Naruto In Marvel Universe - Volume 1 Chapter 22

The sound of silence was disrupted as someone rapped their knuckles against a door, the sound echoing through the dank apartment hallway, followed by the muffled acknowledgement of it being heard on the other side. The source of the knocking waited rather impatiently, tapping their foot hurriedly against the tile floor. After a handful of seconds, that impatience proved too much to handle, and another set of knocks slapped against the door, followed by another call of acknowledgement, this time much harsher.

The door thrown open, Jessica Jones huffed out an agitated, “What?” Only to then blink when she realized who was standing opposite her.

Giving his practically patented smirk, Tony Stark gave a quick and lazy wave hello, “I’m looking for the kid.” He said, looking passed her shoulder into the apartment behind her.

“The kid?” She asked, “What kid, there aren’t any kids here.” Raising an eyebrow, she wondered aloud, “Why are you asking around for a kid?”

Realizing the implications of what she was hinting at, Tony sighed, “I’m looking for Naruto.”

“Who?” Jessica asked innocently.

“I know he’s here so you can drop the doe eyes.” Tony said, looking passed her again he called out, “Naruto, it’s me! Tell your girlfriend to let me in, we need to talk.”

An offended look crossed Jessica’s face, “Girlfriend?”

“Tony?” Naruto’s voice called out.

Tony made to brush passed the woman at the sound of Naruto’s voice, only to grunt as she shot her arm out across the door frame, effectively intercepting him from entering the room. Taking a few step backs from the surprisingly sturdy woman, he dusted off his suit in exasperation, “Really?” He asked, “Hey kid, you gonna call off Videl Satan over here or what?”

“Never watched Dragon Ball. I was too busy having friends.” Jessica shot back.

Tony straightened his shades, “But yet you know who Videl is? Clearly those friends were imaginary.”

Naruto cut off Jessica’s retort, putting his hand on her arm and forcing it down, “He’s a friend, you don’t mind him coming in for a couple minutes, right?”

Jessica’s narrowed eyes went back and forth between the two men before she shrugged, “Fine, you can talk.” Grabbing Naruto by the back of his neck, she pushed him out the apartment into the hallway, “Outside.”

Blinking as the door was slammed in his face, Naruto rubbed the back of his neck with a slight laugh, “She means well…every once in a while.”

“Yeah, she’s a real treasure.” Looking back at the door he read the cheaply made sign that read Alias Investigations, “She needs a better sign, this whole rundown apartment look can’t be good for business.” After a moment of thought he asked, “She ever think about installing some frosted glass? Maybe some golden font?”

“Why are you here?” Naruto asked, trying to cut to the chase.

Tony pulled out a phone, “Here, this is your new phone. It has all the contact info of everyone on the team and a few others including Hill.”

Naruto took the phone in his hand, admiring the state of the art tech on display, “It’s not a Uta, but it’ll do.”

“What?” Tony asked.

“Nothing, don’t worry about it.” The blonde brushed off, “Is that all?”

“No, no there’s more.” Stark answered, stuffing his hands in his pockets as he said, “The Secretary of State wants to have a pow wow with you. I’ve volunteered myself and Rogers to act as your chaperone, so don’t worry about them trying to stone wall you. That’s if you even agree to it. They have no say over you, so there’s really not a lot they can do to you if you refuse to talk with the-”

“Sure, whatever.”

The man dubbed Iron Man blinked, “Excuse me?”

Naruto shrugged, “Yeah, I mean I don’t really care. I’m sure the boss would want to do it eventually.”

“The boss?” Tony muttered, only to scoff, “You’re a clone, aren’t you?”

The Naruto clone gave an enthusiastic thumbs up, “Sure am!”

Tony sighed, “Fine. Just make sure you get with ‘the boss’ and have him get with me or Rogers.”

“Yeah, I can’t really promise you that he’ll get back to you real quick.”

Stark raised a curious eyebrow, “Why, what’s he doing?”

“Uuhmm.”

-x-

T’Challa sighed as he crouched over the ledge of the railing within the R&D building, calmly watching his sister work on her upgraded Kimoyo Beads. Trying to keep as out of the way as possible, he kept to the upper levels of the facility, prowling around so that his sister was always in his view. He’d been on sentry duty for the past few days, and the monotony of it was just beginning to get to him. If it weren’t for his decade of training, he knew he wouldn’t be able to last the month.

But no matter what, he would not fail. His pride would never allow it.

Shuri sighed as she looked up to see her brother literally hovering over her, wiping the sweat from her brow as she turned her attention back to her desk, continuing to tinker with her Kimoyo Beads. T’Challa wasn’t the only one hovering however. T’Shan seemed to think he was her shadow, seeming as how he followed her every step everywhere she went. Unlike a shadow however, he always seemed to have something to say. Question after question. Praise upon praise. At first, she admitted, the constant praise and questions helped boost her ego quite a bit. But it had quickly devolved into a nuisance. Luckily, M’Baba had plenty for T’Shan to look over, keeping the man busy enough that Shuri was able to fight the urge to not so kindly ask him to buzz off.

“He takes protecting you very seriously.”

Having just managed shut off the world so she could focus, Shuri jumped at the deep voice of M’Baba.

“Don’t do that!” She shrieked out. Calming herself, she flattened out the ruffles in her shirt as she asked, “Can I help you, sir?”

M’Baba hummed, “What is this?”

Shuri turned her attention back to her work, speaking as she tinkered, “New Kimoyo Beads.”

“New how?” The man asked, “We come out with a new set of upgraded beads biennially, all of the individual beads upgraded as much as possible.”

“It’s new in that it’s new. I’m not upgrading any of the previous bead models. I’m adding a new one.” Shuri corrected, “As you know, each individual bead serves a purpose. One for communication, one for video feeds, one for medical evaluations. One of them acts as a key to access vehicles and doorways for crying out loud.”

“And?” M’Baba asked impatiently.

“And.” Shuri dragged out, “I am working on a bead that will be able to provide first aid assistance to the wearer. From cuts, broken or fractured bones, burns, to even bullet wounds. It can be used by both the Dora Milaje and our War Dogs, or just the everyday citizen after an accident at home. I’m trying to create a bead that go from its solid sphere state to something more jell like so that it can cover the area that needs treatment, and to also be able to separate and expand if need be. There’s a lot more to it that I need to work on, but getting the vibranium in the bead to turn into something more malleable is proving…difficult.”

“Hmm.” M’Baba hummed out, looking over her shoulder at her work, “Have you thought of using something other than vibranium? Something that can be softened, but is held together by vibranium as a case of some kind.”

Shuri nodded, “I’d thought of that, but I’m finding a hard time finding a material that is compatible that doesn’t have to be imported heavily from an outside country. It needs to be able to be heated and cooled, expanded and separated.”

“So why not make it yourself?”

The princess blinked, “What?”

“If you’re having a hard time finding something to suit your needs, make something that will from scratch. You’re a once in a millennium genius, aren’t you?” M’Baba asked, sarcasm not so thinly vailed.

“I never sai-”

“This is impressive.” With that, M’Baba walked passed her, his arms folded behind his back as he went about his business.

“O-oh…” Shuri stuttered out weakly, “Thank you?”

-x-

“So…this is him.”

Okoye, a deep scowl on her face, nodded as she looked down at the screen in her hands. On it, a picture took up most of the screen showing a blonde-haired man in his mid-twenties. The man wore a red leather jacket with a brown hooded jacket underneath. He looked like any other person, though T’Chaka could now attest to his unnatural power.

“I’m ashamed to say that he bested me in combat, my king.” Okoye admitted, avoiding eye contact with her king as she did, “I’ve never fought anyone like him before. It’s like he isn’t even human.”

T’Chaka sighed as he played the video of the outsider fighting his general, “Perhaps. Not even my uncle, who was arguably the most skilled of all previous Black Panthers, could do anything like this. No, no this man is something else entirely.” Looking to the woman he asked, “Can you remember anything after your encounter?”

“I’m sorry my king, but after that fight I woke up in front of N’Jadaka’s capital building. I don’t know what happened in between.” Okoye answered, clearly annoyed at not knowing what Naruto had done with her after their fight.

The king hummed to himself in thought, “More than likely, they took you to extract information. Either they somehow did it while keeping you unconscious, or they wiped the memory away entirely. Neither of those are good for us.”

“What do we do then, my king? If he somehow managed to extract Wakandan secrets from me, this could prove to be disastrous.” Okoye said.

T’Chaka sighed after a moment of thought, “Send out a message to all of our Dora Milaje and War Dogs searching for this Naruto Uzumaki. Tell them not to engage, and that they are to inform him I seek an audience with him. He has proven too troublesome to kill, so now we must look for a more peaceful resolution.”

“And if he refuses?”

“He won’t. If his words are true, he’s only curious. If the opportunity to speak to me were to arise, he wouldn’t refuse. It would be his chance for answers after all.” T’Chaka answered, folding his arms behind his back as he said, “I too find myself curious as to what his intentions are. And what better way than to speak with him face to face?”

“And if he plans to assassinate you?” Okoye asked, clearly not a fan of this plan of action.

“The man kept you alive General, when he had every opportunity to kill you. If he sought to kill us off he’d have a head count by now.” Smiling at the woman he said, “And if he were to kill me, he’d have the entire military force of Wakanda clawing for his life for the rest of his days.”

Okoye could only nod, clear trepidation on her face.

-x-

Naruto yawned as he sat on perched on a rooftop, night having come several hours ago, “Does this guy ever take a f.u.c.k.i.n.g break? He’s been watching over this place for days.” The only time he ever took a break was when he went to bed, and even then, he had several security systems throughout the building watching out for anyone while he rested.

Illyana fought the urge to yawn herself, blinking away the urge to nod off as she said, “Can we call this off then? I don’t think this panther guy is going to give us an opportunity to use your mind reading thing on him for a while. You barely get away with having your clones transform into objects and animals inside and around the building to look for an opening. One of these times, someone is going to notice a bird popping into a cloud of smoke.”

Naruto rolled his eyes, “I’m not stupid. These clones don’t pop into smoke. One second they’re there, the next they’re not. They just take a bit more concentration to make, so I usually don’t use them in battle, just to avoid the distraction. And don’t get me wrong, I’d love to end this now. In all honesty, I could just barge in there and get it over with, but I’ve made enough of a commotion in this country as it is. If I keep it up, they’re gonna put me on a list or something.” Naruto said, rubbing his chin in thought, “Really, there’s a lot of ways I could go about it. Transform into one of the people that works there for one, and as long as you’re holding on to me I could cover you in the transformation as well. But he’s always out in the open, or in his room which is as secure as a vault. And waiting for him to go to the bathroom breaks my code of interrupting a man while he does his business. It’s happened to me, and trust me it sucked ass.”

“Look, obviously we’ve hit a road block. Why don’t we give up for the night, and brainstorm in the morning? We got a hotel for a reason, I say we actually use it.” Illyana offered, clearly done with the day.

Naruto sighed, “You go ahead. I’m gonna stay a little longer.” His response was the sound of a portal opening and closing, signally Illyana’s exit.

Silence soon reigned, the blonde sitting from his perch, waiting for the next wave of memories to come.

“Now that the woman’s gone, when do you plan on going in there?” Kurama grumbled, clearly having just woke up, “Your window of opportunity is coming up.”

Naruto shrugged, “Well, now I don’t really have a choice in the matter. These guys are forcing my hand.” Looking around, he frowned as he spotted several people stalking around the building, looking around intently as they loitered around. From what his clones could gleam from them, their bulky clothes hid the fact they were packing sub-machine guns and assault rifles, “In the few days I’ve been here I haven’t seen a single person use a gun, so they’re not Wakandan. That and a clone just told me that several armored cars are coming this way. I’d say we got a few minutes before this place is swarmed with fighting.”

“So, that means you either go in now while it’s quiet, or use the chaos to get to your target.” Kurama surmised, “That’s cold, even for you.”

The blonde shrugged, “I’m more than sure that they can fend off a squad of regular goons. Their clothes are armored and their weapons and tech outguns Tony by a mile. They don’t need my help, they’re more than tough enough. I’m just gonna sneak in and get out as soon as possible, maybe save some people if I have too.”

“Not very hero like, brat.” Kurama muttered. When silence was all he got, he rolled his eyes, “You’re going to stick around and fend off the attack, aren’t you?”

Naruto smirked, “You know me so well.”

“That makes getting out as soon as possible a bit of a stretch then, huh?”

“I’m sure I can make it work, Kurama.” The blonde said, waving off his partner.

Kurama scoffed, “And what about your new teammate? Are you really going to leave her to fend for herself?”

“You saw her…or heard her…you somehow noticed that she was about to pass out here on the roof. I’m not gonna let her get caught in the middle of this like that. The hotel we got is across town, so even if the fighting wakes her up, she’ll probably stay out of it. It’s one this to fight a duo of spear wielding amazons, it’s another to go up against a battalion of soldiers.” Naruto answered, getting up from his seat as he saw one of the men speak into a radio, “The show’s about to start.”

“And if she decides to join in the fighting? The way the woman spoke she’s never had to take a life. She’s not ready for this kind o-”

“I’ll protect her, Kurama.” Naruto said firmly, “I have half a dozen clones looking out for her. I’m not gonna let anything happen to her. She’s my comrade. I’m not going to fail my comrades ever again. Now either focus on the upcoming fight, or shut the hell up.”

Kurama sighed, “Fine. But just so you know, it’s not the woman who worries me. It’s you, should anything happen to her. You tend to spiral, Naruto…and you barely made it out of it the last time.” Pausing, the Biju shifted in the seal as he began to focus on the world around him, “That’s the last I’ll say about it. Let’s get going.”

Closing his eyes, Naruto fought back the guilt he felt bubbling up in his chest. His body going completely still, he began to gather Natural Energy into his body. Opening his eyes, the signs of his Sage Mode activating appeared, “Let’s go.” He said, jumping down into the street as the soldiers surrounding the building stormed in.

-x-

Shuri sighed in exasperation as she hacked into the security system monitoring her room, “It’s insulting how simple this was to get into.” A few more clicks into her holo-keyboard and a quick swipe was all she needed, “Aaaand done.”

Getting up, she opened her door, grabbing a duffle bag that was resting in the corner of the room as she did. Stepping out, the girl took a careful look into the hallway to make sure no one was walking the halls. As Shuri stepped out into the open, she winced as her shoes made a squeaking noise. Waiting for someone to notice the noise, she silently sighed in relief. Taking off her shoes, she began to tiptoe through the hallway, making her way towards the lab.

Avoiding the random passerby, Shuri slowly crept into the lab. Turning on the lights, she smiled as she took in the fact she was the only one inside, marveling at the stark quietness that filled the air. Placing her shoes back on her feet, she made her way to her working station. Reaching her desk, she moved her Kimoyo Beads out of the way, opening up her duffle bag and pulling out a set of vibranium gauntlets that resembled roaring panthers.

Setting them on the desk, she sighed in satisfaction as she looked at her work. Grabbing her tool box, she was about to open it when a familiar baritone voice snuck up behind her, “What are you doing?”

Shuri shrieked, feeling her heart jump up into her throat. Turning around she swung her hand to give a firm slap, only for her wrist to be caught by M’Baba.

M’Baba glowered down at the girl, “What are you doing?” He repeated.

“I-I’m uhh-”

M’Baba cut her off, stepping into her personal space, towering over her as he said, “Do you have any idea how stupid it is to come down here by yourself? What if whatever it is you were working on blew up in your face? What would you have done then, hmm? Despite your intelligence, your blood, or whatever T’Shan tells you, you are a child! Never work on something down here alone, especially something that from what I can see is clearly a weapon! If I ever catch you doing this again, I will send you back home. I don’t care what you, T’Shan, or your father says about it. Do you understand?”

“Ye-yes.” Shuri stuttered out, tears forming around the corner of her eye, doing her best to avoid eye contact with the clearly furious man.

“Now,” M’Baba said, “What exactly are you working on?”

“Wha-what?” The princess asked, confused by the man’s shift in attitude.

“You risked angering your brother coming down here, so I can only assume what you’re working on to be interesting.” M’Baba answered, looking over her shoulder to see the pair of gauntlets on the desk.

“Well, um…” Shuri started, “They’re vibranium gauntlets that I’m trying to design to shoot blasts of sonic energy.”

“Sonic energy huh.” M’Baba hummed out, “So they’re nonlethal then?”

“Well, I planned to put in a way to up the level that the energy is fired, but yeah for the most part they’re nonlethal. They’re purely for self-defense.” Shuri shrugged, “My brother isn’t going to be able to protect me all the time, not that I’d want that to begin with. I want a way to protect myself without having to rely on my brother or some Dora Milaje.”

“Hmm, I understand the feeling.” M’Baba said, walking passed Shuri to give them a closer look, “My brother is the leader of Jabari Tribe. When I was a child, I came to the conclusion that my tribe’s need to stay out of Wakandan society was foolish. My brother, who even as a boy had the strength of a gorilla, protected me from the people who disagreed with my beliefs. But after a while, I realized that just as I was tired of being protected, he was tired of protecting me. So, I left. I came here and learned as much as I could about Wakandan technology.”

“Wow.” Shuri muttered, “I had no idea you were Jabari.”

M’Baba shrugged nonchalantly, “Most don’t. While not something I’m ashamed of, it’s not something that gets spoken about often. People around here mistrust the Jabari just as much as the Jabari mistrust them.”

“Still, it’s very impressive.” Shuri admitted.

“Ah, the princess finds me impressive?” The Jabari native drawled out, “Stop. I’m blushing.”

Shuri sighed, “Well can I get to work? Please? I promise I’ll be carefu-”

“No.”

The princess deflated, “Oh come on-”

“No.” M’Baba repeated, “It’s late and I’m tired. I’m not going to stay up watching over you, sacrificing my health, just so you can sneak behind your brother’s, my prince’s, back. I actually like my job here, believe it or not.”

Sighing, Shuri nodded, though from her face she clearly wasn’t happy, “Fine. I’ll stop.”

M’Baba nodded, watching as she packed her things, “Good.” Walking to the lab’s doors, he spoke to the girl trailing behind him, “And don’t think about sneaking down here again. Now that I know you can sneak through our security system, I’ll have to set up something a little extra.”

“Extra?”

“Guards.” M’Baba clarified, “Maybe with tasers.”

“Oh, come on!” Shuri pleaded.

M’Baba chuckled, “I-”

BOOM!

Shuri screamed as the wall to her left exploded inward, smoke and debris filling the room, quickly followed by gunfire as bullets spilt through the air towards them. On reflex, she covered her head with her arms out of self-defense, though after a moment of feeling no pain she looked up to see M’Baba stumbling over, clutching his side in pain.

“M’Baba!” Shuri cried, running to him as he fell to the ground. Kneeling at his side, she gasped as blood began to spill through M’Baba’s hand, slipping past his fingers and dripping onto the floor below him.

Coughing out in surprise and pain, M’Baba muttered out, “H-how?”

The princess quickly reasoned out his confusion, she herself confused how a bullet could pierce his vibranium laced clothes. She wasn’t able to respond, as a hand grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt, pulling her up before dragging her away.

“No. No!” She pleaded, reaching for M’Baba as she was pulled away roughly. Thrashing her legs out, she tried to fight for freedom, only to get a back hand to her temple, dazing her as a voice called out.

“Don’t kill her! Achebe said he wants her alive!” Yelled the man holding her.

“What about the other one?” The man that hit her called out.

Shuri’s struggle came to a stop when a third voice was heard, “Kill him. He’s of no consequence.”

Looking to the door Shuri’s breathing grew erratic, “Wha-what?” She breathed out.

T’Shan stepped more into the lab, his arms folded behind his back, strangely calm as he came upon the scene, “Hello, Princess.”

“Wha-what? Why?” Shuri stuttered out, “What’s going on T’Shan!”

A soft smile on his face, T’Shan answered, “I’m sorry Shuri. I truly, truly am. But I’m gonna need you to leave with us.”

“Us?” She asked, “Them?!”

“Yes, them.” T’Shan answered calmly, “The easier you make it, the less likely they’ll be forced to hurt you. They’ve been ordered to bring you in alive, and for the most part unharmed. But, I can’t promise they won’t ignore the unharmed part if you make their job harder than it should.”

“What are you doing with them?!” Shuri screamed out.

“Well, they wouldn’t have been able to get into the city undetected, or been armed with vibranium tipped bullets, or even gotten a chance at you to begin with, without me, hmm?” Walking up to M’Baba, who was silently bleeding out next to them, he kneeled down as he said, “I’m sorry my friend, out of everyone here, I’d hoped you would’ve been spared.”

M’Baba could only grunt out, “You…can’t.”

T’Shan slowly sighed, “I already have.” Getting up he looked to the man that was holding Shuri, “I suggest you leave, the prince will be here any moment once he realizes she isn’t in her room.”

The man nodded, dragging the now screaming Shuri away into the hole they had created. As they left, the remaining man looked to T’Shan, “I thought you said you had the Black Panther taken care of?”

Smiling, T’Shan answered, “I’ll take care of T’Challa, don’t worry about that.”

The man nodded, “Good, we only brought enough of the vibranium bullets for a few of us.”

“Well, with all these people storming the building, I’m sure we’ll hear the screams of the ones who don’t have the vibranium bullets not long from now. I’ve heard he’s quite the vicious fighter.”

“Shuri!” T’Challa called out as he stormed out of his room, panicked as he headed for his sister’s room. Fastening his helmet on, he kicked down the door, only to find the room empty, “Shuri?” He called out as he looked around frantically, “Shuri!”

His search was cut short by a trio of men barging into the room themselves. T’Challa eyed them for only a second, taking in their appearance, the three clearly heavily armed militants storming the building. It was after that second of thought that he withdrew his claws with a vibrating thwring.

That sound caused the trio of soldiers to try and raise their guns and open fire. They weren’t able to however, as T’Challa had closed in on them before they could get their guns up. Slicing through the first person’s gun he kicked the next in the chest hard enough to almost put in him the wall, leaving a thick dent behind him. Swiveling around, he backhanded the third man in the face, knocking him to the ground, his neck giving out a resounding crack from the force of the hit. Turning to the now disarmed militant, T’Challa grabbed him by the neck, lifting him up off the ground, the man kicking his feet frantically as he gasped for air.

“Who are you!?” T’Challa growled out, “What are you doing here?”

The man gasped out, choking for air as he continued to kick around.

Sighing, the prince loosened his grip enough to allow the man to speak, “Speak fool.” T’Challa growled out.

Coughing for a moment, the man wheezed out, “We’re here…for…the princess-”

T’Challa didn’t bother waiting for him to finish, slamming him into the door next to them, sending the man through with the duel sounds of a thundering crack and sick snap. Walking through the now open doorway, the prince looked to his right at the sound of stumping feet. Rounding the corner, a quartet of men came to a halt at the sight of the Black Panther. The four of them quickly opened fire on the armored man, bringing upon him a barrage of gunfire.

T’Challa simply stood there, allowing the bullets to bounce and ricochet off of his armor. He resisted the urge to tap his foot in impatience as he waited for the soldiers to run out of bullets. Finally, the clicking sound of their empty guns came around, and not soon after T’Challa charged forward as they attempted to reload. With his advanced speed, he was on them faster than they expected. Driving his fist into the stomach of the first one he came across, the man was now barreled over his fist gasping for breath. Back handing him off his hand, he then stomp kicked the second in the chest. As he lowered his leg, the third soldier rushed him, a knife held in a reverse grip. Deflecting the knife with his forearm, he grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt, lifting him off the ground and shoving his head into the ceiling light fixture before dropping his limp body to the ground. Turning to the final soldier, we sighed as he watched the man begin to step back in fear.

Looking him up and down, he saw that he was a young man, his late teens at most. At this, T’Challa shook his head as he turned his attention away from the soldier, giving a limp shooing motion with his hand as he began to head for the stairs.

The soldier didn’t need to be told twice, fleeing from the Black Panther, counting his lucky stars as he did.

T’Challa was quick to rush down the stair case, running from floor to floor until he reached the bottom. Throwing open the door, he entered the main laboratory, “Shuri!” He called out, looking around the room.

It didn’t take long for him to see the large hole in the wall, along with the body lying on the ground not long after.

“M’Baba!” T’Challa yelled, sprinting to the downed man. Sliding down next to him and cradling his head, he asked as calmly as he could, “M’Baba, M’Baba what happened?”

M’Baba grunted, sweat trickling down his face as he looked up to his prince, “T-T’Challa?”

“Yes, it’s me, M’Baba.” Looking over the man, he put on a brave face as he ignored the gaping bullet wound in the man’s chest, “What happened here?”

“Sh-Shuri…” M’Baba gasped out.

T’Challa felt his heart drop, “What about Shuri, where is she?”

“They took…they took her.”

The prince tried to keep calm as he pressed his hand against M’Baba’s wound, instigating a grunt in pain from the man. Holding the pressure as blood seeped around his hands, T’Challa asked, “Who? Who took her?”

M’Baba choked on his next word, his body shifting upward, “T’Shan-”

“T’Shan?” T’Challa asked in shock, “T’Shan took her?”

“N-no.” M’Baba choked out, “T’Shan…behind you.”

T’Challa blinked in confusion before looking over his shoulder to see T’Shan standing in the entrance way, a calm smile on his face.

Slowly so as not to disturb M’Baba, T’Challa stood up, flexing his claws as he asked, “Where is she?”

“No why?” T’Shan asked, “Usually in a moment like this the hero demands the villain explain himself.” He surmised.

“There’s no need for you to explain yourself.” T’Challa said, just as calmly, “You took my sister. I don’t care why. I don’t care about anything but seeing your corpse at my feet after I pummel my sister’s location out of your traitorous mouth.”

T’Shan shrugged, “That’s fine. I can tell you later.”

T’Challa blinked, “Later? What are you going on abou-AUHHGH!” The Black Panther screamed in agony as a sharp volt of electricity ran through his entire body, purple lightning running across his armor, smoke billowing off his form.

As pain racked his body, T’Challa fought against dropping to his knees with all of his possible will power, refusing to kneel before his traitorous cousin. However, even his iron clad will couldn’t stand up to the next wave that hit him, the force of his agony dropping him flat on the ground. Lying there, he blinked away the haze that had formed along his vision to see that he was lying face to face with M’Baba.

While his breathing was shallow, M’Baba was still alive, though the pool of blood wrapped around his body was a good indicator that he’d bleed out at any moment. As T’Challa twitched and spasmed, the sound of someone walking up next to him caused him to look through his peripheral to see T’Shan was standing over him and M’Baba, a handgun in his hand.

Pulling back the hammer, T’Shan muttered, “Sorry old friend, let me put you out of your misery.”

T’Challa growled in pain and rage, grunting out a hoarse, “NO-”

BANG!

Flinching from the sound of the gun going off and the blood that splattered his face, T’Challa sputtered, “N-no…no.”

“I’m sorry T’Challa. I really didn’t want him to die.” T’Shan said, kneeling down next to his cousin, a shocking amount of sincerity in his voice, “I didn’t want any of this to happen. I had hoped you’d have been kept out of this, cousin. I had also hoped there would be less security in the city. But, circ.u.mstance has made what needs to be done necessary.”

“N-needs to be do-done?” T’Challa sputtered out.

“We need an escape.” T’Shan explained, “And there isn’t enough manpower to hunt us and manage damage control.” Pulling out his Kimoyo Beads, a quick tap on the center left bead sent another jolt of electricity through T’Challa’s body, this one worse than the other two combined.

The pain was so great that T’Challa couldn’t even scream in pain, only thrash and squirm in anguish until consciousness left him.

-x-

Naruto scoffed as he looked down at his jacket, the fabric littered with bullet holes, “I gotta get with Tony about getting me a uniform or something. Buying new clothes so often has really gotten old fast.”

Looking around the lobby he’d walked into, he sighed down at the man at his feet, the barely conscious man trying to crawl away, his left leg and arm clearly broken. Calmly, he took a heavy step on the soldier’s crooked kneecap, causing him to cry out in pure anguish. Walking over and passed him, he made sure to also step over the cl.u.s.ter of soldiers that had crossed his path, all of them down from various injuries.

Leaving the lobby and entering a random hallway, he raised an eyebrow at the dozen armed men loitering the hall.

“Oh, well hello.” He greeted with a lazy wave, noticing the group of men and women lined up against the wall, the lot of them being prepared for what looked like a mass execution.

“Don’t move and surrender now!” Ordered the closest men, pointing his assault rifle at the lackadaisical blonde.

Naruto blinked, tilting his head in confusion, “Why?”

The soldiers and hostages blinked. The soldier that spoke before asked, “What?”

The blonde shrugged, “Why should I?”

“Be-because.” The soldier reasoned, clearly confused, “We’ll kill you if you don’t. Obviously.”

“Oohhh.” Naruto drawled out, “Well if that’s the case.” Raising up his hand, he quickly activated his Magnet Release.

Every single person in the room, other than the blonde, gawked as all the guns in the soldiers’ hands began to move on their own, shifting over from either the blonde or the hostages to one of the many soldiers in the room. Some, clearly smarter than the others, let go of their guns in an attempt to drop them. However, the guns remained upright, hovering in midair.

“What the fu-”

BANG!

The head soldier was cut off by the thunderous applause of a dozen guns going off, dropping their owners like a morbid set of dominoes.

Naruto looked to the now shell-shocked group of hostages. Smiling softly, he said, “Go, get out of here before more show up.” Quickly creating a set of clones, he continued, “They’ll lead you to safety and keep you safe.”

He didn’t bother waiting for them to leave, instead continuing his trek through the building. Creating another set of clones, they quickly departed in search of any others in need of saving. Walking through a set of large double doors, he saw that he entered some kind a large laboratory. Stepping over a large clump of debris, he raised an eyebrow at the large hole in the hall heading outside and a random body lying in a pool of blood.

But before he could investigate further, the sound of a large explosion boomed through the city, a large flash of fire spiking up over the buildings on the horizon. The explosion was followed by three more, all them happening in what Naruto recognized as key areas in the city. It was the last though that froze the blonde. As the sounds of people screaming filled the air, sweat began to build along his forehead as the memories of all his clones around Illyana came in, showing that she had been in the area of that last explosion.

“No. No, no, no, no, no, no!” Naruto yelled to himself.

“Naruto, calm down! I’m sure she’s fine-”

But Naruto ignored his partner, growing more frantic by the second as he sprinted through the hole in the wall, “Not again. Not again! I can’t lose another one, I won’t lose another one!” He said to himself, jumping to the rooftops as he sped towards the hotel he and Illyana were staying.

-x-

Moments Earlier

-x-

Illyana bolted up at the sound of gunfire entering her hotel room. Jumping out of bed, she pushed away the curtains covering the window to see the flickering flashes of gunfire in the streets below.

“Shit.” She cursed aloud. Quickly throwing on her clothes and a pair of shoes, she opened a portal that led outside the hotel as she summoned an Eldritch Tao Mandala in her right hand. Jumping through, she looked around as chaos reigned around her. People screaming, running frantically as they tried to avoid the attackers storming the city. Trying to pick the attackers out of the crowd, she spotted two opening fire into a crowd of fleeing people.

Following their line of sight, she quickly opened a large portal a few feet in front of them, a second portal opening up in a random direction pointed upward. As they continued to shoot into the crowd, the bullets were cut off by the first portal, exiting the second in an upward direction.

The confused soldiers weren’t able to think too long on what happened, as a third portal opened at their feet, causing them to fall into it with startled yelps, the portal then closing up after them.

As she looked for more soldiers, the sound of a car’s horn blaring was heard, coming her way. Looking over, she gasps as a white van came barreling towards her, hitting anyone in the crowd that crossed its path.

Acting quickly, she summoned a portal just in front of the incoming van, the front of the vehicle beginning to fall into it, only for Illyana to cut it off, severing the hood of the car that was outside of the portal, the van coming to skidding stop.

Slowly, she went for the car, her mandala powered up acting as a shield just in case. It was as she got closer that she heard a faint beeping noise coming from the inside of the car. It was then that she noticed the man sitting in the driver’s seat. The man’s eyes were closed, seemingly asleep. Opening his eyes, he didn’t react to her, only looking back to what was in front of him, closing his eyes as he took a smooth calming breath.

Throwing open the van’s side door, she gasped at the large bomb sitting inside, a large timer ticking down with only four seconds remaining.

As she back away from the van, the man opened his eyes, looking up at the star-crossed night sky one last time-

BOOOM!

-x-

Naruto dropped down to the crater that had once been a bustling city street, diving into the billowing wall of smoke as he landed in a crouch, crying out as he did, “Illyana! ILLYANA!”

Summoning up a gust of wind, he dispersed the smoke to reveal the destroyed block. The buildings caught in the area had collapsed in on themselves, the streets caved and cracked apart, and people blown away. Wandering through the newly cleared street, he looked for his blonde friend, ignoring his clones as they helped the wounded and looked for trapped survivors.

It was his frantic search that helped him ignore the horror before him, though at the same time it was this chaos that made his search all the more desperate. From the dead bodies lying in pieces on the street, to the screams of those trapped in the rubble, to the crying people as they held their wounded loved ones.

Stumbling passed a man that clutched his fresh stump, looking around for his blown limb, he called out again, “Illyana! Where are you?!”

“Naruto! Naruto, I know you’re worried, but you’ve got to calm down!” Kurama screamed in his head.

But Naruto ignored him walking quickly as he shouted at the top of his lungs, “ILLYANA!”

That scream seemed to stop all other noise around him, though for only a moment. That moment was all Naruto needed to hear a muffled voice calling out from a few buildings over. Rushing forward, he ran towards the source of the voice, a building with one of its walls having collapsed from the blast. Climbing the pile of rubble that had once been a wall, he reached the top to see Illyana kneeling down next to someone, her hands pressing up against his stomach, clearly trying to stop the blood that was streaming out.

“Naruto!” She called out, “Naruto, help me. Help me, please!”

Rushing down, he kneeled down next to her, eyeing her up and down looking for injuries, “Ar-are you alright?” He asked, slowly calming down from his panic.

“I’m fine, I’m fine-”

“I thought you were dead.” Naruto breathed out, clearly relieved, “I thought I’d let you die just like everyone els-”

“Naruto, please!” She interrupted, “Please, I think he’s going to bleed out!”

Blinking, he looked down at the boy lying next to him. Taking him in, he saw what looked like a piece of shrapnel lodged in his abdomen, blood caking his shirt and pooling onto the ground beneath him. Acting quickly, he activated his Six Paths Chakra, covering his left arm in a yellow flame. Pressing his hand on top of the boy’s abdomen, right next to the wound, he channeled his special chakra into him. Barely a second later, the boy grunted in clear discomfort as the shrapnel popped out, the wound closing up barely a couple seconds after.

“There, he should be fine now.” Naruto muttered, watching as the kid blacked out.

As Naruto took care of the boy, Illyana backed away, wringing her hands as she said, “What’s going on, Naruto?”

The blonde sighed, “It looks like someone’s attacking the city. I knew something was going to happen, but I had no clue it’d be like this. These explosions were a clear distraction though, I’m pretty sure they were aiming for someone in the royal family-” It was as he was talking that he noticed that Illyana’s hands were shaking violently.

“Wh-why? Why would anyone do this?” She muttered, tears rolling down her cheeks, “All these innocent people killed, for what?”

Naruto placed a hand on the girl’s arm, “I’m sorry.” He said, frowning deeply.

“What?” She asked, both confused and surprised.

“If I’d have known this would escalate like it has, I’d have sent you home a long time ago. You weren’t ready for this, I made you run before you learned to crawl.”

Illyana looked at him disbelievingly, wiping her tears away, “You’re sending me home?” She asked.

“Yes-”

“No!” She said firmly, shocking the ninja, “No, no I’m not just going to leave. I want my chunk of flesh off these bastards just as much as you do! This, you and me, is a team! I’m not going to let you duck and run. I just…I just need a second.”

Naruto stuttered for a moment, “I…I just.” Swallowing the lump in his throat he said, “I just don’t want to lose anyone else. I can’t fail like that again.”

Illyana stood up, her face firm, “You told me you can’t do what you need to do by yourself. You asked for my help. Well you don’t get to take it back. We’re in this together. We’re a team. You have my back, and I have yours. We won’t let each other die.” Forming a portal, she held her hand out for him, the woman no longer shaking uncontrollably, “Now, let’s go.”

Naruto hesitated for only a second before smirking, “A team huh?” Grabbing her hand, he got up, “Alright then, after you.”

The woman smiled back before jumping through the portal, quickly followed by her teammate.

-x-

Shuri blinked away the flashing dots that swarmed her vision as the wool bag was pulled off her head. Her eyes finally focusing, she glared up at the group of men gathered around her. It was the one in the center of the five that had her attention though. Or, more specifically, his gruelingly wide smile.

“Whe-where am I?” Shuri choked out, “Do you…have any idea of who I am?” She demanded, trying her best to sound brave.

The man with a demented smile stepped forward, “Of course we know who you are, Princess Shuri of Wakanda. You being who you are is the entire reason you’re here after all.”

“Well who are you then?” Shuri demanded, “Where am I?!”

With a nod of his head, the man motioned for everyone else to leave the tent, all four of them wordlessly filing out. The two now alone, the man kneeled down in front of Shuri, his voice soft as he said, “You’re a few dozen miles outside Wakanda’s border, in a camp with over five thousand soldiers ready to fight.”

“My father and brother will raise this camp to the ground.” Shuri warned, “But, that doesn’t have to happen. You can save all five thousand of those men, and yourself. All you have to do is let me go.”

The man smirked, “T’Shan was right, you are intelligent. For a girl so young to try able bargain for her life the way you are, you truly are his daughter.” Sighing, the man continued, “Your father won’t risk exposure sending a military force outside of Wakanda, which is what he’ll need considering my men are armed with vibranium tipped artillery. The fight for you will cause a stir and Wakanda will be revealed for what they are. And sure, your brother could probably sneak into the camp and extract you with his skills and suit. But, I’m sad to inform you that your brother has become a nonissue.”

“Nonissue?” Shuri asked, a sinking feeling over coming her.

“Don’t worry princess, your brother is alive. He is, however, in my custody.” The man placated, patting the girl on the head as a relieved look crossed her face.

“Who are you?” Shuri asked.

“My name is Achebe. I am the second in command of the militia here.” Achebe answered.

“I want to speak to the one in charge.” Shuri demanded, trying to throw as much of her royal weight into her tone as possible.

Achebe chuckled, “You really are so much like your father. And, Daki is resting for the night. Maybe tomorrow before you leave.”

“Like…like my father?” Shuri asked, “How do you know my father?”

Somehow, Achebe’s smile grew a little wider, “Yes, yes I know your father.”

“You’re Wakandan?”

“No, I’m Ghudazan, born and raised.”

“Then how? How do you know my father, or know about Wakanda? No one knows about Wakanda.” Shuri argued, clearly confused by the man in front of her.

“You’d be surprised how many people know about your country’s secret. The difference between myself and them however, is that I’m not satisfied with this status quo this world has found itself in.” Achebe explained.

“So that’s what this is all about?” Shuri demanded, flabbergasted by the revelation, “You kidnapped me and my brother to reveal Wakandan secrets? How cliché is that! You’re no better than a James Bond villain!”

Achebe chuckled, “Do not presume to know me, princess.”

“I already know all I need to know just from talking to you! Do you have any idea what will happen if it is revealed what we are? The world will change, for better and worse! But no, of course you don’t know, or care-” Shuri was cut off by a wicked slap streaking her face, stunning her on the spot.

Grabbing her by the face, Achebe pulled so she was face to face with him, growling in a low timbre, “That’s exactly what we want. Once the world knows what Wakanda is, your empire will be forced to make a decision. Survive or fall. Either way, no one will come out of it the same. The status quo will be gone, eradicated. Your father’s greatest fears will be realized.”

“My baba doesn’t fear anything.” Shuri forced out in a muffled voice.

“If you really think that, then your baba isn’t the man you think he is.” Achebe shot back, roughly releasing her face from his grasp, “Your brother will be here in a few hours. We’re holding him in a compound at the border so we can acquire his suit. If you behave, he can keep you company. If not, we can always go with the alternative route.”

-x-

T’Challa groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. Out of instinct, the prince tried to wipe the sweat that had begun to build along his face, only to find his hands were bound to the arms of the chair he was sitting in. Giving the bindings a few good tugs, he noticed they didn’t budge, even with his enhanced strength. It was as he tugged and pulled at the bindings holding his arms that he noticed he was completely n.a.k.e.d. Looking around, he saw that the room was rather bare, the only thing other than him and the chair being the swinging light bulb that barely lit the room in a yellow haze.

Jumping at attention as the door in front of him swung open slowly, T’Challa watched as three men walked into the room. Two pushed in a large rack, each shelf loitered with bits and pieces of his Black Panther armor.

“Where am I?” Asked T’Challa.

A familiar voice answered the captured prince, “You’re in a compound just outside the border. We had to take off your armor after all. I think I might have done too good of a job designing its dead-man switch though, it was quite the pain to get around.” As he answered, T’Shan examined the helmet piece with care.

“What did you do to me, back at the lab?” T’Challa asked, doing his best to keep his stoic façade as another man walked in with a cart full of various instruments, all of them of the painful variety.

“Oh that?” T’Shan asked before answering nonchalantly, “Back when I designed this suit, I placed a few fail safes inside. A few were for you, such as the dead-man’s switch. Others were for me. Like neural destabilizers set up throughout the entire suit, or a switch that could blow you to kingdom come whenever I wanted too.”

“How? When?” T’Challa asked in disbelief.

T’Shan shrugged, “You’d be surprised by the amount of things the lead researcher can get away with unsupervised. Tampering with the Black Panther armor, creating vibranium tipped bullets, explosives that could be snuck into and set off in any Wakandan city, or creating a glitch in the system that let an army of men sneak into Obodo Agha undetected. It’s especially easy when you put all the attention on a certain genius we all know and love.” Smiling, T’Shan handed the helmet to one of the other men in the room, “See, I told you I’d explain everything. You know, you try and avoid being a cliché, but where’s the fun in that, huh?”

“You’re obviously very pleased with yourself.” T’Challa observed, “Now I assume you’re going to give me your whole backstory?”

“What’s there to tell that can’t be guessed already?” T’Shan asked as he scratched his chin, “Wakanda needs to share what we have with the world. Sure, it may get messy for a while, but I know in my heart that Wakanda will be the catalyst for the next great age in history. Sure, the man I’ve allied myself with is a raving lunatic who’d munch on a bag of popcorn as he watched the world burn, but he’s a means to an end.”

“You’re going to destroy our country; don’t you understand that? Or do you just not care-”

T’Shan broke is calm façade as he slammed his fist into T’Challa’s temple, “No one loves their country more than me. Everything I do is for Wakanda. We’ve been stagnant for nearly a hundred years, and it won’t be long before the rest of the world catches up. Then what? What excuse can we use to hide from the world’s problems? How long before our sense of superiority bites us in the ass? We need change.”

“And what happens when the world turns against us?” T’Challa argued back, “What happens when the world doesn’t change for the better? You have no idea what can happen, the consequences of it all. You’re bargaining on millions of lives. Can you really shoulder that? Knowing that you’re the reason for that loss of life?”

“I can knowing there’s a chance I am responsible for putting the world on track.” T’Shan answered, “Wakanda will be remembered as Troy is remembered, myself a legend in the vain of Aeneas.”

T’Challa shook his head in exasperation, “You’d let the Wakanda burn if it meant you might be its savior?”

“I’d let the world burn.” T’Shan corrected calmly. Running his hand through his hair, he said, “Our debates have always amused me cousin, so I’m saddened to say that this will more than likely be our last. Achebe has already sent out his demands. By the end of it all, Wakanda will be pulled from the shadows and into the light.” Walking out of the room, he said to the man holding the Black Panther helmet, “Take special care of that armor boys, if you try and play with it you might not like the result.”

Slamming the door behind him and locking it with a clear click, T’Challa was left alone with the four men. Looking back and forth between the four of them, his eyes landed on the one holding his helmet. The man was rather large, definitely over six feet tall, with a muscular build that wasn’t very well hidden thanks to the fact the only thing covering his torso was a simple military vest. Brushing a part of his thick cascading dreads out of his face, the man said, “I’ve got this guys.”

One of the men asked, “You sure?”

He chuckled nonchalantly, “Yeah, I can handle him while you guys get a drink or two, don’t worry.”

The three chuckled as they made for the door, “You’re the best Ode, we owe you one once we get to base camp. If you want out just knock twice, the guard outside will let you out.” Said the last one to leave the room, closing the door after him much like T’Shan had, locking the door after them.

His eyes on the door, waiting to make sure the two of them were truly alone, Ode turned to T’Challa, his face scrunched up in thought, “So, you’re the Black Panther?”

T’Challa kept quiet, looking up calmly at the towering man.

“Hmph.” Ode grunted out, “Strong silent type, huh?” Grabbing T’Challa by the top of his head, Ode drew his arm back before delivering a mighty punch into the prince’s face. Repeating the process a few more times, Ode threw one more, knocking T’Challa over in his chair. Wiping the blood off his knuckles, Ode said, “I’d only just heard rumors, stuff I heard through the gr.a.p.e vine. They say the Black Panther is a great warrior, that only the best of the best of the best could hold the title. And, I couldn’t help but wonder how I’d stack up, if I could be worthy of the title.”

T’Challa spat out a glob of blood, “If you let me out of these bindings, maybe we can see-”

“Don’t bother trying.” Ode interrupted, “I’m not going to let you out, so don’t bother.” Walking back over to the helmet, Ode gave a once over again, seemingly talking to himself now, “This really is a thing of beauty. If only I’d been born in Wakanda, the things I could’ve accomplished there.”

The prince looked up, eyeing the helmet as he said, “Just so you know, you don’t win the mantle of Black Panther through trial by combat.” He informed.

Ode looked at the prince, an eyebrow raised out of curiosity, “Really? How then?”

Grunting as he shifted his position to get a better look at Ode, he answered, “It was more of a spiritual test, to see if you were truly worthy of being the Black Panther.”

“What kind of test?” Ode asked, “Was it difficult?”

“More difficult than you can possibly imagine.” T’Challa answered, “And you’re holding the test in your hands.”

“My hands?” The militiaman asked, “You mean the mask?”

T’Challa nodded, “Yes. Every Black Panther helmet is blessed by Bast. If you put it on and live, you’ve been chosen as her avatar, a carrier of her will. But if you fail…”

“You die.” Ode concluded, looking down at the helmet with slight skepticism, “If I live, I get all of the powers of legend too, right?”

“Correct. The statistic that you’re actually worthy is about one in a billion.”

“One in a billion huh.” Ode muttered to himself. His face now determined, he lifted the mask over his head.

T’Challa looked up in shock, “Hey, wait a minute. Seriously, don’t put on that helmet.”

Ode didn’t listen, slowly sliding the mask over his head. The metallic helmet stretched around his head surprisingly well, fitting perfectly in place. His voice muffled, Ode began to say, “Well, I’m not dead. But…I don’t feel any differe-” The man was cut off by sound of a sharp beeping noise coming from the mask, the white eyes pieces flashing red. Not long after, a violent zapping noise came soon after, smoke coming off the helmet. And then, with a sickening thud, Ode dropped to the ground lifelessly.

T’Challa lied there for a few seconds, making sure the man was down for good before he shifted himself so that he was standing, though he was hunched over thanks to still being strapped to the chair. Giving several deep breaths in preparation, he began to slam himself into the wall as hard as he could. Over and over he did this, driving himself and the chair into the concrete wall. After a minute of this, a cracking noise began to come from the chair. Stopping, he gave a mighty roar as he broke it the rest of the way with brute strength.

Catching his breath, T’Challa shimmied the bindings off. Walking over and then kneeling down next to Ode’s corpse, the prince whispered, “I guess you weren’t worthy.” Taking off the mask looked down at the now lifeless face below him.

As he looked at his armor, he jumped at the sound of gunfire ringing through the base. Looking back down at Ode, he frowned as he easily came to the conclusion that the man’s clothes wouldn’t fit him. Getting up, he walked over to the door, pressing his body flat against the wall next to it as he gave two heavy knocks. A couple seconds ticked by before the clicking of the door being unlocked was heard, not long before it swung open slowly.

“Ode? Ode come on and hurry up there’s someone attacking the base, we gotta go!” Called out the guard, peaking his head through the crack in the doorway.

His only response was a swift jab in the jaw, curtesy of T’Challa, dropping him with a single punch. Pulling him into the room, the prince smirked at seeing that the guard was close to his size. Stripping him of his clothes, T’Challa quickly got dressed, grabbing the guard’s hunting knife while he was at it.

Exiting the room, T’Challa raised an eyebrow as a duo of very similar looking blonde men beating into several militiamen, “Uzumaki?” He asked aloud.

The two clones looked up at the same time, simultaneously asking, “Who’s asking?” Only to blink when they realized who had said their name. Straightening up quickly, they animatedly pointed at the man, “Prince!”

Popping in duel puffs of smoke, the prince found himself alone. Shrugging, he darted down the hall, joining in on the chaos

Naruto smirked as several sets of memories came flooding in, “Found him.” He stated, ducking as a man took a swing at him with a knife, “Second floor, he’s heading our way.” Jabbing upwards at the extended arm, he punched into the man’s tricep, forcing him to let go of the knife. Catching it midair, Naruto swung it into the man’s side. Ignoring him as he screamed in pain, the blonde pulled out the knife before throwing it at another man nearby, the knife embedding itself in the back of his head.

Illyana nodded, using her mandala to block a wave of bullets before summoning an Eldritch Whip, snapping the fiery whip around the shooter’s throat before pulling him down with all her might, slamming his head into the concrete floor, knocking him out, “So, what’s the plan?”

The blonde shrugged, “To be honest, I’ve been improvising ever since these guys attacked the city. I think I’ve got this under control though.”

Looking around as a dozen other Naruto’s ran around the building, taking down anyone that crossed their paths, she asked, “You call this under control?” Summoning an Eldritch Sword, she parried against another militiaman’s machete. Swiping the man’s blade away, she quickly dug her sword into his foot before slamming her mandala into his face, knocking him off his feet.

“Well…yeah?” Naruto answered weakly. Looking around the room, the ninja saw that every one of the militiamen had been killed or knocked out. Deciding he and Illyana could handle the rest, he expelled his clones, ignoring the headache that came afterwards as he said, “Come on, let’s go find the prince before he runs off.”

Wiping the sweat off her brow as she caught her breath, Illyana nodded as she breathed out, “Yeah, let’s move.”

Naruto raised an eyebrow at the woman, “Are you sure you can keep going? There’s nothing wrong with taking a breather, I can handle the prince.”

“No.” Magik said firmly, “I told you, I can handle it.”

“Alright.” The blonde conceded, “But if it looks like your falling behind, I’m having a clone take you home.” Seeing she was about to argue he finished, “No exceptions.” He said firmly, his eyes firm as he stared her down.

It was Illyana’s turn to concede, “Fine.”

“Alright, follow me. This is a big compound, so stay close.”

-x-

T’Challa quickly realized that the compound he’d been taken too was impressively large. Room after room hallway after hallway, the prince could admit to himself to being lost. It didn’t help that he seemed to run into either a group of random militiamen, or a group of random Narutos every thirty seconds. Either way, he was quick to dispatch them with the knife he had borrowed, along with a few guns that were conveniently left behind by them. Sadly, none of them could or would tell him where T’Shan was. And anytime a clone came across him they’d pop in a puff of smoke.

Turning a corner, he ducked as bullets came flying overhead. Back-peddling for some cover, he inched his head just enough to see a soldier crouched in waiting by a set of stairs. Sighing at the inconvenience of not having armor, he began taking pot shots with his pistol, hoping to maybe get a lucky hit in. His gun clicking empty, he grunted in annoyance before throwing it away. Deciding he had no other choice, he decided to make a break for it, sprinting from his spot down the hall towards the shooter. As he began to duck away from where the man was aiming, he heard the distinct sound of a gun clicking empty. Smirking, he sprinted full speed, catching the shooter off balance as he tried to reload. Barreling into him with his shoulder, the man was sent flying down the set of stairs, tumbling down one step after another.

Climbing down after him, T’Challa kneeled down next to his practically broken form, “Where’s T’Shan?” He demanded.

“Go-gone…” He stuttered out, his breathing ragged and broken.

“Gone where?”

“P-pla…” The man began, blood seeping out his mouth, “…Plane.”

Nodding, T’Challa silently drove his knife into the man’s throat, ending his misery with a soft gurgle.

Wiping the blood off the blade, the prince almost didn’t hear the sound of an engine running outside. Looking outside the window within the stairway, he scowled as he saw T’Shan and two others running towards a light propeller-driven airplane. Growling, he grabbed the dead man’s assault rifle. Finishing what he had started as he reloaded the clip, T’Challa opened fire on the window, blowing out the glass in a flurry of bullets. Tossing the gun away, the prince took a few steps back before sprinting towards the window, jumping through it as he tucked his body inward.

Quickly reaching the field below, he rolled with his landing, stopping in a crouch as he yelled with all his might, “TRAITOR!”

-x-

As Naruto and Illyana began up the stair way, they came to a halt as the window several feet in front of them was shot out by a wave of gunfire. Not long after, the man they were looking for jumped through it. A few seconds of silence followed before they both heard him dramatically yell the word traitor.

Slowly, he and Illyana looked at each other, “That was him…wasn’t it?” She asked.

“Yup.” He said with a sigh.

“Should we go after him?”

“Probably.”

Opening a portal, she said, “Well, you first.”

Smirking he jumped through before landing on the other side, blasting off after the sprinting T’Challa who was now right on top of the three men.

T’Challa growled as he maneuvered to the side as the two men next to T’Shan opened fire. Grabbing the second pistol he’d barrowed, he began to fire back, hitting the second man in the knee, dropping him to the ground.

Sliding behind a tree, he took a breather as the remaining man fired after him. As he was about to jump out from behind cover, he blinked as a blur shot passed him. Not soon after, the gun fire came to a stop. Looking passed the tree, he saw that Naruto had rammed his fist through the man’s torso, his hand covered by what looked like lightning.

Getting over his shock at the sight, he quickly got up when he saw Naruto turned his attention to T’Shan, “No!” He called out.

Naruto stopped, his eyebrow raised as he looked at the prince from across the field, “What?”

T’Challa began to run forward, “He’s mine!” He called out.

T’Shan scoffed, pulling out a handgun as he took aim for T’Challa, the man growing closer and closer, “Don’t think I don’t have the stomach to kill you while you’re handicapped like this cousin. You can’t brush off a bullet without my armor.”

BANG!

Even as the bullet shot through his shoulder, T’Challa’s momentum didn’t stop. If anything, he pushed himself harder in his charge towards T’Shan. Said man scowled as his cousin didn’t stop, seemingly brushing off the bullet like it was nothing.

BANG!

BANG!

This time he aimed a little lower, hitting T’Challa in his left side and thigh. This time, he staggered for a moment. But even then, he maintained motion. Pushing passed his pain, the prince limped forward as fast as he possibly could.

T’Shan grunted in fury, “Why won’t you stop?! I’ll kill you cousin, don’t think I won’t!”

BANG!

The bullet ricocheted off the ground barely an inch from T’Challa’s feet, the prince having picked up the pace once again, now just four feet away from T’Shan. A metallic clicking coming from the now shaking gun, the man hesitated as his sights landed on his cousin’s head. That hesitation proved fatal, as T’Challa grabbed the gun, pulling it out of T’Shan’s hands before throwing a punch into his face.

Sent flying to the ground, he was barely able to blink the haze away before he felt a weight drop on his torso followed by a pair of hands wrapping around his neck. Gagging as he felt his airway practically collapse, he blinked the tears away as he looked up T’Challa’s face, his face scrunched up in a purple rage.

His air cut off completely, black splotches began form around the corners of his eyes, encroaching on his vision more and more as he began to struggle for life, kicking his legs and flailing his arms desperately.

T’Challa ignored the violent reaction, all his attention on watching the life leave T’Shan’s eyes.

Naruto watched, eyes solemn, as T’Shan slowly grew still, his soft choking growing quieter and quieter. And then, finally, he grew still. Walking up to T’Challa, he rested a hand on his shoulder, “It’s over. He’s gone.”

T’Challa blinked, his face relaxing as he released his grasp on T’Shan’s neck. Catching his ragged breath, he brushed off Naruto’s hand, getting up as he said, “What’re you doing here?”

“I came for you.” Naruto answered.

T’Challa didn’t take his eyes off his cousin, his mind clearly a million miles away.

The blonde was about to talk again when he heard the faint sound of someone shifting on the grass behind next to them. Looking to his right, he saw that the man T’Challa had kneecapped earlier was getting up behind T’Challa, his gun pointed at the unsuspecting prince.

Out of pure instinct, Naruto jumped in front of T’Challa, knowing his Sage Mode would help him block the bullet from hitting either him or the Wakandan. Time slowed to a crawl as he moved in front of T’Challa just when the gun was fired, making it a race between Naruto and the speeding bullet. Of course, Naruto won hands down.

BANG!

T’Challa jumped into action at the sound of the gun, turning around to see Naruto standing in between him and the man that he had thought was incapacitated. As he was about to pounce on the man, a silver portal opened up behind the man, a hand emerging with a fiery sword in hand. The man grunted as the blade was shoved through his torso like a hot knife through butter, dropping his gun before going slack. The sword and hand disappearing back into the portal, the portal followed soon after, allowing the man to drop lifelessly.

“Naruto!” Called out Illyana, her Eldritch Sword dispersing before she ran towards the ninja.

The Black Panther’s attention went from the Illyana back to Naruto, his eyes widening as the man began to stumble. Catching him as he fell, he was quick to put pressure on the bullet wound located on the right side of his chest.

Another portal forming next to him, he watched in wonder as Illyana jumped out, kneeling next to him and Naruto as she asked, “How did the bullet hurt him like that? They’ve always just bounced off him like nothing every other time!”

T’Challa turned his attention back on the wounded blonde, blood soaking his shirt clean through, “These soldiers us bullets tipped with vibranium. I doubt whatever your friend uses to stop normal bullets wouldn’t be enough to stop one of those.” Turning him over, he saw that the bullet hadn’t gone clean through, “Still, whatever it is must be incredibly tough to stop it halfway through, I doubt even my suit could manage that.”

Illyana watched as the blonde grew increasingly pale, his breathing kicking up several degrees, “What’s happening to him?!”

“He’s going into shock.” T’Challa said calmly, “The man lying next to us, grab the beaded bracelet on his wrist. Hurry.” He ordered, motioning with his head to T’Shan.

“What?” Illyana asked weakly.

“The beads. Now!” T’Challa ordered, keeping his attention on Naruto.

Illyana nodded quickly, grabbing the beads off the corpse as fast as she could before making her way back to the prince and blonde. T’Challa took the bracelet, detaching one of the beads before gently pressing it up against the wound.

“What are you doing?” Illyana asked, watching as Naruto began to calm down, having passed out as she was getting the beads.

“Stabilizing the wound.” T’Challa muttered. Looking to the woman he asked, “What were you two doing here?”

“We were in Obodo Agha during the attack.” She answered.

“And you came to rescue me?” Seeing her nod, he asked, “Why?”

She looked at the blonde, worry written all over her face, “Him.”

“Why?” T’Challa asked again.

“Because…he’s just that kind of guy. He saw you needed help, so he helped you. He’s not a very complex person.” She answered, shrugging at the end.

T’Challa grunted as he looked down at the unconscious blonde, sighing as he said, “Can you carry him?”

Illyana blinked in confusion, “What?”

“I need you to carry him to the plane.” T’Challa explained as he got up with a pained groan.

“Why?” She asked, confused.

T’Challa motioned to his wounds.

“No, no I mean why are you helping us?” She clarified.

The prince remained quiet for a moment, eying the blonde beneath him before he turned to walk towards the plain, “I guess…your friend and I have more in common than I thought.”

Illyana pushed passed her confusion, summoning a mandala to act as a gurney, carrying the blonde to the plane, “Can you really fly that plane?”

“I’m adequate.”