22 Wretches & kings Part 1 (1/2)

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

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

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

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

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

”Who?” Jessica asked innocently.

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

An offended look crossed Jessica's face, ”Girlfriend?”

”Tony?” Naruto's voice called out.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”What?” Tony asked.

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

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

”Sure, whatever.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”Uuhmm.”

-x-

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

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

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

”He takes protecting you very seriously.”

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

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

M'Baba hummed, ”What is this?”

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

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

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

”And?” M'Baba asked impatiently.

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

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

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

”So why not make it yourself?”

The princess blinked, ”What?”

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

”I never sai-”

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

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

-x-

”So…this is him.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”And if he refuses?”

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

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

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

Okoye could only nod, clear trepidation on her face.

-x-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Naruto smirked, ”You know me so well.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-x-

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

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

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

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

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

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

”I-I'm uhh-”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”Still, it's very impressive.” Shuri admitted.

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

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

”No.”

The princess deflated, ”Oh come on-”

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

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

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

”Extra?”

”Guards.” M'Baba clarified, ”Maybe with tasers.”

”Oh, come on!” Shuri pleaded.

M'Baba chuckled, ”I-”

BOOM!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”Us?” She asked, ”Them?!”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

”Sh-Shuri…” M'Baba gasped out.

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

”They took…they took her.”

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

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

”T'Shan?” T'Challa asked in shock, ”T'Shan took her?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

BANG!

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

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

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

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

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

-x-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The blonde shrugged, ”Why should I?”

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

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

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

”What the fu-”

BANG!

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

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

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