's mouth curves up into a little half-smile of genuine amusement.
"What I don't get any thanks?" Shuri interjects.
"You called me stupid," T'Challa points out.
"You poisoned me," Erik follows right after.
"You were stupid," Shuri said pointing to T'Challa, "And you," she said pointing to Erik, "would have killed me and him if I didn't."
"And?" Erik shrugs. "Way I see it, you still don't get no thanks."
Shuri gapes at him and T'Challa tries to stifle a snort of laughter and does not succeed. He tightens his grip briefly on Erik's wrist and then releases it and sits up. He slides off the table and Shuri scowls at Erik and points him to it.
Erik sits on the table while Shuri scans him and then he leans forward trying to read the display from behind. Shuri snorts at him but turns and sits on the bed with him so he can see what the results are. It's mostly minor burns from his tasing. Shuri shakes her head.
"Who voluntarily gets themselves tased?" she said in exasperation.
"What?!" said T'Challa surprised.
Shuri pointed at Erik. "Cousin dearest thought it would be a good idea to take an electric blast to the chest without the suit, to prevent the suit from freezing so that he could have sufficient mobility to take down two guards."
T'Challa blinks and then turns to Erik. "That..was probably not the smartest idea."
Erik scowls at him. "Of the two of us which one got captured by this electrical blast?"
"I do not think that is the point," T'Challa says blandly.
"That's what they always say when they're trying to get away from admitting they're wrong," Erik replies, just as blandly as T'Challa.
"It still doesn't detract from that fact that it wasn't the smartest idea," Shuri says. "And as the smartest person in the room, I can definitely say that."
Erik snorts. "Pretty confident there aren't you?"
"I didn't say you weren't smart," she retorts, even as she flicks of the display and starts pushing Erik down on the table to get fixed. "My life would actually be a lot easier if you were stupid."
Erik scowls at her and flips her the bird. She responds by started the procedure with a wave of her middle finger. T'Challa rubs at his forehead like he's physically pained by their actions.
The dome of light flickers on and Erik blinks. This is the first time he's been healed with the tech while awake and it's…strange. Hell it's straight up weird. Energy hums through him, pulsing from the med table. The dome of light actually seems to reflect the energy back down, trapping and increasing the concentration of it. Soon enough he can feel the energy coalesce around his injured areas. His skin feels like it's humming under the pressure. Then there's heat, like a fever rising from the wounds but not painful. The area of heat slowly shrinks and as he watches, the skin closes under his gaze. Vibranium indeed. Erik wonders how much of him his stupid toilet would heal.
Before he can voice the question, the dome shuts of and Shuri is scowling down at him. He replied in kind and Shuri throws a pile of white clothes at him. Erik stares down at the prison clothes and feels anger stir inside him.
Before it can get too far though T'Challa voice pierces through. "Did you change here?"
Erik looks up wondering what was wrong with that until he looks at Shuri and understands. Shuri rolls her eyes.
"I turned my back."
"She did," Erik supplies helpfully, figuring if he'd say anything else T'Challa might just attempt to rip him apart there and then. And while Erik is up for a fight, he knew that any fight between them means that Shuri will never give him the antidote.
Shuri rolls her eyes exaggeratedly at T'Challa while Erik gives him a look that says, 'no really even I don't sink that low.'
T'Challa lets it go and Shuri turns her back once more while Erik strips down and steps back into his prison clothes.
"Done," he announces and Shuri turns back.
"You have one more thing to do, cousin," she reminds him.
Ahh yes.
He straightened up exaggeratedly, and says in his best polite voice, "Hit me up with the antidote princess. Pretty please?" He bats his eyes for good measure and the look Shuri throws him is totally worth it. T'Challa also looks severely disturbed and Erik is savagely pleased.
The guards pick up his chains though and snap them back around his wrists and legs. Erik's good mood disappears with a vengeance and T'Challa seeing his black look murmurs, "N'Jakada."
Erik's gaze snaps up to him. "What?!" he bites out.
"Come I will walk you," he says and despite the frowny faces his guards and the dora gives him, his stupid cousin falls into step beside him.
Erik wants. Oh how he wants to wrap his chains around his stupid cousins neck and stifle the life out of him. Maybe he'd snap his neck if he twisted the chains tight enough and gets enough leverage.
He touches the well of patience he often tapped when waiting for the perfect moment to perform an assassination and holds to his temper.
T'Challa paces next to him easy and unconcerned though Erik is under no illusions that he is unaware of the directions of Erik's thoughts.
"Are you okay?" T'Challa asks.
Erik snorts and kind of wants to rip T'Challa's head from his body. His muscles bulge and tense even as he says, "Just got fixed up with your fancy tech cuz," he said. "Im brand new."
"I would not have had you poisoned," T'Challa says in reply.
Erik absorbs the words and what they implied and lets out a harsh but genuine laugh. "You already have me in a cage cuz," he said. "The poison's just a sub for the usual kind."
"It is unkinder," T'Challa says, "and I would not have had it used on you."
"Maybe it's kinder to you," Erik shrugs, "but it sure as hell beats staring at four walls. 'Sides you couldn't keep me with anything less And since you ain't letting me go don't apologize."
T'Challa looks away and for a moment Erik is shocked because he can't imagine T'Challa would ever give ground so easily, before he realises that his cousin isn't giving ground so much as hiding his expression.
"What you so afraid to fess up cuz?" he taunted, ugly ugly anger building with each step he took toward his cell. "Big bad Black Panther, freaking king of Wakanda. What you got to hide cousin?!"
T'Challa snaps his gaze back to him and Erik can see his anger. But his anger isn't directed at Erik. T'Challa is mad at himself.
"My wish that i did not have to lock you up!" He snapped. "That is what I have to hide!"
Eik stops so abruptly in the hallway that his guards have spears digging into his side. He barely registers them. He stares at T'Challa like he's speaking a foreign language. That his cousins were stupid and caring and soft, he knew but this? This was a stupidity that he hadn't even dared to imagine.
"What the hell?" Erik says. He crowds up to T'Challa and stares into his eyes and looks him up and down. "Did they drop you on your head sometime and forget to fix it?" He snarled. "'Cause either you got some brain damage or you're lying to me cousin."
T'Challa opens his mouth but Erik beats him to it.
"If you're lying don't bother with that shit. Don't try and play happy family with me T'Challa. I don't buy and I never will. And if you're trying to condition me, you better up your damn game. Ain't no Stockholm Syndrome for me cuz. All this?" Erik gestures to indicate the entire day. "All this was because it was useful. I meant it when I said it cousin; the next time I get out of your cage, no matter what form it comes in, I'll kill you." With that he stalks off and his guards move with him.
He hopes he lost him but his stupid cousin follows behind him placidly until they reach his cage.
"Gonna follow me in here too?" He throws over his shoulder.
"You're not allowed to go in yet," T'Challa remarks and Erik cocks his eyebrow up. T'Challa flashes him his own ring and Erik stiffens when he realises what it means.
"No!" He snaps. T'Challa actually looks pained but he holds out his hand.
"You'll have to take it off me yourself!" Erik snaps to hide the fact that he doesn't think that he can make his hand move to take it off. It would be like ripping a bone free. He literally cannot do it. Logic says that he has to, he must or else Shuri will let the poison kill him but he can't move. His muscles tightened and bunched and he's clearly bracing himself for a fight but T'Challa has been trained to read people as much as Erik has and the heart-shaped herb doesn't hurt. He sees what Erik doesn't say and moves over to him and lifts the chain away from him while Erik fights himself to let him do it. 'Discipline,' he chants in his head. Let it go. He refuses to bend his head to let T'Challa slip it off because hell if he's going to bow before his cousin even in this way. T'Challa easily works the chain past his dreads and then lifts if off.
It goes into a pocket and T'challa says: "I will return it to Shuri."
"Yeah whatever," Erik says. The door to his cell hisses open and Erik walks in, lets them remove the chains and doesn't even smash their skulls in. The guards retreat and the door hisses shut.
Erik waits for T'Challa to leave because he's feeling strangely raw and tired but T'Challa doesn't.
"We done now?" he asked, not turning to look at him.
*"Man's goodness is a flame that can be hidden but never extinguished," T'Challa quoted softly.
Erik scoffed. "Nelson Mandela," he said. He quoted Mandela back at him,* " When a man is denied the right to live the life he believes in, he has no choice but to become an outlaw."
*"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others," T'Challa countered pointedly.
*"The chains on any one of my people were the chains on all of them. The chains on all of my people were the chains on me," Erik snapped back, turning to face his cousin.
*"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite," T'Challa replied, trying to drive his point home.
*"Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people," Erik quoted back.
*"Extremists on all sides thrive, fed by the blood lust of centuries gone by," T'Challa counter-quoted.
*"Our people have the right to hope, the right to a future, the right to life itself," Erik shot back the quote at his cousin coming straight up to the glass.
*"The death of a human being, whatever may be his station in life, is always a sad and painful affair," T'Challa quotes solemnly.
*"Our march to freedom is irreversible. We must not allow fear to stand in our way," Erik replied, daring his cousin.
*"I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed," T'Challa defected gently throwing the ball back in his court.
*"Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely day dreaming, but vision with action can change the world," Erik lobs the ball back to his cousin.
*"Never, never and never again shall it be that this beautiful land will again experience the oppression of one by another," T'Challa quotes and it's the first one that Erik can agree with.
*"Gone forever are the days when harsh and wicked laws provide the oppressors with years of peace and quiet," and it's as much a threat as it is a promise.
*"I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come," T'Challa begins.
*"But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended," Erik finishes together with him. They lock eyes. It's a quote that resonates with both of them though they both can see that it's on different levels.
Shuri's voice breaks over both of them. *"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination," She quotes at both of them. She approaches Erik's glass and set the device on the wall which opens the port. Erik sticks his hand through and Shuri slides the needle into his arm and depresses the plunger.
She removes the needle and Erik draws back his arm quickly before she takes the device of the glass. Shuri steps back and looks at both at them and quotes softly but solemnly:
*"Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure."
Erik snorts but can't help the smile edging up. Ain't that Wakanda all over. But Shuri's gaze doesn't move from the both of them and Erik realizes that she isn't talking about Wakanda, she's talking about them, all three of them.
He looks at T'Challa who looks back at him and then they both look at Shuri. Princess doesn't say anything but she doesn't need to. Erik snorts again but he did make a deal, one that he'll hold to as long as he's here and it provides opportunities for a way out.
He delivers one final quote: *"When people are determined they can overcome anything."
All quotes are from Nelson Mandela.
R&R please!