Black Boys Bloom Thorns First: Volume 2 (A Black Panther Fanfic)

Black Boys Bloom Thorns First: Volume 2, Chapter 15

"I am known to stay awake
(A beautiful world I'm trying to find)
A beautiful world I'm trying to find
(A beautiful world, I'm trying to find)
I've been in search of myself
(A beautiful world) a beautiful world
It's just too hard for me to find
(Dreams, dreams)
Said it's just too hard for me to find
(Dreams, dreams)
I am in the search of something new
(A beautiful world I'm trying to find)
Searchin' me,
Searching inside of you
And that's fo' real

What if it were no niggas
Only master teachers?
I stay woke (Dreams dreams)..."

Erykah Badu—"Master Teacher"

N'Jobu thought he was alone crouched low on the roof of an abandoned seedy building. The optic lenses in his night vision spy glasses easily picked out heat signatures below him. Two bodies were hidden in darkness but easily detected by him. Who else was on to the S.H.I.E.L.D. agents he was after this far from the city?

The agents he was looking for were a no show thus far. He was taking a chance being there because he wasn't sure if this was the exact location he wanted after he was able to decipher a few cryptic communications between the people he was after and their handlers. He decided to find out who his unwanted visitors were.

He slipped down from the roof and made his way around to where the two targets hid. He pulled two guns from two hidden holsters on his body and crept closer until he was behind them. Adjusting his night vision to clear vision, he was surprised to see that the extra intruders bum rushing his show were the two twins he followed years ago. For them to be where he was could not be a random coincidence. He knew they would be strapped, so he activated a preemptive vibranium shield around himself from his kimoyo beads just in case.

"Hey," he whispered.

When they spun around to look at him, he trained his gun on both their foreheads. They both raised their hands.

"Don't even try for your weapons," he said.

One of the twins recognized him.

"You're that guy...from the club...long time ago," she said.

They were both still rocking short 'fros, but their hair color was natural this time around. The only difference between them was that the one who spoke had longer hair.

"I remember you too. What's your deal? Why are you two here?"

One twin looked at the other.

"Why are you here?" the longer-haired twin asked.

"The man with the steel in his hand gets his questions answered first," he said.

"We're looking for someone," the shorter-haired twin said.

"Don't tell him anything—"

"What difference does it make? Maybe he can help us—"

A light flashed over their heads. A car.

"Shit," N'Jobu said, "come on, we're going up to the roof. Move your asses," he hissed waving his guns directing them to move in front of him.

They all jogged discreetly to the building he came from and hauled ass up the stairs five stories and onto the roof.

"Get down," he said.

"We need to see if these are the people we're looking for," Long Hair said.