...
Despite the fact he'd felt like the singular scene had last far longer than he'd remember it for, Erik Killmonger had in fact started moving the moment the Elders had started dropping to their knees. The moment their greatest asset had suddenly started going haywire.
He haphazardly packed everything he'd deemed remotely useful- The majority of it made from Vibranium, as he moved from one side of the room to the other. Picking up the most valuable things he'd been 'lent' for the mission.
His mind, however, was in complete utter disarray.
It had barely been ten minutes since he'd seen that man face to face. Since whatever meager defense he'd had to use against him failed spectacularly on his face as it fizzled out. The man immediately regretting having brought him over to Stark's building and promptly kicking him out before he could do any real damage.
Yet, in the span of those ten minutes, the man's intended weapon had gone from doing nothing to him to outright shutting down likely the best defense measures the high council had had on hand- Going as far as putting the Black Panther himself out of commission.
Vibranium, itself, had been their downfall. Had been the reason the greatest civilization on earth, had been brought to its figurative knees before the pale-ass fucker.
He ignored the way the television echoed off the latest news in the background, the man wishing he'd had the remote on hand to shut off its incessant yapping.
His gaze fell on his trusted auto-rifle.
No gimmicks, no nothing. Just sharp bullets and some of the best tactical workmanship America had to offer.
Had any of those guards in that room had had necessary brain cells to consider not putting their entire defense structure into one basket, a basket the fucker had quite frankly set on fire, they probably would've fared a lot better.
He'd of course immediately turned off his hologram, intending to move out of his current location, and frankly turn into a ghost until he reached his homeland. A small part of him hopeful the fucker wouldn't be able to track him if he kept himself on the-
He stiffened as the cursed luminescent light suddenly filtered through the room, his body turning around on instant as he readied said rifle.
He'd expected to at the very least have a few minutes to leave- Though he couldn't help but respect the man's tenacity in getting his shit sorted.
When the man walked through, a passive look to his face, Killmonger waited with bated breath, staring him down through the sight of the gun.
The portal closed behind him just as quickly as it had opened, as his target raised an eyebrow at him.
"Reall-" He opened his mouth to speak, and Killmonger pulled the trigger putting a bullet through the fucker's mouth. The man's expression turning the slightest wide-eyed as his head and body jostled backward.
He didn't let up, as he promptly emptied his clip onto the fucker's body, rattling him and pushing him further and further back until he hit the wall, blood staining his clothing as his body crashed and fell into a seated lump, before tilting side-ways.
Putting the rifle aside, he promptly pulled out a single pistol, aimed for the head, and shot for good measure. The man's head jostling backward as it hit the wall as well, a clear, visible, bullet hole appearing on his forehead as blood rolled down.
He let go of the breath he'd been holding as he gleefully took in a gulp full.
Patting his pockets, he cursed when he found no sign of the Vibranium heart-beat tracer he'd asked for.
Steadily taking a few steps backward, keeping his gaze locked onto the still corpse before him, he idly reached into his bag with his right hand, aimlessly searching through it as he refused to take his eyes away. When his fingers grasped the familiar device, he promptly pulled it out and held it before him, watching it in his peripheral as the visual linked over the man-
He breathed out another sigh of relief at the very clear straight line designated to the other's heart.
He turned his eyes away, towards the bag itself as he started looking for the communication device he'd been given, a gleeful, almost manic, giggle coming out at his luck.
When he found it, he immediately picked it up and turned it on, the bewildered expressions on the holographic faces appearing immediately.
He couldn't help the manic grin on his face as he made to speak-
'Beep'
His mind, for a split-second, refused to acknowledge the sound as his eyes blinked once- A memory of his father coming to the forefront of his mind.
When he turned his shocked gaze back towards the body-
His throat suddenly clasped shut at the sudden hand around it, his unbelieving eyes locked with the two staring at him mere inches away. The strength behind the grip impossible for the size before him. He gasped, and clawed at the hands, as his eyes widened further at the blood-streak still going down the man's face. The previous hole in the forehead, to his shock healing and closing up right before his very eyes.
The stranger sighed, his breath hitting him in the face.
"Strike three."
Everything went dark, following that as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. The last thing he noticed been the strange tattoo on the man's face growing the slightest.
...
When he reopened his eyes, he found himself strapped to a seat, unable to move, nor so much as turn his gaze, despite the lack of anything directly constricting him.
The only thing on him, for that matter, was a single piece of paper attached to his elbow.
Raising his gaze, he found the stranger on his desk, sat on his chair, idly scribbling down on another piece of paper. A... resigned expression on his face.
When he made to open his mouth, he inwardly cursed as his lips refused to move.
"Look at that." The man drawled, not even facing him directly, instead electing to face the wall. "You're up."
Steve Roger's voice, the live announcement having started, went on in the background without pause. The stranger, every so often turning an eye to the man in question, though never him.
It took him another moment to notice the grim, resigned expressions on the holographs echoing out of his communication device, currently placed on top of the desk right before the stranger's eyes. The solemn looks worrying-
"...What will you do?" His uncle eventually asked.
"There's a saying here." The man shrugged. "Three strikes and you're out. Erik here will be spending the rest of his life on another planet. Feel free to fish him out yourselves." He remarked as he continued scribbling, unimpeded before he turned his gaze back towards the device. "Unless you want to take responsibility for the second, deadlier, attack on my person."
Despite the fact it had no effect, Erik struggled to get free all the same-
When his uncle's eyes turned downwards, the hologram turning off a moment after, he felt the adrenaline immediately run through him. His anger, and hate growing by the second-
"You know, it's too bad. I was going to suggest an alliance before you decided to riddle me with bullets." The man sighed.
Erik wasn't remotely sure how to even feel about that- He would've never betrayed his people, for that was the only conciev-
"Would've even been fine with your coup. Provided you went about it properly... Ah well. At least Tony will be happy with all this Vibranium."
His eyes, despite the fact he tried to stop them, momentarily widened. For a moment, the man wishing for nothing more than the abilitiy to speak as he watched the stranger promptly raise himself up, the strange paper he'd been writing on held gingerly between his two hands, before he started taking a few steps towards him.
He struggled in vain more and more as he watched the man reach him, the paper even closer before-
He blinked once, twice, as he watched the man promptly place said paper on his own forehead. The stranger's expression wincing at the contact, as he briefly shut his eyes and reopened them- A far more... Relaxed? Softer? Expression showing through them as he looked at him.
The dread he'd felt, only piled in on itself the moment the man spoke up, a genuinely sorrowful tone to his voice.
"This really is going to hurt me a lot more than it's going to hurt you."
And with those words, the stranger opened another portal and pulled him through it against his will.
...
Shadows and a strange unsettling atmosphere greeted him as he took in his new surroundings, alert. The stranger still unwilling to let him move on his own as he pulled him along a rocky path of sorts, his gaze forced to look backward-
"Welc-" A third voice started, only to suddenly be silenced as a gunshot echoed through, startling him even more as he strained to move his body in any way.
"Did you really think that would work?" The voice continued again as the stranger this time, elected to practically throw him to the side against another rock, earning a grunt out of him, though at the very least lining his view so he could take in the third-
His eyes widened at the cloaked figure before him, the red face the only thing not hidden.
The stranger shrugged. "Worth a shot." The tone of remorse, and weariness unsettling as he turned his gaze towards him-
Erik Killmonger then and there felt more confused than he'd ever been his entire life as he took in the beginning of tears streaming down the stranger's face.
"So." The stranger calmly turned towards the cloaked figure. "That the cliff I throw him down?" He questioned sadly.
...
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