Chapter 23: Allies forged in blood

How does one wage war against a nation?

Moreso, how would I do that without the help of my friends and allies?

Armed with a cool drink I sat on a beach in the middle of nowhere, no human for miles. I watched the rising sun reflect on the water and enjoyed the gentle breeze while making my plans.

It might have seemed like a bad idea but involving them was out of the question for me. They would ask too many questions, have too many concerns. A small part of myself had to admit, I didn´t want them to learn of my ruthless side.

Which begged the question, how to deal with Wakanda?

I was no strategic genius. My political cloud was solely based on my achievements in combat and my popularity with the general populace.

Meaning, for any one single person that didn´t hold a political office, it was quite a lot – next to a nation, even one as "unassuming and impoverished" as Wakanda? There was barely a comparison to be made.

But what I did have, was nothing to snuff at either. My resources weren´t limitless, but they came close. I had magic. I had connections, that I could ask at least for small favors without questions. I had my ring.

And most importantly, I had a whole bunch of knowledge about Wakanda´s closet full of skeletons.

See, I liked both Black Panther movies quite a bit. That did not mean I agreed with what they were doing over there.

As charming as Chadwick Boseman was, I did not start liking T´Challa until the end of the first movie. It irked me a bit that his cousin had to die for him to see that Wakanda´s isolation was wrong, but the film ended on a promising note.

Only for the actor to die and his character with him. The character development was cut short and Wakanda Forever had to deal with that.

Now as a story, I thought it was great. I loved Shuri as her brother´s successor, I loved seeing more of the Dora Milaje and Queen Ramonda. Even if it baffled me that they would kill off Angela Bassett´s character.

As someone who now lived in the same universe that story would take place in, I was pissed. Wakanda still didn´t share their most important resource. I wasn´t sure if they had ever explicitly stated their reason why. Dunking on other nations for trying to steal Vibranium was all well and good, but why did they not share in the first place?

Oh, because they were afraid other nations would use the Vibranium to build weapons? Something they had been doing for centuries.

The only reason Wakanda never attacked anyone was because they already had everything.

Now with that said, I did not have a whole lot of good will left for Wakanda or its people. Let them feel like the rest of the world for once.

"Ree, - ", I spoke out loud for the first time that morning, " … what do you have on Erik Stevens, a.k.a. Killmonger?"

I crossed the busy plaza, careful not to run into anyone while I aimed for the café across from me. It was a beautiful day in Florence, the sun was shining and it was surprisingly warm for Europe in late autumn.

Normally, I would have been delighted to take in the sights but today would not afford me that opportunity.

Finding Killmonger had been easy, all things considered. I was sure that had to do with my timing. Eric Stevens just left his JSOC ghost unit this year. He was evidently already planning on making Klaue his ticket into Wakanda but couldn´t find him.

He was in Florence on a tip about a weapon dealer that had done business with Klaue before. I could see why it had taken him 3 more years in canon to get an in with the elusive fugitive. That fucker was paranoid as all hell.

I righted my sunglasses as I spotted my target. My disguise consisted of said glasses and not wearing any teal for a change. It worked surprisingly well. To be fair, it was mostly Americans that saw my maskless interviews.

Italians just saw another pasty British tourist.

I approached Erik´s table with a smile. He noticed me and mustered me with hints of confusion and annoyance.

"Hello, do you mind if I join you?", I asked politely and then promptly sat down without waiting for an answer.

"Sure, knock yourself out.", he said dryly, raising an eyebrow.

I smiled at him again. Sure enough, Michael B. Jordan. But slightly shorter hair than in the movie. Before either of us could continue the conversation, a waitress popped up out of nowhere to take my order. That must have been the fastest I´ve ever been serviced in a café, I mused. With a look at my company I concluded that it may have something to do with the appearances of people present.

There was a moment of silence when the waitress left. Both of us studied the other. Deliberately relaxed, I took the sunglasses off and with a single thought my eyes flashed teal for a moment.

I could see Killmonger´s surprise as he caught that move immediately.

"What the fuck are you doing here?", he asked when he regained his composure.

I had to grin at that.

"Good question. But first one of my own. Don´t take this the wrong way though. Do you prefer Erik, Killmonger or N´Jadaka?", I asked, half as a way to clue him in, half because I was curious.

I sure succeeded at surprising him. It took him a moment longer this time to overcome his shock.

"How?", he grunted out.

He leaned back in his chair with a purposefully easy attitude. Still, his body read as tense to me.

"Let´s just say Wakanda recently made another enemy.", I said. I let my cheerful façade drop to give him an impression of how mad I was underneath.

Some of the rigidness drained from his form. Curiosity took the place of alarm.

"What did they do?", Erik asked with a smirk that spoke of dark amusement.

"Trying to use that Magneto mess to play with human rights. Or rather mutant rights. Those don´t seem to be quite on the same level for their beloved king.", I sneered.

"I see. Pissed you off quite a bit, did they?"

"Understatement of the century. I had my fair share of complaints about the way Wakanda choses to bury its head in the sand, but I was content to let it go as long as they stayed in their lane. I have enough genius friends to know that the rest of the world will save itself eventually.", I said and shook my head.

"But no, they got scared. Mutants, free of persecution and no longer hunted by greedy governments, those could be a threat to our precious Vibranium! Let´s register and tag them like cattle, because that could never go wrong."

I grimaced as I thought about some of the ideas that had been thrown around in backdoor diplomacy meetings. Sure, Wakanda wasn´t asking for these terms themselves, but they were content on being dragged into posing as the flagship for all those that did. All some more ambitious nations had to do was point at Wakanda and say: "Look what the mutants did to them!".

It was also ironic how the invasion of Grenada was swept under the rug by all this. Even though the death toll had been way higher, no one "important" had died. Their government had expressed their wishes to rebuild in peace and even got in some hot water over the deserted Hydra base on the main island.

Apparently, Wakanda just fit into the victim role that much better.

"Why did you come to me?", Killmonger fished for more information.

It probably freaked him out quite a bit that someone knew of his identity. If my memory was correct, only T´Chaka and that shaman that betrayed N´Jobu knew of his existence. And they were keeping mum out of shame and a misplaced sense of duty.

"Because I think our goals align, at least the short-term ones. Now, let me summarize what I think your plan is. You hunt down Klaue. You present his head to the Wakandans, establishing who you are. You confront T´Chaka and challenge him for the throne. After becoming king, you use the Vibranium at your fingertips to spread Wakanda´s influence and change the world to your liking. Am I close?"

It was more or less what was shown in the first movie. I was curious how his priorities would have changed with T`Chaka still being alive.

"You seem remarkably well informed.", the ex-soldier commented. His gaze was so intense, I could almost feel it on my skin.

"You could say, magically well informed.", I joked with crooked grin. "Don´t worry. Sorcerers exclusively deal with interdimensional threats, they don´t make a habit out of scrying for random blackmail. I just happen to have other priorities."

"So you came to make an alliance. Why not show the world how much Wakanda is hiding? I can name a nation or two that would have a bone to pick with them.", Killmonger resumed his questioning.

Just then the young waitress returned and served me my coffee with a charming smile. I thanked her and started adding some cream into my cup.

"Because that wouldn´t get them to change.", I answered his question. "They would just drive themselves further into a corner."

I shook my head as I added a teaspoon of sugar to the bitter brew.

"Wakanda needs an upset. A new perspective. And I think you would be their best chance.", I concluded and blew at my coffee to cool it down.

"I like how you think. Say, that magic of yours wouldn´t nap us a certain weapons dealer´s head, would it?"

Killmonger´s smile was a dark thing. He was charming, but I wouldn´t forget that he was also a merciless killer. I was sure that he would easily put a bullet in my head if I crossed him. Or if he saw me as an obstacle at all. I wouldn´t make it that easy for him though.

"Now you are talking my language! By the way, you never answered my question.", I said.

When he raised his eyebrow in question, I elaborated: "Which name you prefer."

"For now, Erik is probably better. But when I sit on Wakanda´s throne you can start calling me N´Jadaka."

His smile turned a bit cocky at that, but his attitude was infectious.

"Alright, that´s a sentiment I can go along with."

I grinned and took a sip of my coffee. I immediately regretted my choice. With a disgusted frown, I slowly, and hopefully discreetly, spit the brew back into the cup and delicately deposited it back on the table, carefully pushing it away from me.

Erik looked amused.

"It can´t be that bad. I thought the coffee was pretty good here."

I grimaced and hid my mouth behind a napkin.

"So did I.", I grumbled.

"I don´t really like coffee, but this seemed like the ideal setting to try it again. Surprise, still too bitter for me."

"You don´t like coffee?", Erik questioned with lighthearted astonishment.

I shrugged my shoulders.

"Sweet tooth, what can I say."

"So, how does this scrying stuff work?", Erik asked, unsuccessfully trying to hide the doubt in his voice.

I rolled my eyes. Heretics.

"Well, I never really got in the theory of it admittedly. But simple scrying is a must. It isn´t really useful for most sorcerers unless you are really, really good at it though.", I explained distractedly as I completed my rune circle on Erik´s hotel room floor.

He still looked worried.

"You aren´t giving me much confidence here.", he pointed out.

I huffed.

I had never tried this before. As mentioned, it wasn´t really something your typical sorcerer got into. The only reason I had, was funnily enough because of Klaue. While I hadn´t anticipated to deal with him this way, I had needed a way to find him and get rid of his Vibranium stash before we had another Ultron situation. But Klaue was good at hiding.

Very good.

Which explained why his numerous enemies hadn´t caught up with him yet.

Ergo, scrying. The Ancient One was actually delighted when I asked her for pointers in the subject.

"The thing is, scrying only really works for your ordinary non-magic related stuff. And you have to be specific. Like finding a specific weapon dealer. So we should be fine.", I appeased my sceptic audience.

"Might need a couple of tries though…", I added under my breath.

By the sharp look Erik was shooting me, he heard me anyway.

"Ah, cool your socks over there. A few hours and we have a location, and your room is as good as new."

"You sure that ink comes out?", he asked dryly.

"Yes, yes, it needs this specific ink, ok? Don't ask me why, I couldn´t tell you. Magic is weird like that. Pretty sure it even has some fancy name, but I couldn´t be bothered with remembering it. And don´t tell me you actually give a shit about the state you leave your hotel room in. You need some new priorities then. And now hush, I have to concentrate.", I ranted.

After making sure the ink had dried, I sat down in the center of the circle. With a handwave I drew the large water bowl to me, careful not to spill anything.

The bowl in between my legs, I relaxed and began loosening the connection between my body and my spirit. Picturing Klaue and what I knew about him in my mind, I conjured a reflection of him in the still water.

Taking a deep breath, I plunged in headfirst.

Weightless, I floated towards a huge ship in the middle of the ocean. A blink later and I was inside, watching Klaue talk with one of his underlings in Dutch.

I couldn´t understand him because my connection to my ring was severed in this state, but it didn´t matter anyway.

I had what I came for.

Concentration broken, I was pulled back into my body.

With a gasp, I righted myself. I felt like I had just been on a really weird amusement ride. It was also kind of icky.

Meh. 4/10, would only recommend if necessary.

I shook my head to clear it. The trip left me a bit foggy.

When I looked up Erik was staring at me.

"Did it work?", he asked cautiously.

"Yeah, really weird feeling though. Give me a sec before we go."

He nodded and stood up to begin stretching.

"Looked weird too. You just stared at the bowl for like 90 minutes or so."

I cursed.

"That long? Damn, I didn´t even feel that."

I stood up too, my regret immediate. Ugh, my neck.

"Scratch that, I feel it.", I pushed out in a strained tone.

"Still a whole lot faster than any of the intelligence agencies around the world.", Erik commented.

"True, true.", I admitted and groaned when my back popped.

"Well, let´s get to it."

Erik grinned at me after a last check of the small arsenal he had on him. I was tempted to ask how he had gotten all that into the country, but then I probably didn´t want to know.

Handguns, grenades, ammo, - eh, big guns? Some sort of automatic rifle or something?

Still didn´t know anything about guns and was content to keep it that way.

"Shall we?", he asked with a bloodthirsty smile.

I sat Erik down on one end on the ship and teleported to the other. Ree had already killed all communication the second we sat foot on the thing and I was invisible, so detection wouldn´t be a problem.

Erik would work through one half of the rusted deathtrap and I through the other, letting us meet in the middle.

Didn´t sound like the most sound of plans, but neither of us was worried.

Me, because I had plenty of ways to defend myself as long as I didn´t have to worry about anything or anyone in my surroundings. Erik, because, well there was a reason they gave him that nickname.

I had read some of his mission reports, that man was scarily efficient. No wonder T´Challa had lost to him in his first duel.

Not bothering with taking prisoners, I pulled out Thanatos, my trusty scythe, right from the start. It was singing in my hand, clearly excited with what was to come.

My first contact with Klaue´s crew didn´t last long. A lone worker had apparently decided to take a break for a smoke on deck. I didn´t hesitate to cut him a head shorter and enter through the door he had just come out of.

It was like letting a fox loose in the henhouse. The crew didn´t stand a chance.

A few of them tried to defend themselves when one of their colleagues went down in a spray of blood, but even if they managed more than simply drawing their weapons, they had a hard time shooting at an invisible target.

And with Ree´s constant scanning, they couldn´t hide. A few of them tried.

They stumbled upon the corpses of the people they had worked with for months and tried to disappear in vents or obscure storage spaces when they realized how many had already died.

I backtracked a few times to make sure I had caught everyone.

It took a while until I could hear the gunfire that marked Erik´s position. Another few minutes and I finally met him again, coincidentally right in front of Klaue inside of some sort of big assembly or production space, opened shipping containers all around us.

Klaue stood alone, bleeding from wounds in his upper arm and shoulder, surrounded by nearly half a dozen dead crew members. Still, he didn´t seem sufficiently cowed even as Erik aimed a gun at his head.

For me, it wasn´t hard to guess why. Behind Erik was a goon slowly rounding the corner of one of the large containers there. He was directly in Klaue´s field of view and therefor in Erik´s blind spot.

I took a sort of sick satisfaction in Klaue´s face after I swung my scythe and smoothly separated the goon´s head from his shoulders.

Erik whirled around, gun trained on the spot that had been held by the lackey just seconds ago.

"Just me.", I said and took that as my cue to become visible again.

Erik relaxed and turned to Klaue again. The weapon dealer´s eyes widened when he recognized me.

"But, what?", he sputtered.

I frowned and walked up next to Erik.

"Any particular reason he is still breathing?", I asked, wanting that weasel done with as fast as possible.

Erik chuckled and pulled the trigger. Klaue´s body fell with a thumb, a bullet hole in between the eyebrows like a third eye.

"If only the public could see you now.", he joked.

I shrugged.

"I mean, don´t expect me to start killing puppies and babies, but weapon dealers and pirates? They chose their paths.", I explained coldly.

"Now, let´s collect the corpse and blow this ship up."

"Wait, wait, - ", Erik held his hands up to slow me down. "Let´s first look for the Vibranium."

I blinked at him, perplexed that I had managed to forget about that part. I had been so mentally entranced upon the Black Panther movie, that I had forgotten that the Vibranium was still in Klaue´s possession. Oops.

"I totally forgot about that part.", I admitted. "That why he was still alive when I arrived?"

Erik nodded.

"Yeah, but I figured you are faster."

"And right you are.", I said distractedly, already setting Ree on the task of leading us to the storage.

My memory of Age of Ultron was certainly not good enough to get us there. My surroundings were only vaguely familiar to me.

Concentrated on what Ree was showing me, I waved Erik to follow me. With a dismissive hand gesture, I deposited Klaue´s corpse somewhere I deemed safe, not wanting to have to come back for him.

Walking across a few corridors, I opened a door that revealed several barrels of proclaimed toxic waste. After a few seconds a mechanism activated and the room before us disappeared into the ground to be replaced by rows and rows of glowing containers.

A room full of Vibranium. Worth literal billions.

"Bingo."

AN: Huff, nearly made up for the missed uploads by now. This arc really writes itself.

First up, if it hasn´t already been cleared up by this chapter; TrumpasaurusRex: Yeah, in the US everything is fine (well, you know, as fine as it can be), but MESO is supposed to be an international movement. The trouble comes with getting everything right with the UN. Think CA: Civil War and the Sokovia Accords. It´s why MC started this after all.

Well, MC is sure making interesting friends. He´s still spiralling a bit and is going to have to get a grip on himself soon though... Anway! What do you guys think? Reviews are always appreciated.