Tala || Black Panther

Chapter 4

"There's gonna be a few Wakandan aid workers there. You're gonna have to be careful or we're gonna have a pissed off King on our tails", Klaw said, looking at me with a pointed look.

"Fuck their stupid king. If I see a Wakandan, you can be sure that's the last you'll see of them. I don't give a damn who comes after me for it. I'll hunt them all down, just like they hunted Pops down that night", I ranted, my voice breaking near the end. Tears sprang up in my eyes at the mention of our dead Father. It's been more than 10 years now, but it still doesn't make it any easier without him.

"If you ask me, we should bring a few of 'em home with us. Hold 'em hostage and bring the King over to us. He should be given the full experience of dying by the hands of his own family. The Lord knows he deserves that much at least for what he did to his own brother!", Erik yelled, backing me up.

Klaw put his hands up in surrender.

"I'm sorry, but if you're planning on doing what you're saying, I'm gonna have to leave you here and make the trip alone."

I growled in frustration, turning to look at Erik.

"Man, why do we even tell this asshole anything anyways!?", I yelled, referring to Klaw.

"Tala", Erik said, his eyes widening. He stepped closer to me, his lips moving but I couldn't focus on what exactly he was saying. One Erik turned into three, then back to one again. I closed my eyes and shook my head, trying to get rid of the sound of blood pumping in my head. I felt hands on my cheeks, and the sound of Erik's voice.

"Calm down, Tala. Breathe", I heard him say. I opened my eyes, taking deep breaths.

"You're eyes changed colour...again", Erik mumbled, holding my face with only one hand now when he saw I was calming down.

"I got pissed off...again", I replied, jerking my head away from his hand and taking a few stops away from him.

"Tell you what. How about we compromise, huh? We steal the shield together, and I leave the pair of you in Nigeria to kill all the Wakandan's your heart desires", Klaw suggested, raising his eyebrows at the end.

"You telling me you don't want in on this? Didn't they kill your Grandad or something, or chop off your arm?", I asked him.

"That was my great-grandad who I didn't even like, and Ultron took off the arm, matter of fact", he mumbled near the end.

"Oh", was all I said back, genuinely surprised.

"The only reason I'd ever want to kill Wakandan's would be for your father, N'Jobu, but I know it means more to you than it does to me", he said honestly.

Klaw and Pops worked together for years. That was how Klaw managed to get into Wakanda in the first place and then managed to steal so much Vibranium, albeit he lost almost all of it to Ultron just recently.

Not to mention the Vibranium tech that now made up his left arm.

"Fine", I said, agreeing to Klaw's terms. It seemed reasonable enough to me.

"Count me in", Erik spoke up, agreeing.

I picked up one of the burner phones on the table that I knew Klaw had already set up specificically for this mission. He would contact us through the phones maybe the day, or even a few hours, before our mission begun. Erik did the same, following me as we proceeded to leave the loft.

"Oh, and one more thing, Tala", Klaw spoke up, just as my hand fell on the door handle. I opened it, turning around to face him.

"Me and Erik had a little talk before you got here. No...surprises...on the next mission. Please", he said, grinning and waving at me. I looked at Erik but he just nodded, so I huffed angrily before walking out of the door.

I knew they were talking about my powers. They were always talking about my powers.

Okay, I guess a little story time is due.

It's no secret to anyone that Erik was my half brother. We were only related by Pops because I had a different mother. Pops didn't even know I existed, because by the time my Ma discovered she was pregnant, she'd already found someone else. Her and her boyfriend, also my step-dad, decided it would be for the best if they brought up her child as if it was theirs. From what I heard, it was going well until my step-dad developed an addiction for gambling. My Ma sold everything she could to keep us above the water, but it seemed he couldn't help but drown and take us all down with him.

I was 4 when my step-dad finally cracked. He was in debt to some rich guy who apparently worked for something called HYDRA. And you can guess what he paid that debt off with.

Yep. That's right. Me.

Best Dad of the fucking century, am I right?

I heard my Ma tried her best to run away from him when she found out about his plan but I guess it was too late. HYDRA had taken me and they left my Ma behind all alone when they killed my step-dad. Apparently even HYDRA didn't trust that pathetic bastard.

It must have been only a few weeks, but clearly it was more than enough time for HYDRA to ruin my life. They erased my memories before they tortured me with experiment after experiment, until they created the monster I am today. Something that isn't even a complete human being anymore. The easiest way to describe it: I'm practically one of them werewolves from Twilight.

The reason I said it only lasted a few weeks was because my Ma had spent them weeks finding my Pops and telling him everything, and together they'd found me.

I lost Ma that night. I still don't remember anything before HYDRA but I will always love her more than anything. From what Pops told me, I would've still been with HYDRA if it wasn't for her. She was my everything and I love her more than anyone can imagine, and I regret not being able to tell her that myself everyday. Maybe if I wasn't so stupid back then, I would've been able to use my powers to save her. Maybe if it wasn't for me, she'd still be alive and standing with me right now.

But as I lost a mother, I was given a father and a brother instead. I just wish we'd met under better circumstances.

Pops took me in and I began my new life with the best father and brother I could've asked for. The next 4 years were the best years of my life, until God decided it was time to take all my happiness away once again and Pops was killed by his own brother, T'Chaka Udaku, the King of fucking Wakanda.

That day, I vowed I would take away that man's crown in honour of my Pops. Ain't no man more of a King to me than my Pops was to me.

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Okay, just to put into context for you all on how popular this book is getting already:

Last night I was so happy that my book had reached 100 reads in only 5 days! And then I woke up this morning AND MORE THAN 350 READS!!!!!!!

You guys are amazing. But just to prove how honest I am about updating, I said 4 votes on the last chapter and I'll update, and I got the 4th vote literally 6 minutes ago.

So enjoy! :)

How about 6 votes for the next one?