The Sage of the Mind

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The Sage of the Mind: Chapter 64.2 [October 2010]

Birnin Zana, Wakanda

–King T’Chaka–

When he thought of Jega, he thought of the one person who could even best the Black Panther in one to one combat, purely on the basis of her skills alone. In fact, it had not even been months since she was in the Royal Academy, handling T’Challa’s ass to him every other day without even being enhanced by the Heart-Shaped Herb.

In fact, she was a very strong contender to become the Black Panther as well. Traditionally, the Black Panther was always a man but they had evolved past such petty gender discrimination. No, the discrimination was not because she was a woman, but because she was not the King or a member of the direct line of the King.

Since history has been recorded in Wakanda, the Black Panther has either been the King or the King’s son, or brother. That’s it. It made sense because the Black Panther was supposed to be the pinnacle of the Kingdom’s fighting power and the way each King wanted to keep that power in their control meant that there was little chance of someone not from the King’s family becoming the Black Panther.

Even if the candidate was as deserving, if not more so than T’Challa himself. There was no doubt in his mind whether Bast would accept Jeda or not and yet, he could not bring himself to give her the permission to undergo the trial.

While it would throw some of the priests into disarray at seeing two Black Panthers alive at the same, he could have worded it so that it could provide more protection to Wakanda in these changing times, citing the Hulk and the Invisible Man as reasons.

It could have been done, with little political backlash and a bit more cultural backlash, not that the Priests had much power in how the country was run and who was made King.

But there was a single reason why she was not made Black Panther and was instead sent off to New York to head the so-called Embassy project of T'Challa.

Her mindset.

When she had begun her stint in the WarDogs to go see the outside world and serve her country, she had been of the same mind as him, and most of the other WarDogs. She knew that Wakanda needed to hide itself from the world, lest human greed destroy Wakanda as they knew it.

And yet…

As she went on mission after mission, saw the plight of the world, and saw the state of the Continent they were living in, her thoughts began changing. The change didn’t happen overnight but over the years, as she performed admirably in the WarDods, successfully carrying out missions in all the countries they maintained a presence in.

Thankfully, nothing as extreme as his brother but she began voicing out her thoughts, of helping the suffering people openly, to create a solid presence that would deter the evildoers of the world from committing any more atrocities on their people. She wanted Wakanda to take over the African Continent and form a new power bloc over the most resource rich place that was still mostly unexplored and completely governmentless.

He had to actually take her off the roster for her own safety as the higher ups of the WarDogs had begun taking notice of her rebellious thoughts. He had to do something before some of the elders on the council did.

That was two years ago, when she had been relieved of her duty and had chosen to take teaching at the Royal Academy where she regularly humbled all the top students with contemptuous ease, including T’Challa who came to visit sometimes and was the only one capable of holding his own against the dreaded Combat Instructor at the Royal Academy.

Even there, she did not stop expressing her borderline treasonous thoughts to anybody who would listen. She understood her position as the only sister to the Queen and thus did not abuse the privileges that came with that by trying to enact any official changes with her authority but she did try to spread her dangerous ideology in the Academy as well, irking many of the seniors at the Academy.

This prompted him to move her to the outside. The Embassy idea from T’Challa simply came at the right time.

Now, it would seem that the decision to do so, hoping that nothing important would happen and she would be safe and sound outside the Kingdom was naive then, as he watched the hologram of her appear.

“My King, I was just contacted with the elusive Invisible Man,” SHe began and the entire council, which had not paid attention to her, snapped to attention. It was natural as the Invisible Man was a point of quiet interest in the Kingdom as whole.

The scientists had found out that the sphere of influence of the Invisible Man continued to expand, day by day. In small incremental amounts, they calculated that he would be able to cover the entire city of New York and then eventually its surrounding areas in less than a decade. 

There was a chance that his reach might expand beyond the country as well, though that was assuming that he didn’t have any real limits, and even the most optimistic of the scientists said that it was almost impossible for the invisible Man to reach Wakanda. 

Still, they had begun researching ways on how to hide Wakanda from the prying gaze of the Invisible Man, should he come near Wakanda, even if by accident because nobody really knew how the Invisible Man looked or who he really was.

“Speak,” He ordered her, understanding the gravity of the situation.

‘Yes, he alluded to knowing about Birnin Zana. He knew about the Vibranium and about the country,”

The entire council erupted in loud noises at that. The mere thought of an outsider, much less one of the most dangerous ones at that, was disturbing on so many levels, that it weighed heavily on his heart.

“Quiet!” He told the council before turning to the hologram.

“Get yourself out of there as soon as you can. We cannot risk you with–”

“Already done, My King. I am in the car, heading to the airport. I have already scheduled pickup from Johannesburg airport,” She said as she sent him multiple reports about the whole encounter.

He sighed in relief when she told him that she had removed herself from the dangerous situation.

“Very well. What did he want?”

“I assume you know about Bruce Banner and his baby?”

He nodded at that piece of information. It was surprisingly easy to maintain tabs on Bruce Banner as well as the seven brothers, even with the WarDogs residing inside Manhattan. All they had to do was not perform violent acts and not be over the top in their surveillance efforts, to safeguard themselves from the wrath of the Invisible Man. As long as they didn’t break any laws, like breaking and entering or stealing, they were fine.

“Well, the baby, as the nerds had predicted, is already showing signs of complications. Apparently, they have figured out a solution to deal with all the Gamma Radiation, one that involved Vibranium,”

There was a pin drop silence in the room as he processed the information. So, they needed Vibtranium then? The question was, did he cooperate to not only save a innocent life but also gain the favour of the two undisputedly strongest beings on the planet?

‘Maybe even as strong as Bast herself’ he didn't let his treasonous thoughts appear on his face.

“And no, they don’t need the Vibranium,” His neck snapped up at that, “--they need the Vibranium to be woven into thin enough strands that they can absorb all that Gamma Radiation from the woman’s body without harming her or the baby. They need to know how to do that,” She finished.

Well, that certainly made things easier. Still wouldn’t get past the council but it was for good reason then that they were not King. Before he could tell her that he was Agreeing to it though, she dropped another bomb.

“The Invisible Man said that he had information on Prince N’Jobu. He was willing to trade that information for the knowledge,” She finished her report.

He maintained a facade of calm on the outside even though he was freaking out inside, his mind reeling from the fact that this person somehow had information about his dead brother. Out of love and hoping that Wakanda didn’t remember his brother as a traitor to the country, he had just labelled his brother as Missing in Action, and never really bothered to declare him dead, even though it was common consensus that after all this time, his brother was most probably dead.

Could this Invisible Man be bluffing? Hoping that he would take the bait and give the information?

There was only one way to know..

“Jeda, return to Wakanada. I will have someone else deliver the information. Your safety is paramount,”

“Yes, my King,” She took the dismissal and shut down the video call.

The moment the hologram faded away, the council turned to him, no doubt ready to voice out their complaints about the decision but the memories of that tragic night made him lose his already sparse patience.

“Enough! I am King and this is my decision. Sacrificing a little bit of information in exchange for the possible favour of two of the strongest beings on the planet is a profitable deal, no matter how you look at it. We will speak no more about this, that is an order!” His outburst clearly left them unbalanced.

“Dismissed!” He said as the council, although shaken, left the room, and the Dora Milaje followed later on.

His shoulders slumped in defeat as he leaned into his uncomfortable throne, as soon as the room was empty and he had some privacy.

By Bast, he was too old for this shit.

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