Authors Note:
Hello loyal Readers! I live! I know I said there wouldn't be any authors notes until the end of the story, but I'm pretty sure I have another one after the BC anyway, so.
Anyway, I know I don't owe anyone an explanation, but it feels a little necessary. First of all: I am so sorry I left this for so long! I never intended to leave this untouched for more than a month, maybe two at the most, but life gets busy.
secondly, a touch of explanation for the long absence(not an excuse, never that): I currently work two jobs and volunteer on the local Fire Dept. back in 2019, I also worked two jobs and volunteered, but I also ended up agreeing to help out a family friend by working in her store on the weekends, just for a few months until she could find another employee. As you may be able to infer, it did not end up being "just a few months" and she never did find another employee. tacking on a third job just sapped me of all remaining energy, and motivation to work on anything, and since I needed energy for everything else I do, I ended up putting this on the back burner.
Anyway, I quit job 3 a few months ago, and have since had actual energy. its been amazing. I've already got another chapter after this, and I'm sure I'll have more soon. I hope I'm not too out of practice. Enjoy the content!
Wade cursed as he stumbled over another root. [we wouldn't have to be stumbling through this stupid forest if you ever thought before you acted.] {I'm hungry.} Wade huffed out an annoyed breath.
"You're not being very helpful right now, guys." he muttered. Danny was surprisingly hard to track, although Wade supposed he shouldn't be surprised that the kid with literal ghost powers had disappeared into the forest with almost no trace. If it weren't for the intermittent footprints, Wade would have thought that he'd lost him entirely. As it was, it took longer to track Danny than he would have liked, since the footprints sometimes went straight through trees as though they didn't exist, and Wade had to find ways around the brush while still keeping track of the direction of the footprints.
[maybe if you hadn't dragged the kid with you to Africa, this wouldn't have happened.] {can we stop for food? Or water? I'm hungry and thirsty.} [what kind of person brings a kid with them on a hit, anyway?] "Shut up!" Wade shouted, slamming his head into the tree. [%$!)(&*$( ) * !(* ! !(* ] {*&^ *(^$%#$ !$# %^&*} [you fucker! That hurt!] {Now I'm hungry, thirsty and in pain!}
Wade huffed again, forcing himself to tune out the voices as he looked around the hilltop. The sun was starting to go down again, and Wade could only hope that Danny wanted to be found by him, but from the look of it… the footprints stopped here, which meant that Danny had probably taken to the sky, since the prints didn't lead towards any trees or brush. They just… disappeared. [that's because you're a horrible person, and no one wants to be around you.] {yeah, who'd want to spend time with the ugly psycho who talks to himself?} "Danny didn't care about how I looked." Wade mumbled, as he slumped against the tree that he'd hit his head on a moment ago.
[of course he didn't care. He said he'd 'seen worse'. That doesn't mean he wants to be around you. No one wanted to be around you even when you didn't look like the ass end of a hairless cat with some sort of horrible skin disease.] {honestly I think Weasel said it best, you hate fucked avocado face} "... I should make camp for the night." Wade mumbled. The voices weren't saying anything new anyway. Wade pushed himself away from the tree, shaking the voices from his head as much as possible. [no matter how hard you try, you can't ignore us] {yeah! How dare you try to ignore us!}
Might as well go the same way the footprints do, Wade thought to himself, walking towards where the footprints cut off. There was an odd tingling as he stepped past the end of the trail, and the world seemed to shimmer for a moment, and then when his eyes cleared, he could see the footprints, two sets of them, leading off down a fairly well maintained path. "Woah." {... awesome} Wade grinned. "He didn't abandon us!" Wade cried cheerfully, skipping along the path and following the footprints. {I knew the kid loved us!} [you're both so stupid, and I hate that I'm stuck with you.] {get your stuck up head out of your non-existent ass and be happy the kid didn't take off without us.}
Wade hummed happily as he followed the path down the hill, admiring the tall buildings he could see in the distance. The sun was almost set by the time that Wade could see the buildings properly, and the path had transitioned from maintained dirt, to gravel, to stone paved. There were no longer any footprints for Wade to follow, but he figured that the kid could have only gone in one direction, since the path hadn't branched off yet. His mood had improved exponentially, and he was happily chatting to the voices about what he and Danny could do together once he'd found the kid again, when he was brought up short by a spear pointed at his chest.
"Who are you, and how did you find Wakanda?" the woman pointing the spear at him demanded. {ohh, shiny!} [Does that look like vibranium to you guys too?]
"Hello, beautiful." Wade purred at the spear, leaning forward to examine it closer. He didn't need to have moved, however, because a second later another spear was being bashed into the side of his head, and he collapsed to his knees unsteadily. {&*^!# ! (#* *$ ( ! (*# rude!} [I, for once, whole-heartedly agree with you. The hell was that for?} "Yeah, what was that for?"
"Answer the question!" the woman demanded again, spear pointed at his heart.
"Well, that's no way to treat your guests. Very inhospitable!" {I bet they don't get visitors often} [hard to get visitors when you hide behind holograms and attack anyone entering your city.] the woman huffed, and waved her hand at someone behind Wade. Before he could scramble to his feet and get ready to be attacked, he was wrestled to the ground and handcuffed. "Ohh, kinky!" he chirped. "At least buy a guy dinner first! I'm not that easy!" {yes you are.} "Okay, you're right, that's a lie, but still!"
The woman behind him, the one who'd cuffed him, dragged him back to his feet without speaking. "If you will not announce your business, you will be jailed, and be dealt with later for your trespassing." the woman in front of him said. Wade pouted.
"But MooOoOm! I haven't done anything wrong!" he whined. Despite his protests, Wade let them drag him down the path. They were going the direction that he wanted to, and he could just break out of their 'jail' and go find Danny later. If this was how they treated visitors, then it was just as likely that they'd be taking him to where Danny was, anyway.
Danny kicked his feet back and forth, staring around the cave/lab place that Shuri had taken him to. During the walk to the palace with Shuri, which was shorter than he had expected it to be, he had explained most of what had happened to him, remaining sparse on the details. She knew that he had come from another dimension - he saw no reason to hide that - and a bit of what had happened with Hydra, and most importantly, he had mentioned the way his ghost powers were malfunctioning, although he did not tell her that he was half-ghost, just about the powers.
Currently, Danny was sitting on one of Shuri's work benches, sipping on a smoothie, and watching Shuri write out mathematical formulas while muttering to herself. Eventually, when Danny was nearly finished with his smoothie, she looked up.
"And you say your parents had a working interdimensional portal as well?" She asked. Danny grinned.
"Yep! It's their life's work!" He said cheerfully. "Although, technically I don't think it's inter-dimensional, so much as inter-realm. The Ghost Zone is kinda a reflection of earth, or at least my earth, but it isn't really the same place. Connected though, you know?" Shuri hummed thoughtfully and noted something down.
"Do you understand much of your parents' work?" she asked, still scribbling on the paper.
"Uh, not really? Tech stuff is more Tucker's specialty than it is mine, but I do have a good memory. I could probably recreate what bits of the blueprints that I've seen for a lot of their tech stuff." Danny shrugged, before taking a final sip of his smoothie.
Shuri was quiet for a while, and when Danny glanced up, he noticed it was because she was staring at him speculatively.
"Uhh… what's that look for?" he asked, after a moment of staring back.
"Have you as good a head for speech as you have for the blueprints?"
"Um. not really, but I've probably memorised some of dad's speeches at this point. He kind of recycles them." Shuri hummed, her eyes narrowing.
"Come over here, please, and tell me what you think of my notes." Shuri said, leaning away from her bench and tapping the paper she'd been scribbling on with a finger. Danny shrugged.
"Okay, but I'm sure it won't make any sense. I'm not really that smart." Danny slid off his bench as he spoke.
"It will not hurt to try," Shuri said, "And you may know more than you think."
When he looked at Shuri's notes they, as expected, looked mostly like scribbles to him, but one thing stood out. The calculation that he noted was next to a small sketch of a door shaped portal, with notes he recognised as pertaining to the angle and flow of energy into the doorway. Danny frowned, a memory of his dad showing him the calculations for the portal hovering just out of reach. Absently, Danny leaned over and pressed his finger to them.
"This one looks wrong." he said eventually, frustrated that he couldn't quite remember why. But Shuri didn't ask for clarification, she just took a pen and highlighted the section.
"I suppose that will be enough for tonight. I have other duties to attend to, and as fascinating as this is, mother would be furious if I shirked them completely," Shuri sighed as she said this. "Would you like to be shown to a bed chamber for the night? You could stay here, but then I'd have to come back and collect you. Or you could join me for family dinner. It is a formal event, but I'm sure your odd clothes could be excused for one night." Danny frowned.
"No, bed sounds fine. Thank you for all your help." Shuri nodded, walking to the door.
"Well, yes, you are certainly welcome. I have been a bit bored as of late, it will be nice to have something different to play with. Follow me, white boy."