OUTCASTS ▻ ERIK KILLMONGER.

01. | TO THE COAST

ONE.

KUASA LEARNED BACK IN HER CHAIR WITH A RESIGNED SIGH, HER GAZE FOCUSED SOLELY ON THE SUNRISE DISPLAYED BEFORE HER. She often wondered why as a child she never saw the beauty in sunrises. The symbol they were for a new day so you could just leave all the troubles of yesterday behind.

Maybe that was why she never liked them. Because she was always so focused on the bad that sunrises represented, she missed the good.

"Kuasa."

Her eyebrows drew together in annoyance, turning to spare the person whom had disturbed her brief moment of peace an irritated glance. "What?"

Anika- one of her most loyal followers- stood in the middle of her office quite awkwardly, one hand tucked in her pocket while the other nursed her smartphone. "We have a hit."

At this, Kuasa's annoyance simmered down and she turned completely to give Anika her full attention. "Go on," She instructed with a wave.

Anika pulled her hand from her pocket, reaching over to turn the holographic projector on. "Ulysses Klaue," As she spoke, various images of the man himself and his many business transactions appeared before Kuasa. "Rumoured to be selling an, and I quote, “indestructible, vibration absorbent, priceless metal”."

Kuasa pursed her lips together. It was obvious what metal he was talking about, there was only one like it. Not even Adamantium reached it's standards. "Vibranium," She mumbled, clasping her hands together.

After a brief inspection of the thief, Kuasa's gaze caught a distinct marking on his neck. "That," She said with narrowed eyes, lifting a hand to point the marking out. "I've seen it before. What is it?"

"Uh," Anika's fingers worked speedily as she searched for any information regarding the marking. "It- it's a brand," She told Kuasa, who in turn, muttered a quiet ‘obviously’ under her breath.

"In what dialect?" She then asked, leaning forward slightly as the images changed to much clearer pictures of the brand.

"African," Anika replied, sifting through the various different languages from Xhosa to Zulu. "It's Wa- Waka- Wakana-"

"Wakandan," Kuasa interrupted, pronouncing the word perfectly. This earned her a surprised look from Anika who opened her mouth to speak, but Kuasa went on before she could, "And he's alive?"

"Well, yeah." Anika shrugged, not understanding what the big deal was. "Why wouldn't he be? I mean, have you seen Wa- Wakanda? It's a tiny, poor, thi-"

"If you say, “third world country ”," Kuasa murmured darkly, her gaze snapping up to meet Anika's. "I'm going to punch you in the face, mark you with that brand, drag you up there myself and let them show you just how much of a 'third world country' Wakanda really is."

Anika nodded vehemently with monumentally wide eyes. "R-right, sorry."

Kuasa sighed softly and rubbed her temples. "Where is Klaue?" She asked irritably.

"The Salvage Yard on the Coast of Africa."

"Prep the Quinjet," She demanded, rising from her seat. Anika nodded and sent out the order as she followed after Kuasa.

"We're going to get ourselves some Vibranium."

• • •

TO SAY KLAUE WAS ERRATIC, WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT. He was thrilled, gleeful, borderline genuine happy. Business was booming. People would pay a large amount of money for just a lick of Vibranium-- and rightfully so. It was basically priceless and incredibly difficult to acquire.