IT WAS BACK to business the next day. T'Challa sat in the throne room with his mother and council as Okoye informed them of their current situation. She projected a sand-formed hologram of the target.

"A misidentified Wakandan artifact was stolen from a British museum. We have learned Ulysses Klaue plans to sell the vibranium to an American buyer in South Korea tomorrow night."

"Klaue had escaped our pursuits for almost 30 years." T'Challa said. "Not capturing him is, perhaps, my father's greatest regret. I wish to bring Klaue back here to stand trial."

"Wakanda does not need a warrior right now. We need a king." An elder councilwoman replied.

W'Kabi spoke to them. "My parents were killed when he attacked. Not a day goes by when I do not think about what Klaue took from us. From me."

"It's too great an opportunity to pass." Okoye added.

"Take me with you." W'Kabi told T'Challa. "We'll take him down together, side by side."

The king disagreed. "I need you here protecting the border."

"Then I ask...you kill him where he stands or you bring him back to us."

"You have my word. I will bring him back."

W'Kabi nodded. T'Challa got up from his throne and looked at the rest of the council. "We will proceed with the mission."

"What is your plan of engagement?" One of the councilmen asked.

"After I meet with my sister, we'll discuss the plan. Right now I'm thinking small. Okoye and Nakia will join me on the operation...along with L/N."

"The Lieutenant?" The elder woman asked.

"An outsider?" W'Kabi asked with a furrowed brow. "Are you sure?"

"Outsider or not, I'm going to need his help." T'Challa replied. "And he has encountered Klaue before. Having a strategist like him could be beneficial."

Some of the council looked at Queen Ramonda for her input, in which she agreed with her son.

"If my son trusts him, then I will reciprocate that trust." She stated.

"Thank you, mother." The king said, then walked out of the room.

• • •

SHURI'S LAB WAS located on the inside of Mount Bashenga. Scientists, engineers, and the rest of the Wakandan Design Group roamed around doing their tasks. Y/N walked down the corridor with T'Challa, who had called him over to ask if he wanted to join him on the operation. He was happy to accept, and it was the least he could do as thanks for the removal of his programming.

"So you're trying to apprehend Klaue?" Y/N asked.

"We've been trying to get him for so long. I think now we have a chance." T'Challa replied.

He nodded. "Then I'll do wherever I can to help."

The king smiled before walking past a few Dora Milaje warriors and giving them their signature Wakandan gesture. They continued through and met up with Shuri.

"My king." Shuri playfully bowed.

"Stop it. Stop it." They chuckled and dapped each other up instead.

"Good afternoon, Lieutenant." Shuri greeted.

"Princess."

"Ugh. Don't say that. Just say my name."

He chuckled. "Fine. Then you don't have to refer to me by my rank."

"Deal."

The three started walking down the stairs into the lower level of the lab.

"I've already sent a car ahead to Busan for you." Shuri told her brother. "Who else are you taking with you to Korea?"

"Along with Y/N...Okoye. And Nakia as well." He replied with a smile.

"You sure it's a good idea to take your ex on a mission?"

Y/N turned to the king. "Wait? She's your ex?"

"Yes." He said. "We'll be fine." He looked back at Shuri. "Besides, you'll be on call should we need backup."

Shuri pumped her fist. "Yes!" She then started making her way to one of the tables as she continued.

"I have great things to show you. Here are your communication devices for Korea."

T'Challa picked up the small case and let Y/N take one of the earpieces to look at it.

"Unlimited range, also equipped with an audio surveillance system." She added.

"Really?" The soldier asked in awe. "That's remarkable."

"I know. Trumps the morse code and radios back in Vietnam you're used to, right old man?"

"Very funny."

Shuri chuckled and made her way to the next gadget.  "Check these out. Remote access Kimoyo Beads. Updated to interface directly with my sand table."

"Ah." T'Challa walked over to another table. "And what are these?"

"The real question is..." She started to shout and pointed at his feet. "What are those?"

She continued. "Why do you have your toes out in my lab?"

"What, you don't like my royal sandals?" He asked. "I wanted to go old school for my first day."

"I bet the elders loved that." She replied sarcastically, then picked up a pair of soles from the table.

"Try them on."

T'Challa took off his sandals and stepped onto the soles, which formed into black shoes over his feet.

"Fully automated. Like the old American movie Baba used to watch." She said.

Y/N looked down at the shoes. "They're like those hi-tops Marty Mcfly wore."

"Exactly!" Shuri pointed. "And I made them completely sound absorbent."

"Interesting." The king said as he looked down.

"Guess what I call them?" His sister asked. "Sneakers."

That brought a chuckle out of Y/N, but T'Challa didn't get it.

"Because you..." She shrugged it off and slapped his shoulder before walking away. "Never mind."

Y/N and T'Challa followed her across the room. Before she can show her brother the new suit she made him they stopped at another table nearby.

"I've been spoiling my brother way too much so far. I have something for you, Y/N."

"Aw, that's nice." He replied.

"Captain Rogers dropped off some of your gear a week ago while you were in stasis. It included your sticks. Upon seeing them, the lightbulb in my head lit up."

"That happens with everything you see, Sister." T'Challa remarked.

"Quiet." She shot back and took the single baton out of a case. Shuri handed it to Y/N. "First things first, it's made of vibranium now."

"That's cool." He replied but wondered where was the other. "Unless I'm going insane, I remember having two."

"It's all in one, genius." She replied. "Instead of having to connect two to make a staff, the single stick extends into one. Collapsible like a Dora Milaje spear. Then if you want two batons, you break the staff apart."

He nodded and began to try it out. The lone baton extended into a staff, and he spun it around a couple times. He then he separated it from the middle and now held two batons. It was pretty easy.

"The tips are still able to stun along with being able to use the grappling feature. The wires are reinforced so you don't have to worry about splatting on the ground if you ever go swinging around like Spider-Man."

Y/N chuckled at the mention of Peter. He wondered how the young man was doing. The man gave a nod before connecting the batons and retracting the staff back into one stick. "Thanks."

"That's not all, but the other thing I'm making for you isn't ready yet." Shuri said.

"Wow, is it my birthday or something?" He jested.

"Why don't I get something all-in-one like that?" T'Challa asked his sister.

She scoffed and started walking. "Always whining. And spoiled rotten. Follow and I'll show what else I have for you."

They laughed and followed the princess towards a set of mannequins.

"If you want to take down Klaue you'll need the best the design group has to offer." She stopped in front of one that wore the Black Panther suit. "Exhibit A."

"My design." T'Challa replied.

"Old tech."

He turned to her. "Old?"

"Functional, but old." She started mocking him. "Hey, people are shooting at me. Wait, let me put on my helmet."

"Enough." He said with a chuckle.

She laughed back before pointing at the two other mannequins. "Now, look at these."

They wore different-looking necklaces. T'Challa looked at the golden one.

"Do you like that one?" She asked.

"Tempting. But the idea is to not be noticed." He answered, then walked up to the one wearing a discreet-looking silver necklace. "This one."

Shuri raised her bracelet to the back of T'Challa's neck and scanned his imprint. "Now tell it to go on."

T'Challa mentally activated the necklace and formed the Black Panther suit over the mannequin. Y/N looked on in awe.

"The entire suit sits within the teeth of the necklace." Shuri explained.

The soldier pointed at the gold necklace T'Challa didn't want. "Can I have this one?"

The princess ignored his question and continued talking to T'Challa. "Strike it."

He looked at the mannequin. "Anywhere?"

"Mmm-hmm."

The king stepped back and landed a roundhouse kick at its chest, launching it across the room.

"Not that hard, genius!" Shuri shouted and ran over to the mannequin.

"You told me to strike it." He replied.

"And you didn't say how hard." Y/N chimed in.

She walked back over with the mannequin. "I invite you to my lab and you just kick things around?"

"Well, maybe you should make it a little stronger." Her brother shot back but noticed a purple glow where he hit. "Wait a minute."

This was her plan all along. "The nanites absorb the kinetic energy and hold it in place for redistribution."

"Very nice." He complimented.

"Strike it again in the same spot." Shuri said as she stepped back beside Y/N. She tapped on her Kimoyo beads and activated a camera.

T'Challa looked back at her and raised a brow. "You are recording?"

"For research purposes."

The king nodded and turned back to the mannequin. Shuri leaned toward Y/N and whispered. "Watch this."

T'Challa kicked the same spot on the mannequin and he was hurled several feet back across the lab. He slid across a table and fell to the floor.

Shuri laughed mockingly as Y/N tried to stifle his own laughter.

"Delete that footage." T'Challa said from the ground.

• • •

LATER THE NIGHT the quartet made it to Busan, South Korea. They all wore clean and sharp designer attire, with Y/N wearing the same suit he wore for the party yesterday. Nakia drove with T'Challa sitting in the front while the soldier sat with Okoye in the back.

"It's been a while since I've been here." Y/N remarked.

"You've been to South Korea?" The prince asked.

"Not for leisure. We were trying to stop Ultron."

"Ah. The heap of metal that bought vibranium from Klaue." Okoye remarked. "And built a drill that almost destroyed the world."

"Yes, I recall." Y/N replied.

Nakia hit a bump in the road that caused Okoye's retracted staff to fall off the seat. Y/N leaned over to grab it.

"So this extends into a spear? That's—"

Okoye snatched it from his hand and glared. "Don't touch my spear."

The car stopped in the middle of a street market. The four exited the vehicle and followed Nakia. "This way."

"Bast willing, this will go quickly and I can get this ridiculous thing off my head." Okoye said mentioning her wig.

"It looks nice. Just whip it back and forth." Nakia jested.

"What? It's a disgrace."

They made it one of the food stands where an elderly Korean lady was working.

"안녕 소피아 (Hello, Sophia)." Nakia greeted. "만나서 반가워 (Good to see you)."

The lady looked at her then at the rest. "이 세 명은 누구야 (Who are they?)"

Nakia explained that they were rich friends of hers. After a brief exchange the elderly lady smiled and motioned at the man behind her to lead them into the back.

"고마워 (Thank you)."

Y/N followed them through a curtain and into a dimly lit room. A man stood by a metal detector and they simply walked through without any trouble. Entering the real venue, they looked over the balustrade and saw patrons playing casino games.

"This definitely gives me Casino Royale vibes." Y/N remarked as he thought about one of his favorite Bond films. Okoye looked at the soldier through the corner of her eye.

"Spread out." T'Challa said. "The buyer is likely already here."

Y/N gave a nod and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. He put them on and walked the other way as the rest spread out. T'Challa offered an escort arm to Nakia and walked downstairs with her.

"Is he seriously wearing sunglasses indoors?" Nakia whispered as she glanced at the soldier upstairs.

"I guess that's his way of staying incognito." The king replied.

The ex-couple stayed downstairs while Y/N and Okoye were upstairs by the railings. Nakia was at the bar when she spotted some people.

"Eyes up. Americans." She spoke through the radio. "I count three."

Y/N looked down at the crowd and spotted a Caucasian man walking through. He looked out of place.

"Four." He informed them. "You see that guy on your 3 o'clock?"

"Five, actually." Okoye corrected as she saw the same man meeting up with another. "Grease lightning has a friend."

"Six." T'Challa spoke. "Just spotted an old friend who works for the CIA."

"The feds are here?" Y/N asked. Not only was he still a fugitive, but it also jeopardized the current mission. "This just got a lot more complicated."

T'Challa went over to talk with Agent Everett Ross. They're conversation moved to the corner of the room where it started to get more heated. Suddenly, Nakia spotted the target enter the venue.

"Klaue, plus eight!" She said with a harsh whisper.

"General?" T'Challa spoke.

"In position to secure our exit." Okoye replied. "Lieutenant?"

Y/N glanced to his left and saw some men walking into his area. "They're splitting up. I got a few coming toward me."

"And the vibranium?" The king asked.

"I don't see it yet." Nakia answered.

Okoye looked at the men and saw guns holstered on their side. "I thought there were no weapons allowed in here?"

"There's not supposed to be."

"Somebody did not get the memo. Definitely armed."

Klaue walked downstairs and started talking to Ross. More of his men walked into the room and kept watch at the deal transpiring.

"Six more." Y/N whispered.

"It's a setup." Nakia added. "We need to move on Klaue."

"Stand down." T'Challa reported back. "We can't afford a shootout."

"It's now or never."

"Yima phantsi! (Stand down!)." Okoye whispered harshly, which got the attention of one of Klaue's men nearby.

"Hey!"

Okoye smiled and started walking away, but the man followed her. Another goon turned around and faced her.

"Ndenziwe (I've been made)." She reported before extending her staff and engaging the men.

She threw one of them over the banister and the man fell onto a blackjack table. The patrons screamed and started to flee. Klaue was alerted and tried to shoot Ross, but the agent shielded himself with the briefcase of diamonds he had. He went into cover behind a table with T'Challa.

"Kill them all!" Klaue shouted.

The men near Y/N hadn't spotted him yet and were aiming at Nakia below, who was currenlty occupied with another set of goons.

He quickly grabbed the man's arm and snapped it before tossing him over the railing. Before his colleague could engage, Y/N hit him in the stomach with a back kick and then spun back around to land a roundhouse kick.

"Over there!" Another man shouted at pointed at that soldier. He along with three other men started running toward him.

Y/N took off his sunglasses and pulled out his baton. He extended it into a staff and immediately engaged the goons.

He smacked one man across the face and the jabbed the back of his staff into another goon's chest. He brought the stick down and tripped another before stunning him with the tip of it. A goon grabbed him from behind and tried to put him in a chokehold, but Y/N broke the staff apart and jabbed both batons into his thighs, electrocuting him. He headbutted the stunned man and got out of his hold.

The super-soldier took the men down and looked downstairs to see T'Challa fighting more goons. Y/N used his billy-club to grapple the beam above and swung down, kicking one of the attackers away as T'Challa finished off another.

Okoye came down as well, joining Y/N, Nakia, and T'Challa in fighting the goons on the ground floor. The king then looked up and saw Klaue running up the stairs, where he quickly jumped onto a table and used his panther-like agility to leap onto the second floor.

"Umbulali! (Murderer!)" He shouted at the arms dealer.

Klaue tried to shoot at T'Challa but he was out of ammunition. He dropped the gun and raised his arms. "You know, you look just like your old man."

His arm suddenly formed into a blaster and he charged it up before shooting at T'Challa. The king quickly picked up a crate to block the attack but the sheer power of the shockwave threw him back.

Klaue laughed before running out of the venue with his men. Okoye and Nakia ran after him. Y/N went up to the downed T'Challa and helped him up.

"You okay, Your Highness?"

T'Challa let out a groan and got to his feet. "He's fleeing!" He immediately started running out and the soldier followed.

Once out, the stragglers of Klaue's men shot at them and they took cover. In the distance they saw Okoye and Nakia in a car chasing after Klaue's.

"Go! I'll keep them busy." Y/N exclaimed. He threw his baton at the floor where it bounced off and hit one of the gunmen. It ricocheted off his face and back into the soldier's hand.

T'Challa nodded and ran down the street. A car controlled by Shuri drove behind him, where the Black Panther immediately suited up and backflipped onto the car.

The remaining goons kept shooting at Y/N. The soldier formed his staff and leaped out of cover once they were reloading. He ran and propped himself up using his staff and kicked a goon into one of the shops. Then he broke it into two batons and tossed one into the face of another and knocked him out.

The last gunmen raised his gun and shot Y/N twice in the chest, where the soldier fell to the ground on his stomach. The man treaded closer to his body, and after a moment of thinking he took him down, Y/N turned around and threw his baton at his face.

The man fell to the floor in daze before Y/N finished him off by electrocuting him. The soldier got up and panted, feeling the soreness in his chest from the bullets.

For some reason, Shuri made his designer suit bulletproof, but he was very thankful now.

Y/N connected his batons and then retracted them back into one. He put it away and looked down the road, hoping that the Wakandans would deal with Klaue.

• • •

UYLSSES KLAUE WAS apprehended and taken to a CIA Black Site within South Korea. Y/N joined the Wakandans to oversee his interrogation by Ross. The now one-armed Klaue sat in the room cackling and taunting them through the one-way glass.

"This guy's brain is a bag of cats." Y/N remarked.

Ross walked up to them. "So this is a big mess, huh?" He looked at T'Challa. "I figured we could go good cop, bad cop. I'll talk to him first, then you guys go in."

Okoye spoke to her king. "Asinakumyeka athethe noKlaue yedwa (We can't let him talk to Klaue alone)."

"Mieux vaut le laisser parler à Klaue pendant imizuzu emihlanu que de faire une scène ici (Better to let him talk to Klaue along for 5 minutes than to make a scene here)."

T'Challa looked at Ross and continued. "After your questioning, we will take him back to Wakanda with us."

"What? No. Look, I like you, a lot. But he's in my custody now. He's not going anywhere."

"That whole deal was a setup. You would've been dead if it wasn't for us." Y/N added.

He looked at the soldier. "Look, Lieutenant. I shouldn't even be in the same room with you right now. What's your angle in all this anyway?"

Y/N shrugged. "Helping a friend."

"Right." He scoffed.

"You plan on apprehending L/N, Agent?" T'Challa asked.

Ross sighed. "Listen, I'm doing you guys a favor by letting you even be in here." He gave a light slap on T'Challa's shoulder, which angered Okoye.

"Ukuba uthe waphinda wakuchukumisa, ndiya kumbethelela kule desika (If he touches you again, I'm going to impale him on this desk.)"

Ross didn't know what she said. "Does she speak English?"

"When she wants to." She answered for herself with a smile.

"Huh." Ross nodded before changing the subject. "I'm going in. When I'm done, you guys are up."

"Agent Ross." The king called out and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I do appreciate your help in Busan."

Ross looked at Okoye. "You see that? It's called diplomacy. Your welcome." He then walked into the room.

Y/N looked at T'Challa, knowing what the act of thanks was really about. "You bugged him?"

T'Challa smiled and stood beside the two, looking through the glass. "Of course."

Ross continued interrogating Klaue as T'Challa, Okoye, and Y/N watched and secretly listened in. The arms dealer explained how Wakanda had tons of vibranium and was just fronting as a third-world country. Ross didn't believe so at first but was starting to get curious. After five minutes he left the room and walked up to T'Challa.

"Your father told the UN that Klaue stole all the vibranium you had. But now he's telling me you have more." Ross said.

"And you believe the word of an arms dealer strapped to a chair?"

Ross paused for a moment. "How much more are you hiding?"

Nakia abruptly stormed in and looked at her colleagues.

"Kukho into eyenzekayo emva (Something is happening out back)."

The walls of the interrogation room suddenly blew open. A man in a mask walked through and shot through the one-way glass.

"Get down!" Ross exclaimed and pulled down Nakia.

Two people came in and carried Klaue out as the masked man continued shooting. He then threw a grenade into the room.

"Grenade!" An agent shouted.

T'Challa quickly suited up and fell onto the grenade, his vibranium panther suit absorbing the blast. Black Panther stormed out of the room and chased after the gunmen. Okoye followed.

Y/N got out of cover and heard the chatter of agents. He looked over and saw Nakia with them crouched over Ross on the floor.

"What happened?" Y/N ran over.

"He's been shot." Nakia answered as Ross groaned in pain.

Klaue and his colleagues unfortunately escaped. T'Challa and Okoye ran back inside and saw Y/N and Nakia over Ross's body.

"He just jumped in front of me." She told him.

T'Challa crouched down and saw the bullet hole in his back.

"He won't make it here." Nakia added. "It hit his spine."

"Give me a Kimoyo bead." T'Challa said. Nakia took one from her bracelet and handed it to him. T'Challa inserted it into the wound. "This will stabilize him for now."

Ross grunted in pain. T'Challa looked at his colleagues then back at the agents.

"Give him to us. We can save him."

• • •

THEY WERE BACK in Wakanda. Despite disagreements between Okoye and T'Challa on whether it was smart to take him in, Everett Ross was eventually taken to Shuri's lab for treatment. The Wakandan king now had to settle down and figure out where Klaue had gone...and who the masked gunman could be.

Later that day, Ayo wanted to see Y/N. They met up at the lab and the Dora Milaje warrior wanted to show him something.

"Is this about the programming? Is something wrong?" He asked as they walked.

"No, nothing of that sort." She answered. "Someone wants to see you."

He wondered who it was, but upon entering the same room where he was once was put into cryostasis, his questions were answered. The one-armed man sat on a bed and smiled at Y/N.

"Lieutenant." Bucky greeted.

He chuckled. "Sergeant Barnes."

"I'll leave you to be." Ayo said with a nod and walked out.

"Everything good up here now?" Y/N asked as he tapped the side of his own head.

"Not quite." He answered and glanced at his chamber. "I still have to go in there in a bit."

The young man nodded and stood beside his bed.

"Are you good?" Bucky asked him.

"Thankfully. This feeling of being unchained...I hope you're able to feel it soon."

Barnes gave a soft smile. "I just got here, my programming might not even be a quarter removed. But...it feels like I'm one step closer to freedom at least."

Y/N smiled back. After a pause, they spoke again.

"So you just wanted to see me?" He asked.

Bucky shrugged. "We've never really talked, you know?" He only recalled their encounter in 1967, the situation in D.C, and what happened in Germany. "All we ever did was fight."

They both chuckled before Bucky continued. "I just felt like having a real talk with you for once."

"I wish we could've first met under different circumstances." Y/N replied.

"Me too." He said. "Maybe in some universe out there, I didn't fall off a train...Steve didn't get frozen...you weren't kidnapped...and we could've been together watching the Dodgers play in Ebbets Field. I definitely would've taken us."

Y/N chuckled. "Alright, Uncle Buck."

"I would've been a great uncle."

"Really?"

"Steve was never much of a ladies' man. I would've helped you with that growing up."

"He wasn't? What about my mom?"

"No offense to Steve, but she was a once-in-a-lifetime catch."

They shared another laugh before a scientist came into the room. Bucky knew it was time for him to go back inside the chamber.

"Sergeant Barnes." The scientist greeted.

"I know." He looked at Y/N. "It was nice talking to you, Y/N."

The young super-soldier pat his shoulder but immediately pulled him in for a hug instead. Barnes appreciated the embrace and pat his back before pulling away. He got off the bed and walked toward the chamber.

"Freedom is imminent." Y/N said. "You'll be out in no time, Buck."

Bucky nodded and entered the chamber. It closed and immediately froze him and put him back into cryostasis. Y/N sighed as he looked at his friend through the glass.

The soldier was about to leave when his earpiece chimed and informed him of an incoming call by Shuri.

"Hello?"

"Y/N! Come to Warrior Falls."

"What? Why? T'Challa wants to finally challenge me?" He asked with a chuckle, but after the princess didn't reciprocate the laugh he felt something serious was going on.

"Somebody showed up and challenged my brother."

Y/N was already jogging down the corridor toward the exit of the lab. "Who?"

"Our cousin."