REUNITED ~ STEVE ROGERS [4]

Chapter Twenty-Five

I gasped, drumbeat in my chest.

But Shuri was smart and she ducked at the last minute as T'Challa flew out of nowhere, colliding with Killmonger.

Unfortunately T'Challa tackled them both down the mine shaft.

"Brother!" Shuri screamed. I scrambled towards the landing deck but before I knew it I was shoved to the side. Landing on my back I turned my face upwards to see a spear pointed right in my face.

"Get up and fight." W'Kabi stood over me with a nasty look on his face. I rolled my eyes and gave him a shit-eating grin.

"Why, you wanna get your head blown off?"

I swept my leg around to tap his ankles. Smartly, he leapt to the side while I jumped up, hands ablaze. He chuckled.

"You won't kill me." A jab to my liver, blocked with a jarring pain in my right arm. "I've watched you. You're not that warrior anymore."

"Yeah?" I took a running start and double flipped over him, showing off. "I make exceptions for assholes." T'Challa and Shuri said something in the comms but I couldn't hear over the racket. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Shuri and Nakia run down from the landing deck and into the field, joining the fight.

"For a woman with such a big reputation, I'm disappointed." W'Kabi motioned for two Border Tribesmen who proceeded to attack me while W'Kabi watched.

"Well if we're comparing big things," I grunted, headbutting the poor man so hard his nose broke, "I think you'll find Okoye is much more impressed with mine." I winked at him and smiled when his face contorted.

Activating their shields, both Tribesmen blocked my every move. At least, the moves I made that didn't involve my, more destructive abilities. I planted my feet, raising my hands and cracking the bones in my neck.

Deep breaths Keight. You haven't done this in a hot minute and you don't wanna burn out on your first day back.

Scars flashing white I fired two quick blasts at the shields. It didn't break them, their source being vibranium, but it did send the two tribesmen flying backwards into the grass, probably knocked out cold.

Turning to W'Kabi, I lifted my hands in his direction and raised my chin.

"Is it your turn, igwala?" Coward I called him, green light from my hands reflecting in his eyes.

And coward he was, turning tail and running off to the distance. I laughed at him. He wasn't worth chasing.

Spotting Shuri, Nakia and Okoye, I sprinted towards them, dodging spears and blasts alike until I reached them.

"Is T'Challa okay?" I grunted the question to Shuri as I blocked a spear coming at her head and threw the man across the ground.

"He's down in the mine with Killmonger, but he's alive." Shuri replied, eyes darting around. The Tribesmen were closing in, using their shields to make a circle. I wouldn't be able to take them all out, not all at once and not like this. There was a small prick in the back of my neck and I instantly felt a surge of energy filling my veins. I had been feeling so weak lately I hadn't noticed I was running out of charge.

What am I, a battery?

Okoye looked around, desperately searching for a way out. We could fight, but all of us knew that we wouldn't all make it. Even if we weren't prepared to kill, I'm sure they were.

Okoye stopped and stared, and I followed her gaze to W'Kabi perched high on a rock, away from the fight.

"Surrender now! You have three seconds to lay down your weapons!" He yelled. Shuri cursed out loud, but even I didn't have time to scold her.

We were surrounded.

"One, two-" W'Kabi began counting down but he was interrupted.

The familiar chanting came form behind him. The shields were too high and I couldn't see, but all around were yells of confusion and thuds of bodies on the ground. I spun around, confused.

"What the f-"

A Border Tribesman in front of me was lifted up by the back of his neck like a dog, and there, like a big, beautiful glowering giant was M'Baku, and six Jabari warriors behind him.

"Witness the might of the Jabari firsthand!" He howled, as his men began to slash through the Border Tribesmen with ease. M'Baku threw the man into another's shield.

"M'Baku, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist." I muttered. Seeing the breaks in the shields, he called out.

"Abya!" His troops followed him.

"Phambili!" Okoye called her own troops and I too responded to the Dora call, moving through the gaps towards W'Kabi.

And then came M'Baku, swinging his knobkerrie to change the tides of the battle, and change them it did.

Now, it got interesting.

With more players in the game, the Border Tribesmen didn't stand a chance. They thought they did, poor things, and while they were good, they had nothing on us women.

Oh, and M'Baku I suppose.

"Couldn't just let T'Challa win by himself could you?" I teased M'Baku, leaping over him to knock another Tribesman to the ground.

"I didn't do this for T'Challa, princess." He grunted, swinging his mighty arms around and sending people flying. His response took me by surprise but I ran with it, sweat dripping down into my eyes. My arm jarred with pain after every attack and I winced.

"Then why, M'Baku? You're as stubborn as a mule, you wouldn't just change your mind." Someone hit me from behind and M'Baku headbutted them and they crumpled before I even turned around. Nursing a bruised spine, I looked to him. He sighed.

"For Wakanda. And for you."

I had no time to react because the ground tremored, rumbling under my feet. It took me a split second to turn around but the rhino, with W'Kabi sitting smugly on its back, was already almost upon us. M'Baku reached out his hand and pushed me behind him and we both flinched for impact, not enough time to get away.

The Okoye, that magnificent woman, stepped int front of us and the rhino slowed abruptly, and when it stopped it licked her face affectionately.

Dismounting, W'Kabi approached his love cautiously, spear in hand. The warriors all ceased fighting and watched.

"Drop your weapon." Her voice is ice and her eyes are fire, brilliant and hot. I felt a swell of pride in my heart.

"Would you kill me, my love?" W'Kabi asked, as if he knew her answer.

She lifted her chin.

"For Wakanda?"

Okoye drew her weapon and pointed it right at him, so close to his face he went cross-eyed looking at it.

"Without question."

That was that. Spears were dropped, my hands stopped glowing. I caught Shuri's eye across the field and smiled. She returned it.

And W'Kabi dropped his weapons to the ground and sank to his knees in the dirt.

Authors Note

Chadwick, this one is for you.

I don't know if I can do your King T'Challa any justice, but I can try. An actor, an artist, a warrior and a King, you will be greatly missed and I hope we can all try and hold the legacy of kindness, faith and greatness that you had up for all time. Let your name be remembered in writing here forever.

Rest in Power, King T'Challa. Rest in Peace, Chadwick Boseman.

~JJ