A long-exiled cousin of T'Challa, N'Jadaka had come to challenge him for the throne. He called himself Eric Killmonger.
And T'Challa, already tired from his previous fight, was easily overwhelmed by Killmonger's superior skills and cut down where the coronation ceremony took place.
At this point, Killmonger took over the country and immediately enforced a no-foreigners policy that directly affected Steve and Bucky.
Though they'd been able to run away from the assaulting forces, their current location was unknown and Ramonda didn't have any influence left to contend against Killmonger after T'Challa's death. She had no idea about Steve's current location.
'What happened to Klaue?' Alex thought. And as if knowing what Alex was thinking, Nat asked about him next.
"As far as I know, Eric Killmonger is an ex-US special forces soldier with ties to people like Ulysses Klaue. Why would Wakanda accept someone like him as their leader? I'm sure that you have enough intelligence forces to know about this information." Nat asked. During the events of Ultron's creation, the Avengers looked into Klaue. So she already had quite a bit of intelligence about Klaue and his associates.
"As far as I know, the Wakandan leadership hates Klaue with a passion due to his action of stealing Vibranium from Wakanda. What's the deal?" Natasha wanted clarification.
"That's because he came with Klaue. Or more like Klaue's dead body. Klaue wasn't in possession of the Vibranium anymore but N'Jadaka's actions moved some of the people. That's how he was able to gather the support to reach the ceremonial area to challenge T'Challa in the first place." Ramonda explained.
"I see…" At this point, Natasha understood the majority of the situation.
"Killmonger is going to use Wakanda's resources to take over the world." Natasha deduced easily.
"Seems like it. He hasn't explicitly stated it but that's the direction that he seems to be going. He has already started preparations for war. Wakanda's military forces are going to be mobilized sooner or later." Ramonda said with a solemn tone.
"What do you think is the success rate?" Nat knew the answer but she wanted to hear it from the mouth of the Queen who was familiar with the true power held in Wakanda's hand.
"100% success. No matter what route is taken, Wakanda can take over the world. I'm not boasting. We have weapons stronger than nukes that can easily wipe out entire cities instantly as well as a defense mechanism that can hold off multiple nuclear blasts. Wakanda is tactically superior in every way." Ramonda said as a matter of fact.
Natasha wasn't planning to dispute her claim. There was no point. And since Wakanda could hide its infrastructure from satellites in space, it might as well have a curtain-like forcefield that could hold off nuclear bombs. Especially if that force field had any properties of Vibranium.
This is because a nuclear blast is not a concentrated blast. It's a large-scale explosion. And a Vibranium-based energy barrier like that would be optimal for blocking large-scale explosions since it could easily dissipate all the force of the explosion. Ramonda also didn't mention the espionage route. Trained soldiers with Wakandan stealth tech could easily bypass government security and assassinate world leaders.
'We might be a bit too much out of our depth with this…' Nat thought as she thought of the many scenarios in her head.
"I see. Let me discuss things with Steve, then we'll see how we deal with Killmonger…" Nat said. She'd realized that Ramonda's motive in telling her so much was to drag the Avengers into the conflict. And she was inclined to join in after realizing the scale that this would affect but she was going to discuss this first.
It would be a lie to say that Ramonda wasn't a little disappointed that Nat hadn't immediately agreed, but she understood. And she didn't have any power to force the two Avengers to listen to her.
"No need. Your information is invaluable. I'm sure that Steve would be inclined to put a stop to Killmonger's actions after realizing how much he could affect the world. So you don't have to worry." Nat knew that she had to give her some sort of promise to prevent being backstabbed at some point.
She didn't know this Queen and had to take all the precautions that she could.
…
Soon, after getting all the information that the Queen could give them, Wanda and Natasha left the room to meet up with Steve and Bucky.
They were given some space to talk among themselves as the Dora Milage guards left to go to Shuri and Ramonda.
"What do you think?" Nat had already explained the situation to Steve and Bucky.
"I'm not sure what we can even do in such a situation," Wanda commented.
"I don't think we can do anything… At least not alone. This kind of problem needs the Avengers. All of them… We can't affect the situation much." Steve said.
"Can't we just assassinate Killmonger?" Wanda asked.
"That would be a bad move as it would paint a target on the Avengers' back and we would be making an enemy of Wakanda itself. Who knows if Killmonger's successor would be any better? Wakanda's society wouldn't accept being ruled by T'Challa's sister, at least not after Killmonger's presence. If T'Challa died and she was left, there would be a chance, but this makes things much more complicated. Especially since she's too young for now." Steve was practically monologuing.
"Should we just leave? That seems like the best move here…" Nat said, "We can try to regroup with the others and see how to handle this…"
"That sounds like the best plan for now…' Steve agreed with Nat's words. They were way out of their depth right now and it wasn't their place to meddle in internal conflict. This wasn't a terrorist attack or a forceful takeover. It was a simple change of leadership in a country that follows a monarchy system.
For now, Killmonger hadn't even acted on any anti-foreigner policies. The only reason that Steve and Bucky were captured was that they were illegally trespassing on Wakandan land. Wakanda did not allow tourists into its borders. That's how they stayed so secretive for so long.
Finally, they decided that they weren't going to involve themselves in this internal conflict and were going to get the fuck out of Wakanda as soon as possible.
…
As they crossed the border and left through the same passage, a camouflaged mass was left behind within the country as he would be enacting his plans for this country now.
'Should I bond with Shuri…' This was Alex's current dilemma. He wanted to take over Wakanda.
Now that everyone had left, he wanted all of Wakanda's knowledge, resources, and foundation for himself. He could take many routes to go through this process.
The most simple one would be to turn into T'Challa and challenge Killmonger again, taking over Wakanda as the rightful king.
He could also kill Kilmonger and take over his place to rule the country. Another option was to bond with Shuri and help her take over the country, dethroning Killmonger.
'Bonding with her is the best option, but I already have three bonds in the MCU world… Wait… Three?' Alex was confused.
'Fuck! I forgot about Jessica Jones!' He mentally chided himself. It wasn't really his fault for forgetting about Jessica. He'd only made a rudimentary level 0 bond with her and after a while of inaction, that part of his body and connection had gone dormant. This happened because a level 0 bond was just way too weak to sustain that body.
This meant that he'd stopped receiving any feedback from that body. He knew that it was there, but he would have to jolt it awake. This was the situation with all of the other bodies that were still in space, not having reached their destination yet. He knew that they were there, but they were in a dormant state.
'Should I just get rid of the bond with her…' Alex was conflicted. If it was before, he would've taken full advantage of the bond with Jessica and worked ahead. But he already had two hosts in the MCU and he had a theoretical limit on how many hosts he could sustain at the same time. He didn't know the exact number, but he instinctively knew that there was a limit. And the limit wasn't as simple as his mental energy. It was a more fundamental thing that he didn't quite understand.
He'd already decided that if he bonds with anyone else, they had to be someone with a diverse set of powers. Someone like Captain Marvel, Susan Storm, and even Jane Foster's The Mighty Thor were viable options.
Someone with basic superhuman abilities wasn't really appealing to Alex at this point in time.
This was also why he didn't outright form a bond with Cindy in Earth-65.
'Let's get rid of it. All I would lose is a minor enhancement to my physique creation ability.' With that thought, Alex didn't waste any time and removed the bond with Jessica.
It was a slightly uncomfortable experience but didn't affect Alex much.
‹Superhuman Grade Physique Creation (60->55 Tons)›
The physique that he could create now got just a little weaker, but that's all. At this point, on his host status panel, Laura was now Host #6. And Jessica's name had disappeared from the panel list.
'I'm not going to bond with Shuri either… Let's go for the least suspicious route and take over Killmonger to establish control over all of Wakanda…' Alex decided.
He didn't want to bond with Shuri. Although she was smart, she was no Reed Richards and he already had a smart scientist for a host. He would rather save his host slots for other girls that would bring something more significant to the table. It wasn't like he had to bond with a girl to have some fun with her. Eventually, 'Killmonger' would need a wife to continue the royal lineage.
For now, he was going to focus on taking over Wakanda in the MCU as Wanda and Natasha spent some time training. It would soon be time for them to part ways as Wanda would leave on her search for the Darkhold. And Nat would run into Yelena who was after her.
***
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