The Conceptual Deck

Chapter 64: Delivering a message

Tony, Ema, and I all sat on one side of Tony's dining room table, while T'Challa sat alone on the other end. Ever the studious butler, Jarvis served tea to the man who had broken into his home not ten minutes ago. Tony sat next to me, annoyed and unnerved, now fully decked out in his most recent armor, having refused to do anything without putting it on first. He had also refused to talk while Pepper was even vaguely in danger, so she was currently in the safest place Tony and I could imagine, my home, being pampered by Alfred. My own armor was retracted, while Ema sat next to me, tense and ready to strike. Behind T'Challa were five members of the Dora Milaje, a few of them sporting scrapes and cuts from when Ema and I blew past them like wet tissue paper. They looked almost as pissed as Tony and Ema.

"I have to wonder," T'Challa asked, after taking a sip from his tea while Jarvis sat down next to Ema. "How did you immediately know we were from Wakanda?"

"You mean despite the fact that I could have googled you?" I asked, getting a harsh look from one of the warrior women. "Who else would be swinging around spears made of vibranium?''

"And how do you know they are made from vibranium?" He asked, looking even more curious. "How do you know Wakanda has access to vibranium?"

"I work with it a lot," I explained with a deadpan expression. "As to how I knowhow did you know Tony was working with it?"

I lied, knowing that they wouldn't have any way to tell. I assumed they had some way to scan for it, I remembered that Shield built a satellite capable of that in the comics. If Shield could do it, then borderline Clarke tech Wakanda enjoyed could certainly do it. I remained calm as the group studied me silently, either certain I was lying or trying to figure out how I could possibly be telling the truth. After a long moment T'Challa continued to speak.

"We came here under the assumption that Tony Stark had made a deal with Ulysses Klaue in order to gain access to this," He said, gesturing down to the two ingots of vibranium I had given to Tony. "It is why we were so aggressive in meeting you. However, I should point out that at no point was a weapon pointed at anyone until you arrived."

"One, I wouldn't deal with Klaue for all the vibranium in the world." Tony said, doing a middling job of hiding his hostility. "Even before I stopped making weapons. The man is insane. Two, you still broke into my home and dragged my girlfriend and butler around like you owned the place."

"Surely if you know what kind of man Klaue is you understand why we were so aggressive?" T'Challa pointed out.

"Why did you immediately assume that's how he got access to vibranium?" I asked, diverting the conversation. "And if you could find this vibranium, why can't you find Klaue like."

"Klaue managed to attack and rob Wakanda, killing many of my people in the process. He is the only source of vibranium outside of Wakanda." T'Challa explained, pausing before he continued. "He has also discovered some way to block the method we use to track Vibranium."

I watched the man for a moment, surprised with how easily he admitted all of this information. After a moment I responded.

"Lucky him. But you are wrong," I said. "Klaue isn't the only source of Vibranium outside of Wakanda. I gave Tony his vibranium."

"And where did you get it?" The prince asked, leaning forward. "Vibranium belongs to Wakanda, it is our birthright. If you stole it from Klaue then-"

"I didn't steal my vibranium from anyone," I said emphatically, wanting to make that fact very clear. "And again you are wrong. The vibranium mined in Wakanda is your birthright. You have no claim over vibranium that is found anywhere else. This. is. not. yours."

"And where exactly did you find it?" T'Challa asked. "Handing out vibranium is a dangerous thing. The world-"

"I highly doubt you have any idea what the world can and can't handle considering you look down on most of it from your high and mighty tower." I said, ignoring the Dora Milaje's reaction to me cutting off their prince again. "But for the sake of civility I'll admit that I agree. handing over large quantities of vibranium to any government could be dangerous at this point. That doesn't mean either Tony or I will stop using it small scale though, or researching its potential uses."

T'Challa nodded, taking another sip of his tea before putting the cup back down on his saucer.

"Wait, time out," Tony said, looking at me and making a T with his hands. "Learning that Wakanda has vibranium is mind blowing enough, what else do they have? Why are you treating them like they hold more cards? I hadn't even heard about them an hour ago."

"They are a technologically advanced society," I explained, not breaking eye contact with Prince T'Challa. "A couple hundred years past us at least, mostly thanks to some of the incredible things that vibranium can do. They have been hiding behind the 'small african tribe' thing while enjoying what is as close to a paradise as you can imagine."

"And how exactly do you know this?" T'Challa asked, his hands starting to clench.

"Because the stuff I make is bullshit," I explained with a shrug. "And there isn't much you could do about it."

"What if we offered to buy your vibranium?" T'Challa asked.

"It's not for sale." I responded. "I use it to make things. Hopefully things that can help people."

"...I don't think they are afraid of it getting into the wrong hands." Tony said, his expressionless helmet only increasing the hostility starting to radiating off of him. "I think they are worried their monopoly is in danger."

"How dare you-"

"Enough Okoye." T'Challa said, the angry warrior hesitantly standing back with a nod. "We came into his home, man handled those he cared about and in the end we were wrong. He has every right to be angry."

"But how do we know they are telling the truth?" Okoye asked, her voice at a forced calm. "They could easily be lying."

"How much did Klaue get away with?" I asked, catching T'Challa's eye.

"The thief made off with almost a quarter ton of vibranium after spilling my peoples blood," He answered after a short pause.

I summoned the deck, yanking a card from it to my right hand. With a flourish I flicked the card to the left, arcing it around to the empty space adjacent to Tony's dining room. In an instant a massive pallet of vibranium bricks, stacked ten layers tall, with each layer containing thirty bricks.

"There, that is four times the amount that Klaue stole from you," I said, keeping my face as casual as possible. "It would be impossible for me to have gotten that from him, correct?"

The Wakandan's stared, their eyes wide and locked on the massive pallet of metal that had just appeared before them. After a long moment I coughed, getting their attention again.

"This is Yes, this does prove you didn't take it from Klue." T'Challa said, eventually tearing his eyes away from the large stack of metal. "Where did you get so much? We have scanned the entire planet, gathered every scrap our sensors could find outside of Wakanda. Where did you find so much?"

"I don't think it matters." I responded with a shrug. "All that matters is that it isn't yours. You have no claim over it."

For a moment T'Challa looked conflicted, as if he was contemplating pushing the question. Before he could say anything I decided to continue.

"How about this, Prince T'Challa. If Wakanda turns over the cure for cancer, HIV, diabetes, the flu as well as your treatments for stroke, Alzhiemers and heart disease I will fully explain how I got my hands on this vibranium."

As I talked T'Challa's face became more and more resigned, before shifting completely to a calm blankness, one that was clearly practiced. When I was done he slowly stood, giving me a small nod.

"I apologize for this misunderstanding." He said, his face calm despite his clenched fists. "Mr Stark, you will receive payment for the damage to your home due to our mistake. We ask that you keep the secrets of Wakanda to yourself. While you may be frustrated and angry by our actions please understand that I acted with the hope of capturing a dangerous criminal and that revealing our true nature would put thousands of innocent peoples lives at risk and put our way of life in danger. Have a good day."

Tony started to stand, but I put my hand on his shoulder, shaking my head. Prince T'Challa ignored this and continued to leave, the Dora Milaje falling in behind him. About a minute and a half later the sound of a large air vehicle reached the interior.

"Sir, they seemed to have entered some sort of cloaked ship. Energy readings show they are leaving the premises." Jarvis said.

"Dammit. I didn't even think to scan around," I said, cursing under my breath.

For the moment the room was silent before Tony spoke up.

"Alright, what the fuck was that!" He said, his helmet flipping up to expose his face. "When you said someone might recognize the vibranium I didn't realize you meant a secret African nation full of science fiction technology!"

"I had no idea that they would be able to find you like that." I said defensively, scratching the back of my head.

"But you knew they existed!"

"I knew that they were around, yeah, but I didn't think they would kick down your front door and take you hostage!"

Tony was about to continue before he stood up suddenly, stalking over to the kitchen. He began pouring himself a glass of amber liquid. While he was distracted I turned to Ema and Jarvis.

"Could you guys scan the building?" I suggested. "They might have left something behind."

Ema nodded and took Jarvis's hand, leading him up and out of the room, Ema's eyes already lit up and scanning. I couldn't help but chuckle at Jarvis's confused but happy face as he was led away. Eventually Tony sat back down, his armored joints locking so he didn't destroy his furniture. We sat in silence for a full minute before I started talking again.

"They are isolationists, keeping their borders locked down and hiding from the rest of the world. I knew they existed but I expected them to just keep to themselves, there was no reason to believe that they would just kick down your front door like that." I explained, looking at Tony as he took a sip of his drink. "I thought they were all about subtlety and subterfuge when it comes to their business with outsiders. At worst I thought they would sneak in and steal the vibranium, but even that felt unlikely since I had no idea that they would have a way to scan and track it like that. I also had no idea that they would immediately connect you with a murdering thief because of it. Despite all that though, I still should have made it more clear as to why I advised you to be careful with it. I'm sorry."

Tony nodded, slamming back the last dredges of his drink and looking at me. For a moment I thought he was going to snap and tell me to leave or something, but he simply nodded again.

"Alright. Fine. No use crying over spilt milk. But you are going to help me improve my security setup."

"Absolutely. Let's make that our next project. The walker can wait a while longer and we can even integrate it into the tower when it's finished. I do have one thing to do before we start working on that however."

"It better not take long, I want this place to be a fortress before Pepper comes back."

"You're both welcome to live in the guest room at the warehouse," I said with a shrug. "And it shouldn't take too long, maybe the rest of today and tomorrow."

"What's the project? Building something important?"

"No. I'm going to finish knocking Wakanda off its high horse. They need to understand they aren't the big bad unstoppable man on campus anymore."

"Uh are you sure about that?" Tony asked, looking skeptical. "The way you were talking about them seemed like maybe it wasn't a good idea to cross them."

"No crossing, I'm not going to hurt anyone. But they broke into your home on little more than whim because they assumed they could get away with it. I need to prove they didn't even come close."

About four hours later I was flying across the Atlantic Ocean, less than a hundred feet over the water. Pepper and Tony had decided to stay in the mansion, with Ema and a few of my own creations standing guard. Once they were situated I whipped up a few things before heading off, hurtling through the air at mach three.

I was following the directions of a new tracking tablet, this one tuned to vibranium. It was leading me to East Africa, though there were spots of vibranium all over the planet. I had also made a knowledge ring containing the language T'Challa had spoken, which ended up being Xosa. I went through a half dozen different language rings until his words made sense in my head, a bizarre feeling to say the least. I had already put a universal translator on the list of things to make.

It was completely dark as land appeared in the distance. I quickly activated my stealth band, the replacement for my first attempts at invisibility. My body faded from sight completely, no glimmer of distorted light or shimmer of movements. It also completely removed my ability to make sound outside of my suit, eliminated any smell I might be carrying as well as preventing me from making footprints, as well as a half dozen other features to keep me hidden. Even Ema, with her amazing scanning abilities, struggled to find me. It was the perfect stealth tool and this was the first time I was using it outside of my warehouse.

With the need to slow down to prevent my sonic boom from alerting people to my presence no longer required, I made a beeline for Wakanda. Eventually, as I got close to the border I slowed and activated my enhanced sight, switching to electricity vision. For a long while I flew around slowly, keeping my eyes peeled.

Eventually almost three hours later I spotted what I was waiting for. The outline of an aircraft of some kind, barely a glimmer to the naked eye, was lit up by the incredibly complex electronics inside. I flew around and matched its speed, flying just a few feet above it.

While talking about my plan to Tony, we had hypothesized that the country must have a way of hiding itself, since any satellite image would show any clearly advanced cities. I could probably come up with a way to breach those protections, but if I wanted to remain stealthy then just blasting my way through wouldn't work. So instead of doing that, and instead of flying around aimlessly trying to find the actual city hub, I took advantage of normal traffic.

I flew in formation with the large ship for about twenty minutes before it started to descend, angling downwards gradually. It was flying straight towards a tree covered mountain, one that showed no signs of development. Nevertheless it continued on its path with no hesitation, flying straight. Moments before it would have crashed into the mountain side a portion of it flickered and faded, the illusion broken just enough to let the ship, and me in.

We flew through what seemed like a dozen different layers, passing through a massive array of projected domes. The temptation to reach out and touch one of the layers as I passed was strong, but I resisted it for now. Instead I stuck close to the aircraft, only peeling off on my own when I was sure we were through.

The city looked impressive, lit up like any other city in the night. It was a fusion of advanced technology and traditional construction, at least that was what I assumed it was, considering I was as far from an expert on traditional African anything as someone could get. I could see some sort of maglev train crossing the river that cut the city into two parts.

As I watched the city for a moment, the outline of the ship became more real, telling me that its pilot had turned off its cloak. I looked around, internally debating for a moment before slowly descending, heading to where the river beneath me was its widest. I slowed at the surface of the water, letting myself slowly sink in before collapsing my wings. I sank down into the water silently, my heavy armor weighing me down. My armor could survive the vacuum of space and contained an air supply long enough for hours at a time, but sinking to the bottom of the river still made me incredibly nervous.

Working as quickly as I could, I pushed a landing pad out of the Deck and held it in my hands. After a few minutes of walking along the river bed I found a large slab of stone and rested the landing pad on it. Confident that it wouldn't slip off and sink into the mud of the bed river, I picked a direction and started walking, searching for the shore. Now that I had a back door into this veritable paradise it was time to get to work.

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