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“When she wants to.” Okoye smirked.
“Sir.”
The boy that entered the observation room was quite young. Both Okoye and T’challa could easily see that he was barely past his puberty, yet… his voice held the same impression one would not find out of place in the female tone of the Dora Milaje – that of a warrior. His stance showed that as well, one could easily spot the effects of whatever training he had from across the room. His skin was pale wherever it was visible as if he did not see much of the sun. His garb was a simple three-piece suit, much alike Agent Ross – the only difference being the dark glasses he wore.
“Agent Black.” Ross greeted seriously.
They both stared at each other with some unnamed emotion before bursting into laughter simultaneously. The blonde agent that assisted Ross rolled her eyes as if this was a regular occurrence.
“I can’t believe you held out for so long.” Agent Black got out between chuckles and tried to look at the man sternly, although he failed. “Good old Thunderbolt has been giving you lessons, I see.”
“Don’t even get me started.” Ross laughed. “The man takes it as a personal insult I can’t win a staring match against you.”
“Well, maybe if he made an effort to be a decent human being, we would have had a better friendship.” Black sniffed. “Anyway, who’s my subject?”
This sobered Ross up instantly, and the two Wakandans – happy to be ignored – in the room knew enough of human expression to spot the hesitation in Ross’s face. “You didn’t get the memo?”
Black looked confused. “Should I have?”
“It’s Klaue.” The man aid, without fear.
Black instantly went rigid. “Ulysses Klaue? You captured him, and you didn’t tell me?”
“It seems it was never in my hands to tell you or not.” Ross pointed out, then sighed. “Look, Evan, I know the history you have with the guy but-“
“He killed my godson, Everett.” Evan said, hands flexing. The ground beneath them seemed to vibrate, and it was clearly not a sign of their minds wandering since dust also fell from the ceiling. He whirled on the assistant with anger etched on his face. “Brie, I expected better from you. Ev is a mother hen, but you-“
“I stopped her.” Everett said firmly. “With what he has done to you, I knew that you would be here in an instant and end him by force. The higher-ups want answers, Evan. They need to know where he got his tech from with how he helped the Mandarin and Doom.”
“He tortured my godson in front of me.” Evan whispered, hurt clearly on his face. “He blinded me, Ev! How can you expect me not to rip him apart?!”
“Because I know you, and I know you remember what the Mandarin did to London after the Thor incident.” He said placatingly and laid a gentle hand on Evan’s shoulder. “Look, I know it’s going to be hard, but thousands of people have lost their lives because of the tech he’s been throwing around. We need answers, and you’re the only one who can tell whether he’s telling the truth or not without a doubt. Given that SHIELD was eaten out by Hydra, we don’t have any truth serum on hand…”
Evan did not respond for a long minute until the vibrations between the ground slowly receded back to non-existent. “Alright. I’ll do it. But-” he raised a finger, stopping the blossoming smile on Everett’s face before it bloomed fully. “If he gets a death sentence, I’m going to be the one to do it.”
Everett sighed. “You know that’s not in my hands, Evan.”
“I’m not asking for permission, Ev. I’ll gladly return to the remnants of SHIELD if my wish is not granted.” Evan warned, then took a deep breath and walked into the interrogation room, which was soundproofed. When the door opened, one could hear Ulysses singing.
“Who was that?” T’challa asked, walking up to stand next to Everett in the observation window. “He and Klaue have a history.”
“Evan Black.” Ross muttered, eyes flying between the stoic boy and the now-laughing bound man warily. “You remember the Incident, right?”
“Which one?” T’challa asked, tone dry.
Everett sighed. “The one in New York where aliens came out of a big portal in the sky? Evan appeared from it too, with a small child tightly held in his arms. The Tesseract was far more powerful than those fellows at SHIELD believed it to be – it could stretch across dimensions too. He’s an inhuman with the power to control vibrations in any shape or form – a version of the vigilante known as Quake from an alternate reality, only much more powerful.”
“The world beyond our borders seems to grow stranger every time we visit.” Okoye muttered in their tongue. “A different version of our reality? Princess Shuri will enjoy trying to crack that one.”
“What is she saying?” Ross asked, turning to face them fully.
T’challa ignored both of them. “But how does he know Klaue?” he asked, truly curious. He also did not like the pure confusion etched on Evan’s face that he could spot through the looking glass and Klaue’s mad grin.
“Tony Stark was taking care of him for a while until he came to grips with settling down. He did not want to return.” Ross admitted, turning back to stare at the pair in the other room. “When the Mandarin tried to attack Tony in conjunction with AIM, he had Klaue at his side. Being a fanatic of Vibranium, he was fascinated with Evans powers. While Stark was distracted, he managed to use the metal to capture Evan somehow, and…” he trailed off, a little green. “Well, when Tony destroyed the Mandarin’s rings and went to find Evan… he wasn’t a pretty sight. Since then he’s been training to use his powers in any way he can think of. The things he can do…” Ross shuddered. “He’s deemed a threat on the same level as Wanda Maximoff.”
T’challa eyed the boy who slapped Ulysses sharply across the face with interest. “If he is blinded, how does he see?”
Ross was about to answer when said boy returned into the room, muttering something or the other. “He was only too cooperative with the truth. This smells fishy, Everett.”
“What did you learn?” Ross asked, eyeing the arm contraption on the desk.
“He says that there is enough Vibranium in Wakanda to be mined for tens of generations and not even scratch the surface.” He said, and T’challa and Okoye exchanged a loaded glance. “That the façade of the country being poor and mostly base on small-scale farming is just that – an illusion. They actually have tech far more advanced than anything we could ever dream of.” His ‘gaze’ finally settled on T’challa for the first time. “And given the way the king’s heart is fluttering, I’m inclined to agree. He definitely believed that what he said is the truth, and now this man is clearly nervous, even though he isn’t showing it.”
Everett turned, stony-faced, on the two Wakandans. “Your father said that the only other vibranium aside from the suit that the nation had was stolen!” he hissed, hands agitatedly fidgeting with the hem of his suit. “What are you hiding-”
“Sir,” Evan spoke, head bowed as if concentrating. T’challa only then noticed that he wore no shoes. “a truck just pulled into the nearby alley. They have something with vibranium in there... It seems to be wired like an explosive.”
“Which wall are they behind?” Ross asked, hands already reaching up to tap his earpiece.
It was then that Nakia burst into the room and was suddenly the recipient of multiple gun sights. Her hands raised themselves on pure instinct. “Someone is behind-“
The world exploded.
Quickly activating his Black Panther Armor, T’challa drew Ross behind him and bared his own back to the blast. But apparently, there was no need.
Evan had both his hands, fingers splayed, against the viewing glass. The air looked to be continuously shimmering as he did something that seemed to diminish all the damage that the explosion ought to have had in their room too. The bullets bounced off the glass as if it were vibranium itself.
When the dust cleared, and the hail of bullets stopped, Ulysses was gone. But T’challa caught a flash of something as someone disappeared behind the wall… no. It wasn’t possible.
“No!” Evan screamed and walked through the wall as if he were a ghost, breaking into a run.
T’challa looked at the spot in the wall incredulously, although one could not tell from the front of his mask.
Outside, Evan was sprinting. As soon as he got to the street, he stretched his hand out and sent a burst of super-vibrated air against the ground from both his palms and feet as he hopped a little. The result was a massive jump that easily sent him high into the sky. Having memorized the location of the van from the air blast, he landed a few meters in front of it by using another air blast to soften his landing.
The moment he touched the ground, his mental map of the world was restored, and he sent a much stronger directed blast of super-vibrated air straight into the side of the van.
It was obviously thrown off the ground, and against a – thankfully closed – shop on the far side of the road, and went still.
He stalked forward, each step telling him what was happening in that van. Five people – four men and one woman. One of the men was Klaue, still strapped to his chair. The woman was weak but alive. Two men – the driver and the passenger-side occupant were unconscious. One was wide awake and just pressed…?
When he felt a small pinprick on the side of his neck, he cursed his ‘charging-on-blind’ mindset even after so much training.
T’challa arrived at the scene perched on top of a CIA van just in time to see a car drive away with a loud screech of tires, with Evan knocked out on the ground. Ross and Nakia managed a running disembark to allow him to pursue the appropriated vehicle. He did glance behind him to look at the downed inhuman but focused back on the chase after Klaue past a few moments.
The two knelt on either side of Evan’s form. “He seems to be unconscious.”
Ross gave her a withering look. “I don’t know why.” He admitted, reaching out to carefully pluck the dart on his friend’s neck carefully. “Just as he can vibrate himself to turn intangible, he can also burn off anything in his system if he chooses to do so. Something is clearly wrong, and we don’t have the facilities to heal an inhuman. Our relationship with their king is not very good at the moment-”
“Then give him to us.” Nakia said, eyeing the boy in front of her with respect. “Were it not for him protecting us from the blast, there is no telling what could have happened. He essentially saved all of our lives.”
***
“How are you going to explain bringing an outsider inside our borders?”
Evan remained silent as he awoke, forcing his body to remain still and continuing the same pattern of his breathing consciously. He tapped his finger against whatever surface he was on and understood that he was on an advanced ship… which he just effectively stole the specs for. Marvelous.
“He saved our lives.” Nakia emphasized, clearly outraged. Evan was internally thankful he read the files on all three Wakandans – or at least, what little knowledge the CIA had on them – as he processed what was happening.
“That was his choice.” Another woman, Okoye, if he remembered correctly – which he did, eidetic memory is so helpful – said, as a matter of fact. “He is an intelligence operative, bolstered further by his mutant powers-“
“Inhuman.” A male voice – T’challa – corrected. Evan tapped the raised platform he was on lightly to get a better look at the man’s face. Being long since used to the colorless feedback, he easily made his visage out. “Ross said he was inhuman. As far as we know he is not related to the mutant conflict at all.”
“Let us consider what will happen if we heal him.” Okoye calmly said. “He will need to report back to his country, as his duty demands. As a king, it is your duty to-“
“Don’t lecture me on my duties, Okoye.” T’challa snapped. “I’m well aware of them.”
“Besides, we will only be taking him to the medical lab.” Nakia added, voice firm. “One good turn deserves another, sister.”
“Just don’t make another Klaue, and we are good.” Okoye muttered, and there were footsteps. Thankfully, Evan could read any kind of vibration, and so he knew they were walking to a machine filled with a strange coffee-like drink.
Another set of footsteps came close to the sand table he was on, and a hand tapped his elbow twice. “I know you are awake.” T’challa whispered, and Evan’s eyes snapped wide out of habit in surprise. It was only then that he realized that his glasses weren’t on his face. “We will repair your eyesight.”
“Why?” he whispered back, confused.
“Because Klaue was a monster of our own making. Our kindness became our weakness.” He whispered back quietly. “I cannot bring your godson back, but I can at least restore your sight.” He paused. “How do you fight if you cannot see?”
“I can ‘read’ vibrations, for a lack of better word.” Evan whispered back. “Anything that causes molecules to vibrate… I can decode their exact pattern and make out objects around me.”
“The two of you do realize that we are barely a few feet away?” Nakia’s amused voice rang out. “Just as well. We are approaching Wakanda. You’d best pretend to be asleep, foreigner.”
When the ship landed, in that one touch of motion, Evan was able to get a good look at Wakanda. What he saw was eye-opening. It took a while to translate so much information, but it appeared that Ulysses was right – the nation simply was far more advanced than anything they had ever seen before. Tony would have had a field day here.
By the time he was done with so much feedback, he could not see anything when he tapped against except for the sand-like board he was on.
“Great. Another broken white boy for us to fix.” An alien female voice muttered, “This is going to be fun.”
“Another?” he asked, and the speaker of the voice screamed a bit.
“By Bast- you said he was unconscious!” the voice said.
Evan couldn’t stand not seeing anymore, so he took advantage of the stationary position of the board to set his feet on the ground with as hard a thud as he could manage.
“There’s vibranium… everywhere.” He whispered, voice fearful. “Where have you brought me?”
“To heal your eyes.” T’challa said, and for a moment Evan wondered why the monarch was obsessed with getting his sight back. “Shuri, see to him. I must go see Zuri.”
“How did you know that we are surrounded by vibranium?” Shuri asked, walking towards a console-like object. Evan simply assumed most of the technology here would be out of his comprehension and followed her meekly.
“I can be one with vibrations.” He said, observing everything beyond the little room they were in in a daze. “Every time one of those vibranium trains passes, it gives me enough to see for miles around, but they’re not touching the ground, so such feedback can only be from electromagnetic levitation.”
“But there are no vibrations from the passing of the train.” She asked, pausing in whatever she as doing and walking over to him. She held up her hand and one of her beads moved, but he couldn’t sense much more beyond that.
“No physical vibrations.” He corrected, grinning. “But now, where is the fun in giving you all the answers?”
She snorted. “Considering that I am going to be restoring your eye-sight, I think I deserve a little leeway.”
“Can you really do it?” he asked, skeptical. “I mean no offense, but I have been to several amazing hospitals around the globe. They said only magic could help. Sarcastically, of course.”
“Not magic, just better technology.” Shuri muttered. “Our vibranium-based regeneration system can reverse anything short of life-threatening, and even then there are few things it cannot heal. It takes time, though, so I am going to knock you out.”
“I won’t be much use awake, anyway.” He muttered, following her towards a chair-like contraption.
***
“Now, open your eyes.”
The moment he opened his eyes and saw for the first time, thus relaxing the constant read he kept on the vibrations around him, he felt a great sense of relaxation. Huh. It seemed that ‘seeing’ that way was taking a toll on him.
But if his powers were amazing while they were already stressed… what about now…?
“Well?” a young woman asked him, and he remembered her to be Shuri. Wow. Seeing was very, very different from sensing through vibrations. She was beautiful. “Can you see perfectly?”
“Considering that everything is black and white around here I think I can only see the monochromatic spectrum.” He smirked.
She pointed out as some artwork along the base of the stairs that reached upward. “We have art, smartass.”
“Shocking.” He said drily, then sobered. “Thank you. I owe Wakanda and you a great debt. If there ever is anything I can do for you…”
She smirked. “You can start by showing me what you can do.” One of the beads on her wrist began lighting up and vibrating, though, so she held out a finger to him as she pressed it, activating some sort of projector off a bald woman. Like, shaved bald. And serious-looking. This had to be Okoye, according to her facial structure.
And true enough, it was her voice that emerged. “Where is T’challa? His Kimoyo beads have been switched off!”
“Ah, the same issue with phones – can’t ever reach agents when you really want them.” He said, in spite of Shuri’s glare. “You should find a way to stop that.”
The researcher’s expression melted into a thoughtful frown. “Now that you mention it-”
“Shuri!” Okoye snapped, sending Evan a withering glare worthy enough of –
No. He couldn’t. Not now.
“I don’t know!” Shuri protested. “We aren’t joined at the hip, Okoye!”
“There is a stranger turned up at the borders who claims to have killed Klaue.” She said, pursing her lips as her expression softened a bit when she looked at Evan. “He stole your kill. I am sorry to tell you that.”
He tried very hard, but the earth around him seemed to tremble in his anger. “Who is he? Who took my revenge?”
“A Wakandan, but I don’t know who he is.” She said, teeth clenched. Shuri’s console thing beeped and displayed a full image picture of one of the men who helped Klaue escape. Double-crossed, huh? Good. It was just a man of distinctly African descent. “He has a war dog tattoo, but we have no records of him. W’Kabi is bringing him to the throne room. We need to find your brother!” this she said to Shuri.
“Let me try.” Evan offered and stomped on the ground with his eyes closed. He sorted through all the information much more quickly than he would have normally, snapping his eyes open within seconds. “I have him. He’s alone on one of the cliffs nearby. He seems … pensive.”
“How can you see him from here?!” Shuri yelped, surprised.
“He needs to be here.” Okoye said and looked very constipated as she carried on with the next sentence. “You should bring him to the throne room.”
Evan grinned. “Yes, ma’am!” he cockily saluted and walked towards the nearest window. “I’ll be back in a few.” He threw over his shoulder, as he effortlessly walked through the glass and began to concentrate as he plummeted.
He wasn’t sure that he could do this before, not knowing whether h was strong enough, but he was somehow certain now that he could. He had watched a couple of videos on acoustic levitation at Tony’s before… everything went wrong and had even managed to levitate a brick. Sound is essentially interpreted vibrations – given that he could create vibrations with any origin and focus…
A low hum began too sound around him as his fall rapidly slowed, and eventually stopped when he was but a few feet from the ground.
“Not a moment too soon.” He muttered, and slowly changed where the origins of the vibrations – one above and one below him – were. It still wasn’t as taxing as trying to ‘see’ through vibrations, so he was soon soaring through the air. He caught Shuri’s half-mortified-half-amused face as he sped by the window to her lab, and waved cheekily.
He whooped loudly as he finally shot above ground, and gazed at the sky for the first in a long time.
It seemed every cloud had a silver lining after all. All the color had left from the world for a while… but he was far more powerful now.
It didn’t take long for him to reach T’challa. The guy was sulking and staring out over the untouched parts of the wilds outside of Wakanda, deep in thought. He didn’t even react when Evan lightly touched down nearby and walked over to him with a smile on his face.
T’challa turned in his direction and seemed to start a bit when he saw him. Evan suppressed the urge to roll his eyes – currently the subject of the man’s attention. He knew his eyes were a vibrant shade of green… a holdout from another life when he was once someone else.
“Your eyes are beautiful.” The man unabashedly said and patted the ground next to him. “Come, sit with me. I asked Nakia to accompany me, but she was busy with her admission into the Dora Milaje to pay much attention.
Evan wondered if he should tell the man that people were looking for him, but then he noticed the weariness and exhaustion in the man’s eyes, and sighed, dropping to the ground in a smooth motion. And besides? The view was beautiful. He had never seen such a sight, filled with trees and natural structures of various manners. The only thing that came close was the view from Sokovia… as it plummeted from high up.
“Ross told me you come from another dimension.” He said, not turning to face him, but speaking all the same. “It sounds fantastical.”
“And the idea that I can control vibrations enough to fly isn’t?” Evan asked, arching an eyebrow.
“True.” The man sighed. “I… Tell me about your life there.”
Evan took a deep breath, mentally firming himself up. Clearly, the man had received some horrid news and didn’t want to be rude by dumping it all on him without preamble, but talking about home wasn’t something he liked to do. “It was the same as this one, actually.” He shrugged. “Only the people were different. Tony didn’t exist there, nor did Steve. In fact, almost all the ‘super’ types never existed there. I do not know if Wakanda did, but I’m betting on not.”
The man turned to him then, and Evan and he locked eyes. How strange. Why was his heart beating so fast, he wondered? That gaze held power… was power. “Why do you think so?” T’challa asked, drawing Evan back to the present.
“Mainly because I have noticed that the world itself seems to enforce balance.” He shrugged. “We already had magic over there, so jacked up science seems unlikely.”
He was regarded with a skeptical gaze. “Magic?”
“I used to be a wizard.” Evan admitted, wringing his fingers nervously. “I used to wave a magic wand and cast spells. It felt… amazing.” His eyes were trained on his hands now, as memories poured forth. “I still remember the incantations and the wand movements…”
“What happened?” the other quietly asked.
“The law happened.” Evan scoffed. “There was a prophecy about me – that I would be the only one capable of opposing a madman bent on world domination. And I did – I faced him and defeated him in combat. For a few weeks they cheered for me, and I got happily married to my school sweetheart.” He smiled warmly, unaware now of the gaze that still rested on his eyes as he was entirely somewhere else. “Then, they came for me. They were afraid, you see. They thought it was my power that allowed me to defeat him, but it was not. The tipping point was the wand – it wasn’t his to use, so it hindered him rather than helped. Regardless, they did come. Using the press, they turned the masses against me and managed to get me under a trial. They… they even killed my family, saying that they did not want my ‘terrifying’ power to pass on to anyone else. When I saw her head roll, I began to truly hate my name.”
There was a moment of silence. Evan turned to look at T’challa and they once more locked gazes. It was odd, he decided, that he was talking to some stranger who he didn’t even know and was telling him things absolutely no one on this planet knew. It was odd that the stranger was listening, too, with an intent gaze.
“I threw my name away when they took my magic away from me.” He continued, but neither looked away. “Locked in a cell, I began to crave for revenge, at first. But then I realized that it was wrong to – that not everyone who was involved against me held truly evil intentions – but I did want to escape. So I began to try to cast magic anyway, even though I couldn’t. The very first thing I tried was the repelling charm – a charm to push things away. Imagine my surprise when a blast of hyper-vibrated air emerged from my hand to smack against the ratty bed they gave me.” He chuckled, tearing away his eyes and looking back at the gorgeous scene in front of him. “I managed to determine that it wasn’t a talent to control the air that I had, but vibrations. I trained myself in secret and, after five months of imprisonment, I escaped and made my way to the only place I knew for certain I could be safe – the house in which my godson resided with his grandmother.”
“Men make wrong decisions when the power they wield gets to their head.” T’challa sighed. “If only…”
“Did something happen?” Evan asked, laying a hand on T’challa’s own.
The other man looked at where they made contact but did not remove his hand. “I only just found out that my father killed his own brother, and left a child behind.” He looked at the lands as if they could help him from his dilemma. “They didn’t even give him a burial…”
Evan stiffened, well acquainted with orphaned boys and the lives they led.
“What kind of king does that? What kind of… man… does that?” he asked, bowing his head. “I fear that as a king of Wakanda I will one day do something similar.”
“You won’t.” Evan said with conviction, and the man offered him a sideways glance. “Your father doesn’t define you, you do. Your choices will make your rule. You are your own man, and no one can control you. So if you don’t want to, you won’t. And from what I’ve seen, you’re a pretty swell guy.”
He offered Evan a wane smile. “I aim to please.” Frowning, he then asked, “What was your name, back in your own world?”
Evan stilled. “Um… there is someone at the border saying he killed Klaue.” Evan offered instead, looking away. “You should switch on your ‘Kimono beads’, whatever those are.”
“’Kimoyo beads’.” T’challa corrected him, but thankfully he did not press further and did, in fact, release his hand to turn them on.
After basically being ordered to come back, T’challa shut off the bead with a sigh. “Ah, the duties of a king.”
“I’m certain you’ll grow into them.” Evan murmured.
“You still did not tell me your name.” the other firmly said, frowning. “And you tried to distract me.”
“It’s something I’d rather not say, thank you.” Evan muttered. “If I never hear that name again, I’ll die a happy man.”
T’challa’s frown deepened. He got to his feet and dusted himself off, then spoke, “Baba once told me that one’s name is all he has – even when the world uses it against him, he must cherish it because it is the only thing he truly takes to his grave.”
Evan looked up at him with doubtful eyes, which then lowered to the hand held out for him to take.
“You told me it is my choices who make me.” He said, face sans expression as he lifted Evan up. “Maybe it is you who gives your name meaning, too, and not someone else.”
Evan and T’challa exchanged a meaningful glance before the former levitated the two of them into the sky, soon speeding on back to the city proper.
***
Evan fidgeted with the hem of his Wakandan clothes in agitation. Where it had been sometime around dawn that T’challa and he had spoken, it was well-past dusk now and there was no news from him. He paced up and down his room in agitation. T’challa had extracted a promise from him that he would not try to listen in on council business, so he didn’t. But now, drowning in anxiety as he was, he probably should have.
He was interrupted from his thoughts when the door slammed open and Nakia stepped in, tossing him a cloak. “If you want to live, follow me.” She said and began to walk out.
“Wait, what? What’s going on?” Evan stammered, flustered. He followed her anyway, and whispered his next words, given that they were sneaking. “And where is T’challa?”
“The king is dead – killed in ritual combat.” She said, and that made Evan stop short.
“T’challa… is dead?” he whispered, eyes tearing up. Why was he sad over someone he only knew for a day or so…? This he did not know.
“Yes.” Nakia said, barely looking at him, and continued on. The way out of the palace passed in a daze for Evan, who was still coming to grips that his new… friend(?) was dead. He was drawn back to reality only when she gestured for him to halt once they were well outside the palace. “The Queen and the princess are out in the forest in that direction.” She said. “T’challa asked me to tell you that if you would protect them should he die,” and here, her voice cracked, “he would be pleased wherever his soul would end up.”
Evan swallowed heavily and nodded, shuddering to get rid of excessive feelings. T’challa’s family needed him, and he wasn’t going to disappoint. “I will protect them with my life.” He said, solemnly. “Where will you go?”
Nakia seemed to gain some respect for him with those words, as she finally met his gaze and nodded. “Good. I… have someone else and something I need to get. The Queen knows where to go, so please ensure that they reach there safely. I should catch up in an hour or so.” She whispered and held his forearm. “Thank you.” She fervently said and vanished in the shadows.
Evan watched her disappear, and then turned to the direction she pointed, drawing his foot up and slamming it on the ground with a thud. He interpreted the readings and… there!
He was in the air in the very next moment.
When he landed softly next to the Queen, she did not seem surprised to see him at all. Shuri smiled at him weakly, with a watery gaze. “She sent you ahead?”
“Yes. She said the Queen knows where to go.” He nodded, then looked to the ground. “I… I am sorry for… for your loss.”
There was silence for a few moments, but he looked up sharply when he felt a hand on his shoulder, and gazed into the wet eyes of the queen. “Thank you, stranger.”
If her gaze was knowing, he did not notice it.
***
“You idiot!” Evan yelled and whacked T’challa on his bicep.
“Ow!”
“You had us all worried!” he continued, barely pausing for breath. “Do you know how your mother felt? How Shuri felt? How-“
“How you felt?” T’challa hopefully offered and received another whack for his efforts. “Stop it!”
“You worried me sick, you… you… dunderhead! Why I ought to chop you up and use you for potion ingredients! Did you even think how I was since you forbade me from listening in on your puffed up council meeting?!” Evan continued, steamrolling any point T’challa may have made by simply not giving him a chance to speak. “How dare you go and die on my watch? This is so-”
T’challa rolled his eyes and drew the slighter male into a very warm hug. “I’m sorry.” He said simply, holding Evan in place.
“What is happening, T’challa?” he asked, eyes far away. “I’ve… it’s not even been a week since we’ve met and-“
“Hush.” He whispered, setting his chin on Evan’s head. “Don’t speak. Just… stay.”
Evan had no intention of moving out of the embrace. “We are going to take back Wakanda, aren’t we?” he sighed.
“Eric is an evil of our own making, much like Ulysses.” The older man admitted. “However, this time, we are simply paying our due – my father was not in his right mind to turn away from him, or even the world at large.”
He looked up then, frowning. “What are you going to do?”
“He may be of our own making, but he is still a monster.” The other adamantly said. “it is not our way to escalate conflict, but to dissolve it. He will raze the world before he is satisfied – I will stop him myself.”
“And I’m going to be right there with you.” Evan said. “Frequency will be by your side in battle today. You need to deal with Eric yourself, but this M’baku character… he seems… overeager for violence. Should he raise his tribe against yours, I will be there to stop them.”
T’challa stared at him intensely. “I will be fortunate to have you by my side.” He said, gaze unmoving.
Evan nodded, and then visibly hesitated before speaking. “Harry.”
“What?”
“My name.” Evan… no. Harry told him, eyes filled with determination. “My real name is Harry James Potter.”
***
“M’baku, kill this clown!” Eric ordered, smirking.
“The rite is not yet complete!” Okoye protested. “This is not right!”
A moment of indecision marred the tribe leader’s visage. His thoughts were his own as he puzzled over them, but he seemed to have reached a decision only a few seconds later. “Charge!” M’baku yelled in his own tongue. The entire tribe raised their weapons against their former king, yelling in assent as a warship flew overhead, and began to run down the hill.
BOOM!
The warship quivered and fell to the ground, exploding absolutely and completely. This time, there was no one emerging from the wreckage, but a figure descended from the sky no less theatrically. He was garbed in grey leathers, boots, and a trench-coat. If he were to wear a pair of the darkest glasses he could find, he would look identical to the avenger Frequency.
“My entrance was cooler than yours.” Harry said, smirking.
“Just wait until I can fly.” T’challa muttered, activating his helmet.
“You violate your sacred laws!” the former called out, glaring at the people below. “Do your rites mean nothing to you? You slander the name of Wakanda by raising your weapons! Stand down and let the two fight it out honorably, for that is your way!”
The males of the tribe seemed not to be bothered either way as they resumed their charging.
“And here I thought it would be easy.” Evan said, touching the ground, finally. “Go, take back what is rightfully yours. I will handle these traitors.”
The two nodded to each other and parted ways. T’challa broke into a run, prompting the lot to whip their cloaks out, creating energy shields somehow. The Black Panther leaped over them with ease and made his way to Eric, who activated his own set of Black Panther Armor raising a broken spear and a sword. The Dora Milaje respectfully stepped aside for their fight.
Harry, meanwhile stretched his hands out, palm facing down, and motioned as if he were slamming on a table.
A powerful earthquake ripped through the area, sending almost everyone standing to the ground.
“Harry!” T’challa barked, who also found himself on the ground.
Said boy winced, but smiled wide enough to cause his now disoriented attackers some amount of confusion. That was the first in a long time he felt comfortable hearing his name. “Sorry!” he called back, sheepishly.
His expression shifted when four or so aircraft like things took flight.
“You need to shoot them down!” Okoye yelled at him. “We will handle these idiots.” She then continued in her native tongue. “To arms!”
“To arms!” her female compatriots yelled and charged the comparatively larger militia of tribal men.
It spoke of the respect they held in his eye that he did not hesitate to take flight immediately, without a backward glance. And considering that he knew or saw any of them for a cumulative total of less than an hour… well…
Regardless, he was soon stationary in the air, the four crafts optically reducing in size the further they got away. He built up the vibrational frequency between his palms and then pushed them out forward with a swipe of both his hands, sending a surprisingly wide arc of hyper-vibrated air. It traveled far and fast and sliced through all the crafts in a single instance before they could even get close to Wakandan borders. He did feel tired, however, considering that holding back things he vibrated was taxing on himself.
He chanced a glance back down to note with pleasant surprise that the Jabari had arrived with all their military strength, and the fighting was now in their favor.
T’challa was nowhere to be seen.
***
“Must you really leave?”
Harry sighed as he turned from the admittedly pleasing view of the Wakandan city-scape to offer his… friend… a sad look. “I have to report back at least. I would love to stay here, but-”
“There is nothing stopping you but your own decisions.” T’challa pointed out. “You could stay here with us. Shuri loves you already, and I daresay mother treats you like her own son.” He gave Harry a suspicious look. “How did you manage that?”
“I don’t know, honestly.” The younger of the two admitted, wringing his hands. “I’m not sure I want to know, either. Women, mothers even more so, are often strange with their intuition – but spot on.”
T’challa offered him a small smile. Harry only then noticed how much the other man used his eyes as part of his overall expression. Some people would find it annoying, he assumed, but he found it quite cute. “I really should get going before I lose my will to leave.” He said, stepping backward.
“Take care of yourself, Harry.” T’challa said, eyes filled with some sort of strange longing that the other simply couldn’t place. “Your past is safe with me.”
“And the secrets of Wakanda are safe with me.” Harry smiled. “None will know of your true wealth-”
“You may find that to be unnecessary.” T’challa smirked. “Just wait for a few days, and you will know.”
Harry just smiled, taking to the air and then shooting forth with enough speed to breach the sound barrier.
If a tear fell from his eye, he did not notice.
Meanwhile, T’challa himself eyed the figure of Harry steadily growing further and further away wistfully. Okoye, who was at the balcony entrance, noted this and smiled to herself. Something told her she hadn’t seen the last of that boy.