Old draft of chapter 00051.

This is the old draft, check it out if you want to see what was changed.

It didn’t take long for Tao to transport all of the vibranium back to the base along with Klaue who had a headset on along with a blindfold. He was also cuffed and gagged. Ezekiel stopped by Hank’s lab with about one hundred pounds of vibranium. Hank, Bill and Darren were all in shock, but Hank recovered the fastest and gave Ezekiel a firm handshake and thanked him for the vibranium. After that, Ezekiel and his group went back to his area and talked for the next six hours as they went over different plans on what might happen in Wakanda. When it was finally time, they went to pick up Erik.

Erik had dressed up a little, it wasn’t a full suit or anything. Just a nicer pair of pants and a button up shirt, his fathers ring was hanging from a necklace he wore. Erik was a little surprised when Ezekiel came to get him. Ezekiel had three other people with him and they were all dressed the same. They wore black long sleeved shirts and pants, the pants were tucked into some black combat boots. Around their chests they each wore what looked like a dark gray tactical vest which had pouches. The thing that surprised Erik the most was the masks each one had on. They were white and red in color and each person had a different style.

He wasn’t sure which one was Ezekiel, until he said, “From now on just call me Bear until we are done in Wakanda. This is Wolf, Crow and Cat, they will be with us, but out of sight. Do you have any questions before we leave?”

Erik nodded his head and pulled out a few pieces of paper which he handed to Ezekiel as he said, “I reread my fathers journal while I was waiting to leave. It gave me some ideas on what to say, but what do you think?”

Ezekiel took the papers and read each of them and he had to admit again, the kid was smart. He thought of a bunch of different ways it could go and wrote down what he thought he should do, depending on what situation came up. When Ezekiel was finished with a paper, he passed it to the next person, who read it and then passed it to the next person. Once everyone had finished reading them, they took another hour to fine tune anything they thought might cause an issue with their plans. Once finished they went to grab Tao who was currently doing some extra training with Ava.

Once they collected Tao they went to pick up Klaue from his holding cell and ran into an issue. Fury was there waiting for them, he had found out about Klaue being held at the base an hour ago and came back to see what was going on. When he found Klaue with a blindfold, headset and gag on, bound to a chair in a holding cell. Fury decided to do some paperwork while he waited for Ezekiel to show up.

Ezekiel waved at Fury as he asked, “What are you doing here?”

Fury took in the group of Tao, Erik, Ezekiel and the other three wearing masks and said, “Funny I was about to ask you the same thing. What are you planning to do with a wanted arms dealer and why is Stevens with you?”

“Klaue is wanted in Wakanda, we are taking him there now to turn him in. As for Erik, his father was born in Wakanda, I figured Erik might want to see where his father grew up.”

Fury raised an eyebrow at that as he said, “So why are all of you dressed up like that? You almost look like bodyguards, except for the weird masks and you don’t have any guns.”

“You don’t need guns to be a bodyguard, as for the mask’s they are part of the uniform.”

Fury still looked skeptical as he said, “Fine I don’t really care about that. What I do care about is where you found over a quarter ton of vibranium!” Fury was almost yelling when he finished speaking.

Ezekiel pointed at the cell where Klaue was as he said, "When I went to grab him I found it among his inventory. So I brought it with me."

Fury glared at Ezekiel as he said, "That's funny, because I heard that you told Hank the other day you knew someone who had some vibranium."

"I might have known Klaue was in possession of some stolen vibranium."

Fury let out a sigh as he said, "I am getting real tired of you withholding information Ezekiel."

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, "What good would telling you about it do? We had no need for it and I knew no one would even touch it for the next fifteen years or so."

Fury pointed at Ezekiel as he said in a raised voice, "It's that attitude of yours that I hate, you decided not to tell us about something because you decided it was not important."

Ezekiel stared back at Fury before he said, "Sounds a lot like someone I know. Are you upset because I act like you or because it's not fun when someone else is holding all the cards?"

Fury glared back at Ezekiel for a moment before he said, "What we do is fundamentally different. I keep secrets because it's my job and if they get out it could lead to panic by the general public. You keep secrets because you think we can't handle what you know."

Ezekiel watched Fury for a few moments before he said, “How is that any different? If I told you a fraction of what I have seen, you would panic and start taking drastic and dumb measures to try and stop what is coming.”

Fury raised his voice again as he said, “That’s bullshit, I can handle whatever you tell me without going into a panic.”

“Fine, have it your way.”

Fury started to speak, but froze, his eyes glazed over and his body relaxed. Ezekiel walked past him as he said, “Wolf, put him on a bed in one of the empty cells.”

As Wolf picked up Fury, Tao asked, “Was that really the best idea?”

Ezekiel shrugged as he said, “Not really, but I am getting tired of him fighting me at every turn. I am just showing him different futures where his paranoia causes major issues for earth. Hopefully that will allow him to trust me a little bit more.”

Crow walked past Ezekiel into Klaue’s cell and brought the man out as Tao said, “Showing him the folly of his own ways?”

“Pretty much, hopefully it will make him relax just a little bit and want to work more as a team. I honestly like that he questions me and will find issues with my plans. What I don’t like is him wanting to know everything I know because he thinks he knows better.”

Tao raised an eyebrow at that as she asked, “Are you saying you know better?”

Ezekiel shook his head as he said, “No, but I know what could happen and I am not in a panic about it.”

Erik had been listening to them talk as they were walking and asked, “If you can see the future, what is going to happen when we get to Wakanda?”

As they started to move out of the holding area towards the portal area Ezekiel glanced back at Erik as he said, “I saw the future before, I can’t see it any more. As for what happens in Wakanda I have no idea.”

Erik frowned as he asked, “But didn’t you show me the future the other day?”

Ezekiel nodded as he said, “I showed you the future you were going towards with the actions you had planned to take. Now that has all changed and I have no idea what is in store for you.”

Erik was quiet for the rest of the walk as he thought over Ezekiel's words. Once they got to the portal platform Ezekiel said, “Everyone ready?”

Ezekiel looked back at everyone and they all nodded, even Tao. Ezekiel nodded back as he said, “One portal to the jungle just outside of the main border tribe village, please.”

Tao moved her hands and a portal appeared, they all quickly moved through it. On the other side, Wolf, Crow and cat disappeared as Tao faded away into the mirror dimension. Erik took a quick look around and couldn’t see the others anymore and asked, “Can you do that too?”

Ezekiel shook his head then pointed in a direction as he said, “Not yet, I still have a lot of training left to do. Lets move out, I think we have about a half an hour hike before we get to the village.”

Erik nodded his head and started to walk in front of Ezekial and Klaue. It didn’t take them that long to get out of the forest, only about ten minutes. Then they started walking through some ankle high grass toward a group of huts surrounded by a fence. The early morning sun was still low in the sky as people in the village started to notice the three people walking towards the village.

A few people carrying spears left the village and met the group about halfway to the village from the forest. A man stepped out of the group from the village, he was decently tall with dark skin and had a scarification done to his face. It was a pattern of three dots and they went from the outside of his eyes, to almost under his nose.

The man eyed them wearily, the boy seemed out of place for walking through the jungle. While one of the men was bound and being led by the other man in the white and red mask. He planted his spear in front of himself as he said in English, “You’ve just entered Wakanda, our borders are closed to outsiders. You will have to turn around and leave at once.”

Erik looked at the man in front of him as he said, “My name is N'Jadaka son of N'Jobu, I have returned to my homeland with a gift. Bear, show him.”

The man looked a little shocked hearing the name N'Jobu, he was the king’s brother who had gone missing over six years ago. As the man was looking at the teenager in front of him, the man in the mask brought the bound man forward. The villagers tensed up slightly but as the masked man Bear pulled off the other man's blindfold they stopped. The man in front was the first to react as he asked, “Is that really Ulysses Klaue?”

N'Jadaka nodded his head as he said, “Yes, he was captured by my men this morning.”

The man at the front bowed his head slightly and said, “I am W'Kabi, leader of the border tribe. We are in your debt for bringing us Klaue.”

N'Jadaka smiled and lifted up his fathers ring as he said, “W’Kabi, this was my fathers ring. Is this good enough to prove I am who I say I am?”

W’Kabi nodded just slightly as he said, “Yes it should be enough, but I am sure people would also want a blood test done.”

N'Jadaka reached up and pulled his lower lip down to show the war dog mark on his lip. W’Kabi’s eyes widened just a little bit at that before he said, “That will also help you. It should make things easier for you.”

W’Kabi glanced at the man named Bear as he said, “We still don’t allow outsiders inside the borders, we have secrets to keep.”

“I have already told Bear everything my father told me about Wakanda, he goes wherever I go.”

W’Kabi had a shocked look as he glanced between N'Jadaka and Bear. He settled his gaze on N'Jadaka and said, “Telling an outsider those secrets could get you in a lot of trouble. I will allow him to accompany you for now once he is checked for weapons. But it will be up to other people if he is allowed to stay with you the whole time.”

Erik nodded his head as he said, “Bear let them check you for weapons.”

Bear let go of Klaue and then stood with his arms and legs apart. One of the men took a hold of Klaue while the other man did a thorough search of Bear. When he found nothing he moved back to W’Kabi and nodded his head as he passed him. W’Kabi looked at the man named Bear and said, “Mask off.”

Bear looked towards N'Jadaka for orders, N'Jadaka looked back and said, “You can remove your mask.”

When Bear removed his mask, N'Jadaka was glad he was facing the other way. The man under the mask looked nothing like Ezekiel normally did. Sure his hair was black, but everything else was different. His face was covered in scar’s, his eyes had a hard edge to them like he was always looking for the next threat. He nodded his head to N'Jadaka as he clipped his mask to his vest.

W’Kabi took in the man named Bear and was instantly more on edge. With the mask on he didn’t notice it, but with the mask off he could see the man's hard eyes. He looked at W’Kabi and his men like they weren’t a threat to him. W’Kabi would make sure he was always a full spear length away from Bear, just in case.

W’Kabi looked back at N'Jadaka and said, “Come with us to the village, I need to make a report and get some transport for us.”

N'Jadaka nodded in reply as he and Bear started to walk towards the village. It didn’t take long for them to reach the village and they were shown a hut to use while they waited for transport. Erik wanted to ask Ezekiel some questions, but Ezekiel gave him a look that said, ‘Not now.’

They didn’t have to wait long before a Royal Talon Fighter showed up. It was cloaked and out of the back came six Dora Milaje, one of them went straight to W’Kabi and started talking to him, it wasn’t long before W’Kabi pointed towards N'Jadaka and Bear. The women looked over at them for a moment as she talked to W’Kabi. After a few minutes of conversation, W’Kabi and the woman walked out to N'Jadaka and Bear.

When she got close she said, “I am Okoye of the Dora Milaje, W’Kabi said you claimed to be the son of the king's missing brother N’Jobu. You will have to come with us so you can be tested.”

She glanced at the man next to the boy as she said, “Your friend can join you for now. But know if he makes one false move we will not hesitate to kill him. Is that understood?”

N'Jadaka nodded his head as he said, “Bear won’t attack unless he thinks my life's in danger and even then he would wait for my command. Isn’t that right, Bear?”

Bear nodded in reply. Okoye eyed the man for a few seconds more, before she turned to W’Kabi and said, “Get Klaue, we are heading back.”