Show Me ↝ Black Panther

13

The ride to Wakanda was long. Okoye had not been a fan of bringing General Ross with them, but T'Challa wasn't about to let the man die. Not when they could save him. She had yet to bring up N'Deke's name, but the tense silence in the ship was a clear indicator of what they were thinking. They had to find him.

Shuri was quick to welcome them when she heard there was an injured man onboard. "Great. Another broken white boy for us to fix. This is going to be fun." She looked around. "Where's N'Deke?"

Keeping the truth from her would do more harm than good. "Kidnapped. I'm sorry, Shuri."

Her mood dimmed down considerably. She let out a weak "Oh" before tending to General Ross. T'Challa felt terrible. He couldn't keep any of the promises he'd made before leaving. What kind of king was he?

"He'll live," Shuri declared after examining him. "You will rescue N'Deke, right?" she asked, pretending to be busy staring at a holographic display of her patient's spine.

"I can't swear it. Nothing good has come out of me making promises."

Her Kimoyo beads beeped. She frowned. "W'Kabi is here. With the Motobes."

The king gestured at Nakia and Okoye before running up the platform. He would handle the situation alone. The blame was on him and him only.

W'Kabi was waiting for him, along with M'Bao, Jeniba and Akina.

"What's going on brother?" W'Kabi asked with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Where is Klaue?"

"He's not here." Disappointment clouded W'Kabi's features. T'Challa averted his eyes. "He slipped through our hands."

"Slipped?" W'Kabi repeated incredulously. "For 30 years your father was in power and did nothing. With you, I thought it'd be different. But it's more of the same." He walked away with his head down.

T'Challa had to draw in a deep breath before turning to face M'Bao.

"I demand to see my son."

"Your son is not here either."

Jeniba let out a strangled sob, hands shakily coming up to cover her mouth.

"He's not dead," he quickly assured her. "He's still very much alive. He's just... he's been taken away from us. But I'm going to do my best—"

"You promised us you would keep him safe," M'Bao cut in. "And you failed to do that too."

T'Challa remained quiet. There was nothing he could say to make the situation better. He'd failed his friend, his country, his people.

"But you see, Your Highness, you aren't the only one to blame here." He turned to Akina, who stood nearby. Her nostrils flared but she remained calm. "You are at fault too."

"M'Bao please," Jeniba pleaded weakly. "Now is not the time."

"Now is the time. If it weren't for her, N'Deke would still be here with us!"

"I never thought you cared about him this much," Akina snapped. She wasn't about to stand here and let him downgrade her. Not anymore.

"How dare you..."

"Let me tell you one thing, I care more for him than you do." She sneered at him. The revelation took even T'Challa by surprise.

"Oh really? Since when does calling him names and pushing him to his limit count as 'caring'?"

Akina stepped close to him, so that whatever she said remained only between them. "At least I'm not the one who was planning to use him." Seeing his face contort with anger brought her satisfaction. "You're lucky I'm not telling King T'Challa who you really are right now. And if you wish to keep it that way, I suggest you drop the act." With that, she stepped away from him.

M'Bao was fuming. Jeniba chose to ignore him and turned her pleading eyes towards T'Challa. "I beg of you, find my baby boy and bring him home. I can't lose him."

"I will do my best." He couldn't afford anymore promises, especially with the two broken ones already looming over him.

"You know, your son is very brave." Okoye came up from behind T'Challa. "Even though I wasn't happy to have him tagging along, he's been a huge help. Before he was taken by Klaue's men, he risked his life to save ours. If it hadn't been for him, none of us would be standing here right now." She observed a break, her usually harsh expression softening up. "Even if we aren't the ones to find him, he will find his way back to you."

Jeniba wiped her tears, nodding gratefully. "Thank you. Thank you both." She sniffled and retreated.

Akina bowed her head, and for a split second T'Challa saw her eyes glistening. But she turned around quickly to escort Jeniba out.

M'Bao stood there for a while longer before following them. T'Challa sighed in relief. "That was uncharacteristically nice of you, General."

"The kid did well. They deserved to know that much."

He stared into the distance pensively. "Tell Shuri and Nakia if they need me, I'll be in the throne room."

"What are you going to do?"

"I have a call to make."

• • •

"Hello, Stark."

"Prince Kitty Claws. You were the last person I expected to call me."

"It's king now, actually."

"Same difference. So what's up? Why would a busy royal figure like you hit up a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist like myself?"

T'Challa had to shake his head. The man would never change. "You and Anna, you're still in contact right?"

"We still meet up for coffee here and there. Not recently though, I hear she went on an exciting little getaway."

"I need to know if she's still in Korea."

"She took the first flight to New York yesterday, something about not feeling well. Wait how'd you know she was in Korea? Have you been stalking her? Please don't tell me she broke some sacred Wakandan law—"

"Thank you, Stark. That will be all."

He closed the hologram and sunk into his chair. Now he was truly out of options. He could return to Korea but that would do no good. Klaue and his men had probably already made plans to leave the country, and it would prove incredibly difficult to trace them.

"I take it your call didn't go as planned." Nakia made her way up to him.

"No, it didn't. I hope you have better news for me."

"I do." She reached into her pocket and showed him an object.

"Is this one of his audio enhancers?"

"Yes. He dropped it when he jumped on Klaue's man. Shuri told me that it could also be used as some sort of tracker, without the tracking part. Look." Nakia held it up. A single green light blinked then faded. They waited, and waited, and some time later it blinked again. "The further apart the timing of the lights are, the further he is from us. But the closer they are..."

"The closer he is to us." He sat upright. "Where is he right now?"

"From Shuri's calculations, still in Korea."

He allowed the tiniest sliver of hope to spark in his chest. "I'll give it two days. If in two days nothing has changed, I'm abandoning my royal duties to go fetch him."

Nakia observed him for a minute. "There's something else on your mind."

T'Challa nodded and stood up. "I have to go see Zuri. He's the only one who can give me the answers I need."