Who: Reed, T'Challa, OT F4 Where: Baxter Building, NYC When: Sep. 10th, 2012 What: Panther pays a visit. He brought cookies. Really... okay maybe not Rating: Pffsssh
The Wakandan stealth aircraft descended from the sky with the grace of a bird-of-prey. Sleek and black, it arced toward the Baxter Building- decelerating quickly. Thrusters activated along it's length, and it came to a hovering stop above one of the rooftop helipads. Lowering gently, it settled on the pad- it's engines whirring as they powered down. The cockpit snapped open, and leonine form of T'Challa the Black Panther leaped out onto the pad. He wore his uniform of office, sans mask- black on black. His cape swirled around his feet as he stalked toward the elevator. Scanning instruments rose and attempted to bathe him in various energies, but T'Challa wasn't in the mood. He activated his active camoflauge system, and light seemed to bend around him as he walked- confusing the scanners long enough for him to reach the elevator door. He traced a golden claw across it's surface, and waited for the vibranium to do it's work. Formed of a special variant of the substance, the Black Panther's claws possessed the ability to cause metals they cut to disintigrate. And yet, the scratches in the elevator door did not grow- in fact, they melded shut almost as quickly as T'Challa had made them.
The Black Panther cocked his head, and reached onto his belt- producing a credit-card sized piece of metal. Tapping on it with his fingers, T'Challa held it in front of the door. A series of blue lasers superimposed over the entire door and control panel- revealing complicated holographic schematics. T'Challa waited for a moment- studying the complex systems- then tapped a series of commands into the card. It beeped, and the elevator door slid open- revealing the empty shaft within.
T'Challa stepped into the darkness. He tumbled through the narrow metal corridor for barely five seconds, when he extended his legs to either side- catching himself each side of the shaft with a booted foot, in a perfect split. Grunting with the effort, T'Challa hung there for a moment, then slid into an open ventilation shaft. He crawled through the cramped tunnel with ease, until he reached a junction and was sucked into a huge open space. A dozen ventilation units opened into the same room, and as he tumbled into it- T'Challa found himself suddenly weightless. Hovering in the strange, spherical space, he pondered his predicament. He tapped a series of commands into his belt, and the soles of his boots magnetized- pulling him toward the wall. Able to move once more, T'Challa crawled into one of the ducts, and disappeared.
Minutes later, in a hallway outside Reed Richard's lab- a pair of golden points suddenly cut through the roof. They spun in opposite directions until they finished a circle, and a heartbeat later the Black Panther fell into the hall. Catching himself and the plate he had cut out, T'Challa hung from the hole he had made- quickly placing the metal back above him- where it began to repair itself, reconnecting with the roof. He let go just as a blob of metal was about to seal over the spot from which he hung, and landed silently on the floor. Striding through toward the Lab, T'Challa saw- to his relief- that the Vault doors were open. Had they been closed and seals, he doubted there was anyone alive other than Reed (perhaps Susan) who could open them.
Entering the strange and wonderful place that was Reed Richard's lab, T'Challa wasted no time, pulling instruments from his belt. Seeing a small form hunched over a work bench, T'Challa immediately went over to him. "Reed- hold still!" T'Challa barked abruptly, as he raised the strange apparatus over the teenage version of his old friend...