Chapter 7: Panthers Quest
Being part of a team has its ups and downs, ups for when you get to beat down the bad guys and you know that someone always has your back. downs for when you get stuck with the boring team briefings. For Ben, this was a mixture of both.
Hank and Tony had called everyone together, minus Thor (who for some reason was in Norway, visiting ancient relics from the last time he was on Earth) in order to discuss the recent findings on the mysterious man who saved Captain America and Bens life, during the Zemo incident.
If Ben was being truly honest with himself, he was a little annoyed at his team at the moment. The minute he got back from his little adventure with Agent Danvers, Ben discovered that, that little bust that Wasp and Thor went on lead them to AIM's main facility were they fought the heed of the organisation M.O.D.O.C, a technorganic supervillian with tremendous mental powers and advanced weapons and was a imprisoned in the Vault. Not only that but that fight lead to the creation of another supervillain, Wonder Man.
Formally a proud company owner Simon Williams, who was enraged by Tony Stark after he bought his company from him. Due to a misunderstanding on Tonys part, Simon went to A.I.M to get the revenge he wanted, M.O.D.O.C put him in a procedure that replaced all the organic material in his body with ionic energy.
With his new power Simon attacked Stark tower and easily tor apart Tony's suits, it was only with the help of Ant-Man and a timely arrival of Captain America (Astride his motorcycle, which Ben found too cool) that Tony was able to survive the attack. However due to the instability of his body, Simon began to deteriorate. Tony tried to stabilize him with the Arc reactor, but Simon disintegrated into nothing before they could reach it, leaving the team at an all time low.
When Ben found out he was a little annoyed that they didn't even think to call him when it got that bad, but Wasp reminded him that he wanted a quiet day, saying "We thought you needed some time to yourself."
While it made Ben feel good that Jan and the others were looking out for him, sometimes he felt they could get a little too protective, he is 18 and has the most powerful device in his universe strapped to his wrist, he could take care of himself.
But on the upside Ben did get to meet Carol, after that fateful encounter with Taskmaster and the Enforcers, to two went for smoothies afterwards and actually had a great time. After spending a majority of the trip to the smoothie place arguing about who should pay, the duo decided to just split the bill. During that time they were able to talk for a little while and actually behave like regular teenagers.
To Ben it was a huge relief, while the Avengers were great to hang out with and were staring to feel like a surrogate family, Ben still felt like he needed to talk to people his own age. And Carol was the perfect candidate, while her by-the-book no nonsense attitude did get on the Teen heroes nerves, she had a strong wit and a strong will that Ben could relate to. And also from what she did share with Ben, she had always wanted to go into space; a trait the alien shapeshifter had no problem with. Either way Ben was just glad that he hade a new friend to talk to that didn't know about his troubled past. A fresh start.
Right now Ben wished he could be hanging out with the S.H.I.E.L.D agent right now, cause as far as the briefing was going, it was pretty dull. For what felt like the hundredth time a projection of the events that happened with Zemo played through again. Zemo leaped up and aimed his sword and Captain America, but just as the blade was about to pierce the super soldier, his shield comes out of nowhere and blocks the strike. The two foes look up and (unlike the last hundred time they watched this playback) the saw a man donning a skintight black suit.
"That's him." Captain America said, as the image froze of the man, who was in mid leap.
The other Avenger who were present looked closer at the image.
"Wait. What am I looking for again? A giant cat?" Wasp asked as she squinted her eyes at the image.
"It was a man in a cat suit, Jan." Ben corrected.
"Can the projectionist make this brighter?" Captain America asked, without taking his eyes of the screen. The others looked at the super soldier concerned, sometimes they all forgot that Caps mind was still in the 1940's
"Uh, sure." Iron Man responded uneasily, "JARVIS, run a full spectrum analysis, will you? And make it brighter." He added the last part to make the man out of time a little more comfortable.
The image of the man was enlarged on the screen, but once it can into focus the features were suddenly masked leaving only a dark silhouette of the mysterious assailant.
"Look at that." Ant-Man said in awe, "Whatever he's wearing, it's absorbent to all energy spectra. And what he did to JARVIS. The system still doesn't register there having been another person there."
The scientist then typed in several keys into the computer showing a birds eye view in the corridor, the several labels appeared marking exactly were everyone was except the mystery cat-man.
"Okay, fine. I'll admit it. Whoever this intruder is, he's got some okay technology." Tony grumbled crossing his arms.
Ben leaned back in his chair and smirked at the Armored Avenger. "I'm pretty sure to this guy. Your tech is 'just okay'." Tony just grumbled some more and slumped his head.
"All I know is that this man in black saved my life." Captain America declared steering the conversation back on topic, "He's an ally, not an enemy."
No sooner had head said that, an alarm went off with JARVIS announcing "Intruder alert."
With that The Avenger ran out of the conference room and made their way to the front yard of the Mansion, where they all froze at what they saw. Perched on the front gate, like a cat stalking it prey, was the mysterious cat-man. He then performed an acrobatic flip and landed on the lawn, standing tall the Avengers got a good look at him. he was a man of average height with an athletic build, he wore a skin-tight, full-body black cat ninja suit, with purple gloves and boots. His mask covered his entire face and held a very cat-like impression along with yellow eyes and pointed ears.
"So he's not an Avenger?" Captain America clarified as he and the others got into battle stances. At the same time the cat ninja opened his hands and his finger tips extended into long sharp claws.
"Definitely not." Iron Man confirmed, as the cat-man pounced straight towards them.
As in on instinct, or to show of, Iron Man activated his thrusters and flew to engage the unknown foe.
"I got, Aw!" Was all he managed to say before the cat ninja slashed his claws across Iron Man's chest plate, leaving several impressive gashes in the metal. The sudden strike knocked Tony off course and he slammed into the perimeter wall.
"Armor hardware damaged. Shield generators offline." JARVIS reported inside Iron Mans helmet as his suit gave off sparks from the damage.
The cat ninja then pulled out to purple knives from his belt, which then started to glow with some kind of energy.
"You think you're fast?" Wasp called out, catching the cat-mans attention. "Dodge these." She then fired several shot from her stingers at the cat ninja. However instead of avoiding the attack, or reaching to when they hit, the yellow energy bolts seemed to be absorbed by the suit.
Wasp hovered in place with a confused look on her face, "What happened?"
"Well, he didn't dodge them." Ant-Man stated as he flew up to her astride a flying ant. "I did mention that his suit seemed to be absorbent to Watch out!"
The two insect themed heroes flew of to avoid several purple energy blasts that were fired from the cat mans glowing daggers. When the two size changers dispersed, the black suited man turned to see Ben, with his mask pulled up and his hand on the Ultimatrix.
"So you got a thing for cat huh?" He taunted at the man. "To bad. I'm more of a dog person."
He then slammed down the dial, a flash of green light illuminated the area and Ben was replaced by the hulking, orange, dog alien that is Wildmutt. The alien roared out his name and then charged at full speed. The cat ninja held his ground, then at the last moment leaped over Wildmutt charge, he then turned in midair intending to strike the dog-like alien in the back. But thanks to Wildmutt's radar like senses, he saw the attack coming and dodged the strike. Then before the cat ninja new what hit him, Wildmutt was upon him like a hungry predator.
Wildmutt tackled the cat man to the ground were he landed on his back dazed. When his vision cleared he saw the snarling face of Wildmutt bearing down on him, on large paw on either side of him.
Ant-Man flew down until he was just over the cat man, his arms crossed.
"Now, are you ready to talk about this?" the scientist questioned, hoping that the man would be smart enough to do it this time.
However instead of speaking the cat man pushed a button that was on the wrist of his glove, and a purple wave of sound energy erupted from the suit. For everyone present, the sound was mildly uncomfortable, but to Wildmutt, the sound was agonizing. With a roar of pain the alien teen reared up and clasped both sides of his head in pain.
"That sound. That's Vibranium." Ant-Man stated in shock as the cat man rose to his feet and then turned of the sound waves. However even though the sonic device was deactivated, Wildmutt's head was still ringing, making his senses go haywire. In a stated of panic Wildmutt began running around the yard, smashing into the walls or tramping flower bed's and basically acting like a chicken who's lost its head.
Seeing what the assailant did to his friend Captain America leaped into action, throwing his shield directly at the unknown enemy. In response the cat man leaned back, Matrix style, causing the shield to sail right over his head. The shield ricochet of a corner stone of the gate and flew right back at Captain America, who managed to just catch the shield in time.
The cat ninja then jumped over Wildmutt, as he charged through again, and landed on the walls of the mansion, which he then proceeded to scale.
"You know what? I've had just about enough of super-tech-cat-ninja guy." Wasp annoyingly stated as she fired more stingers at the assailant, even if she new it wouldn't do anything.
"I agree." Ant-Man agreed as he pushed the button on the left side of his belt. A flood of blue Pym Particles surged through the suit, changing Ant-Man into Giant-Man.
The Titan hero then reached out to grab the cat man, however once again the unknown foe slipped through his grasp and proceeded to run up Giant-Mans arm to his shoulder. The cat ninja then struck various places on the titan's body as he descended. Due to the nature of Pym Particles, when Hank is Giant-Man his size and strength increases, but so dose his nerve points, making someone with knowledge of the human body, meaning that Giant-Mans own body was used against him.
The titan hero collapsed on the ground and reverted back to his normal size. The cat man stood over him, as if contemplating on finishing him of when suddenly a metallic click sounded behind him. The cat man turned to see Iron Man aiming a small cannon, which was concealed in his forearm, at his head.
"Don't even think about it." The billionaire warned.
"Enough!" the cat ninja suddenly announced as his posture relaxed, completely unfazed buy the gun aimed at his head.
"What's your game, mister?" Captain America questioned angrily as he marched up to the man. "You save my life and then attack us. And now you expect us to believe you're just going to surrender?"
"I am not surrendering, Captain." The man merely stated, "I have simply seen enough."
At that moment a green light bathed the area and Ben Tennyson groaned to his feet, branches and leaves were tangled in his hair from his blind rampage. Once he saw the others had surrounded the cat man, Ben walked dizzily over to him.
"WHY DID YOU ATTACK US!?" Ben yelled directly at him, his ears still ringing from the sonic blast. Wasp walked over and tapped Ben on the shoulder.
"Uh Ben, your yelling a little loud." She pointed out to the young hero.
"WHAT!" Ben replied, startling the size-changing heroine.
"I wanted to assess your abilities firsthand." The cat man spoke out as he turned to the Avengers and pulled of his mask, revealing and young African man, with dark hair and light brown eyes. he had a solemn expression on his face.
"I am T'Challa."
"The Prince of Wakanda." Hank stated surprised. "But what are you doing here?"
T'Challa look away for a second as if unsure what to say next, then looked at the team with resolve.
"I need your help."
After giving a quick recap to Ben, who's hearing finally returned after five minutes of deafness, the Avengers took T'Challa, who also went by the name the Black Panther, down to the meeting hall. The team all sat around the table while T'Challa stood to the side.
"What do you need our help for?" Wasp asked curiously, "You kind of mopped the floor with all four of us."
"Yeah, well, for the record, I was holding back." Tony defended with a superior tone, which made Ben chuckle a bit. Tony gave the teen hero a glare, then continued
"But Jane's right. We're kind of busy with an army of escaped super-villains."
"My country has been overthrown by such a villain." T'Challa stated in a calm, but serious tone. "A brutal fiend called M'Baku, the Man-Ape.
I need your help to get past the Wakandan people so I can restore the throne."
At that last statement the Avengers looked at each other in confusion, why would a prince need to sneak past his own people?
Captain America was the one to say what they were all thinking, "Get past the Wakandan people? If your people are following this Man-Ape of their own free will, that's the end of the story. That's what the people want."
"You do not understand. The people are the problem." T'Challa countered as he turned away from the team and walked towards the walls until he was looking at his own reflection, becoming lost in the memories
"They follow the old ways. Man-Ape won the throne in combat. They feel they must follow him, no matter if he destroys everything. And the Man-Ape will destroy everything." T'Challa explained.
"I don't get it." Wasp said.
"Yeah, I'm sure he's bad news and all, but how can he destroy everything?" Ben continued, equally confused. While he spoke Ant-Man typed a few keys into the console and an image of what appeared to be a purple rock.
"Vibranium." Ant-Man explained, "I've studied it first hand. It's nothing to mess around with."
"And legend has Wakanda's sitting on a mountain of it." Tony picked up.
"The Vibranium Mound." T'Challa confirmed, "It is our treasure and our responsibility. For centuries we have defended it against any who would exploit it."
"That kind of resource should belong to everyone." Ant-Man stated, he scientific mind flooding with theories and ideas for the metals uses. "Vibranium has the potential to change the world."
"I agree, but not necessarily for the better." T'Challa said grimly, shooting a glare at Tony Stark, making the billionaire uneasy.
"Uh, yeah, Stark Industries investigated the possibility of using Vibranium to make weapons." Tony said scratching the back of his head nervously, earning a glare from both the Wakandan prince and Ant-Man. "It was a long time ago. My people tried to deal with King T'Chaka.
Where is he now?"
At the Mention of the King, T'Challa lowered his head, a motion that did not go unnoticed by a certain teenage shapeshifter. He new that look all to well, it showed the pain that he himself feels most of the time.
Captain America also picked up on the Wakandan Princes distress and decided to speak up, "If this Man-Ape is going to put lives in danger, we have to do something."
"Lives are in danger, Avenger." T'Challa said, he then walked up to the console and pulled out a small hard drive like device, and plugged into one of the ports. "Computer, satellite view of Wakanda." The prince ordered the A.I
"Wakanda can't be seen on satellite. Trust me, I've tried." Iron Man pointed out. Suddenly, as if the computer lived to prove the genius billionaire wrong, an image of northeast Africa was projected on the screen.
"Zoom in." T'Challa ordered and JARVIS complied until it showed a clear image of the legendary city. Needles to say Tony was surprised, his shock soon turned into annoyance when the youngest hero in the room taunted him.
"You were saying." Ben said with his trademark smirk, he always enjoyed it when geniuses were out smarted.
Stark then turned back to the Wakandan prince with a suspicious look on his face. "Okay, how exactly do you know my systems inside and out?"
"I studied them." T'Challa simply responded. "Inside and out."
The team all looked at the African hero in shock.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Ben said holding his hands in a time out position. "Are you saying that you broke into the mansion and hacked Tony's systems?"
The Wakandan Prince merely nodded. "I needed help, but I was unsure were to go to seek such help. When I heard of the Avengers, I came to the city to learn if you truly had the skills needed to help me reclaim my home."
T'Challa took a deep breath and continued. "While you were away, bringing Captain America back, I broke into the mansion and accessed all files on each Avengers member profile and learned everything I could about you."
The Avengers all stat in uncomfortable silence, this person whom they new nothing about, broke into their home and studied them like a hunter. Not only that, but it now explained how he was able to defeat them all so easily. He new their moves and their weaknesses, to some of them the Avengers felt a little unsure about trusting the Wakandan prince.
Ben however felt that he could be trusted; One, because his file was not complete, no one not even the Avengers new all of his transformations and what they could do so he would always have a surprise up his sleeve. And Two because if there was one thing Ben prided himself on, was his ability to read people. He wasn't sure how but as far as he could remember Ben was always a good judge of character, he new exactly who to place his trust in and who to be wary of. And the feeling he got from the Wakanden Prince, he just new that the man could be trusted.
"Why don't we come back to this later." Ben suggested, bringing the others out of their deep thoughts. "Cause I think we've got bigger problems to worry about." He said pointing to the screen.
The others followed his gaze and saw that the image had zoomed into a large, solitary mountain, and on one side was an opening in the form of a tunnel. Around the tunnels entrance was a large group of people, loading containers onto transports. However instead of Wakandan citizen like the team expected, the workers all wore a familiar uniform with a symbol that made their blood boil.
"HYDRA." Captain America all but snarled the words.
The image then zoomed in to two individuals, talking to each other.
"That's Grim Reaper. One of Strucker's guys." Iron Man identified one of men. "But who's Abe Lincoln there?" he referred to the man, dressed in safari gear, with a strange device on his right arm.
"I've met him." Ant-Man said grudgingly, "Ulysses Klaw. He created a device that converts Vibranium into a sonic weapon."
That sealed the deal, if HYDRA got their hands on Vibranium, they could create weapons that would be strong enough that even the Avengers wouldn't be able to stop.
"So who's up for invading Wakanda?" Wasp said nervously.
"I'm in." Ben said raising his hand.
An few minutes later the Avengers were all seated in the Quinjet, Iron Man in the pilot seat while Wasp sat in the co-pilot, everyone else took a seat in the back, while Black Panther chose to stand. The vehicle shuttered as they were lowered into the loading bay and became completely submerged in water. The engines then ignited, scaring several fish away, and the advanced aircraft rocketed down the tunnel and burst out of the East river, towards Africa.
While they flew no one said anything, possibly out of nervousness or due to the mistrust of their stealthy ally, whatever the reason the heroes all sat in awkward silence.
As they grew close to Africa, Iron Man groaned within his helmet, for the past fifteen minute he had been trying to reach their godly team mate for help, but somehow couldn't connect.
"Thor still isn't responding to his to ID card. Probably taking a trip to fantasyland." Iron Man said aloud, annoyance present in his tone.
Meanwhile Black Panther took it upon himself to map out a root for the Avengers to follow so they could get to Wakanda undetected. Wasp was currently looking at the map a little confused on their destination, probable due to the unusual names of some of the places.
"So we need to go through Torment Forest, past Piranha Cove, but we have to avoid the Chasm of What was it? Icy Clouds?"
"Chilling Mists." Panther corrected for her.
"Right."
"Couldn't we fly through the Forest of Sunshine and Rainbows, or is that to far out of our way." Ben asked lightheartedly, the others looked at him irritated. Ben then slouched in his seat.
"Fine, tormented forest it is then." He grumbled, as the Black Panther went back to planning.
While he waited in his seat, Ben saw Captain America out of the corner of his eye, gazing out the window of the jet.
"You okay, Cap?" the Ultimatrix wielder asked.
The super soldier sighed, "In my day, if something went this high, we didn't call it an airplane."
"What did you call it?" Ben asked, curiously.
Captain America faced his young friend with a small smile on his face "Science fiction." He answered.
Ben returned the smile; he was glad that the Captain was adjusting well to his new environment.
The rest of the trip was carried out in comfortable silence. After an hour the Quinjet was now skimming over the vast jungle lands of Africa, weaving in-between the large rocky outcrops. While most of the team enjoyed the sights, on passenger was not pleased with their current trajectory.
"This is not the path I laid out." Black Panther objected sternly, "You should avoid this area. The jungle here is too well protected."
"Don't worry," Iron Man insisted, "the Quinjet has the best cloaking tech there is. Mine."
Once again the Universe decided to prove Tony Stark wrong as the jet shook violently due to a barrage of energy bolts that blasted at the hull.
"Wakanda defense tech is better." Black Panther countered, as several more energy bolts tore through the tail fin and shot out the engines. With the propulsion gone, the heroes were helpless as their aircraft plummeted to the jungle below. The heroes braced themselves as the Quinjet slammed right into the canopy level of the trees. The jet came to a sudden halt as it crashed into the jungle; somehow they had been caught in a mass of vines that grew throughout the rainforest.
After making sure that everyone was ok, the Avengers, plus one, exited the downed aircraft and made their way to the jungle floor. Iron Man was the last to exit, as he wanted to run a full diagnostic on the Quinjet to see if anything survived. As he flew down to the ground, his body language indicated that he was not happy.
"You owe me a jet." The billionaire stated accusingly at the Wakandan Prince.
"You chose not to listen to me, Stark." Black Panther pointed out. "It was a mistake."
Iron Man walked up to the Cat themed hero until they were face to face.
"You and me need to have a little talk, kitty." The Iron Avenger said in a threatening tone.
Suddenly Wasp flew in between the to geniuses to prevent them from doing anything they'll regret, "Hey, would you look at the time? Shouldn't we be somewhere? Like in a big fight against HYDRA?"
Iron Man held his gaze for a moment, then backed down, "Right, here's the plan. We take down HYDRA and protect the Vibranium Mound. Then we deal with Man-Ape."
"Ah, Of course. Send them running. The old Tony Stark fallback, nice and simple." Ben said nonchalantly as that's how most of Iron Man's plans went.
"Don't under estimate the Wakandan army which is heading this way." Black Panther warned as he began to walk away from the team. "I wish you well, but I will deal with Man-Ape myself." And with that he leaped off into the forest with the skillfulness of an actual panther.
"And he left." Wasp stated aloud from her perch on Hanks shoulder.
"You have got to be kidding me. What, I Okay, fine." Iron Man complained, he placed his hand on the brow of his helmet, already at his wits end.
"Cap, Ben, go after him." he ordered, the teen hero was a little surprised at Iron Mans order. With Hulk on a leave of absence and Thor unavailable, that left Ben as the teams heaviest hitter, and now Iron Man one of the so called smartest people in the world, was sending him and the teams most experienced fighter away with an entire army of highly advanced soldiers march towards them.
"But you need…" Ben started to say before Captain America placed his hand on Ben's shoulder. Ben looked up to see the soldiers hard stair, telling him not to argue.
"Understood." Captain America said as he lead Ben away from the group after the Black Panther.
"Yeah ok." Ben sighed in defeat, as he activated the Ultimatrix and cycled through until he found the right alien. He then slammed down the dial and the area was bathed in a green light. Once the light faded, Ben was replaced by plant like alien with five vine-like legs, four long fingers on its hands and flytrap-shaped flaps covering its head. It had blue colored bulbs on its shoulders. It had eight pods on its back. It had one blue eye in the middle of its face. It wore the Ultimatrix symbol on its chest.
"WILDVINE" the alien called out in a deep gravely voice. The transformed teen then stretched out his vine like arms and used them to swing through the tree tops, Captain America not to far behind.
"Wow, he didn't argue with me or anything." Iron Man said, referring to Captain Americas response to his orders, he then turned to the two remaining Avengers, "Uh, everyone, take notes."
"He's a soldier, he follows orders. And make sure everyone else follows them." Ant-Man replied sarcastically to the Armored hero.
"Even bad ones." He finished, causing Iron Man to shoot a glare in his direction. "Now, it's just the three of us against all of Wakanda, HYDRA, and a super-villain."
"That's how much faith I have in you two." Iron Man said confidently, the two insect themed heroes looked at his skeptically, "Come on, I've dealt with HYDRA before. And Wakanda, not a problem."
Suddenly the motion sensors in Iron Mans HUD lit up, the armored hero looked around Ant-Man to see a spear flying straight towards them. Iron Man pushed the size changing hero out of the way, allowing the spear to fly harmlessly over them and impale the tree trunk behind them. Suddenly the spear started glowing with purple energy and the familiar sound of a certain metal reached their ears. Before anyone could react, the spear exploded violently, blasting the heroes away. Iron Man was sent hurtling into a nearby tree, the Armored Avenger shook his head and looked up, only to find several very angry looking African warriors all pointing similar high tech spears at his head.
"Okay, maybe a little problem." Iron Man corrected nervously.
Meanwhile within the lonely mountain that is the Vibranium mound, a group of people was standing at the base of one of the sacred stone statues of the Panther tribe. However a wave of purple sonic energy quickly shattered the Panther statue, crumbling it to dust. The man responsible for the blast was none other than Ulysses Klaw. Standing next to the scientist was a large African man, who wore what looked like the skin of a White Mountain Gorilla, he was M'Baku the Man-Ape.
Standing at the front of the group was Grim Reaper, his scythe safely tucked away under his cape. The Hydra Agent and African Warlord witnessed Klaw destroy the statue, impressed by the display.
"And that is only scratching the surface of the metal's potential." Klaw explained holding up his Sonic Disrupter. "An army equipped with these could…"
"It'll do." Grim Reaper interrupted, then turned to Man-Ape. "Baron Strucker and HYDRA thank you for your openness, Your Highness." He said with a bow.
"You think me a fool?" M'Baku said raising an eyebrow, "I know you outsiders value the Vibranium more than the gold you offer."
"I'm not one to judge." Grim Reaper responded with a sly smile.
"The Vibranium has corrupted Wakanda, weakened it.
I will restore my land to its natural state without the Panther Tribe's technology. If HYDRA will pay my price, they are welcome to it."
"They will pay more for the Vibranium." Klaw stated as he held up his Sonic Disrupter. "Let me…"
"Klaw, watch yourself." Reaper warned the scientist, making sure he did not over step his bounds.
"If Strucker thinks he can cut me out, he's sorely mistaken. Only I have the technology to tap into the Vibranium'3 power. You do as I say, or that metal will blow up right in your face."
In response, Grim Reaper placed the tip of his scythe under Klaws chin, silencing the scientist.
"Now, that's not very friendly, is it?" the HYDRA agent threatened as he applied a little more pressure. Suddenly the group was interrupted by a village elder, who frantically made his way to the current ruler of Wakanda, "Lord M'Baku, Wakandan defenses have shot down an unidentified aircraft. An army division has engaged outsiders within our borders."
Man-Ape clenched his teeth in anger, then let out a loud roar before glaring down at the Grim Reaper, "If HYDRA crosses me, you will not live to regret it." The gorilla themed villain snarled.
"No, this isn't HYDRA." Reaper calmly specified, completely unfazed by the giants threat. "This is something else."
Back in the jungle Black Panther leaped through the trees, moving from branch to branch with absolute ease. However he sensed a presence behind him. Knowing that the beings following him were not hostile, Panther landed on a root of a nearby tree. A few seconds later Captain America, dropped onto a root that was just behind the on Panther was currently on.
"Your tenacity is admirable, Black Panther complimented the super soldier. "But you are very out of place in the jungle, Captain."
The sound of branches was heard from above, the Wakandan prince looked up to see Wildvine descend from the canopy and land next to Captain America.
"He may be," Wildvine responded to Panther statement gesturing to the Captain. "But Wildvine has the home field advantage in this place."
"And besides," Captain America continued, addressing the Black Panther, "You came to us for help, so here we are."
"This is my burden to bear alone." Black Panther stated, conviction in his voice as if his life depended on his fight with the villain, a tone that Ben found all to familiar.
"So the Avengers were what? A distraction?" Captain America questioned.
"You're just using us to get past your own people?" Wildvine finished the Captains train of thought.
"Man-Ape is mine." Black Panther snapped, making Wildvine flinch a little. Captain America however stood strong.
"Well, we've got our orders." He informed. "Besides, I owe you one."
"Yeah, Me too." Wildvine agreed, "You saved our lives, remember? So you can let us help you, or we can go another round? I'm good either way."
Black Panther looked like he was going to take the heroes up on that offer, but then his hands went slack and he turned from the two. "Man-Ape took my father and did nothing." He announced, pain coursing through every word he spoke. "I failed him."
These word were no surprise to either of the heroes, they both saw the pain in the Wakandan Prince eyes, a pain they new too well.
"And let me guess." Wildvine said, " You want nothing more than make him suffer. Make feel the pain you felt, and then just when you feel like he's suffered enough. When you feel like he knows just how you felt. You end him."
Panther looked back at the teen hero, staring hard at the plant aliens single eye, even though it wasn't human, it still possessed the same soul and pain that the teen hero possessed.
Wildvine continued, "I know exactly what you're going through. Only cause the same thing happened to me not that long ago." The plant-like aliens features hardened, the memories crashing into him as painful as ever. "One of my old villain attacked my family and friends. And killed them all."
"And did you kill that Villain?" Black Panther asked.
Wildvine narrowed his eye, like he was angry with what he was about to say next. "No. I didn't."
"Why not." Panther asked slightly angered, "This villain took the very people you love from you. How could you not exact your vengeance upon them?"
Wildvine closed his eye and took a deep breath. "Because it wouldn't have brought them back," he said calmly. "If I had killed the monster that took them from me. It would have made me no better that the one that killed them."
He then looked Panther straight in the eyes, "I chose to be a hero, not a monster. What will you choose?"
Both Black Panther and Captain America looked at the Ultimatrix wielder in surprise, the later due to the fact that Ben had never spoken about his family's death in this much detail.
Black Panther let the teen heroes words sink in. then after a few more minutes of silence, Panther turned his back once again to the duo and walked away from them.
"Please, let me do this." Was all the Wakandan Prince said. He then leaped of into the forest leaving the two heroes to watch him.
After his meeting with Hydra, M'Baku the Man-Ape was now sitting comfortably in the throne of Wakanda. He sat there with smug pride, after so many years he finally achieved his goal of toppling the Black Panthers reign. And it was all thank to Ulysses Klaw, if he hadn't created that sonic device to disorient the previous king, M'Baku may have never been able to kill that miserable excuse for a ruler.
The only thing that Man-Ape found annoying with being on the throne, were the village elders constant hindrance for him to follow the traditions of the Panther tribe, a habit M'Baku will break them of soon enough. And true to his displeasure the village elder was once again coming to him to ask for his services
"Are warriors in the jungle do not respond." The elderly man said as he bowed to the warlord, "I beg you, rid Wakanda of all the outsiders. T'Chaka would never…"
"I am king!" Man-Ape roared at the mention of the former kings name. "Not the Black Panther. The Black Panther is no more."
"You are wrong M'Baku." A voice called out, everyone present turned to see T'Challa, clade in the Black Panther suit, standing tall and proud at one end of the court. "The Black Panther challenges you for the throne of Wakanda."
The elder looked at the Prince in surprise and hope as the true heir to the throne had returned, "T'Challa. A challenged has been issued. By tribal law, you must…"
"I have no use for tradition." Man-Ape once again interrupted the old man as he returned to his throne. "Crush the panther cub." He then ordered the two female guards that stood on either side of the throne. The two women looked to each other hesitant to follow the villains orders, but as their traditions go, they must follow their kings wishes. So the two raised their spears and charged the Black Panther.
Panther flipped out of the way as the two spears impaled the ground were he was. The women then pursued the Wakandan Prince, using skills that were able to match the Black Panther move for move. However in Panthers case he held back, due to that these women were his fathers personal guards, he had known them most of his life and therefore knew that they are only fighting him under orders.
One spun her spear in her hands, then thrust it forward which swiftly followed by a poll sweep to the head. Both attacks Black Panther dodged, he then proceeded to avoid a spear strike from the second guard and leaped into the air, only to get knocked out of the air by spear courtesy of one of the women. Panther landed on the ground hard, he grunted as he pushed himself into a seating position, he looked up only to see both spears pointed right at his face.
"Your father trained them well, cub." M'Baku admired with as sick grin spread across his face.
"You do not have to do this." Black Panther pleaded to the women, he new them long enough to know that they didn't really want to hurt him. The two women looked at each other, unsure and conflicted. After a few moments their faces hardened and thrust their spears down, Panther braced for the impact, only for a red, white and blue shield, suddenly flew between the combatants, knocking the spears away from the Black Panther. Then two green vines appeared and wrapped around the women and pulled them away from him. Everyone looked over to see Captain America and Wildvine, the former catching his shield as it returned to him.
Before Black Panther could yell at the heroes for interfering, Captain America beat him to it. "You can face Man-Ape alone. Anyone else is fair game." The super soldier said.
"Besides, we can't let you have all the fun." Wildvine added as he heeled his grip on the women.
Man-Ape snarled in outrage, this constant interference had gone on long enough. "Tear the outsider's apart." He ordered the guards as he rose from his throne and walked onto the field. "I will deal with the panther."
The women instantly responded, the used their spears to slice through Wildvine's tendrils, then tossed the spears at the plant-like, who proceeded to catch both spears with little effort.
Wildvine smirked at the guards, "Close but no…" his expression changed from confidence to shock when the spears started glowing purple, then exploded in a violent eruption of power. Wildvine was sent flying into one of the stone pillars surrounding the field, two smoking stumps were all that was left of his arms.
"Ben!" Captain America yelled as he raised his shield to bloke a kick from one of the women, causing him to slide back a few meters. The woman then pressed her advantage and did a flying somersault an aimed a kick at the Captain. The attack was blocked by the super soldier shield. Using his superior strength, Captain America pushed the female warrior away.
The super soldier turned to see the second guard charge at him, and as agile as her partner, she delivered a spinning double kick. Once again Captain America was able to block the attacks with his shield and then responded with a powerful counter strike.
Meanwhile Wildvine was a little busy with regrowing his arms. While under normal circumstances the plant alien would have instantly regenerated from an attack like that. The intensity of the blast cauterized the wounds, slowing down the healing process. But after a few minutes Wildvine finally was able to regrow his arms.
"Well it took you guys long enough." Wildvine commented as he flexed his appendages. He then looked up to see Captain America getting tag teamed by the high skilled women.
"Time to see if this Panther Tribe can hold up against…"
He then slapped the Ultimatrix dial, and in a flash of green light, Wildvine was replaced by a large humanoid bird-man it had sharp claws on it's toes and talons on his hands, as well as two larger talons protruding from his arms. It had a short beak. It was covered in brown feathers and also has a white mohawk.
It wore a green mask, a green belt with a white stripe, and black underwear. It wore a strap vest with the Ultimatrix symbol on its chest.
"KICKIN HAWK" the bird-like alien called out. He cracked his knuckles and charged into the fray letting out an avionic scream in the process. This caught the combatant's attention as Kickin Hawk performed a flying axe kick directly at the women, who expertly dodged the attack as the bird-like alien stuck the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust in the process.
The female guards regrouped, as did the two Avengers. Captain America took a defensive stance along side Kickin Hawk, who brushed some of the dirt off himself.
"So what does this guy do?" the super soldier asked.
"Kickin Hawk is my best hand to hand fighter." The transformed teen responded before adopting an uneasy look, "Although now that I think about it. Maybe I shouldn't have brought a bird to a cat-fight."
Captain America gave a small smile as he shook his head at his young friends quip. "Well if there was any time to go against nature. Now would be the time." He responded confidently as they squared off against the female guards.
Kickin Hawk made the first move, charging at full speed and kicked his left leg out, aiming for the guard on the left, while Captain America ran to engage the woman on the right. The two sides clashed with both women dodging the first strike and, moving in perfect unison, struck back with agile kicks which were blocked by the heroes and the fight continued.
At the same time Black Panther approached the throne, pure hatred burning in his eyes at the current resident on it. On the other side M'Baku glared with equal hate for the Black Panther. With a growl the Man-Ape opened his hand and the claws at the end of his hands extended, Man-Ape then beat his chest like a real gorilla and leapt at the Panther Prince, his arms raised above his head.
Black Panther dove to the side as M'Baku slammed his fists on the ground were the Prince once stood, leaving two small craters in the ground. Man-Ape then turned to face his opponent and charged forward, continuously trying to crush the Wakandan Prince with his massive strength, striking again and again. But despite Man-Apes impressive strength, Black Panther proved to be much faster and more agile than the warlord, effortlessly avoiding each of M'Baku's punches with acrobatic moves that would put an Olympic gymnast to shame.
Black Panther did a series of back flips to put some distance between him and his enemy, Panthers eyes narrowed as he drew a Vibranium dagger from his belt and held it up, the blade surrounded in purple energy as he charged towards the Man-Ape. He leaped high into the air and fell towards Man-Ape intending to deliver an axe kick to the warlord. Man-Ape was able to bloke the kick with his arm, but suddenly reeled back by a sudden pain shoot up his arm, as Black Panther slashed the dagger across it.
T'Challa then continued his onslaught delivering several more slashes to Man-Ape, alone with punches and kicks mix in. Striking Man-Ape in the shoulders, knees and several other body parts that he could reach. M'Baku staggered weakly, due to the injures he received, and collapsed on the ground. Panting heavily M'Baku looked up weakly at the Black Panther, who drew a second Vibranium dagger from his belt and joined both weapons together at the base, the two daggers glowed with energy and extended into a six foot staff, with booth ends arced with energy resembling a double ended scythe. Black Panther spun the weapon above his head, and then aimed one end at M'Baku's head.
"Shall I show you the same mercy you showed my father?" Black Panther spat as rage cursed through him like venom.
Man-Ape rose groggily to his knees and looked up at the Wakandan Prince with a smirk on his face. "Ask him yourself when you join him." he said as he held up a small device in his palm.
The device then released a purple wave of sonic energy at the Black Panther, who screamed in pain as he dropped his weapon and clasped both hands over his ears, as the pain tore through him.
"T'Challa!" Captain America screamed as both he and Kickin Hawks attention were caught by the sight of their ally in pain. However that distraction was enough to allow the guards the deliver powerful blows to the duo.
Man-Ape rose to his feet as he held the device over the now writhing Black Panther. Man-Ape delivered a powerful kick into Black Panther gut, sending the cat themed hero into on of the stone idols surrounding the area. He landed with a grunt as he slumped to the ground in pain as M'Baku stomped towards him with his helpless victim, with an arrogant smirk.
"A gift from Klaw." He said menacingly, "Fitting you meet your ending the same way your father did. But you are not even the man he was.
You go to outsiders for help. No outsider can help you now."
Man-Ape then raised his left fist and prepared to bring it down on the young Panthers head. Suddenly the entire ground began to shake, grabbing everyone s attention, even those who were fighting, turned there gaze to the source of the noise. The Vibranium mound.
The entire mountain shook as if something was trying to get out of it. That was proven to be the case as a HYDRA transport burn from the side of the mountain, a trail of dust left in its wake. Kicken Hawk knew that that could only be the rest of the team causing trouble for the bad guys as usual. The only problem now is that the entire population of Wakanda now knows where they are, if Black Panther didn't win this fight, they would have the entire population of Wakanda on their heads before they say the A in 'Avengers'.
Seeing the state that his home was in and how that monster had just exploited the secret treasure of Wakanda was the last straw for T'Challa. At that moment, he didn't care about the pain he was in. all he wanted was to make him pay for everything; his father, his people, his home, the world he had known his whole life was suffering because of that monster. No More.
Gathering all the strength he had left Black Panther rose to his feet and began to stumble towards Man-Ape. The war lord saw his enemy rise to his feet and aimed his sonic weapon at his so he would get the full blast from the device. But to his shock, the weapon seemed to have lost its effect on the young Panther, as the Prince marched towards him with a raging fire burning in his eyes.
"I am not the same man as my father, M'Baku, for my rage is greater!" Black Panther roared as he unsheathed his claws and slashed at the Man-Ape. The warlord gasped in surprise as he was send flying and landed with a loud thud on the ground, his eyes drifting in and out of focus. Then the shadow of the Black Panther stood over him, M'Baku looked at the young Panther weakly as the Prince panted with rage, his claws still extended.
"What are you waiting for Panther Cub," Man-Ape taunted, "Claim your vengeance. This is what you want, right?"
Black Panther raised his claws, every part of his body wanted to end him. But amongst all the anger and pain, a single voice spoke above the noise. 'I chose to be a hero, not a monster. What will you choose?'
Those words echoed in the young Panthers mind, if he killed this monster, then he would be no better than him. Black Panther lowered his claws, "You have been defeated, M'Baku. Wakanda is free of your tyranny once and for all. And you shall face justice for your crimes."
M'Baku snarled at the Black Panther, as the Prince turned to the people, who had gathered around the arena.
"This is the man who has brought catastrophe to our land.
The one who took your king through cowardice and dishonor!"
The people looked to each other, relief and happiness. The village elder approached the center of the ring and raised his staff. "T'Challa!" he called out, and soon everyone in the crowd joined in. Chanting the name of the return of their former Prince, now King T'Challa.
The new King raised his hand and called off the guards, allowing Captain America and Kicken Hawk to relax. As Kicken Hawk looked over to his ally's victory, he could see the resolve in the new kings eyes. Even with the mask on, the alien hero new that T'Challa was smiling, and with HYDRA on the run, everything looked like it was going to be ok.
But unfortunately the universe decided to prove him wrong once again. At that moment the entire ground shook, this time with enough force to make everyone stumble. Captain America and Kicken Hawk looked to the mountain, along with everyone else present, and their eyes widened. From the peak of the mountain a giant mass phased through it, it was purple in colour and looked to be completely made of energy. Then the mass took on the shape of a large humanoid, with two arms and a head. However its facial features seemed to resemble sound waves, when projected on an oscilloscope. It also had what looked like tentacles coming out of its back, only each one had a mouth at the end.
The being the released a massive wave of Vibranium, sonic energy from its body, causing everyone in the area to cover their ears in agony. Once the attack ceased, Captain America turned to Kicken Hawk with a straight face.
"Now you can disobey orders." He told the young hero.
Kicken Hawk grinned as he tapped the Ultimatrix symbol, and in a flash of green light, he transformed. "JETRAY!" he called out before flying to the mountain at unmatched speeds.
In a few short second Jetray flew down the tunnel that lead to the center of the mountain, he figured if the others were in here, that's where they would be. He soon found himself in a large cavern, with several mining cart tracks running through the area. There was also several large mounds of Vibranium scattered throughout the entire cavern, the largest one in the center of the room, where the lower half of the Vibranium monster was standing, as the top half was still through the roof. As Jetray looked at the creature, he noticed that their was a white, glowing patch at the center of its chest, inside it seemed to be a sonic device, identical to the one Klaw had on his arm.
Jetray was brought out of his musings, when he caught sight of his friends, huddled together at the base of the mound. Iron Man was on his back while Ant Man supported him. Wasp was hovering above them in a defensive stance. As the Ultimatrix hero flew down to them, he overheard what they were saying.
"Blasting him wasn't your best plan." Ant Man told Iron Man snidely
"No kidding." Iron Man agreed as he got to his feet.
"Hey guys." Jetray called out, gaining their attention. "I leave you alone for a couple of minutes and this happens." He gestured to the giant sonic creature "What the heck happened in here?"
The three then, quickly told the alien about how they attack Klaw and Grim Reaper in the mines, and how Reaper betrayed Klaw and caused him to land on a patch of energized Vibranium. And Klaw somehow mutate into the giant creature before them.
Jetray blinked at what he just heard "Wow, they should really put a warning sign up saying 'May cause Mutations'. That seams like a real health hazard."
"Yeah yeah, we'll alert the World Health Organization. But right know we need to find a way beat this guy." Wasp said, punching her fist into her hand for emphasis.
The transformed teen turned to Ant Man. "Hank, you know Vibranium better than anyone else. What happened and how do we stop it?" he asked
Ant Man thought for a moment. "Whatever's happened to Klaw it would appear that he's become some kind of sound-form. His body is now made of pure sound."
"So we have to shut him up. How?"
"I saw Klaw transform. I can't explain it, but his sound form is somehow being projected from his sonic emitter. And we can contain it with the same thing that created it. Vibranium. But with the power he's giving of right now, any attempt would be suicide. We need to minimize the power he's giving out." Ant Man explained to the group.
The heroes processed the information, after a few moments Jetray thought of something. "In one of the physics classes I slept through. They said that sound waves could be cancelled out by other sound waves."
Ant Man pondered that idea for a second, "It would have to be a sound wave with the same amplitude but with an inverted phase"
Jetray and Wasp both looked confused at that explanation.
"A sound on the opposite frequency." Iron Man translated.
"Oh." Came the two non-geniuses response.
"But my armor is not equipped with any sonic cannons, and unless anyone has a spare sonic emitter lying around, we're pretty much screwed."
"Don't worry." Jetray said confidently, "I got your back." he then slapped the Ultimatrix symbol, resulting in a blinding flash of green light. Once it faded, Jetray was replaced by a small, white alien only three feet tall. It had a set of headphones on each side of its head , which connected to a square appendage resembling an MP3 player behind its back with a port on it - decorated with a 10 symbol and what looks like cassette tapes on its lower legs. It had circle-shaped indents on the back of his hands which are green. The Ultimatrix symbol was on its chest.
"ECHO ECHO!" the small alien called out.
The three heroes looked at the new transformation in confusion, it didn't look like much and wasn't as impressive as his other forms.
"What's this guy supposed to do?" Iron Man asked, unimpressed.
"You'll. See." Echo Echo replied with a smirk, "Just. Get. The. Vibranium. Ready. And. I'll. Handle. The. Rest."
Hank nodded and turned to Wasp. "Jan, you help Ben keep Klaw busy.
Tony and I have work to do."
The two scientists ran off, leaving the insect heroine with the alien hero. "So what's the plan?" Wasp asked, curious to she what this alien could
"Just. Watch." Echo Echo simple, responded. Suddenly his body glowed green and then a clone of the little alien appeared right beside him. Wasp's eyes widened with shock as the little alien repeated the action, until dozens of Echo Echo clones surrounded the central pillar.
"ECHO CHAMBER." The original cried out, and each clone reared back their head, appearing to be taking in a deep breath, and released a powerful sonic wave right at the Mutated Klaw. The sound waves bombarded the villain, whom of which, phased his upper body back inside the cavern.
"The sound. The sound!" the energy being cried out in an annoyed, crackly voice. As the Echo Echo's stopped their attack.
"I. Think…" one Echo Echo said
"We. Just…" Said another
"Made. Him. Angry." The third one finished.
"Less talking to yourself and blast him already!" Wasp yelled franticly as Klaw reached out to attack them.
"On. It." The Echo Echo's said in unison, as they released another sonic attack on the sound villain.
As they attacked Wasp shoot the villain a confident grin. "You should have given up when you had the chance. Because now that you're a giant, you're going down. We might have let you slide before…" she then paused for a moment as two Echo Echo clones stopped their attack and looked at her perplexed. Wasp then shook her head, "No, you're right.
We wouldn't have." The two clones grinned at her, then rejoined their brethren.
Klaw stood tall as he was bombarded by the sound waves, but he didn't show any sign of stop, and only seamed to get annoyed.
"Enough. Enough!" Klaw screamed at the alien army, "You all make sound. Annoying sound. Sound is vibration, sound pressure.
Pressure!"
Klaw then released a massive wave of sonic energy that easily overpowered Echo Echo's own sonic attack, blowing all the clones back. Wasp, Ant Man and Iron Man all yelled in pain as they blocked their ears, even the mufflers in Iron Mans helmet were defenseless against the attack. Echo Echo, being a being of pure sound energy himself, the attack didn't hurt him, it only gave him a taste of the villains true power.
"This. Guy. Is. A little. Out. Of. Our. League." One Echo Echo said.
"Then. We. Better. Step. Up. Our. Game." Another said.
"It's. Time. To. Go. Ultimate." Echo Echo prime said as the clones merged back together. The transformed teen then slapped the Ultimatrix dial and four spikes popped out. Echo Echo then grew to around Bens height, with fifteen light blue discs attached to his body, an overall rounded design, and longer arms and legs and has stumped feet.
"ULTIMATE ECHO ECHO!" The alien called out. Having sampled the power that Klaw was giving out, Ultimate Echo Echo now new the exact frequency that Klaw operated on. Raising his arms, several discs detached themselves from Ultimate Echo Echo and flew up to surround Klaw. Once in position the discs then multiplied and completely surrounded the sound villain. Ultimate Echo Echo then flew up until he was infront of the villain.
"Sonic…" Ultimate Echo Echo appeared to be taking a breath, "DOOM!" on that word the discs released a powerful blast of sonic energy that was at the exact frequency needed to cancel out the sound that Klaw was giving off.
The sound villain roared with outrage as his own power got overpowered by the evolved alien. Ultimate Echo Echo put everything he had in containing the villain. Throughout his hero career Ben had fought many different villains, each with different powers and abilities, but he had never gone up against a villain made of pure sonic energy. This brought Ben a little out of his comfort zone as he concentrated on using his power to contain the powerful villain.
Meanwhile in another section of the cave Ant Man and Iron Man were busy putting their plane into action. Ant Man held a large, cylindrical pillar of Vibranium, while Iron Man used a drill that was built into his forearm, to carve out a hollow section of the pillar.
The drill sparked as Iron Man retracted the drill, "Honestly, I thought this plan would be a little more high-tech." he grunted, as he grabbed the two pieces of Vibranium.
As Tony went over his work Ant Man, explained some last minute details to the Iron Avenger. "The Vibranium should contain the sound from Klaw's sonic emitter. There's just a small chance that the vibrational shockwave could case destructive inference and then explode."
Iron Man stared at the size-changing hero for a good minute absorbing what he said. "I heard destructive and explode." Was all he was able to say.
"And of course we have to get to the emitter first. You'll have to fly into Klaw. It might, uh, tingle a lot." Ant Man finished.
"Great." Iron Man groaned as he turned away from Hank and faced Klaw, who was still being restrained by Ultimate Echo Echo. He then activated his thrusters and shot towards the sonic villain. Klaw saw the Iron Avengers and opened his mouth to say something, but due to Ultimate Echo Echo's interference, his words were lost to all around him. But with his mouth open, it provided Iron Man with an entrance, and he took it. The armored billionaire flew right into Klaws mouth, and made a beeline straight for the sonic emitter. True to Hank's words, the vibrational energy began to take it toll on the armor.
"This is less like tingle. More like horrible pain!" Iron Man grunted as he pushed himself towards the emitter, he held out the Vibranium container as he grew closer to his target. However the amount of damage the armor was sustaining had apparently reached its limit, as JARVIS decided to point out.
"Structural failure in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1" on that final not Iron Man slid the emitter into the container and slammed the lid onto it, Iron Man then proceeded to fly out of Klaw and crash into a nearby mound of Vibranium. Without the sonic emitter sustaining his body. Klaw's energy body disintegrated into nothing.
With the villain gone, Ultimate Echo Echo stopped his attack and recalled all his sonic discs back to his body. He then floated to the ground and stumbled a bit, feeling very fatigued. Wasp and Ant Man, the latter looking very pleased with the results, soon joined him. "I can't believe that worked." The size-changing hero said. He then called out to Iron Man, "Tony, you did great. How do you feel?"
The billionaire in question had landed on a patch of Vibranium that was still charged with energy, which resulted in the armored Avenger to be in the center of his own personal earthquake. "Great. Now make me stop vibrating."
A little while later, the Vibranium mound had stabilized enough so the heroes didn't have to stay. Ultimate Echo Echo was carrying the Vibranium container that held what was left of Klaw, apparently the emitter that was generating his monstrous form also held his conscious, meaning that the transformed teen had to listen to a very angry Klaw, until he generated a sound wave to mute him. as the team gathered at the arena along with Captain America and Black Panther, they were immediately surrounded by several Wakandan soldiers as the village elder approached the new King.
"The true King of Wakanda has returned. Now we may purify our land of the outsiders and return to the old ways."
Seriously? Ultimate Echo Echo thought to himself. We bust our butts to help them and their just going to kick use to the curb? Talk about gratitude.
"Rise, my friend." Black Panther said calmly as he placed his hand on the elders shoulder. Outsiders may have threatened Wakanda, but outsiders saved us as well. The old ways allowed Man-Ape to do this and the old ways must change." The guards that surrounded the Avengers stood down as Panther turned to address the people. "My first order as King is to let the Council lead Wakanda. A council of the people. We can no longer hide ourselves away, waiting for our enemies to come to us.
What happens in Wakanda affects the world, so I will go out into the world. I will fight alongside our new allies."
This statement left a few of the Avengers a little surprised, Ben and Captain America, however were not surprised by the Kings decision, and were completely onboard with him joining. However Iron Man felt the need to address what the rest of the team thought.
"You attacked us, you used us, you abandoned us. Now you want to join us? Why should we trust you?"
"You shouldn't." Black Panther stated bluntly. "I will earn your trust should you allow me to join you."
Iron Man looked a little hesitant to allow him to join until a certain alien hero tapped him of the shoulder. "He's probably our best bet for a ride home, too."
"You're in." Iron Man said quickly, shaking the new kings hand. If Ultimate Echo Echo could move his mouth, he would have been smiling.
At the moment of the Break Out, every villain within their cells wasted no time in escaping their confines. That didn't seem the case for The Cube; only a handful of the inmates actually left the gamma prison, while the rest remained inside the facility. This left many government officials worried, so after much debate, they decided to send a team into the former prison to investigate, and that responsibility fell onto one group. The Hulkbusters. A branch of the military under the command of General 'Thunderbolt' Ross, who initially formed the group to hunt down and capture the Hulk, but has since expanded into dealing with other Gamma threats as well.
At the base of the Cube a team of Hulkbuster soldiers approached the entrance of the prison as they walked forward the team leader spock over his comms "Attention SHIELD command, this is Hulkbuster unit 221, approaching the CUBE. We are go for recon."
The team halted infront of the entrence and the squad leader turned to his men. "Stay sharp. I don't want any…" his word were cut off when a massive scaly, three fingered hand, reached out of the darkness and grabbed the unsuspecting soldier by the head, and dragged him into void. The remaining soldiers immediately fired their blasters into the darkness, unsure what they were aiming at. Suddenly a Green beam of energy fired from the top of the Cube, which then spread out in a massive wave. The last thing the soldiers saw was a wall of green, then it all went black.
Hope you all enjoyed this one, I had a lot of fun writing this one cause Black Panther is one of the coolest characters in this show.
the next update might take a little longer than usual Due to it being a two parter, not sure if I'm going to publish both chapters at the same time or upload one, wait a week, then upload the other.
like always if anyone has any ideas or noticed some mistakes I made, feel free to PM me about it.
Until next time, CaptainRex75 out.