"By the way… did you finally find Ulysses Klaue?"
Lucas asked.
Okoye shook her head. "No. That man disappeared without a trace. We came back empty-handed."
At that moment, W'Kabi—Wakanda's general—arrived at the research center after learning that T'Challa had returned. He was desperate to know whether Ulysses Klaue had been brought back.
When T'Challa saw W'Kabi, his expression dimmed slightly. He had failed to keep his promise. Klaue was not in his custody.
"Your Majesty, where is Ulysses Klaue?"
W'Kabi asked, already prepared to personally execute the man.
"I'm sorry, W'Kabi," T'Challa sighed. "He's not here."
"He escaped right under our noses. We failed to track him down."
W'Kabi froze for a moment, shock flashing across his face before giving way to deep disappointment.
"You promised you would bring him back. You should have taken me with you from the start. If you had, Klaue wouldn't have escaped. Your decision… has disappointed me greatly."
With that, W'Kabi shook his head, turned around, and walked away without another word.
T'Challa watched his retreating figure in silence, then let out a heavy sigh.
---
Far away, in a scrapyard filled with abandoned vehicles and decommissioned small aircraft in South Korea, a light aircraft sat parked on the runway. A delivery truck slowly pulled up beside it. The doors opened, revealing Ulysses Klaue, Erik, and the others.
"Is this really how you sell vibranium every time?" Erik said as he climbed out of the truck, gear in hand, walking toward the plane. "Needing someone to come rescue you each time?"
"Not usually," Klaue replied casually, phone in hand as he contacted someone—possibly his next buyer.
"Normally everything's perfectly safe. This time I was just a bit unlucky."
"Don't worry. Once I'm back in the States, I'll keep a low profile. And your payment won't be short a single cent."
He sounded utterly unconcerned, not even bothering to look at Erik.
"I'm not worried about the money," Erik said coolly. "On the way back, we're stopping in Wakanda. You'll need to land there."
"I won't," Klaue rejected immediately. "I'm not going anywhere near Wakanda again."
He didn't hesitate for a second. Wakanda was already his mortal enemy. Landing there would be suicide.
"No," Erik said calmly. "I think you will."
The moment the words left his mouth, he raised his gun and killed all the guards.
Klaue reacted instantly. At the first gunshot, he grabbed the woman who had been with Erik and dragged her in front of him, pressing a pistol to her temple.
"Drop the gun! Or I'll blow her brains out!"
Without hesitation, Erik pulled the trigger and shot the woman dead.
Klaue hadn't expected such ruthlessness. He froze for a split second—then turned and ran.
He no longer had anything he could use to threaten Erik. If he didn't run, he would die.
Erik didn't spare the woman's lifeless body a single glance. He went straight after Klaue.
Klaue fled into an open area littered with abandoned aircraft, ducking behind the fuselage of one of them and scanning his surroundings.
Erik approached cautiously, but Klaue spotted him first.
Gunfire erupted.
Both men fired at each other, bullets flying as they exchanged shots.
But Erik—the king of special forces—was simply superior.
One bullet slammed into Klaue's abdomen, dropping him to the ground.
"Ahhh—!"
Klaue screamed in agony. His gun slipped from his hand, blood rapidly soaking through his clothes.
Erik advanced carefully, kicked the gun away, and only relaxed once he confirmed Klaue was no longer a threat.
"You really plan to go to Wakanda?" Klaue coughed, blood spilling from his mouth.
"They're… they're all savages… a bunch of primitive, uncivilized people…"
"You think I care?"
Erik replied indifferently.
He knew little about Wakanda—but he feared nothing. He was there to reclaim what belonged to him, to avenge his father.
"Hahaha… cough… to them, you're an outsider. They're xenophobic, jealous… You think you can step foot in Wakanda? That's nothing but a fantasy…"
Klaue tried to adjust his posture to ease the pain, but every movement caused more blood to pour from the wound. He knew his liver had been pierced. There was no saving him.
Erik pulled down his lower lip slightly, revealing a faintly glowing purple tattoo—a string of unfamiliar symbols.
It was the Wakandan mark, etched onto every citizen after the age of seven to signify their identity.
Klaue froze when he saw it. Then, understanding dawned on his face.
"So that's it… I always thought you were just some American special-ops lunatic… Hahahaha!"
He laughed wildly.
After killing hundreds of Wakandans, he was still destined to die at the hands of one of them.
Bang! Bang!
Gunshots echoed through the scrapyard.
Erik ended Ulysses Klaue's life.
In his final moments, Klaue felt a strange sense of release. A smile still lingered on his face.
---
After leaving the research center, T'Challa went straight to one of Wakanda's most sacred sites—the hidden grounds where the Heart-Shaped Herb was cultivated.
Inside the cave, he dismissed everyone else. He had come to see the High Priest, and the matter he wished to discuss could only be known by the two of them.
The High Priest was still bent over, tending to the Heart-Shaped Herbs as always. T'Challa followed the path and stopped in front of him.
"You failed to complete your mission as planned, didn't you?"
The High Priest looked up calmly. News of the failure had already spread. As High Priest, he naturally knew.
"What really happened to Uncle N'Jobu back then?"
T'Challa asked.
"My father only ever told me that he disappeared."
The question startled the High Priest. He hadn't expected T'Challa to bring this up. The incident had long since become a forbidden topic in Wakanda, sealed by strict orders of silence.
"What are you trying to say?"
The High Priest steadied himself and continued tending the herbs.
"I saw someone," T'Challa said slowly.
"He was wearing the same ring as me."
He touched the ring on his finger—the one King T'Chaka had given him. It had once belonged to his grandfather.
"That's impossible!"
The High Priest straightened abruptly, staring at T'Challa with rare intensity.
"I saw it clearly," T'Challa said firmly.
"He was the one who took Ulysses Klaue from me. I would never mistake this ring. He was wearing the same one—my grandfather's ring."
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