Chapter 47: Tensions Rise like the Tides...

"You did WHAT?!" Laura's voice was as sharp as her claws.

"Fucking idiot-- why can't we ever leave you alone? If you aren't talking to SHIELD Agents you're trying to collapse the Wakandan Government..." Daken snarled.

"OOH!-- Hey hey... what's the one called in the stories that changes the plot or drives it forward? The.... proponent?-- No... the propulsion!"

"Protagonist." Gabbie said as she sat on Raze's shoulders.

"HAHA! Yes!... how protagonist like of you, Bronte. So arrogant and.... cool." Sometimes Bronte couldn't tell when Raze was being sarcastic and simply dense.

"Aye-- all of ya'll can kiss my ass. I stood on my beliefs as far as I'm concerned, how would I look letting a kid die for no reason? His whole family watching....? Did we ever do that on the road? Deliberately at that? Get serious." Bronte said as they stood in a sort of meeting room. A circle of important looking chairs of distinctly different color occupied the middle of the room. The backdrop of light from the wall of windows in front of them was all the illumination he needed to see their discomfort.

In that same breath he watched Laura sigh and untighten. Daken.... was a different story.

"Dios mio... this is why I hate politics." Laura growled just as the doors into the council room burst open. He half expected to see Gentle's giant frame before remembering he was in the hospital care.

The Elders that previously watched the battle only half an hour ago stormed in, faces twisted with anger and ocean-deep levels of critical thinking-- among them was W'Kabi, Bronte's father. He looked..... torn. Ororo and T'Challa were the last to enter with Azari and Kymera close by.

Kymera broke free of her mothers grip the moment she saw Bronte and lunged at him, wrapping her small arms around his waist tightly.

"Thank..... you for helping Azari." Kymera mumbled as her black and white speckled afro rubbed into his torn clothing.

She wasn't much older than his other siblings.... and like Junior, she would probably grow into a Mutant. For that she'd see worse without a doubt, but not this time.

Bronte patted her coarse hair, "Don't even sweat it."

He looked up just as Azari passed him. They shared a single glance, nothing more. Nothing less. Kymera let go and ran to join him as he limped along with the others. As he watched them all take seats and stand behind their Elders, he couldn't help but notice how robotic-- formulaic it all felt. His nose told him a dozen different conversations could've fired off at any moment, but they didn't. The circle was sacred-- that or the discussion. The Dora Milaje that spilled into the room matched the tone, forming up at the door with spears. His mother didn't look, but he could feel her attention.

"Will the remaining members in the Council Room take their seats and stands among their people." T'Challa announced.

Bronte fell in behind Ororo's seat with Kymera and his siblings. Azari breathed raggedly as he kneeled beside his fathers seat.

"We are all gathered here for one reason. We may have a dozen arguments..... a hundred subjects to address and discuss. But it is all one reason. The arrival of Bronte Connors-- previously known as James Munroe." T'Challa started.

"His arrival was barely sanctioned-- and still once he comes, he acts out of line and threatens the progress of Wakanda." The Border Tribe Elder spat out, his greyed hairs adorned the top of his head like ice over the ocean of his blue robes. W'Kabi tried not to cringe as he stood behind him.

"His arrival was sanctioned-- by the King and Queen. And the progress of Wakanda is threatened by Namor."

The name silenced the room in the ways only a man placing a gun on a table could. A reaction that came from the instant interjection of violence. Sometimes the thought was worse than the action. Bronte learned that after watching Daken interrogate someone with Raze for the first time.

"He broke Ceremonial ruling." Another Elder started.

"He wasn't yet briefed." T'Challa replied without a mistep.

"So, what comes of this..... and them?"

T'Challa cleared his throat-- Ororo grabbed his hand and squeezed it once, "I can be at blame for todays actions. I am King, afterall. But what I cannot do is build your understanding of him with my own words...."

The room turned to look at Bronte.

"That is a job for him. No one else."

"Fuck." Bronte thought.

Raze gave him a shove once good time whispering, "Go propulsion boy! Go!"

"It's protagonist, you piece of playdough." Gabbie said as she leaned down to whisper in his ear.

Bronte fell into stride as he stepped into the center of the circle. Feeling eyes on his back was something he was trained to remove... not speak to. The whole setting was beyond foreign, and with the empowering effects of adrenaline gone, he felt like a fish out of water.

His mind moved at a thousand miles a minute, thinking.... questioning, panicking. Silence.

Silence was good.

They didn't want to have the moral debate again. They were Elders. They wanted the continued success of Wakanda. Like.... congressmen? The lacking high school diploma hit harder every year for him.

The silence was stepping into uncomfortable territory for everyone.

Bronte spit-- a freestyle some would say.

"Man..... I'm ignorant."

Some of the Elders nodded, others didn't. Maybe he was holding the floor, maybe he wasn't. Didn't matter, he kept going.

"Yea..... I'm real ignorant. But ignorance doesn't stay with a traveler. And I've been moving. I learn fast. It won't take much for y'all to see that. I interrupted some important things because of my lack of knowledge, and I know none of you want to discuss morality with me. You don't know me... word. I don't know you either." Bronte explained as he turned to look at everyone.

"But you need me. Like King T'Challa said, Namor is the enemy..... but he ain't the only one. I came here with my family to seek help for my enemies. Romulus and his Lupines can't be far from us. They want me because of what's in my blood."

"You make a terrible case, child." An Elder wearing green spoke, her massive pierced ears bounced as she coughed.

Bronte adressed her, "Respectfully, I'm grown. And there's another possible enemy already inside your walls."

The Elders finally locked in. Less scrutiny and wariness. Bronte held the floor.

"I'm no rat.... y'all had to know this would happen. You had to see it. If a group of people is ostracized in their own lands they revolt. Isn't that what the french did?" Bronte said.

"Oh! The French Revolution started in seventeen-eighty seven." Kymera blurted out before Ororo shushed her.

"Thank you, Ky." Bronte said before continuing. "You have french peasants in Wakanda."

One of the Elder's faces twisted up in confusion.

"Not literally you, potato." Raze grumbled too low for any human to hear.

"What I mean is certain actions have led to the only tribe not here..... wishing to overturn what Wakanda is."

"The Marube..... who now have a Black Panther....." One of the Elders said casually.

"Without your interjection-- he wouldn't have won. You refused to fight him in the end. Who are we not to assume you didn't plan for this, Bronte?" The Border Tribe Elder accused.

"I didn't kill him because I didn't need to. And you guys need him too, respectfully."

"A brute does little more than the same as our armored Rhinos."

Bronte fought off the urge to get irritated, "He's the strongest man in Wakanda. And I think he's only getting stronger. I've fought two Wendigo's in a forest..... and I'd rather do that again than fight Gentle with true killing intent. I'm ignorant to some things, but combat ain't one."

The room took that in for a moment.

"Look. I know none of you here like me. And it feels like I'm bringing more problems to your plate.... you're all in these chairs because of your fight to keep Wakanda alive. I feel it. I'm trying to keep people alive too. We have a vested interest in each other. With me here, you don't need kids in the war, you don't need men and women unfit for combat. You just need us. We do war. And if you can work a deal with the Marube Tribe, you're that much stronger. I can help with that. I'm like them, an outsider to you all. But we don't have to stay that way. We'd be better if we weren't." Bronte explained.

Silence still. He didn't know what he expected but he wanted to rip something to shreds for the next two hours straigh--

"I vote in support and forgiveness of Ceremonial interruption." W'Kabi said suddenly.

Bronte nodded in thanks to his father.

Soon after, fabric shuffled, he turned to find Azari and Kymera with their hands raised with his siblings. Another hand rose. His mother at the back of the room.

Two more Elders agreed, but the others didn't. Even so, they were a minority vote. Good thing majority ruled. As their hands fell, Bronte realized they almost got the boot. It felt like he was breathing again for the first time as the meeting was disbanded.

As everyone slowly headed out of the room, Bronte's siblings crowded him.

"Nice unity speach, MLK." Raze slapped his shoulder.

"I was cooking a little bit."

"Don't get ahead of yourself, ragdoll." Daken interrupted, "Now we prepare for war. They expect us to be valuable additions. So, we need to get to work. Nothings changed."

"Nothing's changed." Bronte agreed.

Ororo approached them suddenly, seemingly gliding across the floor as her white dress fluttered, "Well done, Bronte. Not many young men can sway a room of conservative old people who see you as an outsider."

"I didn't even do it fully...." Bronte twisted a dread with his finger. Another white one, he wondered when they happened.

"But you did it. And now we can get to information, planning and training."

"Information? When can we start? I'm ready right now. Scratch that, we ready." Bronte said as his siblings collected behind him.

Ororo smiled-- which confused Bronte, before she spoke, "Your... parents ... wish to speak with you. You deserve the time you lost with them. Take it. We start tomorrow. I've been in contact with someone who speaks highly of you."

No one spoke highly of him. Only who he was made by.

"She also said she kissed you... not that it matters. She just seems..... VERY old for you." Ororo said, jokingly.

Bronte put the pieces together.

Remus was in contact with Wakanda. Of course, she was. Looking to help again, for reasons they couldn't assume other than her love for Wolverine.

Suddenly he felt sick after realizing he kissed a woman that also did..... many other things to his gene father.