Hey, guys! Back with another chapter.
I got the idea for this chapter after thinking about the MCU timeline, and I couldn't resist writing it. I hope you like it.
Well, let's not waste any time.
Chapter 27- Wakanda
Barry sighs as he pulls the line out of the water, once again without a fish on the other end.
It's been a week since they separated from T'Challa in Siberia. Since then, they've taken to hiding in South Africa, waiting for T'Challa to contact them and call them to Wakanda. Apparently, he's encountered an unforseen situation, and is now having to deal with it.
"No fish?" asks Steve as he walks up.
"Nope," Barry responds.
Steve chuckles as he takes the rod and casts.
They sit there for a minute before Steve turns to Barry and asks, "You're worried about Wanda?"
Barry looks at Steve. "Of course. I love her more than anything. I can't sit here for long knowing she's at Ross' mercy," Barry says.
Steve nods and pats his shoulder. "It's okay. We'll get her out," he says. Barry just nods.
Then, the Kimoyo Bead band T'Challa gave Barry starts to beep. Barry glances at Steve before saying, "I'll take this."
Steve nods as Barry walks away a few yards. Steve doesn't hear the conversation, but his attention is drawn when Barry suddenly races off and disappears.
(A few minutes earlier, Wakandan jungle)
Ramonda and Shuri cry as they stand in the forest, mourning the death of T'Challa. Then, a rustling behind them draws their attention. They quickly turn, Ramonda drawing a weapon, but it's Nakia, followed by Ross.
"It's me," Nakia whispers.
"Nakia. Who is this man?" Ramonda demands.
"A friend of T'Challa's. He saved my life," Nakia responds.
Ramonda continues to stare at Ross for a moment, before turning her gaze to Nakia and asking, "Where's Okoye?"
"She is not coming. She and the Dora Milaje will serve the new king," Nakia responds. Ramonda looks at them for a moment longer before lowering her weapon.
"Wait here," Nakia tells them, then hurries off into the forest. Shuri watches her go, then turns and starts walking into the forest while tapping her Kimoyo Beads.
"What are you doing?" Ramonda demands of Shuri.
"Calling another friend of T'Challa's," Shuri says before she heads off into the forest a little ways to make the call.
(An hour later, the Garden of the Heart-Shaped Herb)
Killmonger bursts up out of the sand, breathing very heavily. The shaman who gave him the herb quickly tries to calm him.
Unknown to them, Nakia slowly lets herself down through a hole in the rock surrounding the garden, and slowly makes her way to the main chamber. As she reaches it, she sees Killmonger, with the other Wakandans who have gathered for the ceremony.
"The Heart-Shaped Herb did that?" he asks. The shaman responds with a simple nod.
Killmonger looks around at the herb plants. "This all of it?" he asks.
"Yes, my king. So when it comes time for another king, we will be ready," she replies.
"Another king?" Killmonger asks, taking a step towards her. She looks at him in confusion.
Killmonger starts to smile, then says, "Yeah. Go ahead and burn all that."
"My king, we cannot do that. It is our tradition..." the shaman says, but is cut off by Killmonger grabbing her by the throat and lifting her into the air, choking her.
"When I tell you to do something, I mean that s***," Killmonger says with a sneer.
Suddenly, there's a flash of lightning and whoosh in the cave. Killmonger looks around in confusion. But, he sees nothing out of the ordinary, and a clap of thunder from outside just makes him think it was some lightning strike.
Killmonger releases the shaman before ordering the rest of the group, "Burn it all!"
Nakia quickly sneaks out of her hiding place and pulls an herb from one of the plants. She then retreats back the way she had come, as the Wakandans begin burning the garden.
Killmonger stays in the garden, watching the garden burn, not knowing that he hasn't burned them all.
(Jabariland, the next night)
T'Challa shoots up out of the snow, the Heart-Shaped Herb having healed him. With gasps, Ramonda, Nakia, and Shuri all embrace him. M'Baku smiles and nods at them, as Ross looks on in surprise.
T'Challa smiles a bit and asks, "Do you have a blanket?"
Suddenly, there's a flash of lightning, and suddenly Barry Allen is standing before them, holding a large box under one arm, and a blanket in the other.
"Here you go, your highness," Barry says as he hands T'Challa the blanket, who smiles as he accepts it.
"Who is this?" Ramonda asks.
"My name is Barry Allen. Also known as the Flash. I met T'Challa last week, and helped him capture Zemo. Shuri called me up and asked me to come help. But first, I had to make a pitstop," Barry says with a smile before setting the box down.
All eyes are on the box. Then, Barry opens it, and T'Challa actually looks surprised as Ramonda, Nakia, and Shuri all gasp as the opened lid reveals half a dozen full Heart-Shaped Herb plants, roots and all.
"How did you get these?" Shuri asks.
"When I first arrived in Wakanda, I stopped by where these plants were. When I overheard their conversation, I picked these plants and took them away for safekeeping," Barry responds.
T'Challa smiles at Barry. "Thank you, Mr. Allen," he says.
"You're welcome, T'Challa. But things aren't over yet," Barry replies.
(The next morning, M'Baku's hall)
T'Challa, along with Barry, Everett, Ramonda, Nakia, and Shuri all have gathered in M'Baku's hall to discuss the situation.
"Killmonger has the full support of our military. And...he burned the garden of the Heart Shaped Herb. All save the 6 Mr. Allen saved," Nakia says, again looking thankfully at Barry.
"Well of course he did. That's what he was trained to do. His unit used to work with the CIA to destabilize foreign countries," Everett says, "They would always strike at transitions of power like an election year or the death of a monarch. You get control of the government, the military..."
"And resources," Barry finishes, putting together the strategy.
"Exactly," Everett says.
T'Challa stares off into space before saying the main resource of Wakanda: "The Great Mound."
"Our Vibranium. All of my designs," Shuri adds.
"He will send our weapons all over the world," T'Challa finishes.
There are several moments of tense silence. Barry stands there, arms folded, trying to contemplate the magnitude of Vibranium weapons being unleashed on the world in the way this Killmonger wants.
T'Challa turns to Barry and points to Shuri and Ramonda, saying, "I need you to get them away from Wakanda safely."
Barry is about to nod when Ramonda speaks up and asks, "What?"
"What about you?" Shuri asks
"The challenge will have to continue," T'Challa says.
Ramonda says loudly, "T'Challa! We will not leave Wakanda."
"It is my duty to keep you safe," T'Challa says.
"If he gets control of our technology, nowhere will be safe," Shuri says.
Everyone is quiet. Shuri then smiles as she stands and holds out a necklace of metal teeth, which Barry recognizes as the necklace surrounding the neck of T'Challa's suit.
Shuri walks over to T'Challa and hangs the necklace around his neck. "The Black Panther lives. And when he fights for the fate of Wakanda, I will be right there beside him."
"As will I," Nakia says.
"And you can bet the Flash will be there," Barry says with a grin.
"I'm in too," Everett says, drawing glances. "What? You're gonna need all the help you can get."
All of a sudden, a very loud yawn interrupts them, which they quickly realize is coming from M'Baku. As they realize this, he asks, "Are you done? Are...are you...are you done?"
Barry finds this somewhat amusing, but wisely keeps his mouth shut. T'Challa looks towards M'Baku and asks, "Could you give me and Lord M'Baku a moment?"
Everyone obediently files out. As they do, Shuri reaches into a bag she brought with her, at the same time turning to Barry. "I pondered seeing if you would like to wear my brother's old suit for this. But it was too bulky. But, I did make this for you recently. It was all I could do on such short notice. Maybe I can make you a better one after we win this." And with that, she pulls out a pretty much copy of the suit he was wearing when he arrived on Earth-99.
Barry grins. Then, in a flash of lightning, he dons the suit. He stands there, relishing the feeling, then says, "The Flash is back in the game."
Everyone smiles. A few moments later, T'Challa comes waking out.
"He will not help us, save to allow you to stay here, Mama," T'Challa says. Ramonda looks like she wants to protest, but doesn't.
T'Challa then looks at the rest of his team, and says, "Let's go."
Barry runs them all down to the foot of the mountain, and from there they make their way towards the city, ready for a final showdown with Killmonger.
(Hours later, outside Shuri's lab)
Barry grins as he watches T'Challa marching across the plain towards Killmonger, while he squats atop the tower. They had agreed beforehand to have Barry wait until called in, to maximize the effect of surprise.
Barry watches as two different formations of planes take off and start heading towards the border, one heading east, and the other west.
"Shuri, now," Barry hears T'Challa say over comms. "Copy that," comes her response.
Barry watches as T'Challa is engaged by the Border Tribe. He wants so badly, but knows he had to wait. He eases up a bit upon seeing the Dora Milaje turn on Killmonger, some attacking him while the rest go to support T'Challa.
A few moments later, Shuri calls over comms, "Barry, Ross will take out the planes going west, but you have to destroy the ones going east."
"Alright, I'm on it," Barry says as he races off.
It doesn't take long to catch up to the planes. There are three transports and two escorts.
Barry sees an advantage as he sees them flying through a canyon. He races up the sides of the canyon and lunges towards one of the escort planes. Right as he reaches it, he vibrates super fast and phases right into the cockpit. Two speed punches take care of the crew.
Barry slides into one of the seats. "Alright," he says. He takes aim with the aircraft's weapons and fires. One of the transports blows up and goes down.
Realizing the situation, the other escort turns to engage Barry. Barry turns to avoid getting destroyed.
For the next minute, Barry and the other escort are engaged in a low level dogfight over the hills of Wakanda. Finally, Barry manages to get in a good spot for a shot. He fires and hits the other plane, but as it falls, the other plane manages to get off a shot, hitting Barry's plane.
Barry destroys the front windshield and escapes with the two crewmembers. Leaving them behind a boulder, he races after the other two transports.
He quickly manages to get ahead of them. Wishing he had the Iron Flash suit right now, he realizes there's really just one thing to do right now.
Barry starts running in a circle as fast as he can, building up energy. Once he feels he's built up enough, he whips around to face the transports and throws a pair of lightning bolts. The bolts hit the planes and overload their circuits, destroying them.
"Yes. Shuri, I destroyed the planes," Barry says.
"Great! Now, get back here! We need you now!" Shuri shouts. Barry is off like a shot.
(The plain outside Shuri's lab)
Shuri, Nakia, Okoye and Ayo all turn hesitantly, weapons at the ready, as the Border Tribe surrounds them. They see no way out of the wall of shields surrounding rhem.
"Surrender now!" W'Kabi calls out. The trapped women all look at him hesitantly as he says, "You have three seconds to lay down your weapons. One! Two! Thr-!"
W'Kabi suddenly stops, as a familiar barking sound grows steadily louder. At the same time, at two second intervals, there's a flash of lightning off to the side.
Suddenly, one of the men of the Border Tribe is lifted off the ground, held in the the air by M'Baku, who shouts, "Witness the might of the Jabari! First hand!"
M'Baku then throws the man, who crashes into one of the energy shields. The Border Tribe then begins to break into chaos as the army of the Jabari begins to attack.
Okoye yells, a smile now on her face. But, as she prepares to attack, a number of men of the Border Tribe go flying up into the air, right before a streak of lightning streaks up to them. And suddenly, Barry is standing in the midst of them.
"Someone call for a Scarlet Speedster?" Barry says with a smirk.
"Yes. Now help us!" Shuri cries. Barry smiles before racing off, knocking a dozen men of the Border Tribe flying as he goes.
The Border Tribe doesn't know what to think. Apart from fighting both the Dora Milaje and the Jabari, they are having to fight a man who can run faster than they can follow.
With Barry's help, the Border Tribe's resistance starts decreasing rapidly. W'Kabi realizes his men can't last much longer.
Then, he notices M'Baku up ahead. He urges his rhino to charge. Turning to the sound of the noise, M'Baku looks terrified. Barry sees this, and is about to run forward to save M'Baku. That is, until Okoye jumps between the rhino and M'Baku.
The rhino almost instantly comes to a stop. And in a display that almost makes Barry laugh out loud, it licks Okoye's face.
M'Baku quickly runs off as W'Kabi climbs off the rhino. As he reaches for his blade, Okoye demands, "Drop your weapon."
W'Kabi smiles slightly and asks, "Would you kill me, my love?"
"For Wakanda?" Okoye asks. She then raises her spear and points it right at W'Kabi before saying harshly, "Without question."
W'Kabi pulls his sword out, then looks around. Looking at the battle taking place around him, and at Barry, standing just yards away. Then, he stops his sword and gets down on his knees. The rest of the Border Tribe still conscious follow W'Kabi's example.
Barry grins as he looks around. "Well, this has been an eventful day," he whispers.
Barry, acting under Okoye's orders, proceeds to gather all the weapons of the Border Tribe, and takes them into the remnants of Shuri's lab, which was blasted by a Wakandan plane. He then takes off to find T'Challa.
He finds him on an overlook outside the lab. Killmonger is lying next to him on the ground.
Barry walks up to T'Challa slowly. "He's dead?" he asks.
T'Challa nods slowly. "Yes. He chose to die a free man," he says.
Barry nods as he looks out at the sight before him. He's never seen a more beautiful sunset before.
"Wakandan sunsets truly are beautiful," he says. T'Challa simply nods in response.
And together, the Flash and the Black Panther watch as the sun sets on a changed Wakanda.
And, I'll end there. I hope you liked this chapter. I felt that, since the movie Black Panther begins just a week after Zemo bombed the UN, it would've made sense in this universe for Barry to make an appearance.
If you didn't guess by Shuri's dialogue when she gave Barry the suit, I'm thinking of having Shuri build Barry a new version of the Iron Flash suit, perhaps even one made of Vibranium, like the Black Panther suit. Let me know what you think of that, and any Wakandan style upgrades you'd like to see to the Iron Flash suit.
Next chapter will be the Raft rescue. There will be at least two more chapters after that before Barry returns to Earth-1.
I'll end here for now. Please review and tell me how you liked this. And stay tuned.