Chapter 7
Okore glanced at the empty throne. It had been years since she stepped into this room and barely anything had changed. Surrounding the golden throne were statues of Wakanda's most sacred animal: the Black Panther. Okore shivered as she glanced at the ferociously spiked teeth which seemed to suggest that she was to be eaten.
"Don't worry. I'm sure it's not bad." Aneka said from behind her causing Okore to shudder. That is so weird.
"Yes, well that's what you think. What if it's about-"Okore started before she was cut off.
"If it's about the incident before you wouldn't exactly be here? Just relax and be patient I'll go and tell him you've arrived." Aneka said before disappearing into one of the many doors in the throne room.
Okore stood by herself aside from the maid with a green headdress busying herself. She felt naked, no armour, no weapons and no students to abuse with tough love. She especially missed Richard and Sofia, her best students, not that she'd tell him that and quite frankly she was concerned. Why would Ugwe want to see him...better yet when the hell does Aneka plan on returning...?
Suddenly Okore tensed as she heard the sound of a blade being drawn. She quickly turned and got into a fighting stance. Standing before her was the woman in a green headdress surrounded by two dark skinned and bare-chested men wielding spears.
"Hello Okore. Your reinstatement as one of the Dora Milaje is going to have to wait. I've got orders to kill you." The woman said before she rushed towards Okore lunging wildly with maniacal intent in her eyes...
Elsewhere with Richard and Sofia...
"Are you really my father?" Richard said as he collapsed to his knees.
The old man remained silent before letting out a hearty chuckle, he quickly pulling out a mobile phone and taking a picture of Richard and Sofia's startled expressions.
"Of course not don't be so ridiculous! I'm just a really really old man..." The old man said with a grin.
Richard was speechless. This old man was his ancestor? Richard glanced at the paper thin skin and wrinkles on the man's face.
"As I'm sure you've heard I am Shaman Ugwe but please Ugwe will be fine. Sit." The old man said as he repositioned his robes.
"So are you his dad or not?" Sofia still asked in disbelief as she sat down.
"No! That would be gross. I'm five hundred years old and I'm sure his mother, not that I've ever met her mind you, isn't exactly my taste." Ugwe said tartly.
"Hey!" Richard protested.
"Sit!" Ugwe said as the paper on the ground floated upwards.
Richard sat down immediately. What the hell it's like I've got no control over my body.
"Now to business. Your probably wondering why your here." Ugwe started.
Damn right now hurry up and spit it out...
Ugwe gave Richard a harsh look.
"You would be wise to be patient like your friend Sofia." Ugwe reprimanded.
"Actually I'm not patient old man. Start talking please." Sofia said.
"Fine. You young people are in such a hurry...I asked for Richard to be bought he because I have a gift." Ugwe said as he clicked his fingers. Suddenly one of the pieces of paper transformed into an amulet.
"Uh thanks but I don't want it." Richard said, taken aback.
"Sorry but it's not optional." Ugwe said as he clicked his fingers again, the amulet went flying towards Richard and wrapped itself around his neck, almost as if it had a life of its own.
"Arrrgh!" Richard said as he felt a painful buzz in his chest.
Sofia quickly pointed her gun at Ugwe.
"What's happening to him?" Sofia said in an even tone.
"He's just becoming what he was destined to be. Ah this is the most beautiful bit." Ugwe said as the paper around him floated upwards and flew towards Richard's face before seemingly being absorbed into his skin.
What...is...this...
Richard saw a flash before his eyes and he saw his mother's face, her hazel eyes burned with a fiery passionate love for her son as she gave him a harsh look. Another flash and this time Richard saw a battered and bruised Shikoba looking at someone. Another flash this time he saw himself and Sofia looking at a screen.
Another flash and this time it was a truly horrifying sight: A city torn to shreds like a hurricane had seemingly passed through it...a green and red whirlwind of utter destruction ripped through the city and came stomping towards him. The last thing Richard remembered before yet another flash was the beady red eyes of the green and red juggernauts in front of him.
Finally there was another flash this time it pictured Leah staring warily at a man in a black trench coat. Richard watched in terror as he saw the man grip Leah's arm and twist it. A sickening crunch and a blood curdling scream rang in Richard's ears as he felt the darkness consume him.
Richard felt a slight nudge and then suddenly he heard a loud CRACK as he woke up and sighted Sofia staring at him.
"Sorry but I had to wake you up. Your eyes were going green then blue then yellow." Sofia explained.
"Ugwe?" Richard said weakly as he shakily sat up and crossed his legs.
"Disappeared before I could put a bullet in his head. I put me in some sort of haze." Sofia said as she got up and offered a hand.
Richard took her hand gratefully and rose upwards only to realize that something was missing. He looked down and saw that he was bare chested but that was the least of his troubles. He stared down at where the amulet would have been if he wore it but instead found himself staring at strange white tattoos in a strange language.
"Any idea what this is?" Richard asked as he followed Sofia out of the cave.
"Hieroglyphics...sorry about your shirt..." Sofia said as she tossed him a cream linen tunic.
"Where is it?" Richard said as he put on the cream coloured tunic.
"It's burnt. We need to go and meet the others." Sofia replied bluntly as she sped up to a walk.
Richard let out a curse.
That was my favourite shirt.
Meanwhile back with Shikoba's group...
Leah stared as the chaos in front of her expanded. She watched as Shikoba dived towards the boy in the leather jacket only to find himself getting socked in the jaw. Leah turned her gaze to Anna hoping she was having an easier time only to find Anna getting hit at multiple angles by the teleporting girl in the leather jacket. Leah saw a flicker of something which she calculated was a tail smack Anna in mid air sending her rocketing backwards.
"Marvellous!" Violet yelled as sat in a dramatic pose clearly enjoying the show.
Leah narrowed her eyes and fumbled in her backpack. I've got to take her out. I will not be useless. I will not be use-
"Hey girlie. Seeing as we're not fighting how about you sit down." Violet said forcefully as she slowly walked towards Leah.
"Click Click Clickty!" Leah replied. God...if I could trade these powers for something which doesn't impair my ability to speak English I would be so gratefully right now...Leah thought to herself as she stole a glance at the wrist cuff on her right arm before finding her hand grip something heavy.
My stun gun! Well technically it's called a 'Incapacitating Cartridge Emitting—
Shikoba and Anna flew past her and crashed into some vibranium before getting up and engaging their opponents again.
"A little help would be great Leah!" Shikoba yelled as he sent a blast of air towards the girl in the leather jacket that dodged the blast and teleported behind him sending a quick kick to his head before he could lash back at her.
Right... focus Leah...
"Sit down!" Violet said even more forcefully.
Interesting...she hasn't attacked me yet perhaps her powers aren't all that.
Leah turned around and aimed the stun gun. Violet froze before her face quickly twisted into a smile.
"Teleport me home!" Violet said forcefully.
Leah watched as the girl in the leather jacket's eyes glowed purple before Violet disappeared with a poof.
"Leah do something!" Anna shouted as her opponent met her punch sending a shockwave through the cavern.
Leah watched as the boy punched Anna in the face causing her mouth to fill up with blood. Then the strangest thing happened. Anna spat out a gobful of blood to which the boy then proceeded to lick up from the ground like a dog. Anna stepped back warily, Shikoba and the girl in the leather jacket watched curiously.
"What the hell?" Sofia's voice said clearly startled.
Leah swivelled her head to see two new entrants: Sofia and Richard.
Wonder what happened to Richard's shirt? And why does he look so sweaty...wonder whether they...
A groan quickly turned her attention back to Anna's opponent
Leah quickly aimed her gun. He was defenceless and no one was moving. Should I shoot?
"Don't shoot him!" The girl in the leather jacket yelled.
"Don't listen to her, Leah shoot him." Sofia warned.
"Please...we're sorry..." The girl said as she took a deep breath and walked slowly towards the boy who was now grinning as he sat cross legged on the ground seemingly in daze.
"What are you waiting for shoot him!" Shikoba yelled as he flicked his hand sending the girl sprawling away.
"Don't do it, we should hear them out." Richard said cautiously.
"Are you crazy? They attacked as! Shoot!" Anna said angrily.
Leah glanced all around...her brain couldn't take all of these opinions and filter out the logical choice.
She pulled the trigger and the boy collapsed the moment the bolt of energy hit his jacket.
"NO!" The girl screamed as she disappeared and then reappeared in front of Leah arms outstretched ready to strangle her to death.
BANG!
Leah looked up to see the girl lying a few centimetres away holding her leg but to no avail. Her crimson red blood flowed freely.
"That's how it's done." Sofia said as she followed up by sending a quick two fingered jab into the girl's side knocking her out cold.
"What was that?" Richard exclaimed.
"What do you mean? They were attacking our friends!" Sofia said angrily.
"You could have killed her for all we know! In case you had forgotten we were asked to capture them!" Richard argued.
"Dead or alive. They didn't specify." Anna said as she trudged over to the group dragging the boy in the leather jacket.
"Hey Richard nice threads!" Shikoba said as he began searching the girl's unconscious body.
"Shut up." Richard shot back but his lips curled into a smile.
Wonder what Shikoba's doing?
"Aha! Found it!" Shikoba said as he pulled out a rectangular object.
"What is it?" Anna asked.
"A travel pass which should tell us exactly who these two are. Turns out this one's called Aspen Royce and surprise surprise the other one's her brother Daniel Royce. They don't look like each other strange." Shikoba said.
"You know what you're not actually too dumb." Sofia said impressed.
"Hey!" Shikoba protested.
"Don't worry man I know how you feel!" Richard said as he patted Shikoba's head
Shikoba gave Richard a slight grin.
"Enough fooling around. Anna and Shikoba grab Aspen and Daniel we have to high tail it back Okore just called us back pronto." Sofia said as she jogged out.
Leah followed quickly.
I hope I made the right choice.
Back with Okore...
Okore was getting really annoyed at goon 1 and two men just didn't know when to quit she had broken their spears and they didn't seem too impressed by that at all. Okore dodged an incoming fist from the crazy woman in the green dress, Okore had managed to sidestep and remove the knife from her earlier lunge but this woman was relentless.
"Who are you?" Okore shouted angrily as she punched goon 1 in the face before launching a powerful kick which sent the man crashing into a table.
Goon 2 ran towards her hands outstretched and gripped her. Okore stamped on the man's foot before elbowing the man in the chest .The woman ran towards her aiming her fist towards Okore's face,Okore hooked her elbows around the man and kicked out at the woman's stomach sending the woman tumbling to ground. Okore grinned only to have her joy cut short as Goon 2 untangled himself and swiped her legs from under her letting her crash to the ground with a painful thud.
Okore gritted her teeth and rolled away before the man could stamp on her. She jumped up to her feet and punched the man square in the jaw as hard as she could knocking the man out cold. Just before she was about to celebrate her victory she saw the woman get up and wipe the sweat off her brow.
"I will kill you...I should be the next Dora Milaje! T'Challa will be mine!" The woman said.
"Close your mouth! The Black Panther belongs to no one!" Okore said angrily as she tackled the woman to the ground and what ensued was a series of rumble and tumble, the two women rolling around screaming a range of Wakandan insults.
"Antelope!" Okore said.
"Mosquito!" The woman said.
"Horse women!" Okore shouted as she punched the wooden floor splintering the ground, as the woman dodged her punch.
Okore let out a curse as she felt a foot connect with her face sending her backwards.
Suddenly, the door swung open to reveal Shikoba and Anna carrying two people in leather jackets, Leah holding a stun gun close to her chest fearfully, Sofia holding her gun and Richard narrowing his eyes at the sight of her.
"I can't get a clear shot!" Sofia said as she aimed her gun.
"Oh my days put that down before you shoot Okore!" Richard replied.
"Could you two please be quiet while I kick this women's ass? Put your weapons away too that's an order!" Okore said indignantly as she dodged a kick and sprung to her feet.
The group done as they were told without question.
"I am Malice!" The woman said as she lunged towards Okore.
Okore sighed and sidestepped before delivering a powerful karate chop to the woman's shoulder which caused her to crumble in pain. Okore than gripped the woman by the scruff of her dress and threw her across the room into a Black Panther statue. The woman got up and then let out a groan before dropping to the ground unconscious.
It was a tough fight but Okore had won. She turned to her team and gave them a grin before hearing the sound of clapping. She turned around to see the familiar face of Aneka, standing next to her was a woman with brown eyes and long black hair: Princess Shuri.
Okore bowed.
"Rise Okore, for today you have impressed me with your determination, skill and courage as have your team. Today we will celebrate!" Shuri said happily as she clicked her fingers.
Suddenly, a number of servants entered the room and carried away the combatants Okore and the team had defeated. Just before Okore was about to follow a joyful Aneka and the rest of the group back to the hut.
"Okore, come with me." A voice called out.
Okore shuddered...the last time she heard that voice it ordered her to join SHIELD. She turned around to see those familiar yellow eyes stared at her practically demanding that she follow him to his throne.
The Black Panther had arrived...
A/N
TaTadaa! An extra long chapter with what I hope was a surprising twist to this chapter...bet you weren't expecting that...
This chapter had a lot of action (at least I think it did) so I would really appreciate any feedback you guys have with fight scenes or just anything in general
So Richard has got some sort of amulet, Sofia shot Aspen and Anna and Shikoba pretty much got pummelled until Leah knocked out Daniel with her I.C.E.R so expect some consequences from their team performance as a whole. So Ugwe and Violet are still at large...we'll be catching up with those two next chapter at some point as we go onto the last chapter of our Wakanda trip
What do you think will happen next chapter?
Scrawl Out!