The king lowered his head and everyone except for N'Jadaka and Bear followed suit. N'Jadaka gritted his teeth a little, but said nothing while he waited for everyone to finish. The whole room was quiet for a few minutes before the king started to raise his head as he said, “N'Jadaka, I am sorry for not bringing you home sooner, if I knew my brother had a son. Then I would have gone to find you myself years ago.”

The tribal leaders and the queen nodded their heads in agreement with the king's statement, N'Jadaka only tightened his fists more, as his fingernails started to dig into his palms. Bear seemed to be the only person who noticed N'Jadaka's reactions to the king's words.

The king smiled as he said, “N'Jadaka you have also done the country of your father's birth a great service by bringing us the criminal Ulysses Klaue. Someone who has escaped our grasp for years and was a master at evading us. For that you have mine and the rest of the country's thanks.”

King T'Chaka frowned slightly as he continued, “Unfortunately you have also broken a taboo, you have told an outsider our secrets. Although we normally imprison people who break this taboo, we will overlook this issue since you weren’t raised here. We will of course need to make sure Mr. Medvedev is the only person you told about Wakanda. After we are finished here, you will join Owibiah so she can ascertain if more people need to be detained."

The king turned to look at Bear as he said, "Unfortunately for you Mr. Medvedev, you will now have to be a permanent guest of Wakanda. You will be given a place to live and we will assign you a job according to your skill set. You will also not be allowed to contact anyone outside of Wakanda."

N'Jadaka frowned as he asked, “So he is now a prisoner of Wakanda?”

The king glanced at Owibiah and she shot a glare at N'Jadaka from next to the king as she said, “You will only address the king if he asks you a question directly, know your place N’Jadaka.”

N'Jadaka shook his head as he said, “Naw, I don’t think so. I am already tired of all this bullshit, I am gonna say my piece and then we are gonna dip.” N'Jadaka glared at Owibiah and said, “And for the record, my name is Erik Stevens.”

All of the Dora Milaje looked like they wanted to attack Erik for his disrespect, before T'Chaka raised his right hand in the air as a calming signal. T’Chaka glowered at Erik as he said, “It seems you are just like your father. I had hoped you would be different, but it seems the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.”

T’Chaka watched Erik and he let out a sigh. Erik glared back at T’Chaka, until T’Chaka said, “You and your companion Bear are ordered to stay in Wakanda. You can never leave and you will be watched at all times. If you try to leave you will be forcefully detained and restrained. I am being lenient because you are my nephew, but I can treat you like anyone else if you test my patience, boy.”

As T’Chaka looked towards Owibiah, Erik started to laugh. T’Chaka instantly looked back at Erik with an angry glare as he said, “Stop laughing boy, or you will regret it.”

Erik laughed more before he glared back at the king as he said, “What are you gonna do if I don’t? Kill me like you did my father?”

The whole room went quiet, as everyone looked at the king who hadn’t reacted to the accusation. As they did, Bear unclipped his mask and slipped it onto his face. Some of the Dora Milaje and T’Chaka noticed his actions. Since Bear was already restrained and had no weapons, they paid him no mind.

T’Chaka frowned at the young man in front of him and saw so much of his younger brother in the boy. Erik glared back at T’Chaka, his fists clenched so tight that his nails started to draw blood.

T’Chaka finally spoke and there was some heat in his voice as he said, “Your father was a traitor to Wakanda and he was killed for it. I left you in Oakland because I knew you were going to be tainted by your father's ideals. You should have stayed away, there is nothing here for you.”

T’Chaka raised his right hand again as it looked like other people were going to talk and said, “We will talk after N’Jadaka and his companion are removed. Owibiah, I wan…”

“No! You will listen to what I have to say and then we will leave.”

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T’Chaka glared back at Erik as he said, “If he speaks again I want him to be restrained and gagged.”

“Fuck you.”

As the Dora Milaje went to restrain Erik a cloud of smoke appeared around Erik and Bear, when it cleared a second later both of them were next to T’Chaka. Bear had a kunai to T’Chaka’s throat and Erik seemed a little dazed, but Erik shook his head and then said, “Like I said, I am going to say my piece and then we are leaving.”

Everyone was shocked at what just happened including Owibiah, who looked at Bear like she wanted to slaughter him. Owibiah was slowly getting ready to attack Erik, she was confident that the king wouldn’t have any issue handling Bear. He was still the black panther and he should be able to react before the man was able to stab him with his weapon.

Owibiah stopped when she felt a cold blade against her neck and someone said in a playful tone of voice, “Let’s not lose our heads now… Let the boy speak and we will be on our way.”

Owibiah wasn’t the only one who stopped moving. Everyone stopped moving because there were now three more people in the room wearing masks. A man with a cat mask was behind Owibiah, another man in a crow mask was holding a blade to the queen's throat and the last man in a wolf mask was standing next to Erik as a guard.

Erik looked around at everyone and said, “Now that I have your undivided attention I’m gonna say my piece.”

He pointed at T'Chaka on his throne while his hand dripped blood as he said, “You know I spent the last few years with only one goal, coming here to kill you and burn this place to the ground. You took everything I cared about away, so I planned to do the same to you.”

Erik grinded his teeth for a moment, before he closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. He released it slowly before he opened his eyes and said, “As much as I still want to kill you, I won’t. After meeting you, I realized you aren’t worth killing. You’re just a pathetic old man stuck in his ways and fearful of change. It’s why you never listened to my father or tried to help him. It’s why you killed him and left me in Oakland.”

Erik looked around at the other people in the room before he said, “All of you are just like him, stuck in traditions and afraid of change. One day you will wake up and realize that Wakanda isn’t as great as you think it is. Sooner or later the rest of the world will catch up to Wakanda and then what will you do?”

Erik moved close to T’Chaka and bent down slightly next to his ear as he said, “I want you to look back on this day for the rest of your life and remember you are only alive because I allowed it.”

Erik stood back up and glanced at Bear as he said, “Let's get out of here, I am over this place.”

Bear nodded his head and a few seconds later Erik and the four masked men faded away. As soon as they disappeared the Dora Milaje took up positions around the king and queen along with the tribal leaders. Owibiah used the beads on her wrist and scanned the room to find where they went. She also sent messages to the main security center and told them to make sure the shield was up, she wouldn’t let Erik and the men with him escape.

When she was finished she kneeled in front of the king who was holding his wife as she said, “My king, this was my fault. I take full responsibility for what happened.”

T’Chaka looked down at Owibiah and said, “Stand up, this isn’t your fault, whoever he had with him had technology on par with us. We need to figure out who they are and find out how they acquired that level of technology.”

The queen touched her husband's face with her hand that was shaking slightly as she asked, “Is that really the best idea? They could have killed us easily, but they didn’t because N’Jada… Erik. I understand the need to keep us safe, but let's count our blessings and not provoke them for now. We first need to understand how they bypassed our security.”

T’Chaka was quiet for a few moments before he said, “I will heed your wisdom love, we will focus on figuring out how they were able to get inside here and leave so easily.”

Owibiah looked around the room as she said, “I will talk with the research division and have them check over everything, we will figure out what happened and find a solution my king.”

T’Chaka nodded his head and then let out a sigh as he said, “I guess I owe all of you the truth now. Go back to your positions and I will tell you what happened with my brother.”

vvvvv

Erik, Ezekiel and the others watched as T’Chaka started to tell everyone what really happened with his brother N’Jobu. Erik looked at Ezekiel who had changed back into his normal looking self and said, “That didn’t go the way I thought it would.”

Ezekiel patted Erik on the shoulder as he said, “Me either, but it’s fine. I never expected to make friends with Wakanda this early.”

Ezekiel glanced at Erik as he asked, “Feel better after your rant?”

Erik shrugged as he said, “Not really, but I will get over it. Now what?”

Ezekiel looked at Tao as he said, “Mind going to the storage facility? I want more vibranium.”

Tao let out a sigh before she said, “From a chauffeur to a getaway driver and now a thief… I feel like my life has taken a turn for the worse since I met you.”

“Are you saying you don’t want any Vibranium?”

Tao opened a portal as she said, “No, I’ll take some. It’s a great conduit for making runic items.”