บท 32: What Happened?
-Binin Zana, Wakanda-
-January 29, 2007, 2200h local-
T'Chaka took quite a while to tell the story about his brother, Zuri's role, and the radicalized view his brother took on. By the end of it all, most of the discrepancies that happened in 1992 were answered.
M'Kathu and T'Challa are the most affected by the revelations. M'kathu, because he's the current leader of the border tribe, which were the most affected by the incident. The previous elder died during Klaue's distraction. T'Challa, for his part, was shocked that his father had killed his brother or left a member of the Royal Family to fend for himself.
"Baba. Are you saying that there's a prince out there that we know nothing about and didn't bring him home?" T'Challa quietly asked, his rage only being held back by his training.
"Yes. I entertained the idea of bringing him here, but this is not his home. He has no love for Wakanda, or it's people. I cannot say for sure that he would stay the same, but I can't take the chance." T'Chaka defended himself.
M'Kathu suddenly stood up and bowed.
"I would like to retire for the night, your highness." He requested, hoping to get out of the council before he could say something that might jeopardize the border tribes' position.
"I think it's for the best if we all retire for the night. It has been a trying day for all of us." Sarati suggested.
T'Chaka looked around the room and saw the exhausted expression on everyone. Nothing more could be achieved tonight.
"Yes. You're right, Elder Sarati..." T'Chaka said with a sigh. "I, at this moment, end this Tribal Council meeting." He announced.
Everyone gave a small bow before leaving quickly. T'Chaka is sure that by tomorrow night, most of Wakanda would have heard the story. M'Kathu alone would surely announce it tonight.
The only ones left in the room are T'Challa, T'Chaka, Okoye, and the rest of the Dora Milaje.
"Baba. Let me try to find N'Jobu's son." T'Challa requested.
"No! Accepting a new member of the Golden tribe right now would jeopardize the stability of Wakanda." T'Chaka forcefully said. T'Challa was taken aback by his father's tone.
"We can't just leave him out there! We are his family! We have an obligation to help him!" T'Challa reasoned.
"And I am the king! I have an obligation to Wakanda above all!" T'Chaka roared. "You would not try to find him..." He ordered with a glare. The king stood up and walked out of the door, his Dora Milaje following him. Before he could leave the room altogether, he said, "We would speak about this no further."
When the door closed, only a seething T'Challa and a stoic Okoye were left.
"I might have been ordered not to do anything, but he didn't say someone else couldn't find him." T'Challa said to no one in particular, but Okoye heard him.
"You realize that I still serve the King?" Okoye deadpanned.
"Yeah. I know. That's why I'm going to stay put and do nothing." T'Challa said with a grin.
"You're going to ask him, aren't you?" Okoye asked, already knowing the answer.
"Of course, Okoye. It's the fastest way to do it." T'Challa answered with a shrug. The pair started to walk out of the room.
"What do you think he would ask for this time?" Okoye asked, genuinely curious.
"I don't know. You know him. It's either absurdly cheap or absurdly expensive." He said while closing the meeting room door.
-Clint's Homestead, Missouri-
-January 29, 2007, 1700h local-
Clint left the master bedroom, leaving Laura and Cooper to rest up. Bringing a new life into the world sure must be exhausting. He went towards Lila's room to check on his guests.
As Clint was nearing his daughter's room, he heard three voices laughing. It looks like everything's okay at their end. He knocked on the door and opened it. What he saw utterly floored him.
Natasha, Naruto, and Lila were playing with some kind of robot pony. If he just focuses on that, everything might be okay. But behind him, there's a massive mound of toys and dresses that certainly didn't come from his daughter's cabinet, and he was reasonably sure who's to blame for the mess.
The trio didn't stop playing after he went in, so he cleared his throat, trying to get everyone's attention. Lila and Naruto looked at him with an eerily similar expression. This just served to annoy Clint even more. How the hell can a 20 something man look like his angelic daughter? Natasha, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying the play by play. She couldn't help her self and placed her face on her palms to stifle her laughter.
"Hi, Daddy! Look at what Ruto gave me?" Lila said with a smile while showing her father the robot pony. Clint wasn't even sure that kind of toy is commercially available.
"That's great, honey..." Clint forced out with his eyebrow twitching uncontrollably. "Would you mind if I borrow Aunt Natasha and Naruto for a moment?"
"Uhmmm. There's no need for that Chicke... I mean, Clint." Naruto said while continuously looking around the room, probably trying to find a way out. Clint's eye twitch is now more pronounced. His strained smile just made it more hilarious, although Naruto just ignored him.
Naruto faced Lila and hugged her. "I have so much fun playing with you. I'll visit you soon..." He said with a smile. Naruto then turned towards Natasha and her a quick kiss. "I'll pick you up in two days. Just keep a knife on you." He finished his statement with a wink.
"Sure. Always have it on me..." Natasha answered while patting the small of her back. "Sorry, we weren't able to do the last part of the date."
"Are you kidding me!? This is way better, although less delicious..." Naruto asserted. He saw Natasha's confused expression, so he continued. "My plan was for us to go to Japan and eat some Ramen."
"I should've expected that." Natasha said with a smile.
Clint was guarding the door while Naruto obviously said his goodbyes, preparing himself to give Naruto a beatdown.
"Hey, Clint! I gotta bounce..." Naruto said with a cheerful smile. "You should try and use that bow of yours. You're going to love it. Bye!" Naruto announced before suddenly disappearing.
Clint just stood there, dumbfounded. He could faintly hear Lila talking about how Naruto is some kind of magician or something, but he's still processing how he could forget that the guy could teleport. Only Natasha's gentle slap to his arm snapped him out of his stupor.
"You hear that, Clint! Naruto is a magician. Obviously, guarding the door won't work on a magician." Natasha teased.
Clint ignored Natasha and took a deep calming breath.
"Lila. Want to have an early dinner and see how mom's doing later?" He said while crouching down to her daughter's eye level. Lila's eyes sparkled, and she nodded repeatedly.
"Can I bring my new toy?" Lila asked with those big puppy eyes.
"Of course, honey..." Clint forced out after a pause. "You can watch some TV downstairs while your aunt and I prepare dinner."
Kids really are full of energy because Lila still has enough energy to run downstairs even though she's been awake for 9 hours.
Clint and Nat walked out of the room and towards the kitchen.
"So..." Clint drawled out when the pair reached the kitchen. "Where'd you guys go?"
"Wow. You lasted until we reached the kitchen. Good for you..." Natasha said sarcastically. Clint just tuned out the sarcasm and just waited for her to continue. "We had breakfast in Rome. Some friend of his owned a restaurant there."
"He took you to Rome?" Clint asked in disbelief, which Natasha just nodded to. "Of course, he took you to Rome. How the hell did he even know someone in Rome?"
Natasha started taking out ingredients from the cupboards and fridge while Clint prepares the pots and oven. Natasha had stayed with the Barton's so much that she knows everything in the kitchen.
"I don't know, but I think he's one of his customers."
"I thought every one of his customers is military and law enforcement?"
"Apparently not. I met another one of his customers, but I can't talk about it."
"Why can't you talk about it? Come on. You can tell me anything."
"Clint. No matter what you say. I can't tell you unless Naruto is nearby to deal with the aftermath."
"What the hell? Are you strapped to a bomb or something?" Clint said in jest, but Natasha's lack of denial caused him to look away from what he's doing. "Tell me you're not strapped to a bomb."
"I'm not wearing a bomb." Natasha answered in a flat tone.
"Holy shit! You're strapped to a bomb! We need to call Coulson!" Clint exclaimed while walking out of the kitchen.
"Don't Clint. It's fine. As long as I don't let anyone know about 'stuff', the benefits outweigh the potential danger. The danger drops to zero if Naruto's nearby." Natasha reasoned.
"What happened on your date that your 100% sure that he can stop the bomb?" Clint questioned after he calmed himself.
"I'll tell you someday, but I'm more than sure you'll see it." Natasha responded. Clint wanted to push for an answer, but he decided not to push it.
"So, what can you tell me?" Clint bargained.
"I can tell you about the breakfast part if you're not going to tell anyone on SHIELD." Natasha's answer certainly got Clint's attention, but he needs to know how bad it is before promising anything.
"From the scale of stealing snacks to hiding a nuke, how bad is it?"
"Knowing a dead hitman is still alive and running a restaurant." Natasha explained.
"Eh. That's a low one..." Clint said after thinking about it for a second. "Hit me."
"Ok. Leon, The Professional of New York, is in Rome."
"Damn. What'd you know? The legend's still alive."
"I know right. Imagine him being your server, and your date is apparently a friend of his." Natasha said while setting up the table.
Clint washed his hand and walked out of the room.
"I'll see what Naruto did to my bow while there's still some light left. It'll only take a minute." Clint informed Natasha.
"I'll get Lila, and we'll wait for you outside. I want to see what Naruto did to it." Natasha replied.
Clint nodded and went up the house and retrieved the still pink bow from the cabinet. He decided that it's best to clean off the pink paint so that it can look more presentable. He entered the bathroom and retrieved the showerhead and set the thermostat to high. The moment the hot water hit the paint, it started melting off.
When all the paint was off, he noticed the minuscule engraved characters on his bow. It reminded him of the carved characters on the trees in New York. Naruto must have done something to it.
Clint walked down the stairs, making sure to retrieve a quiver full of arrows and walked out of the door. He saw Natasha and Lily sitting down on the porch.
"What took you so long?" Natasha asked.
"It was still pink, so I washed it. Good thing it immediately came off..." Clint answered while retrieving the bow. He showed it to Natasha and asked, "You know what these engravings are?"
"All I know is that Naruto uses them to do almost everything." Natasha answered after examining it, but she's almost as clueless as Clint.
Clint gave up, for now, figuring out what those signs meant, so he just took an arrow and loaded it on to the bow. That's when he first saw and felt the difference from his old bow. It's more steady and a lot easier to draw the string.
Pushing aside the thought for now and aimed the bow towards a dandelion flower a hundred meters away. He took a deep breath, slowly released it, and fired the arrow.
The result was staggering. The arrow flew away in subsonic speeds, and that's with half a draw. When the arrow impacted the ground, it exploded into a cloud of dust. As soon as the dust settled, everyone saw a small crater with a broken bolt in the center.
"Holy shit." Clint and Natasha involuntarily let out, which is an entirely normal reaction, but they forgot one small detail that caused them to take on a 'deer caught in the headlights' look.
"Daddy. What's shit?" Lila asked.
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