Chapter 89: Confrontation
A/N: Tony talking to the UN, but that honestly don't even matter lmao.
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“Honored delegates of the United Nations. I come before you today as a member of the World Security Council, to assure you all of our continued commitment to protecting our world from all threats, both domestic and foreign. Funny how just a decade ago, domestic and foreign were terms to be used for inside and outside of our countries. But while the sovereign borders of your esteemed nations remain, the words domestic and foreign must change. Have changed. We are not alone in this universe, ladies and gentlemen. There are allies and enemies out there in the great dark, and this body is more important than ever before as it represents the unity of the human race while we take our first steps into the unknown. It is my belief-!”
Tony Stark’s words aren’t important. Even as he sits next to his father on one side with Nakia on the King’s other side, T’Challa knows this. Oh sure, the American Man is quite articulate, and quite charming too. But it doesn’t matter. Stark’s words are nothing but window dressing for the truth. He’s in control now. Of the World Security Council, and some whispered, the world as well.
T’Challa knew this wasn’t entirely true, of course. Even if Stark had conquered the rest of the world, Wakanda remained free and independent. They had no need for Stark’s technology, no matter how advanced others found it to be. Nor did they fear Stark’s Insight Helicarriers, looming as the massive weapons of war were in orbit around the planet. Wakanda could and would weather any storm.
… However, there was one issue where Stark was concerned. After years of fruitless searching and tracking down leads, T’Challa had come to one inescapable conclusion. Tony Stark HAD to be the man who captured Ulysse Klaue and stole the Vibranium. They’d uncovered no evidence of this, save for the distinct absence of evidence. Specifically, it had finally become obvious to T’Challa that Tony was avoiding their scans.
They were able to scan everything else that belonged to the man, investigate everything he touched and created and designed. But Tony Stark himself was never close enough for them to get a proper scan of him. At this point it had graduated beyond luck into outright suspicious behavior, and after striking out with every other lead and suspect, they’d found themselves coming back to Stark time and time again.
Until finally, even T’Challa’s father had grown irritated with their inability to pin the American down long enough for a scan. T’Challa didn’t quite know how his father had done it… or what it had cost them in political capital. But he knew that Tony Stark’s speech at the UN today was T’Chaka’s doing. He also knew that as far as anyone was concerned, it was NOT Wakanda who had arranged this. They had plausible deniability, somehow.
Regardless, it would all be worth it to finally know once and for all what Stark was hiding. To finally be able to say-
T’Challa blinks as Nakia gasps in shock from his father’s other side. Normally, the female War Dog is a lot more composed, and not nearly as… prone to emotional outbursts. He gives her a curious look, but she’s already leaning in close to his father, whispering just loud enough for T’Chaka… and T’Challa by virtue of being the Black Panther, to hear her.
“My King. My Prince… the readings from the scan are… beyond my estimation.”
Neither of them has to say a word. Beneath the table, Nakia moves her Kimoyo Beads in front of the King so that both he and T’Challa can study the scan together. What they see… it shocks T’Challa to his core. He can understand why Nakia gasps audibly now, because his own nostrils flare and his eyes widen in surprise. T’Chaka, meanwhile, simply frowns most severely.
The scan of Tony Stark damningly reveals the presence of Vibranium on his person. Except it’s not ON his person. It’s inside of him, and it fills every inch of his body. The Tony Stark currently speaking to the United Nations is, for all intents and purposes, MADE out of Vibranium.
Looking at him past his father, Nakia looks downright concerned.
“An LMD made of Vibranium? But then where is the real Stark?”
T’Challa surreptitiously shakes his head.
“We investigated the so-called Life-Model Decoy of Peggy Carter. We already know she is no android, but a living, breathing human being.”
Nakia shakes her head right back, not ready to drop it.
“But what if it is… how do they say it? Refuge in audacity. What if he lies about her to throw people like us off his tracks, but all the while is actually making these Life-Model Decoys of himself?”
That… worries T’Challa something fierce. He opens his mouth to respond, only for his father to cut them both off.
“Enough. We will ask Stark ourselves.”
T’Challa blinks at his father’s stony tone. At the same time, he realizes that Stark has finished his speech and has left the stage. Everyone is getting up from their chairs, as Stark’s speech was the last thing scheduled for that day’s session. As King T’Chaka rises from his own chair, T’Challa exchanges a worried glance with Nakia before rising to follow him. The three of them make their way over to Stark, who is of course surrounded by several other delegations.
However, it’s almost as though he knows they’re waiting to speak to him. And instead, this time around, he’s not trying to dodge them anymore. If T’Challa were not the Black Panther, he’s not sure he would have noticed it… its that subtle. But somehow, in just a handful of seconds, Stark has cleared the area, leaving just him and them facing off as everyone else mingles in other parts of the massive room.
How had he done that? What had he just done?
“King T’Chaka. Prince T’Challa. War Dog Nakia.”
T’Challa and Nakia both stiffen at her casual name dropping. T’Chaka meanwhile, just smiles coldly.
“To whom do I speak? Are you truly Tony Stark, or merely a puppet made with stolen Vibranium?”
If they weren’t facing down a potential enemy right now, his father’s words would have him gaping at the Wakandan King in disbelief. His father was never that blunt. Not ever. And yet, it seemed that every ounce of civility had been stripped from King T’Chaka in this moment.
Tony Stark, meanwhile, gasps and places a hand over his heart.
“Well now! That’s a lot to unpack, isn’t it? First of all, yes I’m the real Tony Stark. The genuine article, I guarantee it. Second… stolen Vibranium? I assure you, King T’Chaka, I have never set foot in your quaint little kingdom. When could I have possibly stolen Vibranium from you?”
He’s playing with them. T’Challa detects no deceit in Stark’s voice, but then to be fair, if this really is Tony Stark… the amount of Vibranium that Nakia’s scan revealed in his body made T’Challa’s enhanced senses from the Heart-Shaped Herb pointless. At least when it comes to listening for lies. Who knows what the man could be capable of, all things considered?
“… Do not insult our intelligence, Mister Stark. We know you are the one who sent us Ulysses Klaue… after helping yourself to the Vibranium he stole from us. How else do you explain the amount of Vibranium we scanned inside of your body?”
Far from getting angry or cagey or defensive… Tony Stark grins.
“Ooh, admitting to scanning me right here in the UN? That’s a big no-no. Still, I thought this might come up, so I figured I’d let it happen and we could get this misunderstanding cleared away asap. First of all, don’t know what you’re talking about when it comes to Klaue. I’ve ran into the man once or twice in a past life, but I haven’t seen him in years.”
All truth, again, or so T’Challa’s senses told him. And indeed, in their research of Stark, they had uncovered a couple of run ins between the man and Klaue at a couple of conferences back before Stark had been kidnapped and tortured by terrorists for three months in Afghanistan. That’s what he must have meant by ‘a past life’ since it was obvious even to T’Challa how much the American had changed from the man he was before 2008, to the man he was today six years later.
“Second of all… there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for the Vibranium I have on hand. And no, not a single ounce of it belongs to Wakanda, King T’Chaka.”
Stark snaps his fingers and T’Challa tenses, hackles raised as a glowing hologram appears between them. It’s not an attack so he forces himself to calm down, even as he finds himself staring at a map of their Solar System alongside his father and Nakia.
Grinning wickedly and leaning forward in a conspiratory fashion, Tony winks through the hologram at them.
“Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve been a busy little bee. The places in red are my mining operations.”
T’Challa’s eyes widen as he looks and sees how much red there is on the holographic map. Stark’s mining operations cover most of the Asteroid Belt AND the Kuiper Belt, as well as most of the Solar System’s moons and planets.
“And the green spots are where I’ve found Vibranium.”
No. But even as that one word resounds through T’Challa’s head… Stark’s little presentation cares little for his internal denial. All across Stark’s so-called mining operations, spots of green appear. Lots of spots of green. Not on every moon, or planet, or even most… but enough. Enough for T’Challa to feel a horror filling his every being.
Tony looks at them all curiously, even as the three Wakandans stand there in silence.
“You didn’t really think you guys had the only source of Vibranium in the galaxy or something, right? The Vibranium that landed in Wakanda was a nice big honkin’ rock, don’t get me wrong… but before it hit Earth, it struck quite a few other places as well. And it started out a LOT bigger.”
T’Challa watches as Stark’s hologram runs a conceptual program detailing what the American Man is talking about. The Wakandan Prince observes as a truly massive meteorite enters their Solar System, presumably hundreds of thousands of years ago. He watches as it bounces off a moon that was covered in green, then ricochets its way through both belts of asteroids, before finally, far smaller and much diminished in size, landing on Earth in Wakanda.
If Stark is to be believed, more than half of the Vibranium Meteorite that had eventually landed in what would one day become Wakanda had wound up scattered across the Solar System first. T’Challa’s first instinct is to demand it all be returned to Wakanda. It all came from the same source after all, and Wakanda had laid claim to that source.
He manages to hold his tongue, however, recognizing how stupid such an argument would be. Even still, it made his skin crawl, the thought that Tony Stark was out there mining the Solar System ahead of everyone else and winding up with more Vibranium than everything Wakanda had combined.
Wakanda had never been to space. And why not? Suddenly, T’Challa didn’t feel so superior anymore. They were supposed to be the most advanced nation in the world, even if nobody else knew it. Yet here they were, thoroughly shown up by Tony fucking Stark.
“And what… have you done to your body, Mister Stark?”
King T’Chaka’s voice is soft and measured, giving away neither belief nor disbelief as he changes the subject. With a grin, Tony swipes away the hologram and just shrugs, standing there with one hand in the pocket of his very expensive suit, looking smug as can be.
“I upgraded.”
The implications… T’Challa growls.
“Such a thing would kill you.”
Looking at T’Challa, Tony Stark just smiles for a second… and then his eyes, from the pupils to the irises, turn the same unfathomable blood red.
“Normally, Prince T’Challa, you’d be right. The human body wasn’t meant for this much Vibranium. So I upgraded that as well. Can’t get blood poisoning if you change out your blood for something… hardier.”
T’Challa feels a shiver run down his spine as he considers how he would fight a man made of Vibranium. Not just garbed in it like he is when he dons his suit and become the Black Panther, but literally forged out of it, through and through. His mouth goes incredibly dry as he realistically can’t find a way of defeating such an opponent.
“Why are you telling us all of this? And how have you kept this conversation private?”
T’Challa blinks as Nakia suddenly interjects. On the one hand, she never should have spoken up, not in the presence of her King and Prince while they were parleying with a potential enemy. On the other hand, he realizes she raises two very good points. And that she’s tensing up, readying herself for battle in the event that Stark decides to attack.
He would never have thought Stark confident enough to attack them in the middle of the United Nations, but when T’Challa looks around and sees no one so much as looking their way… he realizes they might just be in danger. What is the extent of Stark’s power? Could he kill them all right here right now and nobody would even notice?
For a moment, the tension in the air grows unbelievably thick… and then Tony chuckles and shakes his head.
“The looks on your faces. No, I’m not going to kill you. I’m also not going to tell you how we’ve been afforded this moment all to ourselves. I have to have SOME secrets, heh. But as for why I’m telling you all of this… simple. You’re not going to tell a soul?”
What? T’Challa furrows his brow and so does Nakia. In the end, it’s his father that responds.
“You sound sure of that, Mister Stark.”
Tony just grins again, nodding amicably.
“I am sure of that. Let’s follow that road for a moment, shall we? Go ahead and tell everyone what I’ve been doing. How I’ve been ‘illegally’ mining the entire Solar System without their knowledge for years now. Not that there’s much they can do about it. Nor much they’d be willing to do about it either. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is nothing more than a thought experiment to most people. And in return, if you tell on me, I get to tell on you. The curtain gets pulled back from both of us. Everyone sees who I really am… and everyone sees who you really are as well.”
The American bastard raises an eyebrow as the ramifications of what that would mean hit. But because he’s a bastard, Tony still spells it out anyways, even though they all understand what he’s implying.
“Ask yourselves this… upon finding out that there are two sources of Vibranium, one of them here on Earth in Africa and the other in Outer Space out of the reach of most countries… where do you think the nations of our world are going to turn their attention?”
Wakanda. They would come for Wakanda. It wouldn’t even be mutually assured destruction if they exposed Stark and he exposed them in retaliation. No, Wakanda would be the ones to suffer the most, while Stark was liable to get off entirely scot-free.
“We don’t have to be enemies, you know. My enemies are terrorists and alien invaders, not a hyper-advanced isolationist country hiding itself from the world. Play nice and so will I.”
A heartbeat passes, and then T’Challa’s father nods gravely.
“Very well, Mister Stark.”
And just like that… it’s over. Tony Stark walks away with a smile on his face and T’Challa finds himself bemoaning the last four years of his life, wasted on hunting a monster he could not bring down when the time finally came.
“Father-!”
“Silence. Come. We must return home.”
T’Challa holds back a sigh of relief. At least his father is not truly giving in. He can hear it in T’Chaka’s voice. The title might have passed onto the Prince, but you can never truly take the Black Panther out of Wakanda’s King…
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A/N: Poor Wakanda. Lmao.
Also I figure I should take this chance to elaborate on my own views of Wakanda since I've seen a lot of discourse surrounding them whenever they show up in this fic.
I'll be honest, I don't consider the whole "Wakanda goes around assassinating foreigners" fanon to be very realistic. I feel like the idea that Wakanda has been assassinating foreign threats on the regular gives them far more competency than they're really entitled to.
Instead, my take away is that until their reveal, Wakanda is clearly just incredibly isolationist and insular and not at all used to being threatened by greater powers OR actually dealing with anyone outside of their country in good faith because they've just straight up been lying to everyone for so long. Thus leading to every single political misstep that they perform in the MCU after they're exposed to the broader world.