Happy weekend!

Finally have a weekend where I'm not doing anything, so it's update time.

Many thanks to BuckysWinterCaptain, XxHawkxX, Vicki219, Morgandodd99, Futago no Akuma Shimai, Yuudie for joining the adventure and all those that took the time to review :)

Enjoy

xo

Chapter 17

Going Soft

Lex picked up the jet she had left at a private airport not far from her hotel in Switzerland. She programmed the auto pilot to return the aircraft to its home base in Wakanda, before using the encrypted comms to try and make contact with Shuri.

"Lex, what are you doing?" Shuri hissed, but no image would show on the comms unit screen.

"I'm coming back, what's going on? Are Bucky and Steve okay, or has something happened to T'challa?" Lex asked in concern.

"Yes, yes, Bucky is still in cryo, and I've not heard from Captain Rogers, we have other issues at hand, that is why I told you not to return," Shuri whispered.

Lex narrowed her eyes, staring at the comms panel. "Why are you whispering?"

"Just don't come back right now, we have some...political... issues."

"You have a King, how the hell do you have political issues?"

"Just stay away, for your own safety, Alexia," Shuri stressed, before cutting the link.

Lex raised her eyebrows. "Did she? She stared at the comms panel for a moment, before checking the status of the line. "She just hung up on me." She tried to call again, but nothing. She was slightly perturbed, first for Shuri's use of her first name, which the teen knew very well she hated hearing even if she didn't know why, but also for hanging up. It occurred to her that there must be something serious happening.

She considered calling Steve to see if he knew what was going on, but she knew he would probably freak out about something happening in Wakanda with Bucky there.

Lex was going to have to do this by herself. Although Shuri had directed her to stay away, the Wakandans had done a lot for her, and for Bucky. She pursed her lips slightly, watching as the clouds slipped past the jet as it sped through the sky. "Ugh, I'm getting soft in my old age," she murmured. It was the right thing to do.

The problem was, it was very hard to get into Wakanda without being noticed, but then again, she didn't necessarily have to go unnoticed. She could just work to stay out of reach, and by the sounds of it, they might have been too busy with this 'political' problem too.

She looked determinedly at the programmed auto pilot, altering the final destination slightly, before ducking into the back of the jet to change. It was going to take a few hours to get back to Wakanda from Europe, so she thought it best to make sure everything was stowed safely for a bad landing, because she had a lot of precious cargo on board now.

After she'd changed and packed as much of her important cargo away into special lockers along the floor of the Quinjet, hoping they would protect the precious cargo, and she went through the bag she was going to carry with her. She reached inside to check what was already packed, feeling her fingers wrap around something delicate.

She pulled out the Royal Bluebell, it was still as vibrant as ever, no sign of wilting even after a full week. She sighed, admiring the flower for a moment, before reaching for her notebook and pressing the flower in between the pages before closing it again, dropping the notepad into a locker and sealing it shut.

The jet came in fast at the designated coordinates, clearing through the hologram. A radio call came through as she walked to the back of the jet, hitting the button to open the loading ramp.

"You have entered Wakandan air space, aircraft ID recognised, but pilot's details are listed as Top secret by order of T'challa of Golden Tribe, identify yourself."

Lex looked back at the front of the jet, seeing its trajectory headed for the snow capped mountains in the distance, to the East of the city, then looked back to the now open back of the jet, watching as the ground passed by beneath her at a very fast pace.

"Well, I'm sure Shuri enjoys putting me back together as much as I enjoy breaking myself," she muttered with a grim smile. Her short black hair whipping around in front of her as it was sucked out by the wind, while she checked her holster and small pack were secure to her thigh and back respectively.

She watched the landscape below her and took a few steps back from the edge, calculating the opportune moment, before starting a run up to jump as another call came through the radio.

"I repeat, by order of King N'Jadaka, identify yourself!"

She jumped from the jet, falling some seventy feet to the ground below, landing in a watering hole with a splash while the jet continued on, veering left and crashing closer to the city, hopefully buying her some time to find a place to lay low.

She emerged from the water, spluttering and pulling some water plants from her shoulder and head, before moving swiftly to get out of the water, very aware that there were several critters in the waters of Africa that didn't care about the fact she was a super soldier.

She climbed from the water, scaring a herd of Zebras away in the process before flopping onto the ground to catch her breath. She lay there for a few seconds, first of all, to take a moment to process if she had any pain anywhere, before considering that she had just jumped from a fast moving aircraft at seventy feet. As she lay there, something else occurred to her.

She sat up and looked towards Golden City. "Who the hell is King N'jadaka?"

Sensing that something very serious was amiss, she was quick to her feet then, seeing aircraft starting to take off from the city and ran to nearby bushland, checking to make sure her holstered handgun and pack were still accounted for as she went.

Lex kept to vegetation during the day, but she was well aware that someone was on her trail, although whether they were human or predatory animal was harder to tell. By night, she moved a lot faster, opting to head towards the mountains. As far as she could figure, Wakandans preferred the flat lands of the plains, so the mountains should be virtually uninhabited.

She followed a bubbling river along to the base of the mountain, stopping occasionally to drink the water. The snow on top of the mountains was obviously feeding the river, as the water was clear and cold. It took her most of the night, being sure to keep a fast pace, but she had no problem with tiring thanks to her enhancement.

Once she found the base of the mountain, she moved to begin the ascent to find somewhere to hide as day began to break over the mountain tops, until she could figure out how to gain access to the city and find Shuri.

As she went to climb, the sun was beginning to shine over the mountains and the glint of something metallic caught her eye from the other side of the river, where the mountainous terrain met the plains of the land.

She saw two men, seeming to be fisherman by the spears in their hands and the woven basket one carried. She pushed herself behind a tree, lowering herself closer to the ground to watch them. They were dressed more like wild men, rather than the Wakandan people she had seen or met in her short time in the city, as few as there were.

The two men seemed to be perplexed by something on the bank of the river as they crept towards it.

She craned her neck for a better look, seeing a man's body in the water by the river. He wore only a pair of black, traditional Wakandan short like garbs, many injuries visible on his body even from where she was standing, and he was bleeding profusely.

As Lex stared at the man in the water, the early morning rays of sun shining off a ring on a finger on his right hand, and it dawned on her that he looked familiar to her, although she was used to seeing him wearing much more clothing.

It was T'challa.

The two men began approaching him with their spears pointed towards him, and Lex was quick to her feet, sprinting back towards the river, lithely running across the rocks that poked above the fast current of water. She leapt the last few metres, landing in a crouched position on the bank in front of the men with her handgun drawn and pointed at them, much to their alarm as they jumped back.

"Back up. I can't see you throwing those things faster than I can put a hole in you," she warned. The two men looked from Lex to T'challa with confusion on their faces before beginning to back away, slowly, their eyes narrowing at the gun in her hand.

She watched them, making sure they were leaving, before she turned her attention back to the Wakandan King, re-holstering her gun. His eyes were closed and even for a man of his colour, his skin looked sallow and sickly. She touched his shoulder, trying to rouse him, but he was unconscious.

His skin was icy cold, which made her nervous. She stepped into the frigid water to get closer to him, touching her fingers to T'challa's neck and searching for a pulse. She was only mildly relieved when she felt the faintest of drumming against her finger tips. She checked over his body, there were copious injuries to the man, she suspected he had contusions all over his body, from either being beaten or a fall from a great height, there were cuts all over his body, and he appeared to have suffered great blood loss from them. She felt for his pulse again to be certain she had felt something. Indeed she had, but it was incredibly weak and she knew she needed to act fast.

She looked around, without medical aid she wasn't going to be able to save him, but she also didn't want to leave him in the water to chance him drowning to death instead.

She wove her arms under his shoulders, lifting him easily and pulling him further up the bank. Once there, she looked over his injuries more thoroughly. There was a deep gash and stab wound on his abdomen and another on his thigh, she would need to secure those quickly to prevent anymore blood loss.

She reached into her small pack, pulling out a Med kit, setting to work on the injuries. Whatever she could do was only temporary though, he needed a doctor to patch him up and that wasn't her.

Once she was certain he was patched up enough, she slid her pack onto her back again, before moving to T'challa, taking one of his arms in her hands and hoisting him up to drape him over her shoulders.

She had an idea on how to save his life, but she needed to move quickly.

Lex began making her way up the mountain, seeking out the easiest route up, without being seen. It was a struggle with a hundred kilos of dead weight across her shoulders, but she did her best, trying to ensure the ride was as gentle on T'challa as possible.

The sun had risen higher by now, which meant the Wakandan temperatures were too, but she knew she was getting closer to the summit as the temperature began to drop again, and sharply too.

Finally, after about an hour of climbing, she got her first glimpses of snow. She hurried further along until she found a decent amount, carefully lowering T'challa back to the ground. She quickly began piling snow onto all his body, covering his vital organs and around his injuries.

Once she was certain the snow covered all of his vital organs, she looked up to the sky. The sun was beginning to move across the sky and she knew the temperatures would continue to rise with it, and it would soon be the hottest part of the day. She needed to keep T'challa cold, so she started considering her options. She needed shade for him, as well as something to help keep him hidden. These injuries didn't come from high tea with friends, after all.

She had barely started looking around at the few trees for suitable branches to break down for a shelter when she heard movement from the west of the ridge she currently had T'challa resting on. She moved quickly to kneel in front of him protectively, pulling out her hand gun again.

A large man appeared from over the ridge directly adjacent to where she had buried T'challa in the snow, at the head of a small company of men. They wore animal furs and skins, carrying wooden weapons with sharpened tips.

Lex aimed her gun at the man leading, although she was very aware that while she could shoot him, she was also outnumbered by at least fifteen men, all of which carried weapons of some sort, although they appeared primitive at best.

The man narrowed his eyes at her as he stopped on the ridge, his company of men stopping behind him, but she didn't back down, staring straight back into his, daring him to make a move against her.

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Who the hell are you?" she retorted, running calculations through her head of how many bullets she had, how many men there were and how many bullets she would need to take down the leader if it really came down to it. He was a big boy, it would be a challenge, but it would be a hell of a lot of fun too. She smirked slightly to herself.

"You dare speak to M'Baku, leader of the Jabari in such a manner?" he demanded angrily, raising his club towards her.

"The...what now?" She scoffed in reply, furrowing her brow. She hadn't exactly looked into the specifics of the Wakandan nation during her short stay. Maybe she should have.

M'Baku looked at her, dumbfounded. She saw him grind his jaw and it made her smirk, which she suspected made him angrier by the size of his eyes by then. His gaze slid to T'challa buried up to his neck in snow. "What have you done to T'challa?" he demanded, his eyes narrowing as he took another step towards her, his men following suit and pointing their spears in her direction threateningly.

Lex moved her aim to his feet, shooting one round into the snow. M'Baku jumped but didn't step back, much to Lex's surprise, instead appearing even angrier which she didn't think could even be possible. "You dare shoot at me?"

"You dare, dare me to? I just did it once," she retorted with an eye roll. "Stay away from T'challa or I kill you all, whether your his people or not."

The man faltered slightly. "You're an ally of T'challa? Why is he like this?"

She raised an eyebrow at the Jabari leader, he seemed somewhat concerned for the Wakandan King. "He's dying. If he's moved from the snow his heart might stop."

"What happened to him?" he demanded. Lex furrowed her brow. She wasn't sure what had happened while she had been away, and that made knowing who to trust incredibly hard, one part of her wanted to trust this man and his tribesman, but another didn't.

While she was contemplating how to answer, she heard a noise from behind her, instantly she was on her guard, turning her aim to behind her.

She reacted too late, as a man dressed much the same as those standing before her, lunged at her, knocking her gun from her hand with his spear. She was quick to counter though, dodging the sharp tip, knocking it upwards and punching the man sharply in the throat. She turned back in time to find several others running towards her from behind M'Baku.

She got to her feet quickly, ducking and weaving as they tried to subdue her with their weapons. She knocked the spear from one man's hands and into the air, throwing him back into the rock face of the mountain by his throat, before catching his spear and throwing it at another, making him dive out of the way.

She jumped as a man tried to swipe at her feet with a scimitar, kicking upwards at him as she did so and knocking him backwards. She parried a thrust of a spear and punched out another one who charged at her, dropping his spear as he fell backwards. She dove forward as a spear was thrown at her, avoiding it and picking up the discarded spear, before she rolled away from another tribesman who lunged at her with his scimitar, swiping wildly at air. She rolled back to her feet, throwing the spear in her hands with great force, it soaring through the air and covering a lot of ground quickly.

At the last second, the Jabari leader moved his head to the side, the spear missing its target by millimetres and imbedding into the trunk of a tree behind him.

Lex grit her teeth in annoyance, before she found she had been surrounded, all the men's spears and scimitars pointed at her in a close circle, the points of their spears and blades barely a millimetre away from her neck. These men were tougher than they looked, although they all carried wounds or injuries caused by her, none gave a hint of fear of her.

Lex licked her lips and glanced around, looking for a man to show a weakness under her glare, but they all appeared resolute, grim determination on their faces.

M'Baku strode towards her, an air of superiority about him, as she stood up from her crouched position, raising her hands into a surrender gesture, knowing she really couldn't compete against this many without a weapon and the King close by, dying. The circle of men stepped backwards and made a gap for him to walk through, and he approached Lex with a malevolent grin, stopping in front of her and leaning forward so he was right in her face.

"I don't know who you are, woman, or what you did to T'challa, but I will make sure you regret the day..."

Lex didn't hear him finish. Perturbed by his proximity to her, she threw her head forward, smashing into his face with her forehead.

He stumbled back, clutching at his face while Lex felt sharp pain, first to her right knee and closely followed by her left, collapsing forward. She laughed menacingly as M'Baku turned to look at her incredulously, pushing herself back to her knees and grinning maliciously at the bigger man.

"If you remove T'challa from the snow, you kill him, I kill you."

M'Baku glared at her, wiping blood from his mouth where she had hit him. He barked some orders at his men in a language Lex didn't recognise. Several of the men surrounding her removed their spears and turned, walking towards T'challa, Lex watching them carefully as they began to check over the King.

Lex was so distracted watching to ensure they didn't bring harm to the King, she didn't notice one of the men raise his fist behind her.

xo

Krayzee