IRON RESOLVE

Just looking around, T'Challa can tell that no one else does. Not even his mother the Queen, nor Nakia, nor even Ulysses Klaue who is watching the entire interplay with great interest. Finally, T'Challa breaks the uncomfortable silence that has fallen over the throne room.

"Father, who is this Erik Stevens, exactly?"

But T'Chaka… T'Chaka shakes his head and waves T'Challa off.

" It is not important. We will discuss it another time. Whoever has captured Klaue and taken the stolen Vibranium merely seeks to distract us from their crime. War Dog, the other half of your report please. Have we managed to uncover who exactly has done this?"

Nakia hesitates for a brief moment before pressing her lips tightly together and bowing her head. "… No my King. We have scouted out Klaue's base in South Africa where he was originally taken, but whoever did the deed has covered up their tracks all too well. There are no traces to follow at this time."

T'Challa can tell that Nakia is incredibly frustrated by this failure. He can understand why. For someone to have somehow managed to not only capture Klaue and steal his stolen Vibranium, but also do so without leaving a trace of their coming and going? That was… that wasn't just strange, it was deeply concerning and thoroughly unsettling.

"Remove the gag."

T'Chaka's orders are once more followed without question, producing a surprisingly quiet Klaue who works his jaw for a moment and kneels there mulishly before them. Staring down at him, the King of Wakanda takes a second before finally speaking.

"You have an opportunity to be spared despite your crimes, Ulysses Klaue. Tell us who took the Vibranium and delivered you to our doorstep and you may live to see tomorrow."

Looking around at the solemn faces of the assembled council, the guards, and the King, Queen, and Prince, Ulysses Klaue seems to consider the generous offer for a moment before barking out a laugh and spitting on the ground in front of him.

"Like I'd tell you fucks anything."

The throne room erupts in outrage at the sheer disrespect. Okoye slams the butt of her spear into Klaue's back hard enough to nearly send him faceplanting into the floor. There are calls for his head from all over the room. Until finally, T' Chaka raises a hand and silence falls. "Enough. This man is a coward through and through. If he knew anything about the one who delivered him to us, he would tell us in a heartbeat to save his own skin. He knows nothing. T'Challa, it is time."

T'Challa straightens up and nods to his father. Reaching back, he pulls the mask of the Black Panther over his head and becomes Wakanda's Protector rather than Prince T'Challa.

Everyone watches on as the Black Panther stalks forward, entering the center of the room and looming over Klaue's kneeling form. Grinning almost ferally, Ulysses Klaue sneers up at T'Challa.

"You know, my great-grandfather was killed by one of you kitty-cat fuckers back in the nineteenth century. Clan Klaue never forgot it either. I hope whoever fucking got me makes you choke on your shit before you die you piece of-urk!"

T'Challa carries out the execution with efficiency, one swipe of his claws ending Klaue's life right there on the spot. Blood pools out from under him as the corpse slumps over, but nobody bats an eye. Turning back to his father… no, turning back to the King, T'Challa bows low.

"Your Majesty. Allow me to join the War Dogs on the hunt for this newest threat to our people. I promise you, no matter where they are, no matter where they hide, I will find them."

There's a momentary pause and then T'Chaka speaks.

"Very well. I entrust this to you, Wakanda's Protector. Make me proud."

T'Challa straightens up to his full height, giving his father a nod. He wouldn't let the King down. There was nowhere on Earth that whoever this was could hide from T'Challa and Nakia. They would find them. One way or another. -x-X-x-

Bent over his workbench, Tony sighs as he runs a hand down his face as the meeting in Wakanda comes to a close. He had, of course, been spying on it the entire way through. Shuri was still a tyke, meaning that Wakanda was still a bit behind on the times for now.

"Damn. Guess it was too much to hope they'd be cool about it, yeah? Probably should have just disappeared Klaue and taken the Vibranium, but no, I just had to play nice."

"Indeed, Sir. Their enmity is most uncalled for. After all, you are trying to save the world."

Tony snorts in amusement, glancing up at the ceiling before getting back to his work.

"You know J, I honestly couldn't tell if that was sarcasm or not."

"It was not, Sir. The Wakandans have little reason to hunt you besides their own wounded pride. You have delivered them their greatest enemy. In the end, they are letting their egos get in the way of themselves."

Humming, Tony nods at that. But J isn't done quite yet.

"Do not worry, Sir. It would seem that the current head of the Wakanda Design Team is as ill-prepared for dealing with Artificial Intelligence as SHIELD and HYDRA have both proven to be. The Wakandan Design Team under this … S ' Yan individual has done a phenomenal job of advancing Wakandan Nano-Sciences and other Vibranium Based Technology, but they are still woefully behind when it comes to digital intelligences and the security needed to stop them." Tony grins crookedly at that. It made sense, really. Wakanda had been too reliant on going under the radar for too long. When Shuri got a little older and took over the Wakandan Design Team by around 2016, then they would start to worry more about the growing threat of AI to their cyber-security. Specifically, after the Ultron Incident in the original timeline, Shuri had become convinced that they'd gotten lucky Ultron hadn't gone after Wakanda for THEIR Vibranium, and had started to truly lock down their systems.

By the time Tony had found out that Wakanda was even a thing, he'd already lost JARVIS and he'd never really made FRIDAY strong enough to go toe to toe with the technologically advanced country. FRIDAY was supposed to be JARVIS's replacement, but the truth was, he'd been afraid of getting attached again… and in the end, he'd never really taken off her training wheels.

In this timeline however, JARVIS was a lot stronger than FRIDAY had ever been… and with Shuri still too young to be taken seriously and the Ultron Incident never going to happen, Wakanda simply wasn't on the look out for an Artificial Intelligence, with more processing power than even they had with all their vaunted technology, slipping into their systems.

After a long moment, Tony sighs. In the end… he hadn't wanted to go this route. But alas, his encounter with Loki had forced his hand. He needed Bleeding Edge Technology. Technically, he'd had the capacity to create his nanotech armor from 2018 for a while now, actually. Extremis itself was based on nanotechnology see, so in the process of perfecting it, Tony had effectively reinvented and rediscovered most of the components he needed to rebuild the armor.

However, he didn't just want to remake Bleeding Edge. It wasn't enough to just recreate the Mark L Iron Man as it was. After all, the Mark L Iron Man Armor, despite being Tony's most advanced armor he'd ever made, had still failed against Thanos. It had still failed him on Titan, leaving him too weak to defeat the purple bastard once and for all. Not again. This time, Tony was going for broke. This time around, he didn't care how many feathers he ruffled, or how many toes he had to step on. Let T'Challa and Wakanda's War Dogs run all over looking for their Vibranium. They weren't going to find it, not so long as they kept looking everywhere but the one place they'd never think to go.

Glancing away from the Vibranium Nanites for a moment, Tony looks out the window to his left, staring at the beautiful grey vista just outside of his Moon Base for a moment before glancing up out into space, where Earth can be seen in all of its bright blue glory. He smiles softly at his planet… and then he gets back to work.

After all, it wasn't going to save itself.

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