The Black Panther - Part 1

Right, if you have read my fanfic you'll understand who this is, and you'll also understand that no one but Dragona knows who it is - and I'd like it to be kept that way.



Five hours before Trip's entrance into Dragona's house:

Dragona was sat in his locked basement, protected on all sides by ten tonnes of reinforced titanium and lead. It had a door with a ten digit combination and a biometric palm scanner. Yet another tonne of the best security money could buy.
And it was a rather good £1,000,000 he had spent.
The walls were silver and grey, decorated with different versions of his robotic, and now famous, suit.
Five billion hits on youtube, t-shirts, tv documentaries and even models. None of which were his ideas. All to do with The Black Panther.
Sat opposite him was a radio. But not just any radio. A police radio.
"We have suspects of an armed robbery in a... black... uh... tank?"
It was night time. Perfect for blending in.
It was time to put on the suit.
Dragona walked over to a black motorbike stood up against the wall. He placed his hand on the seat and the metal folded on to his hand. It folded up his arm and over his chest.
The motorbike, meanwhile, was getting smaller and smaller as more metal was transferred over his clothing. A whirring sound was audiable as the metal from around the wheels folded on to his legs and clicked into place. The wheels folded up and disappeared inside the boots that suddenly appeared over his feet.
His entire body was now covered in black armour. It was split into several pieces and was connected inside by layers of kevlar body armour underneath the titanium alloy that had been infused with magic.
A recent feature he had added.
Since he had first started having an alter-ego, he had one of his friends draw magical symbols on the inside of the suit. This prevented any magic entering and since they couldn't be seen, there was no way to counter them.
A metal helmet clunked shut over his head and blue eyes flickered into life as a head up display came up in his field of view.
He felt a whirring close to his ears as sharp cat ears grew from either side of the helmet.
Dragona walked over to the back wall of the room and collected a pistol Emit Sargo had once given him. It fused with his hand before sliding into his wrist. He also pressed a red button hanging on a yellow cord from somewhere above him.
One of the walls slid away to reveal a secret exit to the outside world. A part of the island that was completely shrouded by trees and shadows came to view. He stepped outside, as quiet and as stealthy as possible, just in the slight chance anyone was watching, then activated his thrusters.
They glowed with a black flame, invisible in the night. He lifted off the ground and jetted towards the black 'tank' thing that had confused the police officers in London.

1 hour later

The Black Panther screamed across the London skyline. He hacked into the police radio frequency and pinpointed the location of the police cars that were pursuing the tank.
He twisted and fired himself slightly to the right. This changed his angle so he would appear behind the tank instead of from the side.
The Black Panther was definitely close now. Only a few seconds away.
He cut the thrusters and he began falling. But it was a controlled fall.
Motorcycle wheels slid out from his feet and began spinning. He landed on top of a block of flats and vaulted over the edge. The tank and several police cars sped past him as he hit the ground.
The wheels accelerated and he was propelled on to the road. He turned so he was facing the direction of the tank then flew down the street after it.
The tank flipped over a car. The wreckage destroyed two out of the five police cars and it now spun towards The Black Panther.
He waited until the perfect moment, then jumped.
The wheels on his feet allowed him to ride up the upside down car, like it was a ramp. He flipped in the air and then landed heavily on the top of the black tank. His cape landed behind him a moment later.
It wasn't a tank. But a tank was the best way to describe it. It had four large wheels and was made out of lightweight carbon fibre with kevlar over the top. It looked more like a sports car with a huge gun on top rather than a tank.
He thought about the best way to stop it, for a moment. But then he had an idea.
The Black Panther needed to get rid of the police cars, first. He was a wanted vigilante, after all. The police may choose to come after him after he's taken care of the tank.
He aimed his wrist back at the police cars. On his head up display, there was a targeting crosshair that automatically picked out both of the pursuing vehicles.
Then he fired the grappling hook.
The hook had four prongs and was made out of a titanium alloy. This made it extremely strong, not to mention the diamond tip he had put on the end of each of the hooks.
The hook made a solid connection with the side of the police car. A thick metal rope followed the grappling hook and then the second fired a moment later. This connected to the other police car, just above the tyre.
Both hooks were connected to the same rope.
The tank turned a corner. It turned left down a narrow one-way street. Luckily there were no other cars around.
The police cars attempted to make the corner, too. However, the rope got caught either side of a telegraph pole. The cars were forced to turn... into each other.
The Black Panther smiled inside his helmet at the wreckages of the police cars. The officers inside were not killed, nor seriously injured, but they were unable to continue the pursuit of the tank with totalled cars.
At a thought, the grey pistol Emit Sargo had given him slid out from his wrist and materialised in his hand. He switched the three options on the side. He turned what the gun fired to "laser", the setting "cut" and the fire mode "beam".
The Black Panther aimed the barrel of the pistol at the top of the tank and pulled the trigger. A small beam of light fired at the shell of the tank and cut easily through the armoured bodywork.
The tank twisted around another corner but his aim was good and precise. He moved the gun around in a circle, and whilst he did so, he activated an EMP around the suit.
An Electro-Magnetic Pulse was the kind of thing resulting from a nuclear explosion. However, with a few every day items, anyone was able to create. It would disrupt any nearby electronic devices. Including a computer inside the tank, and the lights that allowed the people who were inside to see.
He lifted the circle of armoured plating off the tank and slipped inside, fitting it back into the roof after him. The pistol slid back into his arm.
Everything was dark inside the tank. His head up display turned into an infrared view. Several people were inside the tank. And no one noticed he was there.
But he knew who they were.
They wore gas masks and had silenced automatic pistols in holsters around their waist.
They were members of the Blue Moon.
The Black Panther smiled - he knew where his first port of call would be with the rest of his friends. They would have to destroy the Blue Moon. And perhaps, in doing so, it would give them some information about what Ytol Heas was planning.
The tank slowed to a stop after the engine had cut out due to the EMP and he lashed out with a vicious punch into the side of the head of the Blue Moon member who was on the tank cannon. There was a grunt of surprise and the sound of the body hitting the floor.
"Hey, why have we stopped?" one of the Blue Moon members asked.
"I don't know," the driver replied, "The engine has just cut out."
"Are the lights working?" another gang member asked.
"One moment. I have a torch."
White light filled up the darkness. The Black Panther saw their eyes widen inside their gas masks before he unleashed a flurry of punches into the nearest Blue Moon member. The glass on their gas mask smashed and he tripped them up.
The driver aimed one of their pistols at him but he was at the other end of the tank in a flash. He palmed away the gun as he fired, so the pistol shot the member with the broken gas mask instead of him. The gun clicked empty and The Black Panther pressed the magazine release button whilst blocking a punch with his forearm, then used the empty magazine to hit the the Blue Moon member in the head.
A silenced pistol fired and gun flashes danced around the front of his armour. He stopped and cocked his head until the gun clicked empty, then raised his hand. A small, blue circle in the middle of his palm started glowing. There was a whining sound that grew higher in pitch until a sudden blast of energy discharged and made the Blue Moon member who had tried to shoot him, fly across the tank and hit his head on the wall of the interior.
He fired another blast of energy and the driver hit his head on the 'dashboard'. He pondered for a moment whether it was called a dashboard in a tank or not, but then he realised it didn't matter.
The Black Panther exited the tank via the roof. He activated the rocket thrusters for a moment which made him jump very high before landing next to the armoured vehicle.
Job well done. Tank taken out and Blue Moon members unconscious or dead.
The tank cannon twisted towards him.
Or not.
He did the only thing he could. He heard a noise as a tank shell was put into the firing chamber and was about to be fired.
So The Black Panther stuck his hand into the barrel of the cannon. He felt a pushing motion as the shell hit his armoured hand. Instead of being ejected from the end of the cannon at several hundred miles per hour, the explosive shell instead detonated and filled the inside of the tank with orange flames.
He took out his fist from the cannon. His knuckles were smoking slightly but were otherwise fine.
Now to get rid of the evidence.
He took a few steps back, then the grey pistol slid out of his arm again. He twisted the three knobs on the side of the gun so the ammunition was "rocket", the fire mode was "semi-auto" and the setting to "armoured vehicle".
The pistol suddenly folded outwards until it was a medium sized metal barrel with the pistol grip still in his hand. He took quick aim at the tank, then pulled the trigger. A rocket screamed towards its target and exploded on impact. The tank basically shattered and a ball of fire errupted into the air.
The metal barrel folded back down to a pistol, then it slid into his arm again.
Finally, some more police cars showed up. He turned towards them but didn't allow them to do anything before he flew up into the sky - back towards his island.

Several hours later - after a stop to get a McDonald's. The Black Panther had confused many people with an order of a Big Mac meal and a large Pepsi. He used a 'drive thru' instead of going into the place itself. It was a lot quicker and he only had to confuse the people behind the till at a man in a black robotic suit who was rather famous ordering a burger.
His reasons for stopping for a meal are currently unknown. Though maybe he was hungry.

Superheroes do get hungry too, you know.

Dragona landed just outside the secret entrance to his house. He ran into the basement and deactivated the suit, then closed the secret entrance.
He heard voices from upstairs. He still wore clothes underneath his suit but it didn't matter. He could always make an excuse for it.
After the suit had gone from his body and was now a motorbike set upon the wall, he walked to the table in the middle of the room and sat on it. He clicked a small button underneath it and the table was lifted into the air by a strong mechanical arm. It stopped several centimetres away from the roof, but he, meanwhile, was in his bed. He pulled the cover over him just as Cabader walked into the room.
Dragona closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.