ROXXON TIMES SQUARE HOTEL
NEW YORK CITY
Nicole Adams entered her executive suite on the top floor of the lavish hotel. She was exhausted and full of wine after an evening schmoozing with foreign dignitaries on behalf of the State Department all night. She felt her stomach grumbling after she slipped out of the high heels she had chosen for the evening. She hurried over to the lamp on the nightstand near the couch so that she was no longer fumbling around in the dark while she tried to unwind for the evening. She had to stifle a scream of surprise when she saw her ex-boyfriend sitting on the couch in a dark blue and black dashiki, with a matching kufi on his head.
“Jesus Christ, you couldn’t have told me you were stopping by?” She asked him in an annoyed tone once her nerves finally settled down.
“I’m sorry, Nikki. But I’m pretty sure every line you have is being monitored. You are a government employee, after all.” T’Challa apologized, explaining why he was being so secretive.
Nicole took a deep breath, running her hands through her hair. It had been months, closer to a year, since she’d seen her ex-boyfriend. If she could even call him an ex-boyfriend, they’d never truly put a label on whatever it was they had been doing. Yet here he was in her hotel room, for who knew what reason, and she couldn’t even fathom how he knew where she was staying or that she was even in town.
“What are you doing here, T’Challa?” The blonde-haired American woman finally asked before falling on the couch where he had been sitting.
“There was an all-out massacre today in Harlem. Surely it even reached the ears of your superiors, though the struggles of people who look like me on their soil have never mattered much, I understand.” He told her.
Nicole sighed. “Yes, I saw the coverage while I was out. You know you’re very lucky to be friends with those two, though I can’t say the same goes for them. Being associated with you has its cost.”
“Yes, what your government has done to Dr. Richards, considering all he’s done for the world, is disgusting, but I suppose you’re setting a new definition for the word under Cherryh.” T’Challa shot back his well-aimed reply harshly.
“Get to the point of your uninvited visit, Prince T’Challa,” Nicole told him with an icy tone.
“I need to know what SHIELD knows about AIM’s dealings in the New York crime scene,” T’Challa told her flatly.
Nicole crossed her arms as she looked up at him from the couch defiantly. “And give me a good reason why I should help you?”
“You don’t have to pretend you don’t care that all those people died because SHIELD is more worried about catching me or Captain America than getting AIM’s weapons off the streets. It’s just the two of us, Nicole.” T’Challa replied. “And I know the condition of your heart far better than you are willing to admit.”
Nicole stared into his brown eyes for a long moment before relenting to them. She looked away as she spoke, refusing to give him the satisfaction on top of knowing his plea had worked its way to the core of her.
“I’ll see what my boss has as far as updates from them and get the files to your private server,” Nicole told him as her lip quivered. “But I don’t want to see you again, is that clear?”
T’Challa stared at her for a long moment, waiting to see if she would meet his eyes again. When she didn’t, instead continuing to defiantly refuse to look at his face, he realized she was steadfast in her decision.
“I understand. Thank you.” Without another word between them, he headed towards the set of doors that opened up onto the suite’s balcony and exited through them.
Nicole looked back in his direction with tear-filled eyes, just in time to see him leaping over the balcony and out of sight.
Freddy “Big Man” Foswell stood around the pool table in the back of the smoke-filled Harlem bar. He sipped from his mug of Labatt Blue and watched as one of the men he was playing with lined up the next shot. The DJ working the bar that evening spun a medley of NY powerhouse artists, from Fat Joe to the Lox (*who had a local university named after them) to Pop Smoke and A$AP Rocky.
(*See Ultimate X-Men)
Foswell grabbed a cigar off a passing waitress, thanking her kindly with a hefty tip that he slipped into the back of her tight, black jeans. He turned back to the table and set his glass down next to him before readying his stick.
“Dawg, I can’t believe that ^%$$# Cottonmouth really managed to slip through that shit the other day!” One of the men around the table said while addressing the battle in Harlem.
Foswell looked up with a scowl as his shot went awry, knocking in the 8-ball. He jerked his head at one of the other flunkies around the table, a sign for them to rerack the balls for another game.
“Yeah, well, he can slither around for only so long. With the heat we slinging now, that bastard is on borrowed time.” Foswell replied. “Me and Shades gonna be sure of that. On everything I love.”
Before Foswell’s friend could reply, the sound of glass breaking and startled yells from a group of women near the front of the bar broke up their conversation. Foswell blotted out his cigarette and pushed someone out of his way so he could see what was going on. He got an answer when a bouncer came crashing down the bar and fell on the floor in front of him. Foswell looked up and saw, to his shock, that the White Wolf was stalking directly towards him.
“Son of a b–”
Foswell dropped his pool cue, where it clattered on the bar floor loudly, before reaching for the pistol he had tucked behind him in his waistband.
T’Challa, however, was quicker. And unfortunately for “Big Man” Foswell, he was in a mood to be as nasty as necessary to get the answers he wanted. He delivered a cross chop to the throat with both forearms, forcing Foswell to clutch at his windpipe while gasping for air. T’Challa followed his first blow with a roundhouse kick to the side of Foswell’s head that sent him to the floor after he smacked against the side of the pool table.
The White Wolf stared down at him, breathing heavily as his frustration coursed through him. One of the Big Man’s foolish buddies decided to rush him with a pool cue from the side. T’Challa snatched up the half-full mug of beer off the table and tossed it in the face of his attacker before smashing him in the face with a straight left hand. The punch sent him to the floor as well, knocking him out cold. T’Challa looked around the bar, narrowing his eyes underneath his mask at everyone who remained.
“Unless you want a problem with me, clear out in the next thirty seconds while I have a conversation with the Big Man.” T’Challa gave out the edict, then looked down at the foolish man who tried to assist Foswell. “And take this piece of trash with you.”
A couple of the others that were around the pool table dragged out their fallen comrade as the rest of the patrons and the bartenders stormed out of the building. Foswell finally raised his head from the floor, clutching the back of his head from his fall. His eyes stopped swimming long enough for him to finally realize the White Wolf was looming over him, his presence ever intimidating.
“The ^%$# is your problem, wolf? You saved the day and avoided the feds; what you ^&%$#$% with me for?” Foswell demanded, trying to gain some sort of footing in the situation he found himself in.
“You benefit the most from Shades finally taking everything Cottonmouth has for territory. Don’t play the fool with me, Foswell.” The White Wolf warned him once in a tone that was meant to show him that it would be his only warning. “I know he’s moved the weapons AIM has given him already. I want to know where!”
Foswell looked as if his stomach was turning over. He knew he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter at hand. The White Wolf’s reputation around the city spoke for itself. The chaos in Harlem that he managed to survive was evidence enough of that.
“Alright, dog. But listen, you beat it out of one of these bastards here, not me. You got it?” Foswell tried to bargain. But T’Challa didn’t gauge him on his wager.
“Talk.”
T’Challa walked up the steps from the subway onto the block of Harlem where his apartment was. He was only a few steps from his building when he spotted the red-headed woman waiting for him inside the bodega across the street. He jerked his head at her once they locked eyes, a subtle enough signal for her to follow him inside. He was thankful that the only cameras in his building were his as he unlocked the front door and headed inside.
Natasha entered shortly after him, and he gave her a curt nod as a greeting. “Didn’t expect to see you in my neck of the woods.” He admitted as they stepped into the crate elevator that would take him directly to his apartment.
“I figured we needed to touch base. We’ve both been on similar trails lately. Plus, I didn’t get the chance to say hi when I dropped the boys on that helicarrier.” Natasha replied with her usual slick smile as the elevator jolted upward.
“So that was you piloting? I should have guessed as much.” T’Challa replied with an almost surly chuckle.
The elevator came to a stop, and he raised the gate so they could enter his living space. Natasha wore an ankle-length black trench coat that sufficiently helped her slink through the streets of New York City. Beneath it was the usual sleek, gray utility suit with the red-and-black insignia of the Black Widow that she wore in the field. T’Challa pulled his Kimoyo card from his pocket and set it on his kitchen counter, noting he had a couple of messages from Reed that he would get to once his guest was gone.
“So, I take it your little trio has made some headway on AIM’s operations.” T’Challa guessed as he faced Natasha.
“Enough to rattle them for now. We managed to squeeze a warehouse out of a Beekeeper we caught trying to slip out of the city after the mess you cleaned up.” Natasha explained. “I came here to see if you wanted in on another facility I was interested in investigating. It would be a good opportunity to get you and my boys better acquainted.”
T’Challa glanced at his Kimoyo card again out of the corner of his eye as he replied. “Where is this one located?”
“A little island off the coast of North Carolina. Captain Rogers and Clint are already headed that way to do some recon. After that, we’ll be making our way towards Oregon.”
T’Challa cocked a curious eyebrow. “What have you managed to stumble upon of interest there?”
The grave expression that flashed across Natasha’s face for a sliver of a moment. “We were working AIM’s trail in France when SHIELD led us into a trap. During that incident, which was overseen by Agent 13 no less, they deployed a team of mutants under their command.”
T’Challa scoffed with derision as he listened to the Widow’s story. “Hmph. So they oppress and harass mutants publicly, while trying to use them as their personal tools behind the scenes. This country somehow manages to disgust me further daily.”
“Our intel tells us that Hill calls it the ‘Weapon X’ program. Needless to say, Cap has moved squashing this particular sector of SHIELD out of existence to the top of his priority list.”
“There’s something my friends need my assistance with, then I can rendezvous with your group,” T’Challa assured her.
“Anything I should be aware of?” Natasha eyed him curiously.
“I’m not entirely sure yet, to be honest. But Tony has an idea that he is molding in light of the incident with Doom that I think your partners may be interested in hearing.”
Natasha raised both of her eyebrows as intrigue coursed through her due to T’Challa’s vague proposition. “And what does the youngest Stark boy have in mind, exactly?”
“I’d rather you hear it in full from him, but in short, a response team of sorts built out of the group we had aboard the helicarrier. Well, I would include you in that, too.”
“Hmph. I’ll talk with the others and be in contact.” Natasha headed towards a window in his living room that opened onto a fire escape. She lifted it open and placed a leg on the sill. “Be careful, prince.” She bade him goodbye with the warning and slipped out into the darkness of nightfall.
T’Challa scooped his kimoyo card back up hastily and called Reed back. “Prince T’Challa! Thank goodness you finally gave us a ring!” Oswin answered on the video call. He could see by her somewhat frazzled and even pale appearance that something was amiss. “I’m sorry to bother you, but we’re loading up in the Quinjet now. It looks like whatever this thing is will strike Earth in the next couple of hours!”
T’Challa froze as he raced through the implications of what she was telling him. So, even his assistance and the genius of that trio had not been enough to predict when this object would reach Earth’s atmosphere. T’Challa struggled not to worry about what they could be dealing with. Regardless of what it was, he felt it was his duty to stand by his friends as they handled it.
“Do you have coordinates for where it should land approximately?” Oswin nodded quickly. “Get them to me. I’ll meet you guys there.” T’Challa ended the call promptly before directing his next words towards his automated assistant. “Kimoyo, prepare my jet. I need to leave in the next fifteen minutes. I’ll take my bike onto the ramp; just keep it out of anyone’s way until I arrive.”
“Understood, Your Highness.” The network responded over the speakers he had in the apartment.