A/N
Guys, I know. I'm slow. Updates are sporadic and without pattern, It might be one a week, or one every 7 months. I lead a busy life. Not to mention I just got into Assassin's Creed Odyssey…. I'm in love, I tell you. That game's amazing. I'm an Ancient Studies major, so it just tickles me.
I don't know what to say. As of this moment, this fic is on Page 1. It's sitting pretty as the 6th most followed Avenger fic out of over 46K. Also on page 1 of 'Favorites;' top 25, and that's utterly ridiculous. I started this thing like a year ago. Don't let my head get any bigger; I'll start thinking I'm a good writer, or something.
By the way, I'm still looking for cover-art for this thing. Refer to the ending A/N of Chapter 6 if you're interested/bored enough to whip up something.
To reiterate: I don't own Marvel.
"Good morning, Master Quill."
"Please no." Nathan replied immediately. "None of that. I appreciate the ego boost, but you at least,are going to keep calling me 'Nathan.'" He paused and shrugged. "The others are completely incorrigible."
All his friends from the combat group started calling him that exclusively, each with a giant grin on their face. They still called Isabelle and Xiang by name, but Nathan? Nope. Something about him being the tiniest Master in the history of the Mystic Arts, and deserving respect. It was annoying as hell, especially since they all knew he was a good bit older than he appeared.
Which was probably why they did it.
The twelve-year-old was also in the middle of puberty - again - which really didn't help the teasing. A Master with a cracking voice? Apparently that's hilarious. Not to mention the little fact that his eyes were starting to draw towards his female friends while they were exercising; sweat glistening off their toned bodies, and moving around like trained danc- No.
Fucking stop it.
Isabelle in particular was extremely attractive; she really had that French allure down pat, and was the first to notice his little… problem. She kept flirting with him to try and get a reaction, an action that never failed to leave him blushing - at the very least.
A few other girls around the temple had caught on and started messing with him too. Nathan couldn't say he didn't like the attention, especially since each and every one was attractive, but it was embarrassing as hell. It wasn't like he hadn't noticed how attractive the women were before then, but without the chemical reactions in his brain to get a boner, his interest was minimal - preferring close friends, rather than an emotional rollercoaster.
Objectively, he wasn't romantically interested in anyone he'd met in this life - his determined, dedicated personality that carried over from his past life basically tuned most romance out, or more accurately; set it to second fiddle. A trait that got him in trouble with every girl he dated back then.
Well, what do you expect? His work was just more important to him than some arbitrary relationship crap.
Who the hell celebrates 'monthiversaries'?
Nathan was a bit of a loner. Always had been; finding most relationships more cumbersome than enjoyable. That's not to say he avoided them, though. No, he enjoyed the company of every girlfriend he'd ever had, he just didn't go out of his way to find one, and if they started to chafe against his time commitments, he let them sieve out of his life.
Basically, his situation could be summed up in one sentence: hormones are a bitch.
"Very well." The Ancient One chuckled. "Though the title isn't supposed to boost your ego; merely allow others to understand your capabilities. There are a few communities that practice magic around the world, not to mention a few off world that we interact with occasionally." She smiled at him gently. "Kamar-Taj is the largest and most respected, but the title of 'Master' is a universal testament to one's ability among them."
That, Nathan supposed, was a good point. He hadn't run into too many problems with that, but he really only interacted with the temple students. The few other magic users he met were rogue, and doing really stupid shit with the energies of the cosmos.
Which didn't facilitate much dialogue; unless you counted punches to the face as a respectable conversation starter.
… Well, the Asgardians might respond well to that, but Nathan couldn't think of many others that would.
The twelve-year-old sighed. "Yeah, well that might come in handy when I leave, I guess."
"Oh?" The Ancient One tilted her head. "Had enough of us, then?"
"It's like you think I'm not coming back." He pouted. "There's a whole universe to see, though, right? I've seen some of it, but there's plenty to do that I haven't done." Nathan also had a few places to check on. Ego's seed behind that Dairy Queen, for example, was something he'd been meaning to look for. That could wait though. It's not like he would really get much from it, and if he did something with it, and somehow notified Ego of his presence… something to avoid. He just had to check if it was there, and leave.
She nodded, opening a drawer in her desk and rummaging around inside. "I suppose it's about time you started off. I imagine you want your independence back."
"You say that like I was held under lock and key." Nathan laughed, and in his best British accent said, "I 'ad a plate of fish and chips for brekfest this mornin'. On 'op a Big Ben."
Okay, yeah. His accent sucked.
"The best walls are the ones we cannot see." The lady smirked as her eyes lit up; apparently finding what she was looking for. "Ah. Here it is."
Out from the desk, she pulled a small, silver locket, and placed it in front of Nathan.
"I believe it's time I gave this back."
Nathan blinked down at the locket, mouth slightly agape.
"I…" Nathan nearly forgot the damn thing existed. "You think I can protect it?"
She nodded. "I think you can. Though more importantly: I think you might need it."
His eyes shot up to meet hers, expression turning serious.
"No. I'm not going to tell you when, why, or how. It's simply a possibility. More; I trust you to only use it as a last resort." Her own eyes hardened. "You, of all people, know how dangerous the Stones are."
Nathan stared at the locket for a moment. "You do realize I'll have to practice with it if I want to use it at all, right?"
She nodded slowly. "I would imagine so, but please do it off planet if possible, or in the mirror dimension."
Nathan nodded back. "That's easy enough." Practicing with it on a barren planet, in a galaxy far, far away, was really the only option when it came to an Infinity Stone. Else risk the lives of… well, everything. If what he remembered about the Stones was true, though, they would shatter if taken to a different dimension, so the second option was kind of out... wait. No, Strange was able to use the stone against Dormammu, and that was in a whole other dimension, right? Maybe there was a difference between dimensions and other universes within the Multiverse? He'd been thinking they were just different terms for the same thing.
Something to look into.
Truth be told, though, he was still a bit terrified of using the Stones at all. Using his own energy as a medium was dangerous, even though it offered more control than embedding it into another device. Then there were the deity-level beings that might seek him out if he did anything of scale with it. He would have to master it before anything like that happened.
Securing the locket around his neck, the twelve-year-old looked out the window on the far wall. "Well. I suppose I'll make my rounds of goodbyes, then. Thank you." He said, turning back towards his teacher. "For everything."
She waved it off with a warm smile. "Like you said, it's not as if we won't see you again. You're welcome home anytime."
There was that word again. He really had come to belong there, hadn't he?
"Though out of curiosity," she continued, "where do you plan to go first?"
The mischievous grin sprung up before Nathan could stop it. "Oh, just a little country in Africa."
King T'Chaka was what many would call a patient man, a fair and wise ruler, a doting father, and a loving husband. Though he, himself, thought those adjectives better fit on a gravestone than the living. He preferred the more human descriptors that his wife insisted on; loyal, naïve, pacifistic, and practical.
Having a woman in one's life was good for balancing the ego, he supposed.
Through his years as King, he did his best to serve his people, and honestly had few issues doing so. His ascent to the throne had been unchallenged in the ceremony. His rise as Black Panther; even less so. Though looking back on it, a regret he lived with for the past twelve years, he dearly wished his brother had challenged him. On both accounts.
Maybe then, he could have prevented the two largest tragedies in Wakandan history. Maybe then he could have confronted the differences in philosophy before it came to a head. Maybe then, he could have come to a more peaceful resolution with his brother. Instead, he had been forced to witness an act of subterfuge and betrayal that ended more than poorly. His country's borders breached, resources stolen, citizens lost, and a brother executed for treason. The fact that the latter was carried out by his own hand only made the guilt worse, as opposed to the satisfaction that it should have been to regain that honor.
He couldn't help but think that he might have convinced his brother to keep with tradition if he had known when they were children.
Most of his people connected both tragedies as one. The execution of a traitor for giving classified information to a thief, and the resultant escapades by said thief; but T'Chaka saw differently. His brother had been dear to him. He had trusted and loved him. He was family.
Which made the mere fact of betrayal a tragedy in its own right.
These thoughts swam through his mind on a regular basis. A regret that would never truly leave him. However, they usually sat in a distant corner of his mind, silently judging his every action. Today though,they paced in the forefront. That was because today, he had a premonition of a repeat.
In his history as king, there had only ever been one man that breached the borders of Wakanda. That one man had taken much from his people, and none would soon forget it.
However now, there was another. Displayed on a large holographic screen in the corner of the room, the image of a boy was shown. A child, by the looks of it, but one that had simply walked up to the edge of his city and started poking at the illusive barrier that hid them from the world, creating ripples in the air around his finger.
"Who is this boy?" His good friend and advisor, W'Badu, asked incredulously.
"He appears to be a traveler, given his hiking gear." Another of his advisors, N'Jaka, pointed out.
The boy did, in fact, wear classic, jungle-dive hiking gear. As in a wide-brimmed hat, cargo shorts and tee-shirt, boots, and a fairly large backpack with a machete strapped to it.
"That much is obvious," W'Badu responded flippantly, "but how did he avoid detection? No one gets this close to Wakanda without us knowing."
"And what of his family?" The last of his advisors, and the only female in the room, Amalla, asked. "It is hard to imagine he is alone."
T'Chaka nodded at her and stood. "We will search for them. N'Jaka, please, if you would, lead that search. I will go, personally, to confront the boy and lead him away from the city. We will discuss the faults in our security later, but we must deal with this now."
"My King." N'Jaka bowed in acceptance before standing and leaving the room.
None of his advisors even twitched at the idea that their king would handle the problem personally. T'Chaka had heard of kings in Medieval times that would sit back, give orders, and expect their problems to be solved without personal action. This was not how Wakanda dealt with their problems. Wakanda dealt with their own problems, big or small, personally.
"We will let him leave that easily?" W'Badu asked. "What if he speaks of what he has seen? Surely he will."
"He is a child, W'Badu. Who would believe him?" Amalla responded simply.
Their king laughed slightly. "Amalla speaks the truth. Come, my friend, let us see him away from the city before his guardians also appear out of nowhere."
W'Badu sighed, but stood and followed his king out of the council room.
In just a few short minutes, T'Chaka would wish he had brought some soldiers, or even his Black Panther suit, with him, if for nothing more than peace of mind.
Outer Reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy
"Hey, Marlaax! What the dick is taking you so long?"
"Pete, if you don't shut your damn blow-hole, I'm going to - oh shit, Jigg, you gotta get that thing open. Now!" A guttural voice hissed through the static of Peter's ship communicator.
Peter made a face at the device. "I should just leave them here." He mumbled. "Nobody would have to know."
"I heard that, you ugly prick!"
"Ugly?!" Peter yelled back indignantly. "I'll have you know I'm gorgeous! Thank you very much!"
"Says the idiot with strings of dead cells on his head!"
"It's called hair, you bald, overgrown tumor!"
"Call it whatever you wan-"
"Would both of you shut up!" Another voice interrupted. "We're kinda in the middle of something here!"
"Whatever." Peter pouted and looked out the cockpit window. He leaned forward, trying to act nonchalant as a few figures approached the ship.
"Uh, yeah, you guys are going to need to hurry up."
"We heard you the firs-" Marlaax tried to start.
"No, I mean the guards are looking at me weird, and pointing those sticks at me."
"... Shit. Jigg, get that thing open yesterday!"
"Hey, you!" A muffled voice came from outside the ship.
Peter turned, only to see one of the yellow ape-like creatures that called this planet home, pounding on the cockpit glass.
This planet was a ship-yard. Yes; the whole planet, and went by the name of Yormunn Dock.
The Yondu Ravager clan had been chasing around the young Viscount of some weird space kingdom out in the ass-cheeks of nowhere, for nearly a month, and boy what a month of fun that had been. The Ravagers had gotten a good hit on their jump-drive in their first ambush, sure, but the Space Noble had one hell of a pilot, and one hell of a lot of missiles for the size of his ship.
Which basically meant they got away.
And got away.
And frickin got away again.
'But why were they after them in the first place?' You might ask?
Well, it's simple: the Viscount had just bought a painting at an auction worth a few million units, and Yondu was fixin' to get his hands on it.
The only good thing about the situation was that the Viscount wouldn't be able to do a big jump home until he got repairs done on the ship, which meant that the Ravagers could just whittle them down through smaller, more manageable jumps.
Unfortunately, though, they didn't account for the flipping huge and well-defended repair dock that just so happened to be nearby. Which meant that once the Viscount landed, they had to get sneaky if they wanted that painting.
And Yondu really wanted that painting. So Peter had to get sneaky. Peter had to do Yondu's dirty work, and ferry a bunch of assholes around in a glorified space tricycle.
Seriously though, the ship they picked for this was a model from like… the stone-age of space travel. It had barely enough room for four people, looking vaguely like an oversized fighter jet from back on Earth. There was no seat for a copilot - which Peter didn't know why he was complaining about, none of the wiring was covered, and sparked constantly from crappily soldered connections, and the seats were really uncomfortable.
Yondu picked the damn thing because it would fit in better at a repair dock, than something that just might get them out alive.
The prick.
If you couldn't tell, the eldest Quill twin was chafing a bit under the thumb of his blue, possibly cannibalistic father-figure.
Who the hell threatens to eat you if you miss behave?
Anyway, the Viscount's crew had to vacate the ship during repairs, which meant there were only a few people on board to keep the Viscount's stuff safe. Now this would be the perfect setup, if not for the literal army of yellow ape creatures that guarded the shipyard. Each of which had a big metal stick.
Three of which were now pointed at Peter's space tricycle.
Peter pressed the hatch release button, and waited as the glass dome slowly rose.
… And waited.
Aaaand waited.
There we go. "Hello, my fine, furry friends. What can I do for you?"
"What do here, you?" One of the apes asked, shaking his stick a couple times.
Peter blinked. "What do… what? I don't work here."
The ape grunted in… anger? General unhappiness? "No. You here. What do?"
"Uh…"
One of the other, yellow blobs of furry muscle roared and shook his stick with both hands. "You tell what do, or I do you!"
The first ape nodded. "We do you."
Peter frantically waved his hands, not exactly fancying the idea of getting run train on by a bunch of yellow gorillas. "Guys, guys, I don't know what kind of organs you have, but I do not swing that way. Furry's not really my thing."
Now that just seemed to confuse them.
The one that hadn't spoken yet scratched his head. "Much word. Don't get."
"Shit! Pete, start up the engine-"
Peter slapped the console, trying to hit the 'off' button, while smiling sweetly at the gorillas that wanted his chastity for some reason. Now that's not to say he was chaste. Man's got game up the wazoo, of course.
"The damn vault was empty. We've been played-"
Still smiling sweetly, and mumbling between clenched teeth, "Shut up, shut up, shut up-"
"They fucked with the wrong group of Ravagers on this side of the-" The click of the radio turning off was one of the sweetest sounds he'd ever heard.
"Ravagers." One of the apes grumbled and pointed at Peter. "You, thief."
"Ah shit." Peter grumbled, flipped his coat and grabbed a pair of dual blasters, quickly firing off three rounds of golden plasma, hitting each of the apes square in the face.
"Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit-" He mumbled to himself repeatedly as he clipped his blasters back on his belt, jumped up to hang on the handle of the cockpit hatch, and slammed it closed - not caring a bit about the gears he no-doubt broke while doing so.
Flipping a switch on the console to power up the engine, he tapped the communicator back on right as the alarms started blaring.
"-ete! Fuck! That son of a bitch better not be dead, or I swea-"
"Don't talk about my mother like that, you demented nipple!" Peter punched the throttle, and pulled back on the stick, just in time to blast out of the way of an incoming glob of plasma, melting the pad he had been on. He then quickly twisted the stick to the left, and pointed it a bit forward, engaging the engines to rocket his trusty ol' Space Tricycle away from a stream of turret fire.
"Oh, good. You're alive-"
"Yeah, and I'm fuckin' leaving!" He jabbed the stick to the side, spinning into a barely controlled corkscrew.
"What?!"
"I'm flying for my life right now! Unless you feel like getting shot by giant yellow rage monkeys with plasma turrets, get the hell out of there and lay low! I'll pick you up later!"
"You better get your ass back here, right the fu-"
Punching the comms off, he flipped the ship up and into another set of aerial acrobatics to avoid more globs of plasma.
"Well, today sucks."
Earth - Eastern Central Africa
"Hello, young one. Are you lost, perhaps?" T'Chaka spoke up from behind the child, who was still poking at the camouflage barrier that shrouded his city, and munching on an apple with a look of undisguised interest. T'Chaka and W'Badu had circled around the boy, not wanting to approach him from inside the barrier, lest spark more… curiosity.
The child jolted slightly in surprise, and turned around to face him. "Lost?" He began, turning back to the barrier. "Maybe. I mean, I could have sworn I was in a third-world country, but you guys seem to have some interesting tech here."
The Wakandan king frowned slightly. The boy was well-spoken, almost too well-spoken for someone who didn't even look to be in their teens.
"Interesting? How so?"
The boy turned back to the barrier and poked it once more, sending hexagonal ripples through the illusory underbrush. "You're saying you don't see this?"
"I'm afraid I don't." The king blatantly lied. "Now what do you say about finding your parents? I imagine they're worried for you."
"That's nice." the boy replied, not even listening and taking another bite of his apple. "Hey, so do you use, like… pylons, or something to keep this up?" He paused. "Shield pylons? Are those a thing? It's sounds vaguely 'SciFi' enough to be a thing. Though, it also sounds like a made-up Star Trek doohickey." He wiggled his fingers.
T'Chaka frowned. The boy's mere presence at the city border was enough to shoot adrenaline through his veins, but now he was nearly to the point of vibrating in worry.
He couldn't even tell why that was. It was just a child in front of him. Not even close to being a threat.
"This thing has to draw a crazy amount of power too... " He plucked a seed from the apple core and rubbed it between his fingers. "I know I didn't see any smoke when I was flying over, so it's not coal, right?"
T'Chaka blinked. Flying?
"Well it couldn't be coal anyway. That's way too little of an output. Some combination of Solar and wind, then? Nuclear?"
"I'm afraid we don't ha-"
"Wait, don't you guys have that super metal? I suppose you could find a way to feasibly contain a reactor then. That would make sense…"
"How do you know about that?!" W'Badu interrogated, hand clenching the hilt of a small knife on his hip.
The boy blinked and turned to face the angry man with his own deadpan expression. "It was a guess." Then turned back to the barrier. "There really aren't that many power sources that could handle something like this."
"Not that!" W'Badu began, but the king held out a hand to stop whatever tirade was about to begin.
"Do you have a name, child?"
"Oh! How rude of me. My name's Nathan Quill, at your service." Nathan bowed slightly in the two's direction.
Sharing a split-second glance, T'Chaka brought a fist up to his heart and bowed slightly back, only to be followed by W'Badu half a second later.
"I am called T'Chaka, and this is my good friend, W'Badu. It is nice to meet you, young Nathan."
The boy blinked, and inclined his head. "Likewise."
"You are remarkably well-spoken for one so young. Might I ask where you're from?" The king asked amiably.
"Hard to say, but I guess you could call me American, even if I've lived most of this life out of the States."
"Ah, a traveler! Wonderful!" The king beamed. "I know quite a few places your family could visit - ah, speaking of which, you appear to have lost them? What say you if we go and find them?"
However Nathan just shook his head dismissively. "No need. I'm here alone." He turned back towards the barrier, sparking a bit of annoyance from the two adults behind him. "I must say, your country is quite beautiful, though I have to admit, I've been having a tough time finding your capital."
"Our capital is a few kilometers to the south of here-"
"Oh please, I'm not interested in that farce of a village." The boy promptly cut off the King's advisor.
A hint of steel entered the King's eyes. "Farce? I'm afraid I don't understand what you mean."
"I may look young, but I'm not an idiot." He scoffed. "It took me a few hours of surveying the country, but there was a little waver in the visual disruption field just above where we are." He shrugged. "Easy to spot from the air."
The two adults took a moment to just stare down at the boy in front of them, a growing dread building in both.
"And what," T'Chaka began, pressing down firmly on a black bead on his bracelet. "Do you intend to do with this information?"
Still staring at the barrier, the boy broke out into a large grin. "Oh nothing much, I'd just like to go on a tour," He turned back to the men and waved a hand behind him, "Your Highness."
The barrier shattered.
Shuri was very aware of her own curious nature, however she was not even remotely inclined to temper it. A fact that caused no small amount of annoyance in her immediate family. Granted it was followed closely by their pride in her accomplishments, but she had been scolded more times than she could count. Though why wouldn't they be proud? Her tenth birthday had just passed a few months ago, and she had made no less than three significant scientific discoveries in that time alone.
That's not even taking into account the number of advancements she had spear-headed in the past five years - the point where her parents finally relented, and let her have her way with the country's research department.
She wouldn't deny that she had it all handed to her on a silver platter, though. Being born the princess of a wealthy and resourceful country had its benefits, to be sure.
The girl had an innate understanding of every scientific discipline; or at least that's how it seemed to her 'tutors.' She would pick apart the textbooks - pointing out logical fallacies, she would plan mind-numbingly complex experiments, with super detailed hypotheses and exhaustive observations. She almost single-handedly rewrote science as Wakanda knew it.
In a mere five years.
And she wasn't done yet. No, she was still learning.
She had started her journey with basic electronics; quickly moving on from that to engineering a working computer from scratch. Writing the code for it took a little more time than she might have wanted, but putting it all together was a cinch.
During that time, she had developed an interest in working physics, which soon evolved into the theoretical stage; which is when she started to look at vibranium. Many experiments later, she learned how to manipulate the energy that the mythical metal could store. She could use it as a battery, shielding, heat-sink, conductor, and amplifier with little issue. All without any possibility of harmful radiation, or otherwise dangerous fallback on the user, and that's not even counting the special brand of radiation that it put off by itself. It was a sturdy metal that could resist just about any type of normal force, and even some of the abnormal, yet it was still malleable in the right conditions.
She could remember the absolutely hilarious faces her family made when she introduced them to Wakanda's first nuclear reactor.
It was about the size of a small car; and was in the shape of a sphere with hundreds of small cylinders sticking out of it. Inside the sphere at the center was a chunk of uranium surrounded fully with a volatile gas. Basically, a reaction would be sparked in the uranium, which would heat and pressurize the gas, turning it into a plasma. This plasma would then zap the reinforced diodes that were housed in each of the cylinders, creating a massive electrical current that could be used to power the entire city.
Of course this was only possible with the complete radiation shielding that the vibranium shell provided, otherwise the whole city would have been destroyed. If not half of Africa.
She got into a good bit of trouble for that.
All that before her seventh birthday, and she didn't stop there. From then on, she dove head first into every Socratic whim. Questioned every known 'Truth,' and came to her own conclusions. She'd invented the Kimoyo Beaded Bracelets™ which allowed for personalized use of her own invented works, and doled them out to all of Wakanda's populace. 3D scanners, holographic interfaces and view screens, kineto-magnetic sand structures with interactive and modular uses, and even Wakada's own internal version of the internet. Currently, she was studying the effects vibranium had on biological structures, and was trying to figure out a way to use it in the medical field.
Basically, she was a genius. Maybe even the genius, but that wasn't why she had been so successful. No, she was successful because she spent every waking moment in her lab, either playing with her new toys, or making new ones.
So needless to say, this was where she was when the alarms started to go off.
Quickly making her way over to a large table with a pool of black sand in the middle, she squeezed a black bead on her bracelet and waited for a short moment.
Pulsating, the sand rose up from the pool and took the shape of the capital city. All around, she could see the little black figures of the citizens running towards the designated shelters, and the warriors of each tribe quickly making their way towards the area of disturbance.
About three years ago, she had accidentally discovered vibranium's ability to release massive amounts of energy. In the following months, she managed to create a method of directing this energy. Primarily, this was used in the mining operations for more vibranium, however a couple of the clans had foreseen the military might of such technology, and had it converted it into small, ranged infantry weapons. Of course Shuri wasn't exactly pleased with that, but it seemed the technology would come in useful this day.
As for the actual disturbance within the city… well, she couldn't really tell what it was. There were sensors all around the city that fed into an information loop that she could pull from and create the sand-rendered model that was now at her fingertips, however there was a rather large section of the city that was… fuzzy. The sand was fizzing in the rough shape of the buildings and people, where it was perfectly rendered in other areas.
Something was confusing the sensors. Something she hadn't accounted for.
Well wasn't that exciting?
Plucking a bead from her bracelet, she held it up to her ear, only for it to melt and form around the orifice: an earbud that directly connected to the same physical sensors around the city. She zoomed in on the fuzzy area of the map.
"-re you? What do you want?" A male Wakandan voice asked.
"You know, this place is pretty cool." A decidedly not Wakandan voice stated. "Is that a holographic projector? Awesome! Oh! What's that thing?"
A distant explosion.
"Hey now. That's uncalled for. I was standing there."
"Bamba umlilo wakho! Ungawutshisi umzi!" ("Hold your fire! Don't destroy the city!" - in Xhosa)
"Wayevela phi lo mthi?" ("Where did that tree come from?")
"Nceda! ndibambekile!" ("Help! I'm stuck!")
"Uyabhabha?" ("Is he flying?")
Was there an American child rampaging through the city? OK, she was a child too, but still. Also, what was that about flying? That might be something to look into. She scribbled a note onto a holographic screen.
"What kind of fruit is this?"
"Uh, I tink that passion fruit." Female, this time. In barely correct English.
"Really? That's what it looks like?"
"Uh…"
"Buyela apha ngoku!" ("Get back here now!")
"That's fine, I like apples more anyway! Oh! Is that spear real?... Yup, it's real. Scary."
Shuri blinked, and watched as the blurry area on the table moved around the city, and listened to the boy comment on anything and everything. If it wasn't for the army of soldiers chasing him, he would be the staple for 'annoying tourists' everywhere. He'd be their freakin' showpony.
This went on for a solid fifteen minutes before she noticed the blur getting closer to the palace. Which was where her lab was located.
Quickly, she reached for a small console on the side of the table, tapped a few buttons, and swiped up on the model of the palace on the table.
Immediately, a small blue dome surrounded the palace blocking it from the outside; preventing anyone from entering, or leaving.
However that just seemed to gather the intruder's attention.
"Oh? What's that? Some kind of forcefield? Dang, you guys really have all the cool toys."
"Stop! Do not go an-fzzzzzz-"
Static.
As soon as the blurry dome covered the palace, all of her instruments started to go haywire. All of the sand on the table promptly became inert and fell, and the speakers only put out white noise.
The ten-year-old princess just stared at the table in front of her, completely unable to comprehend whatever phenomenon was preventing her creations from working properly. They were all powered by vibranium, for Bast's sake. This made them nearly immune to any type of interference. Any type of signal outside of the specific frequencies that were tailored to each device, would simply be absorbed by the mythical metal, and funneled back into the system.
It was possible to overload the system of a targeted device; vibranium wasn't totally infallible, but the pure volume of energy it would take to do so was so far out of feasibility that what she was currently watching was completely impossible.
Her musings must have taken a while, since she was still standing there, staring at the table when she heard the small 'hiss' of her lab's doors opening; immediately followed by a sound of excited surprise.
"Oh man! This place looks like the inside of a sci-fi spaceship! Is this a- Oh. Hello."
Shuri's head turned slowly, mechanically, toward the voice, only to see a boy not much older than herself. He was dressed in what she could only describe as 'Explorer's clothes,' and absentmindedly munching on an apple.
The boy blinked before grinning widely. "Hi! I'm Nathan. What's your name?"
She opened her mouth, but nothing came out.
His smile grew into a smirk. "Panther got your tongue?"
"W-what?" The bad pun seemed to knock her out of her stunned confusion. She schooled her facial expression. "Who are you? What do you want?"
The boy shrugged and took another bite of his apple. "Well, like I said; my name's Nathan. What's yours?"
She blinked. "S-Shuri." She answered cautiously. "Why are you here?"
Nathan beamed. "Why, my dear, I'm just a traveling scholar! Why does a scholar do anything?"
Was that supposed to be a rhetorical-
"To learn!" He exclaimed.
Apparently so.
Slowly, Shuri crept her hand towards a button on the table. "Learn what, exactly?" She pressed the button, only for nothing to happen.
The boy walked over to the desk she was previously occupying, taking a gander at all the splayed papers and documents.
"Well, I have a passing interest in chemistry, and I suppose that's what brought me to your wonderful country," He turned his head to her with a grin, "but I've seen so many incredible things here that I can't possibly limit it to that!"
Frantically, repeatedly, hitting the same button, "Chemistry?" She asked with a calm facade. She had an idea what he meant, but hoped she was wrong.
This was only proven a second later.
"Well, metallurgy, if we want to get specific. I'm a bit curious as to the properties of a particular metal that Wakanda is known to have access to."
There it was. She could feel a bead of sweat creep down the back of her neck. It was quite obvious that the boy in front of her was referring to her country's national treasure: vibranium.
"But this!" He exclaimed, holding up one of the notebooks he was looking through. "This would completely revolutionize medical technology if it was true!"
"Excuse me?" She blinked again, thrown off.
"Well," he paused, scrolling his eyes across the next page before flipping back, "the power requirements and precision necessary to complete this aren't really possible, but targeted temporary mutation of mitochondria to overdrive cells into repeated, forced mitosis? This would render modern first-aid obsolete!"
"W-well…" Finally taking a look at the notebook Nathan was holding up, she knew exactly which of her projects he was looking over. "T-that… requires focused radiation therapy."
He nodded. "I see that in your notes, but what is this 'Delta radiation?' I only know of Alpha, Beta, and Gamma."
"It's just," she fidgeted slightly, "something I discovered a few years ago. It's a h-highly penetrative, non-destructive radiation." Pausing slightly to collect her thoughts, she continued slowly. "Using the right techniques, it can be directed with pin-point accuracy, and used to-"
"'Energize targeted molecules, to directly rearrange DNA'" Nathan quoted from the notebook. "I see, but human cells can only go through mitosis so many times before they die completely, right? This would need to be carried out on a fairly large scale; millions of cells at the same time, so there's almost no room for error." He flipped a page. "Also what mutation are you trying to cause?"
Shuri nodded with a small excited smile, by now completely forgetting that the boy had just single-handedly broke into her country's borders and lead it's soldiers on a wild chase through the city.
Forgive her, she's ten.
Which is probably why there was a dumbfounded T'Chaka in the Black Panther suit standing in the doorway. A couple pre-teens speaking in terms better suited for people in lab-coats many times their senior, was not what he expected when he chased the boy into his daughter's lab.
"Have you heard of the Turritopsis dohrnii?"
"The jellyfish?" Nathan turned his head to the girl, who nodded back.
"It's called 'The Immortal Jellyfish.' If you take the particular piece of its DNA that allows for infinite reproduction, and 'flash' it into the mitochondria of a human cell-"
T'Chaka stopped listening, as pretty much the entire conversation was going straight over his head. Instead, he removed his mask, sighed, and just sat on a bench by the door, deciding to intervene if the boy tried anything, but still let his daughter have her moment.
Afterall, earning his daughter's ire was not the most productive thing he could do. Taking away her toys never ended well for the man.
A/N
The end of this chapter hurt me. T'Chaka's reasoning for not immediately decking Nathan away from his daughter left me stuck for a while. I gave it a week to try and think something else up, but at some point I just said "Fuck it."
Sorry if it seemed half assed. It kinda was.
This little arc should be completed half-way through the next chapter. There's basically going to be a time-skip, and summing up a lot of details that happen during said skip. I've done it before, gonna do it again. Shut up, we haven't even gotten to the fun part of the story yet.
A/N #2 Extended Edition:
Shuri (Minor spoiler): Before you bitch at me, she's NOT the romantic interest. I played around with the idea of having her be a romantic partner for a while - being much smarter than the average bear, and would probably mesh with Nathan's personality pretty well, but there is an age problem: an experience problem. It just wouldn't feel right (Creepy as fuck no matter how I swing it). So no, but that's not to say she won't develop feelings of some kind. Nathan just won't reciprocate.
Shattering the City Barrier: The barrier that Nathan shattered was not a defensive barrier. It was just a holographic disguise set over the city. That's not to say he wouldn't be able to shatter the defensive one, but the illusion? That one was easy - just distort the space around the affected area via magic (he sent a ripple of energy through the area), and wham! Illusion shattered. If only temporarily.
Shuri's Nuclear reactor: I don't have a clue how Nuclear reactors work. What I've written here is all speculation and I guarantee it would fail immediately in practice. But Vibranium. So fuck it.
Biology: Again, barely have any idea how it works. I just used big words and hoped it made sense.
Legendary Metal explanation: So I'm going to lay out what each of the metals in this fic are, what they're made of, and basic properties. Keep in mind that a couple of these are not 'Official.' These are just what I'm working with in this fic.
Element metals:
Vibranium:
1. We all already know about Vibranium. Absorbs energy of all kinds, super sturdy, and can put out a weird 'magical' radiation that affects the world around it.
It's frickin strange.
Anti-Metal (Antarctic Vibranium)
1. A cashe of special Vibranium found in Antarctica.
2. This shit is weird. It vibrates itself, and breaks down molecular bonds of other metals that it touches. Still can't break Proto-Adamantium, but it's close.
3. Black Panther's claws are made of this in the comics (and this fic - not sure if that's the case in the movies).
Uru (In this fic - We don't know much about it, officially.)
1. Metal from the heart of a dying star.
2. Most dense element in the universe.
3. Most magic-attuned element in the universe.
Alloys:
Orichalcum = Copper + zinc + Nickel + very small amounts of other metals.
1. This is a 'soft' metal. It is fragile and flexible. Very similar to copper in every way physically, but is highly attuned to magic.
Adamantium: = steel + a bunch of other metals
1. The comics never went into its composition beyond that as far as I know - I like to think it has the same makeup as Orichalcum, but with steel switched with copper.
2. The process to make it is ridiculously complicated - using weird resins, and crap.
3. Highly resistant to magic and mystical energies, though not immune to stronger effects.
4. The strongest alloy that can be made using common metals.
Wolverine's Bones: Adamantium (Beta) = Pretty much the same as above.
1. (Beta means that it was altered by human anatomy: slightly weaker than normal Adamantium, which is why an Adamantium bullet can pierce his skull. It's the same as normal Adamantium outside of that.)
Cap's shield: Proto-Adamantium = Adamantium + Vibranium
1. Basically just standard Adamantium but adding Vibranium into the mix. Somehow.
2. Most resistant metal that exists. It straight-up resists everything. Period. You need universe-breaking powers just to scratch it.
3. The version in the movies is just Vibranium. The version in the comics (and this fic) is Proto-Adamantium.
Thanos' gauntlet: Adamantine = Gold + Zinc + Vibranium + very small amounts of other metals.
1. We don't really know the makeup of Adamantine, but this is what I'm going with.
2. We don't know (officially) what the Gauntlet is made of either, but Adamantine is the only gold-colored legendary alloy in any of the comics that I know of.
3. Reflects magic and Psychic attacks. To the point of total immunity.
4. We also don't really know how strong it is, but it's pretty much right around where normal Adamantium is - if not a bit stronger.
5. There's a version of Wolverine that has bones made of this, and he's pretty cool.
I have plans for another 'unofficial' alloy, but I won't get into that here; these are just all of the 'official' metals - Besides Orichalcum, which is my own addition.
A/N #3
I got an idea for a 'continuation' of this story once it's finished… well, I might actually start writing it anyway because it sounds fun (I've already started planning the first one). Basically, Nathan might up and decide to start traveling the Multiverse in earnest once all problems are solved in this one. The idea is that he starts traveling to other fandoms, starting with Mass Effect. One fandom per story; each one fleshed out as a story of its own. However the 'growth' of Nathan will not really be there. He'll be dropping in with his full (sort-of) set of Godly powers that he'll have at the end of this story, and we'll jump straight into the plot of the universes he enters. Odds are it'll focus on humor, rather than drama, or full adventure.
Thoughts? Not sure about the reception on this idea, but I know I'll have fun writing it. If you like the idea, I'd like suggestions on fandoms to jump into, but know that I'll be starting with Mass Effect… most likely. Star Wars is on the list already. Suggestions I'll use must have a scientific mindset behind them. Meaning that I won't just be explaining things away as magic, or have Nathan jump into worlds like Dragon Ball Z, or Fairy Tale. DBZ is a two trick pony and wouldn't mesh right. Maybe for a short story, but it'd be a crack fic. Fairy Tale has many more tricks, but it doesn't mesh with Marvel at all on a fundamental level, and I'd have to do way too much work to get it to work. Stuff like Harry Potter, and The Witcher would be difficult, but I might be able to get them to work. I'm a little tired of Naruto, so that one's out for a while at least.
You get the picture.
A/N #4 The Usual:
I don't need a new asshole. The one I have works just fine, so please don't rip me a new one with your crappy insults. However if you have actual constructive criticism, I will gladly accept it. If you don't know the difference, you don't have to say anything at all.
Please review! Even if it's just a word or two, I would like to know what you think.