HIDDEN ─ marvel

XVII. For The Future

Chapter Seventeen:
Alex

One of the Tribesmen manage to slice my leg. With a load roar I tumble to the ground, yelling in agony as I feel myself shifting back into human form.

"Alex! Alex!" I hear Khari yell, as he slices through one of the warriors and falls to his knees by my side.

We both look down at my leg. The scratch isn't very deep, but it hurts like hell. I look into those hazel eyes and see the concern there, feeling rather touched. I wrap my arm around his shoulder, gesturing for him to help me up.

"I'm alright, I'm fine. Come on, they need us." I tell him as he wraps one arm around my waist and one around my chest, helping me to my feet.

Together we run back into the battle, where I spot my sister and the Dora Milaje about to be surrounded. Shifting back into a panther I jump over three of the Tribesmen, landing next to Soroya who has also shifted back into a panther. Khari makes his way towards us, slashing at a few more men. But despite our best efforts, the Border Tribe still surrounds us. We are trapped.

The Border Tribe can make shields from their capes, which to me doesn't make any sense, but what do I know? The shields grow closer and closer to us as W'Kabi, the bastard riding one of the accessorized knock off unicorns, shouts to us from behind the shields. "Surrender now! You have three seconds to lay down your weapons!"

Growling at the man, I watch him as he counts: "One! Two—"

W'Kabi cuts himself off because load grunting is coming from behind the Border Tribe. I sense a great number of people approaching, their adrenaline pumping hearts as loud as their chants. I look up at Khari and practically see tears in his eyes as M'Baku appears. He grabs onto the cloak of a Border Tribesmen, lifting him up on the rock where he stands, yelling: "Witness the might of the Jabari firsthand!" He throws the Tribesmen against the shields, then one by one the Tribesmen are ambushed by Jabari warriors coming in from behind.

Okoye and Nakia smile at M'Baku in relief and gratitude. Khari begins to grunt like the rest of them, his hand shot in the air in triumph. Soroya and I growl in unison, attacking the men now that their shields are down.

M'Baku jumps down from the rock and the other commanders run along side him as they join the fight. After biting into the neck of one of the Border Tribesmen, I look back at Khari, who is fighting back to back with M'Baku. Once again, he looks like a true leader.

As the fighting continues, Soroya attacks any Tribesmen getting too close to Shuri, Okoye, and Nakia, while I try to bite into anyone I can manage.

However, I keep glancing back at Khari to check if he's alright. I nearly get stabbed with a spear from how much he's distracting me. After slashing into another tribesman, I freeze where I stand. W'Kabi is on his rhino, running towards M'Baku and Khari at high speeds.

Growling loudly, I sprint towards Khari, pushing him out of the way before the rhino can reach him. I shift back into human form, finding us both lying down in the ground. Khari looks frantically back at M'Baku, but he is completely fine, because Okoye stands between the beast and M'Baku. I almost move to help her, but the rhino just licks her face like it's a dog.

"Put down your weapon!" She shouts. I don't know whether to help her or just stand by and watch the squabble of a married couple.

W'Kabi gets off his rhino and looks to his wife with genuine distress. "Would you kill me, my love?"

Okoye shares this distress, but doesn't falter in her determination. "For Wakanda? Without question." She says, her voice dropping to a whisper as she points her spear at her husband.

W'Kabi gets his weapon out, but takes a second to look at the scene around him. Nakia has a Tribesman beneath her feet, as does Shuri and Soroya, but they all notice the exchange between the two leaders. In fact, both the Jabari, remaining Dora Milaje, and the Tribesmen wait to see how W'Kabi will act.

Khari and I hold our breaths as we watch W'Kabi drop his weapon, sinking to his knees, starring at his wife in anguish.

This causes the other Tribesmen to drop their weapons, making me let out a sigh of relief. But we haven't won yet, T'Challa still needs to take care of Killmonger. I look over to Khari, who seems to have already been starring at me. He smiles in gratitude, his hazel eyes glowing from the light of the sun.

I find myself feeling slightly lightheaded as I look at him, but I don't know if it's because of him or because of the battle we were just apart of. I think both.

"Thank you," He says to me, his hazel eyes searching mine. "For saving my life."

I nod to him, pushing myself off the ground. I extend a hand out to him, feeling heat rush up my arm as he grabs hold of me.

Once I've helped him to his feet, I look over to Soroya, who is now in human form again. I run towards her, crushing her in a rib cracking embrace.

Soroya wraps her arms around me and squeezes me just as tightly. "Are you hurt at all?" She whispers to me in German.

I pull back from her, looking down at my leg. "Nothing the princess can't fix."

"Alright, I'll do it," Shuri says, walking up to us from behind. "But only because I'm in a good mood."

Shuri breaks into a smile and hugs my sister tightly, with Nakia joining in as well. I turn back to Okoye, who has now ordered the remaining Dora Milaje to take her husband into custody.

I can see how hard this is for Okoye, and so does Soroya, because she rushes over to her friend and clasps her hand gently with hers. I can see this gives Okoye some comfort.

From the lab, T'Challa reappears, looking tired and sorrowful, but alive and well. Killmonger is nowhere in sight. As he makes his way through us, the Border Tribesmen begin to bow their heads, and slowly the Jabari do too. T'Challa reaches all of us, looking each of us in the eyes: me, Okoye, Nakia, Shuri, Soroya, Khari, and M'Baku in the eyes, saying: "We won."

Shuri and Nakia launch themselves into T'Challa's arms. He enthusiastically hugs them back before letting them go and embracing Okoye and Soroya as well.

I turn my attention to Khari, who is looking at M'Baku with a look of gratitude.

"I knew you were a good man. I am so happy you decided to join us." Khari says.

M'Baku places his hand on Khari's shoulder. "I wouldn't have without you. You are a good man, Chikere, and because of that I want you to remain a warrior to the Jabari. But not as a Commander, but as a General."

Khari looks shocked and honored and excited all at once. He tries to contain all these emotions, simply pressing his hand to his heart and bowing his head. When M'Baku walks towards T'Challa and the others, Khari turns to me, saying with excitement: "I'm a General now!"

I nod, smiling at him. "It's very well deserved."

"With the new title and because of what happened here today, I am positive this is the start of a new era of Wakanda: where the Jabari are no longer separated," He says, stepping a bit closer to me. "You know, I could use some help."

I let out a slight chuckle. "You? I don't think 'The Young Lion' needs my help."

"Perhaps not need, but I want your help, Alex. So what do you say?" He says, extending his hand to me.

I stare at Khari for a moment, listening to a war inside my brain: between what I should do and what I want to do. Glancing back at my sister; seeing the love she surrounds herself with, I decide to go with the former. I do what I want to do.

I clasp his arm and nod my head. "I will. But I need to take mornings off because my sister will kill me if I skip another combat training lesson."

I turn back towards my sister, seeing the smile on her face. I couldn't be more proud of her. T'Challa, the true King of Wakanda, turns to his people and shouts: "Wakanda forever!"

And this time, Soroya and I shout it back too, as do the Jabari, like all of us aren't a divided people, but one.