Black Panther: a Kane Chronicles au

Epilogue

Carter leaned against the hovercraft. "I'm glad we did that."

"We should have done that a while ago," Zia said. "The money and weapons will help but this is a much longer fight."

"Of course. And we'll help every step of the way. You're sure this the best organization for this?"

Zia rolled her eyes. "I've worked with these people for years now. Community organizations are always the most effective combating these problems. And the trafficking of young girls isn't something the military is particularity invested in."

"Fair enough," Carter said. "Hey if I ever advocate giving money to the US military, you better have Amos check me out."

Zia laughed, a bright clear sound that made Carter's heart flutter. "Will do." She took a breath and just looked at him, a bright light in her eyes.

Carter frowned. "What?"

"Nothing. This is just the Carter I remember."

"Oh! I um... that's good."

Zia smiled again and moved closer. "Carter."

She smelled like cinnamon and lavender and Carter was having trouble forming sentences. "Yes?"

"Can I kiss you?"

Carter's mouth fell open. "I, uh, yeah! I mean yes."

"Good." Zia traced the outline of his jaw, and then leaned in and kissed him. The edges of the jungle leaves sharpened, and all of Carter's senses went into overdrive. Zia's touch was like honey against his skin.

"Did you guys- whoa!" Walt called, averting his eyes as he walked around the hovercraft. "A little warning next time?"

Zia broke away and turned to glare at Walt. "Walt Stone, you better have something important to say."

Walt grimaced. "Sorry. But you know what, it's about time! I'm sick of watching you two flirt and-"

"Walt!"

"Right." He gestured for them to follow him into the hovercraft. "A message from Sadie."

At the mention of his sister, Carter lifted his head. "How's she settling in?"

"Pretty good, actually. Bast is helping her, uh, repair some of the damage she caused. I think you're really helping her."

"I hope so," Carter said. They'd gotten to talk most of their issues out, and exchanged stories about their upbringings. Carter was the king, but Sadie kept her amulet and offered advice about the outside world. A lot of the changes she wanted to implement were good ones, and surprisingly Zia agreed with most of them. Most surprising of all, Sadie and Jaz struck up a relationship figuring out how to help repair the damages their respective countries caused in parts of Africa. Jaz shared CIA intel when she could, and Sadie had a lot of insight into how the MI6 operated.

"But that's not what her message is about," Walt said. "Here." He pressed a button on the dash, and a hologram of Sadie appeared.

"Carter! Hope you're not dead. We have a suspicious visitor, and I didn't know the protocol or whatever so I asked Amos and apparently there is no protocol so I just put him in a cell."

"Great," Carter mumbled.

"Anyway, I think you know him. And by that I mean you tried to kill him." The hologram shifted to reveal a dark-haired young man behind her, head in his hands. Well hand, singular. One was metal. "His name is Nico di Angelo," Sadie said, "and he's here for you."

And that's the end! Thank you all for reading. I do plan to widen this to a broader marvel au, but that will be in the future!
-Abby