Spider Man: Duty And Loss - Chapter 101

“Wait…Wait…WAIT! Crystal come back right now! What does that mean?!?!?” Peter screamed out as Ben poked his head out of the c.o.c.kpit to look at his friend screaming into thin air.

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(A few minutes earlier)

Peter raised an eyebrow behind his mask as he asked Crystal to clarify what she just said. After having a well deserved rest, it felt like an eternity had passed before he woke up. Crystal had informed him that they were only 30 minutes away from Wakanda and closing fast.

But it was as he was thinking about seeing Wakanda for the first time that she had mentioned something had happened in New York. To say that he was fearful would be an understatement. This was what he feared the most, someone causing trouble in New York while he was gone.

‘It had only been 2 days! Could the Rhino have popped up again?! Electro! Scorpion! Tombstone?! The possibilities were endless! Maybe a new villain all together!’ Peter’s thoughts were all over the place that he missed what Crystal said the first time.

“Sorry Crystal could you please repeat that.” He could have sworn that he felt crystal roll her eyes at his words, but he couldn’t be sure as she replied. “I said, while you’ve been gone a certain few things have happened in New York. The Avengers took on a group of mutants in one of the city blocks.”

‘At least the Avengers handled the situation. But a group of mutants, he would ask her more about them later…for now.’ “Were there any casualties? Damage? Was it bad?” Crystal gave a quick reply with a bit of care in her words. “No Peter, other than wrecked buildings, no one was hurt.” Peter let out a small sigh of relief at the words relaxing back in his chair.

Just as he was contemplating how New York was always a magnet for such super powered battles, Crystals next words made him sit bolt right up. “Though the damage lead to some interesting results, once you get back I can’t wait to see your reaction. I wonder what face you’ll make when you find out.” “Wait….what?” Crystals snickering voice sounded out before their connection cut off and then there was silence. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to record every second.”

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(Present)

Turning around in his rant, Peter caught sight of Ben as he looked at him from the c.o.c.kpit, with a weird expression on his face. Peter stilled as he locked eyes with the lovable lug. Lowering his hands and realizing that Crystal won’t answer his question no matter what, his shoulders slumped and he fell back in his chair, trying to hide some of the embarrassment that he felt.

Ben retracted his head back into the c.o.c.kpit after a few seconds without saying a word, as Peter’s mind started to race a mile a minute! What had happened in New York! His mind quickly found a solution as he dug his phone out of his pocket and pulled up Google.

Quickly doing a search for any information it came up with a single message. ‘No internet connection found, please try again later.’ Peter stopped dead at the words as he knew for a fact he could get a signal anywhere on the planet, thanks to… He stopped as he read the message underneath the first. ‘Nice try Peter’

“Dammit Crystal!” Peter almost threw his phone to the ground at Crystal’s trolling. It had happened a few times before, times when Crystal would prank him by withholding information. The good thing was, the information wouldn’t put his life in danger, Crystal would never joke about his safety. The bad….It was sure to be embarrassing for him.

Peter’s slump in the chair got even worse as he resigned himself to the impending doom he faced, even though he had just escaped Doom. ‘Heh, villain joke.’ Even his inner monologue couldn’t keep the quiet pout off his lips.

It was a few minutes later when Sue popped her head into the main area and called for Peter, finally snapping him out of his inner thoughts. “Hey Spidey, we got someone from Wakanda that wants to speak with you.”

Peter begrudgingly got up as he moved to where the rest were situated, but there wasn’t the usual pep in his step. The fantastic four had all crowded into the c.o.c.k pit, Johnny still knocked out from the beating he took in Doom’s castle.

Sue was looking after him as a weaker than usual Reed and Ben flew the ship towards the specified coordinates. This had left Peter in the main cargo hold where he could get some peaceful sleep. The ship was surprisingly big, but after thinking about all the vibranium that Doom stole, it made sense.

As Peter walked into the c.o.c.kpit, he couldn’t help the small smile that came to his lips as he looked at the small hologram sitting in the middle of the control consol. Doom’s ship was high tech, very high tech, making the hologram very life like. Peter was reminded of the holo projections from star wars as he looked at the woman sharing a smile back at him.

With black braided hair pulled into a bun at the top, a pearly white smile and silver collar around her neck. Shuri’s eyes lit up slightly as she looked at the Pen Pal she hadn’t seen in over 2 years. She wore an orange vest over a traditional Wakanda black sleeveless shirt, which lead down to a bright sash around her waist.

The outfit finished itself off with tight black leggings and boots; she waved happily as Peter walked into the room. “Hey Spidey.” Peter knew she wanted to call him by his actual name, but didn’t because of the others. His smile got just that bit wider as he got closer to the small hologram.

“Hey Shuri. God it’s been a long time, you look a lot smaller than I remember, I could have sworn you were taller.” Shuri let out a small chuckle as she looked into his lenses. “And I remember you used to have normal looking eyes that didn’t stretch over half your face, ogling too many women was it?”

Peter snorted once and was going to continue the small banter, when he remembered that the Fantastic four were still in the same room. Turning to take a quick peek at them, Ben had a huge grin on his face as he watched what was happening, while Sue was also peeking in from where she was taking care of her brother.

Reed was the only one not interested in the conversation and was instead looking intently at the clothes Shuri was wearing, his intelligent mind quickly taking notice of the fabric make, and tech he could just see next to her.

Reed had done some research on the 3rd world country of Wakanda when Spider-Man had asked them to get vibranium back from Doom. His interest was piqued when he started to read up on vibranium, but everything he had read about the 3rd world country told him that they shouldn’t have any high tech products or machinery.

His brows furrowed as Shuri also realized that there were others present. She cleared her throat as she tapped on a small pad just out of sight of the hologram. “We’ll talk later Spidey.” Peter gave a small nod as he took one of the empty seats at the front.

As Shuri began to type she talked to Reed who was flying the ship. “We’ve picked up your ship coming in on our sensors. We just had to make sure it was you guys, before giving you entry, we don’t want to accidentally shoot you down…” But she grumbled under her breath as she tapped out a few more keys. “..Though Crystal informed us, but everyone wants to be sure anyways.”

No one said anything to her mumbling as she finished typing something in and turned back to them. “We’ve sent two aircraft’s to guide you in, just follow them and they’ll take you to where you’ll be landing.”

Reed continued to say nothing as Shuri mention things that Wakanda, a 3rd world country, should not have, and no sooner had Shuri’s words faded than the equipment on board let them know 2 other air craft’s were flanking them.

They had literally appeared from nowhere and if Shuri hadn’t let them know, Reed would have been scared out of his mind, along with the rest of them. ‘Do they have a type of stealth technology? No that’s not possible.’

Reed carefully guided the ship between the two new air crafts as they got closer to their destination, but before their eyes all they could see where mountain ranges and no sign of civilization. Reed was beginning to question where Wakanda really was, when the two sh.i.p.s at the side accelerated and suddenly flew right into a mountain!

Everyone but Peter gasped as they watched the suicidal move. Ben was about to shout a warning to Shuri who had a mischievous expression on her face, when the crafts suddenly went straight into the mountain and disappeared from their radars.

Reed slowed the aircraft for a second and was going to pull up, but steeled himself and followed behind the two aircraft’s. Though his blood pressure went up a little gong straight through the mountain, it was the sight behind it that truly got his heart pumping.

If he wasn’t flying the ship he would have stood up to get a better look at the sight before him, coincidentally Peter, Sure and Ben had all stood up to marvel at the sight before them. With huge sky scr.a.p.er like buildings, large fields and technology that some of them had never seen before and a fricking gigantic panther statue off to the side! Shuri’s voice sounded out in the new found silence.

“Welcome to Wakanda!”

Everyone turned to look at her smug expression for a second before turning back to look at the sight before them. Reed couldn’t help but think on sentence as he took the sight in. “3rd world country…bullshit.”

Ben was the first to say anything as they flew to their destination. “Damn.” Peter also nodded his head, having seen all this for the first time as well. “Yeah….Damn.”

Shuri’s smile got just a smidgen wider as she heard Peter’s words.